 Goto [ Index ] |
A review by an MA noob for MA noobs
A few months ago I heard the words "Metamorphosis Alpha" for the first time. There was a discussion about it being (debatably) "the first science fiction RPG" game. I was intrigued. After a bit of searching I found a rulebook and sat down to read it. A quarter of the way through page three I was mesmerized and couldn't put the book down until I'd read the whole thing through. Since then I've read through it countless times, trying to pick up on every nuance, and each time realizing how much I missed during the previous read.
This review is from a MA noob's point of view, and intended for those who haven't yet tried the game.
Game Overview
In Metamorphosis Alpha "each player takes the role of a person, humanoid mutation or creature mutation on a vast, radiation-ridden starship which is out of control in deep space. Radiation has caused all knowledge to be 'lost' and humans are in a state of semi-barbarism. The players must learn to survive in a world of fantastic mutations and hostile radiation, using only their natural cunning and such sophisticated space equipment as they can find and learn to use". (from the ruleboook) The "Warden" spaceship is a ship 50 miles long, 25 miles wide, and 8.5 miles tall filled with 17 terra-formed levels containing plants, animals, and (of course!) savage radiation and mutants. After an initial "incident" that destroyed life "as we know it", generation after generation have lived on this "lost" vessel, eventually losing all knowledge that it's a ship at all. To the inhabitants, the ship is their world. As if that weren't enough, "It is only a matter of time until even those almost perfect (ship) systems fail and the starship dies." What isn't there to love?
The Rulebook
This game was published in 1976. That needs to be understood. RPGs were still new, there were no big rpg publishers, and frankly, much of what we now take for granted hadn't even been invented yet. Keep that in mind.
Between the psychedelic color covers are 32 pages of rules, charts, images, maps, and characters sheets. How much information was stuffed into that little space is staggering, until you realize that the font is so tiny that it must be a 6 point font. Even so, the amount of information is impressive.
The "voice" of the book is sometimes confusing. Sometimes the author speaks as if he's talking to the new gamer, and at other times seems to assume that the reader is a long-time gamer and knows what the author is talking about. At other times he mixes it up. The GM is called a "referee" at the start of the rules, or alternatively a "Starship Master", but throughout most of the rulebook he's called a "Judge", without any explanation that the "Judge" and "Referee"/"Starship Master" are the same thing. In essence, it wasn't well proofread before publication. By today's standards, it's not well written, but as a glimpse into early game history, it's priceless and actually quite fun to read.
The story of the origin and fate of the ship are at the very beginning of the rules and set the tone for the game perfectly. However, after that brief introduction, descriptions of the ship and its contents are strewn throughout the rules in no orderly fashion. If you want to understand the ship, you'll need to read through the entire rules. There really is no 'section' you can turn to.
The game mechanics are also found piecemeal throughout the rulebook. While there is an "Abilities" section, it also contains information and charts on combat. While there is a "Weapons and Combat" section, many weapons can be found listed in other areas of the book. "Healing" and "Surprise" topics are found far from the "Combat" section in areas that boggle the mind.
And of course, there are errors in the book (some not so obvious until you find the errata in early Dragon magazines (luckily found online)).
For straight reading, the rulebook is an entertaining and enjoyable. For gaming, the rulebook is a difficult challenge.
Artwork
The artwork is....fun. The cover is a splash of very colorful art done by an amateur hand. I took the image and made it the background of my computer and people are always telling me "that's great! Where did you get that?" When they say "great", they really mean "kooky and fun", not necessarily "great".
The internal artwork of the book is black and white line-drawings, again done in an amateur hand. Need I repeat that this was 1976?
In contrast to the art, there are maps of the spaceship that are a bit better, from detailed maps of houses to two "1 hex =2 miles" example maps of levels, to some very tiny and high-level example maps of each level, to a nicely done line-drawing cut-away of the spheroidal ship.
Game Mechanics
Character Creation: Roll 3d6 for each stat: Radiation Resistance, Mental Resistance, Dexterity, Constitution, Strength, and Leadership Potential. Then roll ConD6 for the total hit points. Finally, if playing a mutant, choose 1d4 physical mutations, 1d4 mental mutations, and then GM rolls for mutational defects. The rules don't say it, but the GM needs to roll 1d8 to determine the defects, and if the result is a "1" ("complete mental block"), then the GM needs to roll 1d4 to determine what type of "block" (technological, robotic, plant type, animal type). This is an example of: only by playing the game and pondering "where is such and such rule!?!?" for a long time do you begin to realize that in a lot of cases the explanations just don't exist!
According to the rules, the game is not a D&D clone, but has stats that easily convert from one early game to the other. Having played D&D only a couple of times, I can't comment on that.
Combat is chart-based. Is someone attacking you with their mind? Find their power, cross-check with your power and find the amount to roll against. Walked into a radioactive area? Find radiation intensity, cross-check with your radiation resistance, find the die to roll for damage. Got hit by poison? Hitting someone with your club? Ditto and ditto. What the numbers on the charts mean differ from chart to chart, so get your highlighters ready. The number of charts isn't overwhelming, but it was surprising to someone (me) who wasn't used to them. Using charts isn't as 'clean' and smooth as simple die-rolling, but I won't lie, I found it a new and slightly enjoyable experience.
Some mechanics that we take for granted today either didn't exist at the time this game was made, or else weren't written into the game. Level advancement: doesn't exist. There's no such thing as a "level" or "experience points". *HOWEVER*, in at least two places within the rules it's mentioned that radiated berries could increase a character's stats. Also, the stat "Mental Resistance" increases over time with use. Finally, the character can learn new technologies. So a character *can* become stronger and better over time, just not in a fashion we're used to.
Another mechanic that we take for granted is the "saving roll", "attribute roll", "task", "test", "challenge", or whatever you prefer to call it. This doesn't exist in Metamorphosis Alpha. Doesn't mean you can't do it, it's just never mentioned.
Finally, and probably the most mind-blowing, is there is no damage or "weapon class" listed for hand-to-hand combat! There is an "armor class" for "No armor and no shield", but no stat for "no weapon". The game assumes that characters will always have their weapons with them. Considering that a dagger does 1d4 of damage, what would a fist do? 1d4/2? I'm not even going to go there.
My big complaint is the explanation of game-time and the movement rules. Gametime *is* listed in the rules, but it's a needle-in-a-haystack search for it (it's actually listed in the "Special Movement" section (?!?)). Movement: there are two wonderful movement charts. The first one has numbers that correspond to "spaces traveled per hour". But that assumes that one space equals one-half mile. If your spaces don't equal that, you need to pull out your calculator and pencil in your own numbers of miles per hour. I have the same complaint about the second movement table, but it's listed in spaces per melee round, where each space equals 2 yards and each round equals 10 seconds. Again, pull out the pencil.
GM Aids
There is a lot of help for a GM. There are two sample detailed maps of levels, rules on how to determine the distribution of monsters and treasure, random encounter table, npc rules, example of gameplay, and a two-page pullout of charts. All in all, it's pretty good.
Overall Impression
With as many 'faults' as I listed above, it may be hard to believe, but I absolutely love this game! The setting is what originally captured my imagination, and it's what keeps it held, but there is definitely a certain joy in the gameplay too. Gameplay is primitive, it's simple, and when trying to find a particular rule the game can be downright challenging, but time and time again the game is consistently one thing: fun. And really, that's what's important.
