Metamorphosis Alpha gaming

[Deleted]

Greetings all!

MA was the first RPG I ever bought...11yrs old with birthday money 1976...I still have my original copy signed by James Ward.

I have all the other versions also, waiting for the next one.

I am curious about one small aspect...with all the love being given to Old School RPGs where is the love for MA?

I was reading through the various threads and found most to be forum members being a bit hesitant to play.

It is a fun game that lends itself to so many hard science, science fantasy, and space opera settings.

It is well worth the look and the play IMO...you can do so much with it.

For my games I do take the modern science and science fiction to bring some of the game setting and functionality up to date as it were.

Pandorum the movie was mentioned earlier...in my opinion is spot on, perfect match for me and MA.

I tend to have my levels separate from the rest of the ship and it takes some doing to cross over...which is where the PCs come in...going beyond the veil as it were.

I have run games where the players were crew, they know what is going on, they are troubleshooters, crossing over to deal with mechanical issues, getting stuck and having to deal with what ever is on that level.

I have run a Paranoia style game where players are from batches of clones with share memories...player run through their batch members until empty...with the level being controlled by an insane computer with a human brain.

I have run games where the ship has landed.

I have run games where the ship has been repaired and manned by the various player options.

etc.

There is room for so much...you should pick up a copy and play.

Cheers

Atomic Ray

[Finarvyn]

Hey, Atomic Ray, nice to have you posting Metamorphosis Alpha stuff. I agree that MA is one of those games that for some reason folks are hesitant to play, and I'm glad you're jumping in to help spread the word on what an awesome game it is.

Keep the MA chatter going and hopefully we can gain some new minions to the cause!

[vargr1105]

I recently perused over a copy of the original Metamorphosis Alpha rules and I think I may give some insight on why the game is not more popular in OSR circles.

It looked to me somewhat restrictive in character options, why play a normal human primitive? And the lack of rules for character progression was almost criminal.

Also, MA has a brain-child which is grander in scope and was much better supported: Gamma World. And now we have its clone, Mutant Future.

I think adventures aboard a lost generation-ship might be better served using either of the two rather than their original ancestor. Better rules, more material, etc.

The Metamorphosis Alpha rules in this day and age can be more useful as a setting guide than a game on its own.


Of course, never having played any of the above except a short-lasting Mutant Future game I might be talking gibberish here. This is just my perception of things.

Oh yes, I was fascinated by "The Starlost" series when it played on TV over here. But that was well before I knew what RPGs where.

[Deleted]

Having not played MA either, my perception has always been that the basic idea behind the game is too limiting. How well do the rules lend themselves to play without using the stuck in a giant spaceship idea?

[Deleted]

The restrictive options is a bit too to a degree...but the ship was intended to be massive beyond reason...unfortunately it is described and is just big lol.

Another good example of MA Warden (the ship) potential is like Wall-E's Axiom.



That suffers an issue while traveling through space.

The small issues like leveling up...apply it...and fixed

I need to run a PbP...and people will see the potential.

Character options...

robots
androids
humans (they are imprinted to use equipment, robots, etc. that mutants can not)
humanoids (I am a big fan of mutants, expect to not be an X-man, rarely are they pretty superheroes)
mutant animals
mutant plants

I take the next step with mutants...I do not want characters to be freaks full of defects, but be sure you will look the part...with each mutation bringing something to the table.

Mutant animals are either stock animals with mutations or anthropomorphic manimals.

Mutant plants are either symbiotic or parasitic, bonding with stock humans or animals...not mutant animals/men because mutants do not "taste" right...this can display as a green man/animal or a man/animal covered in leaves, fruit, flowers, etc.

Robots...these serve functions...service bots, like Wall-E for example...serving a particular purpose, but the logic circuits have evolved or been modified to allow free thinking...they still follow the three laws though.

Androids...artificial humans...same stats range as humans...these also served purposes, mostly to work the ship during cold sleep travel.

Clones...another option to have personnel on hand during travel while the vast majority were in cold sleep.


So you see with a small bit of consideration there is plenty of room for options.

I usually start the players in a not knowing situation...in these cases the class options are modified from basic careers...

Guild...using the gear and wrench emblem...they have secrets to tell those worthy...skills include metal/wood crafts, building, tool use/making, troubleshooting, etc.

Operator...knife and shield emblem is used...generations of security types...melee skills, police techniques, arbitrators, etc.

Merchant...uses the letters REC as an emblem...these types find foundation in the crew and passengers that were involved with recreation and services so the skills deal with supplies, logistics, and information

Adventurer...a sports ball is the emblem...catchall grouping that has a bit of the other classes...a loose organization that prefers to focus on exploring, recording, and collecting

Racial types are their own classes...example...animal mutants are class: animal mutant...with their own options for skills

There are more but these are those on the other side of the wall.