Metamorphosis Alpha

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Metamorphosis Alpha

First four editions of Metamorphosis Alpha
Designer James M. Ward, Slade Henson (2nd edition)
Publisher TSR (1st edition and 2nd edition), Fast Forward Entertainment (3rd edition - also known as the 25th Anniversary Edition), Mudpuppy Games (4th edition), WardCo. (1st edition revised pdf)
Publication date 1976 (1st edition)
1994 (2nd edition)
2002 (3rd edition)
2006 (4th edition)
2007 (1st edition revised pdf)'
Genre(s) Science fiction
System Custom (1st edition), Amazing Engine (2nd edition), 3d6 (3rd and 4th editions)

Metamorphosis Alpha was the first science fiction role-playing game. It was created by James M. Ward and originally produced by TSR, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons.

Contents

[edit] Description

The original edition of the game takes place on the generation spaceship Warden that has been struck by an unknown cataclysmic event that killed many of the colonists and crew. Thus, the role-players must survive their missions in this ship (which they believe to be a world) where they no longer understand the technology around them and they encounter numerous mutated creatures. In essence, Metamorphosis Alpha is a dungeon crawl in space.

Player characters could opt to be a human, a mutated human, a mutated plant or a mutated creature. There were five common player characteristics: Radiation Resistance, Mental Resistance, Dexterity, Strength, and Constitution. Human players added a sixth characteristic, Leadership Potential, while mutated humans and creatures got to add a random number of mutations, both physical and psychic. Combat was very similar to Dungeons & Dragons combat rules for the time.

Metamorphosis Alpha had an emphasis on super science and an element of science fantasy (as confirmed by James M. Ward in 2006), leading to some confusion as to how the game should be classified.

It is the intellectual pre-cursor to Gamma World (1978), also produced by TSR.

Metamorphosis Alpha is distinguished not only due to its unique setting but by the fact that is acknowledged as the first science fiction role-playing game to be published.[1][2]

[edit] Science Fiction or Science Fantasy?

Metamorphosis Alpha was written and marketed as a science fiction game, before the distinction between science fiction and science fantasy was made. James M. Ward has stated that the game is not "hard sci-fi". Some minor debate over Metamorphosis Alpha being classified as science fiction has taken place.[citation needed] Given the inspiration for the game, the statements of the author, the marketing of the game itself, and the fact that it was the first of its kind to be published, it remains classified as science fiction.

Empire of the Petal Throne was published in 1975 as fantasy (as per the credits page and introduction of the Empire of the Petal Throne rules book) and has sometimes been credited as the first science fiction RPG, but is actually fantasy with heavy emphasis on the fantasy rather than any elements of science fiction.

StarFaring by Ken St. Andre at Flying Buffalo, was copyrighted a few months after Metamorphosis Alpha, and is sometimes classified as the first by those who deem Metamorphosis Alpha as science fantasy. However, Starfaring is not a true RPG, but a unit level simulation game. Starfaring is listed by Lawrence Schick in his book Heroic Worlds as the first real science fiction RPG[3], further compounding the error.

In 1980 TSR released AD&D module S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. The module was based on the idea that a starship such as the Warden (though not the Warden itself, according to Gary Gygax) became marooned in a D&D universe. In the module's foreword, Gygax writes that the module was written to introduce Metamorphosis Alpha to the wider D&D audience and to demonstrate how one might undertake science fiction/fantasy crossover.

[edit] Inspiration

The game's author, James M. Ward, stated that the original inspiration for the game was Brian Aldiss's classic science fiction novel Starship (a.k.a. Non-Stop) (1958). In the British RPG magazine, White Dwarf, Issue No. 1, Ian Livingstone wrote a review of the game and published his own additional rules for playing Metamorphosis Alpha on Aldiss's ship. However, it is often suggested that the game was inspired by Robert A. Heinlein's 1941 novel Orphans of the Sky.[4][5]

[edit] Editions

Metamorphosis Alpha was first published in 1976 by TSR. It had no accessories or supplements.

In 1981, James Ward announced plans to rewrite the game as Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega, a supplement for the 1st edition Gamma World rules (Anon 1981). The Gamma World supplement was never completed, but in 1994, TSR used the title Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega for an Amazing Engine supplement (ISBN 1-56076-851-7) written by Slade Henson.

In 2002, Ward's company, Fast Forward Entertainment, published a new version of the game, entitled Metamorphosis Alpha: 25th Anniversary Edition. It was designed by James Ward.

In 2006, Metamorphosis Alpha 4th Edition was released by Mudpuppy Games (ISBN 0-9763601-2-8). This edition contained original material by James M. Ward and additional new material and photography by Craig J. Brain. The book cover and interior illustrations were painted and drawn by Jim Holloway with most of the cartography by Ryan Wolfe. [1]

In 2007, WardCo. released an official errata sheet for Metamorphosis Alpha First Edition, which is available from the official website and released a revised edition of the 1st edition rules through OneBookShelf as a pdf.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Metamorphosis Alpha Review
  2. ^ Leisure Games.Com Limited Metamorphosis Alpha RPG (Mudpuppy Games)
  3. ^ Starfaring (1976 Flying Buffalo Edition). RPGNet. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
  4. ^ Articles: Cruising the Infinite: Strategies for Human Interstellar Travel, by Paul Lucas
  5. ^ Metamorphosis Alpha Review

[edit] References

[edit] External links