#Metamorphosis Alpha

[shaneplays]

This THAC0 Thursday absolutely has to be dedicated to James M. Ward, whose recent passing surprised and saddened the RPG community. Among many accomplishments in the industry, James created Metamorphosis Alpha (the first published science fiction RPG) which was released from TSR in 1976. He wrote the game after urging Gary Gygax to make a sci-fi version of D&D, to which Gary replied "I don't have time, but why don't you do it?" Challenge accepted! He was also instrumental in the creation of Gamma World, which many think of as the planet-based Metamorphosis Alpha. James M. Ward: An RPG legend gone, an RPG legend remembered… on THAC0 Thursday!!

#james m ward #james ward #tsr #rpg #ttrpg #game designers #sci fi #science fiction #sci-fi #history #thac0 thursday #thaco thursday #thac0 #thaco #gamma world #metamorphosis alpha

[dyscomancer]

Jim Ward, one of the few remaining original Gygax campaign veterans, died yesterday. He was the big brain behind Deities & Demigods, the 1st Edition sourcebook that gave us many of the now iconic D&D deities like Yondalla and Corellon Larethian.

He was also the designer of Metamorphosis Alpha, a legendary old school sci-fi TTRPG, and he was also original designer of the long-running DBZ card game.

#james m ward #jim ward #osr #osr dnd #dnd #dungeons & dragons #metamorphosis alpha #d&d #drawmij #from the desk

[oldschoolfrp]

TSR Hobbies "Gateway to Adventure" catalog -- This version was included in TSR's boxed games ca 1980. Inside are many well-loved classics, some rarities, and probably the final appearance of many of their historical miniature wargame rules. The original D&D box set of 3 little books was still offered for sale, now in a white box marked "Original Collector's Edition," because it continued to sell and make TSR money even alongside Holmes' Basic set and the hardcover AD&D books. The last page teased an update to Metamorphosis Alpha to make it compatible with Gamma World (oddly listed in the "Miniature Rules" section), but that version never was published.

#D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #dnd #gaming history #Metamorphosis Alpha #Gateway to Adventure #game ad #dungeon door #demon #The Game Wizards #Dungeons and Dragons #OD&D #Basic D&D #Holmes Basic #Holmes D&D #AD&D #TSR #TSR Hobbies #TSR Hobbies Inc

[zigmenthotep]

Hey there, wanna check out the first...ish science fiction role-playing game? It's got wacky mutants, a giant derelict spaceship, and the kind of incomplete rules you just kinda had to deal with in 1976!

Let's make us a Metamorphosis Alpha character!

And because this is Tumblr, and I can post images and a video, here's some fun images from the video.

#ttrpg #vintage ttrpg #vintage rpg #TSR #Metamorphosis Alpha #Gamma World #roleplaying #role playing game #dungeons and dragons #scifi rpg #Youtube

[tonydowler]

Character concepts for Isotope, my new game about humans, mountains, and animals surviving in a weird world they did not create.

#gamma world #metamorphosis alpha #mutant future #post apocalypse

[open-hearth-rpg]

#RPGCovers Week Nine Metamorphosis Alpha (1976) David C Sutherland, III

This is one of those games from my childhood that I have an unreasonable fondness for. It came out in 1976, around the time I first started playing D&D thanks to my sister. We got a local games stone a couple of years later in 1978, carrying all kinds of earlier role-playing releases and wargames. 

But I don’t think I saw this for another couple of years: when my sister brought it home. You have to remember print runs and distribution were wildly spotty in those days. I think she’d bought or borrowed it off of someone else. By that time I was already playing Gamma World 1e, so this felt like a throwback, a weird dead end in sci-fi gaming. 

And that cover– so amateur and wildly 1970s. Even as a kid I knew this was not great art and not great layout. But it had so much going on across it and wild colors. The way the red text of the TSR push text is washed out by the background or the white on black text of the blurb on the screen kind of gets squashed and tilted. 

It’s trying hard…and as a way to grab the imagination of the potential players, it does invite you to wonder: if not about the game’s story, then what was going through the artist’s mind when they  put this together.

#ttrpg #rpg #rpg covers #tsr #metamorphosis alpha

[sigmasupreme]

Stuff I learnt from my last campaign

I just finished my recent Troika campaign and I have been thinking about some things I can take away from that campaign and into the next one. This is not an exhaustive list.

More players means combat takes a lot longer unless you have a good initiative system (simultaneous action declaration or clockwise turn order around the table).

In a game without a dedicated leveling system, you can and should improvise your own (either through awarding items that grant class-like bonuses or abilities, or just straight up increasing player stats at a fixed or variable rate) - This is something I want to get better at so I can run Metamorphosis Alpha at some point.

Mapping can sometimes slow down the game. It may be better to provide a new group of players an incomplete or almost complete version of the map with which to take notes on (and fill in spots for secret doors).

This one I don’t know how to phrase, but establishing a default character motivation can help tie the group together and keep the game flowing. For example, if your game is all about finding treasure, then it should be assumed by players that they all have a goal and treasure can help them toward that goal. In doing something like this, the campaign continues to move, even after a total party kill. Connecting player characters to existing factions or goals that are unique to them may result in the game slowing down or even stopping if those players are unable to attend.

The final, most important one is that pre-written plots are overrated and unhelpful. It is better to prepare a small number of encounters or locations and establish a relatively simple reason as to why your players would go there - usually some kind of reward.

#D&D #Troika #Metamorphosis Alpha #Lok's Luminations #OSR #RPG #TTRPG

[juliaridulaina]

Metamorfosi/Metamorphosis/Metamorfosis

En algunes tradicions es creu que l’ànima que roman en el goig de la unió divina es transforma miraculosament d’humà a ser angelical: la metamorfosi suprema.L’àngel a qui l’amor de Déu ha omplert, nodrit i commogut serveix la humanitat.L’ànima d’un àngel està més enllà dels desitjos o atraccions físiques, ja que sap que tot allò farà mortal.La proximitat de l’àngel a Déu el fa desinteressat i…

View On WordPress

#"metamorfosis" #A look at God #Anthony Strano #El punt Alfa #el punto Alfa #Metamorfosi #Metamorphosis #The Alpha point #Una mirada a Déu #Una mirada a Dios

[steddieunderdogfics]

I'm enthusiastically recommending "down to the studs/like a bitch in heat" by ItCanBePalped for the Omegaverse theme weekend because it deserves all the love and attention!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/44821171/chapters/112772677

down to the studs/like a bitch in heat by ItCanBePalped

@itcanbepalped

Rating: Explicit

22,723 words, 5/5 chapters

Archive Warning: Rape/Non-Con

Tags: Omegaverse, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Steve Harrington, Beta Eddie Munson, Omega Steve Harrington, Alpha Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson Lives, Pack Dynamics, studding, Bitching, Nonconsenual Bitching, Smut, Dubious Consent, Anal Sex, Rimming, Anal Fingering, Dual Sexed Omega Males, Non-Consensual Somnophilia, Somnophilia, Cunnilingus, Misunderstandings, Steve Harrington Has a Crush on Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Rutting, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Getting Together, Knotting, Pain Kink, Light Sadism, Light Masochism, Dom Eddie Munson, Sub Steve Harrington, Top Eddie Munson, Bottom Steve Harrington, Cock & Ball Torture, Angst with a Happy Ending, Introspection, Rough Sex, Gentle Sex, Cuddling & Snuggling Subspace, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Come Marking, Scent Marking, Creampie, Sexual Roleplay, OR IS IT, Metamorphosis, Conflict Resolution, Sex Education, Murray is my fashion icon, Fluff and Smut, Mating Bites, NSFW Art

Summary:

Having Eddie join the pack as a fellow beta was great, it made Steve feel less alone. They'd bonded, they'd gotten closer, they'd even started hooking up on the down-low. But Eddie's been getting aggressive lately, possessive even. It's not until it's too late- far too late- that Steve even realizes that his fellow beta has gone into, of all things, a spontaneous rut. He's somehow managed to stud himself. The timing is just unfortunate, because Steve can't exactly get away- doesn't want to get away, even. He's a bit shocked, but happy to roll with the punches, regardless of what kind of impact their extended romp might have on his own designation. -- It's a dual bitching & studding fic, y'all! Tagged with non-con and dub-con because I think obvious reasons, but rest assured that Steve does not regret a single thing.

Thanks for the rec!

This rec is a part of Theme Weekend. The theme this weekend is omegaverse.

Know a fic that deserves extra love? Submit through our asks or the submission box!

#steddie #steddie fic recs #steve harrington #eddie munson #steve x eddie #stranger things #theme weekend #omegaverse #a/b/o dynamics #alpha eddie munson #omega steve harrington #rated e #tw rape

[indierpgnewsletter]

Playing Metamorphosis Alpha (1976)

(This was originally published in the Indie RPG Newsletter)

This week, we officially kick off a year's worth of intermittent posting about games from 1975 to 1985. We start off with Metamorphosis Alpha, a game by James Ward, published by TSR in 1976.

The pitch of Metamorphosis Alpha is wild. You play people aboard a giant starship that on its journey through space was irradiated and turned into a wacky wonderland. The ship is huge - 50 miles long and 17 levels. It's a megadungeon with whole biomes in it. The people aboard the ship have essentially had their society break down with mutated folk and non-mutated folk separating and fracturing into a thousand different communities. A lot of knowledge of the ship has been lost and now, life is mostly about survival.

Mutation is at the heart of this game. It's both a worldbuilding principle (anything is possible! just say it's a mutation!) and an invitation to make off-the-wall weirdest bunch of freaky little guys you could hope for. Character creation is easily the most fun part of the game. You can play a normal human (boo!), a mutant person, a mutant animal, or, wait for it, a mutant plant! Yes, my green friends, you can absolutely play a plant. In my game, which we dubbed the Preposterous Adventures of Peacock and Plant, the two players were, you guessed it, a peacock and a plant. Or rather, a peacock-person and a plant-person. Or to be even more precise, a peacock with six hands and a levitating ficus.

While stats are randomly rolled (3d6 down the line), you get to pick your mutations. For physical mutations, you could pick having wings or gills. For mental mutations (usually limited to one), you could pick precognition or telekinesis or telepathy or... death field generation? It's a gonzo buffet.

I don't particularly like the term "lonely fun". I think "lonely" stopped being a synonym for "alone" a while ago and now it's mostly used to mean "sadness about being alone". There's nothing sad about sitting by yourself and playing a game. For both the GM and players, Metamorphosis Alpha's big gift is solo fun. The GM is invited to make this big starship, piece by piece, stocking it with whatever nonsense they can imagine. The players are given this toy box with pretty clear rules so they can spend all the time they want making the choicest weirdo.

How does it play? Good question, disembodied voice! Well, it doesn't really. The actual rules of the game felt like little islands that you could visit but if you didn't, you were wandering adrift. There are six stats. Radiation Resistance, only used when exposed to radiation. Mental Resistance, used for psychic attacks and defending from them. Leadership Potential, which is used to see if someone will follow you and join your party. And then Strength, Dexterity and Constitution which are for combat.

So outside of being irradiated, trying to recruit a follower, or fighting, the game doesn't really have any rules to invoke. There is no core mechanic as you're probably used to. People who have played OD&D will recognize this but for others, I have to explain how weird that feels. You don't just roll the dice when making a jump or when trying to persuade a person or examining a door or literally anything outside the situations mentioned above. There is no ability check or saving throw. It was honestly like playing a PbtA game with four very specific moves and nothing else.

I didn't want to just ignore this in play so I didn't houserule it away. We stuck to the text and anytime the characters wanted to do something dangerous or tricky, we just talked through it. This wasn't great. Not just because we missed rolling dice. For me, this was tough because there was the stark tonal shift from character creation to play. When we made characters, it seemed like a saturday morning cartoon. But when we played, the primary method for progress was getting the GM to agree that your action should succeed. You can't just roll for success, you have to convince the GM. But on what basis is the GM supposed to decide? If I was being an impartial referee, thinking about physics and realism and so on, my job is to say "no" to wacky ideas that would be home in a saturday morning cartoon. In the end, I didn't want to spend my time saying no and chose to embrace my players' wacky ideas. We had a fun game and since the players wanted to avoid all the combat, we basically never touched the dice.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Is this one of those "objective successfully failed" situations? I'm really interested in hearing from folks who played this game or its successor, Gamma World. Which way did you fall? Survival dungeoncrawl or saturday morning cart

PS: This is how stats like Radiation Resistance are used. When the situation arises, you look down at a look-up table! Radiation level on the x-axis and your stat on the y-axis. The result is the amount of dice you take as damage, I think. If you get a D, that's instant death. But every turn when you're exposed, your stat temporarily goes down by one. So you have to keep rechecking the table every turn.

#ttrpg community #ttrpg #ttrpg design #ttrpgsolidarity #game design #rpg

[nspired1fanfiction]

Ichor & Pomegranate Update

Chapter 13: For What You Bare to Me

"I will be removing you from the Alpha Team's service," Wesker spoke then as she finally swallowed the pain medication.

"What?" Jill sputtered, the water from the glass sloshing on her knee as she jerked.

"Effective immediately, you will be suspended from active duty. You will use that time to heal and once able to do so, you will return to your studies until complete," Wesker continued, tone hard before he stood to his feet to tower above her.

"Sir—" she attempted while trying to set the water glass back down.

"When your studies are finally completed." He acted as if she hadn't even spoken. "You will be placed within the ranks of the STARS Bravo Team. You will report to Captain Enrico Marini on a weekly basis to maintain communication of your progress."

"You're demoting me…" she stared up at him in shock for a moment before she stood shakily to her feet to join him.

"The Bravo Team is not ranked second among the STARS, Valentine," he punctuated her surname with what Jill would have named as disdain. "It is merely the opposing shift of Alpha."

"I won't accept that," she declared, face tipped up toward his, uncaring of his intimidating height over hers.

"Your acceptance is not a part of the equation," Wesker sneered, turning to step away from her and back toward the doorway.

Her hand snapped out and grabbed his arm, uncaring for the pain that spurned from her own actions.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded, chest heaving as her anger grew. "Is it because of what I did?"

Shaking her hand off, Wesker turned his face back to hers …and there it was.

That expression resembling hatred he'd displayed when she succumbed near his Land Rover.

"You weren't wearing your vest!" She repeated to him as she had out in the woods. "Those shots would have killed you, Wesker."

"Your foolish decision-making process has nothing to do with this," he snapped, stepping into her space now as they came chest to chest with one another.

The moonlight through the window highlighted his furious gaze once more, and it played at the slicked back strands of his blonde hair.

It had become too late for her, a realization that Jill now grasped keenly. In her tenure with the Raccoon City STARS Alpha Team, her very essence had undergone a transformation; a metamorphosis catalyzed by her service alongside him.

Caught within the delicate nuances of conflicting allegiances, she found herself harboring sentiments for her superior; sentiments that definitely exceeded the boundaries of appropriateness. Yet, in reflection, she embraced this decision, for it had ultimately meant safeguarding his life even at the expense of her own.

Not dictated by his identity as her superior but by the sanctuary he afforded her in his presence, she flourished in a realm of control; a haven to confront the unalterable aspects of herself. However, whatever connection had burgeoned between them stood at a precipice.

A line, indistinct yet undeniable, had been crossed in the depths of that forest road, and Jill acknowledged the seemingly, irreversible nature of that unknown trespass. The bridge that once connected them now echoed with an unspoken understanding—a recognition that what had transpired may not endure.

#fanfiction #resident evil #weskertine #greek mythology #albert wesker #jill valentine #resident evil wesker #resident evil 1 #ao3 fanfic

[shaneplays]

The Starship Warden from James M. Ward's Metamorphosis Alpha RPG is a "generation ship", meant to be lived in by generations of humanity as it journeyed through the empty vastness. More than just a city in space, it had urban areas in addition to various biomes and functional systems to sustain life spread across multiple levels. Generations of players have experienced the fun… on Map Monday aka Dungeon Day!!

#metamorphosis alpha #james m. warden #rpg #ttrpg #spaceships #map monday #dungeon day

[vintagerpg]

Faded World, as you might infer from the title, is post-apocalyptic. Post-post, really. Something wiped humanity out (roll a d12 to find out what!) and the world has mostly moved on, though there are still fragments of our civilization to be found. Players take the roles of animals who explore and interact in the ruins of our world. It is sort of like Bunnies & Burrows meets Metamorphosis Alpha, but built out of Nate Treme’s In the Light of a Ghost Star. In this it is very lightweight and focused on atmosphere.

The rest of the zine is devoted to a very short adventure frame in a long abandoned mall, profiles for some woodland creatures, brief rundowns of alternate biomes and lots of tables. There is the aforementioned apocalypse table, as well as tables for generating encounters, adventures, artifacts and rumors. The most intriguing is a d8 table for determining why a character is retiring from the life of adventure.

All this is supported by art by Amanda Lee Franck. It is all gorgeous, and gives a real ground level view of this small, fuzzy, post-apocalyptic existence. There is also a tone-setting piece of fiction sprinkled through out by Zedeck Siew, which is lovely and harrowing in turns.

The thing I find really interesting is how not depressing the game is. I kind of expected heavy human-centric melancholy but there is very little of that. You can feel humanity in the landscape and there is a bit of sadness in every ruin, but overall the game feels strangely comforting. This old world’ll get along fine without us.

Get it: https://www.exaltedfuneral.com/products/in-the-light-of-a-faded-world-pdf

#RPG #TTRPG #Tabletop RPG #roleplaying game #D&D #Dungeons & Dragons #Zine #In the Light of a Faded World

[oldschoolfrp]

Game designer Jim Ward has passed away at age 72. He was the author of many early D&D titles and Dragon articles, including Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes for OD&D (1976) and Deities & Demigods for AD&D (1980), both with Rob Kuntz, and the AD&D book Greyhawk Adventures (1988).

He created the first sci-fi RPG, Metamorphosis Alpha (1976), and cowrote the thematically related Gamma World (1978) with Gary Jaquet. Anagrams of his name appear in Greyhawk lore as the mage Drawmij, a member of the Circle of Eight, and the Dramidj Ocean in the far northwest corner of the map.

#Jim Ward #James M Ward #gaming history #D&D #dnd #AD&D #Deities & Demigods #Drawmij #Dramidj Ocean #Gamma World #Greyhawk Adventures #in memoriam #Dungeons & Dragons #TSR #Greyhawk #Dungeons and Dragons

[zigmenthotep]

I make very serious internet videos

#ttrpg #metamorphosis alpha #monster girl

[shepherds-of-haven]

SHEPHERDS OF HAVEN ALPHA PREVIEW UPDATE [06/23/23]

The Shepherds of Haven alpha preview has been updated here!

Note: This is not the same thing as the public demo, which is available for everyone and covers the first four chapters of the game: the alpha preview is the early access version available to Patrons and testers!

TOTAL WORDCOUNT: 986,501 WORDS WITHOUT CODE

WHAT’S NEW:

15,000 words of new content 

More Chapter 8.5! The Vice Guard and the Shepherds continue to clash!

Bully some random children or bully Tallys, the choice is up to you 💖

New Red interlude

Various tweaks and edits to past chapters and interludes; some stat adjustments

Please be sure to read the specific developer notes on Patreon for more info, as well as check the Incomplete Routes Guide linked in the alpha build post if you have questions about how to proceed through the alpha build! 

WHAT’S NEXT:

More Chapter 8.5--the mission is really ramping up the stakes now--and probably more character interludes as well! I've made the sudden metamorphosis from a night denizen to a conventional day worker and the results have been quite exciting, so I'll just keep steaming along! Could we hit 1 million words in this game by the next update?! 😱

I hope you enjoy! 💖☀️

#Shepherds of Haven #alpha update #alpha preview #alpha build #update #spoilers #mild #chapter 8.5 #patreon