Bundle of Holding - Metamorphosis Alpha

I picked up many Metamorphosis Alpha releases from the Goodman Games Kickstarter at NTRPG Con in one of the silent auctions this past weekend. Seriously good stuff. Also, coincidentally, much of what is in this Metamorphosis Alpha Bundle.

If I were to run some sci-fi, Metamorphosis Alpha is likely where I'd hang my hat :)

Adventurer! We've resurrected our August 2021 Metamorphosis Alpha Bundle featuring the vintage 1976 First Edition of Metamorphosis Alpha, the tabletop roleplaying game created by James M. Ward of mutants and monstrosities on a colossal generation starship. In 2290 humanity launched its first colonization ship, the Warden. A radiation storm in deep space struck and crippled the gigantic starship. The ship's human crew died – the few survivors mutated and formed primitive civilizations – tribes struggled against a world they could not comprehend. Generations later, as a human, mutant, or robot on the Warden, you fight to survive, unaware even that your irradiated world is a spaceship. Can you uncover the secrets of the Warden and steer it back on course, or will you simply try to live another day?

For just US$9.95 you get all seven titles in this revived offer's Starter Collection (retail value $42) as DRM-free ebooks, including the 2016 Goodman Games reproduction of the complete 1976 Metamorphosis Alpha 1E First Printing rulebook (originally presented as Chapter Two of Goodman's MA 1E Deluxe Collector's Edition), plus the Referee's Screen (retail $6); three MA supplements – Creatures & Gadgets, The Mutation Manual, and Warden Armory; and two adventure sourcebooks: the introductory campaign Death Ziggurat in Zero-G and Warden Adventures.

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $25.72, you'll level up and also get this revival's entire Bonus Collection with six more titles worth an additional $70, including the full-length campaign adventure Doom on the Warden, the location sourcebook Epsilon City, and several more short adventures on the Warden: The Android Underlords, The Captain's Table, and Level of the Lost, along with the Book of Handouts.

 

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Bundle of Holding - Metamorphosis Alpha 1e

There is a game that is widely regarded as the first fantastical/scifi/post-apoc game, and that game is Metamorphosis Alpha.

Adventurer! This Metamorphosis Alpha Bundle from Goodman Games features the vintage 1976 First Edition of Metamorphosis Alpha, the tabletop roleplaying game created by James M. Ward of mutants and monstrosities on a colossal generation starship. In 2290 humanity launched its first colonization ship, the Warden. A radiation storm in deep space struck and crippled the gigantic starship. The ship's human crew died -- the few survivors mutated and formed primitive civilizations -- tribes struggled against a world they could not comprehend. Generations later, as a human, mutant, or robot on the Warden, you fight to survive, unaware even that your irradiated world is a spaceship. Can you uncover the secrets of the Warden and steer it back on course, or will you simply try to live another day?

Yep. Before Gamma World, before Giantlands, James Ward created Metamorphosis Alpha. The First Edition of MA is like a snapshot in time, a waypoint in gaming history, and something that every old-school gamer should read at some point.

For 9.95 the Metamorphosis Alpha Bundle snags you Metamorphosis Alpha 1E, 3 Metamorphosis Alpha sourcebooks, and Death Ziggurat & Warden Adventures.

For approximately 26 bucks, you can add in Doom on the Warden, Epsilon City, and 4 Warden adventures.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. 

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Kickstarters Arrive - Metamorphosis Alpha and Barrowmaze Complete

Found these waiting for me when i got home from my extended tour at work. Technically it's a Kickstarter (Metamorphosis Alpha) and Indigogo (Barrowmaze Complete) that completed well, but who's counting?

Love the cover for Barrowmaze and my God, Metamorphosis Alpha is huge.

These did not make my Wayward Kickstarter list, as linked to on the EN World10 Biggest Tabletop RPG News Stories of 2014 list.

OSR Christmas Day 5 remains open BTW - I'll award prizes tomorrow night. I just tallied up the overtime numbers thru the first half of the month - 30 hrs thus far... sleep calls...

Kickstarter - METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA Deluxe Hardcover Collector's Edition (Goodman Games)

There are a few points in the very early history of the RPG hobby that stick out as events that have left an indelible mark. I like to add such treasures to my collection as best I can when I can find them.

Original Dungeons & Dragons (I own the OCE)

Empire of the Petal Throne (I own a copy of the boxed set - still in it's wrap when I got it - opened now)

Tunnels & Trolls (I own Ken's personal copy of the 2nd edition of the rules)

Metamorphosis Alpha - never owned and damn near impossible to find on the secondary market

Not so surprisingly, all of the above games have gone thru a number of revisions over the last 40 years. Even if they weren't, do old RPGs ever die? Or do they just fade away? But I digress.

Goodman Games, they of the amazing DCC RPG and the more amazing adventures that are written for said system are running a Kickstarter to print a reprint of the 1st edition of the Metamorphosis Alpha rules in hard cover. With an honest to God book jacket. The last RPG that I bought with a book jacket that wasn't from LotFP was Runequest 2 back in the day.

Yes, this is the original Metamorphosis Alpha written by James Ward of TSR fame. While I may not have much to say about James' run on the Castles & Crusades line, his classic work is just that - classic. James' first work that I ever encountered was the Gamma World "grey box" - my first non D&D purchase and simply an amazing take on a post-apoc world, especially in the early 80's when I found it. Metamorphosis Alpha was some unattainable fairly tale game to me, heard about in articles in Dragon Magazine and little else.

So yeah, I'm excited to get a chance to read the original predecessor to Gamma World. I'm also excited about the new content being added by some of the excellent writers over at Goodman Games. Michael Curtis and Jobe Bittman are writing adventures for the Kickstarter, as is James Ward himself. Actually, James is adding a decent sized chunk of new material to the game, and it should be interesting to see James return to one of (if not actually) his first gaming projects.

My only wish is to see a Harley Stroh adventure added to the mix of stretch goals. One can only hope :)

The project has hit 5 stretch goals already and has 8 days of funding to go.

$80 bucks for the hard cover isn't cheap (nor is adding the 3 adventure subscription for $30 bucks), but I've yet to see Goodman Games fall short on quality. I fully expect to get my money's worth.

Damn you Kickstarter! Damn you Goodman Games and Damn you James Ward! I'm going to need to work some overtime next week to pay for this, but it will be worth it...

Kickstarter Requested Inquiry - Looking at the Metamorphosis Alpha Roleplaying Game

Yep, we've got a new feature when it comes to the RPG Kickstarters, the Kickstarter Requested Inquiry. Basically, what this is is my taking a peek at an overdue Kickstarter that I didn't support for one reason or another, but one (or more) of this blog's readers did. It's overdue, and it needs some light put on it.

In this case, we are talking about the Metamorphosis Alpha Roleplaying Game Kickstarter. Damn, Metamorphosis Alpha is an RPG classic. WTF didn't I support this one?

The reasons are simple:

1 - It's James Ward. I'm not going to take anything away from what the man did in the past, but once he started working for Trolls he seemed to have set his target at 12 year olds (I seem to recall he actually said something to that effect, but damned if I can find the quote). He single handedly killed the Crusader Magazine. His Towers of Adventure for C&C pissed me off to no end - an expensive piece of shitty filler.

2 - It's NOT James Ward. Best I can tell from reading the public updates and comments, it James' IP, but it's Jamie Chambers' project. I'm not even sure if James is involved beyond licensing the IP. (edit - apparently his is writing something for ut)

3 - It's an entirely new system using d6s (System 26), which is about as far as you can get from any of the previous incarnations of MA. Not my bag, man.

So, what are the issues?


Launched: Apr 6, 2012
Funding ended: Apr 29, 2012
Estimated delivery: Sep 2012
Todays Date: Nov 28, 2012

It's only two months late, no biggie, right? Wrong! Two month's late with no new estimate in sight. Depending on where the book is being printed, lead time from finished product in electronic format to print is one to three months. I'll assume they are going print on demand, so closer to a month with proofs and corrections. The thing is, the rules dont seem to be nearly done yet.

Here's the latest public update:


Exploration, Action, Adventure!

Update #20 · Oct. 31, 2012 · 7 comments   

G'morning folks! Having been both shot with X-Rays and surrounded by powerful electromagnets in the last few days, I'm waiting to find out if I get a mutation of my very own. (After injuring my back earlier this year I've been dealing with recurring problems and pain. Hopefully I'll know exactly what's going on soon.) I just returned from the Geek Media Expo in Nashville, where among other things I ran "The Petting Zoo of Death" adventure for a group of five vic—er, lucky players. I confess I was actually a bit disappointed that the group wholly survived the adventure, through a combination of successfully negotiating out of what would have been a tough fight, smart tactics when they could have been swarmed, and us running out of time before the nasty final encounter. It was a good time, though, and the players enjoyed both the setting and the game system!

One player remarked how he enjoyed the multi-genre elements of Metamorphosis Alpha, which is my favorite thing too. The adventure was like a short dungeon crawl, yet clearly in a sci-fi setting, but the characters had weird powers. In a nutshell, she summed up my favorite elements of MA as well.

Just as I feel like a good RPG adventure combines combat, problem-solving, and roleplaying, a good Metamorphosis Alpha adventure combines the exploration of the unknown, the trappings of the future, and the craziness of strange mutant powers. I think it's one of the things that makes MA unique and special in the world of RPGs, separating it from post-apocalyptic settings.

Progress Report

Convention season is officially over, and I'm going to be taking a last look at where we at and what we need to do to get this book done and out the door to our (very patient!) (not all are so patient, as it wouldn't have been pointed out to me if they were) backers. I met with Lizard (contributing writer) in Ohio two weeks ago. You can see another piece of chapter art above from the amazing Lindsay Archer! I'll try to give you guys some more concrete scheduling information next week. (Note - this update was 4 weeks ago - I'm guessing none of it has gotten any closer to being "concrete")

And there is one more potential piece of news ...

Miniatures

I can't say too much about this yet, as this would be an independent licensing deal with James M. Ward for the MA property but I can report the following: I've had an informal conversation with someone who may be bringing out a line of miniatures for Metamorphosis Alpha! This is exciting news for everyone involved, and though it would be a separate deal we've already established that if it goes through we will share resources and information to make sure we bring the fans material that will work well together! I'll repeat that this is NOT OFFICIAL at this time, but I'm excited about the possibilities. When there is something to announce, I'll let everyone know immediately! (nice, but where the game?)

Comments, anyone?

As a followup to Mike, is there any projected date on the release? Maybe even a PDF beta copy? I want to consider running MA at GenCon next year (at least for the KFG Wed Gaming), but need to start working on it now since I'm not an overly experienced GM and have critically limited (and erratic) time to work on scenarios. With luck, I can get a playtest of it in at WYC in March. Are these time frames expected to be doable? (this guy is hoping it will only be 6 months late)

Any word on a concrete release date?


Anything yet in the way of an update? Is there a website yet?
Asking courteously, of course -- just like the delegate from New York. (from the October update)

Not comfortable even answering that with a non-answer it seems...

Apparently, since the summer, public updates have been coming along at one every 5 to 6 weeks. I am a HUGE proponent of frequent updates on funded but not completed Kickstarter projects. The creator might think that the 30 minutes he spends typing a weekly update might be spent in more productive ways, but without updates, your supporters are going to assume you are NOT being productive.

Unhappy supporters means less repeat customers. The concept is simple. Keep folks happy (even if it means you are stringing them along) and you'll do better business in the long run.

Have a project you want me to take a peek at that is dragging it's feet? You can send me a message via G+ or my Google Profile.