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Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
by Al F. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/31/2023 09:44:49

This setting and game system are inspirational. This is not a rules set that covers every possibility, but that's okay because the absence of those rules is a hint on what to focus on and that is exploration, decision making and action. The print is a little small, like many of the older titles, but that's what zoom is for.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
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Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
by STEPHEN U. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/09/2023 18:13:16

Love it. Delightfully weird. I have used it 100% for inspiration in other games and my own writing though, I'm not so sure about useability at the table rules as written for modern gamers. Definitely quirky. But -- really cool. Easily one of my cooler PDFs on my digital bookshelf, and one I revisit from time to time for a dose of weird, gonzo, mutant, alien sci-fi. A lot of this stuff is fun to drop on some unsuspecting dwarves or elves in a traditional fantasy RPG session.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Metamorphosis Alpha: RHMDU Example Adventure
by Jim C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/14/2018 21:27:11

Mostly, it's a nicely detailed building block for a campaign and quite a useful freebie. The adventure is more an encounter.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Metamorphosis Alpha: RHMDU Example Adventure
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the feedback Jim! This sort of feedback makes creating these little freebies worthwhile :)
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MA1e Human Character Sheet
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/14/2015 09:20:13

Nice old-school style sheet for Metamorphosis Alpha, 1st Edition. This one is for humans. While many sheets are free, the game this goes to is relatively inexpensive so it all evens out in my mind. This sheet is only for the people that really want it. There is a functional sheet in the game pdf, but this one looks much nicer.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
MA1e Human Character Sheet
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MA1e Mutant Character Sheet
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/14/2015 09:19:51

Nice old-school style sheet for Metamorphosis Alpha, 1st Edition. This one is for mutants. While many sheets are free, the game this goes to is relatively inexpensive so it all evens out in my mind. This sheet is only for the people that really want it. There is a functional sheet in the game pdf, but this one looks much nicer.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
MA1e Mutant Character Sheet
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Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/14/2015 09:15:46

MORBIUS: Back. To. The. Beginning! - Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius.

There is a game going all the way back to the dawn of time, or at least the dawn of the roleplaying age, that has fascinated me. I knew of it's children games, Gamma World and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, but it has not be till recently that I have seen the father of sci-fi games.

Metamorphosis Alpha is considered to be the first popular Scifi game available. While many of us heard of and purchased Traveller first (and that could be another entire week for me) MA really is the first. Published a year before the Traveller books. Written by James "Drawmij" Ward, MA has deep ties with D&D. The game was playtested by Ward and Gygax and others at TSR. This lead to the aforementioned Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Gamma World. The forward of the game was written by Gygax and Brian Blume.

The basic game outline is that characters, human, mutant and other all live on a fantastic colony ship, The Warden, that has broken down. The ship is basically a giant flying dungeon. In space. The character creation rules, monsters and everything are like Original D&D through a distorted lens. To use an analogy from computer programing if D&D/AD&D is Pascal then Metamorphosis Alpha is Modula. Naturally this makes Gamma World Modula 2, AD&D2 Turbo Pascal, D&D3 Borland Pascal, D&D4 Oberon, D&D5 Delphi and so on...

It would be a fantastic game to play when you are in a great old-school mood and I do know people that have made great long campaigns with it. Think about it, the idea would later pop up in the series Red Dwarf.

The book itself is 40 pages which includes front and back cover, an updated errata sheet, pages of tables, character sheet and maps of the Warden.

The game itself is complete and a prime example of old-school minimalism. Modern readers might be tempted to ask "is this it", but to these eyes it is succinct and complete at the same time.

MA of course is perfectly playable on it's own. Has been for 40 years. But it also works great as a setting or a as a "Mega dungeon" in space.

Mix MA with any of the games I have been reveiwing over the last few days and you have a mysterious, ancient colony ship. 80 km long, 40 km wide and 14 km tall and filled with humans, mutants and who knows what else. Think of the ship in "WALL-E" now fill it with mutants.

Honestly I am using it in my own old-school D&D game and it is part of my world's history. The uses and re-uses of this game are endless.

The mutant rules in the book are easily ported over to any game. So use them as mutants or aliens or even demons in your fantasy game.

At just under 6 bucks it is also a steal. There are character sheets too for humans and mutants at a buck each. Normally I think sheets should be free, but I am only paying $5.99 for the pdf. If the sheets were free and the game was $7.99 I would not balk or fret at the price.

If you have any interest in old-school gaming, sci-fi gaming or even the roots of our hobby, then this is a fantastic game to add to your collection. If you are playing any of the new "old-school" sci-fi games then I consider this a must buy.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the kind words Timothy! We released the character sheets and the old issues of MAJOR to help raise funds for Jim Ward's medical treatments. All profits from sales of the WardCo edition of the original game rules, MAJOR and the character sheets go to Jim to help out with expenses. I am so glad that you enjoyed what you found and have so many uses for it. Regards, Craig J. Brain
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Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
by Alastair M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/25/2013 05:47:45

I learnt what "Metamorphosis Alpha" was all about thanks to a review-discussion article in the first issue of "White Dwarf" magazine back in the summer of '77. Although that review was inspirational, I was already heavily committed to D&D since late in the previous year. Sadly, as a youngster with very limited funds, and D&D even then having four supplements available, MA remained just beyond reach. But I never forgot it, and some of MA's ideas, including from a further piece in "White Dwarf" 5 on adding mutated food plants and finding safe water to the game, went on to feature in my D&D campaigns. Fast-forward 36 years, and finally I have a copy of MA, thanks to the marvels of the Internet and PDF files! And it's every bit as inspirational still as I'd once hoped.

Yes, it's from a time when RPGs were in their infancy, and like the wargame rules from which they grew, it was generally expected that you'd need to amend or create some rules to plug gaps as you went along. Then as now though, a strong background setting and development can always overcome any "inconvenience" that might be thought.

I don't recall any comparable RPG set exclusively on a "generational" starship like Warden, one where if all went well (not what happens in MA, of course!), the crew and colonists were expected to continue their lives in a managed, fully-functional, enclosed ecosystem on-board, leaving it to their ancestors to reach and colonise the destination planet. Subsequently, the third and fourth editions (and presumably also the seemingly imminent fifth) changed MA's setting more towards that of a "sleeper" starship, where the crew and colonists were maintained in stasis units until arrival, and where the ship's main computer had become insane.

Weirdly, it's this alternate setting which forms the basis for the short adventure included here, albeit this is largely unrelated to the craft as detailed in these first edition rules! While both concepts have their merits, it's a little disappointing the original premise seems not to have been thought strong enough to fully support here. Similarly, instead of doing a proper revised edition, the "official errata" are simply tacked-on separately, while despite claims of grammatical and spelling corrections having been made, a more thorough check would have been beneficial in places.

I understand WardCo's energies are probably thought better concentrated on the newer editions of MA, but this primary setting shouldn't be ignored by gamers, since there are some beautiful ideas here that deserve exploration, and which won't be found quite the same elsewhere.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
by Ed S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/20/2013 04:06:48

this is the game that got me into gaming years ago(i bought the original when it came out in stores) my first rpg experience was with met alpha. so when i found a reprint here i just had to get it for myself. trying to recaoture the magic. i guess. happy gaming to all!!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
by Eric K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/28/2012 17:35:18

So glad this was released in this format! Always wanted to own this game and now I do.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Eric, Thanks for taking the time to provide a bit of feedback. I hope you get many years of gaming pleasure from your copy of the game. Craig J. Brain WardCo.
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Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
by William W. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 02/09/2012 13:02:51

A great treatment of the first sci-fi RPG in history. The scans are nice and clear, the images come through nicely, and all of the text is searchable.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
William, Thanks very much for taking the time to provide feedback. I am glad that you are happy with the book. Regards, Craig J. Brain WardCo.
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Metamorphosis Alpha: The House On The Hill
by Marvin B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/13/2011 09:20:19

I started playing METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA back in the 1970's and the 1st edition is still my favorite.

HOUSE ON THE HILL is written with 1E MA in mind. It has a very old-school look to it with B&W interior line art and blue maps, much like the AD&D modules of the era. I wish that HOUSE ON THE HILL had been done in the 70's because maybe the METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA rpg would have become more mainstream back then.

As to the adventure itself, it's well written and fun to play. The house itself has 17 different encounter areas well detailed. There is a section near the end of the module (written by James Ward, the original designer of METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA) that gives some ideas for variant houses. There is a 10-page section of rules and tables for random house creation, along with a template for you to design some of your own.

Anyone who plays METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA of any edition will find that this is an awesome resource, and I think it's a fun adventure to play.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Metamorphosis Alpha: The House On The Hill
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MAJOR Issue #1
by Curt M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/09/2010 21:23:55

Wait. Aren't these supposed to be free? WardCo. has decided to charge for the MAJOR issues to support James M Ward's medical fund. When I read this online, I purchased the majority of WardCo's products. James M Ward's work has brought this community virtually unfathomable creative inspiration, not to mention years of fun! The man wrote the original Gamma World. We didn't have an opportunity to directly say "Thank you" to either Gygax or Arneson. Let's do it for Ward. Please purchase WardCo pdfs.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
MAJOR Issue #1
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Creator Reply:
Curt, Thanks very much for picking this up and taking the time to comment and rate it. Yes, these were originally free, but we canvassed the folks who contributed articles, and after no objections, started charging for these to help Jim Ward out. Again, thanks for your support, Craig J. Brain WardCo.
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Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
by David L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/15/2010 13:58:23

What can I add that the others haven't already said? This was the FIRST RPG that I ever owned.

My buddies had OD&D and AD&D1e and I had MA. We would take turns GMing both. Yes, we even had a couple of 'crossovers' from D&D to MA and viceversa. I spent countless hours working on my version of the Warden.

The very first adventure I took them on had them hooked on MA. Naturally, it is very dated according to current standards, but you have a complete, playable set of rules with which you can have hours of fun. Many gamers today like having a 'bare-bones' system that they can house-rule or customize.

Try finding an original, printed copy of this game (I still have mine). It will cost you big bucks. Releasing it in .pdf format was a godsend, and will hopefully bring fresh fans.

I own an extensive collection of OOP RPGs and supplements. Having them available in pdf format is great in case of a fire or other type of disaster.

Buy it, try it! You can't go wrong for the price of a single meal at McDonalds.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition
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Metamorphosis Alpha: The House On The Hill
by David L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/15/2010 13:29:49

I was one of the playtesters for this module, and all I can say, is that it was a ton of fun! Once I received the final product, I noticed all of the suggestions and tables to customize your own RHMDU. They are truely astounding! Game masters can use these tables for populating other structures on the fly. Truely a great (must have) product for Metamorphosis Alpha.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Metamorphosis Alpha: The House On The Hill
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Creator Reply:
David, Thanks for the feedback. Very much appreciated! Craig J. Brain
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Metamorphosis Alpha 4th Edition GM's Screen
by Eric F. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/05/2009 18:11:11

This is a perfect addition to the Metamorphosis Alpha's game master's tool kit everything your going to need to go adventuring about the Warden is right at your finger tips. The scan is crisp & clean. The tables are accurate & even give you a handy weapon's table of all of the tools right from the main rulebook. The price is right & the tables are more then functional. This is a lovingly crafted little toolbox that will provide the game master with hours of game play. Grab the dice,keep your laser handy & go play.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Metamorphosis Alpha 4th Edition GM's Screen
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Creator Reply:
Eric, Thank you for the feedback. It's nice to see that this has found a good home. Best wishes, Craig J. Brain
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