Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega: Part 0

Metamorphosis Alpha was the first science fiction roleplaying game, published in 1976. The action is set on the Warden, a huge generation ship that suffered a catastrophe that killed much of the crew and passengers. A good portion of the remaining inhabitants were mutated, so that, centuries later, humans and mutated humans, as well as mutated animals and plants, all share the massive vessel. Knowledge of the original mission the ship was on was lost; in fact, the idea that the ship was a space vessel was largely forgotten.  The game assumes that the player characters come from a quasi-Medieval or even Stone Age society, for whom technology is a dangerous mystery. The Warden is the only world known to its inhabitants, and player characters set about exploring that world.

By the time I discovered D&D, Metamorphosis Alpha had been around a few years. I never laid eyes on it, and all I knew about it came from articles in Dragon Magazine referencing it. The nearest I got to it was Gamma World, a post-apocalyptic RPG, and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, an AD&D adventure about a starship crashed on a fantasy world. However, in 1994 a version of the game was released, called Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega.

The cover is adorned by a nifty model of this iteration of the starship Warden, by the late Dennis T. Kauth.

This version of the game bore little resemblance to the original. The game system itself was TSR’s Amazing Engine, the company’s early ‘90s attempt at a universal or generic system. Several different settings were released for that game, ranging from modern urban fantasy to far-future science fantasy. Among my favorites was Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega. TSR decided at some point to make these sourcebooks all-in-one, containing both the rules and setting info, unlike the sourcebooks for the venerable RPG GURPS, which only contained the rules unique to the settings they covered. The problem with the Amazing Engine approach was the setting info felt cursory and incomplete, and most of it was crammed into the back third or so of the book. Still, there was enough info there to tantalize, and, on top of that, the model of the Warden shown on the cover and in the deck layouts bound into the book was truly cool.

I like space opera. Post-apocalyptic games, especially ones with over-the-top, almost cartoonish settings like Gamma World, are fun, but the assumption that player characters are low-tech bumpkins bedazzled by even early-21^st-century tech items eventually wears thin for me. Metamorphosis Alpha, and, subsequently, Alpha to Omega, came tauntingly close to the best of both worlds: a giant starship hurtling through space, filled with often bizarre life and brimming with adventure possibilities.

The only thing lacking, and it was, for me, a dealbreaker, was possibility. Specifically, the possibility of the player characters going beyond the Big Dumb Object. I’m sure many who played the original and its Amazing Engine successor ended up with the Warden under their control, or even debarking the ship to find their fortunes out among the stars. But I wanted the option of characters being more than mutated cavemen haphazardly discovering the Warden’s secrets. I decided that it would be interesting to see the Warden from the point of view of those who first embarked upon it, something like the crew of Star Trek’s Enterprise – the original or otherwise – suddenly finding their ship crippled and overrun by strange, hostile life. To me, this presents the best of both worlds when it comes to RPG adventures: the Warden is a huge adventure site that the player characters can explore, with the overarching plot based on what they choose to accomplish first. 

So, I’m beginning a series of posts detailing my own thoughts on Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega, and my tweaks to what’s presented in the 1994 book. There’s a lot of potential there, from shipboard adventures similar to the original game, to planet-hopping space opera.

Next: Part 1: Origins and Dimensions