Metamorphosis Alpha using the D&D 4e rules

[darjr]

A new release of MA using the D&D 4e rules. First heard something about this on the MA forums, but the Ogre Cave is where I saw the press release.

James M. Ward is working with them.

Very cool.

edit: Didn't see it in this forums very own announcement forum. http://www.enworld.org/forum/publis...9120-metamorphosis-alpha-4th-edition-d-d.html

I would have thought it'd make a bigger splash. I'm very keen on it. I can see the Barrier Peaks even now.

 

[Jack99]

Care to tell us about the setting, I know nada!

 

[Treebore]

Yeah, I read the ENWorld announcement Saturday morning before heading off to Troll Con in Little Rock for the second day, so when I got there I was able to ask Jim about the announcement.

 

[JohnBiles]

Care to tell us about the setting, I know nada!

Metamorphosis Alpha is a giant generation colony ship; IE, created to take multiple generations to reach another world because there is no faster than light travel. Something went wrong and now the descendents of the original passengers don't know they're on a spaceship. Parts of the ship are basically one giant dungeon; other areas, originally intended for recreation, food production, etc, are now wilderness. Ideas from it were adapted to create Gamma World.

 

[darjr]

Another mode of play is the 'wake up from cryo in the middle of the disaster' way. Either with our without your memories. Kind of like a Paranoia, Gamma World, in space.

The details of the setting have changed over the last 4 versions of the game. The original is my favorite.

edit: not middle of the disaster, but hundreds or thousands of years after it.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I've got the 1e MA rules (and really enjoyed them back in the day).

You could start off as a pure bred human, as a mutant human or a mutant animal. There were both physical and mental mutations available. Humans (in 1e) were the only ones who could work out how to use technology as a balancing factor to their lack of powerful mutant powers.

I wonder if MA"4e" would have martial power source for purebred humans, and 'mutant' power source for the muties?

My dad taught me how to draw perfect ovals with only a sheet of paper and a pencil so that I could draw out my deck plans. Even now, I still think that was rather cool.

Cheers

 

[Cam Banks]

Metamorphosis Alpha does introduce the Mutant power source, yes. There'll be four new classes in the MA Player's Guide that use this source, and anybody with one of those classes is a mutant. Of course, if you're a mutant raptor, badger, or spider you're a mutant already!

The Player's Guide will give you all the rules you need to add wahoo mutations and sci-fi action to your 4E game, while the Starship Warden actually details the setting proper (complete with mutant monsters, multiple environmental levels, and so forth.) You could therefore decide just to add mutants to your regular 4E campaign setting, or you could go all-out and run a classic MA campaign set on board the disaster-stricken generation ship fighting cougaroids and sword bushes.

We'll be sure to post previews and more goodies as things go, and I'm going to try to maintain a design journal of sorts as well. It's still early days, all things considered, but we have a great plan and we're all very excited at the potential for MA to bring something different to D&D.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Jack99]

Thanks for the info. Since I am more of a traditionalist fantasy guy, it doesn't sound as if MA is something for me. But good luck though, sounds like you have a popular setting there.

 

[Holy Smokes]

This reminds me that I need to go stick the first season of Red Dwarf in my Netflix/Xbox instant watch queue...