Guidelines
for Mixing Campaigns:
Androids,
Wizards, Several Mutants, and Liberal Doses of Imagination, Well Blended
by James M. Ward
| Dragon | - | - | - | Dragon 18 |
I think it is safe to say (as the designer
of the game) that I have
played Metamorphosis Alpha longer than
any other person. From this
semi-vast experience my initial concept
of the game has undergone a
semi-vast change. Being a devoted reader
of every bit of Science Fiction
I could and/or can get a hold of and a
D&D addict of the first magnitude,
I saw a real need for a Science Fiction based D&D game; hence the creation
(with a lot of help from TSR) of MA. Now, with a major
rewrite in the works (for you people that
have kindly “demanded”
more information on every facet of the
game) I see the game every bit
as complex as D&D with systems that
are unique to anything yet
known.
The game has been well received by the role
playing public. I just
wanted to take a few moments to detail
some highly enjoyable experiences with the game that others can try.
The use of the D&D player
character has worked very well on the Star
Ship Warden. The abilities
of Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence
directly translate into Strength,
Dexterity, and Mental Resistance in ship
terms. Constitution in the
D&D character is used for the Poison
Chart. The hit points of the D&D
level attained by the character used decides
the hit points for the MA
game. Charisma is the MA equivalent of
Leadership Potential and is
naturally only useable by 100% humans.
The wisdom score is the big
plus for D&D players on the MA world.
It effects the Mental Resistance score for mental attacks.
| Wisdom | Mental Resistance |
| 3-7 | -2 |
| 8-10 | -1 |
| 11-13 | 0 |
| 14-15 | +1 |
| 16-17 | +2 |
| 1 8 | + 3 |
It should be noted that no addition can
take the Mental Resistance roll
over the 18 mark.
That covers all the character abilities
for both sides except for
Radiation Resistance. The D&D player
has had no former generations
to give them immunity so they have a resistance
of 3.
Magic and its effects are immense on the
starship. Those MA creatures have no resistance to magic so they take full
effect without a saving throw. A hold person spell will get 1-4 people
(not mutants) automatically. A ten die fireball does ten dice of damage
with no saving
throw. Along the same lines is the use
of magical items straight from
D&D. Magical Armor is probably the
best of all the things available.
The plusses on the armor are directly applicable
to a beings armor
class. Plus two armor is as armor class
zero, plus three is as minus one
armor class. This type of armor completely
resists the action of protein
and disruptor blasts. Swords do their normal
damage plus whatever
plus they have. Potions work fine until
they are exposed to any amount
of radiation and then they are whatever
the Starship Master wants to
make them. Rings, Wands, Staves, and Rods
usually function normally
on the ship. Miscellaneous magic items
are a slightly different matter.
Because of the shielding, metal, and energy
fields of the starship Crystal Balls & Helms of Teleportation don’t
work through the levels.
Medallions of ESP and Helms of Telepathy
add two points to the mental Resistance score. Elementals ofall types,
Efreeti, and Djinni don’t
seem to be summonable with any device or
spell. Horns of Valhalla,
Figurines of Wonderous Power, and Arrows
of Direction don’t seem to
work.
There are many ways to handle the different
D&D character
classes. For every two levels over the
tenth a fighter has, allow a plus
one to hit with any weapon. Magic users
over the tenth level should
have a plus per level to figure out any
type of technical item. Since
clerics get their spells renewed everyday
(and I never liked them anyway) they don’t need any special powers or plusses.
Bards over the
tenth level act like Singing Vines. Monks
on the other hand are at onehalf their normal level because of the extreme
quickness of the MA
species. Thieves don’t have their special
attack bonus when attacking
the backs of mutants (everyone is always
trying to zap them from behind).
As with almost everything there is the
other side of the role-playing
coin. The use of MA characters in D&D
land might be highly enjoyable. Humans are of the least significant mainly
because they don’t fit
in any of the classes. On the other hand,
they do have a potential for a
large amount of hit points. The mutants
are the beings that have the
greatest potential for damage and fun.
Mutation attacks should work
over any magic resistance and protection.
Imagine a mutant with four
mental and four physical mutations. Let
us give her defects of no sensory nerve endings and a complete mental block
for robots. We will
also assume she has Regeneration (could
be treated as the Troll), Radiaated Eyes, Physical Reflection (could be
spell energy), and Poison
Claws (intensity 12) for her physical abilities.
She could have Mental
Paralysis, Mental Control, Life Leech,
and De-evolution for her mental powers.
If any of you are wondering what possible
harm De-evolution could do to a non-mutant let me list a few things. In
magic users it
could take away all the ability to use
spells of any type. Fighters could
lose a level or two of experience for every
attack. Clerics could lose one
level of spells forever starting from their
lowest level. Normal humans
could be transformed into cro-magnon man
or even apes (but a few
have argued that this skips several generations
of evolution).
The weapons of the starship could have many
strange effects on
D&D creatures. The protein disruptor
would work 100% of the time on
non-enchanted creatures and forces a saving
throw (as a death ray
attack) on all creatures regardless of
their magic resistance. The sonic
metal disruptor ruins Iron Golems and does
damage to metal covered
beings to the tune of 15 dice for a short
range hit, 10 dice for a medium
range hit, and 5 dice of damage for a long
range hit. In using the
paralysis rod or the paralysis dart it
works 100% of the time on creatures with the standard magical resistance.
Creatures with any type of
extra normal magical resistance have a
50-50 chance of being paralyized.
The laser pistol is a short energy burst
that bathes any fire creature in healing energy, melts Iron Golems, and
does triple damage on cold creatures.
The third stage slug ejector does no damage
to metalarmored beings or creatures with an armor class of better than
four.
The third stage gas ejector forces a D&D
being to make their poison saving throw with each hit.
All in all the switching of creatures, players, and items from campaign to campaign can make for novel situations.