The Growing Obsession with all Things DCC

 While I've been running some odd menagerie of Pathfinder 2E, an occasional Starfinder game, lots of Cypher System, and recently 3.5 D&D back in the mix....on my own time I've really, really really gotten in to collecting and reading up on Dungeon Crawl Classics and its spin-offs. Like, more than normal, or is even healthy. I've been ordering most of the stuff from Goodman Games, chiefly because they are awfully inexpensive, have free shipping after $100 and include PDFs with almost everything.

Although there is much adieu about the whole Appendix N phenomenon and how it may contribute to the focus and feel of DCC and its brethren, the truth is I'd label it something more like, a "pre mid-eighties fantasy/sci-fi/horror" vibe. I say pre-mid-eighties because I dived in to the genres wholeheartedly around 1980 and never looked back, and by 1986 or so in high school had read so much vintage and (for the time) contemporary fantastic fiction that I was noticing lots of trends, from the "every fantasy epic must be Tolkien" trend on down to the rather prodigious level of insanity that was billed as horror for the time, and somehow marketed on the shelves at grocery stores (to be read by little old ladies who thought my fantasy novels were inducing Satanism, of course, even as they read stuff that made Rosemary's Baby look fairly tame).

The point of this though is that DCC really does evoke the wild west feel of fantasy and scifi (and horror) for that period in time. The seventies in particular brought with it an explosion of new authors who had grown up on classic content and pulps as a natural course, and it was entirely possible in that era to write interesting fiction that was nonconformist yet readily picked up and marketed by major publishers. Today, you have to wade through endless self-published novels on Amazon's createspace to try and discern what is a self-absorbed vanity project and what might constitute good fiction. But back then? It was all potentially unique and fun, even when it was garbage (sometimes especially if it was garbage!) 

So Dungeon Crawl Classics really does capture this vibe, and I love it. So does Mutant Crawl Classics, and other spin offs like Star Crawl as well. Under a Broken Moon (the Umerica post-apoc DCC books) are sort of amazing, like weird works of art, managing to evoke the sort of post-apocalyptic adventure we all actually thought we were having in Gamma World back in the day, even as Mutant Crawl Classics portrays the more super-science elements of GW that the game actually formulated around.

All of this, of course, is in addition to the excellent reprint and expansion of Metamorphosis Alpha, which while retaining its original game mechanics from the first edition is still utterly playable and also a great resource for MCC if you are so inclined to use it as such. 

My obsession with this has me thinking hard about how to wrap at least one current campaign up so I can move forward....but it's a tough call. My weekly Cypher System game is suitably weird and interesting with lots of interesting plot and depth so it may wrap sooner than later if only because its so enmeshed in moving the story forward. I just migrated my Pathfinder 2E game to an adapted D&D 1st edition module which I converted over (more on that soon), and the old school retro vibe is working quite well for what I need that game to do right now. The 3.5 D&D game is proving that nostalgia only requires about 15-20 years for it to kick in, and is also scratching an particular itch. So I don't know when the DCC/MCC/CuaBM/MA itch will get scratched, but hopefully soon!

Metamorphosis Alpha Vs. Gamma World - A Lesson in What Creator Ownership Can Do

As part of my recent 50th birthday (wooooo lucky me) I ordered all of the Metamorphosis Alpha stuff on Goodman Games' webstore. This includes a deluxe edition for the aging eyes of the special edition rulebook (still waiting for that to arrive) along with a glorious boxed set for Epsilon City and a medley of interesting mini modules and rules plug ins that were all part of the Kickstarter a few years back.

Unlike Gamma World, the ownership of Metamorphosis Alpha, the world's first SF RPG back in 1976, returned to or was retained by it's creator, James, M. Ward. Over the years Ward has attempted various reboots and reprints of the product line, with the last "official" product from TSR being the Amazing Engine powered Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega, which was also coincidentally the last version of the game I ran. 

Ward's savvy as a businessman to retain the rights to his creation (and TSR's enigmatic failure to go draconian....I guess it was early TSR, so they hadn't yet hit full draconian levels yet) worked out well, in the long run. Although the products of Metamorphosis Alpha have at times been either flawed, niche or hard to find, it's remained its own tiny cottage industry of the OSR before anyone had even coined the term, a game eagerly sought out by those in the know, even if we were few.

Gamma World, by contrast, remained TSR's and then WotC's red headed step child for most of its publishing existence, eventually being handed off under license to White Wolf in the early 00's after being ignominiously morphed into an Alternity product, a magazine back article, and eventually a 4th edition D&D-powered beer & pretzels game where the goal was to make the version of Gamma World that reflected the zeitgeist of design for the time. Unfortunately, even for the first four editions of Gamma World, it has more or less been "the other game system," generally written as closely as possible with D&D compatibility in mind.

Even more interesting is how with each revision Gamma World's underlying thematics changed, sometimes ever so slightly (3rd and 4th editions, laboring under the love of Mad Max tried to get a bit more serious), then more profoundly as we had a brief epoch in SF gaming in which the idea of irradiated mutants being fun was overcast by the need to make it Oh So Serious (White Wolf's D20 edition), and in turn seeing the clock not only reset but break completely with the 4E-powered Gamma World which somehow managed to bring back the zanniness while still refusing to directly acknowledge the bleak but gonzo future of the earlier editions, in favor of something more akin to a hyper-charged anime cartoon's logic as if that was somehow better. Maybe it was? 

The point though is that Gamma World, with each iteration, was forced to change to a combination of external pressures: what edition of D&D was floating around at the moment, what the feeling on gonzo post-apocalyptic science fantasy was at that moment, what the publisher thought they needed the product to do and what marketing thought would sell. Gamma World was tugged in a lot of directions.

Moreover, Gamma World now lingers as an unevolved license in WotC/Hasbro's repertoire, not quite famous enough to be considered for revival, and too different from other D&D properties to be revived in the narrow schedule and hyper-aware marketing driven focus of D&D 5th edition. Sure, it is possible Gamma World could be an amazing product with an 8th edition of the game based on D&D 5E, but to do that WotC would have to have confidence it would sell, and even more confidence it would not anger the fans (and the concerned press that aren't really fans but need outrage clicks).

Metamorphosis Alpha, on the other hand, has none of those worries and effectively managed to Kickstart its way to a reprint of the original in all its glory with a metric ton of welcome support. As recently as this last month it's even released a new module, Doom on the Warden, which acts as a grand "Part II" to the Warden's long journey through space. As a setting and product it manages to retain its own identity and its own consistency, and even the unusual deviations (such as the Amazing Engine edition or Signal Fire Studios' odd duck) are remarkably faithful in intent and design. 

Not only is Metamorphosis Alpha still available and in print to play in its original form from 1976, but its later iterations remain closely faithful to the rules and vision of the original, and this consistency means that while someone who played Gamma World over the years might experiences some version of the game, it may not be terribly close to the experience someone else had with a different edition in a different era. But for MA gamers? Very like the differences in their gaming experiences are due to the quirks of the madman--er, GM behind the screen.

Sometimes a creator doesn't know where to go or what to do with the thing which he or she created, but as often as not, they do. James Ward's achievement with Metamorphosis Alpha is 45 years old this year, and I think his dedication to his creation is both admirable and fruitful. There are even a series of fiction anthologies dedicated to the travails of the denizens on Starship Warden (search Amazon!) and all of it retains a core vision that has stood the test of time. So yeah....here we have an example of a franchise done right by its creator, and in sharp contrast to the one that was left behind. 

With any luck, maybe in some smoke-filled back room somewhere Goodman Games is hammering out a deal with WotC to do a "Reincarnated" edition of classic Gamma World, and maybe James Ward will get a chance to step in on it. One can only imagine how great a return to the clarity of the original vision would be with Gamma World. Fingers crossed....I wish I had insider info on this, but alas I only have a firm suggestion to those who are keeping the golden age of RPGs alive: the original Gamma World would be a great game to get the licensing for, to bring it back the way the Metamorphosis Alpha and the D&D Reincarnated modules have done. 

Bad Kickstarter: The Metamorphosis Alpha Situation

I didn't back this Kickstarter, but I did make what appears to be an error in good judgement by purchasing a pre-order print plus PDF copy of the game when it was announced as available a few months ago. The PDF copy remains mostly unread (I really don't enjoy reading PDFs) and after mentioning the game on my blog was directed by others to the history of this title as a Kickstarter. You can read all about the dissatisfaction of the Kickstarter backers here. It says a lot: little to no communication from Jamie Chambers, a product finally in PDF which feels sort of like the end of the road to most, and the possibility that it may never get released in print form. Apparently Jamie Chambers is important to the GAMA trade show group, too.

I don't have a Kickstarter stake in this, but I do have a pre-order. In going to the website I couldn't help but notice that there's no way to communicate with Signal Fire Studios/Jamie Chambers this way. Hmmmm.

The release date on the SF web page says "Fall 2015." The Kickstarter backers appear to have shed all hope for good reason (this one goes back to 2012), but in theory I suppose I need to give him the benefit of the doubt on my regular preorder to the end of fall. After that....and assuming no further updates....then I suppose it's time to inquire with the credit card company.

The New Metamorphosis Alpha

I did not know that there was more than one Metamorphosis Alpha in the works. In addition to the pricey but faithful reprinting of the original at Goodman Games, apparently Signal Fire Studios has a new edition of the game out now in PDF, with a print pre-order available.

I got into RPGs with Gamma World first, and never did get to experience the original Metamorphosis Alpha except posthumously. Later around 1991 or 1992 TSR released their Amazing Engine system with a Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega setting, and I ran a lengthy, amazing campaign.

Anyway, I just ordered it and will try to do a "walk though the rules" ASAP. Finding this today is like walking down the street when a  $100 bill floats by.

Tim Snyder points out on G+ that this actually started as a Kickstarter 3 years ago and is only now coming to fruition....thanks for that detail. Yet another case against backing Kickstarters....this one shows an original release date of September 2012!!! I knew of the Goodman Games Kickstarter but not this one. Yowza.

Still, I'm glad the game is here....and REALLY GLAD I didn't back it eons ago.