Hazards of Space and Subspace

Image from 2001: A Space Odyssey © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Ken St. Andre lists three 'game scenarios' for his Starfaring role-playing game:  'standard exploration', 'the planet search contest', and 'alien (or enemy) attack'.  For aliens or enemies, St. Andre suggests either “Human homeworlds...at war and...fighting it out in space,” the Robots, or the Slish.

The Slish are arch-typically B.E.M. in concept, methane breathers, tentacled, the works. They are non-telepathic and unreasonably hostile to all other lifeforms. They have a faster-than-light star drive, but it does not utilize Star Crystals; nor can the Slish enter Subspace. They do not utilize their FTL drive inside solar systems. They seem to be especially interested in gas giant planets, and are most often encountered near one. They do use energy weapons similar in effect to the Shiva beam weapons of humanity, but their shields do not seem to be as powerful as Human shields. Aside from these generalizations, Slish ships vary in quality...

Additionally, the Slish are “octopoid” and they “seem completely immune to the psionic powers of human telepaths.”  We also learn, “No one captured by the Slish has ever returned to tell the tale.”  Apparently, no Slish have ever been captured.  With regard to encountering the Slish in combat...

Attacking Slish ships approach on a constantly corrected straight line towards their target ship, firing at a rate of 5 times per combat turn. This means that while the human ship is making Saving Rolls to determine if it is hit by the Slish who have evolved the technique of firing randomly in the general direction of their randomly evading target, the Slish ship is on a mathematically predictable course; and though they fire 5 times for every once you fire, you will hit the Slish ship every time as long as your Gunnery computer is working.

The 'Space Hazards' chapter begins, “For each turn that a ship is in space, either Subspace or regular space, the G.M. will roll 2 dice.”  How long is a turn?  St. Andre neglects to inform us.  At any rate, a roll of twelve (i.e., 2.77%) indicates “some form of trouble.”  St. Andre supplies two tables – one for 'normal space' and and another for 'subspace' – but invites prospective Galaxy Masters “to add your own inventions to these lists of space hazards.”

The listings for the normal space table are:  Slish (~33%), Galactic Core Radiation (25%), Meteor Strike (~17%), Power Crystal Malfunction (~14%), and Supernova (~11%).  When Galactic Core Radiation is encountered, 1d6 is rolled.  The result is subtracted from Mentality, Physique, and Health; however, the result is added to “Psionic powers.”  Health can be recovered, but “Other characteristics are permanently changed.”  The 'supernova' result is only applicable to “Unstable stars of spectral classes 0, B, and A with masses greater than Sol.”  Supernovae generate a wave of radiation that reduces “the Health of all crew members” by 3d6 and “half that number from the Mentality of all survivors.”  Starships that do not promptly retreat into Subspace “will be vaporized by the expanding shell of superheated gases.”

The entries for the Subspace table are:  “Kthulhus” (~66.7%), “Derbis” (~27.7%), and “Berserkers” (~5.6%).

Kthulhus are the dominant life-form in Subspace. They exist and grow by devouring the slight energy leakage from normal space into Subspace. They are disturbed by the warping of Subspace caused by Starship warpengines, and when they detect it, they will approach and attack the source.

Kthulhus cause crew members to hallucinate; this eventually causes a reduction of Mentality.  “Kthulhus may be driven off or slain,” page 43 tells us, “by psychic blasts of hatred or aversion from a crew member concentrating on the idea of a Kthulhu, and who has a higher psi rating than the Kthulhus rating.”  Derbis is a “Subspace life-form most nearly resembling a rock with eyes.”  It's like dyslexic debris!  A Derbis “thinks, after a fashion,” and desires “to reduce itself to free hydrogen.”  To accomplish this, “they smash into [starships] with glee, [since] the energy shield will disintegrate them.”  The effect on the ship “is similar to Meteor damage in normal space.”  Berserkers are, of course, a reference to Fred Saberhagen's creation.

Who Roves Where Dreamers Seek

Art by Harold S. De Lay

I would take you back with me into an age beside which that of Brennus and Rome is as yesterday.  I would take you back through, not merely centuries and millenniums, but epochs and dim ages unguessed by the wildest philosopher.  Oh far, far and far will you fare into the nighted past before you win beyond the boundaries of my race, blue-eyed, yellow-haired, wanderers, slayers, lovers, mighty in rapine and wayfaring.

                                   – The Valley of the Worm

Today marks the passage of eighty years since the demise of Robert E. Howard.  Rather than focus on the circumstances of his death, let us instead appreciate what he has given us.

The October, 1936, issue of Weird Tales contained the final installment of “Red Nails,” the last Conan story Howard wrote.  About which he said to H. P. Lovecraft, “it well may be the last fantasy I'll ever write” and that it “was the bloodiest and most sexy weird story I ever wrote.”  The illustration above is from that story.

Also contained in said issue is a poetic tribute to Howard by Robert H. Barlow (displayed below), whose other literary efforts include a handful of collaborations with Lovecraft.

In the poem, Barlow conflates Howard with Conan, Howard's most famous creation.  Writers tend to put something of themselves into their characters and there must be something of Howard in Conan.  In my opinion, however, Howard is more like another of his creations, James Allison, a contemporary Texan who recounts heroic past lives.  While Allison is constrained by his own infirmity, Howard is constrained by his mother's infirmity.  Both, of course, take us to “epochs and dim ages unguessed.”

Howard, along with various other luminaries, was written up for GURPS Who's Who 2.  Such write-ups can't help but be subjective; Ernest Hemingway's write-up would easily thrash Howard's write-up in the world of GURPS.  I would like to think that “Two-Gun Bob” would put up a good fight against “Papa,” but what do I know?  Anyway, using a tortuous conversion process from GURPS to Hero System to (A)D&D, I have fashioned Howard in terms of “the world's most popular role-playing game.”

Robert E. Howard, a.k.a. Ervin the Mighty (2nd Level Fighter)
Strength  16
Dexterity  12
Constitution  14
Intelligence  14
Wisdom  14
Charisma  15

Add a 'Survival' non-weapon proficiency, roll hit points, and equip to taste.

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P.S. – Readers may be interested in a guest post I recently wrote for the eminently readable Schlock Value blog.

Magic World (1982)

Art by Luise Perenne

Even counting the inner front and back covers, Magic World – the fantasy-genre portion of Steve Perrin's Worlds of Wonder – has only 18 pages.  Discounting illustrations and whatnot, there are but 16 pages of gaming material divided into five sections:  additions to the Basic Role-Playing rules, magic, creatures, treasures, and a sample scenario complete with pre-generated characters.

The 'additions' section includes skills, weapons, and combat options not covered in the Basic Role-Playing booklet as well as descriptions of “professions” that are analogous to character classes:  warrior, rogue, and sage.  (Sorcerers are covered in the magic section.)  For a character to be accepted into a profession, a certain number or less must be rolled on 1d%.  For warriors, the number is the sum of all characteristics.  For sages, the number is 5 × Intelligence.  For sorcerers, the number is the sum of Power and Intelligence (+1 for every hundred silver Crowns given to the Sorcerers' Guild).  There are no acceptance requirements for rogues.  Being accepted into a profession grants a character increased starting values in appropriate skills.  Beginning sorcerers get four spells at a proficiency percentage equal to 3 × Intelligence.

Magic World defines two “methods” of magical effects:  sorcery and ceremonial.  Sorcery is the use of “chants and mnemonics to produce immediate magical effects.”  Ceremonial magic...

...involves the use of ritual and days-long ceremony, usually to compel other beings or work one's will upon inorganic forces.  Such magics are subdivided into Wizardry (binding demons), Necromancy (raising and otherwise controlling the dead), Enchantment (making magical items), and Alchemy (making magical substances).

Ceremonial magic is not further described in Magic World since it is not usually the province of active adventurers.  Two dozen spells are described, about half of which also appear in The Adventurer's Handbook at the same prices.  While Magic World has 'Blast', the equivalent spell in The Adventurer's Handbook is 'Blaser', a contraction of “bionic laser.”

The 'Creatures' section describes twelve types of entity, including dragons, dwarves, and horses.  The Adventurer's Handbook has several of these creatures, although not necessarily with the same amount of detail.  If a Magic World ghost succeeds in an attack, the victim loses consciousness.  Interestingly, a successful attack from a ghost as described in The Adventurer's Handbook “may cause the target to flee, do as the ghost wishes, become unconscious, or whatever.”  Although Magic World only describes a dozen 'creatures', the Basic Role-Playing booklet contains armor and hit point ratings for sixty “natural animals, monsters, and intelligent races.”  Here is a brief selection:

Magic World demons each have 1d6+1 demonic features, the list of which is presented below.  Duplicate results can be re-rolled or cause the effect of the feature to double.

Using magical items requires use of an “activating phrase” which a sorcerer can discovering using a Vision spell.

The words are usually ones hard to pronounce and enunciate clearly, to guard against accidental activation, so the user of these artifacts must make a luck roll of POW × 5% to create the effect.

About one percent of enchanted items are “intelligent artifacts” that “have had demons placed in them.”

The user commands the demon on a successful roll of POW vs. the demon's POW.  If successful, the user can then command the demon for a day...[to cast] its spells.

If an intelligent artifact is somehow broken, “the demon is loosed.”

Not surprisingly, Magic World has almost no setting information.  However, we are introduced to “the city of New Sarnath in the Kingdom of Far Dales.”  Listed languages include Elven, Troll, Tzandian (old and not old), and Zirconian.  The provided pre-generated characters include Havnor (a warrior), Endras (an 'adventurer'), and the alliteration trio:  Sangor the Sorceror (sic), Rugbel the Rogue, and Sherl the Sage.  Endras is presented as a veteran of the sample scenario from the Basic Role-Playing booklet and thus is the proud owner of a suit of ring mail and a healing potion.

As an added bonus, here are the 'character silhouettes' provided with the Worlds of Wonder set.

Wonders and Dreams and Worlds Ulterior

Art by Virgil Finlay

H. P. Lovecraft passed away on March 15, 1937.  That year's July issue of Weird Tales included “To Howard Phillips Lovecraft,” a memorial poem written by Lovecraft's friend, Clark Ashton Smith.  I provide that elegy below, seventy-eight years after Lovecraft's demise.

Ode to a Faceless God

Robert Bloch's “The Faceless God” appeared in the May 1936 issue of Weird Tales accompanied by the Virgil Finlay illustration shown at top.  Inspired by the drawing, H. P. Lovecraft submitted a poem to the magazine.  By the time the poem (above) was published in the July 1937 issue, Lovecraft had died.

Here There Be Monsters

Art by Liz Danforth

The Dungeon Masters Guide devoted seven paragraphs to the idea of “The Monster as a Player Character.”  Basically, Gygax advised that players should not be allowed to play monster characters.  At one point, he relented enough to state, “The truly experimental-type player might be allowed to play...a monster character for a time so as to satisfy curiosity.”  At the end of an essay of discouragement, Gygax finally said Dungeon Masters can do what they want with their own worlds but still admonished, “you are virtually on your own with regard to monsters as player characters.”  This dissuasive attitude was something of a departure from Holmes' remarks two years earlier:  “At the Dungeon Master's discretion a character can be anything his or her player wants him to be.  Characters must always start out inexperienced and relatively weak...”  While permissive, Holmes supplied no other guidance.

Not only did Tunnels & Trolls allow player characters to be monsters, but Ken St. Andre designed a T&T compatible game where player characters could only be monsters.  This game – Monsters! Monsters! – was published three years before Gygax advised against the concept and one year before Holmes' minimal concession.

The original Tunnels & Trolls did not have descriptions for monsters.  Dungeon Masters – yes, the original rules referred to Dungeon Masters – were expected to design their own.  However, monsters in T&T were defined by a number called 'monster rating'.  “Very puny monsters...have ratings below 30,” St. Andre wrote, “Very powerful monsters might have individual ratings up in the hundreds.”  The number of dice rolled for a monster in combat was based on its rating (eventually simplified to monster rating divided by ten).  On the first 'conflict turn', half of the monster rating was added to the dice total.  On subsequent conflict turns, only one-quarter was added.  Damage was subtracted from monster rating; as monsters suffered damage, the damage they were able to inflict was reduced.

Monsters! Monsters! was “produced and edited” by Steve Jackson and was published by Metagaming.  Monster ratings weren't a part of M!M! ; each monster was a character and was defined by attributes just like “normal” player characters.  A player could choose a type of monster to play or draw a random playing card; each of the 52 monsters on the monster table was associated with a specific card.  A character might be a balrog (king of diamonds) or a slime-mutant (two of hearts) or even human scum (two of clubs).  As the mention of 'balrog' suggests, various literary monsters were provided:  From Tolkien, along with balrogs, there were hobbits (technically 'black hobbits' due to their categorization as monsters) as well as orcs (and half-orcs); Tsathoguas from C. A. Smith; shoggoths and night-gaunts from Lovecraft; Snarks (misspelled 'Shark' in the Monster Glossary) from Lewis Carroll; shadowjacks from Zelazny; and M!M! demons were inspired by L. Sprague de Camp's works.  The table provides attribute multipliers for the various monsters.  (For instance, a yeti multiplies its strength by four while a gremlin multiplies its constitution by one-half.)  These attribute multipliers allowed detailed monster creation in T&T and also provided means to create non-human (but non-monstrous) player characters types like elves and dwarves.

Experience points were awarded in M!M! for expected behavior like acquiring treasure and killing or conquering enemies, but also for obtaining attractive captives of the opposite sex (“No points for ugly people”), destructiveness (including “wanton cruelty” and “general rottenness”), and sating one's appetite.

Just as 'normal' characters went dungeon delving in T&T, characters in M!M! were expected to raid settlements.  To this end, a sample farming village was mapped and described, the inn of the village was mapped and described in greater detail.  Attributes were supplied for various residents (with names like Desmond Mudminder, Bolinger Zangala, and Gort Glibtongue).  While these residents are targets in M!M!, they could easily serve as typical non-player characters in a traditional game.  St. Andre encouraged Game Masters (thus called in Monsters! Monsters! ) to create their own settings for monsters to invade.  St. Andre mentioned he designed Khosht, a city with a population of  20,000, for use in his games.

From St. Andre's Monsters! Monsters! Introduction:

So it was only natural that the monsters should come out of their tunnels and dungeons to strike back at the smug world of Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, etc., who had been so greedily despoiling their homes and treasures...A monster lives by a completely different code of ethics, affording a splendid opportunity to get rid of the impure and perverted impulses which affect most of us – impulses it's hard to express while playing a hero.

The Many Worlds of METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA

Over three months ago, I expressed my intent to perform a cover-to-cover analysis of Metamorphosis Alpha (First Edition). Rather than going from beginning to end, I skipped around so as to illustrate my points more effectively; nonetheless, while not painstakingly thorough, I feel that I have accomplished my goal. There is little else in Metamorphosis Alpha I can address. This is not to say there is little else in the game, merely there is little else about which I can provide additional insight by virtue of commentary. It is thus that your humble host concludes his scrutiny of James Ward's memorable contribution to the world of role-playing games and peregrinates to other offerings.

It is my sincere hope that readers have found my posts to be of at least meager value and that – perhaps – I have prompted some new degree of interest in this classic game. As a reminder, a print copy of the first edition is available via Lulu. For those that have a preference for new-fangled electronic documents, a PDF of the first edition (including a sheet of trendy hex paper) is available via RPGNow. Ongoing support is available at the official Metamorphosis Alpha forums. Also, generous readers should consider joining the Friends of Starship Warden.

The title of this post is taken directly from the back cover of the first edition. Any given level of the Warden may be considered a 'world' (as I discussed previously); however, I believe Ward intended for referees to create their own 'worlds' of Metamorphosis Alpha and that he described the Starship Warden merely as an example. I am not surprised that many referees latched onto Ward's 'example' as the basis for their campaigns; I can think of two reasons for this. First, the necessary preparations for “moderating” a campaign requires a considerable commitment of time; the less a referee has to do, the better. Second, Ward asked referees to venture forth on the sea of imagination. Yes, many referees entered that sea but, in the early era of role-playing, they were too timid to leave the sight of land. The rulebook represented their safety zone, their anchor (to continue with the nautical analogy). Of course, there were some who did create their own worlds – perhaps to a greater extent than Ward envisioned. Metamorphosis Alpha was certainly the inspiration for Synnibarr and Jorune and (as discussed in the comments of this post) there are many similarities to be found in Paranoia.

Among the 'variants' of Metamorphosis Alpha, there is one presented by Guy McLimore in issue six of (The) Dragon (April 1977). In his article, “Clone Bank Alpha: An Alternate Beginning Sequence for Metamorphosis Alpha,” McLimore posits a different way for player characters to begin the game. 'Clone Bank Alpha' was an emergency protocol for the Warden; however, its execution was delayed due to the disaster. Player characters are clones of the ship's (former) crew. They are 'activated' in order to resolve the predicating emergency. Alas, the 'memory implants' were incomplete; the clones realize they exist to solve a problem, but they lack some of the necessary knowledge to do so. Any given clone may have mutations.

Players may choose from among major and minor skills, but the number of skills is determined randomly. Among the major skills are 'Medical Officer' (“Can heal 1 point of damage per man per day with minimal equipment”) and 'Computer Technician' (which is not described). Among the minor skills are 'Food Service Technician' (“25 per cent chance to identify harmful substances”) and 'Shuttlecraft Pilot' (“Able to fly ship's shuttle vehicles”). There is a 1% chance of a character obtaining a “special skill.” Although the seven special skills are for humans only, the seem much like mutations: Psionic Healer, Machine Talent, Immortal, Probability Shifter, Resurrection Talent, Mental Battery, and Ability Duplicator.

For what they are worth, I provide a few of my own imaginings with regard to Metamorphosis Alpha.

Radiation in Metamorphosis Alpha (“foreign to all previously known radiation types”) functions much like radiation in comic books. To me it seems somewhat silly. What if, instead of a radiation cloud, the Warden encountered a colossal swarm of nanotechnology? This technology could have been created by alien beings eons previous to the disaster. For ages these things could have existed in space replicating themselves over and over. Eventually, minor changes would creep into their programmatic code; they would evolve (or devolve). Upon encountering the Warden, they attempt to 'communicate' by interacting with the genetic code of the inhabitants. Due to the alien nature of the nanotechnology, communication is not feasible; however, they continue with their attempts. The nanotechnology interaction is fatal in a great many cases, but sometimes 'mutations' result.

Well-studied readers may recall that in the “Azathoth” fragment, Lovecraft made reference “to many secret vistas whose existence no common eye suspects” among the voids between the stars. What if the Warden came into the gravitational pull of one of the “dark stars” of the old ones?

Finally, what if the Warden is really a prison (as its name might suggest)? The current inhabitants are descendants of the original prisoners (humans and aliens) and do not realize the nature of their world. Perhaps the civilization that incarcerated the original prisoners has collapsed, yet its efficient construct, the Warden, persists in its ceaseless function.