Fantasy Grounds: Metamorphosis Alpha

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I am scoping out the amount of work it would take to port James M. Ward's 32-page 1976 RPG, Metamorphosis Alpha to Fantasy Grounds.

Would this be big job?

Thanks,

Craig J. Brain

[Foen]

Not being overly familiar with the RPG, it is hard to say. The number of pages is a clue, but not always definitive ;o)

[Foen]

BTW, a very warm welcome to these forums - please let us us know if we can help at all.

Stuart

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the welcome :)

Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition (MA1e) has a level of complexity nearly on a par with Basic D&D.

Metamorphosis Alpha 1st Edition looks like it might be a slightly tricky conversion to FGII. It doesn't have classes as such. You can be either a mutant or a human (unless you play a robot, using the rules from Dragon Magazine). Mutants and Humans have their own character sheets (Human (https://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=57838) & Mutant (https://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=57839) sheets).

Is there a way FGII can handle two or more types of character sheets for different "classes"?

How would FGII handle the effects of mutations in MA1e? I imagine that it would be a lot like spells.

Thanks!

Craig J. Brain

[[email protected]]

I imagine that this isn't that hard a task for somebody familiar with this system. If there is somewhere here I can post a "Help Wanted - Will Pay" notice?

Thanks very much,

Craig J. Brain

[Foen]

You might want to take a look at the Labyrinth Lord ruleset: it adapts the character sheet to reflect the class (LL is a BECM D&D look-alike). Similarly (but a bit more complex) the WoD ruleset uses different character sheets for vampires, werewolves etc.

These rulesets (which are free) can be found on the FG Wiki, here (https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/Main_Page).

Stuart

[[email protected]]

Thanks Stuart!

I just checked that out :) I am very familiar with LL and am a fan. The LL rules are a lot more detailed that in MA1e, so I live in hope :)

I would be keen to make a MA1e ruleset, and market it here, as C&C has done. Unfortunately, I am no programmer (I can do a little, but not well enough for a project like this!) I think I need to find some professional help to get the rules and the look of the tabletop right. I am open to suggestions on this.

Your response sounds like it could handle more than 1 type of character sheet. That's great!

Thanks,

Craig J. Brain

[drahkar]

Te advantage of Fantasy Grounds II over all other VTT platforms that I've seen is that you can honestly make it do almost anything because its built around the LUA scripting Engine. Instead of being 'Is this possible?' it becomes, 'What is the level of effort to do this?'

As to marketing the system, PM ddavison and he can help with that aspect. Although if you don't have the rights to the system, that permission has to be secured first.

[[email protected]]

Jim Ward owns the rights. Jim Ward and I are working together on Metamorphosis Alpha, so rights are not a problem.

I have PM'd ddavidson, and will keep my fingers crossed :)

Thanks!

Craig J. Brain

[mr_h]

For some reason Metamorphisis Alpha rings a bell, but I'm pretty sure I never played it. Went and looked it up on wiki and remembered. A friend of mine when I was a kid mentioned that he had heard of a sci game on a spaceship, but couldn't recall the name :b

We ended up playing Star Frontiers instead (cause I found that one), but I might have to snag this and take a peek now.

[[email protected]]

Yep,

I remember Star Frontiers very well :) Metamorphosis Alpha is an old game, but it is still around. Being able to port it to a virtual tabletop would be a wonderful facility for our players :)

Craig J. Brain

[[email protected]]

We ended up playing Star Frontiers instead (cause I found that one), but I might have to snag this and take a peek now.

I hope you enjoy what you find :) Obviously I love the game, but I am biased :)

Craig J. Brain

[[email protected]]

Hi All!

Now for a different question. I have an adventure module all set to go (got a few actually). I have artwork in the pipeline and once it arrives, I will be ready to assign an ISBN and print it. How difficult is it to convert such a module to FGII?

It has text boxes for what the players see, it has all kinds of extra info for the characters to find. It's a single story building with about 15 or so rooms and a dozen robots and mutants for the characters to encounter.

[Foen]

If you have a copy of the Full licence, you should find it quite straightforward. Start a new campaign using your ruleset, and add the story entries, maps, images, and NPCs, then use the /export command to create a module using that material.

For some more complex stuff, you may need to get your hands dirty in the exported XML after the event, but it doesn't sound like that applies to your project.

Of course, you need a ruleset first...

Foen

[[email protected]]

If you have a copy of the Full licence, you should find it quite straightforward. Start a new campaign using your ruleset, and add the story entries, maps, images, and NPCs, then use the /export command to create a module using that material.

For some more complex stuff, you may need to get your hands dirty in the exported XML after the event, but it doesn't sound like that applies to your project.

Of course, you need a ruleset first...

Foen

Been talking to Doug Davidson about that :)

Thanks for the explanation.

Craig J. Brain

[[email protected]]

Well, it looks like we are on! I am one very happy camper and have created a topic on our forums to discuss this. Please click on the link in my signature and join our forums for access. Happy to also talk here.

[[email protected]]

Hi Doug!

Any news on this project?

Craig J. Brain

[[email protected]]

Well,

It's been five years, so it's no scoop that we didn't get this off the ground. Just couldn't get the interest at the time. Still, that's a fair time ago and a lot has changed. We've had Goodman Games on the scene now, with the release of the massive kickstarter for a large print hardcover of the book with new content. About a dozen or so modules and expansions and now we have the possibility of an Epsilon City boxed set (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1409961192/metamorphosis-alpha-epsilon-city)!

For those of you interested, please feel free to join in discussion and see if we can build interest in getting Metamorphosis Alpha onto Fantasy Grounds here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MetamorphosisAlphaRPG/. With some of the talented artists and writers that Goodman Games have provided, and Jim Ward's classic, simple rules, this could be great if we can pull it off.

As an Australian gamer, I would love nothing more than to be able to play a game of Metamorphosis Alpha with friends in Perth, Adelaide and Jim Ward in the US all in the same session. I could see that happening with Fantasy Grounds II.

Regards,

Craig J. Brain
WardCo.

[leozelig]

Awesome, I would love to see this on Fantasy Grounds!

[[email protected]]

Awesome, I would love to see this on Fantasy Grounds!

I am going to keep plugging away at this to see if we can get enough interest.

Craig J. Brain
WardCo.

[damned]

Goodman Games have been pretty muted/low-key about Dungeon Crawl Classics. leozelig has done a very fine job with his community DCC ruleset but had a dissapointing reposne from GG from what I understand...

[vodokar]

I have news for you. I already have plans to make this my next ruleset.

Unlike others that may have failed you. I won't. I didn't drop the ball with the AD&D ruleset. I won't fail here. In fact, as the rules of MA are simpler, it should be a much easier project compared to what I had to do for AD&D.

I just need to decide whether it should be layered on C&C like I did with AD&D, on 3.5, or possibly it could be just an extension to my existing ruleset that reskins and moves some stuff around. Need to study the MA rules a bit more and then consider the options.

[Jay_NOLA]

32 pages plus the errata that was in dragon. I can help with some data entry. One Goodman Games release has all the errata & supplemental magazine articles. Tghey are still doing stuff for the old 1st edition version and have the current rights.

Mutations would be done as Spells, but with less detail.

Have you looked at modifying More Core?

[vodokar]

I will be able to do the ruleset. I don't know about any of the manuals. James Ward might be cool about it, don't know, but he has always seemed cool, but Goodman Games might have a say in that and from what people tell me, they aren't.

[Morbius_of_Oz]

Hi All!

I've been off the forums for a while and just came back, with the release of FG II for OS X.

I worked with Jim Ward to bring MA1e back to print on Lulu and via DriveThru, and to publish the first official adventure module for the game. I know Jim still owns all the rights to the 32 page book, and wrote to Jim to see if he'd be interested in seeing this happen. I also raised the prospect of seeing if Mr Goodman of Goodman Games might be interested in doing this for his company's MA products.

It costs nothing to ask.

Regards,

Craig J. Brain

[damned]

Hi Craig - what are the core game mechanics/rolls?

[Morbius_of_Oz]

Hi Damned,

The base mechanic is 3d6. Abilities are rolled using 3d6, combat is run using 3d6 on a matrix of Weapon Class vs Armor Class, and ability checks are done against the relevant matrix using 3d6.

[Morbius_of_Oz]

Damned,

The game relies on a lot of tables, including some special tables for individual weapons. Some weapons do less or more damage because of the size of the target as well.

[LordEntrails]

I suspect Damned asked that as a little bit of a leading question. Instead of making a ruleset, have you considered using MoreCore? You could then make content/modules for all the lookup tables and even a graphical theme.

[Morbius_of_Oz]

LordEntrails,

I'll take a look at MoreCore. I had not considered it at all.

Thanks,

Craig

[Old-DM]

I would be willing to pay $20 for a quality MA1e ruleset for FGII. Played MA1e off and on for decades. Been a Gm/Dm of D&D since 1974 or 1975 (That is why I am called Old-Dm). I can't code, but I can covet someone else's hard work and then purchase the fruits of that labor.
Good Luck and keep us informed.

[Morbius_of_Oz]

Old-DM,

I am in a similar situation to yours. I have a full time job and two part-time jobs. I love to play RPGs, but don't have the time to learn to code and then convert a rules set to FG II. Even when I have tried to ask how much such a project might cost, so I could gather my funds to arrange it, I got responses that I should just program it myself. Much as I love FG II, it looks like I will have little use for it in the end.

Craig J. Brain

[Morbius_of_Oz]

Hi All!
I am getting back into using FGU, and will have the updated software installed shortly. I will then start looking at this again :)

Craig J. Brain

[damned]

I just thumbed thru MA 1.1 and it is one hot mess!

[Morbius_of_Oz]

An awesome game, but so many ideas just not well suited to translating into FGU. Protein disruptors for one, as previously mentioned.

I've been rewriting some of the rules to keep the spirit of the game, but make them usable on the platform.

[damned]

Sorry. I meant in its layout etc compared to more recent games. You should definitely engage with Bayne7400 and see where that leads you.

[Morbius_of_Oz]

I'll do that! Thanks for the suggestion!