This new edition of Metamorphosis Alpha was funded by Kickstarter and, although there is nothing that new as regards setting, it features a completely new game system, System 26 by Jamie Chambers.
As you may or may not know MA is set on the Starship Warden, a massive Ark style spaceship, built to be indestructible (Titanic anyone ?) until it ran into an unforeseen circumstance. As characters you play, primitive, survivors of the cataclysm that has engulfed the good ship Warden.
System 26 uses a d6 dice pool system, where you can usually, except in extraordinary conditions, roll no more than 5 dice. Successes are gained by rolling 3+ on easy difficulty, 4+ on normal difficulty and 5+ on hard difficulty. You only need one success to achieve a marginal result and more successes result in greater success at the task. A very simple, and I think, great system.
As a character you have the choice of being Pure Breed Human, Mutated Human, Mutated Animal or Mutated Plant. Each has some basic Basics, all Mutant characters start with mutations (more good mutations if you wish to take a bad mutation). All characters also have 19 Traits (Skills) all initially valued at 2d6. You can raise 1 Trait to Amazing (+3d), 2 to Good (+2d), 2 to Competent (+1d), 2 to Hopeless (-2d) and 3 to Weak (-1d). You can also pick Qualities which are specialized skills that can add (Talent) or subtract (Liability) dice from a Trait roll.
Like SotDL you can pick your Traits (+ and -) and Mutations or roll randomly if you are a follower of Chaos theory ;-)
All mutations have a dice value and you get to pick or roll for. You can start with 6d worth of beneficial mutations and you have the option of taking up to 4d defects to gain an equal number of extra beneficial mutations. Extra mutations (+and -) are also picked up as you go along.
There is lots of pretty nifty tech hanging around as long as you can work out how to use it ;-)
Last words of Slobbo the Barbarian "Oh, this funny box like thing has started making this ticking sound when I pulled out this bit, that's nice ......."
On my shortlist (which is a pretty long list) of future games to try................
http://geekdad.com/2015/07/new-metamorphosis-alpha/
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