This is the first in what I hope will be a long series of posts. I’d like to showcase portions of my gaming collection, along with my relevant thoughts. For something to be in my collection at this late date, what with having become a gamer way back in the 1970s, it should be a given that my interest in and regard for the products remain pretty high. Even if I still haven’t had an opportunity to play some of them. Who knows, maybe I’ll drum up enough interest via these posts to make that finally happen.
What’s ridiculous, and what this series should make clear, is the sheer size of my collection. Who needs this many games? Who could ever play this many games? And most shockingly, I’m not the worst game collector out there! I’m constantly coming across gamers who have much more comprehensive collections, who boast that they really enjoy the collecting aspect, or who just read everything without any intention to play it.
And so it’s worth mentioning that I’m offering some of these items for sale. If you’re interested, read on.
Obviously this series won’t include PDFs and digital assets. I’ve done a lot of online play, and I’ve got a lot of cheat-sheets and references on my hard drive, along with fan-created material, but I don’t really consider those part of my ‘collection.’ Also I can’t really sit and read a PDF, let alone refer to them while running a game.
My Gamma World Collection
We’ll begin the series with the role-playing game Gamma World (GW) from TSR (the D&D people). This isn’t the first time I’ve written about Gamma World and its predecessor, Metamorphosis Alpha (MA): Link. Adventuring in a post-apocalypse environment, ignorant of history and technology, and dealing with the regressed humans and assorted mutants living there is not a unique concept. But it is one of my favorites. I’m not fond of mixing “the return of magic” into the scenario, although that’s been done more than once in fiction and in other games.
Gamma World gives us a gonzo take on the genre without adding magic or elves. And GW incorporates humor. Being exposed to radiation during the game often causes victims to suffer random mutations, growing spare arms or another eye. That’s not what science would lead us to expect, but it’s a lot of fun. Also, human-sized anthropomorphic rabbits can change metal to rubber with a touch. There are killer Venus flytraps and giant chickens. You can stumble across self-aware machine intelligence, murderous robots and flying cars amid the ruins of recognizable fast-food franchises. (Aren’t all restaurants Taco Bell?) It’s an unlikely mix, and ripe for satire.
But let’s open with the original incarnation, Metamorphosis Alpha. Same situation, but on a generation starship. The ship has been journeying through the stars for a long time, there’s been some sort of disaster and descendants of the former crew and potential colonists have been irradiated, and slid way down the techno scale. These poor folk believe that the whole universe is what they see inside the ship. The “sky” is light panels in the ceiling. Plants grow in a thin layer of crumbly material above a layer of metal deck. Food may be found in strange little containers, while water comes from taps. You may have to hunt through the corridors using only a spear. Out in the maze of the wilderness an unwary hunter could find himself facing a hideous monster (they make good eating!), or ambushed by mutant human cannibals (you make good eating!).
I was unable to find Metamorphosis Alpha back in the day, but decades later with the aid of the internet I was finally able to acquire it. And wasn’t I surprised when I learned that Goodman Games was producing a modern line of MA products!
I still haven’t run across folks interested in playing this, but I’d much prefer to be a player and explore the stories that way before I flip the screen around and run a campaign of my own.
Back in the day, instead of publishing a line of MA products, TSR published a “sister” game called Gamma World. Same author, same schtick, but this time set on post-apocalypse Earth. Conjuring images of Ralph Bakshi’s animated film Wizards (but without the magic and faeries), Gamma World was a simple, streamlined game system similar to D&D, that I ran with great enthusiasm. I was also lucky enough to be a player more than a few times. A second edition was published, with expanded rules. I thought that was unnecessary, and actually bogged down the game somewhat as well as burdening GMs.
To make it even worse, a third edition incorporated the rules system from TSR’s well-received Marvel Super Heroes game. Sadly I found that version of the game unplayable. A fourth edition attempted to make the rules more like D&D, but by that time my concept of D&D was at odds with what they were publishing, and I had no urge to inflict it on Gamma World. Subsequent GW editions remained off my radar.
That didn’t mean that I wasn’t interested in adventures that were published for later rules systems. But I stick to running the first edition, and I will play first or second edition. And while I haven’t played Gamma World in years, I’m still quite willing to give it a go. Along with Metamorphosis Alpha.
As time went on I learned that there had been a licensed RPG version of Bakshi’s Wizards! Eventually I was able to acquire that game too, in spite of its rarity. I’m not interested in learning yet another system, but I’d like the chance to run a GW game set in a part of Bakshi’s world, and I hope this will be a great resource.
There remain other fans of these games out there too. Thanks to the internet I’ve stumbled across some derivative work on blogs, which I’ve had printed up for my own reference.
I don’t have duplicates of any of this material. I love it and still want to use it. So potentially-interested readers, I’m afraid that my GW material isn’t for sale. But hopefully you can track down enough to wet your whistle. There’s also an OSR retroclone available, Mutant Future from Goblinoid Games. You can get a free, no-art version of that online. Be aware that Mutant Future runs on the Labyrinth Lord rules (a D&D retroclone) rather than on pure GW, but I would suggest that it’s a close enough experience if you don’t want to track down vintage GW products.
I hope you enjoyed this first installment of Shelby’s Shelfies. I’m looking forward to doing more!
The Michlin Guide 