Metamorphosis Alpha was released by TSR in 1976. In the first edition, the game takes place on the giant starship Warden which some time in the distant past met with a cataclysmic event that killed most of the colonists and crew. The player characters initially think they’re on some sort of primitive planet having long forgotten the nature of their environment or how to understand and use technology. As they begin to adventure through the starship they begin to encounter strange mutated creatures. Sort of like Dungeons & …

Cast of Characters
Shen Mao – White Hat Shaolin Monk
Jesse – Young White Hat Traveler, accompanying Shen Mao
Johnathan Williams – White Hat Scholar and Scientist
Buck – Grey Hat Fighting Man, and hired guard for Williams
It’s 9 years since the end of the Civil War and 5 since the valour of the 10th Cavalry Regiment and influx of investment from Chinese Merchants led the government to extend voting rights to all free men. It’s only been a few months since stories of strange animals and missing miners have made their way out …

I’m still thinking about a better title for this campaign and the (growing) set of rules that will go with it. I think “Swords of Cydonia” is a bit too obscure a title and perhaps something like “Knights of The Weird West” might be better. Any suggestions?
At any rate, here’s the next character class, and one that requires a few more rules to go with it. The Magician is somewhat like the Magic User in a more traditional Fantasy RPG, but I wanted to bring in …

I had previously written an article on Gunpowder & Firearms in Dungeons & Dragons in which I’d suggested rules such as “Exploding Dice” (any time you roll maximum damage you can roll again for additional damage) and Armor Penetration (reduce the AC bonus from armour by 4 points).
Reflecting on some of the comments (thanks Timeshadow and Zzarchov!) and some of my more recent thinking about how I want firearms to work in my game, I’m going to revise my earlier rules for Firearms with the following instead:
Firearms
Armor Penetration
Armor is less …

Let’s kick off 2010 in style!
Today is the first day of the Design A Dungeon Room Contest. Create an interesting stand alone room in an Old School style dungeon. Your room could contain a creature encounter, a devious trick or trap, a mysterious NPC to interact with — anything you think would make your room an interesting addition to a classic subterranean dungeon. All entries are part of the same larger dungeon, so keep your entry specific to what adventurers find within your specific room. There’s no …