#trampier

Game night! David A. Trampier, “Magic Mouth.” Illustration for AD&D 1st Edition Player’s Handbook (TSR, 1978).

Gamma World is the spiritual successor to James M. Ward’s previous game, Metamorphosis Alpha. Like its predecessor, it involves mutants and salvaged technology and the mixing of fantasy and science fiction, but instead of the societal breakdown happening on a massive colony ship in space, Gamma World is set on our own planet, hundreds of years after a nuclear incident. That makes it the first post-apocalyptic RPG. That move from ship to planet was at the behest of the players, who wrote many letters asking for a planet.

Much of Gamma World’s appeal is in the game’s mutations, adapted from the earlier Metamorphosis Alpha. There are human beings unaffected by the cascades of radiation in the environment, but also many new species of flora, fauna and intelligent humanoids. Basically, any regular animal of our world has a good chance of having mutated into a humanoid version with their own culture and a silly name. Like the Hoops, which are eight and a half foot tall technology-obsessed rabbit people who can, for reasons unclear, turn metal objects into rubber. Other animals remain beasts, just of a different sort, like Centisteeds, which are horses with elongated bodies supported by 16 legs (ew). Random mutation, both physical and mental (think Scanners), is also possible and rapidly leads to combinations that range from silly to terrifying to pitiful. The rulebook is full of lovingly rendered illustrations by Dave Trampier depicting mutants both hopeless and hilarious. Speaking of, how gorgeous is that cover?

This is Dragon Magazine 16, from July of 1978. It is the first of many Dean Morrissey covers. I love this guy’s work! Such a moody, almost monochromatic color palette. Looks like this warrior has been startled away and is going for his sword. I wonder what he’s looking at outside the frame?

Let’s take a look at some of the B-series modules this week. B is for Basic and it doesn’t get any more basic than B1: In Search of the Unknown (1979, 1981), by Mike Carr.

This, obviously, is intended as an introduction scenario, for use with the 1977 Holmes D&D Basic Set (yellow cover) and then revised and reissued for the 1981 Moldvay Basic Set (brown cover). Until the release of the Mentzer Red Box in 1983, this was pretty much the gold standard learn-by-playing D&D module. Even now, I think it works as a solid introduction to both the pillars of play and the essentials of DMing.

The plot beats form the formula of many adventures to come. Players hear rumors of treasure in the Caverns of Quasqueton, where a number of monsters lurk, as well as a fighter and a mage who’ve made the upper reaches their stronghold. There are traps, there are magic pools, bars to be bent (I’ll be damned if that Sutherland illustration didn’t inspire the bending bars scene in Conan the Destroyer). There are forests of giant fungi. There are the lower reaches, which are left largely undetailed, so the DM can flesh them out on their own. As a classic dungeon, I am not sure I can think of one that so perfectly verges on archetypical.