Gamma World and MA Interview with Jim Ward

Note: FastForward Games is no longer in business. You can find current MA activities here.

Introduction:

The creator and designer of Metamorphsis Alpha and Gamma World, Jim Ward has taken time 
out for his busy schedule to answer some questions about himself, MA, GA, and Fast 
Forward Entertainment.

Thanks Jim!






METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA 
25th Anniversary Edition 

A creative mix of the old rules with more up-to-date rules. 

The new verson has the Starship Warden ram into an alien asteroid. Instantly deadly 
alien radiation fills the ship and turns all the unprotected humans into piles of 
white dust leaving only robots to fix the problems caused to the artificial intelligences 
by the radiation. What is a poor robot to do? 



Background Section: 

Q. Can you tell us about yourself? 

JMW: I'm 50 years old, I have three grown sons and three grandchildren. I live in rural 
America and like it that way. I have gamed all my life. I have a very tolerant wife who 
lets me game all I want. My favorite color is candy apple red, I listen to a lot of Jazz, 
I have a teaching degree with majors in History and English. I'm a terrible speller and 
grammar causes me lots of problems, but that's very consistant with all designers in my 
experience. I read Tom Swift, Hardy Boys, and lots of comics as a kid. I can remember 
the day comic books raised their prices from 8 cents to ten cents, it was a black day 
in my memory. 

Q. Can you tell us of your background in the gaming industry? 

JMW: I started writing games in 1975 with Gods, DemiGods & Heroes a D&D supplement and 
Metamorphosis Alpha, the first science fiction role playing game.  I worked for TSR as 
a freelancer from 1974 to 1980. They hired me in 80 and let me go in 84. They hired me 
back in 1986 and I became the Vice President of games and worked there until  
the owner wanted me to fire 20 hard working employees and I left, not wanting to do it. 
I haven't done anything for TSR since then. I've worked as a freelancer for several 
other companies with some success. At this moment I'm the president of Fast Forward 
games and we make lots of d20 product and a few things that aren't d20. 


Q. Can you tell us about your game design experience? 

My game design experience and what I've designed are much the same. I started out 
doing up D&D and AD&D products. My Metamorphosis Alpha game I'm actually reprinting in 
a 25th anniversary version on April 8 of this year. I've designed almost everything 
there is to design in games from computer games, to role playing products to CCGs. 
Currently my Dragon Ball Z design is the best selling card game out there. 

In short it's a long list of credits, that I'm very proud of. 


Q. What are your views on current state of the industry? 

JMW: Currently gamers are part of what I call the Nintendo generation. Generally they 
don't want to game for hours at a time. They want something to play that is done in 
30 minutes. That makes designing games an interesting challenge. 


Q. What other current or future projects are you involved with? 

JMW: My company puts out a product a month. At this instant I'm writing a Green Races 
Hardbound book. My biggest task is getting the 2003 schedule figured out by April 1, 
the date was picked on purpose. 


Q.  From Reginald Blue:  You (as many of us fans) seem drawn to the 
Post-Apocalyptic style games. What is it about them that hold so much charm for you? 

JMW: I adore reading novels about what would happen if the world civilization fell apart. 
Although I'm a very optimistic person that idea of trying to survive in a world gone mad 
is very interesting to me. 

Along the same lines I love reading fantasy fiction where the poor main characters come 
from our world and are thrust into a fantasy setting. I'm sure I would end up cut in half 
by the first sword I faced, but it's lots of fun to think about. 

Q. From Reginald Blue:   What book (presumably of fiction) most influences your work 
when you think of, and work on, MA and when you had worked on Gamma World? 


JMW: Starship by Brian Aldiss was my big MA influence. Robert Heinlien also wrote a book
about a lost starship. I read so much that it's hard to pin down one work for Gamma World. 
I do love to read. 






By the early 23rd Century, mankind’s urge to explore and expand had reached the limits 
of the Solar System. The only remaining frontier lay beyond the reach of the sun. 
So began the great push into the vastness of interstellar space. The first interstellar 
vessels explored the nearest stars. Hundreds of habitable worlds were discovered at 
Earth's edge of the Milky Way galaxy. Soon, a great migratory wave of colonists, 
explorers, refugees, and pilgrims was spreading outward from Old Terra. During the next 
century, colonization ships of all types and descriptions went to the stars, bearing 
seedling colonies seeking a better life. Most found their new homes, for better or for 
worse. But for one reason or another, scores of these starships never reached their 
destinations. 


This game is based on one such event, the fate of the lost science ship Warden.




Q. How did the original MA come into existence? 


JMW: I was playing D&D with Gary Gygax in 1974 and since I loved science fiction as much 
as I loved fantasy I suggested that he needed to do a science fiction version of the game.
He was nice enough to suggest that since he was busy writing other things that I should 
try writing up something and MA was born. 


Q. When first creating MA and later GW, did you ever expect to make a living at writing 
rpgs or was it just a labor of love? 


JMW: In those very early days of role playing I had no idea that I would be making a career
out of writing games, but it has made me a very good living over the years. 


Q. What part did MA have in the development of Gamma World? 


JMW: All I knew when I started the GW project was that I needed to do a larger planet 
based version of the game with lots more of everything. 


Q. There has been a lot of discussion about the Woo Hoo factor vs 
serious/dark factor that was present in MA and GW. What are your feelings 
on having the Woo Hoo factor and why is it important to MA and GW? 


JMW: I am actually very divided on the serious factor and the Woo Hoo factor. Games that 
have Woo Hoo status are real fun to play, but are rarely taken seriously and hardly ever 
generate long term playability which is what every game company wants. Games that take 
themselves very seriously often have players who will play forever, but there aren't as 
many players. It's a difficult road to balance both of those concepts. I generally tend 
toward chaos in my design which generates lots of Woo Hoo and I often have to be held back. 


Q. Can you go into some details of Gamma World? What did you enjoy about the game? What 
was your favorite item, monster, robot? 


JMW: The Gamma World flow chart for figuring out items is my favorite feature of the game.
I have enjoyed many hours of my players trying to figure out really normal things. The 
security robot is my favorite robot followed closely by the death machine. I'm a huge fan 
of the black ray gun. 


Q. Many people have heard of your famous MA/GW games. Can you give us some background on 
your own personal campaign(s)? 


JMW: I have run a lot of games of both MA and GW, probably hundreds of them at conventions.
My favorite scenerio is where the novice group of gamers is transported just as they are 
to Gamma World and they have to survive knowing what they know today. I am also a great fan
of the Tribal Walk About where the young of the tribe have to wander the blasted plains of
the world until they find something or someone interesting enough to bring back with them 
to the tribe. 


Q. Where do you run your games at? 

JMW: I've run my games in hotel rooms with twenty people playing to class rooms with three 
people playing. In April I'm running a big game at a sales distributor office. I'll run a 
game almost anywhere and any when. 


Q. Can you tell us about a favorite moment or incident that occurred? 

JMW: one of my favorite moments was when Gary Gygax was playing in my MA game. Gary is 
even a better player than he is a DM if you can believe that. He wanted a computer 
storage artificial intelligence to give him some plant defoiliant to get rid of a pesky 
mutated plant. I really enjoyed the look on his face when the computer voice said, "How 
many metric tons of that would you like?"


Q. Who are some of the players in your games? 

JMW: I've played role playing games with quite a few names in the industry. 
I'm not much of a name dropper, let's just say that when I started gaming 
almost everyone I played with eventually wrote tons of role playing product. 


Q. In all of your campaigns, who is your favorite creature or character you have created? 

JMW: I have a 14th level wizard in the original AD&D game that I'm quite fond of as well as
a poor elven thief that was transported to the Starship Warden and will probably never get 
off the ship. 


Q. What was your most humorous convention or role-playing moment? 

JMW: being a humorous sort of fellow we laugh a lot in my games. I do have fond memories 
of Rob Kuntz fireballing himself to get some really nasty bugs off of his body. 


Q. For the people not acquainted with MA, can you give us some of the background of the 
game and changes we can expect with the new version? 


JMW: Metamorphosis Alpha is all about starships floating in space having something 
terrible that has "cursed" them. The players work at first finding out about the problem 
and then fixing the problem. In the new version of the game that comes out April 8th, 
players can be robots, androids, or pure strain humans. They are fighting a mysterious 
alien race. The game plays quickly and everyone rolls 3d6 dice to do things which I think 
makes game play a snap. 


Q. I was reading that Polyhedron was looking for input on publishing a d20 
version of Gamma World. What are your thoughts on that? 


JMW: As a manufacturer working on product that will be in competition with a d20 version 
of Gamma World I still wish them all the luck in the world. Since I don't own anything of 
the Gamma World license I have totally divorced myself from that project. I still love the
work, but I try to remain neutral on the topic. 


Q. Why do you think the new version of MA will be a success? What sets it apart of the 
other sci-fi RPGs out? 


JMW: I'm hoping the new version of MA will be fun. I'm going to make sure there is a 
product out every 3 months so that there is always something new to look forward to. I 
think a game company shouldn't even bother putting out a game if they don't adequately 
support it. I've made the game simple to understand and filled the game with exciting role
playing advise. In my 25+ years of experience I think people will find the product 
wonderful. Now only time will tell. 


Q. That begs the question then. How will the new MA be better? Clearly, a lot of us are 
hoping for the same favor that you developed in the original MA and GW. What system 
mechanics are you planning on using? 


JMW: I've worked hard to put that same flavor and "wa hooness" into the new version. I'm 
using all the old charts and 3d6 system of the original game. I don't want to sound 
secretive, but you are really going to have to read the rules and judge for yourself on 
how it is better. As I was rereading the material I realized that I left an unusual amount 
of description out of the first product that needed to be placed in the revision. I also 
worked out a wonderful role-playing trick that makes the exact same Starship Warden 
suitable for three different role-playing campaigns. 


Q. Can you tell us more about the trick is? 


JMW: I'm calling it "Phases". In phase one on my ship the players are all robot 
characters trying to handle a starship crashed in space. In phase two of the ship the 
players are android characters and the few remaining robots that survived are trying to 
handle the alien menace that is slowly taking over the ship. In phase three the players 
are humans who were protected from the killing radiation by being frozen. They and the 
surviving androids and robots have to push back the alien menace of the asteroid that 
crashed into their ship. These phases allow for three very different styles of game play 
in the exact same ship. 


Q. Will you be using items found only in MA? Did you get the rights to use 
what was found in MA to Omega? That had a lot of GW items and creatures included in 
that supplement. 


JMW: I'm only using MA terms, but I've thought of a good bunch of new information to 
please the fans. 


Q. If not, are we going to see all new creature types or will we be seeing 
favorite monsters like the Hoops? I know that MA used a lot of general 
creature types and items (hawkoids and blasters for example). Or will we be 
seeing our favorite power armor and black ray guns? 

JMW: No hoops, no GW power armor but there seems to be lots of other types, no black ray 
guns but other types seem to be appearing on Starships across the galaxy. 


Q. When will supplements or adventure books be released for MA? Can you tell 
us about of of them? 

JMW: September sees ASTEROID coming out. January of 2003 sees ALIEN DERILICT released. 

Q.  From Reginald Blue:   It's been a long time, and a long road between the 
original MA and the new one.  Gaming, itself, has changed considerably in 
the intervening time (not considering D20) in what people think is most 
important.  How will this affect the new MA? 

JMW: I'm patting myself on the back at this moment. I believe that what I first created 
was an interesting game, but back then no one knew that you needed to really explain role 
playing. Today I have created the same product with all the interesting features of the 
past, but now the product explains how to role play for both the referee and the player. 
I think that's all the old version needed. 


Q. From Reginald Blue:    I was lucky enough to have my Alternity Gamma 
World book signed by Andy Collins, and in it he wrote:  "When in doubt, 
mutate them", referring to the PCs.  Would that be a good summation for the 
new MA?  Or would there be a better one? 

JMW: If I was signing your book I might write: If you "Phase" them they will come. 


Q. From Reginald Blue:    Many people know of the premise now, so that 
aspect would be difficult to regain.  What will the focus be, from the 
character's eyes, for the new MA? 


JMW: I've changed the ship and its original mission. I've also talked a lot about doing 
other themed ships. The focus is still on exploring a known ship gone bad, but now there 
will be thousands of different ships going bad for thousands of different reasons, we are 
going to all have a lot of fun. 






Starship Warden was created from the designs used in the United Western Starship Cartel 
program. It was laid down in the Trans-Plutonian Spaceyards in 2277. The design was the 
most ambitious ever attempted, the blueprints calling for an oval spheroid of tremendous 
size using a new alloy hull with a strength previously unknown. The ship's size was truly 
incredible, being 50 miles long, 25 miles wide, and with 17 decks stacking up 8.5 miles 
high. Warden required 11 years to complete. The vessel's completely self-contained, 
self-sustaining environments were designed to survive for hundreds of years in deep space. 
The crew was rigidly screened to be the best Earth had to offer. Controlled by the most 
advanced artificial intelligence devised and with the latest communication and 
detection equipment.





Q. Can you give us some background on FastForward Entertainment? 

JMW: Fast Forward was started two years ago on Feb. 28. It's made up of former TSR 
workers: Jim Ward, Tim Brown, Lester Smith, Bill Connors, John Danovich, and a new comer 
for our magazines Sean Everette. 

Currently we produce a wide range of role playing product many of them being d20 but now 
we are expanding into other types of role playing with my own Metamorphosis Alpha and a 
new fantasy game 1492 to be released at Gen Con. 

FastForward can be found on the Internet at:

FastForward Games


Note: FastForward Games is no longer in business. You can find current MA activities here.

Q. Can you tell us who else works for FastForward Entertainment? 

JMW: I've just mentioned all of them. Tim works production and finance and a bunch of 
writing and editing, Lester works on the web site and writing and editing. Bill works 
graphics and typesetting, John works the sales end, Sean works on our two magazines 
CAMPAIGN and GAMES UNPLUGGED. I fill in the gaps where ever possible and do a lot of 
writing myself. 


Q. Will you and or FastForward be going to any game conventions this year 
and if so which ones? 

JMW: We are going to Gamma in March, Origins in July, Gen Con in August, and Dragon Con. 


Q. Were you involved in any of the other games or projects that FastForward 
Entertainment has produced? 

JMW: We wear a lot of hats at the company and I've had my hand in everything. I'm 
especially used what the odd freelancer blows up and doesn't get their work done 
on time, then they bring in the "pro from Dover" and I get things done. 


Q. I see you wrote Demonic Lairs Book and Slave Pits of the Goblin King. Can 
you tell us about those supplements? 

JMW: I had a lot of help with both of those projects. Slave Pits is just a fun 
adventure that pits players against very powerful DragonGoblins. These magical 
creatures have grown stronger from drinking dragon's blood. Demonic Lairs that I 
wrote with Tim Kidwell sets up fun and challenging lairs based on demons and devils 
from our hardbound encyclopedia on demons and devils. It just seemed like a natural 
extension for us to do the adventure based on the wild success of that book. 


Q. Can you tell us about DRAGONELVES E-CARD GAME? It looks like a TCG. How 
is it different? Can you provide us with some background on this game? 


JMW: The dragonelves card game is an experiment on our part to do a game that can be 
played on line. So far it hasn't seen much attention, but we are starting to expand 
the dragonelves universe in role playing and we are hoping people will begin to take 
notice of the online game. 


Q. Where do you think the industry is heading in the future? What part will 
FastForward Entertainment will play? 

JMW: More and more online things are going to be done. So far I've been able to do 
a successful product in every next big thing that has come out in the last 20 years 
so I think Fast Forward can keep up with the jones when it comes to making successful 
product people will be interested in.





Starship Warden's mission was to search space for the many lost vessels and discover 
the reasons for their disappearances. Its mission was considered so vital that no 
expense was spared guaranteeing its success.




Q. Can you tell us what effect Internet has had on FastForward 
Entertainment? 


JMW: It is fast becoming the best medium to get word out on products and the company in 
general. Ten years ago a marketing survey revealed that 80% of the gamers had computers 
and I think that percentage has only increased today. 


Q: What impact do you feel the Internet has had on the RPG industry? 


JMW: I know the internet has caused the RPG industry to grow and I think that can only 
increase in the next few years. 


Q. Do you feel that the Internet will play a bigger part in the gaming 
industry in the future? If so, how? 


JMW: As I've said, the internet will increase gaming of all types and especially 
role playing. But there is nothing like the smiles of your players as you DM a game and 
that nothing will be able to replace. 


Q. Do you feel that the Internet will play a part in the development of your 
future gaming projects? If so, how? 

JMW: Fast Forward is already giving away free product on the net with every product we 
release. For example we have recently released a "Swords of Power" book and placed 
five unique swords not in the book on the net to be down loaded for free. 





A description of the Starship Warden's levels, as well as some of the equipment typically 
found on each deck, follows. Most of the vessel was given over to large, open areas, with 
a simple system of electronic locks ensuring the crew did not stray into dangerous areas 
or delicate scientific experiments. With its extensive cargo of flora and fauna from both 
Earth and Mars and 100,000 crew members (most of them in suspended animation), the marvel 
of mankind’s interstellar spaceship program set forth to find and rescue millions of 
colonists lost in the galaxy. 




Metamorphosis Alpha and its logo are trademarks owned by James M. Ward. (C)2002 James M. 
Ward. Published under license by Fast Forward Entertainment, with permission. All rights 
reserved. Printed in U.S.A. 

D20 and Gamma World are Registered Trademarks of WotC/TSR, Inc. All rights etc. Resevered.
Any use of WotC/TSR's copyrighted material or trademarks in this page/interview should not
be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks.