Metabarons

[Whill]

So the oversized core rulebook of this WEG RPG is based on R&E in both rules and book layout/presentation. It's virtually the same game system adapted slightly to the setting. It's got a lot of cool artwork. The PC templates and some other things could easily be tweaked for use with Star Wars. It's easily one of my favorite non-Star Wars RPG books. There are only a few releases for the Metabarons RPG.

The game is based on a French comic book series by Alexandro Jodorowsky and based on his unmade 70s film adaptation of Dune by Frank Herbert (the most influential unmade film of all time). It's Greek tragedy infused space opera. Some of the comics have had English adaptations. When I first got the game books years ago, I always wanted to get some of the comics, but they were already expensive to get a hold of back then. Ever since Zack Snyder's Justice League in March, I've been on a comic book kick, hunting down deals on stuff I missed in all the years I wasn't collecting. I've found that in recent years, they have reprinted these Metabarons-related series in lavish hardback form that are also too expensive. But I got lucky on eBay and finally found deals on the four early compilations of the Metabarons comic book series (17 issues, 2000-2001) from two sellers. The first one (#1-5) arrived today. The other three should arrive tomorrow. Comics set in this universe have been published by Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Humanoids, a former owner of WEG. The comics can be a bit gory at times.

Anyway, this game has come up in discussion on the Pit here and there over the years, but I couldn't find any threads dedicated to it, so I thought I would start one. Anyone else have the comics or this game? Anyone else like it?
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[Raven Redstar]

I'm intrigued! Thanks for sharing!
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RR
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[KageRyu]

I am unfamiliar with the comics it is based off of, but I do have the game, a source book, and the GM screen that were printed, and also an unofficial Metabarons companion with lots of additional material I had picked up on the web a long time ago. This was acquired in my massive push to flesh out my D6 library circa 2002-2006 (when I also acquired a lot of DCU materials, Men In Black, and the Hercules and Xena boxed Game, and a few more rare licensed games).
I have never played it as presented, nor read it entirely cover to cover (I read the pamphlet that came with the GM screen in closer scrutiny as it introduced lots of new rules such as perks and flaws... this was prior to my buying the D6 3 book edition). I did like what I read, and introduced some of the tech and vehicles and cultures on various worlds of my Star Wars Campaign and even toyed with allowing players to acquire up to 3D in flaws and Perks. Some of them are unbalanced though.

I did like the artwork, but I hate the large sized book format because it is so hard to store and transport.
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra

[KageRyu]

I just thought I'd pop in with some trivia. While I have not read the comics, I have learned in recent years about the possible origin of them. It seems that long Before the movie Dune we came to know in it's many incarnations and edits, there was a previous effort to bring it to film by Alejandro Jodorowsky. During his years at creating and putting the project and treatment together to shop around he brought in Moebius to work on Storyboards and collaborate on art and visual direction with many other big names. When the treatment for Dune was ill received and killed before production, the pair took much of the material and some new character designs and worked it up into what became the Metabarons.

The Saga of the Metabarons was published and more widely known in France and parts of Europe starting in 1992 ans were not brought to the states or translated officially until 2001 where they saw censoring. They were later re-released uncensored after much argument and debate - but they did not gain as wide traction in the United States.

The Metabarons game, though it was sold in the U.S. it was not as widely distributed or had nearly as large a print run as the overseas edition which is why it is not well know and harder to find. My understanding (which is from information only read back in 2005-2007) was that WEG handled the U.S. print and release, and the overseas release was done under license by another company. When I had learned of the game I had inquired with West End Games about it, but it was no longer in print or supported due to licensing issues and I had to track it down through other sources. Unfortunately at that time I had a different email provider who required using their client and so none of those discussions are available to me now to refresh my memory from.
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra

[Whill]

[KageRyu]

[Whill]

In my experience, that website I linked above (Reelgood) is very good for showing which streaming services have something, if it is a free or subscription service, and if not then the cost for rental. My profile alerts me when programs I have indicated become available on a subscription service I have or for free. And as far as I can see, it is not currently showing on Tubi. But however anyone can watch it, I recommend it. I watched the documentary a couple years ago but I now can't remember which service I saw it on back then. I'm thinking Netflix or Prime Video, but I'm not sure.
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[CRMcNeill]

Is there anywhere to buy pdfs of the Metabarons books? DriveThruRPG doesn't even return a Search result for it.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[pakman]

Or is there at least a summary of the changes from previous versions of D6, or even the more recent ones (opend6 etc.).
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SW Fan, Gamer, Comic, Corporate nerd.
Working on massive House Rules document - pretty much a new book. Will post soon....

[Whill]