Our Adventures in Fiction series is meant to take a look at the writers and creators behind the genre(s) that helped to forge not only our favorite hobby but our lives. We invite you to explore the entirety of the series on our Adventures In Fiction home page.Mr. Aldiss is the author of Starship, the novel credited by James M. Ward as being a large influence on the first science fiction RPG, Metamorphosis Alpha. Starship was first published in the UK under the title Non-Stop. Brian Aldiss is also the author of Hothouse (later re-published as The Long Afternoon of Earth), a novel which later would influence TSR’s game Gamma World. In honor of his birthday (August 18), we present this article.From Starships to Hothouses: The Influence of Brian Aldissby Michael CurtisLet’s talk about Brian Aldiss. Like some of his speculative fiction-writing brethren from the Appendix N list, Aldiss is a prolific and talented author, albeit not one that casual fans of science fiction might recognize. While he’s been lauded for his work as both an author and anthologist, Aldiss doesn’t enjoy the same name recognition that luminaries such as Heinlein, Bradbury, or Asimov receive. Hopefully, this essay will encourage those readers unfamiliar with Aldiss to seek out his works.While Aldiss has written expansively in the science fiction genre, two of his novels had an impact on the role-playing hobby. These works are Non-Stop (1958), which was released under the title Starship in the United States, and Hothouse (1962), a novel that saw publication in the US in an abridged form as The Long Afternoon of Earth.Of the two, Non-Stop (I will refer to both works by their original titles) had the largest direct impact on our hobby. The novel concerns a generational starship that has been affected by unforeseen circumstances and now travels endlessly. The inhabitants of the starship have regressed culturally, living in tribal societies in the vegetation-choked corridors of the ship. These survivors live savage, short existences, warring with rival tribes and ever stranger occupants of the wayward vessel. Over the course of the novel, our protagonist, Roy Complain, discovers secrets about the ship that leads to stunning revelations for both himself and the reader.If the general premise of the novel seems familiar, you may be a fan of the first science fiction role-playing game, Metamorphosis Alpha. Non-Stop was the catalyst...