ALIEN 2nd Edition Is Coming...

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There's a new edition of Free League's ALIEN roleplaying game coming to Kickstarter soon!

Free League’s Kickstarter this Fall will debut a new wave of 2e releases, including new core rules, starter set, cinematic scenario set, and miniatures line
For five glorious years, Free League Publishing and 20th Century Studios have explored the ultimate reaches of the ALIEN universe. In celebration of the critically acclaimed ALIEN RPG’s 5th anniversary in 2024, Free League proudly announced their plans to unleash a Second Edition of the multiple award-winning game rules across an expansive new line of rulebooks, starter sets, cinematics, and accessories. The stress fest begins with bug hunts aplenty through an epic Kickstarter launching this Fall.

Free League has revealed their core line-up for the upcoming Kickstarter, with more details coming soon:
Based upon feedback from thousands of players over five years of adventures, the Second Edition of the core rules delivers an updated and streamlined version of the ALIEN RPG fans know and love, along with additional new artwork, new content, and a variety of new tools for players and Game Mothers alike, all fully compatible with previous releases and game material.

The new 2e starter set will be redesigned as the perfect starting point for newcomers to roleplaying in the ALIEN universe, containing everything they need for game night including abridged 2e rules, character sheets, custom dice, reference cards, various handouts, and an expanded 2e edition of the fan-favorite Hope’s Last Day scenario set on Hadley’s Hope just prior to the unforgettable events of Aliens.

The new cinematic scenario boxed set, Rapture Protocol, written by Jonathan Hicks and Free League's Tomas Härenstam, returns to the roots of the ALIEN franchise, featuring the crew of a small star freighter on a resupply run to the remote industrial colony, soon embroiled in a deadly conflict.

The miniatures set is designed to bring the events of Rapture Protocol to life, but fully complement other adventures and skirmish battles throughout the ALIEN RPG series.

Sign up today to follow the upcoming Kickstarter, look out for more news across Free League’s social channels, and then get ready for a whole new chapter of sprawling, stress-inducing, blood-curdling ALIEN RPG adventures for years to come. We can’t lie to you about your chances, but you have our sympathies.

 

[Theory of Games]

 

[sevenbastard]

I'm of the opinion that most games need a new edition every 5 years with minor updates and changes. Fix some small things that are broken, clarify common missunderstandings, ect.

Shadowrun second edition is a good example of this, released only three years after the original book, but a huge improvement.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

Why does the game need a second edition already? What's wrong with the current rules?

The panic rules make it a bad plan to be in short range of another player, so it actively encourages weird plays where your colonial marines never want to be in the same room as each other. And firing in full auto mode makes marines feel stressed? EVERY TIME?

The health system is just strange and unintuitive:

• Take one damage; you have not actually even been scratched and so the medic can do nothing for you
• Take two damage; you have not actually even been scratched and so the medic can do nothing for you
• Take three damage; you have not actually even been scratched and so the medic can do nothing for you
• Take four damage; you are incapable of any actions and roll to randomly to see if you are dead.

The 12 skills you have are often hard to map to what you want to do. Given the amount of sneaking in the aliens universe, you'd think distance running and hiding would use different skills. Our GM often has to pause to work out if setting explosives (another super-common event) should use heavy machinery or tech. And, of course, the tech skill is way too useful.

But most of all, the rules are not easy to understand and are poorly organized. We gave up on the paper version and use the searchable PDF now. This may be due to translation issues, but ... it's still an issue.

As an example of the lack of clarity, looking at the panic table and (somewhat contradictory) text about panicking, can you tell which dice rolls make you lose your action when you are shooting a weapon? When it says "your next slow action", is that the one you are doing, or the one in the next round? I did a solid online search and found that no-one had any consensus. We eventually went with 10+ and you lose your action, 9- and you don't as that makes gamist sense, but there's little text support for that.

It's not a terrible system, but cleaning up the rough parts would help a lot.

 

[MGibster]

As for the current rules, my only gripe is that panic tend to get out of hand too fast. Or perhaps we don’t play it properly… but there’s a point where it feels like you can’t open a freakin door without throwing 7 steers dice and causing chain-panic and getting shot by your own friend.

That was my group's primary criticism of the game. I only ran one adventure, Chariot of the Gods, and when the panic got too high the players were actively trying to avoid having to roll. One of the things I did was avoid having the players roll when it didn't matter. i.e. There was one scene where they had plenty of time and weren't rushed to build a barrier to the bridge, so I didn't require any roll. I wonder if perhaps I should have given them more opportunities to rest and get rid of Panic. It's probably something I'd learn to juggle if I had more experience.

 

[payn]

I'm of the opinion that most games need a new edition every 5 years with minor updates and changes. Fix some small things that are broken, clarify common missunderstandings, ect.

Shadowrun second edition is a good example of this, released only three years after the original book, but a huge improvement.

I prefer 10.

 

[Reynard]

I initially thought "too soon" as well but then I looked: Alien came out in 2019. That's a pretty long time in RPG land.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That was my group's primary criticism of the game. I only ran one adventure, Chariot of the Gods, and when the panic got too high the players were actively trying to avoid having to roll. One of the things I did was avoid having the players roll when it didn't matter. i.e. There was one scene where they had plenty of time and weren't rushed to build a barrier to the bridge, so I didn't require any roll. I wonder if perhaps I should have given them more opportunities to rest and get rid of Panic. It's probably something I'd learn to juggle if I had more experience.

Given that this is a pretty common issue, my guess is the second edition will address the stress rules and clarify when rolls should be made.

Free League are pretty smart folks, so hopefully they will talk about this in the FAQ of the Kickstarter page, if nothing else.

 

[MGibster]

Given that this is a pretty common issue, my guess is the second edition will address the stress rules and clarify when rolls should be made.

I don't imagine the rules will change so radically the current adventures I own will be totally useless.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't imagine the rules will change so radically the current adventures I own will be totally useless.

That would be uncharacteristically dumb of Free League.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

It is "too soon" for players who bought the translated edition later.