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.

 

[pablomaz]

Argh.

 

[Aldarc]

Alien is Free League’s best selling game and it has entered ICv2’s top five list of best selling rpgs three times, which is something most rpgs never do even once.

Probably because their earlier games could use a new edition.

 

[Plane Sailing]

One of the things I did was avoid having the players roll when it didn't matter.

This is very much in the existing rules!

… 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.

This also is very much in the rules; perhaps they should make more of a point in emphasising it? It helps if one of the characters has ‘banter’, and as a GM I remind people that they can take a breather and recover a little.

 

[Laurefindel]

This is very much in the existing rules!

This also is very much in the rules; perhaps they should make more of a point in emphasising it? It helps if one of the characters has ‘banter’, and as a GM I remind people that they can take a breather and recover a little.

My experience is that most GM ask for too many rolls, mostly because we’re used to the « roll if the outcome is uncertain and there’s a significant consequence for failure », which is too much for Alien RPG.

 

[MGibster]

This is very much in the existing rules!

You are correct, but sometimes when they should or shouldn't roll isn't so clear cut. There were a few times I decided against making them roll, but another Mother might have very reasonably come to the conclusion that a roll was necessary. But I didn't find it difficult to adjudicate when a roll was necessary.

This also is very much in the rules; perhaps they should make more of a point in emphasising it? It helps if one of the characters has ‘banter’, and as a GM I remind people that they can take a breather and recover a little.

Again, you are correct. It'd probably help if I had explained how time passes. Here's what you can do in a shift, here's how you get rid of Stress, etc., etc.

 

[MGibster]

My experience is that most GM ask for too many rolls, mostly because we’re used to the « roll if the outcome is uncertain and there’s a significant consequence for failure », which is too much for Alien RPG.

Same here. When I ran my first Vampire 5th edition campaign, I had the player roll to remember a particular bit of trivia. Who sang "Boris the Spider?" After they successfully rolled I had to ask myself why I made them roll in the first place. Was anything bad or interesting going to happen if they failed? No. Was anything good or interesting going to happen if they succeeded? No. I should have just taken into account the character's age and how attuned they were to the modern age and decided on a yes or no for them.

 

[MGibster]

The more I think about it the more comfortable I am with it. It's been five years which is a reasonable amount of time for me to have gotten some games in. For a little over two years, COVID really put a damper on gaming for me, and honestly I kind of lost my sense of time. If I haven't played Alien enough it's not the fault of Free League. I'm looking forward to the new edition.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Same here. When I ran my first Vampire 5th edition campaign, I had the player roll to remember a particular bit of trivia. Who sang "Boris the Spider?" After they successfully rolled I had to ask myself why I made them roll in the first place. Was anything bad or interesting going to happen if they failed? No. Was anything good or interesting going to happen if they succeeded? No. I should have just taken into account the character's age and how attuned they were to the modern age and decided on a yes or no for them.

There's a really good article in one of the issues of Knock! (I've read issue 4 and part of issue 1) that suggests a three-fold test for rolling: time, skill and tools.

If someone has unlimited time and both the skills and tools to accomplish a task, let them automatically succeed with no roll.

If someone only has one of those three things, they won't be able to accomplish the task, and they automatically fail with no roll.

Only if they have just two of the three (so maybe a thief with skills is under immense time pressure, or they have time but have to improvise tools, etc.) do you make them roll.

I've been taking this approach in all RPGs I've run since, and so far, it's been a really good standard to go by. It cuts out pointless rolling and makes the actual rolls more exciting, because it's a reflection of non-ideal circumstances.

 

[aramis erak]

I'm in the "Damnit, where's my Space Tuckers Book?!?!?!" and "It's too «bleep»ing soon" camp.

Yes, I've gotten it to table; two campaigns, 3 of the cinematics, including multiple runs of Chariot of the Gods. It's awesome.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

From a business strategy standpoint, this feels like giving current players an off-ramp at the worst possible time, with all the chatter about Mothership right now.

That said, a metric ton of people have signed up to be notified of the Kickstarter launch. It seems like we may have another $1 million+ campaign on our hands, so there's plenty of people who don't appear to be too upset about this.