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Alien RPG (Game & Adventure Review)
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<blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 8404018" data-attributes="member: 4534"><p>Stress is perhaps the most important rule that helps the <em>Alien</em> RPG emulate both the <em>Alien</em> and <em>Aliens</em> motion pictures. Each player character starts with zero stress and can have a maximum of 10 Stress. For each level of Stress a character has, they add it to the number of dice they roll when performing tasks.</p><p></p><p>Example: Hiram has managed to escape whatever that thing was in the galley but up ahead spots another one of those things in the corner of the engine room. Hiram can’t go back the way he came so he’s going to have to sneak past the creature. Hiram’s Agility is 2 and his Mobility is 4 so he would normally roll 6 dice. But his Stress level is 2 so he rolls a total of 8 dice and, lucky him, gets three successes and manages to creep by the creature undetected.</p><p></p><p>Stress can make one hyper focused on achieving their goal and makes it more likely the player will roll a success. But on the flip side, rolling a one on the Stress die forces a player to make a Panic Roll for their character and check it against the Panic Roll table to see what effect it has. When a player makes a Panic Roll, they roll 2d6 and add their current Stress level to the result and consult the Panic Roll table. If the results are 1-9, they might suffer from some minor affect such as penalties to Agility based rolls, they might drop something, or gain additional Stress. If the roll is 10 or higher, their skill roll automatically fails and they’re subject to more serious consequences including losing actions on their turn, being forced to retreat, or attacking the nearest creature (friend or foe).</p><p></p><p>There are many ways to gain Stress.</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Push a skill roll (that is, re-roll a skill roll after failing the first one)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Suffer damage</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Go without sleep, food, or water</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Perform a coup de grace</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fire on full auto</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Encountering certain creatures, locations, or situations</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Being attacked by a member of your own crew</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A person nearby is revealed to be an android</li> </ul><p>Example: Having managed to sneak by the creature in the engine room, Hiram makes his way to med-bay only to find that fink company man Ballard staring intently at the computer. Unnoticed by Ballard, Hiram attempts to sneak up behind him grabbing a nearby scalpel off the surgical tray. Hiram’s Agility is 2, his Mobility is 4, and his Stress is 2 so he rolls a total of 6 regular dice and two Stress dice and not a single 6 pops up. Worse than that, he rolled a 1 on one of his Stress die. He rolls 2d6 getting a 7 and adding his Stress level, 2, for a result of 9. Consulting the Panic Roll table the GM says that Hiram drops the scalpel on the ground alerting Ballard to his presence.</p><p></p><p>Most effects on the Panic Table only last for a short period of time. If a player is suffering from the effects of a Panic roll that lasts more than one round, another player with the Command skill can make a roll to end the Panic. Stress can be relieved by one point for every 5-10 minutes spent resting. A character must spend this time resting and can’t make any skill rolls or be interrupted otherwise the Stress isn’t reduced. Some conditions can make it impossible to reduce Stress. If your character is starving, freezing, or under the effect of some drugs they won’t be able to relieve Stress until those conditions end.</p><p></p><p>The Stress rule works very well for creating tense situations but my players found two drawbacks. When their Stress levels became high enough, around 4 or 5, they didn’t want to roll the dice risking going into Panic so they avoided taking action when possible. This isn’t fun for the game. And while the game encourages the GM to only require the PCs to roll when it really matters, sometimes you can get weird results with the Panic Table. If a character’s Stress level is high and they’re trying to make a Manipulation to convince another PC to do something they might Panic while doing so which doesn’t make a whole lot of narrative sense in those situations.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MGibster, post: 8404018, member: 4534"] Stress is perhaps the most important rule that helps the [I]Alien[/I] RPG emulate both the [I]Alien[/I] and [I]Aliens[/I] motion pictures. Each player character starts with zero stress and can have a maximum of 10 Stress. For each level of Stress a character has, they add it to the number of dice they roll when performing tasks. Example: Hiram has managed to escape whatever that thing was in the galley but up ahead spots another one of those things in the corner of the engine room. Hiram can’t go back the way he came so he’s going to have to sneak past the creature. Hiram’s Agility is 2 and his Mobility is 4 so he would normally roll 6 dice. But his Stress level is 2 so he rolls a total of 8 dice and, lucky him, gets three successes and manages to creep by the creature undetected. Stress can make one hyper focused on achieving their goal and makes it more likely the player will roll a success. But on the flip side, rolling a one on the Stress die forces a player to make a Panic Roll for their character and check it against the Panic Roll table to see what effect it has. When a player makes a Panic Roll, they roll 2d6 and add their current Stress level to the result and consult the Panic Roll table. If the results are 1-9, they might suffer from some minor affect such as penalties to Agility based rolls, they might drop something, or gain additional Stress. If the roll is 10 or higher, their skill roll automatically fails and they’re subject to more serious consequences including losing actions on their turn, being forced to retreat, or attacking the nearest creature (friend or foe). There are many ways to gain Stress. [LIST] [*]Push a skill roll (that is, re-roll a skill roll after failing the first one) [*]Suffer damage [*]Go without sleep, food, or water [*]Perform a coup de grace [*]Fire on full auto [*]Encountering certain creatures, locations, or situations [*]Being attacked by a member of your own crew [*]A person nearby is revealed to be an android [/LIST] Example: Having managed to sneak by the creature in the engine room, Hiram makes his way to med-bay only to find that fink company man Ballard staring intently at the computer. Unnoticed by Ballard, Hiram attempts to sneak up behind him grabbing a nearby scalpel off the surgical tray. Hiram’s Agility is 2, his Mobility is 4, and his Stress is 2 so he rolls a total of 6 regular dice and two Stress dice and not a single 6 pops up. Worse than that, he rolled a 1 on one of his Stress die. He rolls 2d6 getting a 7 and adding his Stress level, 2, for a result of 9. Consulting the Panic Roll table the GM says that Hiram drops the scalpel on the ground alerting Ballard to his presence. Most effects on the Panic Table only last for a short period of time. If a player is suffering from the effects of a Panic roll that lasts more than one round, another player with the Command skill can make a roll to end the Panic. Stress can be relieved by one point for every 5-10 minutes spent resting. A character must spend this time resting and can’t make any skill rolls or be interrupted otherwise the Stress isn’t reduced. Some conditions can make it impossible to reduce Stress. If your character is starving, freezing, or under the effect of some drugs they won’t be able to relieve Stress until those conditions end. The Stress rule works very well for creating tense situations but my players found two drawbacks. When their Stress levels became high enough, around 4 or 5, they didn’t want to roll the dice risking going into Panic so they avoided taking action when possible. This isn’t fun for the game. And while the game encourages the GM to only require the PCs to roll when it really matters, sometimes you can get weird results with the Panic Table. If a character’s Stress level is high and they’re trying to make a Manipulation to convince another PC to do something they might Panic while doing so which doesn’t make a whole lot of narrative sense in those situations. [/QUOTE]
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