ALIEN RPG Launches New Kickstarter

Free League Publishing has launched a Kickstarter for a new edition of ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game, complete with a new starter box and a box of miniatures. Launched today, the Kickstarter raises money for an Evolved edition of the popular licensed horror RPG, which uses the Year Zero Engine. The Evolved Edition contains improved version for stealth mode, stress and panic, and a new zero gravity system. The edition also includes content from ALIEN: Romulus, the hit 2023 movie, including a setting guide for Jackson's Star, and a solo mode.

The ALIEN RPG uses a dice-pool system where rolling a 6 guarantees a success. Players can add stress for additional rolls with specially-colored dice, although rolling a 1 on these dice causes the chance of panic setting in. The game comes with a campaign mode and a cinematic mode in which players are more likely to get killed by an alien or a different terror in space.

As of the time of this writing, the Kickstarter has already raised over $650,000, putting it well on the pathway to the fabled $1 million mark.

 

[aramis erak]

Well, that might be overstating it. Without the aliens, it's hard to see what would recommend it as a space opera game over other choices. The skills are pretty focused on combat and can often be hard to match to player intentions; there aren't a ton of options for use of vehicles, space battles or similar space opera fodder; and the mechanics for player interaction seem mostly focused on military/leadership relationships -- I don't recall much in the way of support for romantic relationships.

I've played and run in a space sci-fi campaigns using Aliens , Savage Worlds Flash Gordon, Alternity (classic), Spacemaster, Fate (Mindjammer) and Bulldogs. I'd have to put Aliens towards the bottom of that list for space opera. It's fun for short space horror campaign, and, like any system, a good GM will make it work for anything, but it's not really designed for space opera, I feel.

The biggest thing is the generators for missions, but there's also the compelling not quite CyberPunk setting, coupled to good rules to play by, and with 2e, the better stress system handling. Most other games, the building stress of hard work is paid token lip service, if covered at all; Alien is built around the stress mechanic, and it's perfect for both Space Trucker mode and Marine mode. That Marine mode is squad level.

The thing is, system suitability is heavily personal. For me, Alien is better than Traveller for both mechanics and setting. I love Traveller, but ALIEN scratches the same itch, easier, and with smoother play. For me, it's not an overstatement at all; others' may vary. Especially with Lifepath gen in ALIEN Evolved.

there is one drawback for many with ALIEN, that being that it has no larger scale combat options; GDW Traveller has Striker and Striker II for company to regiment per side; MegaTraveller has an option for very robust mass combat. So does Battletech. Traveller lacks (excluding MGT2 with optional rules) psychology rules, same for battletech,

Most of the various OSR games fans are unlikely to switch. Mothership and Death in Space both overlap thematically, but could benefit from the mission generator tables... but they're focused upon different mechanical emphases.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

The thing is, system suitability is heavily personal. For me, Alien is better than Traveller for both mechanics and setting. I love Traveller, but ALIEN scratches the same itch, easier, and with smoother play. For me, it's not an overstatement at all; others' may vary. Especially with Lifepath gen in ALIEN Evolved .. Most of the various OSR games fans are unlikely to switch

I don't have much experience, or honestly strong interest with OSR outside a fair amount of AD&D play back in the day. I own Traveller, but like you, would prefer Aliens to it. For a gritty, tech-y feel Aliens (with fixed stress rules) is a reasonable option. I was really zeroing in on the "space opera" genre you mentioned originally. There are lots of definitions of "space opera", but they typically include large scale actions, space battles and personal drama/melodrama. If that's the sort of game you want to play, I don't think Aliens is going to work. Flash Gordon using Aliens? The Lensman series? Iain Banks' Culture? Star Wars? -- Aliens works better for small-scale, squad-level action, for ground-based rather than space-based battles and doesn't really support melodrama.

 

[aramis erak]

I don't have much experience, or honestly strong interest with OSR outside a fair amount of AD&D play back in the day. I own Traveller, but like you, would prefer Aliens to it. For a gritty, tech-y feel Aliens (with fixed stress rules) is a reasonable option. I was really zeroing in on the "space opera" genre you mentioned originally. There are lots of definitions of "space opera", but they typically include large scale actions, space battles and personal drama/melodrama. If that's the sort of game you want to play, I don't think Aliens is going to work. Flash Gordon using Aliens? The Lensman series? Iain Banks' Culture? Star Wars? -- Aliens works better for small-scale, squad-level action, for ground-based rather than space-based battles and doesn't really support melodrama.

See, old school Space Opera largely is NOT Star Wars/Star Trek big battles kind of stuff. Sure, we get some in novels, but a lot of it is small scale. Even some of the military SF is smaller than many would think... Most of the fights in the CoDoVerse are company or battalion deployments, with 1-4 squad battles - a bit cumbersome without shortcuts. But shortcuts can be done. Such as a fireteam simply always using the help rule so that it moves and shoots as a single initiative use. Most star wars ground fights break down into scenes of 2-5 mains vs 5-20 hostiles.

It's got solid campaign play, I've run 2 space trucker and one (killed by the lockdown) Marines one. The stress mechanics are very much a thing even without the Xenomorphs. There was a total change in tone when the Xenomorphs hit the one party...

Cinematic mode: I've also run Chariot of the Gods (thrice), Destroyer of Worlds (once), Bringer of Death (once). Am looking forward to running Rapture Protocol and its sequels, too. The minis set is nice, too.