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Aliens RPG Post Mortem
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8406047" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>I'm going to use this thread to do proper post mortems on my game.</p><p></p><p>I was hoping to have an expedition take place tonight (that is what the PCs planned for after the first session revealed looming airlock gasket failures in all of their habitats) in the second session of my Aliens game so I could write up a proper post-mortem with a lot of the system stress-tested. </p><p></p><p>Unfortunately things spiraled pretty dramatically with nearly everyone in the small Frontier Colony getting a virulent fungal infection + a sabotage effort within the Russian Roughneck/Engineer portion of the 15 person crew (the UPP, basically an interstellar socialist confederation composed of exactly who you would figure for the 80s franchise, believing the Frontier Colony was a secret bioweapons endeavor by the UA; United Americas).</p><p></p><p>So as of now, I've just got a lot of social conflict + a lot of Medic/disease conflict + Marshal investigating a scene + some Comtech conflict + science moves and fallout. No combat. No expedition. I'm not sure I want to do a write up yet. </p><p></p><p>My initial impressions after two sessions and no expedition + stealth/combat is as follows:</p><p></p><p>1) My Pathfinder 2 Fu isn't particularly strong, but there appears to be some inspiration here at both the noncombat level and the combat level. The noncombat action/conflict resolution level yields a spread of results like this:</p><p></p><p>- Success + Stunt (boon for every extra 6 result beyond the first).</p><p></p><p>- Success.</p><p></p><p>- Fail Forward.</p><p></p><p>- Hard Fail.</p><p></p><p>- Hard Fail + Spiral (Panic).</p><p></p><p>I was a tad skeptical at the outset, but I feel like this spread of outcomes/procedures for handling moves is working well to promote the sort of play one would expect in Aliens.</p><p></p><p>2) Combat has some level of intricate and interactive action economy with blocking (like PF2 I believe) for melee attacks. I'm utterly agnostic on this at this point (other than to say things like Xenomorphs are crazy deadly).</p><p></p><p>3) Contests (Opposed Rolls) are rough for the defender because (a) they can't Push (increasing your Stress Level but increasing your prospects in a move) and (b) they have to beat the aggressors 6 count (on a push - they both get 1 * 6 result - the aggressor wins). So therefore things like Stamina vs Virulence (for a disease) or Stamina vs any exposure or Stalking are likely to be rough on the defender.</p><p></p><p>4) The game has ways to marshal courage/grit (Pushing and increasing Stress) that encourages boldness and aggression but this also can and will absolutely trigger spirals internally (within a PC) and externally (within a crew/colony). This has a bit of a Dogs in the Vineyard feel where you marshal Relationships/Traits/Things in which you have a conflicted relationship (giving you both a big dice and a small dice which yields a much increased chance of Fallout). This should create that internal tension on a decision-in/decision-out basis and yield the erosion of character out from under you feel of Dogs and Aliens.</p><p></p><p>5) The game is Zone-centric for all mobility based conflicts (piloting vehicles, climbing/trekking, stalking/evading, ranged to close combat). Although they haven't been deployed yet in game, they seem to be very easy to use, to scale up and down as required for the obstacle/challenge/conflict and fairly well integrated with the system.</p><p></p><p>6) The fact that the Android (the Medic in this game who received a software download right before deployment as the first Medic perished) can't gain/use Stress (Push) nor Panic and doesn't deal with exposure related fallout will likely end up conveying a very functional "alien consciousness within our midst" vibe as all of the characters will be dealing with these things constantly.</p><p></p><p>7) Gear/Loadout/Encumbrance mechanics seem solid on the surface but (again) expedition to test this pending (I mean...hell, we'll see if we even get to that...this Colony may get "nuked from orbit" before that even occurs...the Android Medic and the Scientist - who is infected - will be working to devise a cure next session before everyone dies...nearly the entire Colony of 15 is infected after this session).</p><p></p><p>8) The advancement scheme of the game and the reward cycles broadly absolutely do the good work of having the game be propelled by Aliens-archetype dramatic needs/relationships (Agenda, Buddy/Rival).</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>So those are my initial thoughts without a full post mortem. I'll throw out some examples of the actual play in the coming days.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8406047, member: 6696971"] I'm going to use this thread to do proper post mortems on my game. I was hoping to have an expedition take place tonight (that is what the PCs planned for after the first session revealed looming airlock gasket failures in all of their habitats) in the second session of my Aliens game so I could write up a proper post-mortem with a lot of the system stress-tested. Unfortunately things spiraled pretty dramatically with nearly everyone in the small Frontier Colony getting a virulent fungal infection + a sabotage effort within the Russian Roughneck/Engineer portion of the 15 person crew (the UPP, basically an interstellar socialist confederation composed of exactly who you would figure for the 80s franchise, believing the Frontier Colony was a secret bioweapons endeavor by the UA; United Americas). So as of now, I've just got a lot of social conflict + a lot of Medic/disease conflict + Marshal investigating a scene + some Comtech conflict + science moves and fallout. No combat. No expedition. I'm not sure I want to do a write up yet. My initial impressions after two sessions and no expedition + stealth/combat is as follows: 1) My Pathfinder 2 Fu isn't particularly strong, but there appears to be some inspiration here at both the noncombat level and the combat level. The noncombat action/conflict resolution level yields a spread of results like this: - Success + Stunt (boon for every extra 6 result beyond the first). - Success. - Fail Forward. - Hard Fail. - Hard Fail + Spiral (Panic). I was a tad skeptical at the outset, but I feel like this spread of outcomes/procedures for handling moves is working well to promote the sort of play one would expect in Aliens. 2) Combat has some level of intricate and interactive action economy with blocking (like PF2 I believe) for melee attacks. I'm utterly agnostic on this at this point (other than to say things like Xenomorphs are crazy deadly). 3) Contests (Opposed Rolls) are rough for the defender because (a) they can't Push (increasing your Stress Level but increasing your prospects in a move) and (b) they have to beat the aggressors 6 count (on a push - they both get 1 * 6 result - the aggressor wins). So therefore things like Stamina vs Virulence (for a disease) or Stamina vs any exposure or Stalking are likely to be rough on the defender. 4) The game has ways to marshal courage/grit (Pushing and increasing Stress) that encourages boldness and aggression but this also can and will absolutely trigger spirals internally (within a PC) and externally (within a crew/colony). This has a bit of a Dogs in the Vineyard feel where you marshal Relationships/Traits/Things in which you have a conflicted relationship (giving you both a big dice and a small dice which yields a much increased chance of Fallout). This should create that internal tension on a decision-in/decision-out basis and yield the erosion of character out from under you feel of Dogs and Aliens. 5) The game is Zone-centric for all mobility based conflicts (piloting vehicles, climbing/trekking, stalking/evading, ranged to close combat). Although they haven't been deployed yet in game, they seem to be very easy to use, to scale up and down as required for the obstacle/challenge/conflict and fairly well integrated with the system. 6) The fact that the Android (the Medic in this game who received a software download right before deployment as the first Medic perished) can't gain/use Stress (Push) nor Panic and doesn't deal with exposure related fallout will likely end up conveying a very functional "alien consciousness within our midst" vibe as all of the characters will be dealing with these things constantly. 7) Gear/Loadout/Encumbrance mechanics seem solid on the surface but (again) expedition to test this pending (I mean...hell, we'll see if we even get to that...this Colony may get "nuked from orbit" before that even occurs...the Android Medic and the Scientist - who is infected - will be working to devise a cure next session before everyone dies...nearly the entire Colony of 15 is infected after this session). 8) The advancement scheme of the game and the reward cycles broadly absolutely do the good work of having the game be propelled by Aliens-archetype dramatic needs/relationships (Agenda, Buddy/Rival). [HR][/HR] So those are my initial thoughts without a full post mortem. I'll throw out some examples of the actual play in the coming days. [/QUOTE]
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