Games that do 'ALIEN' well

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Not a system, but I wanted to add some fodder to the conversation.

I know when people hear ALIEN, as was said, they're expecting waiting around for the xenomorph. I think the whole setting could be interesting for a lot of other reasons, depending on what people sign up for.

I've been recently going down a rabbit hole on Aliens lore, and learned that the xenomorph isn't the first nonhuman life the Colonial Marines had run into - hence the line about 'another bug hunt'. Apparently, there are other alien life forms out there to deal with - Apone and the gang had just come from Pollux with thin, flying aliens that combusted when killed apparently.

The more you know

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not a system, but I wanted to add some fodder to the conversation.

I know when people hear ALIEN, as was said, they're expecting waiting around for the xenomorph. I think the whole setting could be interesting for a lot of other reasons, depending on what people sign up for.

I've been recently going down a rabbit hole on Aliens lore, and learned that the xenomorph isn't the first nonhuman life the Colonial Marines had run into - hence the line about 'another bug hunt'. Apparently, there are other alien life forms out there to deal with - Apone and the gang had just come from Pollux with thin, flying aliens that combusted when killed apparently.

The more you know

Oh, for sure. The Alien book and the Colonial Marines sourcebook provide a lot of such critters.

But I think the expectation for many people is that, eventually, there will be Weyland-Yutani shenanigans and someone's chest is going to burst open.

For me -- not necessarily for anyone else -- I would rather have such things be a fun surprise, rather than an expectation. And I think having xenos on the cover of all the sourcebooks sets up that expectation for me, at least, that they're going to show up on a regular basis.

 

[Larnievc]

With (yet another) new Alien flick on the horizon (please be good!) I was thinking about TTRPGs which do the Alien franchise well.

Obviously, there's the official Alien TTRPG from Free League (2nd Edition coming soon).

There's Mothership, which I hear also does it very well--I get to play that in a couple of weeks, I hope!

Of course any sci-fi RPG can do Alien, but which ones do it the best?

There’s an old Amazing Engine game called Bug Hunters that did a good job of an Aliens game. Also the Leading Edge crunchfest Aliens: The Roleplaying Game.

 

[jdrakeh]

Also the Leading Edge crunchfest Aliens: The Roleplaying Game.

Ah. Aliens Adventure Game. It's more of a tactics game than a RPG, which I think is why they titled it "Adventure Game" instead. I have a friend who is very, very, into this game. They also published a board game.

 

[jdrakeh]

Pretty much true of the whole AE range. Adequate-to-good settings dragged down by a very basic game engine. When your biggest innovation is that odd "character core" idea where you, as a player rather than a character, mechanically improve over time you might be doing something wrong.

That said, I do have a nostalgic soft spot for Bughunters and Metamorphosis Alpha To Omega, and Kromosome was pretty original for its time. Not a lot of biopunk in gaming then, and the whole "nimble businesses versus corporate juggernauts" thing was a different spin on the usual cyberpunk dystopias. I wouldn't mind porting it to a better engine someday.

I, like you, am a big fan of the setting books. All of them, actually.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I, like you, am a big fan of the setting books. All of them, actually.

The only one I didn't really care for was Tabloid, but that's only because MIB/Atlas Games' Pandemonium did a much better job with the subject IMO. Still serviceable though, and it's not like having another option for that niche hurts any. Not everyone's going to dig Pandemonium's wacky comedy and experimental graphic design, after all.

 

[jdrakeh]

The only one I didn't really care for was Tabloid, but that's only because MIB/Atlas Games' Pandemonium did a much better job with the subject IMO. Still serviceable though, and it's not like having another option for that niche hurts any. Not everyone's going to dig Pandemonium's wacky comedy and experimental graphic design, after all.

My only issue with Pandemonium was that the rules organization was atrocious. It was not an easy book to read, but it sure was fun!

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

My only issue with Pandemonium was that the rules organization was atrocious. It was not an easy book to read, but it sure was fun!

That it was, on all counts. Same kind of sacrificing ease of reading for style that I object to in Mork Borg, really. Still get a smile on my face when I think about the crazy convoluted wordplay involved in that adventure with the AMA-NRA and the amulet of Amon-Ra, though. The only one I've seen that topped it was a Ghostbusters adventure that was apparently written mostly to let an NPC (the Easter Bunny, in fact) paraphrase the lyrics of the Beatles' song I Am The Walrus as line of diegetic dialog. "I am the Eggman..." indeed.

 

[Peter BOSCO'S]

Of course the revised 2024 version of D&D will be not just "bestest" at everything if will be "most bestest" at everything, at least until the 2033 version....

 

[aramis erak]

I've also heard good things about Hostile, a setting and supplements for Cepheus/Traveller without the Fifth Imperium setting. No idea if it adds a stress mechanic like Alien or Mothership has.

there's no 5th imperium in Traveller, only 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Imperiums.