Pre-order the Colonial Marines Operations Manual for the ALIEN RPG

The Colonial Marines Operations Manual is an upcoming hardcover for Free League's Alien RPG. It will be released early next year but you can pre-order it now. If you pre-order you will get the PDF ahead of the hardcover release, plus a bonus PDF art book.



Armor piercing rounds sizzle through raw flesh as plasma beams sear swollen retinas. Acrid smoke chokes down your throat before you realize what’s burning is you. Chemical attacks melt your armor, simmer your eyeballs, and fuse your helmet to your skull, while bioweapons turn your insides out and pulp you into a quivering mound of black jelly.

Welcome to war on the razor edge of space, marine—where nukes are yesterday’s news, pulse rounds are cheap and a human life is only worth its weight in stock options. It’s a living hell—but none of that’s as bad as the flashes of gnashing metal teeth that terrorize you every time you try to close your eyes—like some monster just split your head open and crawled inside your dreams.

Sometimes you’ve gotta wonder what the hell it’s all for.

But no one pays you to ask why, only to follow orders. You’re just a grunt—no offense. So lock and load your pulse rifle, marine—you’ve got a job to do. Protect and serve the citizens and colonies of the Outer Rim colonies—no matter what the cost.

ALIEN RPG: Colonial Marines Operations Manual is a complete campaign module for the award-winning official ALIEN roleplaying game, written by sci-fi novelist Andrew E.C. Gaska and Paul Elliott. It gives you all the tools you need to run a full open-world campaign as the iconic Colonial Marines. Contents:

• History & Organization – the inside story of the illustrious Colonial Marine Corps.
• Creating Marines – expanded character creation rules for grunts of all kinds.
• Weapons & Vehicles – an extensive chapter with new gear, gloriously illustrated.
• The Frontier War – the framework and backstory for a Colonial Marines campaign.
• Factions on the Frontier – the powers that be and their dark agendas.
• Marine Missions – six thrilling missions for your Marines, playable in any order.
• The Endgame – the showdown against a deadly enemy, finally revealed.

 

[imagineGod]

I'd be crazy enough to try to use this book to run a kind of Aliens vs Predator(minus the preds of course) Capcom Arcade style game where the marine characters are cyborgs.

The d6 system of the Alien RPG is pretty simple to hack and create Predators as PCs or antagonists.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You’re just a grunt—no offense.

This is the only part that rings untrue in this blurb. Marines aren't offended by "grunt." It's who they're proud to be.

This is a must-by book. Another glorious day in the Corps!

 

[Mortus]

Pre-ordered! I was hoping this would come sooner rather than later.

As a huge Alien fan, I preordered the original game as soon as it was announced. It arrived in time and the quality was outstanding.

The exclusive pre-order cinematic starter kit PDF plus Chariot of the Gods PDF were amazing. I GMed it for my home group and at GenCon last year. Everyone had a blast. Great evocative rules and adventure.

With this new book we’ll finally start that elite synth corps team campaign we’ve been talking about. In the mean time, I just got the Destroyer of Worlds PDF to whet our appetites. Another glorious day in the corps!

 

[MGibster]

This is the only part that rings untrue in this blurb. Marines aren't offended by "grunt." It's who they're proud to be.

It's just a throwback to Aliens when Burke says that very thing to Hicks. And Burke didn't know Hicks wouldn't be offended by being called a grunt.

 

[Khelon Testudo]

Sadly there's no way I can persuade my mob to play a military campaign. So I'm saving my enthusiasm for the Truckies campaign.

 

[Goliath Coins]

This is good news. Even if I never play, I love collecting the books.

 

[Ace]

Thanks for bringing this to the front of ENWorld.

I wonder why fans here hardly engage in Community Forum posts when they do not know the poster or the material is not D&D?

This is because its a D&D forum in most users minds and that is what kind of content they are here for.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's just a throwback to Aliens when Burke says that very thing to Hicks. And Burke didn't know Hicks wouldn't be offended by being called a grunt.

I'd forgotten about that -- it's actually indicating that Burke is an ROTC/academy grad with no understanding of Marine culture.

 

[aramis erak]

Thanks for bringing this to the front of ENWorld.

I wonder why fans here hardly engage in Community Forum posts when they do not know the poster or the material is not D&D?

I have some ideas, but I'm going to be polite and say that there is definitely a D&D bias in the membership, and a large portion of D&D players have no particular interest in expanding their horizons.

I also have spent more than $150 on alien, and at $1 per player per hour, on that basis, I've more than gotten my money's worth... It's a great game, and I will get that sourcebook. I've yet to be disappointed by a Fria Ligan product. There goes dining out this month.

 

[TheSword]

I have some ideas, but I'm going to be polite and say that there is definitely a D&D bias in the membership, and a large portion of D&D players have no particular interest in expanding their horizons.

I also have spent more than $150 on alien, and at $1 per player per hour, on that basis, I've more than gotten my money's worth... It's a great game, and I will get that sourcebook. I've yet to be disappointed by a Fria Ligan product. There goes dining out this month.

I suspect it’s because players of D&D (and their spin-offs) outnumber non-d&d players by 10,000 to 1. Many of those players have already expanded their horizons by learning to play D&D.

I also think D&D and their ilk (Pathfinder etc) requires a fair amount of effort to get into and Brain Power/RAM to process. When people are running D&D it’s quite a lot of mental effort to quickly ‘put down’ one system and ‘pick up’ another. Some can switch easily (particularly individuals rather than whole groups). Hell it’s hard enough switching editions of the same game with a whole group let alone start entire new ones.

It’s not necessarily the rules being hard either. It’s the cultural baggage that comes from living and knowing a game system really well. I had a fairly new group (playing for two years) and suggested a one off game of a different system. It was met with dismay and reluctance... “we’ve only just got to grips with this one!” If the existing system people are playing is crappy and a source of dissatisfaction people are more likely to be open to alternatives.

Longer term groups become jaded and maybe would try something new, but then also become a little lazy and prefer the comfort of a worn slipper like D&D... particularly when a lot of the fun comes from the story and the campaign rather than the rule-set. I suspect if Alien RPg released a 5e conversion product then it would get huge responses (even if it ended up being less good).

I love Aliens. But for me it suffers the same as most movie/novel source spin offs. The main story has been told and you will never be able to recreate that satisfyingly. All you can hope for is the whiff and feel of the original. That to me just isn’t as satisfying as telling a story from scratch without the massive preconceptions. Good luck to those who are playing though and are liking it!