Free League came out with the Alien RPG in 2019. Due to its popular IP (intellectual property: movies, comic books, novels, toys) and a good solid system, it has done well in the market place for a new RPG.
The only thing marring the launch were some conspicuous typos in the early printings. To see if you have an newer printing, look on p.51, Pilot should have Piloting instead of Mobility as a Key Skill. I ordered my copy through Amazon and received a 3rd printing. I only spotted one uncorrected minor typo in my copy.
Link to corrections: Official Typo Corrections
I've played the game twice and I'm now running Hope's Last Day (I've run this 6 times already as of 1/2022), the published scenario in the core rulebook.
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The first thing you'll notice is that the book is full color and has a lot of art, all of it consistent, evocative of the movies and are originals with an oil painting style, NOT cheap stills taken from the movies. It is a joy to open and flip through. The only drawback is that the book has a strong ink smell to it, probably due to all the black ink used throughout the book. If you tried to print PDF pages of this, you'll probably spend more in ink than the cost of the printed book. The fonts used is easy to read, especially for old gamers like me with bad eyesight.
The rules are succinct, but sometimes scattered, requiring a search through the PDF to find various rules. The index in the back of the book isn't extensive enough. When running the game, I used both the book and PDF, cut-and-paste sections of the rules, and a fan-made cheat sheet (and rules summary).
One major rule that's confusing to new GMs is this one bit:
What I love about the game? It really delivers on giving an Alien movie experience. Survival horror at its best. The Stress and Panic system, plus Signature Attacks by the Aliens replicates the Alien movies to a T. The Stress and Panic system is a death spiral that gives the PCs an edge, as the stress goes up, they get more Stress Dice to succeed and fail. A 1 on a Stress Die = required Panic Roll, a 6 = a success; so it's a devil's bargain. If your Panic Roll is 9 or less, and you have at least one success, you'll still complete your action. Additional successes can be used to do extra damage or add Stunts (such as knock an Alien out of an airlock).
During one game, a PC decided to hack into the system with Comtech, but failed with a Panic Roll and the result was that PC and all friendly PCs in Short range increased their stress by 1. As a GM, you have to get creative as to why this happens. I ruled that the computer responded by announcing on the speaker system, "Too many passwords tried. System locked. Please try again in 24 hours."
The only drawback is that a creature's Signature Attack is randomly determined by a 1d6 die roll. At some point, you'll have too many duplicates and it becomes less interesting. The Aliens are killing machines, so its Signature Attacks actually give the PCs a chance to survive. Only one of its Signature Attacks is an outright death critical. The core rulebook suggests that you use Aliens sparingly. I think this is to mitigate this issue of too many repeats; to keep things fresh by making the Alien appearance rare.
One issue is spiraling Panic checks. Sometimes one PC Panics and causes everyone else near them to make Panic checks which in turn causes another Panic check. This sometimes gets out of hand, turning horror into farce. At some point, I just stop asking for them.
One thing to know is that Panic and Crits escalate. If a PC has panicked and an additional failed Panic check below or equal to the current Panic is rolled, pick the Panic result one higher than the current one. This goes for Crits too.
So far, every one-shot has been a great Alien experience for me. I do have reservations about running this as a Campaign. Can you keep this fresh? If you always run into Aliens, does it get boring? Or do you rarely run into Aliens? Is it still an Alien game if you don't run into Aliens?
The Colonial Marines Operations Manual, a campaign module, is coming out in 2021. Can they replicate the Aliens (Alien 2) experience? I do hope so.
See you in the pipe, five by five.
Alien RPG won a Gold ENnie 2020 for Best Game.
My reviews of the cinematic scenarios published by Free League: Reviews and Spoilers for Draconis Strain Saga
Inspiration for your own games, I found some video shorts:
Alien: Isolation, Digital Series - Seven episodes
Q: Is it worth buying the physical versions of the Starter Set and Destroyer of Worlds?
A: I have both. Depends on the "price." I bought it during a sale. If you plan on running "Chariot of the Gods" (Starter Set) and "Destroyer of Worlds" a few times, it's not a bad price.
Running Alien RPG on Roll20. Pick the Aliens Character Sheet Template.
For Voice, I use Discord and the Sebedius dice roller. The Sebedius die roller bot lets you roll on the Alien Critical Hit and Panic tables and does the look ups for you.
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| Roll20 "Aliens" Character Sheet |
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| Sebedius dice roller bot for Discord |
Q: How does healing work in Alien RPG?
A: Humans who are not Broken naturally heal 1 Health per Turn (p.99 Recovery). If you are Broken, you must either get First Aid or wait 1 Turn (p.99 Getting Back Up). Medical Aid only works if you are Broken. Synthetics do not naturally heal, they must be repaired (p.111 Synthetics / Repairs).
Health is more like scrapes, bruises, and fatigue which humans can recover quickly from (p.99 Critical Injuries). Synthetics just continue to accrue damage until they have a System Shutdown. (p.111 Synthetics / Death and Critical Injuries on Synthetics).
This also makes me think Xenomorphs recover all Health in 1 Turn if left alone. Xenomorphs grow quickly and I assume bleeding acid everywhere while fleeing is a bad way to stay hidden, so I assume they heal all Health instead of 1 Health per Turn. This will also incentivize Players to hunt down and finish off a Xenomorph that's injured.
Q: How does combat work? What happens when I try to attack a Xenomorph?
A: I'll do the combat step by step here:
1. Everyone seeing the Xeno gain +1 Stress. This assumes it's the first time they see one. (p.103 Stress Level)
2. Everyone draws an Initiative card (p.87 Drawing the Initiative). Most Xenos act more than once, they draw a number of cards equal to their Speed which is generally 2. (p.291 Speed)
3. Count up from 1 to 10. This is the action order based on each person's Initiative card. Each person gets a fast and slow action. (p.87 Slow and Fast Actions)
4. Let's say the Xeno goes first. It moves as a fast action and attacks with a slow action. Roll 1d6 and look up its attack chart. Resolve its attack. If the engaged target is still alive, PC gains +1 Stress if target takes any damage from the attack.
5. Let's say PC (Agility 3, Ranged Combat 1) gets to go. PC is firing a M41A Pulse Rifle (+1 Bonus, 2 Damage, Armor Piercing, Full Auto).
5.1 Player must decide if PC will Aim with fast action and fire with Full Auto as slow action. Aim gives +2; Full Auto gives +2, but increases PC's Stress +1. (p.94 Aiming; p.96 Full Auto Fire)
5.2 PC decides to Aim and fire using Full Auto. PC rolls 9d6 + 3d6 Stress dice. (9d6 = 3 Agility + 1 Ranged Combat skill + 2 Aim + 2 Full Auto + 1 weapon Bonus; 3d6 = 1 Stress for seeing Xeno + 1 Stress for taking damage earlier + 1 for Full Auto).
5.2.1 Every 6 (on any dice rolled including Stress dice) is a success.
5.2.2 If any of the Stress dice rolled a 1:
5.2.2.1 The PC must make a Panic Roll. (p.104 Panic Roll)
5.2.2.1.1 Panic Roll = 1d6 + 3 (3 = Current Stress level).
5.2.2.1.2 If Panic Roll is 10+, PC's action is cancelled and immediately does the forced action instead.
5.2.2.1.3 If Panic Roll is 9- and there was no successes, the PC has missed the Xeno.
5.2.2.1.4 If Panic Roll is 9- and there was a success, the PC has hit the Xeno.
5.2.2.2 Rolling any 1 on a Stress die means the weapon is empty (after it fired) and the PC forgot to reload. It takes a slow action to reload. (p.96 Ammo)
5.2.3 If there is no successes and PC didn't have to make a Panic Roll, the PC may Push the Roll. If you Push the Roll, +1 Stress and reroll the attack with the additional Stress die. PC may only Push the Roll once per attack. e.g. if you miss again, you cannot push a second time. (p.60 Pushing Your Roll)
5.3 If the PC hits the Xeno, decide how you want to spend the successes, most people spend it all on additional damage. If there are more than one target, you may want to hit secondary targets instead. (p.67 Ranged Combat / Stunts; p.96 Full Auto Fire)
5.3.1 Assume PC rolled 3 successes. Damage would be weapon's damage (2 for the Pulse Rifle) for the first success + 2 more damage for the additional successes = 4 damage.
5.3.2 Roll Xeno's armor. A Xeno Drone has 8 armor, but it is halved because of the Pulse Rifle is Armor Piercing. So, roll 4d6, every 6 reduces the attack damage. Assume Xeno rolled 1 success, so the armor reduced the damage from 4 to 3. Subtract 3 Health from the Xeno. (p.118 Weapon Features / Special / Armor Piercing; p.98 Armor)
5.3.3 If the Xeno has Acid Splash (acid for blood), roll the Acid Splash + damage it just took. Roll 11d6 = 8 Acid Splash + 3 Damage. Every 6 rolled is 1 point of acid damage. Actually everybody in engaged range takes the Acid Splash, you probably should roll Acid Splash separately for each PC. (p.298 Acid Splash)
5.3.3.1 Assume 3 successes are rolled, so PC takes 3 Health damage from acid.
5.3.3.2 Acid will continue to burn each round until it burns itself out. At start of next round, roll half the number of dice, rounded down, until no damage happens. (p.298 Acid Splash)
5.3.3.3 PC takes +1 Stress for taking acid damage.
5.3.4 If the Xeno is reduced to 0 Health, roll on the Critical Injuries on Xenomorphs table. p.291.
6. Next person in Initiative Order goes. Most likely the Xeno will get its second action. 😀
Q: Is it worth buying the physical versions of the Starter Set and Destroyer of Worlds?
A: I have both. Depends on the "price." I bought it during a sale. If you plan on running "Chariot of the Gods" (Starter Set) and "Destroyer of Worlds" a few times, it's not a bad price.
The Starter Set with the two dice sets (10 black and 10 yellow stress dice) were worth it as I couldn't find the dice discounted that much anywhere. For a few more dollars, I got the maps, cards (initiative, weapons, agendas, NPCs), pre-gen character sheets, cardboard markers, and 105 pages of rules. Chariot of the Gods was a separate 49 page booklet. One issue with the cards is that they don't give you duplicates, so there's only one of each weapon. Not useful to handout to players if you only have one of each card. Most PCs carry the same weapons such as a pistol, knife, and rifle, but you only have one card for each weapon. The markers are fairly large and are about the size of a room, so you can use them to mark which zone a PC is in, but not for zoomed in tactical combat.
Destroyer of Worlds has maps, cards (weapons, NPCs, agendas), pre-gen character sheets, and a 90 page scenario booklet which includes some tables and rules from the Colonial Marines book. You do need the Starter Set Rulebook or core book for various rules, especially the Other Hazards rules. Same issue with the weapon cards being one of each weapon, no duplicates. The Starter Set markers can be used to mark PC locations, but are too large to mark tactical positions.
Q (LT): One of my players has got a drug addiction due to a 13+ panic roll. My question is this, what side effect of drug taking can I give them that would be fair? The books don't offer much help in this area.
A (MH): I thought there were several examples in the rule books and published cinematic boxed sets. Basically, the drugs reduce Stress and is their Significant Item, spending quality time with it reduces Stress by 1 (once per Act). And if they run out, it winds up as a Hidden Agenda or Story Card where they have to have to find drugs and take it to get a Story point.
Q: How long does it take and where do you recharge air for your space suits?
A: It's not in the rules, but I assume it'll take a Turn at a recharge station. Scuba tank refilling takes 10 to 20 minutes, so I assume something similar. I assume there's a recharge station at every airlock or where space suits are available for use. Up to the GM if the recharge stations are in working order. In a number of the published scenarios, they're either not working or malfunctioning to add tension to the game.
Q (bh): If someone rolls 3 successes on a Close Combat roll, and the target Blocks and rolls 2 successes, that removes 2 of the attackers successes, leaving them with 1 success, causing damage.
I assume that means the attacker effectively rolled 1 success and gets no stunts, but this came up and someone said it blocks extra damage, but the initial roll's extra successes still count as stunts. That doesn't feel right to me, and I don't believe the rules support that, but wanted to see if I'm possibly misunderstanding something.
A (MH): This is pretty interesting, on p.98 Armor says explicitly damage. p.92 Blocking, says Decrease Damage also.
In the Free League Forums, I found the following from Tomas Härenstam, rules designer:
This is the intended sequence:
1. The attacker declares the attack.
2. The defender declares whether to block or not.
3. The attacker rolls (and pushes if they want to), then chooses a stunt if they rolled several successes.
4. If the defender declared a block, they now roll dice and choose an effect. If the defender chose the "decrease damage" effect, the attacker loses successes and can thus lose their chosen stunt.
5. The results of the attack and the block are implemented simultaneously. If the defender chose to counterattack, the two attacks occur at the same time. If the defender chose to disarm the attacker, the attack hits normally, but counts as an unarmed attack.
This makes me think if Decrease Damage made the attack miss, the Attacker's Stunts are completely negated. And if the defender decided to not Decrease Damage, they can do so. So, it's only safe for an Attacker to use Stunts if they have two more successes than the Defender (if the Defender is Blocking).
Q (LB): Panic state duration.
- If I am in combat mode, how exactly is a “turn” handled? I take it that it doesn’t mean “round," so it would be what, multiple rounds? Until combat round is over? Or whenever the GM determines 10 minutes have passed?
- Some panic states sound less of a state and more of an immediate response (e.g. Drop Item). I take it that I don’t drop an item each round, but am I considered in that “state” (as in, if I roll 9 again, I increase from “Drop Item” to “Freeze”) or am I simply dropping an item and immediately ending my panic (thus new panic rolls simply assign me whatever state I roll)?
- Are twitching and trembling states which remain for a “turn”?
It seems really messy to me to have the GM make an estimate for how long a turn is in combat mode, but as the rulebook defines the terms turn and round as different lengths of time, I take it that they aren’t using them interchangeably? In which case, how are people handling a “turn” when using “rounds” in combat mode? This whole mechanic seems incredibly important to the game yet it isn’t very clearly explained.
A (MH):
- Combat is in Rounds (5-10 secs). Combat never takes longer than a Turn (5-10 mins, see p.83 Measuring Time), so if the PC panics during combat, it lasts until the end of combat. Then after combat, it should magically wear off. Or for dramatic reasons, the PC could still be cowering, waiting for someone to snap them out of it, but if you do this all the time, it turns comedic. It's only good to do this once in a while.
- If there's no duration, the action happens and there's no future effects (see p.104 Stopping Panic). For instance 1-6 is treated as nothing really happens it's a freebie save throw. So, if you get a 5 and then a 3. The 3 isn't increased to a 6. Panic Result 7 = I interpret as one and done. 8 = ongoing until panic ends. 9 = one and done. 10 = one round only. 11 = one round only. 12 = one round only. 13 = 1 turn. 14 = until you kill something. So, for Drop Item, it doesn't increase to Freeze, they just drop another item. But Tremble would increase to Drop Item, but I would keep the ongoing Tremble effect (RAW seems to replace the Tremble, but I would argue the panic is still ongoing).
- I interpret Twitching as one-and-done. The effect is your and others Stress goes up. Done. Tremble lasts 1 Turn or until end of combat.
Q (LB): It seems a bit weird to have a Nervous Twitch for only a few seconds, then to Tremble for a whole turn, and then Drop Item just be this thing that isn't really a panicked state at all which defaults you to trembling. I think I might homebrew it to make Twitching and Trembling and Drop Item turn-length states, renaming Drop Item to something sensible and relevant like Shaking.
That way the first three are all turn-length without replacing actions, the next three are round-length while replacing an action, and the final three replace the action and are ongoing. It feels sort of right that the last three are semi-permanent. I mean, if Catatonic is supposed to be the worst state, it only lasting one turn makes it actually one of the better ones!
A (MH): Actually, Catatonic 15+ means you're permanently gone. That's the final fail state (my interpretation).
I think the chart is sort of random and there's not a real logical progression from step to step. There is a progression from 1-6 (nothing), 7-9 (additional effect), 10-14 (overrides action), to 15+ (screwed), but internally in each group, there's no real logic other than they're grouped together and the designer decided something was worse than something else.
During play, most of the Players don't notice the inconsistencies and it's not a big deal. You'll only notice it if someone drops something 3 times in a row. In that case, as a GM, I do the +1 and go to Freeze for variety. Or if they have nothing left to drop, I move it up to Freeze. Dropping your Pulse Rifle is a big deal. But once you do that and you have nothing else in your hand, it becomes a no op, so I'd bump it up.
Q (LB): About those final three. It makes sense that there wouldn’t be any progression from Fleeing unless they were prevented from escape. But Berserk, the player is continuing to take actions (Close combat? Ranged combat?) with which skill tests continue and thus more panic could trigger. Would they go from Berserk to Catatonic? Or does the “stop only when other player is broken” prevent that progression?
A (MH): Remember, you run out of ammo on a panic result, so what'll happen is the PC will either try to fire and find their gun is empty or will know this and will definitely go to hand-to-hand combat, using the pulse rifle as a club, pull a knife, punch or strangle someone. And yes, RAW, if they panic again, they go Catatonic, but as a GM, I prefer they keep on attacking until another PC talks them down or until they kill someone. I guess if you're being a nice GM, if they Panic again while trying to attack another PC, they go Catatonic as they realized they tried to murder a crewmate, sort of a roleplaying opportunity. At that point, I'd hand out a replacement PC. I personally prefer that they continue to stay Berserk until they roll 15+ on the Panic roll.
It's all about game flow. It'll be annoying to keep on rolling Panic once you go Berserk and it'll hurt the game flow. I'd just play out the Berserk until someone dies (or gets talked down, but even if you talk the PC down, most likely they'll go Berserk or Catatonic on the next Panic roll anyway). So usually, someone or something dies. Trying to punch a Xeno to death generally doesn't give you the result you want.
Q (LB): Yeah, I like your take on it. And I’m going to make the last three states essentially permanent until they are commanded out of it.
A (MH): I looked at the new Evolved Edition and Catatonic does wear off. But if your Stress is that high, it'll probably reoccur a lot and won't be fun to play. I'd personally have a Xeno drag that PC off to the hive to be glued to a wall with resin.
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