At this point, it feels like so many franchises have an official tabletop roleplaying game. The Walking Dead, Hellboy, Blade Runner, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and even Monty Python all have licensed games based on their universes, and that’s just off the top of my head. Frankly, I’ve never really been super drawn to this, as most of the time, part of what brings me to a franchise is seeing an authored take from another perspective play out in front of me.
The one exception has been Alien: The Roleplaying Game. There’s something about the Alien universe that grabs me, getting my mind racing with all the tales of body horror and corporate greed that can be told using the themes and concepts laid out in the franchise over the last 46 years.
The original version of Alien RPG was released in 2019, and, along with the “Building Better Worlds” campaign book, has won three Ennie Awards, including the 2020 Gold Ennie for Best Game. Now, after years of feedback, Free League Publishing has released an updated Evolved Edition of the ruleset with new features, revised rules, and a revamped layout. As a fan of the original system, I was eager to see how this new version improved upon the great foundation of the previous iteration.
The first thing that’s apparent when looking at them side by side is the new graphic design. While I enjoyed the aesthetics of the original, which used all black pages with green and white color schemes to present the information, the new version is much clearer, featuring white pages and black text with pops of green. The Evolved Edition is actually shorter, 312 pages versus the original’s 385, but this comes from a well thought out reorganization that flows better. The art, which is a bit more sparse than I would like it to be, has a sharp style, looking almost like concept art paintings of Alien films.
The core dice resolution mechanic, which is the beating heart of the game, is very slightly changed, maintaining the same great risk-reward of the first edition. Any time you make a check in the game, you roll a number of D6s based on a skill and its associated attribute. If you get a six on any die, the roll is considered a success, with any additional successes providing an extra benefit to your action. Each character also has a series of talents, which start out based on your class but can later be purchased with XP, that will sometimes alter the roll in your favor. The system has two of the biggest positives for me: it’s simple to understand, making it great for players new to RPGs, and you get to roll a ton of dice, which is one of the most fun feelings there is.
But there’s an added layer to this rolling system that is the secret sauce to the tension of the game – the stress dice. If you ever want to re-roll, whether it’s because you failed or because you need additional successes, you can push the roll. To do so, you increase your stress level, then re-roll all dice that don’t show a six. For each level of stress you have, you add a stress die to the roll. These can count for successes as with normal dice, but if you ever roll a one on a stress die, you need to roll on a special table that can make you lose control in detrimental, but interesting, ways.
The system is so clever because it encourages you to push your luck when things get hairy. The higher your stress level, the more chances you have for succeeding, but it also ups your likelihood of a stress response that could send your character spiralling out of control. Players can relieve stress if they spend time resting in a safe area, but depending on the situation, you may want to keep your stress level high to improve your chances. I love how much this mimics how people respond to danger – you may be able to pull off more improbable feats while under pressure, but it’s very easy to lose your cool at the drop of a hat.
Your stress level is also used when you make a panic roll, which you’re asked to make when something happens narratively at a tense moment. This can be something like finding a dead body, seeing another player get critically injured, or encountering a Xenomorph for the first time. Unlike the stress response roll you get from a one on a stress die, panic responses are generally brief but impactful. A lower roll on this table may just cause you to make a noise, alerting enemies nearby to your presence, but a high roll can put you into a frenzy or even leave you momentarily catatonic.
The book outlines combat rules, which categorize your options into full actions and quick actions. There are rules for distance, which isn’t measured specifically but rather approximately with terms like adjacent, short, medium, long, and extreme. You’ll need to take into consideration concepts like cover, ammunition, and armor, but it feels slightly simplified compared to the original edition, even if it still has a few too many moving pieces for my taste. When you are brought down to zero health, you’ll roll on a critical injury table, which adds another problem for you to deal with once you’re back in the game.
Sometimes your combat won’t be a ground-based affair, as the game also includes how to handle ship-to-ship combat in the vacuum of space. It’s a little more finicky, giving different roles for each player to perform on the ship, all of which will affect each round differently, but it’s there if you want it. Personally, this isn’t what I think of when I think of Alien, but I definitely understand the game being thorough enough to prepare you for the inevitability, as there are plenty of cutthroat corporations and factions that will look for any opportunity to take you out.
In addition to showing you how to build human NPCs for you to fight against, there’s a bestiary of various creatures for you to come against, including classic Xenomorphs, Prometheus-era Neomorphs, and assorted other alien lifeforms. There are some really neat mechanics involved with the various stages of the Xenomorph lifecycle, including rules for being implanted by a facehugger or dealing with acid blood. This section also includes lore for the various creatures, which is interesting, if a little dry.
You’re not always going to be in open conflict with your enemies; in fact, you will probably spend most of your time avoiding extremely dangerous encounters, so you’ll frequently be using the revamped stealth rules. Players will be moving from zone to zone across maps, taking time to search rooms and interact with terminals. While they are doing that, the GM will be secretly tracking the movement of any NPCs that may be hiding or hunting in the area. There are specific rules for how much you’ll be able to do in each ‘turn,’ which represents about five to ten minutes of time. If players end up in the same zone as an enemy, there’s a specific opposed check that will be made in order to dictate who is aware of who. It all feels more thought out and considered than the game’s first release, allowing you to create tense situations that feel like you’re playing out scenarios from the films.
To facilitate stealth, combat, and survival against the elements, there’s a long list of equipment for players to use. Each of these has small descriptions and stat blocks that indicate their use. There’s nothing super creative in here, but you’ve got all the hits like motion detectors, pulse rifles, and even the classic powerloader.
In order to empower you to fully portray the world, there are pages and pages of history telling the tale of the various corporations and powers in the world of Alien. Some of these descriptions are retellings of the various movies, often in the form of corporate communications or documentation. It’s a lot to parse, and not all of it is particularly unique, but there’s enough here to make sure you can answer any questions that your players may have about the bigger picture. The Evolved Edition now includes information from Alien: Romulus, but sadly doesn’t have anything from the recent “Alien: Earth” TV series, which would have been a great new wrinkle to add to the game.
There are two main modes that Alien allows you to use that tell different types of stories. Campaign Mode is more like your traditional roleplaying game structure, with players creating their characters and taking them on multisession adventures in a sandbox world with a more freeform narrative. Cinematic Mode takes the mechanics of Alien and condenses it to a few sessions, casting players as prewritten characters that each have their own secret agendas that change throughout the three acts of the narrative.
The book’s section on campaign play does a great job of giving you the tools needed to successfully craft a compelling ongoing story. In addition to three different frameworks for the campaign (space truckers, colonial marines, or frontier colonists), there are tables for everything from campaign hooks to job generation to planet creation, making it easy to get the ball rolling. The book even lays out a fully developed Tartarus Sector with its own history and story ideas for the series of planets contained within.
If you want to play Cinematic Mode, Free League has released a scenario called “Rapture Protocol” that can be purchased separately from the core rulebook. It lays out a great little three-session adventure that sends you on a resupply mission to an industrial colony where you quickly discover a dangerous conflict for control of the station. Not only is the narrative a strong one, with twists and turns for you as you explore, but it’s also extremely well-produced, with detailed maps and glossy player handouts. There’s even an optional set of miniatures you can buy that feature all the characters and Xenomorphs you’ll run into during the adventure.
Also available is the Starter Set, which features an abbreviated rulebook that condenses the rules into the bare minimum you need to get going. There’s also a special set of dice, a supply counter, and a series of cards that help you keep track of panic responses, initiative, and various weapon stats. It also includes a brief, three-hour cinematic adventure called Hope’s Last Day that chronicles the final hours of Hadley’s Hope, the terraforming colony depicted in Aliens. The scenario isn’t as robust as Rapture Protocol, but the Starter Set is great for anyone who’s looking to get a good sample of what the game is all about.
New to the Evolved Edition is a mode called Last Survivor, which is a solo mode that’s meant for one player to run by themselves without a GM. It’s basically a series of mission setups that you can choose from, then tables to roll on that will help determine what happens as time goes on and danger increases. It’s an interesting experiment and feels well thought out for what it is, but the character interactions, particularly with conflicting personal goals in cinematic mode, are often what make Alien so compelling, so I’m not sure if I’ll be getting much use out of it.
For the most part, the big picture structure of the game has stayed the same between the first edition and the evolved edition, but the specifics have changed. Since there’s already a large collection of cinematic and campaign books for the original version, the new book provides you with a simple guide for translating the older materials for use with the updated rules. As someone who has collected many of these scenarios, this is a welcome addition that makes me feel better about replacing the old book.
I already thought Alien: The Roleplaying Game was a great package, and the new Evolved Edition makes it even better. It streamlines the rules, smoothing out the combat and making the stealth system feel more satisfying and robust. The stress system is slightly tweaked for the better, retaining the brilliant mix between mechanics and fiction that makes the gameplay shine. The section on the Campaign Mode offers tons of options to help you provide players with endless stories of exploring the expanses of space, while Cinematic Mode offers a tight, fast-paced thrill ride full of death and betrayal. Along with the Starter Set and the Rapture Protocol, there are plenty of great ways to give this RPG system a try, making it an easy purchase for any fan of the Alien universe, regardless of their experience with tabletop roleplaying games.
Review copy provided by publisher. Alien: The Roleplaying Game Evolved Edition is available now in digital and physical editions.
The post The “Evolved Edition” of ‘Alien: The Roleplaying Game’ Adds Even More to an Already Great TTRPG [Review] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
