Drat And Cat Suggest…

Free League Publishing’s “Alien The Roleplaying Game”

By Talia Heart

            The “Alien The Roleplaying Game” core rulebook isn’t just a 392-page read, it isn’t just the winner of the 2020 Gold Ennie for ‘Best Game’, and it isn’t just a visually-stunning guide with work after work of incredible art. It’s the freedom to finally express your inner Ripley, Kane, Hicks, or even Burke!  It’s also the freedom to create your own characters and play them in just about any ‘Alien’ scenario you can think of.

            The book offers both cinematic and campaign play support, meaning the game can be one day or night of intense roleplaying where you just can’t wait to play out your gruesome death or a longer campaign where you do your best to stay alive through one mission to the next, growing and learning as you go.  Led by a ‘Game Mother’ or ‘GM’, Alien offers you the ability to play in one of nine jobs like pilot, scientist, colonial marine, and company agent in a d6 system. You have both regular dice and “stress dice”, and if you fail on a stress die you can “panic” and this can make interesting things happen.  You get both a ‘buddy’ and a ‘rival’ and these can change during gameplay. Your character also has their own personal agenda, and you build characters complete with attributes, skills, talents, and equipment (like the iconic motion trackers and pulse rifles). The book also includes rules for both personal and space combat, and just what each person does aboard a spaceship in combat or not.

            The book also draws from the extended alien universe such as the novels, and features tidbits of information that serious ‘Alien’ fan will love, such as the name of the second shuttle the Nostromo should have been carrying and why it wasn’t in the first movie.  All the equipment, including weapons, gear, and both land and space vehicles are fully detailed and many illustrated, with the ship’s given classes and diagrams.

            You’ll also find out more about the realities of living and working in space, from the food you eat, the air you breathe, to getting iced down for hyper-sleep while your ship travels faster-than-light to get you to your destination, be it another ship, a planet, or space station all of which are detailed within. The inside of the book covers features the “Map of The Middle Heavens” to help you locate the many systems and planets which are explored in further detail inside the book itself.  Weyland-Yutani and rival corporations as well as governments and associations are explored, and the book ends with blank character sheets, ship sheets, and space combat maps.

            Overall, this book is one amazing read and reference, and it’s also the foundation upon which further ‘Alien’ campaigns and books are built. If there is any flaw to this great resource, it’s just that there is so much information, The Game Mother will need to refer to dozens of lists, charts, maps, and schematics to run a session, so having a digital copy of the book or the GM Screen (available separately from Free League Publishing) would be a great help. In my opinion the Alien RPG Core Rulebook is an essential purchase for the serious table-top gamer or even just for serious fans of the franchise and I give it a 5-Star Rating! Besides, you’ll need to use it if you wish to fully understand and use the new “Alien Colonial Marines Operations Manual” which is available now and is reviewed separately on this site.