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ALIEN The Role-Playing Game
This is the official ALIEN tabletop roleplaying game—a universe of body horror and corporate brinkmanship, where synthetic people play god while space truckers and marines serve host to newborn ghoulish creatures. It’s a harsh and unforgiving universe and you are nothing if not expendable. Stay alive if you can.
The ALIEN tabletop roleplaying game is a beautifully illustrated full-color hardcover book of 392 pages, both presenting the world of ALIEN in the year 2183 and a fast and effective ruleset designed specifically to enhance the ALIEN experience.
The game supports two distinct game modes: Cinematic play is based on pre-made scenarios that emulate the dramatic arc of an ALIEN film. Designed to be played in a single session, this game mode emphasizes high stakes and fast and brutal play. You are not all expected to survive. The core rulebook contains one introductory Cinematic scenario, Hope’s Last Day.
Campaign play is designed for longer continuous play with the same cast of player characters over many game sessions, letting you explore the ALIEN universe freely, sandbox style. The core rulebook contains random tables and other powerful tools to quickly create star systems, colonies, missions, encounters, and NPCs for your campaign.
The rules of the game are based on the acclaimed Year Zero Engine, used in award-winning games such as Tales from the Loop and Mutant: Year Zero, but adapted and further developed to fully support and enhance the core themes of ALIEN: horror and action in the cold darkness of space.
The ALIEN tabletop roleplaying game is a beautifully illustrated full-color hardcover book of 392 pages, both presenting the world of ALIEN in the year 2183 and a fast and effective ruleset designed specifically to enhance the ALIEN experience.
The game supports two distinct game modes: Cinematic play is based on pre-made scenarios that emulate the dramatic arc of an ALIEN film. Designed to be played in a single session, this game mode emphasizes high stakes and fast and brutal play. You are not all expected to survive. The core rulebook contains one introductory Cinematic scenario, Hope’s Last Day.
Campaign play is designed for longer continuous play with the same cast of player characters over many game sessions, letting you explore the ALIEN universe freely, sandbox style. The core rulebook contains random tables and other powerful tools to quickly create star systems, colonies, missions, encounters, and NPCs for your campaign.
The rules of the game are based on the acclaimed Year Zero Engine, used in award-winning games such as Tales from the Loop and Mutant: Year Zero, but adapted and further developed to fully support and enhance the core themes of ALIEN: horror and action in the cold darkness of space.
- GenresRole Playing Games
392 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2019
5 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 13, 2022
The Alien RPG has the same problem that other Free-League published games seem to suffer: Being designed as beautiful coffee table books with half cocked mechanics. The desire to mechanize the various resource restrictions (food, oxygen, bullets, safety from radiation, etc.) as a form of horror is natural, but the idea of managing it with Alien's dice pool mechanic seems fiddly. I also have just never been a fan of the dice-pool-only-6s-succeed mechanic. At large pool sizes (6+ d6s) the chances of success are pretty good, but never quite high enough to feel like your character is actually good at something.
September 16, 2020
Having run D&D campaigns for almost 2 years, I approached the Alien RPG system with some experience with TTRPG mechanics, both in terms of D&D’s strengths and weaknesses. The Alien RPG system, with its focus on cultivating fear and panic, is an excellent system with unique mechanics that I can’t wait to try out (even if I’ll have to keep a lot of tables and cheat sheets in front of me).
In particular, the Alien RPG does a couple unique things (at least in my limited knowledge of TTRPG rules): first, the option for Cinematic Play is a great concept, limiting the story to one session with 3 acts and giving each player personal agendas that change as the story progresses. Second, the stress and panic mechanics (which remind me of the sanity mechanic in Call of Cthulhu) are interesting, and combined with the low-power character stats, make for a tense and dangerous scenario.
The book itself could have done with some better organization. For example, key mechanics often have you flipping pages or chapters to get the full concept. Also, a one-page cheat sheet for new players and GMs would have been great (these are available online, so no big deal).
As for the mechanics, the one thing that worries me is the concept of referring to tables in combat. Signature attacks by the creatures require a dice roll on a table, the effects of stress require a dice roll on a table, critical injuries require a dice roll on a table (one for players as well as a unique one for the Xenomorph), etc. Conceptually, this allows for varied consequences, varied reactions by monsters, and more specific descriptions of damage, which is great in a TTRPG, but in practice it may be cumbersome to keep so many tables close at hand while running the game.
Overall, I’m really excited to try this out. There are some great ideas in here, as well as streamlined mechanics to create a fast-paced, dangerous, sci-fi horror game.
In particular, the Alien RPG does a couple unique things (at least in my limited knowledge of TTRPG rules): first, the option for Cinematic Play is a great concept, limiting the story to one session with 3 acts and giving each player personal agendas that change as the story progresses. Second, the stress and panic mechanics (which remind me of the sanity mechanic in Call of Cthulhu) are interesting, and combined with the low-power character stats, make for a tense and dangerous scenario.
The book itself could have done with some better organization. For example, key mechanics often have you flipping pages or chapters to get the full concept. Also, a one-page cheat sheet for new players and GMs would have been great (these are available online, so no big deal).
As for the mechanics, the one thing that worries me is the concept of referring to tables in combat. Signature attacks by the creatures require a dice roll on a table, the effects of stress require a dice roll on a table, critical injuries require a dice roll on a table (one for players as well as a unique one for the Xenomorph), etc. Conceptually, this allows for varied consequences, varied reactions by monsters, and more specific descriptions of damage, which is great in a TTRPG, but in practice it may be cumbersome to keep so many tables close at hand while running the game.
Overall, I’m really excited to try this out. There are some great ideas in here, as well as streamlined mechanics to create a fast-paced, dangerous, sci-fi horror game.
August 16, 2024
In space…no one will hear your players scream…
ALIEN The Roleplaying Game is a wonderful cinematic tabletop game inspired the ALIEN franchise (you take the good with the bad).
Drawing from various source material (the movies, books, and comics), the ALIEN rpg crafts a vast scientific landscape of working class heroes, corporate greed, and the mystery of the unknown…
A wide range of planets and governments are provided with counter goals that might put a crew at odds with a corporation or independent system…
Meanwhile there’s notes on various xeno studies and fake science projects that may lead to a xenomorph or bug hunt that requires a group of mercenaries or colonial marines to out down…
The book sets it up for decent session play…likely a short campaign with breaks between each “arc” depending on how your Gamemaster handles it.
It just depends on what type of game your players want to do. I personally ran a brief mini campaign broken up into two acts…had some fun with then genre…ship and planetary base action…a firefight or two (literally considering the flamethrower).
Even if you never use it, it’s a creative work for the genre and has a lot to enjoy for fans of the franchise…
Oh and yes it sadly takes Prometheus into account (but not Alien covenant because it wasn’t out yet and predators ignored which was the right call).
ALIEN The Roleplaying Game is a wonderful cinematic tabletop game inspired the ALIEN franchise (you take the good with the bad).
Drawing from various source material (the movies, books, and comics), the ALIEN rpg crafts a vast scientific landscape of working class heroes, corporate greed, and the mystery of the unknown…
A wide range of planets and governments are provided with counter goals that might put a crew at odds with a corporation or independent system…
Meanwhile there’s notes on various xeno studies and fake science projects that may lead to a xenomorph or bug hunt that requires a group of mercenaries or colonial marines to out down…
The book sets it up for decent session play…likely a short campaign with breaks between each “arc” depending on how your Gamemaster handles it.
It just depends on what type of game your players want to do. I personally ran a brief mini campaign broken up into two acts…had some fun with then genre…ship and planetary base action…a firefight or two (literally considering the flamethrower).
Even if you never use it, it’s a creative work for the genre and has a lot to enjoy for fans of the franchise…
Oh and yes it sadly takes Prometheus into account (but not Alien covenant because it wasn’t out yet and predators ignored which was the right call).
March 7, 2021
OK. So, now I just have to actually play it. This is a very, very cool game. Good system, lots of options, great setting. Things are nebulous enough that you can make it your own. I really like the two styles of play; cinematic or campaign. Cinematic games are essentially one-shots, almost certain to feature a xenomorph, and likely to have a high to total mortality rate. Campaign play is just that, meant for longer games. Maybe you're a team of Colonial Marines going around cracking heads and keeping the peace. Maybe you're colonists trying to make a go of it on the Frontier. Or maybe you're space truckers, out there hustling for a few bucks to try to pay off what you owe on your ship. In this style of play, the xenomorph may show up only rarely or not at all. You may have to deal with the more mundane but deadly corporations, the elements, or other strange things found in the great black.
I've been wanting a semi-grounded, Traveller-type game that is maybe lighter on the baggage and definitely lighter on the mechanics. This could definitely fit the bill. This might also be the system I use if I ever run 2300AD.
I've been wanting a semi-grounded, Traveller-type game that is maybe lighter on the baggage and definitely lighter on the mechanics. This could definitely fit the bill. This might also be the system I use if I ever run 2300AD.
February 13, 2023
This is a beautiful book. I am glad that I have both the hard cover and the pdf version. It will be easy to search the pdf when needing to find the elusive text you are seeking.
I’ve played D20 type games for many years and moving to an only D6 game is quite different. At first I thought it was crippling. After a while I got used to the concept and can see the game mechanics of it.
The Hadley’s Hope scenario included at the end of the book makes it seem like no one is going to survive and escape LV-426. Perhaps only one person will get away alive. While I was reading that section I thought how difficult survival was going to be for any of the PCs. I should not have been surprised, after all Ripley was the only human survivor.
It will be nice to have printouts of the dice rolls for panic rolls, damage rolls, etc. I’ll search online or create my own. (That was an easy find.) I think most of what I need is included on the GM screen.
After reading the entire book I am ready to gather my resources, invite the victims (PCs) and MU/TH/UR them to death. You may be able to hear them scream. After all, they won’t really be in space.
I’ve played D20 type games for many years and moving to an only D6 game is quite different. At first I thought it was crippling. After a while I got used to the concept and can see the game mechanics of it.
The Hadley’s Hope scenario included at the end of the book makes it seem like no one is going to survive and escape LV-426. Perhaps only one person will get away alive. While I was reading that section I thought how difficult survival was going to be for any of the PCs. I should not have been surprised, after all Ripley was the only human survivor.
It will be nice to have printouts of the dice rolls for panic rolls, damage rolls, etc. I’ll search online or create my own. (That was an easy find.) I think most of what I need is included on the GM screen.
After reading the entire book I am ready to gather my resources, invite the victims (PCs) and MU/TH/UR them to death. You may be able to hear them scream. After all, they won’t really be in space.
April 24, 2020
This isn’t really the go-to place for roleplaying game books, but I was blown away by this one and read it pretty much cover to cover. It is a complete guide for playing Alien RPG, though handfuls is six-sided dice are also required. The art is lush, it is thoroughly researched in the murky lore of the setting, and it is loaded with guidance for running games. I’ve also been running Chariot of the Gods, the first cinematic scenario, but think the game will really shine in an industrial, star-hopping, dystopian campaign. I find the gameplay to be straightforward and actions to resolve in an enticing way. I do wish it was easier to communicate skill rolls and combat to players and that the module (including the short one in the back of this book) were more accessibly organized.
The book is also packed with references to the world of movies, books, and comics. If you’re a fan of the world building, then this doubles as a lore book.
The book is also packed with references to the world of movies, books, and comics. If you’re a fan of the world building, then this doubles as a lore book.
September 15, 2022
Great players handbook giving incite into the Aliens universe and films while also building a system in which to play out those films. The art is amazing, and might be my favorite part of the book. The given scenario is short, but exposes the players to a fast paced learning of all the basic rules and ties nicely into the lore of the universe. Can't wait to spring this on my players.
January 31, 2022
Fucking great game. Stress die = an amazing mechanic! Absolutely so so fun and couldn't recommend enough. I played the medic, but the company man and roughneck are probably the source of the most fun.
February 21, 2024
Big, bold, beautiful!
The contents of this book are considered "canon" to the Alien 'verse and a must for any die-hard fan. That said, there's a lot going on RPG-wise and it isn't one of the most streamlined systems out there.
The contents of this book are considered "canon" to the Alien 'verse and a must for any die-hard fan. That said, there's a lot going on RPG-wise and it isn't one of the most streamlined systems out there.
July 31, 2023
Enjoyable translation of the Alien film series into a playable RPG.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews