Free League Publishing Announce Alien: The Roleplaying Game

[Slutty Badger]

Backed.

[[cancerblack]]

Can someone with the first edition books tell me how content is split across them?

[Slutty Badger]

Well, I've had a look through the beta PDFs for the Evolved core book and Rapture Protocol, and:

Spoiler

Core book:

Not a fan of the green-and-white colour scheme for the map, with textures rather than colours representing territory. I much preferred the original version.

Much of the text is simply copied from the earlier version, with a number of errors still present (Origae-6 in Sector 87, 2103 being the departure date for the Covenant rather than 2104, and so on).

Lieutenant Feiyan Ko is quoted on the profile for the Cargo Lift. I supplied the same quote for the Xenopedia article, so I'm flattered FL chose it. However, like the Ripley 8 quote in BBW, it clashes because, like Resurrection, Fireteam Elite hasn't happened yet.

There's a bit too much Romulus going on. Obviously I'm biased since I don't like the film, but a huge portion of quotes comes from the new movie. Also, one of those quotes was used in the trailer but not the film.

Staying on the subject of Romulus, the map of Jackson's Star is pretty cool! The colony is my favourite part of the film so it's great to see more of it. There's even some good adventure hooks!

That leads me to the Tartarus campaign ideas, which are exclusive to this edition. There are some pretty great storylines here, with more info on each location. I particularly like the embellished coverage of Linna 349: we get the name of the local resistance leader (Shane Boulton), as well as a nasty colony-destroying pest dubbed the Yellowbelly beetle.

I know I'm not keen on the map, but the new colour scheme does lend itself well to the overall book. It's reminiscent of the Colonial Marines Technical Manual, and would probably be easier to read when the lights are low.

The Praetomorph is explicitly described as bring created by "the rogue Weyland Corp synthetic David". Those are my words from Xenopedia, so I am once again flattered!

Rapture Protocol:

Funnily enough, I've not much to say on this one. It's set at yet another mining colony that's not much different from those in previous adventures, but it's the first in a new series and I'm interested to see where it leads. Plus, it's cool to see the Church of Immaculate Incubation make a return!

I'm particularly interested to find out what the story is behind that old rusted F44AA Pulse Rifle...

[close]

[Xiggz456]

Read through "Rapture Protocol" cinematic scenario which ended up being a much more grounded, back to basics kind of story. Look forward to hearing folks thoughts on this one.

[Still Collating...]

My thoughts:

Spoiler

I like that it's black goo-less. The basics are nice, but it is a lot simpler and feels shorter than previous cinematics. The Cult is really mustache twirling and the WY guys wanting to outright kill us without any good reason (this isn't a WY bioweapons facility, and why did they let Morse live then?), but even if they did, why don't they go for our ship first and just blast it? Having an artificially pumped up stats Alien with no lore reason is also a shame, though the retreat tactics are nice. Having an Alien be mesmerized by the flute like a snake stereotype feels wrong. Seems the Xenos like music. The hilarious fact that you can kill the thing in a furnace, when that is the one thing we know that the Aliens can survive. Other than that, the cinematic is okayish, fun and the cat and mouse on the ship will be very fun.

[close]

[Wweyland]

Is this basically an "Ultimate Edition" that includes everything released previously, and minifigures?

[Still Collating...]

Nope, it changes a bunch of the rules, to a good amount. The Core Rulebook has all of the elements of the old Core Rulebook plus expanded campaign tools, Tartarus Sector, Solo Rules, and Life Paths. Besides the mechanical rule changes, the lore is the same. Oh, and visually, stylistically updated.

It does not include the old cinematics and campaign books. They are getting updated mechanic and look wise, but can be bought separately. They do say that if you had the previous PDF of the campaign books, that you'll get those for free when they're ready.

[BlueMarsalis79]

Feels kind of silly to do just before Alien Earth will surely introduce a ton of new stuff.

[Slutty Badger]

The second beta of the core rulebook is now available, and some important changes have been made:

Spoiler

Joliet is now spelled correctly on the map.

[close]