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Thanks to Madcat for doing the legwork on a lot of this OP. Fria Ligan/Free League are a Swedish RPG company who publish games in both Swedish and English. Their English language games have been picked up by Modiphius, one of the big three UK game companies. Production values on their books are generally amazing, and most of the games have optional feelies – dice, maps, cards, and so on, to streamline play. Fria Ligan's website This thread will only be looking at their RPGs, but they also publish a board game based on the computer game Crusader Kings II. Games Free league publish several RPGs, most of which share the same basic system – roll a bucket of D6 split between your attribute, skill, and gear, and then count sixes. Points of difference can include how you get re-rolls, the consequences of being Broken – e.g. a Forbidden Lands character will suffer potentially fatal injuries, whereas a Tales from the Loop character will just fail all dice rolls until they can spend some with their Anchor – an NPC who they trust and who provides them with comfort and care. Some parts of the Fria Ligan games seems inspired by PbtA games, notably character creation, which has you picking out a playbook, then making choices of Talents and other abilities based on that initial choice, and that some of the settings list Principles of the setting to guide the GM. Quick overview  Tales from the Loop (TFTL) – Kids having adventure in an off-kilter version of the 80s where technology has advanced down some odd paths. Based off of, and featuring, the art of Simon Stålenhag.  Things from the flood (TFTF) – Like tales, but the kids are teenagers and stakes are higher. Also based on, and featuring, more art of Simon Stålenhag.  Coriolis: The Third Horizon (CTH) – Arabian nights in Space!  Mutant: Year Zero(MYZ) – post apocalyptic survival games. Has four(five?) different games with a another still to come.      - Year Zero: Mutants surviving, building up their home, and exploring the area in which they live. - Genlab Alpha (GLA): Uplifted animals rebel against their makers and caretakers. - Mechatron (MYM): Robots do things? - Elysium (MYE): Bunker based society collapses. Potentially delicate because you are playing agents of the bunker’s rulers, which is interesting, but could Go Places™ with the wrong group. - Hindenburg: Swedish only, references Elysium, but art looks like a pre-WW1 london with a mix of animal people and humans. Not really sure what’s going on here. Maybe a nostalgia fest for Swedish gamers as they also reference some other games which I don’t think have ever had an English translation? - Ad Astra (MAA): An announced but un-launched final expansion that very little is known about other than that it ties the other metaplots together, and pushes beyond the planet and out into space.  Forbidden Lands (FBL) - Adventurers explore a ruined land, discover its secrets, build their own stronghold.  ALIEN - A scifi exploration and space-horror RPG based in the universe of the same name. Two game modes, cinematic and campaign and claims to support both.  Vaesen- A game about Scandinavian mythical beasts the “Vaesan” and those lucky/cursed few who are able to see and hunt them.  Twilight 2000 - The 4th edition of Twilight 2000 that Fria Ligan have gotten the license to do. Based on the YZ-engine and  Symbaroum (F&F Link) - Dark fantasy set in and around a weird forest. Uses a different system than the other games. As this thread will mainly focus on Year-Zero Engine games, the better place to read about this is the linked F&F. Spiteski fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Nov 9, 2021 |
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Mutant Year Zero Provides the base setting and rules for Mutant Year Zero. An apocalyptic wasteland where the players create one of the People - a population where none are older then 30 years except the Elder - a wise leader who is nearing the end of life. The Ark, where the People reside, is slowly fading away. No one is able to have children - a fact that has always been so - which puts an end date on the People. Sent by the Elder to search for a solution, and find a more permanent home, it falls to the group to venture into the wasteland to uncover the secrets therein. The Core rulebook contains a "campaign" - written in plot point style wherein you can take and leave aspects for your own game, this is intended to be run as an introduction to the universe and its secrets. Mechanics Mutant Year Zero was the first official iteration of the Year-Zero Engine, and works by giving players a pool of dice for task resolution. This pool is made up of 3 different colors of dice representing your Attribute, Skill, and Gear bonuses. For example, an attack might use your Strength of 5, Skill in Fighting of 2, and a Weapon Gear bonus of 2, for a dice pool of 9 dice. These would be colored by (if using official dice) 5 green, 2 yellow, and 2 black dice respectively. When rolling those dice, if any show a success icon (or a 6) then you have succeeded the task. Further successes can be spent to do additional things such as increased damage, disarm, knockdown etc. For other skills there are similar bonuses to apply success to. After making the roll, success or fail, you can either "Push" the roll, where you roll the entire pool again sans any already-rolled 6s OR any Green or Black dice that have rolled a 1 (indicated on the official dice with an icon). If any dice after the reroll show an icon (or a 1 on Green/black) then you suffer adverse consequences. For attribute dice, this means you take damage to that attribute (which lowers the dice pool as long as the damage remains) and gives you a point that you can use to power mutations. For item dice that damages the item, reducing it's bonus by 1 for each failure. If the bonus is reduced to 0, the item is destroyed. There are also rules for building up "Rot" which represents the exposure to radiation/plague/magical bad stuff (whatever you want it to be) that is the cause of mutations and can increase the number of mutations you have, empower your existing ones, all the while bringing you one step closer to death. It is VERY easy to die from Rot exposure in MYZ. The game itself also has robust rules for running, maintaining, and developing your Ark community. Including events, population levels that ebb and flow with the success or failure you encounter in the wasteland, and bonuses to your characters based on certain achievements in culture, technology, resource development, and warfare. Expansions Mutant Year Zero: Genlab Alpha contains the rules for creating your own animal character and group tribe that is based in the area of Paradise Valley - an isolated zone in the wasteland of MYZ kept that way by high fences and mysterious Watchers. Genlab Alpha is a self-contained expansion that is compatible with all other Mutant: rules, or it can be run by itself. It iterates on the Ark community rules by providing rules for your tribe and habitat-specific to the Genlab Alpha setting and creatures you can play/be pitted up against. Like MYZ, it contains a "campaign" within the core rulebook - Escape from Paradise - that's intended to be played through before introducing the content contained within to your "vanilla" MYZ setting. You can ignore this or use it at your leisure. It's quite fun and written in a plot-point fashion so easy to drop into an existing campaign or to build off of for your own. Mutant Year Zero: Mechatron is "the Robbit one". Players play robots, with character creation taking a more modular approach with mixing and matching parts to "build" your character literally. Lots of fun. This time, you are members of the Collective in the city of Mechatron-7 who are starting their journey to self-awareness! Keep the Collective afloat by bringing back resources and materials, trying to keep running the city that was once clean, shiny, and maintained but is now crumbling and collapsing. Somewhere in the Zone lies Mechatron-7, no one really knows where, not even the robots. One thing is for certain though, it's submerged underwater and this poses a constant threat as the decay may soon reach a point where the dome protecting it from the Outside may be irreparably breached - destroying the Collective for good. Like Genlab Alpha and the base game, Mechatron contains a campaign - Ghost in the Machine - designed as a standalone introduction to the characters within Mechatron, before introducing them to the base Zone setting. This is by far my favourite of the campaigns but YMMV. Mutant Year Zero: Elysium diverges from the existing settings in that it is not set in the apocalyptic wasteland, but in an underground sheltered city - the Enclave Elysium I. Like Fallout only on a much grander scale, Elysium has the players create non-mutant humans in the city, taking on the role of judicators - problem solvers that respond to and investigate when law and order are threatened in the enclave. Each player also belongs to and represents a House - a grand family and bloodline that seeks to further its own interests within Elysium I. Like the previous two expansions, Elysium has a "campaign" - Guardians of the Fall - that can serve as a starting-off point for its type of character (non-mutant humans) before joining the base setting. Its focus is more on political intrigue and infighting, with a healthy dash of combat and mystery-solving and is strong enough to stand on its own as a game and setting. Alternatively, you can lift and drop aspects of the campaign or characters straight into your game of MYZ. Forbidden Lands - Placeholder Tales from the Loop Store link These two games are set in the Electric State universe created by Simon Stålenhag’s art books of the same name. I’ll start with Tales of the Loop for the majority of this blurb, and only briefly touch on where Things from the Flood diverges. The general gist is that in the 1960s, two particle accelerators or “Loops” were built, one in Sweden and a sister site in Nevada the USA. This led to “The 1980s that never was” where the party takes on the role of a group of Kids (aged 10-15) that exist in a town nearby to one of the Loops. They need to contend with strange machines, creatures that exist, and mysteries and problems that exist as a result of the Loop itself. In this world, Robots, or “Self-Balancing Machines”, that exist thanks to the accelerated technological advancement, are becoming more and more a population that is beginning to co-exist with Humans, rather than just a subservient tool. Mechanics This system uses a variation of MYZ’s dice system as well, the main difference being there is only one type of dice in the pool. The pool is made up of D6s to the total of attribute+skill+situational/gear bonuses. Attributes are Body, Tech, Heart and Mind, and skills are things like Sneak, Force, Tinker, Charm, Lead, Comprehend and Empathise. There is also a luck value that increases as your age is lower (younger kids are luckier than older). Luck provides you with extra re-rolls beyond standard Pushing. When rolling for a test, you roll the dice, and any 6 indicates a success at what you want, and anything past the 1 success can provide you with bonuses/extras based on what you were doing. As with the other games, you can Push, however the cost for doing so is having to Check a Condition. Conditions includes Upset, Scared, Exhausted, Injured, Broken. These have impacts on further rolls, or even your kids ability to keep going forward, and serves as the games “Damage track”. This brings us to an important section, the core tenets of the game. Tales explicitly outlines six principles that the group is intended to know about and play within. I’ll cover these briefly, but the Core Rulebook goes into detail and examples for each. 1. Your hometown is full of strange and fantastic things 2. Everyday life is dull and unforgiving 3. Adults are out of reach and out of touch 4. The land of the loop is dangerous, but kids will not die 5. The game is played scene by scene 6. The world is described collaboratively Character creation follows much of the same process as other Year Zero engine games, with archetypes of kids including Bookworm, Computer Geek, Jock, Popular Kid, Weirdo, and Troublemaker. Players also choose RP aspects for their characters such as their Iconic Item, Problem, Drive, Relationship to other Kids, and their Anchor. The Anchor plays an important part as scenes with the Kids RPing with their Anchors are one of the few ways to remove Conditions that the kids have gained. As the book describes “You can spend a scene with your Anchor and heal all Conditions. You must allow the Anchor to take care of you, and there must be a physical or mental closeness between you. The Gamemaster is not allowed to put you in Trouble in this scene.” The core rulebook also includes a huge amount of setting information, introducing the technology and setting conceits in a well laid-out manner. Things from the Flood Things from the Flood differs in some key ways, but otherwise follows much of the same. The Kids from Tales have started to grow up and the setting moves from the 80s that never was, to the 90s that never was. Technology that accelerated quickly from the 60s has lead to Robots taking over many areas of society; heavy industry, warfare, mining, and handling of dangerous goods and chemicals. Other aspects of our own 90s are still present however, Spice Girls and Pauly Shore movies still exist, High waist jeans, Dial-Up modems, and Sony Discmans exist in almost every home. The setting isn’t just shifted to a new time either, the metaplot advances with a number of disasters in the mid 90s. The Hoover Dam collapses, flooding the Loop in the USA. At the same time, the Swedish Loop begins to leak and flood with the same brownish gray water. This leads to conjecture that the two Loops are connected by some sort of portal and leads to the people’s trust in particle accelerators going on the decline. The area around Lake Mead also becomes a huge swamp, leaving a lot of it uninhabitable, and the areas that are still standing suffer local economic collapse with the Loop and Dam’s employees losing jobs and stalling the influx of money into the local community. This is mirrored in Sweden, with the rising flood water causing similar damage around the Swedish Loop. After these events, a so-called “Machine Cancer” begins to spread. Robots become unreliable, getting stuck in repetitive series of actions, deviating from their original programming. Meaty lumps and tentacles form on their bodies, organic in nature. This cancer soon spreads from the areas surrounding the Loops, eventually affecting self-balancing machines worldwide. Industries that once relied on robots struggle to return to mechanical machines operated by humans and computers, and people stop believing in a future shared with Humans and Robots alike. Mechanics Things from the Flood follows the same general rules as Tales, however the principles are slightly adjusted. They are now as follows: 1. Everything changes, everything falls apart 2. Everyday Life is full of demands, boredom, and conflict 3. The mysteries are exciting but dangerous, and only you can stop them (note, the proviso that kids can never die is no longer present) 4. You are neither kids nor adults 5. The game is played scene by scene 6. The world is described collaboratively. The character creation also adjusts itself appropriately, with archetypes now including, among others; Hacker, Lone Wolf, Motorhead, Party Animal, Rocker, Snob, and Street Kid. You still choose an Anchor, Drive, Problem and Iconic Item, however you also choose as a group a Friction for your team. While you are all friends and stick together to resolve the new Mysteries, Things introduces a Friction that helps create and drive conflict, drama, and secrets within the group. The examples given are Love, Sexuality, Rivalry, Unfair Behaviour, Malice, Misunderstandings, Theft, Weakness, Fear, and Crime. Materials   For both of these games the Core Rulebook has a heap of fluff and lore to flesh out the two main locations. They also each contain 1-2 adventures to introduce players to the universe and develop the metaplot as is the theme with the other Fria Ligan games. There is also two standalone adventure hardcovers - Our Friends the Machines & Other Mysteries, and Out of Time. Out of time contains a three-part adventure trilogy involving time and space travel mysteries that the kids find themselves embroiled with. Our Friends the Machines & Other Mysteries is a 6-part collection of different Mysteries to put into your own games, or to start a game off with. From escaped AI and human possession, to mixtapes of Mysteries, and horror movies at the local video store that are more than they seem. This book also serves as a supplement book, offering some guidelines on creating a Loop and metaplot in your own town, and a look at a new setting; The Norfolk Broads in England. There’s also dice, not entirely necessary as they’re a single color that forms your dice pool (unlike MYZ and FBL). Coriolis – The third horizon Quickstart Store page A mostly-sci-fi setting inspired by Middle Eastern rather than Western culture, Coriolis (named after a space station that’s the hub of the Third Horizon, the game’s setting), sees the PCs carry out usual sci-fi RPG adventures – travelling, trading, getting involved in planetary politics, and otherwise getting into trouble, but in a distinctly middle-eastern cultural future. The players decide during character creation whether they’re Free Traders, Mercenaries, Explorers, Agents, or Pilgrims, which sets the tone of the campaign and gives them a group Talent. The setting is one of civilization returning to its glory days only to have everything upset by the arrival of mysterious Emissaries, the awakening of Mystic powers, and the closing of two systems – one by its inhabitants, one by a mysterious hostile force. Coriolis’s GM section lists the following six principles. 1. Culture is everything; it is different from the standard generic sci-fi setting, don’t let the players forget it 2. The missions fuel the story; let the group’s focus and goals drive your campaign, give them missions that change them and potentially the setting 3. Their spaceship is their heart; spaceship should be treated as a character, not just a vehicle 4. Factions rule the Horizon; Use them to drive adventures and work the PCs into their plans or them into the PC’s plans 5. Space is full of mysteries; let the PCs investigate and discover them 6. The supernatural is real; there are things that are called Djinn, people fear the Dark between the Stars (the GM gets darkness points to spend on making your life harder when you go for re-rolls and do some space things), praying to the Icons often has real effects (your character calls on the Icons to get a reroll on a failed roll) Mechanics The mechanical differences in Coriolis are that your HP are equal to your Strength + Agility, and you have a mental damage track which is your Wits + Empathy. In other games damage goes straight to Strength and reduces the number of dice you roll. Critical injuries aren’t automatic when someone has run out of HP, they require you to spend extra successes from your attack roll – most weapons needing two – however, nor do they require the target to be at zero HP before they take a critical injury. Re-rolls are gained by having your character pray to the Icons; doing so grants the GM a darkness point that can be used to make the PCs lives difficult or allow GM characters to do things they can’t normally. This can include things such as Reactions in combat or Reloading after using automatic fire or using all three of their actions in a turn to fire their weapon. (otherwise weapons are assumed to have enough ammo for the fight). Materials  Coriolis has, like most Fria Ligan games, a metaplot included in the core rulebook that provides a good leaping off point for starting a campaign in the sandbox-like universe. It also has 3 small adventures available that serve as Quickstarts, or inserts into a larger campaign. Also available is the Atlas Compendium, an amazing tool that is ultimately system-agnostic and has myriad backgrounds and story hooks as well as an indepth Solar System generator, as well as a societal generator that allows you to make a huge amount of varied systems for your players to explore. I highly recommend this if you like tables, and also want some more background and an expanded universe booklet. As the other games, there are dice (unlike other games, entirely unnecessary as you only need one color of D6 for your pools), Icon Card Set which has an initiative deck, quick references for icons, items, and space combat roles as well as a handful of NPCs. There are also a few maps which are take-or-leave. ALIEN Quickstart: Currently no free quickstart available, however preorders get you a Cinematic Campaign quickstart module now. Preorder https://alien-rpg.com/ or on store page. Store page A sci-fi setting based on the ALIEN, Aliens, Alien3, Prometheus, and Covenant cinematic universe. The core book will support two modes of play, Cinematic and Campaign play, with different rules for the two of them. An example of Cinematic play has been released, and as such most of the information will be based on that. As more details of Campaign play and how it differs is released, this can be updated. Cinematic focuses on emulating dramatic arcs inspired by, or directly taken from, the ALIEN films. Designed to be played in 1 session, the emphasis is on high stakes, fast and brutal action, and a high likelihood of inter-party conflict. This is facilitated by breaking the session into “Acts”, with each player using a premade character with a specific goal for each Act, some of which may require them to take actions that have them acting against other players, or at least against the others interests. Often, scenarios have a secret identity for one of the characters, such as the secret Android trope, or a secret Company agent. This too can cause conflict as they are revealed. In reality, once the secret identity is revealed, rather than play a split group, the rules state that the GM takes control over the new adversary, and the player takes over another NPC, or (the more lovely option) sits out the remainder if there are no NPCs to take over. The secret roles are often random, meaning replayability of these scenarios is somewhat increased. According to the released information, campaign play will be focused on longer continuous campaigns with characters made by the players. The Core rulebook will provide support for three different campaign “frames”: Space Truckers, Colonial Marines, and Frontier Colonists. It’s also acknowledged that Cinematic play is more controlling of player actions and outcomes in the mechanics, and they state that Campaign play will be a lot freer in this regard. It’s unclear exactly what this means until it’s released fully. Mechanics Aliens uses a variation of the Year Zero engine, with some major differences that change how it plays. Instead of 3 dice pools, you now have 2. The base dice pool is made up by combining your Attribute dice, your Skill dice, and any Gear or Bonus dice specific to the situation. You roll these when performing an action that would have a chance for an interesting outcome for failure. Any 6 rolled on this pool means you succeed at the task, and like all Year Zero games, further 6s allow you to “stunt”, or do something extra or improve your success in some way. If you want to, you can “push” this roll, regardless of how many 6s you have rolled already. Like the other games, you reroll any dice that doesn’t show a 6. Where this varies, however, is that pushing increases your stress pool which I’ll discuss next. The other dice pool is your “stress” pool, and you roll a number of “stress” dice equal to your stress value. When you push, your stress value is immediately increased by 1, therefore your reroll will include the newly acquired stress dice. These can provide extra successes as per normal, but the trade off is if any of these roll a 1, you Panic! If you panic, you roll a D6 and add your stress value and compare it to a table. This generally starts of minor, where you get the shakes for a moment, or feel a chill down your spine, but as it gets higher and higher, you risk freezing, losing the action you were trying to perform, or even fleeing a situation and abandoning your friends. Some talents and traits also cause more drastic things, the most pertinent example being “Overkill” that can cause Marines to go kill-crazy and not calm down until something, or someone is dead (yes, this can mean friendly fire in extreme circumstances). Stress dice can also roll a 1 on the first roll, and doing so prevents any pushing of the roll. A trade off for having extra chances at success from an increased dice pool. The stress pool increases as things get worse and recovers when you can have a moment in (perceived) safety, or through some talents and interactions that can lower your stress. This is important to avoid getting into a “stress spiral” causing yourself or even other players to break in stressful situations. For this reason, it’s stressed (geddit) that unnecessary rolls are not forced by the GM, to avoid situations in which basic tasks, where failure isn’t really appropriate, aren’t simply chances for players to break down. Materials  This line currently has available: Core Rulebook - includes cinematic scenario Hadley's Hope. Starter Set - includes premade cinematic scenario Chariot of the Gods, dice, slimmed down rules, and various handouts. I have a play report posted below. Destroyer of Worlds - cinematic campaign (suitable for 2-6 sessions YMMV) focusing on a team of marines. Comes as a boxed set. Colonial Marines - Campaign Sourcebook for Marines in the Aliens universe. Spiteski fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Nov 7, 2021 |
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Nov 10, 2019 07:57
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Mutant Year Zero does some neat stuff, although they committed to a Death Spiral for some reason and it really detracts. Hopefully thats not going to be in their other games. Bullets as currency is always going to work for me though. As the guy behind the Symbaroum faq, I'd definitely recommend the setting although the game does break down long term with all the scaling being hosed and Permanent Corruption eating into your wizardly power. There's going to be a 5E version but it's a poor fit, get SOTDL instead and do some basic pruning.
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Nov 10, 2019 08:42
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Wrestlepig posted:Mutant Year Zero does some neat stuff, although they committed to a Death Spiral for some reason and it really detracts. Hopefully thats not going to be in their other games. Bullets as currency is always going to work for me though. Yea, that's definitely been a factor in the games of MYZ I've run, Rot especially is unforgiving as heck and feels a bit unmanageable at high levels of permanent rot. If you introduce a good supply of medicines from before the fall that can clear their rot up it's much easier to get a full-length campaign going without meat-grinder-esque character rotation.
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Nov 10, 2019 08:46
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We've got one character with five mutations, who's only got one decent attribute left, and my character has 2 points of permanent rot, which is pretty harsh. Forbidden Lands also has the attribute death spiral; Coriolis seems to be the only one that doesn't.
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Nov 10, 2019 09:37
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Tales and Alien dont. Alien follows the same route of separating hp from attributes as coriolis. A massive improvement that can easily be ported to the other games if you wanted to improve them in that regard
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Nov 10, 2019 09:44
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I think a death spiral is fine in the context of Forbidden Lands, being a game about getting exhausted by traveling and picking your fights in a smart way, but geez, MYZ has permanent damage? That sucks.
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Nov 11, 2019 07:13
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It has permanent rot, which is in effect a permanent potential source of damage and can basically debilitate you if it gets above probably 3 or 4.
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Nov 11, 2019 10:06
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SunAndSpring posted:I think a death spiral is fine in the context of Forbidden Lands, being a game about getting exhausted by traveling and picking your fights in a smart way, but geez, MYZ has permanent damage? That sucks. It is pretty brutal because even a character built hard into being only good at fighting is still entirely too variable thanks to the dice system. Here's to rolling 12 dice, pushing for a reroll, and doing more damage to yourself than to the thing you hit with an axe. Also in FL, your HP is basically just your Might, my understanding is that in some of the systems you combine Might and Agility? Anyway, the toughest character in the game can have 6 HP Max, most will have 2-3. A single hit can easily cause a crit which can easily kill you. It's less, "you get slowly worn down and struggle with resources" and more "you roll badly once and are horribly crippled or killed instantly" in combat, unfortunately. I think they just went way too far on making combat swingy for competent characters. On the flip side, a character that doesn't go into combat fairly significantly is absolutely helpless at it, to the point of being unlikely to be able to even roll a single success regularly, meaning they're really just a liability in a fight. It's rough. That said, the setting and random encounter system are stellar, as are the survival rules. I love the lore and it really nails the exploring weird unknown stuff vibe really well. It's definitely worth playing for all that stuff, but the DM needs to carefully plan combat and keep it infrequent imo. Unless the players are all up for a meatgrinder of creating new characters regularly.
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Nov 11, 2019 14:51
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I mean, rolling 12 dice is like, 87% chance of success before a reroll, so at that point I imagine this particular scenario is going to occur not-too-often.  is a pretty good table, but it really should say that the Pushed Roll % is also the chance of a 1 as well. As I said before though, you could steal Coriolis'breakdown into Hit Points and Mind Points which I'd personally find better for more character longevity. You have a number of HP equal to your Strength + Agility scores. You have a number of MP equal to your Wits + Empathy scores. MP are degraded by stress, HP are degraded by damage. Looking through the Alien book, they seperate Health from Strength so your strength score doesnt drop when you take health damage, which is a minor improvement but still leaves you at low value HP. Makes sense in a lethal game like Alien is meant to be though.
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Nov 11, 2019 22:03
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Yeah, I imagine completely changing how HP works in the game would make you tougher. And my point is that while you won't get a bad roll often, one single bad roll can easily kill your character. There's no abilities that can fix a bad dice roll after the fact in combat, and as you point out, the pushed roll gives you the same odds to roll 1's (though skill dice don't care about 1's, only stat and gear dice do). It's very thematic, but it really does not lend itself to having characters that live and retire after a long career. Which is, I suppose, the goal. But it was jarring in just how easily you can get wrecked by most things.
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Nov 13, 2019 22:10
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The Gate posted:Yeah, I imagine completely changing how HP works in the game would make you tougher. Well yea, but I'm not suggesting it as some sort of personally designed homebrew, but as a Fria-Ligan designed alternative that they use in other forms of the same game. quote:And my point is that while you won't get a bad roll often, one single bad roll can easily kill your character. There's no abilities that can fix a bad dice roll after the fact in combat, and as you point out, the pushed roll gives you the same odds to roll 1's (though skill dice don't care about 1's, only stat and gear dice do). Yea absolutely. I think they're always pretty upfront about the expectations in the games though. They start each book off with a blurb, and then reiterate that in the rules. At least it's not a surprise even if not what you're going for. For example with ALIEN, which I'm currently still going through "A Cinematic scenario emulates 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. Conflict between player characters is likely, and you are not all expected to survive. In fact, most of your PCs probably won’t live to see the end of the scenario." For Campaign play "Campaign play is designed for longer continuous play with the same cast of player characters over several game sessions, perhaps even dozens of sessions. In Campaign play, you create your own PCs, using the rules in Chapter 2. Campaign play can also be brutal and deadly, but the chances for your PCs to survive a night of play are generally higher than in Cinematic play. In Campaign play, the narrative of the game is to a higher degree controlled by the GM and the players themselves. You decide where to go and what to do, based on who your PCs are and what they want. This core book of the ALIEN roleplaying game supports three different campaign frameworks: Space Truckers, Colonial Marines, and Frontier Colonists" From just those two things that preface any of the rules, you're alerted to the type of game that you can expect the rules to support. Even Forbidden Lands, which we're sort of addressing the most for this other than MYZ, has 6 tenets and the 6th is "6. DEATH IS PART OF THE STORY The life of an adventurer in the Forbidden Lands is hard, and often short. The rules are written so that it’s relatively easy to become Broken, but rather difficult for a player character to die. As GM, you should basically never kill a defenseless player character – there are always ore interesting ways to use the situation. Yet, sooner orlater, player characters will still die" It's entirely 100% A-OK to not want to play that, or find it lovely but there are other ways to play. Combine the tools and mashup the Year-Zero games until you have one that fits what you're wanting more closely.
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Nov 13, 2019 22:38
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Coriolis did away with 1s on dice being bad for you (with one exception; rolling a 1 on a radiation-removal die means that radiation's permanent, just like MYZ's Rot.) and I think it works out great. At least it did for the one game my group played. I do find it interesting that its FTL travel requires cryostasis; apparently the Dark Beyond the Stars can do things to a character that can be summed up as "What happens next is too horrifying to describe. Let's just say you've gone permanently and irreversibly insane and you need to make a new character as a result. Your old character is as good as dead. Trust me."
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Nov 14, 2019 05:53
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Snorb posted:I do find it interesting that its FTL travel requires cryostasis; apparently the Dark Beyond the Stars can do things to a character that can be summed up as "What happens next is too horrifying to describe. Let's just say you've gone permanently and irreversibly insane and you need to make a new character as a result. Your old character is as good as dead. Trust me." Cackling and screeching, the thing on the Jaunt couch suddenly clawed its own eyes out. Blood gouted. The recovery room was an aviary of screaming voices now. "Longer than you think, Dad! I saw! I saw! Long Jaunt! Longer than you think-"
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Nov 14, 2019 18:59
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Great OP. Mutant Year Zero recently came out with the campaign module The Gray Death.  quote:
Anyone have it and is it any good?
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Nov 18, 2019 23:39
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Yea I got it as part of the Elysium kickstarter. I have not had a chance to run it yet, but have read through and intend to take my MYZ campaign through it. It is technically "standalone" but pretty directly follows on from Mutant Elysium's in-book metaplot campaign. It also includes Animals and Robots, and the blurb recommends that you buy those (of course it does) but from what I've read, unless you want them to make characters, their metaplots are not directly related to this campaign. In overall layout, it's more like a tied-together series of zone sectors a la Hotel Compendium, Lair of the Saurians etc. It ties them together with a metaplot, and towards the end it introduces  sweeping changes to the world in terms of technology advancements and re-civilisation that can drastically change an existing campaign. The new sectors are pretty fun. About half of them (1-4) could be pulled out wholesale and used entirely alone in your own campaign, and the latter two are sort of tied together and serve as the big finale. You could just use them, but you'd need them both for it to flow properly or expect some big work. Also, as the best selling point (and a minor spoiler) one of the new zones has a thunderdome, so  . Well worth picking up if you like the sector compendiums just for that alone, and a really exciting campaign capstone that I look forward to running. Also the hardback is really nice, and at 100 pages I can justify having the physical unlike the compendiums that are 30-50 pages and softcover.
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Nov 20, 2019 00:43
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Mutant Year Zero is an absolutely awesome game that I can't get anyone to play with me. WHen you make your characters the group makes them together, and while they are at it, they build the community the characters live in, with enemies, allies, and goals all included. The players are instantly invested. Well, good players would be. Mine suck.
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Nov 24, 2019 18:12
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It absolutely needs the players to be invested to make it really shine. It definitely doesn't feel like one of those games where the GM needs to handhold the group through some big pre-planned adventure. Talking of Mutant Year Zero, however, I will hopefully have their blurb written this week and update the OP accordingly. It is the biggest by far due to being the namesake of the system, and there being a whole crapload of expansions for it.
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Nov 28, 2019 23:03
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Has anyone homebrewed up predator stats for the Aliens RPG?
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Dec 26, 2019 05:16
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Owlbear Camus posted:Has anyone homebrewed up predator stats for the Aliens RPG? I personally haven't, but I've seen a few people on various places (Facebook, and Discord) talking about it. I'll have a scout around and see if there's anything worth looking at if you aren't already in those places.
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Dec 31, 2019 23:35
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I couldn't find a source so I made a rough draft myself: Alien Trophy Hunters The Alien trophy hunters are humanoid and wear minimal clothing over their powerfully built 7+ foot frames. The main differences are a large, crested head with “dreadlock” style hair, long, sharp claw-like nails at the ends of hands and feet, and crab-like mandibles on their faces. All considered, they are surprisingly humanoid which may speak to a common progenitor seeding from the Engineers. The almost always wear masks which allow them to see outside of the normal “visible” electromagnetic spectrum in various modes. Their most commonly used weapons are a telescoping spear, powered chakram-style throwing disk that returns to the user, retracting wrist-blades, and shoulder-mounted helmet-guided miniature plasma caster. Their culture is centered around the Hunt as a sublime, religious experience that confers social status, communes with the divine, and imparts critical skills. They will hunt sapient species and relish particularly dangerous hunts. They take trophies from their kills. Usually the skull/cranial structure or its equivalent, but when hunting tool-using species they have been known to take particularly ornate or interesting gear, including weapons wielded by quarry that put up a good fight. It is anathema to kill prey that is categorically helpless, such as unarmed, untrained humans (the technical staff of Clarity Point was slaughtered not as part of a hunt, but executed for profaning the sacred lodge with their trespass.) Trophy hunters have signature attacks like Xenomorphs, but they draw from two sets: Ranged and Engaged. The trophy hunters relish in the sport of “honorable” hunting and will hunt armed prey with relish. They will “toy with” their prey and sometimes engage in activities akin to the Plains Indians notion of “counting coup” before the hunt’s bloody conclusion. They will usually not engage in “overkill” and have a concept of “fair chase” will they will downgrade their weapons used to match their prey. For example a human who made a show of challenging a Hunter with a melee weapon would likely be met with a spear or blade from the Hunter as well. Note that this handicapping still categorically weights things in the Hunter’s favor: Think of a human hunting an elk with a bow or muzzle-loader because it’s more “sporting” than a cartridge-firing rifle, a little more of a chance for the quarry, but human hunter isn’t about to put on a helmet with horns and try to headbutt it to death. Some say that in the early 21st century they visited Earth in an effort to give their species Autism because they viewed it as a superpower, but credible research into the species would prove this to be a terrible and poorly shot and written hoax. ACTIVE CAMOUFLAGE: The trophy hunters employ active camouflage that hides them in the visible light spectrum by contorting lightwaves and making them appear like a distorted “ghost” against any background. All ranged attacks against a Hunter using this tech get -3 to the skill mod, melee -2. Observation rolls to spot are also at -3. Even when spotted, the creature is an indistinct blur like a heat mirage. Storied Elder, Alien Trophy Hunter Speed: 2 Health: 10 Skills: Close Combat 9 Ranged Combat 12 Observation 10 Survival 10 Medical Aid 6 Stamina 7 Armor rating: 7 Glory Seeker, Alien Trophy Hunter Speed: 3 Health: 11 Skills: Close Combat 10 Ranged Combat 11 Observation 11 Survival 8 Stamina 8 Armor rating 7 Signature Attacks (Ranged): 1-2: Terrifying Taunt: The hunter uses an inhuman call, a display of martial prowess, or most unnervingly an eerily mimicked phrase from a quarry it has observed, hunted, and perhaps killed. Anyone who hears/observes gains 1 stress level. 2-3: Shooting to stun: The hunter uses a net or caltrop to knock one victim at up to long range to the ground. The victim must make a panic roll, and make a Mobility roll to get free as a slow action. (they may attempt again on subsequent rounds and other characters can assist) 4-5: Time for Blood: Roll a ranged combat attack against the victim, base damage 4. If hit, they are immediately Broken. 6: Taking a trophy: Roll a ranged combat attack against the victim, base damage 4. If hit, they suffer critical result 66. The Hunter will attempt to retrieve them and disengage. Signature attacks (Engaged): 1-2: Terrifying Taunt: The hunter uses an inhuman call, a display of martial prowess, or most unnervingly an eerily mimicked phrase from a quarry it has observed, hunted, and perhaps killed. Anyone who hears/observes gains 1 stress level. 2-3: Pin: The hunter makes a Close Combat attack, base damage 1. The target is knocked prone and must make an immediate panic roll. 4: Draw blood: The Hunter uses a melee weapon to injure their prey as a show of dominance. Roll a Close Combat attack, base damage 3. If successful, the character suffers an automatic crit, however roll 2D3 to determine the result. 5: Impale. The hunter uses a weapon to run their target through and pin them. Roll a Close Combat attack, base damage 4. On a hit, roll a 43+d3 and apply the critial result. The target is immobilized and may attempt a Stamina roll to gird themselves enough to pull the weapon out, suffering a second critical result. 6: Taking a Trophy. Roll a close combat attack against the victim, base damage 4. On a hit, the target is decapitate. Witnesses gain 2 stress and make an immediate panic roll. The hunter will attempt to retrieve a trophy and disengage.
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Jan 5, 2020 21:31
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I like the signature attacks. I'd definitely be keen to try those out you've done. Maybe a sort of Predator 1 esque jungle scenario. I think it'd be a rad Cinematic scenario
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Jan 14, 2020 01:52
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I played through the sample 2-3 hour cinematic campaign for the Alien RPG and it went fairly well. I had plenty of fairly interesting and cinematic moments and the aliens themselves are quite lethal. I was able to hit all of the notes that I wanted to hit and the game was deadly enough to make them PC hesitant of actually attacking, although still giving them a way to fight back. The cinematic scenario in the book is more geared towards Aliens-style gameplay than Alien, and I'm really wondering if it is possible to actually recreate Alien (the first one) in the game. With the sort of weapons that the crew of the Nostromo have in the film, it is not entirely impossible to kill the Alien if you get lucky, which if you have a single xeno in your cinematic play, can be somewhat of a downer if you actually do manage to take out the main threat. The only thing that I didn't like in the game was the action resolution for the xenos, but in the end I just decided not to repeat the same attack if they happened more than twice in a row (like it happened for me with some of the combat). Overall me and my players did enjoy ourselves: we are going to have the finish tomorrow, so maybe I'll post a full (spoilered) overview of how our session went if people are interested.
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Jan 17, 2020 00:14
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Tekopo posted:I played through the sample 2-3 hour cinematic campaign for the Alien RPG and it went fairly well. I had plenty of fairly interesting and cinematic moments and the aliens themselves are quite lethal. I was able to hit all of the notes that I wanted to hit and the game was deadly enough to make them PC hesitant of actually attacking, although still giving them a way to fight back. The cinematic scenario in the book is more geared towards Aliens-style gameplay than Alien, and I'm really wondering if it is possible to actually recreate Alien (the first one) in the game. With the sort of weapons that the crew of the Nostromo have in the film, it is not entirely impossible to kill the Alien if you get lucky, which if you have a single xeno in your cinematic play, can be somewhat of a downer if you actually do manage to take out the main threat. I would be 
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Jan 17, 2020 00:27
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Proud Rat Mom posted:I would be Seconding that definitely!
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Jan 17, 2020 00:58
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In Mutant Year Zero, rules as written, my dog is the best driver. You use Move to drive. My character, Silas, has the talent that lets him substitute Si-a-Dog for move. There are no limitations set out in the rules text.
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Jan 17, 2020 08:44
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Alright, here's a brief runthrough. It might make more sense with the Hadley's Hope scenario on hand, but I'll try to explain some stuff even for those that don't have access to it. Spoilers for most of the scenario from here on out. I let the players choose their characters. Holdroyd (iirc) the android was picked by someone that had never played any RPGs before, and so was Hirsch (the ex-marine religious dude). My most experienced player picked Singleton, the treacherous pilot, which I was glad since it made the dynamic of the traitor much easier to handle. Macwhirr (the union representative) and Sigg (the scientist) were NPCs, which was actually good since it allowed me to use them to push the players along and give them some purpose. I would recommend not reading out the descriptions to the characters to the table, as it gives some stuff away. It wasn't clear if the android was known or not, but since androids in the game are mechanically different to play, the players will always know if someone is an android. I decided to make it so that IC the characters didn't know it was an android, in order to give the Singleton player some cover. My players started in the west lock and I told them they could hear screams and gunshots coming from the sublevel. They decided to go towards C1, and didn't use the motion detector and so didn't spot the facehugger lurking in the vents: Macwhirr was leading, and the facehugger managed to sneak in close and surprise her, although it just made her panic rather than anything. We switched to combat and Singleton was first in the order, and just outright blasted the facehugger, just eviscerating it completely. Unfortunately, the acid splashed all over Macwhirr leg's, disabling it for the duration of the scenario: this was actually quite good since it forced the group to have someone carry her for the rest of the scenario, and it also meant I had one less NPC to really worry about (I just made it seem she was out of sorts after the injury). The group goes upstairs and find Reynolds. Unfortunately I forget about Theodora (the corporate scientist stuck in the medlab) calling them after the scene, but it's no big. After they find that the keypass is destroyed, they go out of the office and search it, but only find cigars. Suddenly, the intercom buzzes: it's Wes, and he's asking them to come and help him get out of Billy's Bar. They approach the bar, but seeing a big drone xeno for the first time scares them away, and they just see it drag out Wes. Going back into C2, they use the motion tracker and I tell them that they can see dots in the south lock, medlab, north lock and B2. They manage to hack their way into B2 and the android player manages to sneak up to the scout there, bolt gun in hand. The bolt gun knocks out the scout in shot, but it tries a desperate attack and manages to grab the android and carry it towards the D block. The android isn't overly hurt, however, but it has dropped the bolt gun, so instead it just punches the scout and somehow manages to kill it instantly! The group tries to get through to the armoury using the plasma cutter but they don't get very far and eventually give up. They proceed towards the medlab and finally meet Dr Keminsky, who's in a state of shock. They manage to hack the doors and the Doctor explains the situation: they enquire about the body and the Doctor explains that she had to cut out the facehugger before it matured. She also talks about the cryogenic sprays, and also tells them there are some eggs held in hibernation on the lower floor. Sigg, the scientist NPC, is adamant that he wants to go down there and get one of the eggs: much discussion follows. First of all though, they activate the CCTV in Ops and see the carnage that happened in the sub-level (along with some of the discarded weapons) along with the drone that is lurking on the floor beneath them in E1. After more discussion, the android decides to help Sigg sneak down, and somehow the two manage to sneak down to the biolab, bag and freeze the egg and go back to E2, although the egg keeps stirring and needs to have the spray reapplied. Deciding to finally get the hell out now that they have a keycard to the shuttle, the group goes back to B2, but the motion tracker tells them they are being hunted and that there are aliens on the west lock and north lock: the two easiest ways out towards the AATC. They decide that they need bigger weaponry, and thus descend to the sub-level and manage to find an incinerator, a pistol and a pulse rifle. However, the chestburster inside Dr Keminsky suddenly pops out: Hirsch freezes and is unable to kill it, and the chestburster runs away: the group doesn't follow, however. Now armed, they decide to face the drone near the north lock, and Hirsch with a flamethrower and the android with a pulse rifle make the attempt, while the rest stay down in the sublevel to keep watch over Macwhirr. The manage to wound the drone, but it grabs Hirsch and brings it from A1 to B1, where another alien is lurking. Before Holroyd can kill it, the alien grabs Hirsch once again, and then swiftly kills him using its double-mouth. It then runs towards the android, who misses its shots, and grabs him as well, trying to drag him away. Singleton, however, comes up at the last minute and kills the alien with a perfect shot: the acid splash, somehow, does nothing to Holroyd. This is where we left off for now.
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Jan 17, 2020 08:59
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Nice writeup! Are the players suspicious of the android given his seemingly supernormal luck, at all? Roleplaying Public Radio also had a two episode Actual Play of Alien. It played out differently. Chariot of the Gods Part 1: http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/2019/12/systems/misc/alien-rpg/alien-rpg-chariot-of-the-gods-part-1/ Part 2: http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/2020/01/systems/misc/alien-rpg/alien-rpg-chariot-of-the-gods-part-2/
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Jan 17, 2020 23:34
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Helical Nightmares posted:Nice writeup! Are the players suspicious of the android given his seemingly supernormal luck, at all? We managed to do a little bit more, although we were literally one fight from the end! Following the last fight with the alien above, Hirsch's player took over Sigg. I was really putting the pressure on them at this moment, and since Sigg was the only one that could carry Macwhirr upstairs to A1, I told him he couldn't carry both Macwhirr AND the egg that Sigg was holding up the stairs. Eventually he chose the egg over Macwhirr, so I gave him a story point for sticking to his agenda and also roleplaying the rivalry between him and Macwhirr. The group argued about where Macwhirr, with Sigg getting easily spotted in his lie that Macwhirr wanted to be left behind. No one went downstairs, and by this time I was telling them that aliens were pretty much heading in their direction, so even though they knew that Sigg lied, they ran off to the ATCC anyway, leaving Macwhirr to die. With the aliens hot on their heels, they reach the ATCC and manage to magnetically seal it, buying them some time. They head for the landing pad, open the hatch to the door and three facehuggers pop out, heading for each one of them. Fighting ensues and although Holroyd gets damage and Singleton is splashed with acid, they make their way out. They continue arguing about the egg, but we had to cut the session JUST before the end! I'm expecting that finally Singleton will turn on them as soon as they are safe, and judging by the actions of the player so far, it's gonna be an interesting 'oh poo poo' moment, especially if they forget about the egg and it hatches as well! I also played Chariot of the Gods, on a discord: I was the junky pilot and one of the neomorph just outright killed me in one move when me and another PC went back to our ship to prevent it exploding. It was fun but I think I always feel a little bit railroaded when I play in pre-made.
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Jan 17, 2020 23:49
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Helical Nightmares posted:Roleplaying Public Radio also had a two episode Actual Play of Alien. It played out differently.
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Jan 17, 2020 23:52
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I've not listened to that let's play, but I ran Chariot of the Gods back when it was the pre-order bonus. This write up was from Tricky who was one of the players in the game and they've nicely allowed me to share it here. Chariot of the Gods Act I Cpt. Miller and the crew of the USCSS Montero are pulled out of cold sleep two months early on a routine long-haul to drop off Helium-3 at Sutter's World. It's quickly revealed that the star charts are off, with MOTHER providing cryptic feedback until a mysterious blip is confirmed on sensors. Directives are updated: The crew of the Montero is tasked to search and recover scientific data/samples, the entire ship, and the crew (in that order of importance) of the USCSS Cronus. The Cronus is a fellow W-Y ship, a larger science and exploration vessel, but it's been lost for over 70 years under mysterious circumstances. Miller verbally spars with Wilson, picking up that he seems to have more insight into the situation than he's sharing, and eventually gets MOTHER to confirm that there was an intentional change in their course to respond to a theoretical sighting of the Cronus. Meanwhile, Davis does some hot maneuvering to avoid the Cronus when it suddenly appears on a collision course. I'd imagine this puts the crew of the Montero in a really bad spot if failed, possibly needing to bank on using the Cronus to get to the nearest transit hub. Cham, roughneck and EVA expert, spends this time checking in on the cargo and manages to patch a micro-leak in one of the Helium-3 tanks. Probably something that pays off in a later act? After all that, Davis manages to maneuver the Montero alongside the Cronus and Miller orders a boarding of the other ship. One of the NPCs, Rae, gives her a lot of guff about it not being in their contract... though both Miller and Wilson are very much aware that it is. Everyone is offered a choice: chill out and refuse, sacrificing your share on the entire transit leg, or participate in salvage operations with a (roughly) 10% cut of the value of anything recovered. Rae is mollified by the thought of a payday, while the other PCs are fairly easily talked into things as well. Cham does an EVA to set up an umbilical between the two ships, though it quickly becomes evident that the Cronus's main airlock is pretty hosed up and he'll need to test the inner lock's seal before establishing the umbilical connection so we don't, say, explosively vent all our atmosphere. It's mostly fine, he finds, though there is quite a lot of blood (or ketchup??) on the interior viewport. He ignores that, then finishes the job. The PCs suit up, figuring there's a real risk of atmosphere leaks given the damage, and take some gear from the Montero's stores. The plasma cutter and motion tracker seem fitting given the salvage focus, so Cham and Davis grab those respectively. Miller does not take anything. (Miller takes the service pistol, secretly.) The PCs breach the Cronus midships, pretty close to their MOTHER womb. Miller attempts to order Wilson into sharing the W-Y overrides he certainly has so they can enter the womb and get a better idea of the situation, but the guy is slimy as hell and unwilling to cooperate. The only other option seems to be finding a card on a body or finding a survivor authorized to enter. Moving back towards the cryo chambers, there's a very definite ping on the motion tracker. There's something moving on the ship other than the PCs. It vanishes, though, and they continue to Cryo. Once there, they see that there are 9 filled pods... and the automated wake-up routine starts shortly afterward. Power is restored across the ship. Miller pokes through the adjacent exam room, in hopes of finding something that'll help the survivors when they wake. Cryo units aren't rated for years of cold sleep, let alone 73. There are a few personal medkits, though things seem pretty well ransacked. Davis finds a strange black goo in one of the showers, accidentally stepping on it and releasing a cloud of spores. She's freaked out, but unharmed given that she's in a sealed environmental suit. The air supply is ticking down, though, and sooner or later the protection of the suits will no longer be available. Given they have at least ten minutes before the first pods open, Miller and co head downstairs to the laboratory section. They split up into the three labs to cover ground more efficiently. Cham finds similar goo leaking from an urn and odd creatures preserved in glass bottles in the med lab, Davis finds a ton of urns, some broken, in the first science lab's storage, and Miller only looks in lab two: she sees some sort of misshapen and dead humanoid, the entire lab burned around it, and decides not to open the lab doors. Air supplies are starting to look rough for the team, though they've just received word that the pods are beginning to open up. Act II When we picked back up, Miller, Davis, and Cham met back up to discuss what they found in the labs... and then decided to check on the cryo pods, since the wake cycle should be starting to run. After a short jaunt upstairs, the team hears a pair of people talking. There's a brief discussion on how to handle breaking the news, but given that they're going to need to get patched up after 73 years in cryo... Miller pushes on in. Still in EVA suit, natch. The pair naturally freak out a bit, but calm down (or go into shock, whichever) once Miller lays down the situation. Introductions are made all around. An older gentleman, Cooper, is the Cronus's chief scientist. The other guy, Johns, is the acting captain. They drop some hints that things were extremely hosed up before they went into cryo, but we'd pretty well figured that out by looking in the labs. There's a section where we did some medicine checks and got everyone back on their feet, but this ends up being where the stress spiral starts hitting us hard. Davis freezes while trying to doctor up Johns, though Miller manages to get Reid, the security officer, on her feet. This just leaves Cooper. He'd shaken off offers to help him out prior, but Miller decided to push the issue now that the others were more or less taken care of. He gets irate, starting to spout off about how he just had a headache... but that's when Miller sees he's got a trickle of blood coming out of his nose. Cham catches a view from a different angle and sees that blood's coming out of his ears as well. This is concerning. Cooper continues ranting, then suddenly spews blood all over Miller's suit. He collapses, goes into a massive seizure, and everyone is freaking out. Miller demands to know why all the Cronus crew is backing off and not helping them, but doesn't actually try to hold him down either. poo poo was too weird to touch. Cooper's fits intensify, then his eyeball erupts from his head and a small creature starts prying its way out of his skull. RIP Cooper. Everyone freaks out, the Cronus team telling us to kill it (not that we really needed the encouragement) and Miller whips out the service pistol that she'd hidden away... though Cham's quicker on the draw. He torches it with the plasma cutter, blowing it apart with the sheer heat. This is not the first time Cham loving wrecks something with that cutter, this will not be the last. The Cronus crew breathes easier, then asks to move somewhere less splattered with acid blood when Miller starts pressing for answers. End of Act 1. Everyone relocates to the mess hall, Johns waving off concerns about the motion tracker readings by saying it was probably just their android. We run across a corpse in the stairwell, post-shotgun-facial, and Davis grabs the shotgun and some ammo off of it. With three weapons, we're starting to feel pretty good. Stressed as hell, but good. We make it to the mess hall and Johns finally starts laying down what happened. Basically your usual Nostromo setup, but with the Alien: Covenant spores. They started with 30, now they're down to four. Miller asks about getting to MOTHER, mentioning that she can't afford to breach contract. Johns flips, admittedly pretty right that going broke was the least of their problems, eventually flipping out at Davis to turn off the motion tracker... which is definitely pinging hard. He charges out into the hallway, intent on proving it was just the android. And, well. The Neomorph says hi. All we see from inside the mess is an insanely long bladed tail cut a huge gash into his shoulder, then he stumbles back inside and collapses. Everyone is absolutely freaking out at this point, stress climbing to 6 or 7 at this point. Miller thinks hard about leaving Johns down to distract whatever's out there, while escorting the rest to the umbilical back to the Montero. Eventually, though, she decides to help him out... but not before stealing his access keycard. Seeing the damage that thing did up close, though, gives her a wicked case of the shakes. After some more hashing out of things, Davis gets tasked to head to medbay to find the inoculation pens (apparently stops the spores from developing into Bloodbursters) and the Cronus crew strongly suggests to take it immediately since she'd taken off her helmet. Miller and Cham are still fully suited. After some quick recon to see if the alien is still out there (in the time honored tradition of checking the tracker and then poking a head out), the crowd starts towards the lab section to head back up through the junction to cryo. Davis splits off and gets the injectors, but sees the telltale ping of the alien on the tracker. She radios that to Miller, who is so, so tired at this point. She makes an executive decision not to tell the Cronus team (to prevent a stampede at the ladder), but does also head up first. As one does. Reid, the security guard, has the shotgun at this point and is playing rear guard. She somehow manages to spot the alien before it leaps at her, but her shot goes wide and it knocks the gun loose as it tackles her. Davis decides to hang tight in medlab and hope it goes away. Miller and Cham make it up the ladder to cryo with the other survivors, just in time to look back down and see the alien impale Reid through the heart. RIP Reid. It tosses her aside, then charges towards the ladder. Cham, glorious Cham, sets up in a hidden position ready to torch the thing's face off while Miller leads the others towards the umbilical. The alien pops up, then immediately gets a faceful of plasma. It's tough as hell, though, and Cham is face to face with it. He tries to knock it back down the ladder, but breaks when he sees it face-to-maw. This causes Miller to freak out in turn, completely freezing. The alien slams Cham back down to the lower level, sending the plasma cutter spinning away. Davis comes up, makes a few shots, but the pistol does poo poo against the perfect predator. The alien attempts to take Cham's head right off with that tail... and misses, thanks to some quick reactions. In an absolutely heroic effort, Cham grabs the plasma cutter and saws the thing's head clean off. He even manages to avoid getting splashed by the acid. Everyone gathers up the loose gear and heads topside, but that's when Montero's MOTHER broadcasts a warning that the reactor is going to go critical. Miller just sighs. It's one of those trips. After interrogating Wilson on what he did to her ship, it's revealed that MOTHER activated the self-destruct itself. Miller orders Rae and Wilson to get what gear they can manage and get over to the Cronus. Rae decides that means that sweet, sweet Helium-3. Wilson actually manages to pull through. Davis sets up on the bridge, ready to punch clear when she gets the signal. After a few minutes, Wilson has most of the good stuff over. The incinerator, the harpoon gun, the bolt launcher... we're pretty well kitted out. No chance of fitting the power loader through the umbilical, though. Rae, at this point, has taken the shuttle and is trying to land in the Cronus's cargo bay with a few canisters of Helium-3. Miller tries to talk her in through the landing, but freezes as she thinks back to the monster... and the potential that there's more of them. Rae tries to push through for the landing, but scrapes the side. One of the tanks ruptures, sparking off the rest, and the entire cargo hold is consumed in a massive explosion. RIP Rae. Miller just quietly swears, then tells Cham to pop the umbilical. The remote release fails, so he goes to work with the plasma cutter... and freezes. MOTHER's warnings keep coming over the radio, but he's just torching a hole in the same spot of bulkhead. Reluctantly, Miller tells Davis to punch it anyways. The umbilical ruins the rest of the outer airlock on the way off, but the Cronus gets free of the blast zone. End of Act 2. Act III The situation picks up after a bit of downtime, the crew of the Montero having had time to take a quick breather. Everyone is, understandably, pretty freaked out. Miller works up a patrol routine with Johns, Cham, and Davis, the quartet working to sweep the ship for any other signs of the alien creatures. They do a number of sweeps with the motion tracker, but all they find is what looks to be a corpse… until they notice the milky-white liquid where blood should be against the bulkhead. Cham is sent back with the android to the cafeteria, since he’s the only one with a decent shot of actually fixing it. Miller, Davis, and Johns continue patrolling. Davis begins to feel pretty awful, but writes it off as withdrawal symptoms. Miller notices as well, drawing the same conclusion. She suggests that Davis and Johns head back to the cafeteria and rest, while she finishes up the last sweep. Meanwhile, Cham has managed to repair the android, Ava. She quickly gets a handle on the situation and begins to fill him in on a terrible secret: the inoculation is bullshit. It’s literally just shooting up spores. Anyone who took it is a ticking time-bomb. There’s a thunk that resounds throughout the ship. MOTHER warns that there is an unauthorized docking attempt in progress, but the crew know that there’s at least 30m before they can get through the ruins of the airlock and what’s left of the Montero’s umbilical. Davis and Johns are walking back, maybe a corridor or two from the cafeteria, when she seemingly snaps. In short order, she manages to overpower him and snap his neck. Johns managed to get in a good shot before he went down, but he was still torn up from the earlier alien attack. Ava, meanwhile, is urging the crew in the cafeteria to put any infected in quarantine. Flynn reacts strongly, particularly given the earlier revelations about the nature of the inoculation, and starts freaking out. Wilson and the Cronus’s company representative, Clayton, immediately start brainstorming how to make money off this. Cham, voice of reason, suggests that they put Flynn in cryo and figure it out later. Eva is adamant that the infection not be transported to the Sol system, but does admit that cryo would satisfy the need for quarantine. He radios Miller and Davis to fill them in, but Davis doesn’t respond. Miller fills him in on having sent Davis back. The two contemplate what that means. Moments later, MOTHER indicates that the reactor is starting to melt down. Cham heads on down to the reactor core to see what’s up. On the way, he sees Johns’s corpse. It’s pretty bad. Continuing on, he radios Miller to check in on what’s going on. She gives him the low-down: she activated the process and is, unfortunately, not going to turn it off… unless he kills every infected survivor. Tough poo poo. He tries to refuse, but Miller hits him where it hurts and forces the issue. Miller is, at this point, securely posted up in the reactor core and has the incinerator leveled at the door for the entire five minute window where the meltdown can be reversed. Davis wanders into the cafeteria, still all but feral, and happens upon Clayton, Wilson, and Flynn. She feels a deep urge to kill the former two, but the latter… not so much. In unison, Davis and Flynn murder the two company agents. At this point, Davis stops being a PC. Cham goes looking for the infected survivors, the countdown echoing throughout the ship. He stumbles on Davis outside the cafeteria. He sees that she’s covered in blood, but it’s clear it’s not hers. She charges. He levels that trusty plasma cutter and, moments later, has sawed her in half. At this point Flynn hears noise and pokes his head out. Cham’s nerves fail him and he runs back towards the reactor. Radioing Miller along the way, he asks for help with Flynn. She just tells him to do his goddamn job. There’s a scuffle that does get a little tense, but let’s be real: we all know how this ends. Cham adds to his body count. At this point, he tells Miller that everything’s clear. The two pick up some radio chatter from the docking ship. It’s an opportunist trader ship, the Sotillo, here for salvage and really the same sort of things the Montero wanted. Of course, given the fact that the reactor of the Cronus is about to go critical, they’re rapidly preparing to depart. Cham manages to contact the Sotillo’s captain, who is surprised that anyone’s alive on the ship, but agrees to pick them up… particularly when it’s revealed they’re Weyland-Yutani personnel. That’s good money to be had ransoming them back, particularly given the lack of salvage to offset fuel costs. Miller waits for the timer to tick over to where the process can’t be reversed, then moves to join Cham at the airlock. Along the way she runs into Ava, torching the medlab, but the android lets her pass without issue. The advantages of not having taken off the EVA suit. They manage to make the Sotillo, their suits somehow managing to still have air in the tank, and watch the Cronus go nuclear as the ship prepares to go FTL. Everyone meets on the bridge to discuss things before heading to cryo, when there’s a terrible racket on the forward viewpanel. Davis’s bisected torso, mutated and terrible, bangs on the reinforced material. Cut to black. Secrets and Agendas Cham, sweet Cham, is exactly what he seems to be: an upright dude just trying to do what’s best for his adopted family. His goals are about doing right by the crew and keeping the survivors safe. Davis starts off wanting to spice up the trip, but quickly swaps into full hero mode… though getting infected changed her Act III agenda to be more out-and-out murderous. Miller is all about making that skrilla in an attempt to escape W-Y’s boot, likely leading to a team-up with Wilson and Clayton, but in this game she had a double secret… ...she was actually Lucas, an undercover synthetic infiltrator from Bionational. Her Act I & II goals revolved around figuring out what the Cronus had found and getting data on it, but her endgame is ensuring that no trace of the infection can reach Earth.
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Jan 18, 2020 01:14
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That's an awesome write up, thanks! in my playthrough I was Davis and the first part was pretty similar, but after the bloodburster wondered off, me and Cham went over to the Montero to prevent it from exploding immediately, and one of the NPCs turned while we were there: my character was killed in a single blow of the neomorph and Davis and the neomorph both died in a deadly embrace, falling off a walkway while the Montero exploded around us. I couldn't make it to the last session unfortunately.
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Jan 18, 2020 01:33
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Tekopo posted:my character was killed in a single blow of the neomorph and Davis and the neomorph both died in a deadly embrace, falling off a walkway while the Montero exploded around us. I couldn't make it to the last session unfortunately. That's a very fitting end. Very Alien haha. I'm preparing to run a Hadley's Last Hope online in the coming week which looks like it'll be a similarly fun scenario. I'll try to do my own write up for that one too. I'm earmarking 2-3 sessions for it, as Chariots tentative "one session" was blown way out of proportion (we ended up playing over 3-4 differetn 2-4 hours session)
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Jan 18, 2020 01:46
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Yeah, it ended up being about 10 hours in total.
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Jan 18, 2020 01:53
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Keep in mind that Hadley’s Hope is a one Act scenario, and I think it’s entirely doable in one 2 to 3 hour slot if your players are on the ball. Chariot is definitely a three session scenario though.
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Jan 18, 2020 01:58
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We finally finished our session of the Hadley's Hope scenario: Having dealt with the facehuggers, they race for the shuttle, but once in, Singleton finally reveals her true colours and aims a shot at Sigg, trying to take him out. The first shot just clips him, but the followup hits Sigg in the head and he dies instantly before he can do anything. Singleton claims that she did it in order to get the egg out of there, and Holroyd believes her and runs for the egg, trying to cast it out. Unfortunately, the egg is finally stirring and the facehugger emerges from it before it can be chucked out of the shuttle. What follows is a confused fight where Holroyd avoids trying to shoot the alien so it doesn't splash its acid, while the facehugger continually attempts to choke and facehug Singleton, but somehow she fends off all of its attack. Eventually the alien ends up at short range and one burst from the pulse rifle puts it to rest. The doors are closed as the aliens in Hadley's Hope finally breach the door of the landing up, and the shuttle departs in orbit. Holroyd takes the command while Singleton "deals with something", but actually just sneaks back in and surprise attacks Holroyd, lodging a bullet in his spine that makes his legs be lifeless. Turning around, the android grabs the pulse rifle that was resting next to him and fires a volley that hits Singleton: she collapses, a bullet neatly severing her ear. Holroyd rounds up the weapons and since Singleton isn't fatally wounded, she finally wakes up and, noticing the cockpit door locked and no weapons, sulks in the corner, while Holroyd announces to anyone listening that they are the last survivors from Hadley's Hope. The only thing that felt a little bit silly in the above was the constant failed attacks by the facehugger, but it still leant an interesting dynamic, and I eventually just decided to fudge the rolls a bit to make more interesting results happen. I think it's about the only thing that I dislike about the system: the AI for the aliens could use some tuning and I think mostly I'm just gonna decide on what results to use if the one I rolled doesn't really suit the situation.
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Jan 21, 2020 16:56
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Finally had the chance to be a player in an ALIENS Cinematic game. I gotta say if there's one piece of advice to give to GMs for this, have back up characters available. It tells you this in the book, but for this one the GM didn't really take that to heart. I died in the first combat encounter after a lucky crit took my head off. Shame really, I was enjoying the game prior to that but it really highlights the need for a cast of NPCs to use as backup. It doesn't even need to be exhaustive, nor do you have to give them screen time for a huge portion before they're introduced, just have a pool of NPCs somewhere that you can just say "oh yup, you're now Hank the cleaner" when one of your meticulously designed PCs inevitably dies.
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Mar 16, 2020 10:16
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Yeah, at least the pre-mades have a host of NPCs that you can take over if necessary. I was due to run the last act of Chariots of Fire last Monday, but due to the whole thing with the virus, it had to be called off.
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Mar 16, 2020 10:54
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That sucks. My in person game is in hold as well. Were exploring online options for Forvidden lands and ALIENS. Still gotta roll diceeee
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Mar 16, 2020 10:57
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To add to their line up, Fria Ligan have just announced they are making a 4th edition of Twilight 2000 that is said to use yet another iteration of the YZ0 Engine. This is in collaboration with Amargosa Press and Game Designer's Workshop. I've only played a brief PbP of Twilight2k (2nd edition) so can't really comment on how this is going to differ, but they've acknowledged it's going to have a focus on the same grittiness and gear focus as the originals, but using the YZ0 engine. They've proven pretty adaptable with the differences between their games so far so it'll be interesting at least.
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May 16, 2020 03:55
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