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Alien: The Roleplaying Game

Alien: The Roleplaying Game

Gamma rays and neutrino bursts erupt from dying stars to cook you alive, black holes tear you apart, and the void itself boils your blood and seizes your brain. Try to scream and no one can hear you – hold your breath and you rupture your lungs. Space isn’t as empty as you’d think, either – its frontiers are ever expanding. Rival governments wage a cold war of aggression while greedy corporations vie for valuable resources. Colonists reach for the stars and gamble with their lives – each new world tamed is either feast or famine. And there are things lurking in the shadows of every asteroid – things strange and different and deadly. Things alien. 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.

Originally created by Gaska, Tomas Härenstam, Nils Karlén, Kosta Kostulas, Dave Semark, and Matthew Tyler-Jones

Details

2-6 Players
D6
Stress
Panic

Themes

Horror
Scifi

Release Date

December 2019

Alien: The Roleplaying Game Reviews (7)

See what other Game Masters and players are saying about Alien: The Roleplaying Game

isFriday avatar

isFriday

New review

Ran 4 sessions / Played 1 sessions

It's hard to believe that they're revamping the game soon with the second edition, but make no mistake: What ALIEN RPG does well, it does as the GOAT. There is no better horror tabletop game! Learning to play is easy and fun. If you are a Foundry VTT player/GM, then the support is unmatched. Finding resources for music, sound effects, visual aids, and learn-to-play tools is easy. The community has provided an abundance of content to use - including a fan-made short CRT-style video for the one shot scenario Hope's Last Day.

ChaoticCreative avatar

ChaoticCreative

New review

This system is elegant, and beautifully designed to offer a sci-fi experience that makes it feel like a session or campaign played in it could very well be its own canon series or movie in the Alien universe. Each time I've run it, players have been delighted and wanted more. What more could you ask of a system?

Rodrigo avatar

Rodrigo

New review

What an absolute masterpiece of an elegant game mechanics design that fosters a specific atmosphere and tension escalation! As a game design enthusiast, I was astonished by the designers of this game. More often than not, RPG game mechanics depart from emotions the narrative is trying to emulate, but the dice rolling of Alien RPG manages to jump in there and lead you on a path of ever-escalating tension, which gives a perfect experience of being in an Alien movie And it is all passive. Neither the players nor the narrator needs to do anything for it to happen. As you roll dice, you accumulate stress dice. They help you but also bring a chance for bad stuff to start to happen or to show up. And that´s it, that alone helps the characters to keep succeeding, but to accumulate so many bad things happening that everyone is doomed to fail spetacularly

Luke The GM avatar

Luke The GM

New review

Ran 120 sessions / Played 1 sessions

ALIEN RPG brings Science Fiction and Horror together in an easy-to-learn system. Cinematic adventure modules include pre-generated characters on a horrifying adventure that typically takes 3-6 sessions. Each character has their own secret agenda that makes the gameplay even more exciting as players race to accomplish their mission as well as their own devious plans. These cinematic adventures feel like you're in the movies and spread across a 3 Act structure. The game also plays well as a campaign, there are two official campaigns that can be played over 20+ sessions. You'll get to face off against your classic Xenomorph horrors as well as new monsters and unknowns. Not every session or encounter is combat. The game does a great job mixing stealth, intrigue, exploration, and vehicle encounters. No Universe Knowledge Needed! Most of the characters don't know they're in a sci-fi horror story, or that they're about to becoming host to a terrifying creature. Narrative Action! ALIEN RPG focuses on getting YOU into the action, rather than having to worry about how many spaces away a target is or how many +1's you have to add to your dice result. Rolling your skills involve adding your Attribute + Skill rank together, rolling that many six-sided dice, and if any show "6" then you're successful. Additional 6's can be used to perform cool stunts. Easy To Learn! ALIEN RPG uses the Year Zero Engine, similar to many other games by Free League Publishing. The dice pool is limited to six-sided dice, and the game focuses on fast-paced action rather than lots of calculations and mechanics.

Brent W avatar

Brent W

New review

The Alien RPG is a great game for horror and suspense. The mechanics around exploration and monster mechanics put you right in the middle of an Alien movie. My players have been terrified to walk into a new room out of fear of not knowing when something is going to jump out of an air vent. Every gunshot to fend off a creature or save a friend also comes with a risk of blowing a hole in your ship and causing rapid decompression. Stakes are abundant! My only complaint is the rules around injuries can be iffy/unclear when it comes to creatures, specifically with how much abuse they can take before they drop, but this will hopefully be addressed in the new edition this year!

Jack Panic - DNGN CLUB avatar

Jack Panic - DNGN CLUB

New review

Alien is a pitch perfect system in terms of emulating genre and being in line with the Alien movie franchise. Powered by the Year Zero Engine, it is one of the most gripping and easy to learn and play systems. I cannot recommend this game enough if you are a fan of the movies or video games.

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Frequently asked questions about Alien: The Roleplaying Game

Explore Alien: The Roleplaying Game Careers

Company Agent image

Company Agent

You're hungry. Space is full of opportunity, and you've been assigned to the Frontier to find the next big thing. From insider information to new mineral deposits - or even a hitherto unknown life-form to exploit- it's up to you to score a win for the company and use it to catapult yourself up the corporate ladder. You tend not to form long-lasting attachments, instead viewing everybody as a commodity to capitalize on. Worry about others later. Right now it's all about the bottom line.

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Kid

You didn't ask for a Frontier life - your parents brought you into this world kicking and screaming. Grown-ups always ask you what you want to be when you grow up, but all you want to do is be a kid. You used to fantasize about being an adult, able to stay up late and eat junk food whenever you want. Thing is, most of the Frontier adults you know are always miserable and tired. There isn't much to do where you live, so you make your own fun. There's time to grow up later. For now, playing hide-and-seek in the ventilation system seems the way to go.

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Medic

There are a million-and-one ways to die in space, from exposure to vacuum or unknown contagions to vicious organisms or getting accidentally shot by a drunken roughneck. In all these scenarios, you're the one carrying the bandages and adrenaline shots. When someone suffers trauma, it's the first few minutes that matter most. If someone survives long enough to make it to a medpod, you've done your job. You used to be altruistic about Frontier medicine, but you've seen enough to become jaded. Too many people in the Outer Veil are addicted to painkillers, and most colonies are not up to health and safety regulations. That means more people get hurt. Your work is never done..

Officer image

Officer

When everything is going to shit - the Company's holding your crew's pay hostage, there's a mountain of reports to file from that last incident near Thedus, and who knows how many family members back home are weighing on everyone's minds-it's a good thing you spent all those years training to do this for a living. You're the authority figure, the role model, the voice of your superiors, and the enlisted crew's advocate. You're also the butt of all of their jokes around the mess hall... until it all gets so much worse, and they're looking to you for what to do next. Better hope your training has a solution to this one.

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Colonial Marine

Most of your friends will never see another world… but not you. As soon as you were old enough, you signed up for the USCMC. The pay is crap and the food is worse, but you’ve always got a bunk to sleep in and you get to shoot all sorts of weapons at all sorts of things. Life in the Corps is never dull—but the luster has begun to fade. You’ve seen things that you’ll never be able to forget, and plenty you wish you could.

Colonial Marshal image

Colonial Marshal

The Frontier can be a lawless place. The Colonial Marines are spread thin - they have neither the time nor inclination to mete out local justice. Not to worry - there's a new sheriff in town, and that's you. Most law enforcement officers on the Frontier are firmly planted deep in the back pocket of one company or another - but not you. You don't take bribes and you never look the other way. You've made a lot of enemies on both sides of the law, but your colony has the lowest crime rate in the system. It's only a matter of time before you piss off the wrong CEO and corporate sends someone to take care of you, but that's okay. You'll be ready.

Pilot image

Pilot

The stars are the limit, and they are limitless. You aren't content to keep your feet on the ground, and on the Frontier, there's no need to. From starfighters to dropships, freighters to frigates, there's always something that needs flying- and some aerospace-stunt that only you can pull off. You aren't in this for the money, although it doesn't hurt. You're a thrill-seeker and an adrenaline junkie. Danger is the rush you live for, but stay frosty. Otherwise, the next time you find yourself dodging through an asteroid belt or seeing the ground rush up to meet you might be your last.

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Roughneck

Someone has to do the manual labor on the Frontier, and that someone is you. Life has dealt you some harsh blows but you've always struck back. You've been in countless barroom brawls, you swear a lot, and belch at the dinner table. In short, people find you uncouth. You really don't care- you've grown past the need for niceties. No one works harder than you. You are up before first dawn and finish your workday long after second twilight. You are the cog that keeps the Frontier chugging. Your hands are calloused and your face is dirty, and the only thing harder than the work you do is the way you party.

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Scientist

Every day, new pieces to the puzzle of existence are found on the Frontier. Figuring out what makes them fit together could leap humanity over nature's next hurdle, and you are one thesis away from the respect you deserve. Some find you cold and detached; they don't understand that your passion is knowledge. Whether your field is xenobiology, astrophysics, robotics, or even archaeology, there are countless treasures in space, just waiting for someone to trip over the next asteroid and run right into them. Whether or not that's you, you're still the one who understands them better than anyone.

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