Free League announces official Alien RPG

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With campaign options of Space Truckers, Colonists, and Space Marines, a blogger called StarshipsandSteel has written up an alternative Space Telephone Repair option.

Telephone Repair ALWAYS reminds me of that tricky Jack Burton.
 
With campaign options of Space Truckers, Colonists, and Space Marines, a blogger called StarshipsandSteel has written up an alternative Space Telephone Repair option.

Telephone Repair ALWAYS reminds me of that tricky Jack Burton.

Telephone repair could be seriously creepy, phone lines run through remote areas, and in hard to access locations of buildings. Lots of things could cause a break in the lines, and some of those might have a taste for telephone repairmen (and women).
 
Telephone repair could be seriously creepy, phone lines run through remote areas, and in hard to access locations of buildings. Lots of things could cause a break in the lines, and some of those might have a taste for telephone repairmen (and women).
His phone repair is the intergalactic FTL network for system communication. Still creepy.
 
Telephone repair could be seriously creepy, phone lines run through remote areas, and in hard to access locations of buildings. Lots of things could cause a break in the lines, and some of those might have a taste for telephone repairmen (and women).
I really like this idea and already have a couple of ideas for it. I put them in my status post so as not to derail the thread.
 
In the vein of space horror, here's a new thing for DCC. At $2.99 (or $1.99 if you got the discount offer), I don't think I am capable of not buying this.
I love DCC. What is this discount?

Also, I just got an e-mail saying that the pre-orders were starting to ship for the Alien RPG. I cannot wait....
 
I love DCC. What is this discount?
I got an email from Bloat Games offering it for $1 off. I'm not sure what I previously bought from them to justify that. This morning, I got another offer for $1 off what looks like a superhero-type of game, True Vigilante. Apparently the offer for Bughunt went really well and they're now #1 on the under-five list. Much as I love DCC, I cannot see it as a good system for supers without heavy modification. Armor Class is a total non-starter for me in a modern game.
 
Yet to read this but just unboxed my order yesterday. It looks really nice and I'm looking forward to seeing the system in action, having played Mutant Year Zero.

I must say, this made me chuckle...

frefdf.png

:grin:
 
I got an email from Bloat Games offering it for $1 off. I'm not sure what I previously bought from them to justify that. This morning, I got another offer for $1 off what looks like a superhero-type of game, True Vigilante. Apparently the offer for Bughunt went really well and they're now #1 on the under-five list. Much as I love DCC, I cannot see it as a good system for supers without heavy modification. Armor Class is a total non-starter for me in a modern game.
I can see having an issue using Armor Class if you want to realistically portray gun fights, but aren't supers games mostly people engaging in melee slugfests and lobbing "spells" at one another?
 
I can see having an issue using Armor Class if you want to realistically portray gun fights, but aren't supers games mostly people engaging in melee slugfests and lobbing "spells" at one another?
You definitely can wedge D&D into supers and it will work, but I just feel that the mechanics are entirely contrary to the kind of sensibility I'd expect in modern supers. The basic six abilities don't really map well into a modern context. Classes don't really seem appropriate without heavily re-working them, and experience levels don't do a good job of modeling progress in the super genre. Powers as spells doesn't do a good job of representing varying power levels, fatigue (as opposed to casting slots), "pushing", etc. And as for HP and AC, those are acceptable abstractions in fantasy, but in superhero fights, I want something more concrete and flashy with explicit defense.

It certainly can be done, but I'd wonder why anyone would want to beyond the advantage of familiarity. Once you take the additional step of adapting DCC, I really wonder how you are going to use DCC-specific mechanics beyond Luck. Spellburn may be used to model fatigue and pushing a power, but casting rolls are too random for the genre.
 
Yet to read this but just unboxed my order yesterday. It looks really nice and I'm looking forward to seeing the system in action, having played Mutant Year Zero.

I must say, this made me chuckle...

View attachment 13632

:grin:

Yeah, the use of Mother (the nickname for the computer in Alien) for the GM does seem forced to me, like look at us we have a special name for the game master. The computer only featured in one of the movies and in no way filled the role of a GM. It (sort of vaguely) answered questions for the crew, and was a plot device (initiated the encounter with the derelict spacecraft). It would make as much sense to call a Star Trek GM the Game Computer.



Still a minor issue and one easily ignored.
 
Yeah, the use of Mother (the nickname for the computer in Alien) for the GM does seem forced to me, like look at us we have a special name for the game master. The computer only featured in one of the movies and in no way filled the role of a GM.

It appears in Covenant too IIRC.
 
It appears in Covenant too IIRC.

I actually haven't seen either prequel. Not intentional, it just hasn't happened. I actually don't watch many movies / TV these days and the reviews haven't pushed me to make it happen. Just seems like I have something better to do than sit on the couch (like sit in front of a computer which is so much more constructive :shock: ).


No matter if the game calls it referee, storyteller, marshal, master of ceremonies, etc, we always just call it a GM or game master.

Like I said, a very minor issue, but it has come up a couple times in this thread alone. Cutesy naming conventions just to be different also happens to be a pet peeve of mine.
 
I don't care too much one way or the other, but it seems they would have been better off simply going with "Mother" rather than "Game Mother" if they wanted to go down this path. At least that way it would be a in line with something like "Keeper" in CoC, where it is an entirely new name, rather than being a cutesy wordplay on GM.
 
I don't care too much one way or the other, but it seems they would have been better off simply going with "Mother" rather than "Game Mother" if they wanted to go down this path. At least that way it would be a in line with something like "Keeper" in CoC, where it is an entirely new name, rather than being a cutesy wordplay on GM.

Agreed. I actually thought it was just a marketing line for the back wrapper page of the GM screen when I took the pic of it. I thought that was funny and witty. Now, breaking open the actual rulebook, I see its more than that and an actual system term for the Games Master. Which is... hmmm... no, it loses its appeal.
 
When I was in the army my tank crew called me "Mother" because I always had fingernail clippers, Tylenol, or bandaids or something. I think "Doc" would have been more appropriate, and I tried to get "Mr. Lucky" started, but "Mother" stuck.
 
I think some alternate GM names make sense. Storyteller for WoD and Master of Ceremonies for PbtA look reasonable given the goals of those games. But Mother? Hollycock God? Come on. :crossed:
 
Hollyhock God honestly is kind of like Game Mother in that it does make sense in context. Between the two though, I still give the edge to HG being every slightly less bad just because it will never cause anyone to call me Game Mommy.
 
Hollyhock God *snicker*
I file Hollyhock God under “terminally pretentious”, not “cutesy”.
Thanks for bringing that up, btw. I thought I’d killed the brain cells off that knew about things like Nobilis and flower-rape. :crap:
Unfortunately I was wrong.:weep:
 
Storyteller for WoD and Master of Ceremonies for PbtA look reasonable given the goals of those games.
Careful...claiming WoD has anything to do with Storytelling will get your Forgie-whatevers revoked. :evil:
 
Any idea if the regular PDF for the rpg is available?
 
Yeah, we just rolled our eyes and it became DM forever. Even Judge or Referee are kinda goofy.

It was Referee in the original D&D booklets and in Cyberpunk, so it's always stuck with me.

I saw every other title as somehow sillier. It's a game, there are players, there is a referee to enforce the rules. Sure, there might be a world building or npc-playing aspect to it, but dungeon master hardly suggests either of those things more than referee.

When I pointed out the whole Game Mother thing to my group, about half of them said (straight faced) "What's the story Mother?"

...bunch of nerds. I love 'em.
 
I like that you don't find the term "Dungeon Master" goofy.

I think it's one of the goofiest.
Good point. Thinking again, yeah anything succeeded by "...Master" sounds ridiculous because that's not really the nature of that role.

What a more coherent label would be in your opinion?
 
Good point. Thinking again, yeah anything succeeded by "...Master" sounds ridiculous because that's not really the nature of that role.

What a more coherent label would be in your opinion?

I like the games that give the facilitator role a cool, thematic name. I think Dungeon Master works for D&D. I like animator for TOON. Storyteller for WoD and co.

For a generic term, I think I use "GM." But more often I just say "run" I.e. "Bob is running Call of Cthulhu tonight." "Marge runs a good D&D game."
 
Good point. Thinking again, yeah anything succeeded by "...Master" sounds ridiculous because that's not really the nature of that role.

What a more coherent label would be in your opinion?
Game Moderator might work for you. It has the advantage of keeping the GM acronym. I think it was first used in Over the Edge.

Most people only ever say GM anyway, so you can be thinking Game Moderator in your head as you say GM, but not have to explain your fancy new term every time you use it.
 
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I got to look through a friend's PDF of the game yesterday. It looks like they did a fairly good job. I really wish they had included more information about synthetic humans, but overall they did a good job of bringing in disparate elements from the movies, books, and comics.
 
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