Review: Free League Publishing – Alien: The Roleplaying Game (Year Zero Engine)


Alien: The Roleplaying Game
Alien: The Roleplaying Game is a sci-fi horror role-playing game set in the Alien franchise universe, written by Tomas Härenstam and Andrew E.C. Gaska and published by Free League Publishing.
By Aaron T. Huss

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Alien: The Roleplaying Game is a sci-fi horror version of the Year Zero Engine with two modes of play. The first is the cinematic mode focusing on survival within a single locale crawling with xenomorphs, playable in 1-2 gaming sessions. Not every PC is guaranteed to live so you may need a few spares lying around. The second is the campaign mode as a sandbox-style of gameplay where you will potentially encounter aliens of multiple types and humans with malevolent ambitions. Both styles are obviously set within the Alien franchise universe, one that is somewhat retro futuristic due to it being created in the 1970s and stylistically maintaining that look and feel, and placed within the fringes of the expanding territory (i.e., The Frontier).

I’m not going to lie, but I was not aware that Alien had such a defined universe. I have seen the second move and read some of the comics, but I never paid enough attention to the setting to realize how developed it was. This is a big boon to a role-playing game as it’s familiar and new at the same time because the setting draws from all media set within the Alien franchise (which is likely more than you realize). However, it is also a largely hand-waved setting where much of the locales lack detail and thus are perfect for a sandbox game where the imagination can fill in all those gaps. In my opinion, this sandbox setting with so many open spaces allows it to fit with the style of gameplay I see in most Year Zero Engine games. What I’ve noticed is that most Year Zero Engine games is that building the setting and discovering what’s there, and surviving the horrors encountered, is a key component to the system. It also helps play into he survival aspects of the setting. Of course, due to the RPG’s ties to the Alien franchise, you have to create a mode of play that mimics the movies. Which is exactly what they did.

Unlike most Year Zero Engine games, Alien includes a number of other genre aspects that require fleshing out (because it’s sci-fi out on the frontier of known space). This includes cool vehicles for exploring barely-populated planets and moons, spaceships, space combat, space travel, survival in The Frontier, and cool equipment. I personally consider Year Zero Engine games to be generally rules-light and I was excited to see how simple the rules are to manage these mechanical representations of the game. From a core rulebook perspective, it does mean a larger portion of the book is dedicated to presenting the game system and less time presenting the setting. But honestly, this isn’t really an issue as I don’t feel like the setting is meant to be pre-established and rather a place for discovery (for good or bad).

The GM (known as the Game Mother instead of Game Master), does not get a lot of guidance in the core rulebook, but it is filled with random tables for campaign play to help fill your sandbox as your games progress. It does mean that you may need to pick up a supplement or two, but only if you need those details provided (or guidance for how to create them on the spot). For cinematic play, there is a short scenario included but you might be better picking up the starter set.

Like some other game’s I’ve reviewed lately, Alien: The Roleplaying Game is not for the casual gamer and definitely not for the noob GM. It definitely requires a GM with more experience or time and a group of players ready to dig into a game where horror and the terror that goes along with it is a main theme. The horror is as much psychological as it is in-your-face survival, but you do have some cool weapons to hopefully deal with the latter. It is the former that is meant to put your PCs on the edge. It would also be advantageous for the GM to have a good understanding of the Alien universe, especially the movies. Cinematic mode is meant to recreate the experience of being in one of those Alien movies and if you’ve never seen one, it might be difficult to create that atmosphere. The mechanics help out, but the GM still does a lot of the heavy lifting.

This is clearly the right game if you want that Alien experience, but if you just want to play in a sci-fi horror campaign, the second mode should fit the bill nicely and give you many game sessions of pushing the limits!

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