Alien: Anomaly (System game)

[Kakihara]

“I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies.” – Ash, Alien

Space is vast, dark, and not your friend. 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.

The World

"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” - Ellen Ripley, Aliens

The Frontier begins on the leading edge of the Outer Veil, crosses through the Outer Rim of the known territories, and stretches on into deep space. Located between the core systems and the Outer Rim, the Outer Veil is a vast region of space that is abundantly rich in mineral resources. The Outer Rim is extensively colonized, and the Colonial Navy operates there. Past the Outer Rim is anyone’s guess—and that thrill of the unknown is what draws pioneers here. Settlers have likened the sometimes lawless Frontier to the Old West of the United States.

Here, life is harsh and cheap. On many worlds, atmospheric processors have been brought in to convert the air into something passably breathable. The majority of settlers here are prospectors, entrepreneurs, farmers, and homesteaders. Mining worlds refine ores and fuel, while agri and aquatic worlds harvest food and algae. Space stations such as Anchorpoint serve as a neutral staging ground for expeditions into deep space.

Today

Ash: You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
Lambert: You admire it.
Ash: I admire its purity. A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.

The year is 2183—little more than three years since the destruction of the Hadley’s Hope colony on LV-426, the disappearance of the USS Sulaco, and the closing of the prison and lead works on Fiorina 161. The loss of the Sulaco’s Colonial Marine unit along with these Weyland-Yutani sponsored outposts, and the implications of corporate foul play stemming from these incidents, have created an air of distrust between the company and the United Americas. Many Frontier worlds have found themselves caught in the middle of this rift and have been forced to make do without either the supplies or defenses they need to survive.

The only publicly made exposition of these events deals only with the aftermath on Fiorina 161. The book is titled Space Beast and is convict Robert Morse’s alleged account if an alien “dragon” that overran the facility and brutally slew two dozen double-Y chromo inmates and their custodial staff.

The book gives credence both to talk of monsters and to rumors of Weyland-Yutani experimentation with bioweapons—indicating they were more concerned about securing the creature for further study than saving lives. According to Morse, the hunt to capture the beast had spilled over from the incident on LV-426, and anyone who got in the Company’s way was expendable—be they prisoners, soldiers, employees, or even colonists.

“What do you mean, ‘They cut the power’?” – Hudson, Aliens

The Idea

So, I’ve been enjoying the nature of the game and really want to dive into it with a group.  If people are interested, my idea is to start with a scenario that follows a salvage crew that characters would be created using the campaign rules but it would run more cinematic with a three act structure and… probably a high body count.  If people enjoy the game and are still interested in playing more, I would then love to do a longer campaign with a Colonial Marines campaign.  The idea would probably start with the salvage crew having already taken a contract, if independent, or been given an assignment, if part of a corporation, to salvage a specific ship or station. 

The game would be using the rules in the published Alien RPG from Free League.  Experience or knowledge of the system is not needed, there are free starter rules on their website and also DriveThruRPG. I’m not sure if they have the full character creation rules but as long as you have that I can help walk any interested party through creation.  It will be my first time running an Alien RPG so I’ll be new to the rule set but not to GMing so we’ll be cutting our teeth on the rules together. 

The first thing that would need to be decided is if it will be a Corporate salvage crew or an independent crew.  Depending on what people lean towards, Corporate Agent, Medic, Officer, Pilot, Roughneck character concepts would all fit in, with the last three being especially important to have at least one of each.  In addition, with the right background a Colonial Marshal or Scientist might work as well.  It might just require a little discussion of some meta plots.

I will say that while this will be an adult game for the salvage crew any smut stuff will be mainly left up to PCs and there may be some NPCs that can be involved but it won't be a focus of mine. If we continue after with the Colonial Marines idea, I may bring in more potential after if people are interested.  There will be no smexy time with the Xenomorphs though.  ;D

Character Sheet:

Code Select Expand

[b]Name[/b]
[b]Player[/b]
[b]Career[/b]

[b]Strength[/b] -
[u]Heavy Machinery[/u]:
[u]Stamina[/u]:
[u]Close Combat[/u]:

[b]Agility [/b] -
[u]Mobility[/u]:
[u]Piloting[/u]:
[u]Ranged Combat[/u]:

[b]Wits[/b] -
[u]Observation[/u]:
[u]Comtech[/u]:
[u]Survival[/u]:

[b]Empathy [/b] -
[u]Manipulation[/u]:
[u]Medical Aid[/u]:
[u]Command[/u]:

[b]Talents [/b]

[b]Gear[/b]

[b]Weapons[/b]

[u]Armor[/u]:

[u]Encumbrance[/u]:

[b]Tiny Gear [/b]



[b]Personal Agenda[/b]


[b]Personal Relationships[/b]
[u]Buddy[/u]:
[u]Rival[/u]:

[b]Signature Item[/b]

[u]Stress Level[/u]:

[u]Health[/u]:

[u]Radiation[/u]:

[b]Critical Injuries[/b]

[b]Conditions[/b]
[u]Starving[/u]:
[u]Dehydrated[/u]:
[u]Exhausted[/u]:
[u]Freezing[/u]:

[b]Consumables[/b]
[u]Air[/u]:
[u]Power[/u]:
[u]Food[/u]:
[u]Water[/u]:

[u]Experience Points[/u]:

[u]Story Points[/u]:

[b]Background[/b]



Alien: Anomaly OCC
Character List

[Kuroneko]

How much of the system are you planning to use?

[Kakihara]

How much of the system are you planning to use?

It's a fairly rules light system compared to something like D&D and Pathfinder so it really only comes into play in combat and anytime using a skill isn't pretty much guaranteed.  So it will probably come into more use as the horror intensifies because of the panic mechanic to simulate a horror movie.  I do need to look up an alternative initiative stuff as the base game has you pick cards.  But we'll be using the full rules though prior knowledge of them aren't especially needed, it's a pretty simple system. 

[Kuroneko]

Thanks for the answer. I generally don't play system heavy games, so I asked in the hopes it was just for character creation. I'll see if I can find some info online before committing.

[Amarlo]

I wish I had the book because I love the idea of starting out with a high body count short mission to get a feel for the game. Then once that fun meme of a character is dead, I already have some ideas for a colonial marine character. -rubs hands together.- I also love me some Alien.

[Praxis]

I've got the Core manual on PDF.

I'm in...you have my axe.

Or in this case, you have my M41A Pulse Rifle.

<3

Once you have a roster of writers firmed up, I'm happy to figure out a way to share the PDF.

[Kakihara]

I've got the Core manual on PDF.

I'm in...you have my axe.

Or in this case, you have my M41A Pulse Rifle.

<3

Once you have a roster of writers firmed up, I'm happy to figure out a way to share the PDF.

Nice. Thanks.

I do believe I have the PDF on a public Google Drive as well as I'd used it to try and tempt my regular D&D group to take a break and play it.  Sadly it did not work.... yet....

[Amarlo]

Well then count me in. ;D

[wander]

It's a fairly rules light system compared to something like D&D and Pathfinder so it really only comes into play in combat and anytime using a skill isn't pretty much guaranteed.  So it will probably come into more use as the horror intensifies because of the panic mechanic to simulate a horror movie.  I do need to look up an alternative initiative stuff as the base game has you pick cards.  But we'll be using the full rules though prior knowledge of them aren't especially needed, it's a pretty simple system.

Nice timing, just as I'm making a small return, an ALIEN rpg using the system comes up! :)

So, I had a thought on this. The cards just have the numbers 1 to 10 on them. You can easily just roll a d10 and you got your initiative. You can also solve ties with whoever has the highest total of Agility + Manipulation, leaning to highest of either for any tie-breaking.

To keep things fair and organised, I'd say GM rolls for the initiatives of everyone in an A-Z name order and announce it in ooc so post-ordering is sorted too for the round.
Pretty simple, kinda, ne? Also keeps rolls and people confused on posting order/crossposting to a minimum. Of course the GM can adapt or ignore that, if needs be.

Anyways, so long as this isn't a wall of text WoW roleplay where 'more words = good, regardless of quality', I'd like to put my name in. If that's cool n' all. This is pretty much the one game I see myself volunteering for, so I ain't gonna flake for getting overstretched and RL is still somewhat on the slow burn here.

I dig the whole system of stat + skill = d6s to roll and 6s are successes and character creation for the sheet takes literally a few minutes (Which works out really well to make replacement characters with how the Xenomorph pretty much insta-kills anyone it gets near!  :D ). Stress dice is fun as all hell when they start piling up too.  ;D

How lethal you looking?
The Xenomorph is a killer (it is way more Isolation and ALIEN and ALIEN3 style, no cannon fodder with even a Drone...), noone has really much health (a gun shot can potentially fuck you up) and there's some nasty injuries that PCs can pick up.

I ask, as people here tend to write essays for bios and get super invested in their characters and agency, I find it pretty hilarious if someone does that and then gets a head-bite on round 1 of a Xeno encounter... lol

[Amarlo]

I am so glad that more people are showing interest in this game, and many familiar faces to boot! ;D You've got a fantastic collection of writers so far, Kakihara.

As a general aside, would you want facelaims or art? >> Not at all because I want to finger through my files for the perfect fit already or anything! -Shifty eyes.-

[LSWSjr]

I'm always keen for an Aliens RP and I've been dying to give this new system a shot ^_^

Cheers
Rowan/LSWSjr

[wander]

For sheer funsies I pondered what roles the Nostromo crew may have had in the first ALIEN movie, this is what I figured they'd fall under;

Dallas = Officer, ship's captain and does command skill usage
Ripley = Officer, uses manipulation skill shakily - triggering nearly every crewmember at differing points (one of the Officer signature item's for stress relief is 'Ship's Cat' too to represent Jonesy, lol) except for Kane and Brett.
Kane = Pilot (he was an Officer as his actual occupation, though is pretty reckless and does more ship flight whilst alive)
Lambert = Pilot, she was the astrogator, uses a lot of comtech though piles on stress throughout and dies due to Panic and freezing in place, stopping Parker from flaming the Xeno, allowing it to kill the pair.
Parker = Roughneck, ship's engineer and likely specialised into the Strength skills from what we see.
Brett = Roughneck, engineer technician under Parker, likely had low levels in varying skills.
Ash = Scientist, science officer, uses observation & potentially the analysis talent.

ALIEN is an interesting one, as none of the crew were particularly great at their skills when the Xeno turns up, except for really Parker and Brett who use heavy machinery to jury-rig up flamer units and shock prods respectively. Ash consistently does well using Scientist skills, though also is an Android and in the end gets undone when Ripley fails a Manipulation roll on him and is taken out by Parker when he attacks Ripley.

[Kakihara]

I am so glad that more people are showing interest in this game, and many familiar faces to boot! ;D You've got a fantastic collection of writers so far, Kakihara.

As a general aside, would you want facelaims or art? >> Not at all because I want to finger through my files for the perfect fit already or anything! -Shifty eyes.-

I am going to go with faceclaims just because finding good for my taste will be difficult and since it's based on movies, it feels more right to 'cast' faces for the characters.

Nice timing, just as I'm making a small return, an ALIEN rpg using the system comes up! :)

So, I had a thought on this. The cards just have the numbers 1 to 10 on them. You can easily just roll a d10 and you got your initiative. You can also solve ties with whoever has the highest total of Agility + Manipulation, leaning to highest of either for any tie-breaking.

To keep things fair and organised, I'd say GM rolls for the initiatives of everyone in an A-Z name order and announce it in ooc so post-ordering is sorted too for the round.
Pretty simple, kinda, ne? Also keeps rolls and people confused on posting order/crossposting to a minimum. Of course the GM can adapt or ignore that, if needs be.
......

How lethal you looking?
The Xenomorph is a killer (it is way more Isolation and ALIEN and ALIEN3 style, no cannon fodder with even a Drone...), noone has really much health (a gun shot can potentially fuck you up) and there's some nasty injuries that PCs can pick up.

I ask, as people here tend to write essays for bios and get super invested in their characters and agency, I find it pretty hilarious if someone does that and then gets a head-bite on round 1 of a Xeno encounter... lol

For initiative, this is kind of what my instinct pushes towards as well though perhaps with whoever hast the higher attribute wins any ties.   I do want to check the forums to see what others may have done for online games like Roll20 if they've not got a subscription the cardpull option isn't there.  I'm not sure I'm done with me rolling for initiative, I might just have everyone roll, put it in the OCC and then I'll set the imitative order up on the game section.

Well for the initial run, the salvage crew, I will run it fairly lethal and people may need to do up a back up character depending.  I want it to be Alien level fear and horror.  Then if everyone has fun and is up to continue with a Colonial Marine campaign run, that one the characters will have much more tech on their side.  In fact the Colonial Marine supplement should be out b April for the anniversary of Aliens from what has been rumored so there will be even more things to play with if we do that. 

But since we have at least four people interested I'll get a character sheet up and running.  And if Amarlo you need the main book just let me know and I'll send you the link to the Google Drive with it via PM.

[wander]

Sure, the reason I mentioned for you to roll is that it makes combat rounds quicker in RL time, as given Pbp, we could wait days for someone to roll, only for them to have flaked. There's the potential that a player could roll the d10 over until they get a high number before they post it. I've known some in the past to have done that kind of thing.

Though yes, I can't wait for that Colonial Marines supplement!
The main writer said they put forward in the manuscript the Berserker from the comics, also the Stinger and Electronic Hovertread vehicles from the old 90s Kenner toys!  :D

[Kakihara]

Sure, the reason I mentioned for you to roll is that it makes combat rounds quicker in RL time, as given Pbp, we could wait days for someone to roll, only for them to have flaked. There's the potential that a player could roll the d10 over until they get a high number before they post it. I've known some in the past to have done that kind of thing.

Though yes, I can't wait for that Colonial Marines supplement!
The main writer said they put forward in the manuscript the Berserker from the comics, also the Stinger and Electronic Hovertread vehicles from the old 90s Kenner toys!  :D

I will probably impose a time limit to get initiative in or I'll roll it for a player to keep things moving but the type of GM I am, I'm loath to take away player agency if I can help it.  But I will to keep things flowing. 

Oh nice.  I've not heard much about the supplement other than the rumored release date on the Alien Anniversary.  It's nice that they will be bringing in some of the extended universe stuff.  And it's nice that they are bringing in some more of the Alien species, I've been watching some videos on the various sub-species and mutants introduced in the comics, games and books. 

Also, for those interested, I've posted a simplified Character sheet as I such at using the coding to make anything fancy. I think I grabbed everything needed for the sheet from the printed ones.  Unless someone really wants the Captain position, since we only have four so far I'll probably NPC it unless we get some more interested parties.  A pilot and a First Officer type would be good to, though the first officer doesn't need to be the officer career, it could be a medic or roughneck or scientist.  And then the rest is open as indicated in my opening post of the careers best suited for filling out the  rest of the crew.  If we get at least six people interested, which I'm seeing as the crew number for this salvage, then if someone wants to play the captain I'm open to have it a full PC crew.

[LSWSjr]

I have ideas for either a Medic or Colonial Marshal, the latter most likely being there as the result of an investigation into the crew's dealings, but what concepts are the rest of you considering?


Cheers
Rowan/LSWSjr

[wander]

There's a video on youtube where the main writer talks on the supplement and process for clearing it past Fox. It's a pretty interesting AMA, he states as long as he can source something from the EU then Fox usually allow it. The only thing that seems to be off-limits is adding lore to the Engineers, as Ridley Scott still has control on Tier 1 canon and they want the RPG to fit in with that.
He also mentioned the game is getting released as game-time and RL time run parallel, so in 2019 when it first hit, it was 2183, now this year when the Colonial Marines supplement comes out, the official year has advanced to 2185. Seems like the rpg is going to have a light metaplot down the line as the cinematic one-shots will later reference and have easter eggs to earlier scenarios. Seems also the cold war with the United Americas and UPP will heat up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Ikpposagg

As for roles, I'm pretty open though I'm leaning to Pilot, doesn't have to be the actual pilot, could be ship's astrogator.
I think next I'd go Scientist, as seeing as the crew are salvage, they can analyse weird unknown stuff the crew may find on drifting derelicts to give it the all clear.
Otherwise, Roughneck is classic for a ship's engineer or technician (or just the big guy who lifts the heavy salvage out of found derelicts).
I'd say Company Agent for keeping an eye on the crew and making sure they're not skimming off the salvage, though that I think leans more to what LSWSjr mentioned they're going for.

I'm not claiming these also, just thinking aloud on options and this covers alot of what the entire crew may be. I'm happy to play any one of these and don't mind if someone else cribs any others.

[Kakihara]

Nice, will need to watch the Q&A.  I like that they are getting pretty good leeway with the EU then.  I'm find with them focusing more on the older stuff than the Prometheus stuff, honestly not a huge fan of the newer flicks, though I do like some of the bloodbuster enemies and such. 

Also realized I forgot to put in a pic section in the character sheet I put up, will need to work up some coding for that here today and shove it into the character sheet.

[Amarlo]

Just to be sure, are we going to be doing the temporary salvager crew that will be dying in the beginning? Or are we scratching that and going straight to our more 'perm' characters? Mainly, what's the plan at this point?

[Kakihara]

Just to be sure, are we going to be doing the temporary salvager crew that will be dying in the beginning? Or are we scratching that and going straight to our more 'perm' characters? Mainly, what's the plan at this point?

My plan is to do the salvage crew with people making up their characters so they can get a feel for it and playing a three act game in the more cinematic aspect of the game, which will most likely end similar to the Aliens movie where most will die though hopefully some will survive and may make an appearance later.  Once the three acts are up, if people are into it, we can do a Colonial Marines campaign which would be more long term and would involve a lot more aspects of the universe. 

[Amarlo]

Awesome, thank you! I think I'm going to wait for the colonial marine campaign to go for playing first officer or Captain.

I think I might go for a technician position. -taps chin.- I'm sure a salvage crew would have a couple of technicians. Perhaps even with different sub specialties. Like a pilot would likely be good use for pulling apart a control deck, maybe.

Either way.  ::) I think I might try my hand at playing a scaredy cat for the first campaign. So perhaps a pilot or someone not typically expected to have to leave the ship...

[LSWSjr]

So Medic, Pilot, ‘Technician’ and whatever Praxis and maybe Kuroneko pick ^_^

Unless we get more interested?


Cheers
Rowan/LSWSjr

[Amarlo]

oh, shazbach! Yes, a link to the core book would be great. ^^;;;

[Kakihara]

oh, shazbach! Yes, a link to the core book would be great. ^^;;;

Pmed you a link.

Also I'm going to leave it to the majority if you want your ship to be an independent or a corporate salvage outfit.  It doesn't effect too much since I'm not having you guys build out your own ship, I'm just making up the ship, but it may effect some things that happen in the story and also perhaps some of your character backgrounds.

Also the ships name will be the Argento for clarity sake.  Need to look up the correct designation as USCSS would not be right I don't think for a salvage ship.

[wander]

Amarlo, lemme know what occupation you go for, either Pilot or Roughneck (which is the general engineer/technician choice) and I'll take the opposite so we're covered. :)

Also we can chat in PM over what skills to go for, unless doing it here may be preferred? So we all have our own particular skill niches?

Going off dice math, usually 5d6+ total is where a character is classed as 'Good' at something, IMO (4 is average, 3 is weak). Of course Stress helps, though that has it's own issues that come up if you get too much.  ;D
Getting 4+ Stress is something I'd consider 'tempting fate'.