Alien: Anomaly (System game)

[Malkavian]

Adore ALIEN, and the RPG, so will be lurking and observing the mayhem. >:)

[Praxis]

Hmmm...Hmmm...

So for the sake of mutual exclusivity and collectively exhausting.

Kakihara; good Sir.  Would the ship happen to have a security officer on board?  Possibly someone who has failed their way through life and happened to wind up as S.O. on a registered vessel because...well...they were hiring?

[Kakihara]

Hmmm...Hmmm...

So for the sake of mutual exclusivity and collectively exhausting.

Kakihara; good Sir.  Would the ship happen to have a security officer on board?  Possibly someone who has failed their way through life and happened to wind up as S.O. on a registered vessel because...well...they were hiring?

Yes, actually there would be.  Since I'm basically following the set timeline of the RPG for ease of a starting timeline, the UPP, The Union of Progressive People, has started campaigns on a number of colonies and generally seem to be in an aggressive expansion based on some of the published storylines.  It's basically the USSR of the world setting.  So I think any salvage or cargo ship could possibly have an S.O. on board going anywhere in the outer veil.  In addition, the corp they are doing the salvage for may have installed a temp S.O. onboard to secure something at the salvage as the crew will have been dispatched to pick up a specific salvaged ship.  So it could be like corporate security to ensure that a specific piece of equipment is retrieved and secured.  The former though would probably fit the concept of someone who's failed their way through life, really more of a S.O. in name only often as no threat he's probably expected to pull his weight doing labor on salvage.

[Amarlo]

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. :)

I think I'ma go with pilot on this starter campaign. ;D

As for the ship, I'm open to either but I feel a freelance vehicle could easily be contracted through a corporation too. This way there's more options for people to play grimier types?

Also, an example sheet would be nice too. ^^; If it's not too much of a bother!

[Praxis]

Yes, actually there would be.  Since I'm basically following the set timeline of the RPG for ease of a starting timeline, the UPP, The Union of Progressive People, has started campaigns on a number of colonies and generally seem to be in an aggressive expansion based on some of the published storylines.  It's basically the USSR of the world setting.  So I think any salvage or cargo ship could possibly have an S.O. on board going anywhere in the outer veil.  In addition, the corp they are doing the salvage for may have installed a temp S.O. onboard to secure something at the salvage as the crew will have been dispatched to pick up a specific salvaged ship.  So it could be like corporate security to ensure that a specific piece of equipment is retrieved and secured.  The former though would probably fit the concept of someone who's failed their way through life, really more of a S.O. in name only often as no threat he's probably expected to pull his weight doing labor on salvage.

Perfect!

Then I'll happily fill the security officer / defacto labour slot on board.

Also thank you for connecting the dots more with what's going on in the world.  Your effort and input is appreciated.  :)

[wander]

Cool, I'll go Roughneck then. I like the thought of a broad shouldered cargo hauler guy doing heavy lifting.

What I usually like to do is put Level 2s in the 3 key skills and put four Level 1s in for what I think is fitting. What I got here now is just an initial plotting, if someone else feels I'm stepping on toes, lemme know and I can adapt.

For sure will go Str 4 and the key skills there at Lv.2.

Then I'm going Agility 3 and Wits 4.
Mobility & Ranged Combat are good skills to have a decent pool for, though so are Observation and Comtech. I think for a heavy-duty cargo bay worker, mobility 1 & comtech 1 are strong skills that fit the concept, for keeping footing and fixing errors in electronics. Leaning more then to add observation 1.

I'll go then Empathy 3 & Medical Aid 1 as I'm gonna play a more gruff blue-collared older guy. Big ol' beard, smokes, likely carries a hip-flask of something heavy for his 15 minute breaks, lol. Still, knows how to fix a flesh wound from seeing accidents in the workplace and having experience with them.

So I got essentially this;

Str 4
> Close Combat 2
> Heavy Machinery 2
> Stamina 2

Agility 3
> Mobility 1
> Piloting X
> Ranged Combat X

Wits 4
> Observation 1
> Comtech 1
> Survival X

Empathy 3
> Command X
> Manipulation X
> Medical Aid 1

As an outline for now.

Also, an example sheet would be nice too. ^^; If it's not too much of a bother!

I saw kakihara edited a sheet code in the opening post for the thread.  :-) I didn't realise where it was for a while either, haha! ^^;;

[Kakihara]

Also, an example sheet would be nice too. ^^; If it's not too much of a bother!

I totally didn't see this added.  Since it looks like based on numbers I'm gonna NPC the captain I'll work up an sheet for him after work and throw it up as an example.

[Amarlo]

This is what I've done so far. I'm slowly but surely working on the sheet. I think I'm mostly done...

I saw that we're not supposed to share our character's agendas with other players, so should we keep that in spoilers or just send that part to you and keep it out of the finished product that others see?

Work In Progress

Name Jennifer Yue Wulan
Player Amarlo
Career Pilot

Strength - 3
Heavy Machinery: X
Stamina: 1
Close Combat: 1

Agility - 4
Mobility: 1
Piloting: 2
Ranged Combat: X

Wits - 4
Observation: 2
Comtech: 1
Survival: 1

Empathy - 3
Manipulation:
Medical Aid: 1
Command: X

Talents
Reckless

Gear
Maintenance jack
Seegson system diagnostic device
$200

Weapons
M4A3 service pistol

Armor:

Encumbrance:

Tiny Gear
A platinum necklace encrusted with titan ice crystals and a blue diamond centerpiece


Personal Agenda


Personal Relationships
Buddy:
Rival:

Signature Item
A platinum necklace encrusted with titan ice crystals and a blue diamond centerpiece.

Stress Level:

Health:

Radiation:

Critical Injuries

Conditions
Starving:
Dehydrated:
Exhausted:
Freezing:

Consumables
Air:
Power:
Food:
Water:

Experience Points:

Story Points:

Background

Daddy’s little disappointment - That’s what Jennifer’s job title might as well be. As the daughter of prominent Admiral Jonnathan Wulan great things were expected of Jennifer since the day she was born. Perhaps even a commission one day. You can only imagine her father’s huge disappointment when she went an entirely different route altogether. Jennifer wanted nothing to do with the Colonial Marines, nor frontier life. Her entire childhood was spent comfortably stationed on whatever spit or station her father happened to be stationed on at the time. The idea of breathing fresh air not only seems dirty and beneath her, but outright hazardous! Planets didn’t exactly come with the weapons grade air filtration systems like a station did. Still, as pressure to do something more with her life mounted at home, Jen knew she needed to do something. Something that didn’t require so many rules and structure. Something that allowed her to spread her wings and fly free -- That was it.She was smart. She was great at video games, dexterous and sharp. All it took was a few classes and tests, and Jennifer actually made a pretty damn decent pilot. Decent enough not to be forced to enlist - anywhere near daddy dearest, at least.

[wander]

'Kip Steadfast' - Roughneck

Name Kip Steadfast
Player Wander
Career Roughneck

Strength 4
Heavy Machinery: 2
Stamina: 2
Close Combat: 2

Agility 3
Mobility: 1
Piloting: 0
Ranged Combat: 0

Wits 4
Observation: 1
Comtech: 1
Survival: 0

Empathy 3
Manipulation: 0
Medical Aid: 1
Command: 0

Talents
The Long Haul (once per Act/session you may ignore any stress 1s from a single roll)

Gear

Weapons
Cutting Torch (3 damage, engaged range, armour-piercing, Power Supply 5).

Armor:
IRC Mk.50 Compression Suit (armour rating 2d6 when worn)

Encumbrance:
_Cutting Torch_
_Mk.50 Compression Suit_
_Maintenance Jack ($150)_
_Hi-Beam Flashlight ($45) / Electronic Tools ($250)_
_1x can of Bug Juice ($5) / [3/4 space left]_
____
____
____

Tiny Gear
Samani E-series Watch ($50)
1x dose of Naproleve.

Personal Agenda
What's the bonus situation on this job, anyway?
Make sure to do something worthy of a pay-rise and push that share percentage up for your time!

Personal Relationships
Buddy:
Rival:

Signature Item: Keyring of Gadget from Rescue Rangers

Stress Level:

Health: 4

Radiation:

Critical Injuries

Conditions
Starving:
Dehydrated:
Exhausted:
Freezing:

Consumables
Air:
Power:
Food:
Water:

Experience Points:

Story Points:

Background
Kip is a loner that's lived for decades now from ship to ship, his homeworld's inconsequential seeing as he hasn't seen it since the 2140s and most of his formative experiences are on the ships he's worked on. In hypersleep you can lose family or loved one connections easily, as age seperates them and they lessen, there gets to be not much left past earning some coin to work off that steam.
He started out as a young corpo apprentice technician assistant, he has no military training. He's very much the typical 'doing this work since I was 15' boomer, but IN SPACE! Over those decades he's seen some fucked shit... Salvage can be real dirty work at times. He knows he's not out there scouting the Frontier for his health, though maybe he can sort out a nice nest egg on the side...
Fuck doing this work 'til he keels over from old age on the paycheck he has right now after all...

[Kakihara]

This is what I've done so far. I'm slowly but surely working on the sheet. I think I'm mostly done...

I saw that we're not supposed to share our character's agendas with other players, so should we keep that in spoilers or just send that part to you and keep it out of the finished product that others see?

I would say unless the agenda is going to put you in complete opposition to the crew, like you are some UPP spy or such, then I would say just put it in spoilers and I would hope most people can avoid metagaming.  But if it's something where you are going to be against the basic group, which I would have to consider, like a spy or such, then I'd say email it separate for consideration and approval and I'll just keep it private until it would get revealed, if at all.

[Kakihara]

And yeah, they put most reloads under light.  They try to keep the combat very cinematic as it's hard to really empty a rifle in a fight unless you panic thanks to a failed stress roll.

Also, here is a NPC captain bio for an example.  A lot of things are kept blank as they are more for tracking stuff during play like Stress and such, you don't really have a starting value.

NPC Captain

Name Amadeus Jones, Captain
Player NPC
Career Officer

Strength - 3
Heavy Machinery: 0
Stamina: 0
Close Combat: 0

Agility - 2
Mobility: 1
Piloting: 0
Ranged Combat: 1

Wits - 4
Observation: 3
Comtech: 1
Survival: 0

Empathy - 5
Manipulation: 2
Medical Aid: 0
Command: 3

Talents Pull Rank

Gear
Knife
M4A3 Service Pistol
Weapons
M4A3 Pistol   +2    Damage: 1  Range: Medium

Armor:

Encumbrance: 1/2

Tiny Gear
Extra clip for pistol


Personal Agenda
Looking to find a little extra personal salvage on ships to put away for his retirement fund so he can finally settle down on a nice colony as he’s getting sick of deep sleeps and cold space.

Personal Relationships
Buddy:
Rival:

Signature Item
A beat up USMC cap.

Stress Level:

Health: 3 _ _ _

Radiation:

Critical Injuries

Conditions
Starving:
Dehydrated:
Exhausted:
Freezing:

Consumables
Air:
Power:
Food:
Water:

Experience Points:

Story Points:

Background
A former Colonial Marine, Jones transitioned into civilian life by joining with Weyland-Yutani to help get all of his licensing fees and experience while also networking at every port.  While he doesn’t talk about the war often, he has held endless conversations with others, pulling out details from their life and leaving good impressions with all he’s dealt with.  Still, some question if he’s ever seen any actual action while in the service or was simply a paper pusher.  After a few years with the corporation, he was able to transfer into captaining an independent salvage crew for a small operation. 

[wander]

Wait, are you saying we can come up with our own Agenda, going in?  :o

As for metagaming, no worries on my end. This is the kinda game which needs to avoid it (everyone knows the life cycle of the xeno IRL, only those who are in the know should know it at all in-game, or about the black goo, Engineers, David 8 etc), though also I've seen people attempt to do so and their characters end up looking insane or dangerously paranoid.

I've never seen a reload listed in a character sheet's gear list, so assumed they were tiny. The core is really silent in regards to reload weight, I can see why some would be Light and 1/2 or 1/4 a gear line in encumberance for heavier weapons, though even in the kitted out Marine PCs in Destroyer of Worlds their reloads aren't listed. Afaik also the only time you do need to reload is rolling a 1 on stress (or GM fiat for drama purposes).

Character Progress;

Here's my 1d6 x100 for starting cash. Feel free to check my roll history this is the first one done in quite some time!  :D

Roll Result: wander rolled: 1d6
Comment: starting cash
Result: 2,
Total: 2

$200 going in with starting items... That's limiting, though I'll make it work.  :-)

I'll sort Buddy and Rival last, when we all got our characters mainly done. Tomorrow I'll do my gear list and add in a short blurb for my character. Though hoping to chat more with Amarlo on that, especially for potential Buddy/Rival schtick with her pilot.  :-)

[Kakihara]

Wait, are you saying we can come up with our own Agenda, going in?  :o

As for metagaming, no worries on my end. This is the kinda game which needs to avoid it (everyone knows the life cycle of the xeno IRL, only those who are in the know should know it at all in-game, or about the black goo, Engineers, David 8 etc), though also I've seen people attempt to do so and their characters end up looking insane or dangerously paranoid.

I've never seen a reload listed in a character sheet's gear list, so assumed they were tiny. The core is really silent in regards to reload weight, I can see why some would be Light and 1/2 or 1/4 a gear line in encumberance for heavier weapons, though even in the kitted out Marine PCs in Destroyer of Worlds their reloads aren't listed. Afaik also the only time you do need to reload is rolling a 1 on stress (or GM fiat for drama purposes).

Character Progress;

Here's my 1d6 x100 for starting cash. Feel free to check my roll history this is the first one done in quite some time!  :D

$200 going in with starting items... That's limiting, though I'll make it work.  :-)

I'll sort Buddy and Rival last, when we all got our characters mainly done. Tomorrow I'll do my gear list and add in a short blurb for my character. Though hoping to chat more with Amarlo on that, especially for potential Buddy/Rival schtick with her pilot.  :-)

Yeah, I'm fine with people making up their agenda though I'll need to look it over if it's not one of the suggested ones just in case.  I mean the rules allow for it but I don't want anyone going too deep since the characters will probably die.  I just decided to make one up for the captain since can't really use story points for him anyway.

Yeah, the encumbrance rules are pretty fast and loose so basically if it's something you can hold in your fist like a pistol clip it's pretty much tiny.  Like when you are getting into heavy weapons there are maybe something to consider though they don't really present rules in this main book but like the clips in the movie are bigger than that description.  Though really like the ammo rules make it so that I don't think it's something to sweat since reloading is more a stress induced mechanic. 

Also, as far as starting money, if everyone is ok with being independent contractors instead of corp affiliated, you get an extra 250 plus  a naproleve dose.  It's not a mechanic in the book but they must have put it in the starter set as I saw Glass Cannon running with these options and I thought it was a nice little thing.  Makes the decision a little more meaninful and effects the game a bit per what the players want.

Also once I see the others haivng stuff up, I figure I'll create an OCC and we can better narrow down Buddies and rivals among the group. 

[wander]

Oh, the one thing I don't own is the Starter Set, as I got the Chariot of the Gods in the original quickstart.

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll go off the $250 and naproleve then, with the starting item choices. I'm not gonna turn down a free profit, lol.  :D

[Kakihara]

Oh, the one thing I don't own is the Starter Set, as I got the Chariot of the Gods in the original quickstart.

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll go off the $250 and naproleve then, with the starting item choices. I'm not gonna turn down a free profit, lol.  :D

Yeah, I got the main book and not the starter set (It basically repeats the rules but don't have character creation rules from the review I watched on it) but I'm assuming that's what Glass Cannon is going off of based on their Session Zero with that info. And so figured I'd steal it.

[Amarlo]

$200 going in with starting items... That's limiting, though I'll make it work.  :-)

I'll sort Buddy and Rival last, when we all got our characters mainly done. Tomorrow I'll do my gear list and add in a short blurb for my character. Though hoping to chat more with Amarlo on that, especially for potential Buddy/Rival schtick with her pilot.  :-)

LOL. I rolled a 2 as well. I was not too thrilled either. xD But I went with it. Maybe the dice bot is cursed -snorts-

As for buddy/rival schticks. ;P You got me babe.

I'm also looking forward to working with Kuroneko and Praxis as well. I've had some good run ins with them at other rps, so they're bound to be fun to play with. ;D

Also, our captain is fine AF o:

[wander]

Whatcha spending that massive extra $50 on?  :D

Kakihara, check my WIP sheet... Have I got a good Personal Agenda for my ship's engineer?  ;D

[Amarlo]

Whatcha spending that massive extra $50 on?  :D

I dunno. I'm pretty sure he meant like, 250 + the 1d6 x 100 roll. So now we have 450 instead of just 200? And drugs! Can't forget the drugs. :P

[wander]

I'll just add in a set of Electronic Tools if that's true.
They cost $250, 1/2 weight added (Kip is super far from encumbered as is, I put in their WIP sheet how their gear slots are filled and I have empty slots to spare).

I was tempted to have as my Signature Item an arm tattoo of Gadget from Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers  ;D Though I figured that may lean a lil heavy on the UPP with her current day Russian cargo cults.  :D

[Kakihara]

Whatcha spending that massive extra $50 on?  :D

Kakihara, check my WIP sheet... Have I got a good Personal Agenda for my ship's engineer?  ;D

Sorry for the delay, last two days have been busy as hell both during work and after.  I looked it over and i'm good with the personal Agenda, looks good.

I dunno. I'm pretty sure he meant like, 250 + the 1d6 x 100 roll. So now we have 450 instead of just 200? And drugs! Can't forget the drugs. :P

Yep, Amarlo has totally called it right.  Again not sure if it's something added in on the starter set that Glass Cannon is using or what but that was the bonus they had for being independent, then you got some ship bonuses I believe if you went corp. 

[wander]

Cool.

I'm going to finish up my sheet either later or tomorrow, as mentioned I'll just add in a set of Electronic tools to the items I already purchased.

[wander]

Character Sheet of mine looks done to me, past an image for Kip. I'm still deciding.

Look clear kakihara or is there something you'd like me to add in past the character pic?

With that seems like I'm done and just waiting on your end now.



The other week I read the short ALIENS comic miniseries 'Dead Orbit' from Dark Horse.
Highly recommend checking out this 4 issue series to any fan of the franchise who hasn't yet, it's a neat story of a salvage crew who come across a drifting freighter with some cryo-frozen people on that they decide to thaw out. It feels a lot like the original ALIEN though with everything ramped up to 11.  :-)

[Kakihara]

Character Sheet of mine looks done to me, past an image for Kip. I'm still deciding.

Look clear kakihara or is there something you'd like me to add in past the character pic?

With that seems like I'm done and just waiting on your end now.

Yeah, everything's good.  And the pic can wait until we get the other two people in and can set up a character sheet thread.  We are still waiting on Praxis and LSWSjr who both expressed interest.  I don't believe Kuroneko is joining so just need those two, hopefully, and we can get the show running. 

The other week I read the short ALIENS comic miniseries 'Dead Orbit' from Dark Horse.
Highly recommend checking out this 4 issue series to any fan of the franchise who hasn't yet, it's a neat story of a salvage crew who come across a drifting freighter with some cryo-frozen people on that they decide to thaw out. It feels a lot like the original ALIEN though with everything ramped up to 11.  :-)

Intersting.  I keep wanting to pick up some of the old Alien comics on comixology but I suck at keeping up with stuff.  Have so many on my list to grab.  I believe Marvel just dropped a new Alien comic too at end of March that has gotten good reviews.  Supposed to get more into the horror feel and aspect of the Alien stories.

[wander]

I hate what Marvel Comics has turned into post 2015, they got super pozzed so I was somewhat disappointed to hear they gained the licence from Dark Horse, though I understand it's due to the Disney-Fox merger, so Disney already owning Marvel Comics would want to keep the production of their IPs in-house.

Though I felt whilst ALIENS: Defiance started off really well with great characters and plot, the flashback to how teen Zula joined the Marines at around issue 8 of 12 was the most stupid shit I'd ever seen and the miniseries of Resistance & Rescue following her and Amanda Ripley after that were really low quality.
Then the writer, Brian Wood, got fuckin' cancelled prior to the Fox merger, so it ends really quickly with a 'they'll continue the fight and perhaps one day, they'll win!' putter out.

One Dark Horse miniseries to track down (these recent miniseries are all collected in trades afaik) is the William Gibson ALIEN 3 unproduced script adaptation. It's the origin for the Body Bursters, which appear as a unique xenomorph mutation in Destroyer of Worlds. It's also a pretty great story following Hicks and Bishop and it also delves into the cold war with the United Americas & the UPP. It's also referenced in the rpg core when they say the current Anchorpoint station is 3 years old, the prior one exploded from unknown circumstances... Anchorpoint happens to be the locale for the events of the Gibson ALIEN 3 script.

[Amarlo]

Out of curiosity, who else is still around and working on a sheet? And/or has already sent one in? o.o