That Son Of A Bitch Is Huge! I Mean…It’s Like A Man! It’s Big!
Parker – ALIEN
Havoc Dawn: Session 0.1 – Introduction
I was 9 years old. My older brother, younger sister and I were with my father for the weekend. It was a Saturday evening, the sun had set, and we were out swimming in the pool at my father’s apartment complex.
“Hey do you all want to go see a midnight movie?” My dad asked.
“Mmm Ok,” my brother and I replied and continued “what movie?”
Then at the witching hour shortly thereafter, we experienced one of the scariest, and exciting sci-fi horror movies I had ever seen, and honestly unsure If I’ve seen anything else that compares to it since.
Up to that moment, I the only thing I knew about the film was from the trailer above. And a vague statement from my grandmother telling someone “It’s some film about this guy who gets an alien in his stomach or something and it begins chewing its way out”.
I was hooked.
It’s sequels and prequels have received mixed feelings from me. I loved Aliens. Alien 3 was Meh, but I’ve later gained a better appreciation of it. Alien Resurrection was a joke. Prometheus was interesting, and Alien Covenant was just way too much CGI.
I had heard about the ALIEN RPG releasing in 2019 but didn’t get it until mid 2022.
After acquiring it and flipping through the core rulebook, I was excited. Much like what Modiphius did for the Dune: Adventures in the Imperium RPG, Free League has done with the ALIEN RPG. It’s packed with lore, and I love it.
Much like I recently did with the Dune RPG, I’m doing with the ALIEN RPG as well. Starting a new solo game so that it will force me to take the time and learn the system.
Advice to the reader
In order to interpret the structure of my gaming session posts effectively, it is strongly suggested that you peruse A Readers Guide to Play Sessions on The Old Bard, if you haven’t already.
To better grasp what I mean when I bring up Fate questions, you might find it useful to keep the Mythic Fate Chart accessible, potentially in a new window or tab in your browser.
In this first post of a multi-part series covering the session 0 of this new solo game, I’m mostly just announcing that I’m beginning preparations to play in it. I’m going to be using Mythic to emulate the game master aspects. We’ll see how well that works out.
You can read the other posts related to Session 0 by clicking the appropriate link below:
- ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.1 – Introduction
- ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.2 – Character Creation Overview & PC 1
- ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.3 – Character Creation PC 2
- ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.4 – Character Creation PC 3
- ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.5 – Character Creation PC 4
- ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.6 – Character Creation PC 5
- ALIEN RPG Solo Game 1 – Havoc Dawn: Session 0.7 – Character Finalization
ALIEN The Roleplaying Game supports two different game modes with the first being Cinematic Play.
Cinematic Play
A Cinematic scenario emulates the dramatic arc of an ALIEN film. Designed to be played in a single session, this game mode emphasizes high stakes and fast and brutal play. Conflict between player characters is likely, and you are not all expected to survive. In fact, most of your PCs probably won’t live to see the end of the scenario.
One complete Cinematic scenario, Chariot of the Gods, is already available for separate purchase. This pre-generated scenario provides all the tools necessary to run your first ALIEN roleplaying game. For a quick taste of Cinematic gameplay, see Hope’s Last Day in Chapter 13.
More Cinematic scenarios will be published by Free League Publishing int he years to come.
ALIEN RPG Core Rulebook – Chapter 1 – Game Modes – Page 19.
And Campaign Play
Campaign Play
Campaign play is designed for longer continuous play with the same cast of player characters over several game sessions, perhaps even dozens of sessions. In Campaign play, you create your own PCs, using the rules in Chapter 2.
Campaign play can also be brutal and deadly, but the chances for your PCs to survive a night of play are generally higher than in Cinematic play.
In Campaign play, the narrative of the game is to a higher degree controlled by the GM and the players themselves. You decide where to go and what to do, based on who your PCs are and what they want. This core book of the ALIEN roleplaying game supports three different campaign frameworks:
- Space Truckers
- Colonial Marines
- Frontier Colonists
These campaign frameworks, and tools for how to run them, can be found in Chapter 12 of this book, along with the Novgorod Station scenario location.
Sourcebooks and other supplements for Campaign play will be published by Free League in the years ahead.
ALIEN RPG Core Rulebook – Chapter 1 – Game Modes – Page 19.
This solo game series will be utilizing Campaign Mode.
For an understanding as to how the gameplay unfolds, check out this video by World of Game Design that covers the basics via an outlined overview within just under 16 minutes.
Bookkeeping
No bookkeeping for this one! But it’s time for me to go back through the core rulebook and prepare. In the next post, I’ll create my characters to begin the game.
Till next time!
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