Alien: The Roleplaying Game is set right after the events depicted in the movie Aliens, and explores the same themes of man-versus-alien and corporation conspiracy as that film. Player characters are colonists, scientists, Company reps, and Colonial Marines sent to explore the vastness of the Outer Rim Frontier and confront the dangers and challenges found there, including hostile alien life forms.
The game will feature two different playing modes: The “Cinematic play” mode offers the survival horror flavor of the films using pre-generated scenarios designed to play over a single evening, built around escalating danger and high casualty rates, while the “Campaign play” offers a more traditional “sandbox” style role playing experience, intended for long campaigns with a continuing cast of characters.
Alien will be based on the proven Year Zero Engine, used in Free League’s successful Tales from the Loop and Mutant: Year Zero games, with modifications to capture the feel and style of the Alien setting. The adaptation of the system will be developed by Free League co-founder Tomas Harenstam (Tales from the Loop, Mutant: Year Zero). The core of the game will be a hardcover book describing the setting background as well as the rules of the game, which will feature artwork by Martin Grip, John Mullaney, and Axel Torvenius. The book will also include the first “Cinematic” adventure, titled Chariot of the Gods, penned by novelist Andrew E. C. Gaska (Death of the Planet of the Apes).
Free League Publishing launched its fantasy role playing game Forbidden Lands late last year (see “New RPG from Creators of ‘Tales from the Loop’”).
Genuine Entertainment is participating in a number of role playing projects tied to high-profile licenses, including Hunters Entertainment’s Altered Carbon game (see “‘Altered Carbon’ Hits the Tabletop”) and Gale Force Nine’s Dune game (see “Exclusive: Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ Comes to Tabletop”).
