ALIEN Starter Set - RPG Review
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
- A look at the ALIEN RPG Starter Set from Free League Publishing. It's beautiful, but is it worth it?
Find it on Free League: frialigan.se/en/store/?collec...
Find the PDF on DriveThru RPG: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Find it on Amazon: amzn.to/3nw2zJg
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Guest starring Jack the NPC
00:00 Intro
00:48 What's in the Box?
03:43 The World of Alien
05:19 Game Mechanics
08:04 Stress & Panic
10:08 Consumables
11:42 Combat
15:47 Zones
16:37 Personal Agendas
19:51 Criticisms
20:54 Spoiler Criticisms
22:50 Spoilers Done
23:37 Is It Worth It? - Hry
I love that Seth is always honest and straightup with his information. By far he's the most useful TTRPG channel.
Straight up honesty is a rare thing these days.
There are others that are equally honest and straight forward.
As an example: Prof. Dungeon Master from the Dungeon Craft channel
@@Glaswalker1001 Agreed, Prof DM has great content and is highly entertaining.
@@Glaswalker1001 He is another one I highly regard.
100% agree. He’s my go-to.
It's a damn good thing that no second AvP movie was ever released. That would have been just as bad as say, someone creating a sequel to Highlander. REALLY glad that never happened too.
I watched AVPR in the theater and when a character said, "the government wouldn't lie to us" everyone let out a laugh, stopped and looked around, before bursting into laughter.
It's funny until you realize no one cares. Then you cry.
I couldn't help but notice that the timeline has the events of Alien: Isolation on it. That is AWESOME! It's nice to see that game get some recognition.
And some of the concepts from the infinite rejected drafts of Alien 3 made it in here too!
There's even a reference to the events of the Prometheus: Fire and Stone series from Dark Horse Comics in the setting information section of the corebook
Yes - and it has stats for even the androids from it - the Working Joe.
Missing the Kellen mining incident from out of the shadows
@@SuperG3XThe planet Out of the shadows and Sea of sorrows takes place on is listed on the star map.
Love how the Starter Set actually gives you enough dice to actually play the game. So many skimp on dice that you still need more of your own if you want to play the damned thing.
One thing about using cards to determine initiative that is superior to chucking dice: nobody can get the same result, no need for roll-offs to resolve ties.
Those weapon cards are really handy as well.
Great point
Personal Vendettas & Hurt Feelings sounds like the title of a high school based RPG!
I have to admit, this game looks SOLID. I could imagine homebrewing a 'The Thing' scenario with it.
I can imagine them doing a Thing RPG, honestly.
Before we go any further, I think we oughta discuss the bonus situation.
Look, you will get what is contracted to you just like everyone else.
(Anyone who doesn't get the reference is going to be very confused).
@@RandomPerson-nd2ey Yes, but everyone else gets more than us!
I like the idea of using cards to decide turn order because they can function without replacement. If you draw a 1, you're going first, and there's no chance that somebody else rolls the same as you and you have to fight over first for a second time.
I feel like the card mechanic for initiative is GREAT ! It's really different from rolling a dice ! I have yet to try it but i feel like it will be waaay faster at the table.
It clears up the time spent where everybody has to report what their initiative numbers are, writing them down, and having to put them in the proper order and whatnot.
Here you just draw a card. That's your initiative. Boom. You don't need to write it down because it's already on a card, and you don't have to compare it to make sure there are no bigger numbers, because they already are in order.
Plus nobody can tie.
That's a great system ! Makes me wanna implement it in other games
Savage Worlds handles initiative in the same way but with a standard deck of playing cards. I don't remember if it distinguishes between the jokers but it's a huge deal when a player gets one and devastating when a bad guy gets it because it comes with some heavy bonuses
I just wait for the day when Seth and Jack start a fight club... It seems unavoidable.
The First Rule requires that I cannot confirm or deny that we totally have created a Fight Club.
Is Jack my bad dream? Or am I Jack's?
20 hours to run through Chariot of The Gods? And here I thought I was doing something wrong when it took my group about 16 hours to complete it.
This is so random. I just came home from my local game store and held this in my hands for quite a while, wondering if it's worth it. And then I come home, open YT and see this just got uploaded!
I got an emergency text that you were on the fence about it, so I threw this video together real quick to help you decide. True story.
@@SSkorkowsky thanks mate, you're the best!
Will you also make a Cyberpunk Red review? I'm not at all on the fence about it, but would still love to hear your opinion as I know you played some games of CP2020
CPRed will happen. As far as when that will be, I defer to the original announcement of Cyberpunk 2077, "Coming when it's ready" It might be some while before we can fit it in for a real play run.
@@SSkorkowsky Glad to hear that. I am looking forward to it!
Love the flag Sir Panfred. "Eala Frya Fresena!"
All the other times you talked to yourself in some weird psychosis, I found amusing and interesting and informing. But this one, about AVP? That, I don't know, it hit a little close to home, and it actually felt like two personas within the Seth Collective talking to each other.
I knew the Seth collective was a thing! They told me I was crazy, but I knew that he was a collection of entities, he’s too powerful not to be!
Glass jr?
I believe in the Seth cloning theory myself
So is he a plural system?
Re: AvP I'm 100% with Seth on this. In terms of rights, they are two distinct properties now owned by 2 different companies and are NOT canon.
In terms of play and fandom, Predator, Blade Runner, Soldier, The Thing, and Breach are 'linked' via easter eggs and are considered Apocrypha. This is detailed more accurately in the core rules.
That's pretty neat. I clearly see how including all of those movies would be an IP mess, but also it's the kind of thing that would lead to an awesome gritty sci-fi epic action mistery-horror universe so ... players will homebrew stats for all of that anyway sooner than later.
I don't see how they're owned by two different companies. Fox owns the rights to Alien and Predator. When Disney bought them out. Those rights were bought over.
"So a vampire, an alien hunter, a soldier trained from birth, and two creatures who are dominantly biologically horrifying walk into a bar."
I have an in-universe explanation for why AVP isn't on the timeline. AVP takes place in an alternate timeline.
@@LegallyBlindGamer7926 AVP doesn't take place on the timeline because literally everyone involved either died or was quietly silenced by people wondering why aliens exist.
People are gonna homebrew Predator so fast.
I was already thinking how to incorporate the predator in the game, maybe as extremely rare enemy type
@@rgama1173 Maybe after surviving a few Xenomorph encounters the PCs are forced to join a hunt, either as prey or honorary Predators.
Took the words right outta my mandibles.
Already doing it.
A friend of mine has been talking about this for months and I never understood the appeal! This has opened me up to it a bit!
From watching the video, I want that ship (map).
The resource consumption rules are okay but I see a lot of grief over arbitrary dice rolls limiting resources unrealistically.
I like the concept of the Stress rule but I would need to test it in play.
The Personal/Hidden Agenda thing also seems neat in concept. Sort of like Paranoia in that regard.
Mostly there is a lot of presentation polish but the system itself is pretty bland looking. I can drop any lite system, like FATE, in its place and not miss anything.
Based on this review, I don't see anything that compels me to drop the money for this product.
Thanks for the balanced review.
Biggest issue I had with the card initiative is it's more of a pain in the ass running games remotely
Yeah, we struggled with that in our Roll20 playthrough. Wound up just rolling D10s and writing it down.
Seth has sold me on yet another game system. I've been on the fence about whether I should invest in Alien RPG for some time now, but this video has convinced me to add it to my collection (the beautiful and atmospheric artwork doesn't hurt the case, either). I probably will end up getting the starter set for the accessories and the core book for the full rule set.
Not only am I sold on the starter set, but I 100% want to see more of this version of Jack the NPC. Amazing look.
I've seen multiple reviews of this RPG. I bought the starter set. I can say that you have one of the best walk-through out there. I really appreciate you time and effort. Thank you sir.
Looks pretty cool. I think mothership would work just as well for an alien RPG, while being much cheaper and less fiddly.
There was no second AvP movie, just like there was no terminator movies after Judgement Day! We all agree!
And there’s only three Indiana Jones movies.
@@benjamink6778 And only Godfather and Godfather II.
There is also no Highlander II
@@metallkopf988 Oh yeah, that's so freaking true, man!
@@metallkopf988 That movie was so stupid. Why would aliens care about Earth religions? The rules for immortals only worked because we didn't know the reason for their immortality. Highlander was one of those movies that really shouldn't have become a franchise because it's antithetical to it's own premise that "there can only be one".
Also General Katana's a fucking idiot. Going to Earth and shaking McCloud's tree when he had not come back to Ziest 40 years after winning The Prize instead of shortly after and thinking he was gonna go back when no sane person would and the only reason McCloud wanted to kill him was because he fucked up his retirement.
Cyberpunk RED!!! Woot! Let's see it buddy!
"Now this game is based off of Adult Movies"
WHAT PARTS OF ALIEN DID I MISS SETH?!
Alien vs. Penetrator
Clearly I was referring to R-rated, but let's run with this. Go back and take a good look at the Geiger alien in the first film. It's got a wang for a head. Not a, "that looks kinda dick-shaped," but it's a dick. Next, let's look at the derelict ship. That was very intentional. Then there's the rape theme. Not just the part where a dude gets attacked and has a fleshy tube rammed down his throat, but the 'pregnancy' that resulted from the encounter. Then we have Ash ramming a skin mag down Ripley's throat. All in all, it's a pretty damned Adult movie.
Great, now I’ve got the idea of alien porn inside my head. Wonder how I’ll get rid of that one.
@@SSkorkowsky my mom showed me Alien and Aliens because they were must see movie that are "important to modern culture", but forbid me from watching Alien 3 because it had a sex scene in it... after watching it anyway behind her back(I was like 12 or 13, what boy that age isn't going to be motivated by that? besides my mothers tastes on what was and wasn't appropriate was all over the place, Rugrats was forbidden because it had bad grammar in it) I confronted her about how there wasn't a sex scene in the movie, she corrected herself and said that it was actually a rape scene.. but that didn't happen in the movie either, so she corrected herself again and said it must have just been an attempted rape scene... which still didn't happen or was so vague/subtle about it that I didn't notice...
the funniest part of all this is how I'd been allowed to watch Conan The Barbarian since I was like 6 or something and that has a pretty explicit sex scene with the demon/witch lady, and probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting about.
Alien is not a movie for kids. I watched it when I was 9, scarred for life.
You wore the wrong shirt for this video. It should have been the Weyland-Yutani shirt.
Jack probably swiped it along with the baseball cap.
My group and I are halfway through that initial scenario and we're really digging this game. You're spot on that a higher degree of player maturity will be needed to handle the almost inevitable PVP elements too. We totally agree with your thumbs-up review and I'm really looking forward to the upcoming edition of Twilight:2000 from this publisher!
Yep, my friends and I are completely on-board for the Alien RPG, it's been a massive hit! We just completed Destroyer of Worlds (note I said completed, not survived of course...) after running through the other cinematics. Looking forward to a more complete review.
Also holy crap - 20 hour Chariot of the Gods!? We are slow, RP heavy group and even we couldn't drag it out for half that time! Can't wait to hear that story!
After stalking my CZcams subs all morning, the emotional rollercoaster of seeing a new SB upload then finding it’s only a tight 17 mins was insane 🥲
I love every game I’ve ran Free League had anything to do with. Mutant Year Zero, Coriolis, Mork Borg, and my personal favorite, Tales from the Loop.
The consumables mechanic seems like it could be easily adapted to other rpgs with a survival focus. Still tracking, but it seems simple enough to not be tedious.
The cumsumables mechanic is in a lot of free legue games...in one way or the other ;)
It's simple but also really fun sounding
do a bit reasearch on the termn "usage dice". I think this stems from the black hack.
I petition to have Jack the NPC join the usual rouge’s gallery of players at the table in future videos.
I’ve been running Alien RPG games at conventions and Board Game Cafes for the last couple of years and it’s great. Been running two new scenarios on Roll20 during the the last six months too. A nice counterpoint to Tales from the Loop RPG too.
I'd be extremely interested in seeing what you think of Mothership, particularly in comparison to this.
Alien seems very aware of the OSR, and seems to borrow from a lot of OSR titles including Mothership.
I was gonna say this looks ALOT like Mothership. Like, almost a little too much.
@@P9ctMak3r could that be because... Mothership was inspired by a couple of 40-year old movies? ;)
Always excited to see the new Jack outfit
Great review Seth. I prefer to get the physical products from Free League because I get the PDF included with that price.
I love the costume you gave Jack for this review, just needed a tacky Hawaiian shirt to complete the look
I considered it (it requires I not only buy a Hawaiian shirt, but one with no green in it, as that would look like Jack had holes in him) but after putting the jacket together I was all, "Eh. Good enough."
So far I have picked up all of the Alien Free League stuff released so far and the Fantasy Grounds Alien modules as well. Can't wait to run a campaign and see how much we enjoy it. Just flipping through the core book I am highly impressed by the depth of information and the quality of all of the printing of each book/guide.
I swear I saw this on your shelf the other day and I thought it'd be so awesome to have you review it. Alien was just released here in Brazil and I can't wait til I get my copy. I'm really looking forward to playing this game. Take care, Seth.
A very thorough review, one of your best videos yet! Totally convinced me to try the starter set in the new year. Thanks and keep up the great work! :)
Really enjoyed this video, thank you! Learnt everything I wanted to! Also the spoiler jump ahead was perfectly timed!
Really appreciate all the work you do bringing these other systems to light for folks! Love me some horror RPG and definitely went over to grab this after your fair and informed review! Great work, as always.
I LOVE this game and the CHARIOT OF THE GODS adventure is so much fun! I have no idea how well the campain mode works and honestly...I don't really care. If I want to play long, eternally going campains I will reach for D&D or maybe the FFG STAR WARS game, but with ALIEN I am more than fine with one shots, it just feels more in line with the source material and the system.
And wow, the one shots are great. At first I thought "Cinematic Mode" is just some fancy talk to have a brand, but when I read up the rules and actually played it, I realized that it really is something else. Normally one shots are just very very short campains. But ALIEN really did make them their own subsystem.
I personally love how Cinematic Mode encourages "Player vs Player" conflict. Every RPG player has these urges to play against the party some time but good players will resist that, here they can do it, because it won't have lasting consequences since you can't derail a campaign. OF course one still has to be sensible about it, but still..it's awesome and refreshing. Player Death's aren't a mood killer but actual story moments and jesus christ the stress system is so meta.
Yes, on a pure rule standpoint they just showcase pretty well, how stress works, but the fact that the actual real player will get increasingly stressed out the more stress dice they acquire is such delicious torture. And when that facehugger symbol hits in a crucial live or death situation? Such a joy to have the whole table cry out in disbelief when they realize that that playewr just dropped a barrel of highly explosive space fuel and is blown to smithereens.
And I love that all the additional stuff like the dice or the cards are aweseome, fun and well designed but not necessary. Just use some regular old D&s and 10 playing cards and you're good to go. I have allt he accesories and I am happy I own them, but Free Leaguq could have so easily gone the route of demanding you to buy the specific definitely necessary ALIEN(TM) dice.
I have only one gripe. The markers and the map. The space map is aaawweeesome, but the maps of the interior of the ships are way too small to be used with the markers. If there are multiple entities in two adjacent zones, the map will be covered in cardbord coins and noone will no what the hell is going on rendering the markers useless and degrading the map to something that just helps you and the players visualize the ship so they can more easily navigate through the differnet med bays and stuff.
Last pro-Tip:
Whether you like ALIEN COVENANT or not (I haven't seen it) the score by Jed Kurzel is perfect as background music. Obviously all the music from the franchise will fit (special shout out to my favourite horror score of all time: ALIEN 3) but COVENANT's lean to the more atmospheric, sound design-y side of modern scores (which I usually dislike) works wonders for RPG sessions
Thank you Sir for this comment-review.
Glad you seem to have dug it. I'm a huge fan of Free League and I cannot sing their praises enough. Just a fantastic outfit.
We are currently almost done with Chariot of the Gods in Roll20. I have the core book and just adapted a pdf of Chariot, uploading all the images I needed to Roll20. So far, I think it will take about 12-15 hours to finish the scenario, which is more than I expected, but I had a blast adding bonus maps, including lots with dynamic lighting to enhance the scare factor. We love the game so far. The first two sessions were story/cinema heavy and dice rolls weren't really that important. The third session that changed and we had to dive heavier into the nitty gritty mechanics, but they're not particularly complex, and in the case of Stress/Panic, quite ingenious.
We just use the base d20 tracker in roll20 for Initiative, it works just fine. I agree with Seth, the cards are not anything special. Rolling for Armor reduction is slightly clunky and it would have been easier with just a 1:1 reduction, but the random nature of armor does had some welcome unpredictability.
This was sort of our learning curve in the game, and next I'm prepping Destroyer of Worlds in Roll20, although I did buy the gorgeous box set this time. Destroyer is an even longer and more complicated scenario, so we are still going to be in the Alien world for months. The writer is also planning a third part of a trilogy, so by the time that rolls around I think we will have had our fill of Alien but enjoyed every minute of it.
If you're wondering, someone did create a Roll20 character sheet for Alien that looks identical to the official one and works perfectly.
I keep picking up and setting down the Aliens RPG core book whenever I visit my local game store, so this was a great video to help me decide. Thank you!
Seth, that was an excellent review. Very clear on what I would be getting if I bought the Starter set, and also a neat introduction to the mechanics with some fair-sounding criticisms. Does sound to me that they should have a third option; a Complete set; the starter set contents with the Core rulebook instead of the introductory softback. Price it just under what it would cost to buy the Starter and Core book together. Thanks. Looking forward to further videos on this game.
I’m glad you like this ruleset, Seth. I’ve only had this game for a little bit, but it’s already one of my favorite RPGs, second only to my love for COC
Very timely video for the session I'm running over Thanksgiving! Saves me explaining a few things for the first time then.
Great work... and I know it must be a lot of work with such high production values and thoughtful commentary.
Found this video while browsing for info on the Alien game, trying to figure out if I wanted to pick it up and which version to get if I did. Found this incredibly helpful! Thank you!!
Happy to be of service.
Great review. Lots of great information.
I'm looking forward to the scenario review before I make up my mind completely, but this is definitely going on my "keep this in mind" list
Destroyer of Worlds is a sequel to Chariot of the Gods. They only ever mention this on promo materials, no idea why, but there it is.
I appreciate that your videos cover games that are not D&D or Pathfinder. I've been interested in starting my own channel that focuses on Champions/HERO System, as well as some tabletop crafting (because i love creating for the table), but I just haven't quite figured out how to get started or gotten around to it.
Nicely done, as always. I backed the Kickstarter for this and have kept up with releases since. You're description of the game was concise and clear. I've always been a big fan of Alien and Aliens (even ran the old Aliens rpg once, though that was a bear). Thanks for the additional info.
I love that you call yourself out, wittily at that.
Awesome Seth! Thanks, keep up the spice! I love it!
By far, the best game review I've ever seen. Like any game, any review, ever.
Wow that's an amazing review! Thanks! Loved the space trucker scenes ;)
I had already purchased the main rulebook, but as you mentioned, since I was looking to pick up the dice (because what gamer doesn't want more special dice?) I realized it would be more economical to get the Starter Set. Dice, a condensed rulebook, and all the other peripherals made it a good value.
I preordered the ALIEN Standard Bundle prior to launch so I have no need for the Starter Set. But I did buy the Destroyer of Worlds. The character sheet graphics that you used to explain the system is great. That really helped me to absorb the rules.
Really Great Review of the box set, very well detailed , cant wait for you other reviews of the books and also looking forward to Kult
I've been wanting to see a review of this game ever since I spied it on the shelf a couple of videos back. Was not disappointed!
Thanks a lot for the subtitles! English is not my first language so its always handy to have them just in case.
PD: Great videos. Thanks to you i'm trying to play CoC even before DnD. Just checking the core book (keeper) right now.
Thanks for the awesome reviews man! They’re always so thorough and well thought-out, I really feel like you give me a handle on what I’d be getting into. God bless you!
Initiative Cards are great:
1. They are unique so You'll never get the same initiative as someone else.
2. Swaping phisical cards in your hand is easier than swaping dice or some numbers in memory. (Apart from players swaping between them selfs some stunts allows the to swap with enemies.)
3. Don't know if this was put in Starter Set but Core Book gives you a simple trick to track your actions in the round with your card.
AVP freaking rocked! (it was actually the reason I watched both the Alien and Predator movies later on, so I owe it a lot)
And yeah, I totally wanna try this out now, it looks fun, and I like the idea of a simplified rule set for one shots.
I see you have a Mothership patch on your alter-ego in this video. Do you have a preference between Mothership and the Alien rules?
I'd be curious to hear this as well. Much as I was interested in the Alien setting, I really wasn't a fan of how this rule system played out in MYZ and didn't want another game with it. Grabbed Mosh and the modules and was very impressed.
Mothership seem much easier to learn/play and it’s a WAY cheaper. I would be very interested to hear Seth’s thoughts on how Alien RPG compares to Mothership.
Mothership pdf is pay what you want. www.drivethrurpg.com/product/245017/Mothership-Players-Survival-Guide
Was coming to the comments to see who else noticed this too! I love Mothership, i'd be very interested to hear what Seth thinks of it!
And another voice to the choir. Any quick comparison between Mothership and Alien please? A simple comment should do really.
Hey Seth, thank you for the great content. Because of you I got into the Conan rpg amd back into Call of Cthulhu
Seth, you’re great at explaining game mechanics in a simple and straightforward way, I wish you would make tutorial videos for all the games I run, or at least that game companies would put out good enough vids that I could point my players towards.
*sees the video in my subscription list*
Yes! I'm so happy this video is out, thanks!
I've been eager to see you trying out this rule set - Free League have been championing it for many of their games, including a Swedish favourite (or the latest edition of the franchise reaching back to the 80's anyway) of Mutant. That is a post-apoc game set in Scandinavia but the Free League edition made sure to encourage players and GM's to have their games set place in their nearest major city no matter where they are from.
It is a simple system, but I've appreciated in in the last few years because it very, very heavily encourages social play and tension more than number crunching combat, and it makes my not-so-interested in combat players happy.
Observation though: In other games using this system, the kind of die you roll matters in terms of getting the "6 symbol" or the "1 symbol", in that the skill die does not have a 1 symbol on them which reduces the amount of fumbles. And looking at timestamp 7:47 I can see they've decided to keep it.
So it still doesn't matter if you use the novelty dice or not, but in the other games you had to MAKE SURE to use different coloured die, keep them apart, and remember which ones you won't give you the novelty 1 symbol. This keeps things a bit simpler, might pick up the game and try it out.
If you like this game though, I'd like to hear if you're interested in trying the Post-apoc game Mutant: Year Zero from Free League as well. It has a long pedigree, but also a computer game with the same name.
Hah! I dig Seth's new duds. Someone's got extra shares!
Really great review! Nice Alien NPC costume too haha. I think I'll buy this
Great review, your reviews are so fantastic. I love them.
I believe the advantage of using cards for initiative instead of using dices, is that no one has the same iniative number.
I have not played the game yet, but I think the rolls for consumables is a bit tricky. This mechanic means the more I have the more I loose. I think it would be better if a character rolls always with 2 or 3 dices no matter how many oxygen the character has. I imagine following situation, the crew put on their vaccsuits on a mission in hostile environment,. They have 5 Oxygen supply points and after a while, they have to roll for Oxygen depletion. If one of them rolls 5 1s and the Ox is streight empty, that would be frustrating. Even in an oneshot adventure with character replacement.
On the bright side, the chance of rolling 5 dice that all come up 1 is 1/7,776 (or .01286%). Not impossible, and I've watched my fair share of weirdly improbable dice results with even less chance than that. But it's extremely unlikely to be a problem you'll ever encounter.
I bought this today based on your review. Keep it up.
Looking forward to seeing some more Alien RPG content from you Seth :)
Mr Skorkowsky your reviews are sooo good. Cant wait for you to review the new Cyberpunk Red. Thanks for all your videos!
This is so freaking sweet. You’ve got me so stoked to have this on hand to surprise my group some day when we would cancel because people couldn’t make it to the regular campaign.
Thanks Seth,great review.
Seth, you da best! The CoC starter set has provided hours of fun, and the Alien starter set is superb too! Cyberpunk Red hasn't quite gelled with me yet, but their customer service is outstanding, Anyway, thanks for all the reliable and entertaining reviews!
I do hope you do a long-term campaign with truckers and slowly weave the alien into it in-between some traveler or Sean Connery's Outland-type space trucker shenannigan stuff.
Good review and I love the artwork!
Cannot wait for more Alien videos.
Game Mother is one of the only proprietary GM titles that really feels like it matters. That's pretty awesome. I have played a TON of Savage Worlds which uses card-based initiative, and for me, it adds a lot to the game. In this game, it also gives the players a way to cooperate in the meta-game by swapping cards and it is an easy shorthand for creature abilities. Seeing the GM draw two cards for one creature is a heart sinker. In f2f play, these characteristics would really shine; they seem like they's be a little less impactful in a VTT or other online platform. I'd definitely give the cards some more table time before judging them.. When I read Savage Worlds, I thought it was ridiculous. When I played it, it was the most fun I'd had playing RPG;s.
Hey Seth, great Video! We wait every Week for a new episode and celebrate it. Thanks for reviewing the "alien Rpg" ! Keep up the good work! Greetings from Germany!!
Wow the art and design layout in this looks beautiful
Thank you for the review
Great review for a great game! The module in the starter set is very enjoyable and flavorful.
@Seth Skorkowsky Fair. My brother said the same thing when I told him about how hard it seemed to be (He really likes drawing up the statistics of dice rolling probability).
But the beauty of TTRPGs is a GM can finagle difficulty when necessary if the players are having a tough time.
Also, just saw your Unland review. I hope the house repair goes well and you, your wife, and your gaming group can enjoy playing and reviewing good games comfortably again soon.
I've bought a few starter sets in the past and think Alien is one of the better ones. I too I'm not sure about the initiative cards, but waiting to see how they go down when I play the game.
You are absolutely the best man, I love to watch your videos, you’re so entertaining, keep doing what you’re doing, and please, oh please, talk about the lightless beacon.
As a fan of the Alein franchise, this sounds awesome. Thanks for the review, Seth!
That consumables mechanic sounds really cool! Might just have to steal that wholesale for Mothership. Thanks Seth!
Can't wait for the core rulebook review!
One major question for anyone who has tried the scenario:
How easy would it be to adapt for a single player?
I've run a few short one-shots with the core rules for my one player and we've both really enjoyed it.
Thankfully as a not inexperienced game master with a fairly extensive knowledge of the setting I've been fine coming up with my own ideas, but thought the published adventures might be worth a shot for something a little special.
But the scenario in the book really didn't seem to adapt at all well, and given the nature of the scenario not really special either. I mean the events there in are probably the most over exposed and not particularly exciting piece of the franchise. Lol.
Chariot of the Gods is tough for one player, mostly because it's so long. Even ignoring the combat, there's a lot of *stuff* that has to be done, and in order for it not to take forever you (the G/M) would have to run at least 3 NPCs while your player does their thing. And there are probably some challenges that *can't* be accomplished by 1 player alone, so you'd have to find a way to make sure some NPCs are there.
Plus you'd need to put your thumb on the scale during combat in a pretty obvious way.
Hi Seth. Great review! I'm glad to see free league's games get reviews from you guys overseas.
Would you consider reviewing Coriolis from the same team? It's similar mechanically but the setting is Arabian Nights in space...
Had no idea this game existed. As a fan of the Alien movies,I’m excited to try this game. Awesome video as usual.
Great video, Seth, I really dig the Alien universe so I might bring this up as a possibility for future games. Also Jack's Weyland-Yutani outfit is topnotch, suits him very well!
+1 on Jack’s outfit. I have serious jacket-envy!
So Fun Fact. That WY hat has become my primary cap I wear when my hair is being obnoxious. Shortly after I finished putting patches on the jacket I decided to go for a walk one evening and it was chilly. So I grabbed the jacket that was just sitting there, pulled on my cap, and went for a stroll. This has repeated now several times, and now I'm the neighborhood weirdo walking around in Weyland Yutani gear.
@@SSkorkowsky considering the Alien-verse is primarily depicted in a late 1970's-mid 1980's style, the longer hair compliments the outfit just as well. I could have done with a WY cap during lockdown to keep my overgrown mane under control.