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Caracalla
November 15th, 2020, 09:59
Hello!
Compared to other forums Alien RPG seems to be a comparatively huge success on FG. Why is this? How many people are playing Alien here? :)

ProfDogg
November 21st, 2020, 17:19
Hello!
Compared to other forums Alien RPG seems to be a comparatively huge success on FG. Why is this? How many people are playing Alien here? :)

Got a game next weekend.

Valyar
November 21st, 2020, 18:20
In general forums are not really good indicator how many people are playing certain game... not everyone is using those forums. For example I am the voice of ~10-12 people when raising questions or bugs as I am often the GM and eager to go extra mile to get things fixed and product(s) improved. :D

Booker Grimm
November 22nd, 2020, 08:29
Our game is yet to start but we're looking to kick off a face to face game on Dec 4th. Can't wait - so far it looks awesome and I like the mechanics. Hopefully, my players will have a blast.

Kermit1013
January 24th, 2021, 11:04
I've only run one game of Aliens so far using the new system, but made a rather extensive career running the old leading edge aliens game back in the 90's, and then using a hacked version of star wars d6, and then...and then... - point is, I'm liking this system for the most part. The real appeal of the system, IMO, is the quick accessibility - making characters takes maybe 5 mins (probably less), combat is pretty basic, appropriately brutal, and the stress and panic systems are...about par for the course. The only real hitch I've run into so far is the crit systems and "damage" systems for major npc's (aliens and synths and the like), but I think with a few more runs it'll become 2nd nature. My only real criticism is that the game system is SUPER random, and I don't mean probability-wise, I mean the way the basic game mechanics work. Panic is powerfully random, and even the Aliens and primary enemies don't "choose" their attacks, you roll on a table to see what they're going to do. I'm not 100% sure I like it yet, but it DOES actually feel surprisingly authentic to the cinematography of the Aliens movie, so it might actually be a plus - I'm just...still testing it out.

anyway, I recommend it for a variety of reasons, IF you like the Aliens universe and/or horror games. It's pretty cheap right now (in that you can get in on the ground floor for under 100$), the system is super accessible, and it's a fair representation of the best parts of the Alien franchise. Not perfect, not all-encompassing, but a better-than-average at the very least representation of the Aliens franchise, and this comes from a super-fan whose love for the Alien movies is only exceeded by the level of hatred he has for crappy Alien movies (I'm looking at you AVP:Requiem and Alien : Covenant can just burn in it's cryo-tube)

Caracalla
January 24th, 2021, 13:44
I've only run one game of Aliens so far...)
Thank you for the input. How is the game running on FG?

Kermit1013
January 25th, 2021, 21:53
about as well as anything runs on FG :) I LOVE FG for the functionality - the character record sheet is adequate, the ability to pull up creature stats and story links is fantastic - the "maps" (I use finger quotes, because they're more like blueprints or deckplans than maps in the traditional sense) display well - I did have to find some hackaround ways of tracking the players ON the floorplans, as it's not very intuitive or friendly for the traditional token functionality, but it works

when I ran MY aliens game, there was some functionality missing that has since been added, so several of my "complaints" have already been addressed (when I ran, there was no separate stress die displayed in the die pool area - apparently you had to shift-click to call them up or something, and the panic rolls were automated and the chat-box feedback on them was mightily confusing, and some other stuff) so I suspect it's a much smoother run now than it was when I ran, and even then, I was reasonably satisfied even though there were "issues". So, yah, all in all, I'd recommend FG for aliens if you're interested in running aliens in any format - the functionality for prepping a game is fantastic - the functionality for running a game is about as good as you'd get in-person - is my general impression so far

spoofer
January 25th, 2021, 22:46
I did not have a problem with the map. Coming from D&D 5E, I naturally thought movement on a grid. I put a grid down with a width of the narrowest hallways. Then I changed the color of the grid to the background so the grid is hard to see. Touching tokens = engaged. That worked really well. We used the portraits for tokens. I added stylized portraits to the NPCs for their tokens.

The only problem I had was determining what a zone is. I discussed that elsewhere and decided that I need to draw clear zone lines on the map before starting.

spoofer
January 25th, 2021, 22:50
In response to OP, I think that the rules set is success but I do not think there is a huge number of people playing this game. I tried recruiting for it and no one responded.