Alien RPG

 This article is an account of my personal experience and does not claim to be the ultimate truth. I hope it will be of interest to someone here.

 To begin with, it should be noted that this game is a tabletop role-playing game (yes, yes, just like your D&D or Passfinders). If all these words mean nothing to you, my dear reader, then I advise you to read at least the article on "Wikipedia". Well, so that when you heard about RPG board games again, the image of a friendly group of geeks clapping for a drama club appeared in your head, and not aunts and uncles in latex (well, you got it).

 So, about the board role-playing game itself. The rule system used in this game is taken from Mutants: Year Zero. Fortunately, the creator of the game "Alien" and "Mutants" is the same. This system is typical: we roll the dice, compare the results with the sexes of our character, try to complete some important task with our comrades. I want to point out right away that this game has a greater bias towards storytelling and gameplay than counting and endless rolling of dice. All you need for the game is a master (preferably a fan of the Alien setting), from one to five players (YES, you can play face-to-face with the master here!), a sheet of paper and pieces of 5 six-sided cubes. In my opinion, the fact that the game is based on regular 6-sided cubes is a very good point; it allows you to REALLY play anywhere and with anyone (it very often happens that in some role-playing games, 20-, 10-sided dice are used, or even worse - CUSTOM dice, which you can get anywhere except from the manufacturer of this very game, about the price tag I will shut up). So, ordinary hexagons are everywhere, where there are at least a few board games, and buying them will not be a problem.

 A very interesting feature of this role system is the stress system. Moreover, this is exactly the SYSTEM of stress, and not the usual rule that you can turn on/off in your adventure. When I first read the rule book, I, as a master, did not pay much attention to this highlight. (No, not like that. To a huge prune!) However, when playing the game, I encountered a very interesting effect: the stress system itself helps the master to create the atmosphere of panic and horror that we often see in horror films. You just saw your friend being dismembered by an alien monster, what are you going to do? Do you think that by letting out the whole clip in him, you will overwhelm the heathen and become the savior of the world? Phew ... you're more likely to just miss when you start shooting because of the adrenaline in your blood going through the roof. Or, even worse, you will die of shock and horror, watching the creature devour the remains of your party member. The stress system very well conveys the human psyche in the game: it is very difficult to remain a cucumber when the whole world around you is going to hell. Stress allows you to eliminate such a phenomenon in the game that my character is so special, he will get out of any situation. No. Not in this game. In essence, this is a game against the system, and the master here plays the role of a decorator.

 In fact, the stress system is both a plus and a minus in this game. If the master is competent, he will be able to control the level of stress both in the game and at the gaming table. But if the master is a jerk who likes to dominate, you better not play this game with him. Here, one Stranger is really capable of wiping out the entire patch in one fight. And then there's vacuum, decompression, radiation, acid, and of course, EVIL BUGS and greedy corporate bastards! Yes, yes, everything here follows the canon of Aliens — there are androids who are suddenly androids, there are corporate employees who are two-person characters, there are brave marines, and there are ordinary workers. And this is where we move to the next feature of this game - playing the character.

 In normal role-playing games, each player creates a character for himself according to certain rules or a template, and then can play it the way he wants. For experienced players, this is a chance to play as an apothecary minotaur or a pyromaniac goblin. Fun, cool, unforgettable. For beginners, this can be a problem - not everyone can motivate and play. And here the rules of conducting adventures come to our aid.

 In the cinematic version (game for one evening), you should have a game as close as possible to one of the Alien movies. This means, for example, that you get on an empty ship, explore it, find a monster or it finds you, problems start, everyone tries to survive, almost everyone dies. Curtain. Here you have panicking marines, and soulless androids, and greedy corporate agents, and brave workers. Roles and behavior are predetermined, there are hidden missions for each type of character. Yes, in this game you don't have to work like a dream, everyone has to survive. At any cost. It is very interesting to listen to the players after the game discussing their epic or ridiculous deaths and rejoice with genuine admiration for the only survivor among them. Well, where else will you see this?

 In the campaign version, everything is the same as in any other long sandbox campaign. Play the way you want and what you want. Want to replay the capture of a living Alien? Not a problem. It is necessary to transport alien artifacts to Earth - forward. They dreamed of catching the android David and tearing his ass - great! In general, the campaign also has a lot to do. And the best thing about all this is that the master does not need to sit and convulsively generate content at the stage of game preparation. There are movies, books, comics, novels, video games all around. Just take what you like and make your own! None of the players will leave with the regret that he came to play one thing and got a completely different one. We will learn the setting of "Alien" if it is not necessary to explain to new players for a long time and persistently what a rich and complex world is in front of them. This allows you to immediately weed out those who are not interested, and someone in the topic immediately agrees to play.

 Now about the game. Before going through my first batch of cinematic Alien, I read a few articles about how really good horror in film and literature is made. The described psychological techniques work perfectly at the gaming table, allowing you to manage stress among players. Need a little fear at the table so players can feel their hero's fear? Dim the lights, start quieter, and play appropriate music. I used the soundtracks from John Carpenter's Something and Prince of Darkness. The effect was honorable. This game, and the setting in particular, is more focused on the cinematic mode. After a few times your masterful tricks stop having the proper effect, the game starts to lose its emotional tension. Well, seriously, when the players first find out that, for example, one of them is an android, everyone's nerves burn so much. It is much more difficult to turn it around the second time.

 In the end, I would like to note the potential of the game and this system in general. This game is perfect for playing any horror movie, since they all follow the same general pattern. You can try to work a little with a file and get a new game class — predator. I think everyone knows what I mean? Also, one evening is enough to rebuild the Alien as a terminator - and voila! You have another setting in your pocket. As I said, there is an obscene amount of material for all these games. Just take it. If you want to introduce your friends to the world of role-playing games and they are not afraid of horrors, "Alien" is just for you.