Alien RPG by Free League Publishing captures the claustrophobic terror and gritty atmosphere of Ridley Scott's iconic universe, where space truckers and corporate agents face unspeakable horrors in the cold void. Using the Year Zero Engine, this game provides a cinematic experience with survival horror and a dash of working class struggles amongst the stars.
In this episode of RPX Rollup, we navigate the character creation while exploring familiar Alien archetypes like ‘The Kid’, Colonial Marine, and ‘Pilot’. With the highly anticipated second edition on the horizon, join us as the stat out characters for one last bug hunt in the first edition.
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:14 Music.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 Hello, welcome to the Real Playing Exchange. This is Adam, and today we're going
00:00:18 --> 00:00:22 to do a row up for Alien. And joining me today are my good friends.
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 Hi, I'm Brownie. And this is Jeremy.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 Kind of weird when we introduce ourselves, because we're usually playing characters,
00:00:29 --> 00:00:33 but we haven't got that far yet. And that's what we're going to be working on today.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:40 Now, I'm doing a little bit of an older game, folks, but mainly because there's
00:00:40 --> 00:00:43 going to be a new version of Alien, a second edition, I think it's supposed
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 to be coming out sometime this fall.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:49 They kick-started earlier around the time that Romulus was in theaters.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:53 So, you know, might as well. We bought this game years ago.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:58 Love it. Well, I played it one time. I like the aesthetics. I do want to run it.
00:00:58 --> 00:01:02 And yeah, we're going to end up doing a roll up. Who doesn't want to be a grungy
00:01:02 --> 00:01:06 space trucker who gets their face eaten off? I know I do.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:11 Do i i do so
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 this is a free league publishing game and
00:01:14 --> 00:01:22 the lead designer on it is tomas and i'm mispronouncing your name sir i do apologize
00:01:22 --> 00:01:29 but tomas harris sam ross payton from rppr interviewed him last gen con as we
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 approached gen con this year so i've met the guy,
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 seems like he's a real pleasant i held a camera while ross talked
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 but at the same time i can't say his name so i apologize
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 for that so what are you guys are you
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 all familiar with the property of alien yeah i am
00:01:43 --> 00:01:47 yeah i grew up with the alien franchise i
00:01:47 --> 00:01:51 don't remember the first two as much as the the later ones the ones that were
00:01:51 --> 00:01:56 let's be honest they got worse but i still enjoyed them especially as a kid
00:01:56 --> 00:02:01 in the 90s i too am old and i also really love the aesthetic like i said who
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 He doesn't want to be a grungy space trucker who gets your face eaten off.
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 I have a really special place in my heart for this stuff here.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:14 This is probably an indictment of my parents, but in the late 80s,
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 early 90s, this was my kid movie.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:23 So I didn't, Alien was okay. I can appreciate it now that I'm older,
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 but the second one, Aliens, that was directed by James Cameron,
00:02:26 --> 00:02:30 which was less of a horror film, but more of an action film,
00:02:30 --> 00:02:34 that was someone that really kind of got me hooked into it. I've,
00:02:35 --> 00:02:39 I watched Aliens 3 and Drive-Thru at Drive-Thru.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:45 I watched the fourth one with Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder on DVD.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 I went to the theaters to see Aliens vs.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:51 Predator. I didn't bother with Aliens vs. Predator 2 because,
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 as you kind of mentioned, Jeremy, diminishing returns.
00:02:55 --> 00:02:59 To be honest with you, the second one, Requiem, I think it was Requiem,
00:02:59 --> 00:03:00 was better than the first one.
00:03:00 --> 00:03:05 The first one was hot garbage. They tried to make it PG-13 so everybody could go see it, and it showed.
00:03:06 --> 00:03:11 I'm a very low bar for media enjoyment, and the last two of them that came out,
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 I watched on a plane, which just makes it easier to like. So I love them all.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:19 It's a lot harder to step out of a plane whenever you're disappointed by a movie.
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 Well, with that attitude, yeah, Jeremy, it is.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 I don't expect two disasters to happen in one flight.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 So there's quite a bit to this book here it goes
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 it's beautiful by the way and i love the art style of this
00:03:35 --> 00:03:41 really adds to it there's a nice sections over like the territories of the frontier
00:03:41 --> 00:03:46 there's a beautiful map at the front of the book dominion of the stars this
00:03:46 --> 00:03:50 is rumor control here are the facts like they're laying out everything of a
00:03:50 --> 00:03:54 frontier life there careers in the frontier it It does mention it,
00:03:54 --> 00:03:58 like colonists, space trekkers, as Brownie has mentioned,
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 colonial marines, and company reps.
00:04:02 --> 00:04:07 So we're going to actually kind of jump in in this book here about,
00:04:07 --> 00:04:12 I think in the PDF in the actual book is page 19.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 But we're going to kind of look at game modes here real quick.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:19 Yep. Turning your Himmels to page 19, to game modes.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:26 Well, I'm referencing the book, and I'm afraid Foundry's going to be completely off on this.
00:04:27 --> 00:04:32 I'm looking at the actual PDF. Oh, go for it. I'm glancing at it, too. Okay.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:37 So, kind of starting out here, there's a nice little beginning like it is in
00:04:37 --> 00:04:41 every book about road plan for your character and how it's your eyes and ears
00:04:41 --> 00:04:42 into this dark universe.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:49 And one of the first things we're going to encounter on page 26 is you've got
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 two different options here of play.
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 You've got cinematic play and campaign play.
00:04:55 --> 00:05:01 Now, the difference of them is in cinematic play, there's characters already
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 provided for other players.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:07 All you have to do is just a prepackaged scenario.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 There's usually a lot more characters because you're going to kind of burn through
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 them. it's a pre-packaged setup so like,
00:05:14 --> 00:05:18 In the book here, and I have ran this for RPX, it's on here,
00:05:18 --> 00:05:24 but there's Hope's Last Day, which goes over Hadley's Hope from Aliens.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 It was where everything took place in that movie. There's like a scenario in
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 it where you're a colonist and you're trying to get off planet.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:37 And there's an alien outbreak or a xenomorph. So that's cinematic play.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:42 Now, what we're going to do, obviously, is not a prepackaged little game here.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 So we're going to be rolling up characters for campaign play.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 For campaign play, you create your player character yourself.
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 This character, I mean, this chapter explains the process in detail.
00:05:52 --> 00:05:56 During the course of the campaign, your PC changes and develops.
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 Your skills and talents can also be developed through experience.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:05 But you can also discover how your PC's personality and changes grow as the
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 game goes on. So, with these cinematic
00:06:08 --> 00:06:14 plays, relationships are already established between the pre-gens.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:21 And in, you know, campaign play, we establish this, and then it's kind of more
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 dynamic like that. So, fill it out as you go.
00:06:25 --> 00:06:30 So, let's kind of go over to page 27 here, get you kind of started here.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:34 How to create your player character. How to create your player character for
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 campaign play is explained in detail in this chapter.
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 The summary below is choose a career,
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 spend points for your attributes, spend points for your skills,
00:06:44 --> 00:06:49 choose a career or talent, choose a name, decide on your appearance,
00:06:49 --> 00:06:55 decide on your personal agenda, choose a buddy and a rival, and pick gear and a signature item.
00:06:56 --> 00:07:00 And finally, row for cash. So we're going to get kind of started here.
00:07:01 --> 00:07:06 Now, there are a lot of options for careers, but, well, not really.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:10 I read it off a couple minutes ago, but does anyone have any questions so far?
00:07:11 --> 00:07:18 Not so far. Sweet. Okay. So career-wise, your first choice as your campaign play is your career.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:22 Your career as a choice determines your background, your role in a group,
00:07:22 --> 00:07:29 and it influences your attributes, skills, and starting gear and starting talent you have.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:36 There are more than nine careers to choose from described on pages 38 through 50.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 So why don't we take a look at some careers here, guys? I know what some of
00:07:39 --> 00:07:43 you are leaning toward but I like to play my,
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 roll up characters or plan my roll up characters as though Adam's going to be
00:07:47 --> 00:07:52 running the game and I found a way to be functionally immortal because one of
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 the career paths in this game is kid and Adam will not kill me.
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 One of these days I'm going to have to kill Brownie not in character not in
00:08:00 --> 00:08:05 real life you're a wonderful person Brownie I've asked you to your face I said
00:08:05 --> 00:08:06 kill me you coward and you wouldn't do it,
00:08:07 --> 00:08:13 we'll post that game eventually I think in that game David and I both tried
00:08:13 --> 00:08:20 to kill him as we monkey stomped him while trying to save him so it was it was
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 the best Delta Green game I've ran.
00:08:24 --> 00:08:28 So I'm kind of looking through the careers right now trying to figure out I
00:08:28 --> 00:08:34 left my physical book yeah I actually own a hard copy of this guys so looks
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 like we got a Colonial Marine.
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 Looks like you can also be a Colonial Marshal.
00:08:40 --> 00:08:47 It looks like there's a company agent, a medic, the kid, as Brownie mentioned,
00:08:47 --> 00:08:54 an officer, pilot, a roughneck, a scientist, and that's about it.
00:08:54 --> 00:08:57 So are you really going to roll up a kid?
00:08:57 --> 00:09:02 I am, yeah. Yeah, but you're also forgetting the mercenary, the scientist,
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 the synthetic, the homebrew, the wildcatter, and the entertainer,
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 which is available to you in foundries.
00:09:08 --> 00:09:14 Ah. I will mention that if you're wanting to play Ripley, your best choice to
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 start out there is officer, just if anyone wants to do that.
00:09:17 --> 00:09:22 Okay. Why don't we just take a moment here and pick through.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:23 I know you're going to be the kid.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 Jeremy, what are you going to pick? Because I'm going to pick something different.
00:09:26 --> 00:09:27 Well, it kind of depends.
00:09:28 --> 00:09:33 I actually really do like the Space Trucker app, like the Space Trucker idea.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 Would that be a wildcatter, you think?
00:09:36 --> 00:09:43 I think that brings up a good question here on this, because it does mention colonists and all that.
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 And I know that colonists can be scientists.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:50 That may be kind of a nice one to pick from here.
00:09:50 --> 00:09:54 We were going for actual Space Truckers. We'd need a pilot. Yeah.
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 Because it's not like we're driving an 18-wheeler across space.
00:10:00 --> 00:10:04 Not with that attitude. Not with that attitude, yeah. The flying Winnebago.
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 The equivalent of an 18-wheeler in space is an 18-reactor.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:16 18 reactors and a dozen roses. It doesn't have the same ring to it.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:20 And it's hard to be east down and down when you don't know which way east is, yeah. That's right.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:26 So, like I said, pick what you want. I'll pick something different.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:28 I'm leaning towards pilot just
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 because you need a pilot if you're going to be running a space convoy.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:38 Okay. Well, I guess at this point then, since it's kind of, in my mind,
00:10:38 --> 00:10:45 the quasi-essential character, I like the Colonial Marine, so I'll kind of pick that one.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:50 Now, whether you're active duty or retired or whatnot, I'm going to go ahead
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 and put down my Colonial Marine.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:57 Now, I know you also mentioned giving the name once we've kind of figured out what our career is.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 You know me i'm role play challenged and a lot of my characters end up named
00:11:01 --> 00:11:07 something similar but not the same something from a media property so rather
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 than newt my character is called gecko,
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 gecko yep i'll take that,
00:11:15 --> 00:11:19 sal the salamander was what i was hoping for but okay sally the salamander but
00:11:19 --> 00:11:24 we'll take it alamander i considered for sure yeah but gecko that just felt
00:11:24 --> 00:11:28 right today yeah it sounds like Geico, which can save you a ton on your car insurance.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 And as a stretch, you know, be trying to contact you about the warranty on your
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 spaceship. So there's lots of options.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:39 So your career determines your background and your role in the group.
00:11:39 --> 00:11:45 It influences your attributes and your starting gear and starting talents you
00:11:45 --> 00:11:46 have. There are nine careers. Okay.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:51 Career descriptions can feel stereotypical and they are meant to.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:56 Picking a career is a quick way for you and other players in the group to get
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 an immediate feel for your character, but remember your characters more than
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 their career. So that's deep.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 So next, we're going to go for your attributes.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:11 You have four attributes. They are strength, agility, wits, empathy,
00:12:11 --> 00:12:15 and I almost said NPC because we're throwing these up in boundaries,
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 and that's the click next to it there.
00:12:19 --> 00:12:23 And they're each going to be rated on a scale of 1 to 5. Your attributes are
00:12:23 --> 00:12:27 used when you roll dice to perform actions in the game and determine how much
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 damage you can withstand before you become broken.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 So, I think pretty much.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:39 There are self-explanatory strengths, muscles. Agility is your body control.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:45 Wits is sensory perception, intelligence, and empathy is charisma.
00:12:45 --> 00:12:51 And yeah, it's a catch-off for charisma. So when you create a character for
00:12:51 --> 00:12:55 a campaign play, you must distribute 14 points across your attributes.
00:12:56 --> 00:13:01 You may assign no less than two and no more than four to any attribute.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:08 However, you may assign points, five points to the attribute listed under key
00:13:08 --> 00:13:09 attribute in your career.
00:13:09 --> 00:13:14 So you may want to double check that real quick. So you got 14, folks.
00:13:15 --> 00:13:21 You got 14, but you got to spend eight at least or at least eight on each one
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 or total for your attributes. Yeah.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:27 So and then you got the five that you can kind of go with.
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 So yep so in my case my key attribute
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 is agility as a kid so of course
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 i'm putting five in agility because why not as a
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 kid again i'm not that strong so my strength is a two which affects my health
00:13:39 --> 00:13:45 gives me only two health and then i put wits of four because i'm a smart kid
00:13:45 --> 00:13:50 and empathy of three because i'm also perceptive but not too perceptive yeah
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 what did you say that The key attribute,
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 you can go up to what? Five.
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 Yeah, up to five. Up to five. So I went ahead and dumped five into strength
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 automatically. Why not?
00:14:02 --> 00:14:06 So highlights have agility as their key attributes as well. Yep.
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 And obviously, I'm going to push that to five.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:13 Yeah. Why wouldn't you? That's right. So I got three more to spend.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:22 Okay. So if I put four in a... Well, I like putting two in two eventually. Now, you can row...
00:14:22 --> 00:14:26 For stuff. And I mean, it pays to have points and everything,
00:14:26 --> 00:14:30 first off, because you can roll for anything, but...
00:14:30 --> 00:14:35 The way this works and the actual printable character sheet or the form fillable
00:14:35 --> 00:14:39 one that we found online, it has a great illustration of this.
00:14:39 --> 00:14:45 You've got your key four attributes and then coming off of like strength,
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 like it would be heavy machinery, close combat, stamina.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:53 Agility would be range combat. So you can actually shoot a gun, Jeremy.
00:14:55 --> 00:15:00 Piloting and then mobility. So each one of these you're going to roll to.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:06 So, say, for example, on close combat, I put five, and if I look at the actual
00:15:06 --> 00:15:11 skills, which we'll get into, let's say I have two in close combat and I have
00:15:11 --> 00:15:15 five in strength, that means I will throw seven D6.
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 That's how that's going to work. So, if you were shooting a gun,
00:15:18 --> 00:15:24 Jeremy, you would take agility and if you actually picked up range combat.
00:15:25 --> 00:15:30 And we're supposed to be distributing 10 points between our skills as a start, correct?
00:15:30 --> 00:15:38 Uh-uh, 14. 14. Well, no, that's stats. Oh. Skills now. Oh, you skipped.
00:15:38 --> 00:15:42 Yeah, 10. I thought we'd already done that. I apologize. Dude, you're fine.
00:15:44 --> 00:15:53 Is there a spot on Foundry that I am not seeing that has our stats on it? Or not our abilities?
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 Yes. Your abilities?
00:15:56 --> 00:16:00 It's in the second tab next to general. There's your name box.
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 There's the health box and your stat box.
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 And then the section below that is tabs. Even though it doesn't look like it,
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 you can click on skills and that'll bring up the skill sections.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:14 Oh, there it is. Okay, cool. It doesn't look like tabs, but it is.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 All right. So how many have we got on 10?
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 Yep. What's the max we can throw into any one thing? Three.
00:16:23 --> 00:16:28 I'll read here. I'll go over all the skills real quick. Well, the text on the skills.
00:16:29 --> 00:16:33 So your skills are your knowledge and abilities that you've acquired during your life.
00:16:33 --> 00:16:38 They are important as they determine along with your attributes how effectively
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 you can perform certain actions.
00:16:41 --> 00:16:45 There are 12 skills in the game, and they are all described in detail in the skills section.
00:16:46 --> 00:16:51 They are measured in a scale between 0 and 5. The higher number, the better.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:56 You can always roll for a skill even if you don't have that skill.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 In that case, you can only use the associated attributes.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:06 So, Jeremy, if you were otherwise detained, and I was trying to take the,
00:17:06 --> 00:17:12 I don't even remember what they called their aircrafts in that movie, but your dropship.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:14 Or a dropship. Fireflies, you know.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:16 Yeah. If you're trying to take
00:17:16 --> 00:17:20 off in the dropship, then, and you're injured, then I just row forward.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 I don't have piloting or anything like that, so I'll just row the base set.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:30 Okay. So double check, make sure I've got everything up here.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35 I've got two more points. So I've got mine assigned out.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 We got 10. You can't go over a max of three on any one of them.
00:17:40 --> 00:17:41 Correct. Yep. Yeah. Okay.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:48 So even though it's cool, I don't see myself granting the heavy loader.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 So I didn't put any into heavy machinery. Yeah.
00:17:52 --> 00:17:57 Kid close combat. Probably not stamina. Yeah. Okay. I run around a lot. I play right.
00:17:57 --> 00:18:00 Yeah. Range combat. I added one in there because who doesn't like to throw rocks?
00:18:01 --> 00:18:05 I put three into mobility because I want, want to be able to dodge and get out
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 of the way and, you know, hide me air ducts.
00:18:08 --> 00:18:12 Yeah. No piloting, no command to in manipulation because I'm just,
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 I'm just a little guy. You should help me out.
00:18:15 --> 00:18:20 Yeah. Medical aid also zero observation one survival one and contact one.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:21 Cause I also like to play with the radio.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 And that sounds kind of in keeping with the, the kid.
00:18:25 --> 00:18:30 Yeah, I think that sounds pretty good. Let's see. From playing Vossen and other
00:18:30 --> 00:18:35 freely games, I do recommend having points in observation.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:41 That's kind of your catch-all of, you know, row sense, trouble,
00:18:41 --> 00:18:45 perception, whatever kind of gets that like that. It doesn't hurt to have something in that.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:48 Yep, I roll smell hidden all the time.
00:18:49 --> 00:18:50 And you got all yours figured out, Jeremy?
00:18:52 --> 00:18:56 Let me do a quick math check here. or you're doing that, I'll just go ahead
00:18:56 --> 00:19:02 and say, again, I'm playing the Colonial Marine and I took close combat at two
00:19:02 --> 00:19:07 because if I get, you know, I've got five, so I'm rolling seven dice right there.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:11 I've got a Sanima of two. I took range combat at three.
00:19:11 --> 00:19:16 That takes me up to seven points. I put two in observation and one in survival.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:22 So that takes me out at 10. And, you know, the fun part about this kind of stuff
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 is that at the end of the session, you know.
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 Arcs if you want to in your in your storyline and stuff like
00:19:28 --> 00:19:32 that you can kind of level up pretty quick so you
00:19:32 --> 00:19:36 know these can grow as you keep going all right
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39 i to reiterate to reiterate i
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 chose the pilot i ended up putting one in
00:19:42 --> 00:19:46 range combat one in mobility three in piloting one
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 in medical aid three in observation because he's
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52 a pilot i figure he probably needs to be able to spot things and
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 one in survival because just in case something happens he
00:19:55 --> 00:19:59 might be able to know how to use a vac suit i'd like
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 the fact you said mobility because i forgot that was a
00:20:02 --> 00:20:07 stat so i'm adjusting my numbers i'm like yeah i'll be able to move well come
00:20:07 --> 00:20:10 on you could just be a big brick with heavy armor what do you need to move for
00:20:10 --> 00:20:16 looks like we've went through skills so pretty good job this one's moving along
00:20:16 --> 00:20:20 quite well now let's run over to talents so talents are tricks moves,
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 and minor abilities that give you a small edge.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:27 They are more specialized than skills, and they make your character unique.
00:20:27 --> 00:20:31 Talents are further explained in the talent section. When creating a character
00:20:31 --> 00:20:35 for campaign play, you get one talent at the start of the game.
00:20:35 --> 00:20:42 Your career offers you three to choose from, and you can learn more as a course of the game.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:47 So you need to look at your career book to see what your talents are.
00:20:47 --> 00:20:52 So, Brownie, I'm kind of curious. You probably already got this pulled up here,
00:20:52 --> 00:20:53 but what's your talents?
00:20:54 --> 00:20:55 What do you have to choose from, first off?
00:20:56 --> 00:21:00 My options are beneath notice. It's like it sounds. No one pays much attention
00:21:00 --> 00:21:01 to me because I'm just a kid.
00:21:01 --> 00:21:06 The other option is nimble. It means that I have sharp reflexes and I can push
00:21:06 --> 00:21:10 any roll based on agility twice, not just once like the other characters.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 But each push does increase my stress level by one.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:17 And then we'll go with the one that I'm actually going to choose, which is called Dodge.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:23 Basically, you roll mobility instead of close combat when you're trying to avoid
00:21:23 --> 00:21:27 being hit, which is basically how blocking works in close combat,
00:21:27 --> 00:21:32 but obviously using mobility and jumping out of the way rather than taking the hit. Yeah.
00:21:32 --> 00:21:35 But we come to our first problem with the Foundry character sheet.
00:21:35 --> 00:21:38 Well, one of many first problems with the Foundry character sheet in that the
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 section for talents is not editable.
00:21:40 --> 00:21:45 Ooh. Like all the other ones have ups and downs and stuff, but there's no text
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 box. There's no add button. I don't know.
00:21:48 --> 00:21:51 I was really hoping that I was the only one that didn't have that.
00:21:52 --> 00:21:58 I'm sure it may actually be a user, like my problem here. I don't have it either.
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02 I know the kind of character you'd like to play. And in this case,
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 you're our dad men, but you should have the rights if anyone does.
00:22:05 --> 00:22:10 Yeah, that's true. I'm actually trying to see, see career talents.
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 Did you get, you got three.
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 I'll try to figure this out here in a moment.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:22 So I get banter, overkill, or past the limit, which, oh, God,
00:22:22 --> 00:22:25 you know, I'm just thinking about Aliens.
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27 In fact, I think I'm just going to quit right now and watch Aliens.
00:22:28 --> 00:22:32 But I think the past the limit is kind of the Bill Paxton, game over,
00:22:32 --> 00:22:38 man, game over kind of portion like that. But I haven't looked at the actual stuff here.
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 Well, looks like we'll have to figure out the Foundry end of that here.
00:22:41 --> 00:22:47 But for the meantime, I mentioned that I was kind of interested in some of my
00:22:47 --> 00:22:50 abilities here, my talents. It looks like past the limit.
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 That's what I want to take. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 And you're the toughest badass around.
00:22:57 --> 00:23:02 You can push any school row on strength twice, not just once,
00:23:03 --> 00:23:04 like the other characters.
00:23:04 --> 00:23:07 Each push increases your stress level by one.
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 Yeah, that's definitely Bill Paxson. Oh, you want this? You want this?
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 Suck on this, and then they just pull him down through the grate.
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16 Sorry to ruin a movie that came out in the late 80s.
00:23:17 --> 00:23:20 Jeremy, what do you think you're going to take for your talent?
00:23:21 --> 00:23:26 Well, for the pilot talents, we have full throttle, which is make go real fast.
00:23:27 --> 00:23:31 It's plus two modification on piloting when you accelerate or decelerate.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:37 Like the back of your hand, which gives you a plus two to modification of piloting whenever you're,
00:23:38 --> 00:23:42 like whenever you're, cause you know, every bolt cable, nook,
00:23:42 --> 00:23:45 cranny, every single one of them on the actual spaceship.
00:23:45 --> 00:23:49 And then you get reckless, which you live for the rush of the adrenaline through
00:23:49 --> 00:23:51 your veins, pushing harder than others dare.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:57 Push any skill roll based on agility twice, not just once from other characters,
00:23:57 --> 00:24:01 like other characters, each pushing increases your stress level. Okay.
00:24:02 --> 00:24:06 That's the same one I've got just for final ship. Yeah.
00:24:06 --> 00:24:13 I think, we're all space truckers we're I think I'm going to go with like the
00:24:13 --> 00:24:17 back of your hand because I got to keep maintenance on because we've got to
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 keep 18 wheels and a dozen roses.
00:24:20 --> 00:24:29 10 more miles on a four day run so we got to keep this bird flying you know
00:24:29 --> 00:24:32 right where to grease underneath the console and pinch two wires together when
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 something won't reboot that's right,
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 It almost takes us here.
00:24:38 --> 00:24:43 I do want to mention something that the book has here before we move on to the rest of it.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:52 So we've been on pages 28 and 29, and it also mentions that everybody,
00:24:52 --> 00:24:57 your starting attributes, everybody starts out with the 14.
00:24:57 --> 00:25:01 Synthetic characters get a plus three bonus on two attributes of their choice
00:25:01 --> 00:25:06 after the 14 attribute points have been assigned. So you do get this additionally.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:14 Here it seems like you can reach a maximum score of 8 in any key attribute and 7 in another.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:19 However, androids have their drawback, and it tells you to look at the sidebar.
00:25:19 --> 00:25:23 And the downside, if you were going to play a bishop-style character,
00:25:23 --> 00:25:29 is androids can't push skill row, so...
00:25:30 --> 00:25:36 You know, you do it once and that's it. Androids don't suffer stress, which is great.
00:25:36 --> 00:25:39 For this reason, they don't need a signature item.
00:25:40 --> 00:25:45 Androids never make panic rolls. And androids suffer damage differently.
00:25:45 --> 00:25:47 And we can get into that later on.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:51 So if you wanted to be a synthetic, there is some advantages.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:54 But then again, there's disadvantages that go along with it.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:58 I might be misremembering, but I listened to a couple of Alien actual plays.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:04 Don't people get stressed out easier in the presence of an Android as well, like other characters?
00:26:05 --> 00:26:08 They ain't a good possibility of it. I don't really know.
00:26:08 --> 00:26:11 I've read it one time, and there was a synthetic, but David was playing it.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:15 And no one gets stressed out around David, unless he's playing them offhand.
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18 Unless the purple runs out.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:26 So, we'll have to check on that one there. So, I think we just need to look
00:26:26 --> 00:26:32 at stress and health. So this is on page 30 and 31.
00:26:33 --> 00:26:39 That's what we're going here with. So stress, life in space is lethal.
00:26:39 --> 00:26:43 More often than you like, you find yourself under extreme pressure.
00:26:44 --> 00:26:47 In the game, this mounting tension is represented by a stress level.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:52 It usually starts at zero. It can increase by pushing dice rolls,
00:26:52 --> 00:26:56 you know, rerowing, and by experiencing frightening and stressful situations.
00:26:56 --> 00:26:59 Situation stress is explained further in chapter five
00:26:59 --> 00:27:03 but yeah and health it
00:27:03 --> 00:27:06 says even if you keep your nerves in check chances are you're you're
00:27:06 --> 00:27:12 going to get hurt this is to track health you start to gain with a number of
00:27:12 --> 00:27:19 health points equal uh your strength score talents can be can modify your maximum
00:27:19 --> 00:27:24 health score as well so i'm starting with five i guess you guys are starting
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 with four I'm starting with two.
00:27:26 --> 00:27:29 Yeah. I'm starting with three. Three? Okay.
00:27:30 --> 00:27:34 When you suffer damage, your health score is reduced. This further is explained
00:27:34 --> 00:27:40 in Chapter 4. If your health drops to zero, you're broken and suffer a critical injury.
00:27:40 --> 00:27:46 So, unless it states otherwise, depending on the situation, death isn't the end.
00:27:46 --> 00:27:51 There's tables that you kind of go to. And I know coming from other RPGs,
00:27:51 --> 00:27:55 this sounds like a low number of health, even for the hardiest of starting characters.
00:27:55 --> 00:28:00 But also keep in mind that the amount of damage you can take is modified by
00:28:00 --> 00:28:04 armor, modified by your ability to dodge and or block in close combat.
00:28:04 --> 00:28:09 So while the actual number is low, there are gameplay elements that make it make sense.
00:28:10 --> 00:28:15 So I think you've got your health marked there. We should be good to go with that.
00:28:15 --> 00:28:19 And now it's time to jump on into the personal stuff. Your name.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:25 So you'll give your character a name. Each crew has a list of three male and
00:28:25 --> 00:28:31 three female names that are typical for the archetype. Choose one of them or make them up on your own.
00:28:32 --> 00:28:35 So, I don't know. I didn't feel much like a Chip Harrington.
00:28:35 --> 00:28:37 So as I mentioned before, I'll just go with Gekko.
00:28:38 --> 00:28:42 Gekko what? Nothing, just Gekko. So sticking with the pilot theme and also because
00:28:42 --> 00:28:48 we were singing Ina Camosi earlier, I went with Rocco Hotsteppa Gonzalez.
00:28:50 --> 00:28:54 I believe I'll just pick one of the typical names. Lame.
00:28:55 --> 00:28:59 I'm sorry. I just want somebody to be different. I want to be Chrissy Lopez.
00:29:00 --> 00:29:04 And is Appearance next as well? It is. It is. Yeah.
00:29:05 --> 00:29:08 Okay. Let me, I've stopped filling out my character sheet. You'd all have to
00:29:08 --> 00:29:13 get caught up on that there, but I guess appearance is how you look. I clicked off the page.
00:29:14 --> 00:29:18 It is. It gives you some options. In my case, you know, there's coveralls,
00:29:18 --> 00:29:24 there's a trendy shoes, there's cargo shorts, just something that's unique about
00:29:24 --> 00:29:27 the way that you look again. I'm role play challenge.
00:29:27 --> 00:29:30 We all know this. So I'm basing this off life and my character will be a,
00:29:31 --> 00:29:36 will be toe headed, blonde hair and pale with a bowl cut, wearing dirty coveralls
00:29:36 --> 00:29:39 with a professional, smudge on the nose.
00:29:39 --> 00:29:42 I thought you said a professional smudge. I was like, what does that look like?
00:29:43 --> 00:29:46 Yeah, I did flub that a little bit, and it could be either one. You don't know.
00:29:48 --> 00:29:49 Just always there.
00:29:51 --> 00:29:54 You know, I'm just going to stick with what they got here.
00:29:55 --> 00:30:03 So, you know, Chrissy has... I'll say she has a scar.
00:30:03 --> 00:30:06 A very noticeable scar on her face.
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 I don't know. I almost wanted to say like Cable, kind of like,
00:30:11 --> 00:30:15 you know how, well, Cable actually has a fake eye, I think, or something like that.
00:30:15 --> 00:30:21 The perpetual RBG badass scar through the eye. Yeah, I think I'll go with the perpetual.
00:30:21 --> 00:30:24 Didn't puncture the eye, went straight over to the other bone.
00:30:24 --> 00:30:26 But I'll go, nah, that's too lame. You're right.
00:30:27 --> 00:30:29 It's not that lame. I mean, I have a scar like that in real life.
00:30:29 --> 00:30:31 You can only see it when I'm really cold.
00:30:32 --> 00:30:36 Yeah, I'll just go with the scar. Agy eyeball scar. Jeremy?
00:30:37 --> 00:30:40 What was the janitor's name off of Futurama? I can't remember his name for the
00:30:40 --> 00:30:46 life of me I never watched the internet I think he's a janitor.
00:30:49 --> 00:30:53 Scruffy Scruffington? Scruffy, yeah My guy kind of looks like a younger version
00:30:53 --> 00:31:00 of Scruffy It's like kind of but instead of overalls it's like a multi-pocket flight suit,
00:31:01 --> 00:31:05 kind of a little bit of graying in his hair This kind of looks like he's been
00:31:05 --> 00:31:08 at it for a while, like an old long-haul trucker.
00:31:08 --> 00:31:11 Yeah. On your path to full scruff. That's right.
00:31:12 --> 00:31:20 All right. And I think that's pretty much it for that. Let's see what else we got here.
00:31:20 --> 00:31:22 There's your signature item. Is that mentioned?
00:31:23 --> 00:31:27 Yeah, it is. I was just looking to see exactly where that is.
00:31:28 --> 00:31:34 So we go from appearance to personal agendas, buddies, and rivalries,
00:31:34 --> 00:31:39 and don't see where it says your personal item, man. I imagine that's lower. Signature item.
00:31:40 --> 00:31:43 It's on general. It's probably under gear. It's under general.
00:31:44 --> 00:31:50 It's called signature item. It's underneath appearance. It does say something about personal agenda.
00:31:51 --> 00:31:55 It's right above that. It does? I think Adam was looking for it in the book.
00:31:55 --> 00:31:57 We're talking about the character's feet on Foundry, right? Yeah.
00:31:57 --> 00:31:59 Oh, my fault. I was looking at the book. Sorry.
00:32:00 --> 00:32:06 So you might be a teen for personal agenda, but each individual PC in your group
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 has an angle of their own, a personal agenda.
00:32:09 --> 00:32:13 How personal agendas work differs between cinematic and campaign.
00:32:13 --> 00:32:15 So we're doing campaign.
00:32:16 --> 00:32:21 But the big difference is cinematic play. The PC's agendas are predetermined by the scenario.
00:32:21 --> 00:32:25 At the beginning of each of the three acts in the scenario, the GM gives each
00:32:25 --> 00:32:27 PC a handout with a new agenda.
00:32:28 --> 00:32:34 For the act, the agendas are hidden. You should not show them to the other players or write them down.
00:32:34 --> 00:32:40 On your character sheet, at the end of the act, the GM evaluates the actions of each PC.
00:32:40 --> 00:32:45 And if you took any specific actions to further your agenda during an act,
00:32:45 --> 00:32:49 You are awarded a story point, which is, you know, experience.
00:32:49 --> 00:32:53 Now, I have played several different free league games.
00:32:53 --> 00:32:59 And I know that, like, in Vossen, there's, like, the deep secret that you got
00:32:59 --> 00:33:01 that if you kind of play into that.
00:33:01 --> 00:33:06 And there was one I know when I played Blade Runner last fall at Gen Con.
00:33:07 --> 00:33:12 Each of us got an agenda, so forth and so on. It's kind of given out because that was cinematic.
00:33:14 --> 00:33:18 And one of the I was in the Blade Runner game one of the cops that I was on
00:33:18 --> 00:33:23 a team with was dirty and did something dirty because his agenda said to do such and all that.
00:33:23 --> 00:33:28 I think a campaign's a little bit different so in campaign play you can pick
00:33:28 --> 00:33:34 one of the suggested personal agendas listed with your career or you can come up with your own agenda,
00:33:35 --> 00:33:39 and at the end of each session discuss agendas of all pieces each together and
00:33:39 --> 00:33:44 if you've taken some concrete action to further your agenda during the session,
00:33:44 --> 00:33:48 despite risk or cost, you gain a bonus experience point.
00:33:48 --> 00:33:51 Which is different than story points, apparently. But.
00:33:52 --> 00:33:56 So, why don't we look at our character sheets here and see what our...
00:33:56 --> 00:33:58 I'm looking for my default agenda.
00:33:59 --> 00:34:04 If you guys want to make one up, it's totally fine. The ones that I have by
00:34:04 --> 00:34:06 default to start with, you're a decorated hero.
00:34:07 --> 00:34:09 You need to defend your reputation at all costs.
00:34:10 --> 00:34:13 You want to help cover up a war crime. No one must ever know.
00:34:14 --> 00:34:19 The death of your buddy has spooked you. You now secretly fail combat and confrontation.
00:34:20 --> 00:34:24 You need to overcome your fear I think I'll just take the decorated war hero
00:34:24 --> 00:34:28 so kind of a death wish I think what it sounds like,
00:34:29 --> 00:34:31 among my options are finding an
00:34:31 --> 00:34:35 adult I can trust never being alone again because I have no family left or,
00:34:36 --> 00:34:39 no one ever gives you anything to do so explore try things out and make your
00:34:39 --> 00:34:43 own entertainment that sounds like a beautiful recipe to move forward the plot
00:34:43 --> 00:34:49 I'll take that one how much can you push your plot arm brownies in the well again.
00:34:51 --> 00:34:55 I actually made up a made up one for me,
00:34:57 --> 00:35:01 it's always on time despite the odds like he has a reputation of always being
00:35:01 --> 00:35:06 on time for his deliveries if we're ever stuck with you in the back of a space
00:35:06 --> 00:35:09 cab you'll regale us with stories about how you can actually control time because
00:35:09 --> 00:35:15 you're never late that's right and somehow we think you really believe it that's
00:35:15 --> 00:35:16 because he does believe it,
00:35:17 --> 00:35:23 scruffy lives how scruffy dies did you ever play mass effect Jeremy I played
00:35:23 --> 00:35:29 most of the first one okay so it's like you're almost like Joker kind of the
00:35:29 --> 00:35:31 Seth I mean Seth Green character not Seth Green,
00:35:32 --> 00:35:37 yeah Seth Green I know you're talking about not Seth Rogen no not Seth Rogen no,
00:35:38 --> 00:35:43 looking for something because I was kind of thinking I wanted to If I wanted
00:35:43 --> 00:35:45 to change something around on mine...
00:35:46 --> 00:35:50 If I were going to actually use his character with these other characters,
00:35:50 --> 00:35:52 I would probably have picked maybe Mercenary.
00:35:53 --> 00:35:56 Because I did see it somewhere else, but I'm not really seeing it in the book.
00:35:57 --> 00:36:01 I think a personal agenda may be that if I were going to go in more depth with
00:36:01 --> 00:36:05 this stuff here, it's like I went AWOL and kind of posed as somebody else.
00:36:05 --> 00:36:12 So if I did do that, then I probably would relinquish my ability to have an M4A, M4-1A pulse rifle.
00:36:14 --> 00:36:17 Nah, it could fall off the back of a truck. yeah
00:36:17 --> 00:36:20 all the back of a space truck please that's right
00:36:20 --> 00:36:23 if just float around out there
00:36:23 --> 00:36:26 if salvage rights we got it what if
00:36:26 --> 00:36:29 some kid found it like maybe in a
00:36:29 --> 00:36:33 event somewhere yeah i agree with that yeah buddies
00:36:33 --> 00:36:36 and rapper ways role playing is an
00:36:36 --> 00:36:39 alien role playing game is about a small group of people
00:36:39 --> 00:36:42 facing unknown horrific dangers in the cold darkness of space
00:36:42 --> 00:36:45 to survive you need to find someone to
00:36:45 --> 00:36:48 trust but you also need to be careful who you turn your back on
00:36:48 --> 00:36:51 in game terms your pc has a
00:36:51 --> 00:36:54 buddy and one rival amongst other pcs you can
00:36:54 --> 00:37:00 have one of each your relationships are important for the gm as she can use
00:37:00 --> 00:37:05 them to create interesting situations in the game in campaign play you choose
00:37:05 --> 00:37:12 one pc to be your buddy and one to be your guy but your friend. I'm sorry.
00:37:12 --> 00:37:18 South Park. But you can pick a buddy with another as a rival.
00:37:19 --> 00:37:22 I'm going to assume that there's a rival that's not one of you guys.
00:37:23 --> 00:37:29 It's another kid who is from the same station that I came from originally and he goes by Rook.
00:37:30 --> 00:37:35 Because Rooks are birds and birds prey on geckos. I like where your head's going with that.
00:37:35 --> 00:37:41 My other option was Snake but I want to be on Snake's good side. So no. No thanks. Snake.
00:37:42 --> 00:37:46 As far as buddies, do either you guys want to be my buddy guy?
00:37:47 --> 00:37:53 You're small. I could teach you how to work on the ship. You send me down places
00:37:53 --> 00:37:57 that full-grown people don't fit to fix stuff. Yeah, I agree. I'm an old man.
00:37:58 --> 00:38:00 What was your name again? I want to put it down in my buddy field.
00:38:01 --> 00:38:03 Rocco. Rocco, thank you.
00:38:04 --> 00:38:09 R-O-C-C-O. Oh, I put K off with C's. Thank you. Close enough. He doesn't remember.
00:38:10 --> 00:38:12 Something about your modern life, yeah. That's right.
00:38:13 --> 00:38:16 I was thinking Sesame Street, but that's because I had children.
00:38:16 --> 00:38:20 It was Sesame Street. That was Elmo's friend, Rocco the Rock.
00:38:20 --> 00:38:23 I forgot all about that. I forgot all about that, too.
00:38:25 --> 00:38:29 I would have, too, but I had children. It brought it back up.
00:38:30 --> 00:38:31 You know, personally for me, though,
00:38:33 --> 00:38:37 I can see the benefit in cinematic play where you're playing a particular character
00:38:37 --> 00:38:40 and you have roles and whatnot, the agendas.
00:38:40 --> 00:38:43 I can see where that would be fun, but I could also see that,
00:38:43 --> 00:38:46 depending on the kind of game and everything that I'm running.
00:38:48 --> 00:38:50 That may be the element of the game that I overlook.
00:38:51 --> 00:38:54 That and the rivalries and buddies and stuff like that. I know that they're
00:38:54 --> 00:38:57 all role-playing tools and there are extra ways to make points,
00:38:58 --> 00:39:01 but these are the two elements. And it's been in, I've seen in other free league
00:39:01 --> 00:39:03 games that I've kind of mentioned beforehand, too.
00:39:04 --> 00:39:09 These are the two that may usually fall to the curve with me or I don't look at as closely.
00:39:10 --> 00:39:14 I'm in the same boat because this game's already enough existential dread.
00:39:14 --> 00:39:16 Why do you need a rival making it worse?
00:39:16 --> 00:39:22 Yeah. I do not want to make a game necessarily that, definitely a long form game.
00:39:22 --> 00:39:25 That's like the main plot of it is fuck your buddy over. Yeah.
00:39:25 --> 00:39:29 That just, that doesn't seem good for my table, in my opinion.
00:39:29 --> 00:39:32 I like everybody being on the same page and working together.
00:39:32 --> 00:39:37 Now there's a genomorph trying to kill you. What about a guy trying to stab you at the back?
00:39:38 --> 00:39:41 I mean, it works in games like a phase anatomy where part of the,
00:39:41 --> 00:39:47 the plot and part of the, you know, refresh mechanic involves drama scenes with your co-players.
00:39:47 --> 00:39:52 But I 100% agree with you. If I've got some genomorph chewing on my butt,
00:39:52 --> 00:39:53 I don't want to have to worry about somebody else.
00:39:54 --> 00:39:57 And there's, there's a precedence in the films. There's always,
00:39:57 --> 00:40:00 you know, the company man is the one that's going to screw you over.
00:40:00 --> 00:40:03 It's in Aliens, which was Paul Reiser.
00:40:04 --> 00:40:09 It was some younger people remember him from. He was the nice scientist from Stranger Things. Yeah.
00:40:10 --> 00:40:14 Yeah, I mean, you always can rely on the company man to screw you over.
00:40:14 --> 00:40:18 You can always rely on the android to screw you over because they're controlled by the company.
00:40:19 --> 00:40:24 And I know, and I don't want to ruin too much for this. So you all may want
00:40:24 --> 00:40:26 to skip ahead maybe 10 seconds or 30 seconds.
00:40:27 --> 00:40:34 On this there is a you can buy a quick start kind of like condensed version of this,
00:40:35 --> 00:40:38 the aliens rule book i'm trying to think of what that thing's called guys you
00:40:38 --> 00:40:42 know what i mean oh a quick start gun it's not there's like a little starter
00:40:42 --> 00:40:47 kit box that has like a it's called the starter kit yeah okay there's one it's
00:40:47 --> 00:40:52 got a like chariot of the gods the name of the scenario in it and it's it's
00:40:52 --> 00:40:57 kind of built into it with agendas and stuff like at, that not everybody's on the same page.
00:40:57 --> 00:41:03 Now, I do own a physical copy and a digital copy of Destroyer of Worlds,
00:41:04 --> 00:41:07 which is a campaign that I would like to run for this one day,
00:41:07 --> 00:41:10 but I don't know. I'm sure that they all got agendas, too.
00:41:11 --> 00:41:15 But yeah, take it or leave it. If you like that kind of stuff or if it's crucial, it's fine.
00:41:16 --> 00:41:20 If you wanted to have an NPC screw everybody over, too, it's your call.
00:41:22 --> 00:41:27 We're about done. How about we look at your gear?
00:41:28 --> 00:41:33 You've got your starting gear on your character sheet in the book where it actually describes it.
00:41:34 --> 00:41:38 I'm on, again, the Colonial Marine one. And I get to choose two items.
00:41:38 --> 00:41:43 And I can have a D6 x 100 in cash.
00:41:44 --> 00:41:47 So, look, I've got to have the pulse rifle.
00:41:47 --> 00:41:52 That sounds great to me. It would be unalien if you didn't have a pulse record.
00:41:53 --> 00:41:57 I would get the motion tracker for my second one. That is an option.
00:41:57 --> 00:42:01 But I think I'll just take the personal armor because that does give me a little bit more defense.
00:42:02 --> 00:42:06 My gear is significantly less useful in combat than it offers to me.
00:42:07 --> 00:42:10 A fishing line or a laser pointer. Of course, laser pointer.
00:42:10 --> 00:42:14 And then one other item between magnet or radio-controlled car,
00:42:14 --> 00:42:18 yo-yo or electronic handhold game, personal locator beacon or coloring pens.
00:42:18 --> 00:42:24 Obviously again the yo-yo who hasn't played star tropics or the goonies nes game also fair.
00:42:26 --> 00:42:29 Mothership or not mothership was that a mother
00:42:29 --> 00:42:35 earthbound earthbound okay yeah the mother series what's a pilot get did you
00:42:35 --> 00:42:41 get a 1911 jeremy or some kind of pistol i there's a m4a3 service pistol but
00:42:41 --> 00:42:46 i mean he's a pilot he doesn't really need a pistol he's not really good with one so I was gonna,
00:42:48 --> 00:42:53 assuming I don't know what any of this is the PRPUT uplink terminal sounds better
00:42:53 --> 00:42:56 than the service pistol to me because I've got a Colonial Marine running around
00:42:56 --> 00:42:58 me why would I need to shoot anything.
00:43:00 --> 00:43:07 I got a hand radio since he's a grease monkey the maintenance jack,
00:43:08 --> 00:43:14 and the Segan system diagnostic device I don't know what any of that It is,
00:43:14 --> 00:43:17 but he's not built for, he's not built for, uh, for combat.
00:43:17 --> 00:43:21 He's built for piloting. So going in blind thinking he's not going to be fighting
00:43:21 --> 00:43:23 aliens. I'm not going to metagame it.
00:43:23 --> 00:43:28 I tried to row type in a row command, but it didn't work for my money.
00:43:28 --> 00:43:33 So I guess let's see how much cash, how much cash does a kid get Brownie?
00:43:33 --> 00:43:38 Well, it's funny because if I'm looking in foundry, I get dollar sign D six
00:43:38 --> 00:43:40 in cash, which to me sounds like just a coding bug.
00:43:41 --> 00:43:43 Yeah. I'll find out in the book.
00:43:43 --> 00:43:50 I got $600. It's one D6 by 100 for me. I'm sure with gear it's different.
00:43:51 --> 00:43:57 Oh, I guess $9 D6 just means roll a D6. So I get a D6 cash. D6?
00:43:58 --> 00:44:02 I also get a D6 cash. I want money. Got five bucks, buddy.
00:44:03 --> 00:44:07 $5. Yep. This kid's going to be way more, it's going to be way richer than me.
00:44:08 --> 00:44:10 But I get a D6 time 100, so. Yeah.
00:44:11 --> 00:44:16 I get $200. Not bad. So we're buying the kid lunch. Right.
00:44:17 --> 00:44:23 So, yep, that looks like pretty much it, man. There's additional items and things
00:44:23 --> 00:44:25 like that that we can kind of come across later.
00:44:25 --> 00:44:31 Has thoughts so far, guys, on character creation for space truckers?
00:44:31 --> 00:44:32 That seems fairly straightforward.
00:44:33 --> 00:44:37 What's your signature item? That's the only thing. Yeah.
00:44:38 --> 00:44:44 I chose the lunchbox with stickers. i need to find my signature i saw it's on
00:44:44 --> 00:44:49 my one of well yeah well i try not to make these kids are these characters are
00:44:49 --> 00:44:53 squishy so i'm not going to put the picture of my husband and child.
00:44:54 --> 00:44:58 No not doing that signature how
00:44:58 --> 00:45:02 do i i can if i go with what they have it's either a bullet that you survived
00:45:02 --> 00:45:09 a lost friend's dog tags or a trophy from an eliminated enemy uh you know what
00:45:09 --> 00:45:16 i'll take the dog tags which with your lore could also be a token of your eliminated enemy yeah,
00:45:18 --> 00:45:20 they're gone dog is in there yeah.
00:45:22 --> 00:45:33 What do you get i went with the a thrift store number one dad mug really yeah that's amazing,
00:45:35 --> 00:45:40 now I've got that Macklemore song in my head I got $200 in my pocket,
00:45:42 --> 00:45:45 popping space tags now first
00:45:45 --> 00:45:51 off I think it's fun I like the game so far I ran it a long time ago but it's
00:45:51 --> 00:45:56 been so long ago that I can't exactly remember it I did run it in Foundry as
00:45:56 --> 00:46:02 records will show I do love my Foundry despite being unable to figure it out
00:46:02 --> 00:46:04 But that's a personal problem there.
00:46:05 --> 00:46:11 I will say that looking at this material and doing this roll-up has placed big,
00:46:11 --> 00:46:20 blinky, life-on-consoles, chunky rocker switches, and sounds of computers from the 80s in my head.
00:46:21 --> 00:46:28 The tapes stopping and rolling back. Are you seeing the green monochrome screen?
00:46:29 --> 00:46:33 Yes, I'm looking at Foundry. They did it to us again. Yeah.
00:46:34 --> 00:46:37 I know that there's more that you can do in this. And there's been several different
00:46:37 --> 00:46:39 books that came out since this one.
00:46:39 --> 00:46:43 Not even counting the second edition that's come out this fall.
00:46:43 --> 00:46:48 There's a Colonial Marines guide. And then there's a Weyland-Yutani book that's
00:46:48 --> 00:46:49 Building Better Worlds.
00:46:49 --> 00:46:52 I got the Colonial Marines one, but I don't have the Weyland-Yutani book.
00:46:53 --> 00:46:56 And then they did two cinematic adventures.
00:46:56 --> 00:47:01 There is Destroyer of Worlds, which is a group of Colonial Marines going on
00:47:01 --> 00:47:05 a ragtag adventure. and then there is Heart of Darkness.
00:47:05 --> 00:47:10 And I think that one's more of a mixed cast instead of just everybody playing
00:47:10 --> 00:47:12 Upsaw Marines kind of stuff.
00:47:12 --> 00:47:16 But I think there's... I know that you can do more with this,
00:47:16 --> 00:47:20 but I couldn't imagine playing any other game that didn't end up with a bug
00:47:20 --> 00:47:21 hunt. Do you all know what I mean?
00:47:21 --> 00:47:25 Yeah. I do like the idea of a bug hunt, though. That does sound like fun.
00:47:26 --> 00:47:30 Yeah, the game is very, very, at its core, geared to be a bug hunt.
00:47:30 --> 00:47:32 Everything's a bug hunt, even if it's not a bug hunt.
00:47:32 --> 00:47:35 There is a similar game with a similar kind of aesthetic and feel to it called
00:47:35 --> 00:47:39 Mothership that I think is a lot more kind of open-ended and lets you have different
00:47:39 --> 00:47:43 kinds of gameplay other than just what bug hunt do we have this week?
00:47:43 --> 00:47:45 And that's not a complaint either.
00:47:45 --> 00:47:47 Like Jeremy said, I'm fine with a bug hunt.
00:47:48 --> 00:47:52 But amongst the two, Mothership's more of your other stuff going on in space.
00:47:52 --> 00:47:55 And this one is, well, there's a monster again. It's probably a xenomorph.
00:47:56 --> 00:47:57 Yeah. Oops, all aliens.
00:47:59 --> 00:48:02 We say that but and they did have this available
00:48:02 --> 00:48:07 on a foundry and i've seen i always look for free stuff that's released by people
00:48:07 --> 00:48:11 just did their you know little homebrew games that they release there is one
00:48:11 --> 00:48:17 i can't i'd have to look in my modules to tell you what it's called but somebody
00:48:17 --> 00:48:22 actually made one where there's weyland yutani and then there's that other organization that,
00:48:22 --> 00:48:26 they're kind of in the Cold War with, but I can't remember what they're called.
00:48:26 --> 00:48:30 But you play those people. That's basically Space Russia.
00:48:31 --> 00:48:36 And you're at the bottom of the ocean on an alien planet. And you encounter
00:48:36 --> 00:48:38 bugs, but not Xenomorphs.
00:48:39 --> 00:48:42 I can't remember what it was called, though. Was it the Wallace Corporation?
00:48:43 --> 00:48:47 There was basically space communism.
00:48:47 --> 00:48:51 I'm trying to remember what that other force besides Weyland-Yutani was.
00:48:51 --> 00:48:55 Well i'm looking up competitors and here's
00:48:55 --> 00:48:58 a list i found there's sin sound there's medtech
00:48:58 --> 00:49:02 there's chingusa corporation there's
00:49:02 --> 00:49:09 the montcalm delacroix at sea whatever that is borgia industries borgia sounds
00:49:09 --> 00:49:15 russian the zct corporation which has a very soviet aesthetic in the picture
00:49:15 --> 00:49:19 there's hyperdyne systems yeah armat battlefield systems,
00:49:20 --> 00:49:25 the grant corporation siegson and strangely enough on this page apparently walmart
00:49:25 --> 00:49:33 oh no that was an ad well presented though for the content yeah i'll show you
00:49:33 --> 00:49:37 here's this i mean i may end up cutting this out or whatnot too but this is
00:49:37 --> 00:49:40 something fun we could kind of look towards,
00:49:40 --> 00:49:45 i'll just drop it in general real quick here this is that one i was talking
00:49:45 --> 00:49:47 to you about deep down It's a free one.
00:49:47 --> 00:49:52 Somebody converted the scenario over on Foundry with the author's permission.
00:49:52 --> 00:49:59 Gripping underwater horror adventure set in the deeps of a mysterious ocean planet Voda or Voda.
00:50:00 --> 00:50:03 A team must blank. Well, that's miswrote.
00:50:04 --> 00:50:08 A team must the chaos of the isolated research station teetering on the edge
00:50:08 --> 00:50:12 of collapse. I didn't misread that. That's what it said. I guess survive.
00:50:13 --> 00:50:16 So did you ever, Did you ever see the old movie, Guys of Leviathan?
00:50:17 --> 00:50:20 Yes. I don't know if I have or not.
00:50:21 --> 00:50:24 You could just watch Aliens, but if you watched it through the other side of
00:50:24 --> 00:50:27 a fish tank, it's basically Leviathan.
00:50:27 --> 00:50:33 I think that's what Siskel or Ebert said. That's one of those things I remember.
00:50:34 --> 00:50:38 But there's that ocean thing. I've got it downloaded if we want to play it.
00:50:39 --> 00:50:43 Sometime but yeah i
00:50:43 --> 00:50:46 think let me look at i'm gonna look at just how combat works
00:50:46 --> 00:50:49 real quick and then we'll call it a day i did originally wanted
00:50:49 --> 00:50:53 to kind of run something on this but to be honest with you i'm kind of i'm kind
00:50:53 --> 00:50:58 of burnt from the day of writing all day oh i didn't assume that we were going
00:50:58 --> 00:51:02 to run any combat scenarios going on with this yet so far so eventually what
00:51:02 --> 00:51:04 i would really like to do because that's what i'm gonna do with that's what
00:51:04 --> 00:51:06 i'm gonna end up doing with Urban Shadows.
00:51:07 --> 00:51:13 You guys are going to, we're going to try out the characters in like a one-act scenario.
00:51:14 --> 00:51:17 I'm good with that. I would like to eventually, like in the future,
00:51:17 --> 00:51:20 I think I should maybe have like a combat or something like that.
00:51:20 --> 00:51:25 Like you're trying to pilot, if a third person was playing, I would GM it.
00:51:25 --> 00:51:30 There's a Space Marine with a kid and there's a Xenomorph while the pilot's trying to do something.
00:51:30 --> 00:51:35 You know what I mean? Just make a situation just to see how the game flows.
00:51:35 --> 00:51:39 But I just haven't had the foresight to actually sit down and plan anything out yet.
00:51:39 --> 00:51:43 You heard it, Jeremy. Adam said he'd be playing with machines like kids immortal. That's right.
00:51:44 --> 00:51:49 Your kid's going to be the actual xenomorph. It's going to pop out of the chest of a xenomorph.
00:51:49 --> 00:51:52 You're going to be in the front in the space forklift.
00:51:53 --> 00:51:57 Well, guys, I appreciate you joining me for making some colonial Marines or
00:51:57 --> 00:52:01 little kids or space pilots. No problem.
00:52:02 --> 00:52:05 So I'd like to thank everybody who's tuning in to listen to this.
00:52:05 --> 00:52:09 If you're listening to it in the month of June of 2025, then thank you so much
00:52:09 --> 00:52:10 for being one of our Patreon subscribers.
00:52:11 --> 00:52:15 If it wasn't for you, it'd be a lot harder to keep the bills that pay here.
00:52:15 --> 00:52:18 And I'm very thankful for all that. If you want to learn more about us,
00:52:19 --> 00:52:23 if you're listening to us on the main feed, go to critinthenight.com.
00:52:23 --> 00:52:27 That's where our podcasting network that we're a part of here.
00:52:27 --> 00:52:31 We're also there with our good friends from Al Dente, Rick and Mortis, and One Last Die.
00:52:33 --> 00:52:38 We're the Critter Night Podcast Network. And, yep, you can find more RPX stuff there.
00:52:39 --> 00:52:41 And we're also on Blue Sky.
00:52:43 --> 00:52:46 And I really need to delete Twitter, but we got so many followers on there,
00:52:46 --> 00:52:51 I hate to delete it because some people use that as a metric to how successful the podcast is.
00:52:52 --> 00:52:55 So kind of shooting herself in the foot if I don't have that dumpster fire going.
00:52:55 --> 00:52:58 But both of those are at RPXchange.
00:52:59 --> 00:53:03 And, yeah, that's about it. You guys got anything you want to plug before we call today?
00:53:03 --> 00:53:08 If you decide, or if you're listening to this in the month of June and July
00:53:08 --> 00:53:12 rolls around, you happen to be at Gen Con, and you hear one of our voices walking
00:53:12 --> 00:53:17 around, or you see anything set up by RPX, definitely give us a yell.
00:53:17 --> 00:53:20 Come by, say hi. We'd definitely love to hear from you.
00:53:21 --> 00:53:24 Sounds good. Yeah, I don't have anything else to plug. Thanks,
00:53:24 --> 00:53:25 everybody, for coming by.
00:53:26 --> 00:53:29 Thank you, guys. It's been a pleasure. I've had a good time this evening.
00:53:29 --> 00:53:36 And I guess until next time folks we'll see y'all later goodbye cue the outro goodnight internet.
00:53:37 --> 00:54:09 Music.