John August

Over the weekend, friends and I played our first game of Free League’s Alien The Roleplaying Game. We had a blast. The game mechanics are fun, built around a Stress mechanic that basically ensures characters will freak out at some point.

Alien RPG can be played in campaign mode, where characters progress over many sessions like classic D&D, but it’s probably best suited to “cinematic mode,” which captures the experience of the movies. Most characters will die. That’s how we played it.

The rulebook comes with a scenario — a one-shot called Hadley’s Hope — but I was eager to design my own. The result is New Florida, which finds a crew on a routine, short-haul flight from a research station to Torin Prime.

Spoiler: things go very wrong.

The scenario is designed for 3-5 player characters, and should take about three hours to play. It’s heavy on role-playing, with appropriately terrifying bursts of combat.

The characters are pre-generated, and include:

Vivian Rook — Company executive. Sharp, polished, and dangerous. She rose through the Weyland-Yutani ranks with a mix of ruthlessness and charm.

Sgt. Elias Kane — Marine, Rook’s bodyguard. Professional to a fault — except with Vivian. Loyal, physically imposing, emotionally compartmentalized.

Jace Calder — Pilot. Roguish but competent. Thinks quick, acts quicker.

Milo “Gramps” Vech — Engineer. A long-timer nearing retirement. Grizzled and grease-stained, he knows this ship better than anyone.

Corporal Dex Marrow — Marine. Sardonic, weary, smokes when he shouldn’t. Doesn’t trust many, but once he gives it, it’s for life. Good friend of Kane’s.

While it’s not a murder mystery, players know details about their characters (and crucial story points) that the others don’t. I gave each player a backstory sheet before we started playing.

I’ve packaged up all the maps, tokens, and other resources I used in a .zip file you can download here: New Florida – Alien RPG Scenario

If you play New Florida at your own table, please let me know!