Sourcebook Overview<\/span><\/h2>\nThe majority of the\u00a0Aliens Adventure Game<\/i>\u00a0sourcebook simply details the mechanics and rules of gameplay, with sections explaining the game’s table-based point scoring system and giving ideas for suggested campaigns to run. The book also features detailed\u00a0Colonial Marine\u00a0character sheets for creating player characters, with decent development and treatment of its Marine characters.<\/p>\n
In addition to the pure gameplay details, the book also contains a substantial amount of background information about the universe in which the game is set. As well as covering the settings and basic events of\u00a0Alien<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Aliens<\/i>, the book offers new information on the\u00a0Alien<\/i>universe, detailing the corporate culture, colonies and other life forms that exist within it. The book includes a summary of the history of space travel and colonisation leading up to the time frame of\u00a0Aliens<\/i>, expanding upon the role of the\u00a0Interstellar Commerce Commission\u00a0and introducing the ICC system of planets with an accompanying star map. Among the key concepts described in the history section are the development of\u00a0Earth\u00a0from a nation-based system to one of corporate control, the establishment of the ICC and the Colonial Marines as a force to “police” these corporations, and the subsequent war between the ICC and several rebellious corporate-run colonies.<\/p>\n
Although the sourcebook is arguably the most comprehensive source of information on human history in this period of the\u00a0Alien<\/i>\u00a0universe, elements of it are notably not contiguous with the universe portrayed in the films and other media of the\u00a0Alien<\/i>\u00a0franchise. For example, the book explicitly describes the Colonial Marines as an independent, multi-national force under ICC jurisdiction, established alongside the ICC to act as its military arm; in reality, the USCM is part of the United States military and operates under\u00a0United Americascommand. However, other aspects of society detailed in the book fit very well with later\u00a0Alien<\/i>\u00a0stories, such as the prevalence of sophisticated industrial espionage (as seen in\u00a0Aliens: Music of the Spears<\/i>) and corporations’ use of private military forces (as is the case in\u00a0Aliens: Colonial Marines<\/i>).<\/p>\n
The sourcebook also includes detailed information concerning\u00a0Xenomorph\u00a0physiology and behavior, as well as introducing new extraterrestrial species, such as a race of voracious, armored quadrupeds known as Harvesters. The\u00a0Arcturians\u00a0also feature. The book also sheds light on the nature of internet shopping in the time period of\u00a0Aliens<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Alongside the text, the book is illustrated with still photographs and annotated with quotations taken from the film\u00a0Aliens<\/i>.<\/p>\nInconsistencies in Xenomorph physiology<\/span><\/h3>\nAs the game was released prior to\u00a0Alien3<\/sup><\/i>\u00a0and before a number of major stories in the\u00a0Aliens<\/i>\u00a0comics line, it features a somewhat unique treatment of Xenomorph physiology. It features some notable discrepancies in its description of the creatures, several of which go against certain established premises from the films, comics, novels and video games. These include:<\/p>\n\n- Xenomorph\u00a0Warriors\u00a0are said to be capable of producing\u00a0Eggs\u00a0(harkening back to the\u00a0deleted scene\u00a0from\u00a0Alien<\/i>where\u00a0Dallas\u00a0and\u00a0Brett\u00a0are cocooned).<\/li>\n
- Facehuggers\u00a0are said to be able to implant\u00a0Chestbursters\u00a0even in dead bodies.<\/li>\n
- The book also states Facehuggers can implant more than one embryo in a host, and that the exact number depends on the host’s total mass.<\/li>\n
- Warriors are said to produce\u00a0Hive webbing\u00a0from their\u00a0dorsal tubes, rather than their mouths.<\/li>\n
- Despite Xenomorphs lacking any traditional form of eyesight, “Alien vision” is described in the book, and the creatures are said to have a visual spectrum that extends further into the infrared range than humans, somewhat like the\u00a0Yautja.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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Game System<\/span><\/h2>\nReleased well before\u00a0Dungeons and Dragons<\/i>\u00a03.0, which established a new norm in RPGs, the\u00a0Aliens Adventure Game<\/i>featured a mechanic that was unlike other role-playing games in that it did not rely on hit points (or HP). The system was instead largely based on the use of tables (as seen in the popular RPG\u00a0Warhammer 40,000<\/i>). The system used was actually a slightly toned-down variant of another game\u00a0Leading Edge Games\u00a0developed called\u00a0Phoenix Command<\/i>. The\u00a0Aliens Adventure Game<\/i>\u00a0sourcebook in fact makes references to\u00a0Phoenix Command<\/i>\u00a0in case players wanted further clarification on its rules.<\/p>\n
The system served to add a degree of “realism” to gameplay by requiring reference to a number of tables to determine the results of almost every action in the game. The\u00a0Aliens<\/i>\u00a0setting created was therefore incredibly realistic, but could also potentially take a very long time to execute. For example, in certain combat scenarios, if the player were to hit a target in a certain way, it would require referencing as many as nine tables to figure out precisely what happened to the character during a single combat sequence, which would actually represent just a few seconds of time in the game. Another expression of this “realism” was the fact that gunfights were excessively lethal in the game. The Xenomorph\u00a0Queen, for example, was supremely deadly in combat, with a near 50% chance of instant death if she were to strike a player character with her tail.<\/p>\n
Perhaps as a result of their complicated and difficult nature, the game’s sourcebook regularly recommends that the rules included therein be modified by the game master (GM) to suit the palyers.<\/p>\n
Reception<\/span><\/h2>\nOriginally received with mixed reviews, the Aliens Adventure game is no longer a popular or much-functioning game system, today. But the game remains a collectors item find on sites such as eBay and is still occasionally used as a basis for more fully fleshed out fan-created Aliens RPGs.<\/p>\n
Criticisms<\/span><\/h3>\nThe major complaint from critics of the Aliens Adventure Game when it was released was that its combat system was cumbersome and rendered the game basically unplayable due to length.<\/p>\n
If you thought combat in the Hero System using all of the optional rules was too long Aliens by LEG has it beat. We played it once and the first combat with 2 PCs against 5 or 6 aliens took about 5 hours to resolve. I kid you not that it took that long. Aliens was the “rules lite” version (of Phoenix Command), but it was so complex that required a minimum of five tables to resolve one bullet. When almost every weapon in the game were full auto with a 10 round burst that’s a minimum of 50 table look ups for just one turn.<\/p>\n
The reliance on the rules from Phoenix Command for further clarification was another common criticism of the game. Critics say that the Phoenix Command-lite rules weren’t conducive to a good gaming experience.<\/p>\n
There also was a sincere lack of background info on the human worlds. The book only covered the setting of the film and gave no information on civilians, culture or even the slightest hint of “normal” life. And that, in examples, it focuses too much on the newly created aliens, The Harvesters, than on the xenomorphs. The information on doing anything other than blasting xenomorphs was sparse, said critics, and far too Space Marine-centric and overcomplicated for the taste of some.<\/p>\n
Another complaint about the game was that it was packaged with a very poor binding.<\/p>\n