I ran the game for the first time tonight, it didn't exactly go smoothly. Lots of questions... foremost is just 'why is the book laid out like this!?'. Just a general cry of frustration that things never seem to be where I think they should be. There's no answer for that question I fear, I just need to become a little more acquainted with it. Moving on...
Alien's Acid Splash
the index says to find info about it on page 302, which is the facehugger page and I don't see it there. Page 298 has acid splash but leaves a lot of questions. Is this what the index was supposed to be pointing toward?
After explaining the die pool for the acid splash (acid splash rating for the alien in question, + damage the alien took) it says that the base damage is 1. does that mean it does 1 even if no other damage is rolled?
so I roll and apply damage to everyone all at once or to everyone individually? (suppose I roll up 3, which is +1 from the base damage right? So that will be 4 damage. Do I apply that to 1 person, and then roll for the next? Or apply that to all people? It would make sense that some people get caught in the acid more than others. I assume other aliens are immune to the damage from acid splash?)
the cutting torch being used as a weapon doesn't list as fire damage, we were a little perplexed by that, but I assume that's correct?
panic rolls
a player shot at the alien and used a 'stunt' to pin it. which causes a panic roll... but 1) NPCs don't generally take panic rolls, so why is this mentioned? and 2) even if he did take a panic roll there doesn't seem to be a ready way for the alien to acumulate stress to make the panic roll mean anything. 3) how relevant is the panic table anyway?
So is there a simplified panic table for enemies? To indicate how they react to being shot at? I would imagine that humans, xenomorphs, and synthetics (and predators maybe someday?) would all react somewhat differently.
I ended up just having the alien hiss and back off... much as if the 'forced back' option was chosen. And a question about that... would acid splash be applied before the alien 'backs off' because he was engaged? Or would that push the alien back and THEN acid splash would no longer apply? Or should the alien have fled and either gone for reinforcements or gone back to stalking?
I don't see anything mentioning fire causing panic rolls for the aliens.
more panic rolls
many panic rolls inspire panic rolls in others, which can then inspire more panic rolls...
The ex-marine lost his arm and started to SEEK COVER, essentially fleeing for what's left of his life.
The pilot was inflicted with 2 panic rolls from seeing the arm loss and ... I don't remember, it all happened so fast... but the pilot started to scream, and then rolled again and started to flee (because of upgrading the panic results) each of those results would inflict a panic roll on others ... so the marine, who was seeking cover would hear the scream (panic) and then see the pilot fleeing (panic), and assuming he rolls good he still has to upgrade from his current panic action of seek cover to scream (inflicting panic) and then flee (more panic) which would... cause the pilot, who is fleeing to at minimum go berserk (causing more panic)?
I know that things are meant to be fragile and if things go bad they could cascade quickly, but panic causes panic causes panic til you're in a coma is ... umm... that's not how it's supposed to go is it? That's less like the players being routed and more like a group of fainting goats (who become catatonic)
If you get induced to roll more than 1 panic, do you roll all of them, resolving one after the other? That seems to be what the book says. And if you roll more than a single 1 on the stress dice, do they each induce a panic? I wasn't sure if you roll panic for each 1, roll panic if you got at least one 1, or if (for example) rolling three 1s would make you roll 3 times on the panic chart and go with the most dire (which is the compromise I took).
So I scratched my head, ignored the further panics since everyone was panicked, and the alien went and picked off the fleeing marine and dragged him away into the darkness. (though it was a scout, smaller than a person, so it might have been a little awkward.)
Stealth
Moving around when you might be heard would require a mobility check right? For stealth. I had them roll it as a group action... which means people get stealthier the more there are in a group? (up to +3). That's not generally how it's done. So I think I may have done something wrong there, but we shrugged and moved on.
aside from these questions, any advice on things in general?