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Hello fellow GMs! I am new to being a GM in Alien and planning on started my first campaign soon. I picked up the core rule book as well as the starter set. I have played D&D but have never ran my own games, only experienced as a player. Any tips you experienced GMs have for a newcomer like me? Any resources that you have found helpful that you recommend? Cheers and happy Xenomorph hunting!

First off, welcome to the game.

Alien isn't more complicated than D&D, so you should be good - and the folks on here are really helpful when you get stuck, this is one of the nicest communities I've interacted with. I'm sure other folks will chip in, but for me:

1. Cinematic Play is a good way to get to grips with the game - the characters are pregenerated and tied to the story, with agendas and goals (sometimes that reveal themselves as you go), and the stories tend to be set within reasonably constrained areas so you don't have loads to worry about. Hope's Last Day in the core rulebook is an example, but the three adventures released so far (Chariot Of The Gods which is in your Starter Set, Destroyer Of Worlds and Heart of Darkness) are all very good and cover different aspects of the game universe. These have a connected theme and plotline but each uses different characters. (Survival isn't a given....)

2. The game works best if you can keep the tension up - the player characters are nearly always in a really bad situation. Make good use of the Supply Rolls (p.33 of the core) and the Stress and Panic rules (p.103 of the core). The Panic Roll table is on the GM Screen if you have it, but if not, I'd print one out and keep it with you.

3. Pay attention to how Initiative works. Its card based (unlike D&D)

Above all, have fun! Let us know how your first game gioes.

lots of stuff (maps, Nostromo, Hadley's Hope, Corvus, Erebos station, a cinematic act sequel to Hope's last day, etc.)

here: https://www.deviantart.com/arthurdallas/gallery

Enjoy your games buddy.

MutantFromMars resume is very good.

I would tell you that Xenomorph are really deadly in close combat so (keep your distance from them) ... I have a group of 4 players and we decided to run the games with a main character + a secondary character for each player. that helps for us. Lots of dead bodies out there ...

Cinematic scenario are kind of "direct to the point" and very deadly.

Campaign stories are more "soft". Some games (sessions) with no xenomorph at all. Your stories are very important. Mechanic of the game will come from game to game. Don't worry too much about it.

Enjoy,
Arthur

Welcome to what is (IMO) the best part of the hobby - building better worlds, being all the baddies, and more!

There are three areas you want to think about for your game: The System, The Setting, and The Story

The System is the rules to decide things fairly ... for ALIEN RPG it is the dice-pool version of Year Zero Engine.

I'd have to say picking a Year Zero Engine game as your first outing as a GM is a *really* good choice - and I personally prefer the dice pool version which ALIEN RPG uses.

For basic logistics - if your group meets at a physical table - then make sure everyone has plenty of paper (graph paper can be helpful), pencils, and 15 x six-sided dice ... 5 each in three different colors. This will make it easy to keep up with base dice versus skill dice versus gear dice for different rolls.

The Year Zero Engine Standard Reference Document was just released under the Free Tabletop License - so all of your players can have easy access to the base rules without spoiling the secrets in the core rulebook or starter set ... but eventually they will want to get the core book themselves and try GMing a game as well ... to get their turn at the rest of the fun as well as give you a chance to be a core player.

For Setting, the ALIEN universe is a bit ... daunting ... because Free League and Andrew Gaska and the writing team piled tons of threads from over 40 years of ALIEN canon, non-canon, unused development, and more. If you are not the most hard-core superfan out there who can quote the rivet dimensions from the APC or Dropship - don't worry! The point is - the books are *extremely* deep and full of fun bits to tease out and use in your games.

The hardest part of the setting is using the various xenomorph types for best effect. That's where a "session zero" can really really help give you ideas of what to include, focus on, or leave in the background. In a session zero, you introduce the basics of the game rules and universe for anyone who is not familiar with them. You also typically create your characters, unless you are running a cinematic where the characters and their agendas are already available. You can also help the players figure out how they became a group and why each of their adventurers is now starting in the same place as the others. For Space Truckers - a ship needed a crew ... for Marines ... you got your orders ... for Colonists ... you signed up to the same offer / job posting.

The third thing to worry about is ... The Story. One great part of this is that... you are only 1 piece of the story. Each of the players also brings a piece, so it really is not all on you. Instead you bring "the rest of the pieces" for the other players to play with, like NPCs, monsters, vehicles, planets, and such.

The ALIEN RPG, and Year Zero Engine, are heavily designed around story rather than beating you to death with crunchy rules to remember... which is great for starting GMs ... leaving you to worry most about "what happens next?" for each of the areas the players choose to tackle.
For each interesting area or encounter you are thinking of (or looking at in a published adventure) you can put yourself in your players' shoes very quickly by looking at the room or encounter and asking yourself:

"What if the players try to /manage to avoid or miss this?" - is there a clue or needed action here?

"What if the players choose to carefully explore this area?" - could they avoid a trap through caution and observation? Is there something shiny you could describe that entices them to be less cautious =)

"What if the players try to roleplay / talk through this area or encounter?" - can they reason or bargain with the opposition?

"What if the players try to trick their way through this encounter?" - can they distract / draw off the opposition through some tactic or ploy?

"What if the players fight?" - in ALIEN - this always needs to be thought about carefully =) your players are tasty snacks capable of growing MORE aliens if the players aren't careful.

A "trick" to ALIEN is setting the mood and building the fear and suspense ... a rewatch of the movies or a play through ALIEN ISOLATION while looking at how the suspense is built can give you some ideas for your game.

You don't have to unleash the aliens right off the bat ... there are plenty of other problems you can throw in the way for the players to solve - broken machinery, plans gone wrong, corporate interference, etc. Meanwhile... clue after clue that they are drawing closer to encountering badness.

Then of course ... don't spring things when they expect it. Wait until they shrug - THEN blindside them by eating an NPC or breaking something.

Year Zero Engine / ALIEN is great about ticking clocks with consumables, and bending / breaking gear ... driving up the stress without having to throw a single facehugger on someone.

Sometimes, all that is lurking in the locker is Jones...

One last thing - if you have never heard of or tried "solo" or "journal" roleplaying, look into it - it can be a great way to test new adventures and give you a preview of possible gaps or pitfalls.

With solo roleplaying, you create your own group of adventurers, and play them all within the scenario. But, when it comes time to decisions, options, actions, or plans, instead of just deciding what happens - you setup the plan and how difficult it could be or how likely something goes wrong ... then roll to surprise yourself and see if the plan succeeds or fails and then tell yourself the story of what happens in EITHER case.

One thing I like to do is when it comes time to find out ... I write out the plan, and what I think could go wrong or what happens if things go right ... before I roll. That way, I've "committed" before I rolled, and that helps me follow through with what I committed to. You can spend as much time as you like writing up options and plans before the roll... and it is worth thinking about the 5 questions I described above... but then you roll and stick to the result. It's more fun that way.

But a solo run through if you have time can be great preparation for running an adventure for others.

Most of all - just relax and have fun telling ALIEN stories with friends. Becoming the GM doesn't really change that - you're just playing a different kind of character to share the stories with.

Wow! Thanks to all for the great tips and resources! I will definitely update on how my first adventure goes. It sounds like the mini adventure in the core book can serve as a great starting session before I run chariot of the gods, so I'll probably start there.

Wow! Thanks to all for the great tips and resources! I will definitely update on how my first adventure goes. It sounds like the mini adventure in the core book can serve as a great starting session before I run chariot of the gods, so I'll probably start there.

Matthew Colville has a playlist about running the game, you might find a few good tips in there.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... MaV7ELLCP_