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### My Hopes for *Alien Evolution*

Hi everyone,

First off, I’m really looking forward to the new edition of *Alien*. It’s easily my favorite movie franchise (well, at least the first two movies), and I thoroughly enjoyed the first edition of the RPG. However, after reading and playing it extensively, there are a few aspects that I think could work better. With the new edition on the horizon, I thought it would be fun to create a kind of wish list for improvements. So, here goes:

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### 1. Address the Pulse Rifle Issue
The Pulse Rifle feels underwhelming in the game. With just 2 damage and an armor-piercing trait, it doesn’t live up to its on-screen reputation. In *Aliens*, a single burst from a Pulse Rifle can shred a Xenomorph, and I think the RPG should reflect that.

One idea could be to make the standard explosive armor-piercing ammo more impactful by introducing a stunt that guarantees a critical hit or improves the effectiveness of full-auto fire. Taking inspiration from *Electric State*, full-auto could allow multiple hits in a single burst—or both these options could work together.

To balance this increased lethality, you could enhance the danger posed by acid blood. A Xenomorph should feel much more hazardous up close, with acid sprays not only injuring players but also potentially damaging a spaceship’s hull or critical equipment if explosive rounds are used.

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### 2. Improve the Cover Mechanic
Currently, cover in the game is underwhelming, offering only a 6+ armor rating, which feels insufficient—especially when facing armor-piercing attacks. A better alternative might be to increase the difficulty of hitting someone in cover. For example, taking a cue from *The Walking Dead RPG*, you could require one additional success to hit a target in cover. This would make cover a more viable tactical choice.

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### 3. Tweak Critical Hit Randomness
The critical hit system feels a bit too random for my liking. For instance, being knocked out in a bar fight and being downed by a Smart Gun can result in the same critical hit, ranging from "winded" to "dead." While I appreciate the Year Zero Engine’s embrace of OSR-style deadliness, the outcomes can feel disconnected from the narrative.

I really liked *Electric State’s* approach to this issue (though I’ve only read it, not played it). Perhaps the new edition could introduce a system that better reflects the severity and context of different attacks.

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### 4. Align Mechanics with In-Universe Logic
As it stands, the Smart Gun is superior to the Pulse Rifle in every way. But in-universe, the USCM has chosen the M41A as their standard weapon. This choice should make sense mechanically.

For instance, the Smart Gun could have drawbacks like reduced maneuverability or other limitations. Similarly, if the Romulus "old" Pulse Rifle (which can auto-track targets) is mechanically superior, it raises the question of why the USCM wouldn’t use it instead. Aligning the mechanics with lore would help maintain immersion.

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### 5. Rework the Panic System
The current panic system can sometimes feel overly comical when chain reactions occur—where one character’s panic triggers a cascade of stress-induced chaos. While this can be entertaining, it doesn’t always align with the horror tone of the game.

I liked the “messing up” mechanic from *The Walking Dead RPG*, where higher stress levels increase the likelihood of mistakes. A similar approach could make stress more impactful without veering into slapstick territory.

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### 6. Refine the Ammo System
I enjoy the abstract ammo system, but the current rules can feel a bit too harsh. Running out of ammo after a single roll of 1 on a stress die doesn’t quite match the cinematic feel of the movies.

Instead, weapons could have a few ammo slots, representing a small pool of resources before running dry. This would reflect the films better, where reloading is rare or almost nonexistent.

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### 7. Strengthen Vehicles
Vehicles in the game feel surprisingly fragile. For example, the APC has just 8 health/hull and 8 armor—less than a Xenomorph Soldier. This means that even a standard M41A Pulse Rifle could shred it, which feels wrong.

One solution could be to put vehicles on a different scale entirely, making them significantly tougher. Vehicles should feel robust and capable of withstanding small arms fire.

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In conclusion, while all my suggestions focus on mechanics, it’s worth emphasizing how much I love the *Alien* setting and what Free League has done with the RPG. The books are fantastic, and the team has truly done justice to this iconic franchise. Overall, I’m incredibly happy with the *Alien* RPG, and I can’t wait to see what the new edition brings!

Note: I have using ChatGPT in writing this.

Hey bfm75, your wish list is a good idea.

###1 The xenomorphs from the Aliens movie are too easy to kill. The Xenomorph from Alien 1979 is tougher. I think the game designers wanted to present a more Alien 1979 type xenomorph. From a gaming point of view, it's more interesting for terror and stress and therefore better for the RPG. In any case, I like having a tougher xenomorph like in Alien 1979.

###5 I like the stress and panic system as it is. But I must say that I don't know the "messing up" structure from Walking Dead RPG.

###6 I like the management of the Ammo system as it is. I understand that you like all the military aspects like in Aliens (and that's great, I love Aliens too) but, I sincerely think that there is something for everyone with the current rules. But Free League is currently reviewing the rules (or adding rules) for the next edition. We'll see what will be in it. Thanks for your suggestions.

I sincerely think that we have to be careful about adding too many rules. It will kill the current mechanics, very simple and very interesting as it is. There is always the option for each Game Mother to add the rules he wants to his game table. That's my opinion.

Thanks for your suggestions. You have some very good ideas here.

Arthur.

I don't really have an issue with the M41A. My PCs have definitely shredded xenomorphs with one burst. It takes a really good (usually pushed) roll, but an aimed shot from a firearms specialist can be 12+ dice (before stress).

Improving cover feels like it would decrease the dynamics of combat, as one side claims the best cover and fights it out from there. This is excellent small-unit tactics. It would also, IMO, be lousy for the ALIEN RPG.

You've got a good point about critical hits. I've always just handled it ad hoc, finding the nearest critical to what's actually rolled that fits the situation. I haven't felt the need to do this very often, but I do think a Brawling critical hit table, at least, wouldn't be so bad. People do die accidentally in fistfights, but it's very rare.

"They would automatically choose the best weapon" is not true in the real world, so why would it be true in fiction? Even as much as the US spends on weapons, if Rifle X is slightly better than Rifle Y, but costs 20 times more to produce, the Pentagon is not going to outfit hundreds of thousands of grunts with Rifle X.

I keep coming back to typing "in my games," which makes me think that the disconnect might be that I definitely want a slim gamist system that I can make GM calls for, not a tactically accurate combat simulation. ALIEN is the former, and I very much hope that doesn't change. (There are so many games with heavy tactical combat ... why do we need another one?)

Anyway, in my games, maneuvering in tight spots is an issue for smartguns, and I don't allow using a smartgun against a target the shooter has engaged. (Also, the M56A2 does weight three times as much as the M41A. That's significant.)

Costs and inefficiencies aside, I don't think we saw enough of the advanced pulse rifle in Romulus to say it was superior to the M41A (though I admit that 500-round magazine must be nice). It's possible, for example, that the smart-targeting was miniaturized and internalized for the M41A. It's also possible that it proved too fragile in common combat environments. And so on.

The Panic System needs work. In my games, I use six different panic tables, and I impose a limit of one panic per round, and two stress from panic per round. A reworked system could easily be a "Panic Track," where once you panic, additional panics just increase along the track (with all effects reached simultaneously applicable).

I love the simplicity of the ammo system, but it does seem weird to me that the Supply rules exist, yet for some reason aren't used for ammo. (For example, a 100-round magazine would be Supply 4. When you roll your attack, pick a (third) color die and roll your Supply at the same time (just to save time), ammo going down after the attack is resolved. I could live with this.)

Vehicles do seem fragile, though in my games any vehicle with an Armor rating doesn't take damage from small arms. (I honestly thought this was already in the rules; also note than an M62A2 is a heavy weapon.) In play, I think it's much more fun to be able to blow up vehicles (or have them blown up under you) reasonably often, so while I agree they're fragile, I think that's feature rather than a bug.

Again, I think our preferences mostly come down to how much gritty simulation we want. I personally think ALIEN is such a great game (the best game ever for one-shots, IMO) because it's low simulation. My anaphylactic shock at the announcement of a new edition mostly stemmed from a fear that Free League will significantly increase simulation. I really hope not.

The way I handled panic in my game in campaign mode was to count successes across both dice against failures on the panic dice. It makes full on panic a lot rarer and keeps the players in control of their characters most of the time, but the resulting panics can be really brutal because since you can have an entire squad panicing and it doesn't feel unfair because it happens much more rarely.

I also tend to homebrew my panics a lot, so I make the panic rolls in non-combat situations come out less threatening, but have awful consequences depending on the circumstances.

The statistics just tend to work out to a natural flow of panic, and players die easily enough that it doesn't feel completely unfair.

As for armour on vehicles, I have a fairly simple rule on that. I only roll armour for vehicles if it's an anti vehicle weapon. Otherwise I assume the full armour works. It still means you can get those one in a million shots from time to time if you roll -really- well, but it makes it incredibly rare.

I truly believe this is excellent game-table management my dear Ralbatross. These are all good ideas.

Arthur.