User avatar
Ninchilla
Posts: 89
Joined: Wed 25 Jan 2023, 12:55
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Thu 27 Mar 2025, 15:51

If you don't want to have to squint quite so hard at the Kickstarter images, there are high-resolution versions of the page spreads on the press kit Dropbox.
 
User avatar
uscssrookie
Posts: 104
Joined: Sun 01 Aug 2021, 07:37

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Thu 27 Mar 2025, 16:50

If you don't want to have to squint quite so hard at the Kickstarter images, there are high-resolution versions of the page spreads on the press kit Dropbox.

This is great and way easier to see! Thank you! Looks crispy.

Any gameplay reason for the F44AA rifle to have the same damage as the M41A Pulse Rifle? Based on Romulus it seems like a weaker, smaller round. It should have better bonus and (whatever ammo is) than the M41A but weaker damage, imo.

Why up the AK4047 from bonus 0 to bonus 1?

Looking at the new “Stress Response” chart I admit I am missing a lot of the great panic effects from the original version.
 
User avatar
Ninchilla
Posts: 89
Joined: Wed 25 Jan 2023, 12:55
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Thu 27 Mar 2025, 17:29

Why up the AK4047 from bonus 0 to bonus 1?
Guessing it's part of a slight upgrade across the board; the M41A & M41AE2 also got bumped from +1 to +2, and the M42A went from +2 to +3.
Looking at the new “Stress Response” chart I admit I am missing a lot of the great panic effects from the original version.
I'm hoping full-on Panic is a different effect (and table!) to regular Stress Response. Xenos and other events in first edition could force a Stress roll, and it wouldn't make sense for that kind of reactive situation to roll on a table where the bottom option is "you do the opposite of what you were trying to do".
Last edited by Ninchilla on Thu 27 Mar 2025, 17:33, edited 1 time in total.
 
User avatar
uscssrookie
Posts: 104
Joined: Sun 01 Aug 2021, 07:37

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Thu 27 Mar 2025, 17:33

Looking at the new “Stress Response” chart I admit I am missing a lot of the great panic effects from the original version.
I'm hoping full-on Panic is a different effect (and table!) to regular Stress Response. Xenos and other events in first edition could force a Stress roll, and it wouldn't make sense for that kind of reactive situation to roll on a table where the bottom option is "you do the opposite of what you were trying to do".
I absolutely agree, the best of both worlds would be fantastic! This helps mitigate stress spiral for sure, but panic should still be a thing (your logic for this is on point) I am hopeful they keep elements of it for the final version.


Thats true on the bonus, I forgot. silver sharpie into my books and cards here I come I suppose. I honestly would like them to just keep all the previous weapons info the same. All else equal, the M44AA from Romulus should be weaker.
 
Ralbatross
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue 11 Mar 2025, 10:32

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Thu 27 Mar 2025, 17:47

Looking at the new “Stress Response” chart I admit I am missing a lot of the great panic effects from the original version.
The main problem with the old Panic Chart was that it caused characters to lock up and be completely useless. It also lead, with the rules as written, to situations like a really bad roll causing someone to start cursing and having a meltdown or going berserk when they are doing something thats justifiably stressful, which is most highly technical problems. Since the panic is mostly time limited, it just ended up stretching out the interaction time for normal things, and resulted in rules such as yours, where you removed a mechanic from the game to avoid it making the game awkward, or where people rule against panic spirals.

I've always run a game much closer to those Stress Reaction rules. I use the Panic table only in very highly stressful situations - I usually default to what would be a 9+ roll on the new Stress Response table. I also have a much higher bound (6s vs 1s) on whether a panic will occur. I've yet to have a single panic spiral, and after doing a bit of maths, the way this Stress Reaction system works out is pretty similar. I've had everything from people boofing grenades into themselves, to screaming at the top of their voices in the presence of a Xenomorph, to crashing a space craft because they got distracted.

Essentially, the maths on it works out like this:
- your Resolve is the average of your Empathy + your Wit / 2 rounded up. That's going to average out in the range 3-5. In the context of the game, that's the amount of stress you can have, and not have it negatively effect you
- your stress is then a flat modifier on top of that. Your stress plus your resolve gives you the base reaction you can expect even if you didn't roll at all

On a 2d6 roll, over half of your outcomes are bounded between 5 and 8. A 2d6's lower bound is 2 as a minimum roll (1+1).

Therefore, you can say the following things about a guy with low Resolve, here set at 3. We'll call this guy Hudson:

- the minimum stress reaction Hudson can have is 0 (2 + 1 stress - 3 resolve). His chance of not having a stress reaction at all is about 15%
- assuming your 2d6s roll out correctly, Hudson will screw up an average of 7% of his rolls at 1 stress (9 - 1 + 3 means you need to roll 11+ to panic)
- Hudson will screw up every single time once the combination of his Stress + Resolve reaches 7, which for him, happens at 10 stress
- the point at which more, rather than less dice rolls cause Hudson to screw up is reached at 5 stress since 5 - 3 = 2 which means any rolled 7 (the median roll for a 2d6) will cause him to flip out and fail

It's designed to smooth out the curve for panicking in the rules as written. You can add in the Panic table as a second roll for 9+ if you like the flavour, unless they have added additional panic rules. However, I will be replacing my own system with this one immediately as of next weeks session because it's a much cleaner approach to the problem than what I had written myself. It does involve more rolling, admittedly, but I like how it looks.
 
User avatar
Angelman
Posts: 532
Joined: Sun 11 Apr 2021, 12:46

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Fri 28 Mar 2025, 14:31

So, I'm watching the Evolved Edition playthrough of Hope's Last Day (https://youtu.be/mHmyFqpc0Bs?feature=shared), and it turns out there are two different "fear" tables, one for Stress Resolution and one for Panic. Both uses the same system, though (2d6 + Stress - Resolve = table entry)
(Resolve = Wits + Empathy/2 round up)

STRESS RESPONSE TABLE from the preview pages
You roll on the table every time you score a Facehugger
Only result 9+ sabotages your attempted roll
(I've shortened the entries a bit)
up to 1: Keeping Cool. No effect
2: Shakes. +1 Stress for you
3: Frantic. +1 Stress for you. Also Air Supply roll if applicable
4: Aggravated. +1 Stress for everyone in your zone
5: Loud Noise. +1 Stress for everyone in your zone. If hiding, you are detected.
6: Deflated. You cannot push any skill rolls for remainder of the Stretch.
7: Lose Item. +1 Stress for you. Drop weapon/important item.
8: Injury. You suffer 1 DMG (ignoring armor)
9+: Mess Up. +1 Stress for everyone in your zone. Your roll has opposite of the intended effect (hit friend etc.)


I haven't seen any Panic Table yet, but it was referred to in the video.
Update - Panic Table: Someone Panic Table result inferred from the game-play.
3: Frantic. +1 Stress. Also, make Air Supply roll if applicable.
6: Become Paranoid. You don't trust anyone and cannot give or receive help until your panic ends
8: Deflated. You cannot push skill rolls until your panic ends
10 (possibly a 9+ result): Frozen by Fear. Lose next turn
Note that 3 is identical to the Stress Resolution Roll (and Panic 8 is the same as Stress 6), so it is possible the GM simply referred to the wrong table in these instances.

Armor: Lastly, it appears the xenomorph in the new version of the scenario doesn't have armor, (possibly a hint towards the supposed overhauled armor rules), although it is possible the GM just forgets about armor.

Update - new ammo rules: Apparently, the new ammo rules -- with weapons having an ammo score like Pulse Rifle 3, Smartgun 4, Heavy Pulse Rifle 5, etc. -- are resolved as a simple supply roll. Roll Stress Dice equal to remaining ammo; Facehuggers reduces your remaining ammo.
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged
 
Ralbatross
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue 11 Mar 2025, 10:32

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Fri 28 Mar 2025, 22:47

Update - new ammo rules: Apparently, the new ammo rules -- with weapons having an ammo score like Pulse Rifle 3, Smartgun 4, Heavy Pulse Rifle 5, etc. -- are resolved as a simple supply roll. Roll Stress Dice equal to remaining ammo; Facehuggers reduces your remaining ammo.
Think I'll stick to the version of the rules that I've got for ammo
 
User avatar
Angelman
Posts: 532
Joined: Sun 11 Apr 2021, 12:46

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Mon 31 Mar 2025, 18:44

New stretch goals added!

Now we have:
1: Rapture Protocol NPC Cards -- Unlocked
2: Facehugger minis -- Unlocked
3: Lifepath character generation system -- Unlocked
4: Supply Dial -- Unlocked
5: Bonus xeno mini -- Unlocked

6: Skirmish Battle Rules -- Unlocked
7: Panic Cards -- Unlocked
8: Bonus Adventure (Chrysalis) -- Unlocked
9: Tartarus Sector campaign setting -- Unlocked
10: Another extra xeno mini -- Unlocked

...and the new batch:

11: Card Tuckbox -- Unlocked
12: Digital art Book -- Unlocked
13: Ribbon Bookmark for collectors' edition -- Unlocked
14: MU/TH/UR-Themed GM Screen (to replace the original design)
15: ALIEN-themed dice bag
Last edited by Angelman on Thu 03 Apr 2025, 14:02, edited 1 time in total.
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged
 
User avatar
Jeff Wilder
Posts: 117
Joined: Wed 31 Aug 2022, 01:58

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Tue 01 Apr 2025, 00:17

I realize that evocative art has value on a GM screen, but does anybody else feel like those three or four player-facing panels would be far more valuable holding player-facing information? I did an eight-panel screen for ALIEN, and will likely do it again for Evolved, but it'd be so great to already have it done.

EDIT: It occurs to me that this could make an excellent easy stretch goal: four sheets of well-formatted easy-to-read player-facing info that could just be clipped to the GM screen.
Jeff Wilder | San Francisco Bay Area
"And if you bore me, you lose your soul to me." | Belly
 
User avatar
Angelman
Posts: 532
Joined: Sun 11 Apr 2021, 12:46

Re: Whats this about 2nd Edition rules?

Tue 01 Apr 2025, 07:51

While I see the utility of having rules info and such on the outside panels of the GM screen, in my groups (30-odd years of experience) this has never really worked. Text on the screen only really benefits the closets players, and I find it doesn't get used much. The only utility-content I have seen getting a fair amount of use on the outside of a GM screen is a basic setting map; that, along with evocative artwork has a greater utility, I find.

As for a 4-panel screen, I agree that those are superior to the common 3-panel ones, if for nothing else because they allow additional helpful info on the GM side and simply more space for the GM to organize their game. As a counter point, the side panels of 4-panel screens tend to disappear on the player side, rendering them much less visible and useful, although the utility for the GM are much appreciated. But yeah, I prefer 4-panel screens myself.

And finally, about game info sheets, the Alien Evolved Edition starter set comes with 5 reference sheets that I assume will function as players' rules aids around the table.
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest