Forum

I want to touch on an issue I have with EE and the way it names things. I think the 1st edition of the Alien rpg got most naming conventions right. The biggest problem I had was calling one span of time a “turn” and another a “round” which I found to be confusing. In combat, each “round” has several players taking actions on their… turn. But not the same “turn” that named a span of time. It was hard for new players to grasp, and meant that sometimes things would get lost in translation.

This issue was corrected in EE, by calling it a “Stretch” of time. Hooray! Shift, stretch, round, easy enough. But this one step forward feels as though it came with two steps back.

I think that many of the name changes in EE will cause confusion for both new and old players alike. The most glaring example is that actions are now called “full” and “quick” actions, when previously they were called “slow” and “fast.” To me, a “full” action means that it takes my entire turn (both my “full” and “quick” action) in a round to do something, when in reality it means that I can only do one of these types of actions during my turn. To me, at least, “full” means 100%, I assume it means something in its entirety. The previous “slow” and “fast” did not suffer from this issue and I am curious as to why the change was made. I feel as though a very clear name has been replaced by a more confusing term without good reason.

Another re-naming confusion that has come about is that it seems that most talents from 1st edition have new names in EE. I really don’t understand why. This will only make it so that older players will have to learn new names. “Tough” made logical sense, giving you +2 health, it’s not like how “turn” in the first edition confused some people. I don't think "Hardened" is any easier to understand than "Tough." I am honestly curious as to the reasoning for this change.

Evolved Edition also suffers from clunky and confusing wording in some of its action names. There are now two kinds of aiming: “Careful aiming” and “Aim for weak spot” (table on p 16 of the starter set rulebook). However, on pages 16 & 17, these actions are titled as “aiming” and “weak spot.” A minor, easy way to make things clearer would be to always have consistent naming. Calling the first “Careful aiming” and the second “Weakpoint aiming” in all cases would help.

Example improved text:

Careful Aiming: If you take your time to carefully aim before squeezing the trigger, you get +2 dice to your roll. Careful aiming is a quick action and can only be done at Short range or more. The careful aim must happen on your turn, immediately before the attack.

Weakpoint Aiming: Against an armored target, you can aim for a weakpoint, getting -2 dice. On a hit, the armor level is reduced 1 step (after reduction for an armor piercing attack).

Consistency goes a long way to help things flow better at the table.

Another example of this is full auto (p. 18). You use the word “burst” a lot, as in “a burst of fully automatic fire,” but never use the words “full auto” or “burst” in a sentence together. It’s a little disjointed and confusing. Additionally, in IRL nomenclature, a “burst” is not “full auto.” I think it would be better to always refer to it as “full auto” instead of “bursts.”

Example improved text:

Full Auto
Some weapons can fire on full auto. When you fire a weapon with the full auto trait and hit, without pushing the roll, you can immediately make another attack roll, at the same target or another, as part of the same action. If you hit again (without pushing), you may roll a third time. As soon as you miss, or push a roll, the attack is over. Each attack roll except the first gives you stress level +1. You cannot make more than three attack rolls in a single turn.
Ammo: When firing full auto, you must make an ammo supply roll after each attack roll.
Aiming: If you aim carefully (page xx), the bonus will only apply to the first attack roll made with full auto.

I welcome all feedback, thanks!