I wanted to try to get the ttrpg but im not sure where to start. I normally do online session of dnd and daggerheart. How much different is it from those? Also do people do campaigns or more like one shots?
Thanks in advance!
D&D and Daggerheart are both roll & total systems; Alien's a roll and check each die for TN, counting the number that succeed.
D&D has massively more HP; DH has somewhat more HP than Alien; both D&D HP will, and DH HP can, go up from levelup; Alien HP generally don't go up. D&D and DH, 0 HP is out of action, may be dead; in Alien, it's KO'd and take a critical hit; some crits can kill, others are instant kill.
D&D and DH are level based - everything pegs to class level and/or character level; Alien is raise skills and gain talents by spending XP for the specific gains one wants.
Alien initiative is by cards, D&D is by dice roll, DH uses no initiative system.
Mode of play is similar, but rolling should be less frequent outside of combat than in D&D.
Also, when GMing, there are random monster attack tables in Alien for each of the xenomorphs.
In general, you should have no trouble making the switch, but just be aware that PCs are both rather crunchy and surprisingly resilient.
I've run both campaigns and cinematics; the feel is different between them, and in campaign, Xenos are generally not a common thing. This is why things like homebrewed minor monsters are not uncommon. (If you search back, I think I posted my Vorpal Bunny a few years back. It made for a very tense and fun infestation with much less threat than an XX121 xenomorph.)