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Please let there be at least one intro scenario WITHOUT xenomorphs. Don’t show the monster too soon... let the player expect them to show up, but the threat will be something else. Impact/mystery will be greater if they maybe find something related in the next scenario, then see something strange etc before there is full on mayhem later. At least that is how I would like to do it. Like the scene in the first Expanse novel with the abandoned ship - you expect the protomolecule’s ‘effect’ to show up, but it doesn’t. Suspense!

(We'll skip using the "xenomorphs" demographic descriptor as a singular noun for now... )

If you are the GM and I am a player at your table, I have no problem with our first scenario not featuring the alien. Taken from that perspective, the opening of the film is a short scenario that features the alien only in embryonic, larval, and something akin to pupal stage (the imago stage is the towering beastie as we best know it). There's no monster onscreen... yet. End  the scenario after the chest-bursting and I as a player have one hell of a cliff hanger to resolve next game session.

That said, if I'm the potential GM and purchasing the game called ALIEN, I'd damn well like to see the stats of the beast as well as the thing in action.

If there's more than one scenario, the lack of the alien in one is certainly no issue. And offers a chance to play in the system as a sandbox. If there's only a single intro scenario, keeping the alien obfuscated—off-camera as it were—would not seem to make for a satisfying trial run for the game. I've house-ruled Giger critters since CoC & Stormbringer days of yore. I wanna see it written into its own universe and see how it bites. 

Agree!

I believe that the longetivity for the rpg will probably be greater if it contains scenarios or options to not include the aliens in every scenario in campaign mode at least.

It is probably easy enough to handle homebrewed scenarios (without aliens) to my understanding of the glimpses we have seen so far, but an official scenario would be fine. Maybe just a mining station with crazed personnel or a rogue synthetic to test the rules first.

Listen to the interview podcasts. Campaign mode is unlikely to feature xenomorphs. Cinematic mode (designed for one-shots) is very likely to feature them, since they are meant to feel like the films, and the band of the game is, well, Alien!

What is the ALIEN setting really about? Well, dangerous xenomorphs is the most obvious answer. They are there in all films, for sure. But what they really are is not that certain. They seem to be able to come in many forms and sizes, some propably totally different from what is known so far. Maybe in the form of bizarre fish living in water (or other liquids) or as tiny but dangerous insects? Or maybe some kind of microbes? What if they did something else than kill everyone around them? Building a huge nest? Contacting other beings somewhere else?

Another answer to the initial question, is that the setting is really about the Weyland Yutani, a huge capitalist corporation willing to risk anything to gain more power and knowledge. To me, The Company is actually more interesting than the xenomorphs. Quite early on, I would like to see the Company representatives in action. They should have a large and complicated agenda, including stuff that is not entirely visible, at least not from the start. They must know a lot, some stuff that is even hard to imagine. Getting a glimpse of that early on could be really cool. The scenario should feel like a small piece of something much bigger. A huge, dark unknown.

A third answer to the initial question: the setting is about Ellen Ripley. She is, in some form, the main hero in four of the movies. It would simply feel very ALIEN to include her in a first (or early) scenario. The PC:s might get a message from her: she might want to know something or get something fixed. Perhaps she has recieved signals from a distant moon or unknown ship or so... Another angle might be to make Ripley herself a playable character during a mission. She doesn't really seem to like Weyland Yutani. Maybe they just want to use her after some earlier incident. It may also be cool to see her as a potential enemy, maybe as leader for a rival crew. That would be a quite surprising opening of the game. And of course, she is also a person of interest for many. Who was she really? Why was she really on NOSTROMO in the first place? What did she know? Who knew her? Those questions can be relevant during a very long time frame...

A fourth answer: the setting is about exploring the unknown. There is something strange out there – xenomorphs, Engineers and perhaps other stuff too. I can imagine there must some really wild and strange planets, asteroids or abandoned space ships (full of living plants, 5000 years old...). The Corporation (and others) probably wants to know more about this stuff. Or they may already know a lot... One initial discovery might lead to further investigations... A first scenario might be about the initial mission (or a mission thought to be the initial) to a certain unknown location.

A fifth answer: the setting is about humans who interact with synthetics (a k a "artificial persons"). This is usually a theme that is not fully visible from the start, but after some time it gets obvious. They usually follow a very strict and secret plan or agenda. Their presens is usually tightly connected to The Weyland Yutani Corporation; in a sense they are personal incarnations of The Company. But there are, of course, some problems. How independent can synthetics be? Do they have some kind of emotions? Should they just follow orders? What is their deepest motivations? How are they affected by their creators? What happens when (if) they take part in a large rebellion? The synthetics are a key part of the ALIEN universe, just as important as humans and xenomorphs. They have long a history within the setting, reflecting larger conflicts and ideological tensions. In a way, they are constantly dealing with their capitalist creators (Peter Weyland and others), without them they wouldn't exist.   

A sixth answer, that include everything I mentioned above: the setting is about everything we see in the movies. That might seem so obvious that it´s not even worth mentioning. I think it is. In fact, many of the events in the movies are so dramatic and important that they must influence a lot of other people, for example the leaders at the Weyland Yutani Lunar head quarter. When they (and others) get new information about the sensational xenomorphs they will probably do something: send new ships to distant locations, look for other lost expeditions, protect their new knowledge, start new research projects etc. The events in the films are just a part of a much bigger drama, potentially involving other companies, factions, planets, or even beings. It´s all a big story, involving  all the stuff that makes this setting specific, and not just dark space sci fi with Lovecraftian creatures. So basically, I want the first scenario to feel like something from the ALIEN movies, perhaps starting with the information from NOSTROMO or FIORINA "FURY" 161 or involving other known details in a both familiar and unexpected way...         

I’d like to see a premise campaign that takes you from the discovery of ancient alien ruins left by the engineers across many planets through the discovery of the xenomorph and weyland utanis corrupt practices in trying to obtain and weaponize it. I’d also like to see the game touch on more mysterious areas like the engineer homeworld and maybe other creatures encountered and neutralized by the colonial marines, there are subtle references that the marines have combated other species within the start system, I’d like to know what ones and will they show up to be fought. Essentially I’d love to see a monster manual of all the lovecraftian geigeresque things out there in the void.

I’d like to see a premise campaign that takes you from the discovery of ancient alien ruins left by the engineers across many planets through the discovery of the xenomorph and weyland utanis corrupt practices in trying to obtain and weaponize it.  I’d also like to see the game touch on more mysterious areas like the engineer homeworld and maybe other creatures encountered and neutralized by the colonial marines, there are subtle references that the marines have combated other species within the start system, I’d like to know what ones and will they show up to be fought.  Essentially I’d love to see a monster manual of all the lovecraftian geigeresque things out there in the void.

Well, I guess this setting has a kind of general dilemma: if we get to know too much the mystery will be killed. The sense of wonder is core thing in the setting. For example, to me it would be wrong to get a detailed description of the Engineer homeworld. I would rather like to know more about them in fragments – abandoned space ships, vanishing ruins or strange messages. I actually think too much was revealed in Prometheus (I only liked the first half of the movie). To me the same logic goes for the Xenomorphs – don't kill the mystery by detailing too much. If we get to know these creatures too well, the mystery will be killed. Perhaps some more Xenomorphs can be added, but a complete and detailed monster manual would simply kill the mystery for me.

Having this said, of course we should, trough this game, get to know news things too. But I want details about the human side of things – the Corporation and other Earthly and human factions, the synthetics, space ships, Lunar bases etc. In a way, the Xenomorphs are just a tool for telling a human history. I described what I see as the core setting themes above. 

So Bishop, we obviously see this stuff in different ways. That's just fine to me. I hope there will be many discussions about how to develop this setting. There are probably a lot of people with opinions. I guess, Free League will read our posts here carefully and listen to their customers.      

There are other hostile species out there. We know this from the exchange between Hudson and Gorman during the briefing on the Sulaco in Aliens. Add to this corporate espionage, military missions and standard exploration, you've got a lot of material to use before getting anywhere near the Alien.

Easy enough to reduce one of the threats in the scenario Chariot of the Gods and keeping the other, in order to have a more suspenceful intro.

This raises an interesting thought for me.
Will it be interesting at all to play this game without the xenomorphs included one way or another?

Ill admit i know nothing about the setting outside of the movies and their main events