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Hi everyone,

well alien is a master piece, me and my friends are now in our third consecutive scenario, and having lots of fun . We are also having some heated discussions about the talent "Personal safety" in alien, the one from company agent. In the text is says "if you are attacked or otherwise end up in fatal danger, and if another PC...".

From my interpretation i am reading this as personal safety can only be used in the event of fatal danger, does that make sense to you? If so what would be fatal danger, beyond broken? How you guys interpret this?

Thanks guys

"End up in fatal danger" would be anything that is about to put your character in a life threatening situation, so it doesn't have to be just immediate damage (but this will be most of the time) it just has to shortly lead there.

Facehugger leaps at you from from an opening egg? Manipulation roll. "Look out Jennifer!" as your unfortunate assistant turns to see what's going on and now becomes the target....
Panel explodes violently from the shorting reactor, dousing you with radioactive materials while you're standing next to it? Manipulation roll. "Look out Corporal!" as that poor marine pushes you to safety and takes the brunt of the blast along with the subsequent radiation poisoning, while not a drop lands on you....

(Obviously, you can come up with much cleverer ways to have people step into harms way on your behalf, that's all part of being a corporate scumbag.... )

Basically, its an opportunity for you to avoid having to take immediate action or make a check to avoid the negative effects of an attack or hazard that would otherwise cause you harm, when someone else can take the bullet in your place. Generally REALLY useful where your Manipulation roll has a lot more chance of succeeding than your roll to avoid or survive the hazard..,

(Of course, if you fail the roll, that pesky scientist is going to make it to safety while you run in a perfectly straight line with the big alien ship rolling right towards you....)

Bringing up an old post here but damn this Talent is kind of OP. I had people trying to kill Wilson in COTG for a while and the player kept using this and avoiding every attack. Like the team decimated each other trying to kill Wilson because he was just rollin homeruns each time. Anyone suggest nerfing this a bit? And how?

UscssRookie, if it's players versus players... the way you're talking... it seemed like players were desperately trying to kill another player... in those cases, the Game Mother takes control of the character and Wilson becomes an NPC. At least, that's my interpretation of the situation you experienced...

Let's forget the "Personal Safety" talent in those situations, in that if it gets into too much conflict with the other players, the GM takes control of the situation, and at that point, as an NPC, it's easier to kill (Wilson) at the right time or play the bad guys against the players.

P.S. Don't neglect the golden role-playing situations in a game. If the payer playing Wilson is a veteran, and if the situation is well managed, you'll have a game with some pretty good role-playing if you let the player manage the Wilson character.

Arthur.

Thanks AD, It’s always a rule I throw out and let players play out because I like them to feel the intensity of betrayal or whatever it might be. I’ve played with different groups, total of 15 or so people who all love to feel that “Carter Burke/Ash/whoever” tension that accompanies betrayal. Its what gets people talking most post-game and creates memorable experiences

I like it when my veteran players choose characters like Wilson/Ash/Carter Burke ... it brings life to the game-table ... I just have to try not to let anyone try to tear each other's heads off, hahaha!

Arthur.