T A L E S F R O M T H E F R O N T I E R
P R E M I S E:
It is the year 2182, and mankind is struggling to find its place among the stars. Having turned mother Earth into a polluted, overpopulated, miserable hive of the desperately poor living in the shadows of the unfathomably rich, humanity has sought out new opportunities in the Outer Veil. A web of colonies, mines, stations, and shipping lanes connect hundreds of planets, moons, and asteroids in the region of the galaxy that has come to be known as the Middle Heavens. The United Americas, the Three Worlds Empire, and the Union of Progressive Peoples have been locked in a perpetual three-way cold war for control over this web of sparsely-populated worlds, while all three line the pockets of the ambitious and utterly ruthless Weyland-Yutani Corporation and its competitors. For those who live in the far-off worlds of the Frontier, though, this politicking and intrigue doesn't mean much compared to the challenge of simply making it through the day in one piece.
That's where you come in. Maybe you're an Earther, who saw the chance to pull yourself out of the grime and misery and managed to take a job off-world. Maybe you're a freelancer, with a small ship of your own and big debts to pay for it. Maybe you're an agent for the Company, seeking new opportunities for revenue, as well as a chance to climb a few more rungs up that ladder. Or maybe you're a kid raised out here in the Frontier, more interested in exploring the nooks and crannies of the station than whatever dull grown-up business your parents are tending to. One way or another, you have found your way to the ass-end of space, and it's on you to figure out how to get by.
Bear in mind, 'getting by' is harder than most planet-bound folks would ever believe. Space itself is huge, cold, and utterly unforgiving. If it's not gamma bursts or neutrino fields cooking you alive, or black holes pulling you into oblivion, or an unexpected chunk of debris smashing your ship's hull at an inopportune moment, it's the unknowable light years of complete and utter nothing that will starve you and freeze you and drive you insane. Accidents happen, parts break down, people turn on each other, and lives are snuffed out.
And those are just the tragedies that have explanations. Every once in a while, a ship, a station, even an entire colony, will just...go dark. No explanation given, no story or excuse, the names and places will just vanish from the map, and from Company records, like they never existed. Such things are dismissed as the ramblings of conspiracy theorists, perhaps UPP propaganda or anti-Company fear-mongering.
Still, there are names that any aspiring corporate executive, government official, or military officer knows full well to avoid. Names like the Nostromo. Or Sevastapol Station. Or Hadley's Hope.
Rumors have circulated for years about ancient ruins on forgotten planets, "ghost ships" full of horrors best left undiscovered, and hostile creatures that are the very stuff of nightmares. Most seasoned spacers know bullshit when they hear it, but if even the smallest part of those rumors are true, then maybe mankind should have never left the confines of Earth in the first place.
Still, you're here in the far end of the Frontier, and you've got a job to do. Best to keep your head on a swivel, your reflexes sharp, and an eye on any dark corners. There are no grand heroes to save the day out here, only grunts and assholes and the occasional halfway decent human being, and a thousand horrible things lurking in the shadows.
As the old saying goes, in space, no one can hear you scream.
That's where you come in. Maybe you're an Earther, who saw the chance to pull yourself out of the grime and misery and managed to take a job off-world. Maybe you're a freelancer, with a small ship of your own and big debts to pay for it. Maybe you're an agent for the Company, seeking new opportunities for revenue, as well as a chance to climb a few more rungs up that ladder. Or maybe you're a kid raised out here in the Frontier, more interested in exploring the nooks and crannies of the station than whatever dull grown-up business your parents are tending to. One way or another, you have found your way to the ass-end of space, and it's on you to figure out how to get by.
Bear in mind, 'getting by' is harder than most planet-bound folks would ever believe. Space itself is huge, cold, and utterly unforgiving. If it's not gamma bursts or neutrino fields cooking you alive, or black holes pulling you into oblivion, or an unexpected chunk of debris smashing your ship's hull at an inopportune moment, it's the unknowable light years of complete and utter nothing that will starve you and freeze you and drive you insane. Accidents happen, parts break down, people turn on each other, and lives are snuffed out.
And those are just the tragedies that have explanations. Every once in a while, a ship, a station, even an entire colony, will just...go dark. No explanation given, no story or excuse, the names and places will just vanish from the map, and from Company records, like they never existed. Such things are dismissed as the ramblings of conspiracy theorists, perhaps UPP propaganda or anti-Company fear-mongering.
Still, there are names that any aspiring corporate executive, government official, or military officer knows full well to avoid. Names like the Nostromo. Or Sevastapol Station. Or Hadley's Hope.
Rumors have circulated for years about ancient ruins on forgotten planets, "ghost ships" full of horrors best left undiscovered, and hostile creatures that are the very stuff of nightmares. Most seasoned spacers know bullshit when they hear it, but if even the smallest part of those rumors are true, then maybe mankind should have never left the confines of Earth in the first place.
Still, you're here in the far end of the Frontier, and you've got a job to do. Best to keep your head on a swivel, your reflexes sharp, and an eye on any dark corners. There are no grand heroes to save the day out here, only grunts and assholes and the occasional halfway decent human being, and a thousand horrible things lurking in the shadows.
As the old saying goes, in space, no one can hear you scream.
P R O P O S A L:
I would like to run a persistent roleplaying campaign set in the universe of the Alien movies, using the RPG system developed by Free League Games (the free Quickstart PDF hasn't come out yet, but it's based on the same mechanics as their older game Coriolis, the quick rules for which can be found here). Rather than a single ongoing plot, the idea is to have a series of interconnected one-shot adventures with lots of different things that can go badly. While the Aliens themselves are the headline attraction, they are far from the only danger players will encounter, both in terms of otherworldly horrors and just the regular dangers of space travel (think of movies like Sunshine or Europa Report for examples of 'mundane' space horror). If your character survives to the end of an encounter, they may return later as a recurring hero or villain.
However, that's a big 'if.' As this is a horror game, it is entirely possible (and very likely) that most if not all of a crew on any given mission will die in very nasty ways. While I do not intend to get overly explicit with things like sexual content (although that is definitely a part of it if you look at HR Giger's artwork), I am marking this game as 18+ due to the fact that the Alien series has its fair share of blood, gore, and grotesque body horror. As this game takes cues from the first movie rather than the second, trying to be a guns-blazing action hero will likely get you killed very quickly. Unless you're a squad of heavily armed Colonial Marines, trying to stand and fight with even a single Alien will almost always end poorly-- and even if you are a squad of heavily armed Colonial Marines, your odds aren't stellar.
Survival-horror is the name of the game, with players having to rely on teamwork, creative problem solving, and possibly self-sacrificing heroics to make it through increasingly awful situations. Stay alive, stay sane, and stay human.
However, that's a big 'if.' As this is a horror game, it is entirely possible (and very likely) that most if not all of a crew on any given mission will die in very nasty ways. While I do not intend to get overly explicit with things like sexual content (although that is definitely a part of it if you look at HR Giger's artwork), I am marking this game as 18+ due to the fact that the Alien series has its fair share of blood, gore, and grotesque body horror. As this game takes cues from the first movie rather than the second, trying to be a guns-blazing action hero will likely get you killed very quickly. Unless you're a squad of heavily armed Colonial Marines, trying to stand and fight with even a single Alien will almost always end poorly-- and even if you are a squad of heavily armed Colonial Marines, your odds aren't stellar.
Survival-horror is the name of the game, with players having to rely on teamwork, creative problem solving, and possibly self-sacrificing heroics to make it through increasingly awful situations. Stay alive, stay sane, and stay human.
