I was worried as there had been only one person expressing an interest in the game on social media.
I needn’t have worried as I had six players turning up to my table in the Cube at Ludorati Café. Two of the players hadn’t role played before so no pressure there then! I later learnt that they weren’t even familiar with the Alien franchise as they hadn’t seen the films before either.
The Cube at Ludorati Café set up for my Alien Game
I like playing in the Cube as not only can I put up images on the large TV screen via my Laptop, but I can play background music via the Bluetooth speakers. I had a Keynote presentation playing from my MacBook Pro with images of the base, characters, ships, etc that I could control from my iPhone, I had the Aliens OST playing from my iPhone through the speakers and I was referring to my notes, as well as taking notes, on my iPad Pro. It is a good set up.
I started by handing out the character sheets to allow the players to choose which one they wanted to play. I also showed them how to use the foldable Character Handouts, they were impressed with them!
The player characters are:
Dan had picked Lance Corporal Juan Hernandez the Smartgun Operator
Becky had chosen to play Dr Monygham, the Trauma and Cryogentic Specialist
Helen was playing Corporal Carlos Gould, the murderous soldier.
Lucy had gone for playing Lieutenant Antonia Avellanos, the second in command.
Miles chose to play Captain Martin Decoud, the Squad Leader.
Adam was playing Lance Corporal Conrad Kurze with his Plasma Rifle (in the 40W range).
Photo by Damon Mitchell
The mission is simple:
Special Order 10015A - LV-510 - Phoronis
Eliminate all hostiles with extreme prejudice.
Capture the leaders of the resistance for questioning.
Rescue all the hostages especially the corporate executives in cryogenic sleep.
Minimise damage to corporate facilities that have significant dollar value.
All other considerations rescinded.
After the mission briefing on the USS Ribiera the players chose to take the more risky option of the plan, getting closer to the main target facility rather than the main landing pad. This did prove costly as they lost their transport after dust off.
They managed to deal with the resistance set against them, moving through the facility slowly but surely.
They used their Motion Trackers, I used the sound effects for that at the table that was well received, to track the movement of the miners. They discovered that most of their opposition was ahead of them, but some were moving through the facility on either side, trying to get past them or flank them. The group decided to move forward and attack the main group.
The round opened with rolling for initiative, 1d6 plus the Agility score of the character instead of drawing cards, the highest going first. It worked well and it ended up with one of the miners firing first, pelting the Captain with shotgun fire. His armour didn’t stop the shot, so he took damage. The Doctor then helped the Captain heal up with her Medkit. The Captain returned fire with his Pulse Rifle, I used the sound effects again, and he was able to take down the opposition.
The rest of the group took turns in attacking the miners, each shooting the miners, and taking a tally of their kills. Corporal Gould was very brutal, getting in close with his sawn-off shotgun to deal with the miners. It ended with the last miner shouting out, with his dying breath, a message over his comms, “launch it, launch it now!”
But launch what?
After that the PCs managed to move through the facility to the control room, running afoul of a few traps along gathered way, but they managed to secure the facility. The rescued the hostages and captured the leader.
From there the tension built up and the PCs started taking Stress as things started going very wrong with the mission.
The funniest moment is when they were planning to getting everyone off the planet, working out how to fit the hostages into the different escape shuttles and ships. Of course no one is going to make it out alive!
When the Alien arrived things did get hectic, Corporal Gould tried to shoot it, but Dr Monygham (played by one of the new to role playing players) decided to take him out to protect the Alien. What followed was a tense battle as each player tried to out do the other. Of course it was a disaster but it was great fun for the players!
The Players with their character sheets
The player realise they are all going to die!
It was a great game and both the new to role playing players did very well, getting very involved in the planning and actual execution! It was a lot of fun.
My thanks goes to Damon at Ludorati Café for organising the Halloween special, there were quite a few great costumes on show by many of the visitors to the cafe, many of them playing games.
Also my thanks goes to all the staff at Ludorati Café for their hospitality and service.
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