ALY ENG ADVENTURE GAMEPrimary Design Barry Nakazono Writing and Design David McKenzie Wlustration and Graphic Design Toni Dennis Editing and Production Irene Kinzek Special Thanks to Jason, Marissa, and Corinna, and to Tim, Billy, and the rest of our friends in Chico. Also to everyone at Fox and Huttner Litho, of course, and the many friends who have stood by us. ALIENS™ An, Story. and Characters © 1986, 1991 Twertith Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved "™ designates trademark of Twentieth Century Fox Fim Corporation. Fules and Game Design © 1991 Leacing Edge Games. All Rights Reserved Publshed by Leading Edge Games, Box 70889, Pasadera, CA 91117. “This book is protected by copyright. No par ofthis book may be reproduced in any {orm oF by any means, including photocopying, 0: uilzed by any information storage and Tebigval system wihoul the writen permission ofthe copysight owners.INTRODUCTION The ALIENS™ Adventure Game is a complete role-playing system. It includes all the rules necessary for recreating the kind of action shown in the movie, as well as guidelines that will take the players to meet challenges on dozens of strange new worlds. The time of ALIENS is one of great adventure and great change. The nations of Earth have lost much of their power, and multi-national and multi- stellar Corporations have replaced them as the rulers of Humanity. Al- though large-scale warfare has been avoided, there is constant strife among the Corporations and Nations, and with the many Colonies that have been established. In the midst of the chaos, the Colonial Marine Corps stands as Humanity's peacekeeping force, moving among the stars and trying to keep Humanity sate from itself, and from the dangers of space. ‘And now, on a minor world, the greatest danger of all has been awakened; the Aliens. And unless the Colonial Marines can defeat the greed and power of the most unscrupulous Corporations of all, the Aliens will destroy Humanity. The rules and the setting are laid out in eight Chapters, each of which is divided into Sections. This layout makes if easy for players to find specific rules when necessary. The tables used when playing the game are presented in the text. For ease of reference, the most important tables are also repeated at the back of the book and are numbered; the number appears in parentheses whenever the table is referred to in the rules. ‘Atleast three six-sided dice and one or more ten-sided dice (available in hobby stores) are needed for play. The ten-sided die is usually used to generate numbers from 0 to 99. To do this, roll the die twice; the first roll is the tens digit, and the second represents the ones. So a roll of 6 and 2 would be 62, and a 4 and 9 would be 49, Welcome to ALIENS.TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 1. THE CHARACTER 4.1. Setting and Characters 1.2 Characteristics 1.3. Characteristic Generation 1.4 Character Background 4.5 Equipment and Combat Abilities 1.6 Optional Rules 1.7. Active Duty Descriptions 2. SKILLS 2.1 Skill Ratings 2.2 Action / Reaction System 23° Skills Overview 2.4 General Skills 25 Support Skills 2.6 Colonial Marine Support Skills 27 Auxiliary Support Skills 2.8 Officer Support Skills 2.9 Specialist Skills 2.10 Unusual Skills 2.11 Additional Skills 2.12 Learning Skills 2.13 Experience 3. SETTING 3.1. History and Background 3.2. Colonial Marines 3.3. Creating a Strike Team 3.4 Military Actions 42 44 45 3.5 3.6 37 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 44 42 43 44 45 5.1 Mission Generation Making and Spending Money Mercenaries Mission Aftermath Worlds (Star Map page 59) CSC Sector Borodino Sector Hyperdyne Sector New Eden Sector Micor Sector Tartarus Sector Life Forms 1. THE ALIENS Background Life Cycle of the Aliens Alien Metabolism Alien Lairs Removing FaceHuggers . EQUIPMENT Personal Equipment Telecommunications and Finance Protective Clothing and Armor Weapons Larger Equipment ‘Synthetics Ground Vehicles Aircraft Space Technology Frigates and Warships Space Facilities Major Installations Repair 83 84 90 ot 92 113TABLE OF CONTENTS 6. COMBAT SYSTEM 6.1 Game Scale and Playing Surface 6.2 Phases and Combat Actions 6.3. Facing and Movement 64 Fire 6.5 Optional Accuracy Modifiers 66 Hit Location and Damage 6.7 Disabling Injuries & Knockout 68 Explosive Weapons 69 Tactical Notes 6.10 Melee Combat 6.11 Aliens in Combat 6.12 Special Combat Situations 6.13 Medical Aid 7. VEHICULAR COMBAT 7.4 Scale 7.2 Movement 73° Fire 7.4. Air-to-Ground and Ground-to-Ground Fire 7.5 Weapon Systems 7.6 Missiles and Warheads 7.7 Explosive Weapons and Vehicles 7.8 Hit Location and Damage for Vehicles 7.9 Crew Damage in Ground Vehicles and Aircraft 7.10 Crew Damage in Spacecraft and Crashes 7.11 Systems: Ground Vehicles and Aircraft 7.12 Systems: Spacecraft 115 116 116 117 119 120 122 123 124 125 126 130 133 137 137 138 140 140 142 143, 144 148 146 147 150 8 FOR THE GAMEMASTER 8&1 Pre-Generated Characters 153 82 Non-Player Characters 154 8&3 Movie Scenario 155 8.4 Campaign Settings 156 85. Mission Ideas 160 8.6 Rules and Stats for Phoenix 162 Command and Living Stee! Player Data Tables Character Background Table (1) Skills Table (2) Combat Generation Table (3) Equipment Tables (4) ‘Combat Table (5) Hit Location and Damage Tables (6) Hand to Hand Combat Table (7) Medical Aid and Recovery Table (8) Vehicular Combat Table (9) ALIENS Movie Characters Table (10) Pre-generated Colonial Marines Table (11) Non-Player Character Table (12) Alien Lifeforms Data Table (13) Phoenix Command Weapon Data Table (14) Vehicle Status Sheets Ground Exploration Vehicle ‘Armored Personnel Carrier Dropship Aircraft Carryall Aircraft Gunship Aircraft Recon Spacecraft Colonial Marine Frigate Spacecraft Corporate Frigate Spacecraft System Defense Frigate Spacecraft Corporate Cruiser Spacecraft Blank Character SheetPREFACE MISSION ORDERS - EYES ONLY For U.S. Colonial Marines Strike Team V3-106-1C2 Mission Summary: Reconnaissance Site Involved: Atmosphere Processing Station “Hadley's Hope” System/Planet LV-426, “Acheron” Mission Definition: Contact was lost recently with the Atmosphere Processing Station on LV-426, anda Strike Team was sent to investigate. The Strike Team suffered high casualties, and surviving members are currently under ICC quarantine. All files regarding the Mission have been Classified by High Command and have been placed off-limits to the rest of the Colonial Marine Corps. The Corporation involved has refused to supply the Corps with information regarding the original Mission. Best evidence available indicates that our Strike Team was sent to LV-426 to assist the Colonists at the request of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, and that Corporate personnel had contributed in some way to the Colony’s distress. All other recent information regarding status and history of LV-426 has been suppressed by Weyland-Yutani, although there is a reference to an early encounter with a xenomorph on the planet. This contradicts the available data on LV- 426, which is without indigenous life. The only information gathered by Corps Intelligence indicates that Weyland-Yutani sent a crew into a wilderness area shortly before contact was lost with the Colony. This is unusual behavior, and may provide data regarding the overall situation and the fate of the Strike Team. Your Strike Team is directed to proceed to the Colony site, to investigate it, and determine what happened. Further action is at the discretion of the commanding officer. Priorities are as follows: Discover what happened to Strike Team Determine fate and condition of Colony Take steps to reduce threat to Colonial Marine Corps and protected facilities Suggest extreme caution. In addition to the presence of whatever disrupted the Colony, itis assumed that Weyland-Yutani military forces are present. Its likely that they will be hostile to your Mission, although it is imperative that your Strike Team not initiate hostilities with Corporate forces. In addition, it is possible that other Corporations will be investigating LV-426; and it is even possible that there is a dangerous xenomorph present. All of these factors, combined with the loss of the previous Strike Team and the fact that the Corps is operating without the support of the High Command on this Mission, mean that your Strike Team must be both extremely careful and exceptionally effective. Good luck.THE CHARACTER ‘This is a Role-Playing Game. That means it can be thought of as a running story, ike a movie or book, except that the people playing the game take the parts of the characters in the story. One person, the Gamemaster (abbreviated GM), acts as referee, moderat- ing the adventure and portraying everyone and everything that the characters encounter, and guiding the development ofthe plot. ‘There is an important difference between role-playing and a normal story, however. ‘Where a movie or a book simply carries you along with it, in role-playing you have control over what happens in the story and how it ends. In fact, in an active, well-run campaign, the story may not end at all. The key to this is your representative in the game world, the Character. Each Character starts out as a set of abilities and traits, representing whatit knows and has experienced. This only supplies the basics, however, 80 at the beginning of a game the Character is pretty simple. With continued play the Character grows, until it becomes. arrealistc, full-fledged individual. As the player guides the Character through the game, there are many opportunities for him or her to deal creatively with challenges that are hardly imagined, and certainly never encountered, in the real world. How each player shapes his or her Character is a purely personal decision. Many people create Characters who are very much like themselves, while others choose to give their Characters traits and attitudes that are very different from their own. There is room for almost anything ina role-playing game, because the only boundaries are those of your imagination. In ALIENS, each player begins by generating one Character. When a game is just starting, every Character will be a Colonial Marine, and the group of Characters together will be members of a single squad, or Strike Team. Together, this Strike Team willreceive a variety of assignments that will take it throughout Humanity's empire; from Earth to the ‘most distant Colonies, and from conflicts with Corporate forces to battles with the Aliens and other strange life forms, Each Colonial Marine Characteris created using the rules in the following Sections. The player decides what the initial Characteristics are, using Section 1.3, and then finds out what the early military experience of the Character has been, using Section 1.4. For beginning players and those who want to get play started quickly, a number of pre-rolled Colonial Marines are given in Chapter 8. ‘As the game develops, the players can use Characters who have backgrounds which are different from the Colonial Marines; guidelines for these Characters are given in Sections 1.4 and 3.7, “Ll work for the Company. But don't let that fool you. I'm really an okay guy.” Carer J. Burke SETTING AND CHARACTERS| 1.2 _—— CHARACTERISTICS The idea in role-playing is for the Character to be able, within the game, to do many of the things that a real person can do. To make this possible, each Character is defined by a ‘number of Characteristics which represent human traits. in ALIENS, these numbers are ‘grouped into five Primary and four Secondary Characteristics, which define physical, mental, and emotional attributes. In addition to these, each Character also has a variely ‘of acquired skills and abilities: together, they provide the framework of a truly unique individual. Figure 1 (on page 5) is a sample Character Sheet, showing the Characteristics, Skils, and Equipment for a sample Marine. A blank Character Sheet has been provided at the back of this book, and may be photocopied by players for their personal use. Primary Characteristics The first five entries in the left-hand column of the Character Sheet are for the Primary Characteristics. These represent the most important attributes of each Character. The value of each is generally between 3 and 18. The larger the value, the greater the Character's prowess, as shown in the following table. Each Characteristic is described below. Characteristic Description 18 Exceptional 16 Excellent 14 Good 2 Above Average 10 Average 8 Below Average 6 Poor 3a Extremely Poor Strength: A measure of overall physical strength. As a guideline, an unskilled Character who has a Strength of 10 can dead lift about 200 pounds, and lift about 100 pounds overhead. At Strength 14, a Character can dead lit about 250 pounds and iit 115, pounds overhead, while at Strength 18 a Character can dead lft 400 pounds, and lit 185 pounds overhead . Intelligence: Mental quickness and the capacity for reasoning and understanding. ‘You were out there Inteligence is very important in determining how rapidly a Character learns, and for 57 years. | think influences how fast he or she makes decisions, Because of this, it is a factor in you're damn lucky to determining how capable a character is in a wide variety of activities. Note that be alive, kiddo. You Inteligence is not the same thing as education. could be floating out —_—_Will: Resolve and willpower, which determine courage in the face of danger, resistance to the pain of wounds, and the ability to concentrate. Will has a major influence on each Character's morale during a crisis and when injured. Burke Health: Physical health and the ability to recover from wounds and hardship. Agility: Physical coordination and speed. Agility influences a Character’s maneuvera- bility and overall physical capabilities, there forever.’ ‘Secondary Characteristics ‘Secondary Characteristics round out the personal traits of the Character and are used for social and personal interactions in the game. Secondary Characteristics use the same 3 to 18 scale as Primary Characteristics, and a description of each follows.Colonist Paralyzed by Facehugger Charisma: Personal charm and the ability to interact well with others. It is composed of physical appearance and personality, andis usedin such things as gaining employment ‘and making friends. Leadership: A mixture of a Character’s ‘presence’ and his or her natural ability to ‘command and lead. Motivation: Long-term determination or persistence to achieve an end. It maybe thought of as a desire to pursue a goal that may not yield immediate results, where Will, by comparison, is concemed with short-term activity Perception: Mental alertness. The greater the Perception, the greater the Character's, awareness of his or her surroundings, and the ability to read the emotions and truthfulness of others. "There have been people there for over twenty years, and they never complained about any hostile organism." Van Leuwen 1.3 vw —S There are two ways of generating the Primary Characteristics of each Character; by random roll, or by ‘Building’ the Character. Either method can be used, but inexperienced players will ind that the random method greatly speeds Character generation. ‘Building’ a Character requires some familiarity with the effects of various Characteristics on play. In the Random Method, just roll three six-sided dice twice for each Primary Charac: teristic, choosing the higher total. For example, the first Characteristic is Strength. The player would roll three dice and add them together. If the dice read 6, 4, and 3, then the total would be 13. Then the same dice are rolled again, and a new total is found; 4, 3, and 3, for example, equals 10. The higher of the two totals, in this case 13, becomes the Strength Characteristic. This is done for each Characteristic, one at a time, until al five Primary Characteristics have been found. CHARACTERISTIC GENERATIONInthe Building Method, Primary Characteristics are assigned from the Characteristic Point Total. The Characteristic Point Total is equal to the sum of four six-sided dice plus 48. The player divides these points among the five Primary Characteristics using the following rules. 4, Each Characteristic must have a minimum value of 3. 2. The number of Points needed for a given value in one Characteristic is found on the following table. Value of Characteristic “Bad dreams again? Characteristic «3 to12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 You want something Intelligence, equal 13 14 15 16 18 21 25 30 36 to help you sleep?" Strength, Agility Will or equa 13 13 14 14 15 17 19 22 25 Med Tech Health 3. The total Points used must be equal to the Characteristic Point Total. It cannot be more or less. "No. I've slept Example: Sasigh® ‘tthe star of play, a player rolls up a Character and names him Hudson. He rolls 4 six- igh. sided dice with these results; 6, 4,3, and 2. Adding these to 48 gives a Characteristic Point Total of 63. The player wants Hudson to be a balanced character, so he assigns 12 to Strength, 15 to Intelligence, 12 to Will, 12 to Health, and 12 to Aglity. The player could likewise have designed Hudson with Strength 9, Inteligence 18 (costing 21 points), Will 16 (costing 14), Health 10, and Agility 9, or any other desired combination that added up 0.63 points Ripley ‘Secondary Characteristics To find the value of a Secondary Characteristic, the player totals the roll of 3 six-sided dice. For example, a roll of 6, 4, and 4 would give a value of 14, Each Secondary Characteristic is rolled for separately. ‘An optional rule for generating Secondary Characteristics is to also allow the player to roll a single six-sided die and use the result o increase the value(s) of one or more of the ‘Secondary Characteristics. Consider a Character who rolls, among the other Secondary Characteristics, Motivation 7 and Perception 12. tthe player rolled a4 for the extradie rll, he or she could add all 4 points to Motivation and adjust its value to 11, or could add 3 to Motivation and 1 to Perception to give Motivation 10 and Perception 13, or any other suitable combination, The value of a Characteristic cannot be raised above 18 by adding these points, 1.4 rend CHARACTER (Once the Characteristics have been determined, the next step is to find the Character's BACKGROUND age, background, and initial skils. Skills determine what a Character can do and are fully discussed in Chapter 2. How capable a Character is with a certain Skillis defined by the Skill Rating, which can range from Unskilled to Grand Master. The higher the Skill Rating, the greater the Character’s expertise. As a guideline, Skill Ratings above Professional indicate a very high degree of skill There are 10 Skills isted in the General Skills box, at the right side of the Character ‘Sheet. Thesearethe Skills which are typically usedby Colonial Marines, and are therefore given the most attention, ‘A Character may also have ability in any number of other Skills, and there is room to list them at the bottom right side of the Character Sheet in the Support Skills box. If necessary, the list of Skills should be continued on the back of the Character Sheet. 4