Although my first impressions of ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game from Free League Publishing (2020) were not the most positive, I admit the game has grown on me over the past few years. In fact, the ALIEN RPG has grown on me to the point I dropped my own dollars to order the deadtree version of the next book in the product line: ALIEN RPG: Building Better Worlds. Although the deadtree book won’t hit game tables until early next year orders now get access to a pdf version.
As the publisher’s blurb for Building Better Worlds tells us, “Building Better Worlds is a complete campaign module for the award-winning official ALIEN roleplaying game, giving you all the tools you need to run a full open-world campaign as a pioneering explorer or colonist.” The book itself is organized into 10 chapters:
- “Pioneers Wanted” – Introduction to the book.
- “History of Colonization – Player-facing setting history.
- “Organizations” – Player-facing information on organizations and governments.
- “Making Frontier Colonists” – Player-facing character generation rules.
- “Gear and Ships” – Yet more player-facing ironmongery and ship data.
- “Campaigns on the Frontier” – More player-facing(?) information and rules on “life” on the frontiers of colonization.
- “Systems and Colonies” – Yet more player-facing setting information.
- “Weyland-Yutani Extrasolar Species Catalog” – GM (Game Mother) information.
- “The Lost Worlds” – Framework and backstory of a frontier campaign for Game Mother.
- “Expeditions” – Six expeditions into space for Game Mother to use…or not.
At the end of Building Better Worlds there are also several sheets for player or Game Mother use, the ever-useful index, and maps.
Player forward-ish
Although Building Better Worlds bills itself as a campaign module seemingly for the Game Mother, the book is actually very player-forward. Of the 304 pages in the pdf version about 120 pages (~40%) are open to the player. The remaining pages are divided into 55 pages of Game Mother material (~18%), the adventures for Game Mother which take up 113 pages (~37%), and the final sheets-index-maps and covers (~5%).
The Player Section of Building Better Worlds is actually rather dense with lots of background material presented. Like so many RPG sourcebooks, I often wonder just how much setting and background information is needed by players. My opinions here are torn; I feel that players need a good deep-read on the setting so they can “get into it” while at the same time as a Game Mother I sometimes fear players have “too much knowledge” of small setting details. Building Better Worlds is not an example of either extreme but rather an example of giving both players and Game Mothers comprehensive knowledge to build on. Frankly, there is more in Building Better Worlds than most players—or Game Mothers—will be able to take in. That’s not necessarily a bad thing…
Frontier Life
In the movie ALIENS, Newt and her family were on LV-426 for a reason and Building Better Worlds explains why. While plenty of background material on colonies and the frontier in the ALIEN RPG universe is provided in the chapters on history and organizations, Chapter 6 “Campaigns on the Frontier” is the real “why” player-characters are where they are. In this chapter players and a Game Mother build either an Explorer or Colony Campaign.
“My mommy always said there were no monsters, no real ones, but there are.“
Newt (from Aliens)
One setting piece in Building Better Worlds I immediately appreciated are rules for different stages of colonies; unlike so many RPG settings where many colonies are “generic” with either too little or too much, Building Better Worlds has rules showing the “progress” of a colonization effort. Yet, while Building Better Worlds has plenty to share with players, there is little new in the way of character generation rules or options. Only two archetypes are added to the game in Building Better Worlds; Wildcatter and Entertainer. Neither is incredibly exciting and I think most players will be mostly using character archetypes found in the core rulebook…as the setting in Building Better Worlds usually calls upon.
[Is this right? In Building Better Worlds, the “Campaigns on the Frontier” chapter is labeled as “Player Section” material, whereas the Colonial Marines Operations Manual (Free League Publishing, 2021) has a similar “The Marine Campaign” chapter listed as Game Mother material. Which division is right? Both?]
Campaign connections
While Building Better Worlds may lack new character archetypes, the real strength of this campaign module is the connections it makes with the entire series product line. The history and organizations presented in other products make more sense and many of the archetype characters found in the core rulebook are put into context using Building Better Worlds. While Building Better Worlds bills itself as a campaign module, it really is the core of the setting for the entire series. The way I look at the series is to see the core rulebook as the game engine and basics of the setting, the Colonial Marines Operations Manual as the details of that critical organization, and Building Better Worlds as the be-all-end-all campaign builder.
No secrets from Mother
In Building Better Worlds, alas, I also feel a bit too much Game Mother material is available to the players (see inset above for example). In another instance, though Chapter 8 “Weyland-Yutani Extrasolar Species Catalog” is in the Game Mother section, the table of contents (labeled “Player Section”) has the sublist of the chapter contents with many potential “spoilers.” Sure, this may not be that great a spoiler considering that many (all?) ALIEN RPG players have at least some metagame knowledge of the Aliens. I also acknowledge that this is how you properly create a table of contents. Yet, I cannot help but feel that this (inadvertent?) openness may not be the best way to keep player and Game Mother information separated.
Build better campaigns
Building Better Worlds is an absolutely essential addition for players and Game Mothers of the ALIEN RPG. Better than any product in the line before, Building Better Worlds explains the “why” of the setting and characters. The history, organizations, rules, gear, and campaign setting provide many creative hooks for plots or adventures or campaigns. One could describe Building Better Worlds as the capstone book of the series to date, bringing all before together into a comprehensive, deeply creative setting that gives players and Game Mothers many tools for adventuring.
“Building Better Worlds is an absolutely essential addition for players and Game Mothers of the ALIEN RPG.”
RockyMountainNavy, October 2023
Feature image courtesy Free League Publishing.
The opinions and views expressed in this blog are those of the author alone and are presented in a personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Navy or any other U.S. government Department, Agency, Office, or employer.
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