ALIEN: Fallout - RPG Review
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- Опубликовано: 15 май 2024
- Sneaking into a Quarantine Zone, the Player Characters find themselves in the middle of a political war to discover the deadly truth of what really happened on a remote colony. Here are my tips, criticisms, and praises for this Andrew E.C. Gaska scenario.
You can find the scenario in the novel Colony War appears here: amzn.to/4bizlHe
The How We Roll Podcast where we played the adventure: howwerollpodcast.com/episodes/
Download the Higher-Resolution map here: drive.google.com/drive/folder...
ArthurDallas's Deviant Art Page with the wonderful color maps and assets: www.deviantart.com/arthurdall...
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If you want to support my channel, or just want to read an action-packed Urban Fantasy about modern-day monster hunters and their sentient weapons, check out my four-novel Valducan series. They feature gun fights, sword fights, car chases, monsters, and a smattering of horror. Audio book editions narrated by the badass R.C. Bray: amzn.to/3rehNnJ
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MY PUBLISHED RPG ADVENTURES
A Mother's Love (Call of Cthulhu 7e). This collection of adventures won the 2020 Gold ENnie Award for Best Digital Adventure Book: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
Mysteries on Arcturus Station (Mongoose Traveller 2e). This is two adventures. One is written by me, and the other is my update to J. Andrew Keith's brilliant Murder on Arcturus Station: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
And while I didn't write it (Marc Miller has that distinction), I did greatly expand and update the classic Traveller adventure Death Station to Mongoose 2e, which is TOTALLY FREE: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
And while not an adventure, here's Mythos Artifacts I wrote with Jon Hook of some neat magic artifacts for Call of Cthulhu: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...
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Guest Starring Jack the NPC
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#ttrpg #ALIEN 
Игры
Hey Seth. I've been watching you for years now and I just wanted to say that you're one of my favorite TTRPG content creators out there. While your RPG philosophy series is a lot of fun, I especially love your module breakdowns and all the tips and tricks you give to interested game masters. I'm actually running my first session of The Two Headed Serpent tonight! Your series has been invaluable in helping me prepare! Thanks again for all you do!
Best of luck with the campaign launch tonight
@@SSkorkowsky same goes for me.
there are many pro DM tip channels out there, but yours are the ones that keep sticking with me.
I do many of those scenarios you review and adapt them to my games.
The cyberpunk reviews fit neatly into the shadowrun campaigns i run regularly.
these really save a lot of time before preparing - especially since you provide the edited and tested maps for that - since i work full time and don't have all that much time or energy to create all that on my own
many thx for that dude :)
There are so many videos I can’t watch yet because I want to play them someday. Then as soon as I play them I go straight to Seth’s video to finally watch. 🤣
Agreed. Seth has an engaging manner. Good job!
@@SSkorkowsky Yeah man you, Runehammer and Professor DM are to me the Holy Trinity of TTRPG since I discover you first and saw that interview with Professor DM I basically got hook to the three of you and although I already had a ton of experience as a DM I have improve A LOT since, so thx man.
“Hello Internet!” “
And the day was saved thanks to the Power Puf… ahem to Seth.”
I ran this scenario about a year ago and thought the ending was fairly amusing as Myra got killed after finding Davis but had specifically “plugged into” Davis which we interpreted as having made a backup copy of her personality onto Davis. So by the end the only survivor PC was carrying around the half melted Davis which spoke with Myra’s voice and brokered a deal to get safe haven and asylum with the Royal Marines in exchange for the Davis/Myra head.
That is great!
I’ve just ran my first Call of Cthulhu game thanks to this channel. The players had a lot of fun - wanting to invite their friends - even though nobody was really scared.
I don't think the purpose of a horror RPG is to scare the players. Creeping them out is worth a shot though. Ideally they're horror fans to some extent; that's the fun. Instead of yelling at the screen, telling some dumb character to do or don't do something isn't needed. They get to do it all themsevlves! Even make some poor decisions if they're inclined to RP that type of horror film character. 😉
Yeah, I don’t think people typically get ‘scared’ (like, not genuinely terrified) during most games.
Seth Skorkowsky - The Incredible Dying PC.
Or Professional Redshirt.
Seth, the Redshirt's Redshirt.
I own every ALIEN book published by Free League. I have also read many of the novels published in the 1990s and the comics. And I had no idea about the adventures in the back of any novels!
special thanks to youtube for telling me this video is about the 1997 fallout pc game, great job 👍
I was wondering why that was there, too.
These cross-over adventures were a great idea. And the novels themselves were not bad.
I had no idea about these adventures at all.
I appreciate Jack’s trigger discipline with that hand cannon. Scott Brown, bleeper-bleepers, would be proud! :)
If you are going to do many more "Alien" adventures, you need to get a face-hugger mask for Jack.
Like the one I used when I reviewed Hope's Last Day?
@@SSkorkowsky I think must have missed that one, but probably.
(UpDate) Yup, That one.
I love that Seth and I seem to have a similar mantra when we get to be players: "I'm here for a good time. Not for a long time." lol
I live to hear "ya know...."
Good to know that cargo pants and T-shirts never go out of style.
I really liked the Aliens Board game that came out back in the 80s. Arguably one of my first RPGs was taking control of individual marines, or giving a handful of them to friends. I was usually Ripley, Dietrich, and Vasquez because... obvious reasons. We did bend the rules a bit, I was like twelve sue me, but it was so interesting to me to have it play out differently than the movie. Who lived and who died. Though maybe we shouldn't have made custom rules for a Predator to show up.
I assume this plays very different than some 30 year old boardgame that arguably played more like a war game, but it still gets me excited to do these kind of fun oneshots where its fine if everyone dies hideously.
Just wanted to say thanks for steering me over to How We Roll. Have really enjoyed their previous Alien and the In Darkness We Wait games.
Hi Seth, I just want to say listening to all your RPG breakdowns, some of your interviews, war stories, and GM advice had gotten me intrigued enough to be a GM for my co-workers on Cyberpunk RED. I just want to say thank you for all your content and I hope you keep up the wonderful breakdowns!
Awesome to hear. Thank you very much.
Any other Aussies wincing at the pronunciation of Cronulla? :D
So much wincing....
I'm getting the impression that Seth's PCs have the life expectancy of a Sean Bean character?
That’s his secret. He only role plays as Sean bean playing the pc.
Good afternoon from Paraguay Seth! Over the last week I read your Valducan series (more books when?) and I thoroughly enjoyed them! I especially liked how many different scenarios the characters get into that lets different people/blades shine or struggle. Will be stealing ideas for future tabletop sessions for sure!
Thank you very much.
Why not start the adventure with the players on the warship that got shot down? Up there sitting pretty talking about the poor stooges they've set up to go down to the colony, and how your going to spend all that €£¥$, when the ship gets shot down. You still get the fun time crashing through the atmosphere, you've got some disposable mooks for atmosphere and back up characters, tension with the command structure and all interested parties, and you're thrust in to the novels action. Plus the original PC's will turn up offering potential salvation, plot hooks and back up pc's.
Seth single handedly doubles their book sales.
This Saturday is our first Traveller game, I'm going to be running them through Flatlined and then Death station over the world of Dawnworld in the spinward marches, and it's all thanks to you Seth.
Best of luck with the adventures.
It's good to see you playing online.
Is it a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?
You stow that trash Hudson!
@@dantherpghero2885 😁👌
Wargame Red Dragon taught me this line 😂
I love your alien RPG reviews. Your advice here is great, especially the one after your outro.
Pinnacle Entertainment Group did similar with their Deadlands setting, providing Dime Novels that included an adventure. Sort of a “you read the story, now see how your players go through it!” sort of thing.
Great video, Seth!
Thanks for sharing
Hey Seth, happy 2024! Was gone for an yr, JohnD here, new connection, etc. Glad you still here, man.
Welcome back.
@@SSkorkowsky thks, watched the Voyages from Glass Cannon Netwrk, excellent play there. Looking forward to this time in Trav U.
Seth - after watching this video, I ordered and just received the paperback version of Alien: Colony War with the adventure included in the back. BTW, you did a great review of the adventure module!! Thanks for the heads up!
That final idea about the captain at the end is amazing!
Thanks for the great video as always, Seth! Great listen for my commute home as I adjust to grave shifts haha
I always love your reviews their always enjoyable and even though I don't play the stories you tell are descriptive and fun enough I feel like I'm watching the game or at least paying attention during the biggest moments.
Great review! Also - loved your recent appearance in the Blade Runner gameplay
Damn boy - i'm gonna use this as adventure for my 40k rogue trader campaign and make the enemy the tyranids, since none of them wants to play alien RPG ;D
That warship crashing down a very good idea
Great stuff Seth!! I love your character "jack"!
Dude, Seth should do this, adding a TTRPG module at the back of a novel. I've already started using Dyzen Eels in my AD&D game.
Dyzen Eels are a great monster AND setting cause you have to make a wet city where they spawn annually.
I've been looking into more scenarios for Alien RPG & saw 0 people mention these books.
The marketing department really failed lol.
Thanks Seth!
This looks like a well paced, action packed adventure. Definitely going to bring this to the table, and may even adopt it for my Star Wars campaign.
I love how the MIG looks like a blenderized version of a MIG-15/17/19.
Excellent episode. I'm a huge Alien fan ever since the RPG came out. Free League did a great job with that IP.
I wasn't aware of the novels with adventures in them. Thanks for the enlightenment.
I'm surprised Audible didn't supply a pdf of the adventure. I've had a few books in the past that did. It was a pain to find the downloads but they were buried in my account area of their site.
I've been running Alien RPG for about 6 months or so and I'm currently listening to Colony War on Audible, yet this is the first time hearing about this scenario! 😢
It's seriously the least promoted piece of cross-promotion I've encountered.
Another great video Seth.
I'm actually intending on running a Call of Cthulhu game for my choice days (we have a few days where our group can pick something aside from the main game if desired) where I'm planning something weird.
I'm planning on starting the group as children (using The Dare's Call of Kidthulhu rules) in the 80's before advancing them to adults in their 30's, and (if they survive long enough), Pulp Status in their 50's to potentially save the world or deal with a massive, Eldritch threat to their planet's existence. The existence of Insanity breaking horrors exist but the world I designed has layers; the base layer being something akin to Season 1 of Supernatural. Other inspirations are Hunter: the Reckoning, Secret Worlds, and Dresden Files. You got the guys fighting for their lives against the horrors of the world and others who have survived long enough to punch through a horde of serpent people.
It's a bit hokey and probably won't work well but I enjoy the novelty idea a bunch. Wish me luck and keep up the good work! You're videos have helped me out a lot as both entertainment and confidence in GM-ing things.
I had no idea the books had adventures in them!
Trojan Horse is the best of the three, requiring the least setup and knowledge of the novel. Plus, Colonial Marines. I've run it at cons several times. It's a no-win scenario, though, so that might be frustrating to some players.
Man, I love this stuff. I've never been able to play a real DnD game, but you and Maple Table cover a lot of the stuff. Aliens? Awesome! Wish more folks would do Starfinder. :) Stay well and keep being excellent, Seth!
Hey Seth, I just wanted to say it's always a good day when there's a Skorkowsky upload. I would definitely buy more books if they included RPG stuff in it. even if its stuff i've never heard of or seen before.
I keep hearing SS Cromulent haha! Great video! I also love Jack's outfit 👌
Embiggens my heart that im not alone
This was extremely fun! Thanks for this one :)
Another great review. I like adventures where there is no set answer on how to survive and escape.
Love your stuff. Will you do reviews for Destroyer of Worlds and Heart of Darkness?
If I ever play them
The Alien RPG seems as if it would be fun to run a campaign involving various factions & corps up to shady experimental activities in it's Cold War style setting. Without even needing to include xenomorphs - just various homebrew nasties and secret plots.
I'm 95% sure it was Pookie from Review from R'lyeh who told me a story about playing a campaign of the old Aliens RPG years back where the GM just had them doing regular Space Marines adventures. They'd played a few adventures before they encountered their first xenomorph and it was a huge terrifying surprise.
Speaking of Cold War, this is the first time I've noticed how un-subtle it is that the bad guys are the USSR. Is that a feature of the whole Alien franchise, the whole ttrpg, or just this scenario?
@@Dorian_sapiens - It's part of the background. There are three (IIRC) major governmental factions derived from old merged Earth nations & ideologies. The UPP largely came from Soviet and Chicom govts. The Core Book gives a basic rundown on them all, and the Colonial Marines splatbook includes some more UPP info and equipment.
@@SSkorkowsky Sounds like fun! I was thinking of situations such as a secret UPP base in which experimental mind-controlling nanobot swarms go bad and turn the inhabitants into murderous cyborgs or some such. Shortly before the player Marines investigate the newly discovered secret lab. Or any other kind of similar secret nastiness.
@@NefariousKoel Ah, I see. Thank you for the info!
Hey Seth, I was looking to pick up one of your books and I was wondering if it helps you out more if I buy the physical book or the audiobook. Thanks for all you do, man!
Physical. But the difference is so minimal, that you should get which ever format you prefer.
Either way, I hope you enjoy it.
Excellent show as always.
How long did it take to run through the scenario?
Very good tunthrough and thoughtful comments as always
It took us about 3 hours.
@@SSkorkowsky thanks for the reply! Good for a short one shot then. Nice!
I love and watch ALL Seth Skorkowsky videos!
Love Seth's content. I wonder if he would ever do a comparison video between Alien by FL, and Mothership by TKG? Tons of great actual plays out there. The one I'm most interested in right now is "The Panic Table - Unaccompanied Miners" here on RUclips. But I'm most curious about what Seth would think about similarities and differences between the two.
For those that are curious, you can obtain the adventure by joining the Free League Agents as well.
So many systems, so little time XD In all seriousness though: thank you again for making content that encouraged me to try something beside D&D :)
My current obsession is something very different though: Through the breach (by Wyrd games).
They just started a sell on "bundle of holding", where one can get the core book and a few adventures for 17$
A skill based system that does allow "supernatural" abilities linked to skills once you reach a high enough rank in them - e.g. in music you can purchase a so called trigger that can allow your music to become such a potent lullaby that everyone must make a check to resist its effect, or a trigger for art can make it a propaganda piece, allowing you to bake a short command into your piece of art and anyone seeing it must succeed on a check or be compelled to do it (each skill has 4 different triggers you can choose from which to learn)
Oh and the game uses poker cards instead of dice ;)
maybe you can put short adventures in the back of your future books, just an idea
If you get the chance to check it out, Destroyer of Worlds is one of the best adventure modules I've ran in over 40+ years of gaming.
Woooo! New Alien Content! I feel seen.
lol I’ve have them all in audio had no idea but how the books are written them being rpg characters make a lot of sense
You got my hopes up. I thought maybe you were reviewing the Fallout RPG! Either way, you know I'm watching whatever you make.
Hello this is mr new vegas...
Yeah i thougt the same.
@elhoteldeloserrantes5056 , It was just last month that I recently picked it up myself; actually.
Hell of a thing, just not reading the first word.
I Love ALL Seth Skorkowsky videos!
Seth's reviews are always so helpful and inspiring, not just to GM's and Keeper's, but to players as well, with valuable insight into so many great #ttrpg games. His combination of review, pros & cons, "but here try this as an alternative", humour, and use of characters to give examples and points is remarkable. Definitely a top-tier in the industry for both reviewing and live playing as well.
Thank you very much
Hey Seth, long time fan, first time commenter. I think you would love the FIST (Freelance Infantry Strike Team) ttrpg. It seems like it would be right up your alley. If you do pick it up, I hope you have a lot of fun with it. My table loves it so far
Will Modiphus now release an adventure titled Fallout: Alien?
I've been looking forwrad to this 🤘
I normally don't buy Novels.
But i would consider it if there are adventures in them.
Sweet! An Alien video! Stoked!
hey seth what gun prop is that, that jack is holding?
It's a Brodax BB gun.
I'd like a senario for the cold forge novel, it's my favorite by far
Question, one of the neat things I find about Alien TTRPG is that, as I understand it the Free League published "cinematic scenario" one shots really just need the Starter set, the Core Rules being for groups who want to make their own characters and adventures. Is that the case with "Fallout" or did you find the Core Rules more necessary/helpful than say "Destroyer of Worlds"?
The only real reason you need the Corebook over the Starter Set for this one is the ship-to-ship rules if the Mig fires.
Sweet review 🙂 curious have you ever heard of Hostile? It's a setting and rules thing based off cepheus engine the guy who made it worked on the Alien RPG because his setting was so good and heavily inspired by alien, blade runner, event horizon etc... they asked him to work on it, honestly I think it is much better overall plus you csn run a straight up alien campaign with no issue lots of options for everything really. Also has lots of supplements to add extra things or go into more details etc.. anyway just letting people know, I personally love it
Never heard of it. Thanks for the heads-up about it.
Wait, Pip Ballentine wrote an Alien novel? Why did I not know about this?
Okay, adding this after watching the entire review: this adventure feels a lot like Hope's Last Day from the core book - most of the action has already happened (or, will _also_ happen, in the case of HLD), and the PCs can't really change that. But at the same time, it makes the world feel more real. As much as the original movies focused on Ripley (let's not talk about Prometheus or Covenant), there's nothing to say that the various Powers That Be wouldn't want to look into the xenomorphs for their own purposes.
Great!
I wanted to listen to the podcast of this scenario you mention but I can't for the life of me find it.
How We Roll Podcast
First episode of our Alien game is still Patron-only
howwerollpodcast.com/
I’m still holding out hope for you to pick up Savage Worlds Deadlands. You got me motivated to GM again and try something besides D&D. Thanks
cool, cool and cool :3 now I have a good reason to buy some alien novels too
So, including RPG adventures in short story/books is an idea that I always thought should exist, and I had no idea that it did. As you observed, this is horribly marketed because it's the kind of thing that I would love but I had no idea it was even in existence.
15:21 ....it's the only way to be sure.
Could you review the Pendragon ROG by Chaosium?
Eventually. Maybe. One day.
I keep trying to find these novel scenarios but I can’t find any pdfs of the novels
For the novels, your options are physical book or Kindle (audiobook versions don't have the scenarios). I'd been hoping the Audible versions would have had a PDF of the adventure, but no such luck.
@@SSkorkowsky That’s frustrating.
🤔 Mmm... Now I wonder which scenario in/post setting of a Seth Skorkowsky Novel Bonus RPG Adventure "what if" did this tickle in your mind?... even if ever so briefly
Good God! How did I not know about this!!! I love the game and system.
Fun video!
I own that gun! The H8r is awesome. Could do with a different hop unit thou... 😢
So, the mig pilot is just a computer game AI? I like your idea of the player fleeing at the end.
Nicely done, as always. I doubt I'll ever play any of the Alien games. The universe is just too dark for me. I'm not a fan of one of the player characters, right from the start, being there just to take advantage of the others and likely get them killed. That's something that always rubbed me wrong about the game, personally.
yay! more seth
Lol at 9:43 , my son has that same bb gun and just had it out checking it for CO2 still since he had left it in a bag for a while. It does look cool though.
3:38 though I can see why. Imagine having to scrub through an audiobook to find the section you need to reference. That would be new levels of unfunctional
As far as the blockade; depending on their rules of engagement shooting down any ship that they detect and going back to formation seems about right. If you sail into a naval war zone they might assume any craft in the area not on your side is hostile and they return to formation so that one ship that ran the blockage does not weaken the blockade by having some ships chase it or be damaged by a ship full rigged to blow up when they dock with the war ship. The npc's do not know the pcs are supposed to get to the planet, and they do not know if their ship is a decoy vessel that is part of an attacking fleet.
I see a bigger problem if the war ship orders them to prepare to be boarded and the pcs comply. The adventure is then over as they have no legitimate reason to be there; what are they going to be like, "oh you, what did I tell you about running blockades? I think I will let you through this once, lol."
Where did Jack get that great hat???
They used to have them on Amazon, but I'm pretty sure wasn't licensed and got shut down by Disney's lawyers. While it came with a little "weathering" it's also been my favorite hat for a few years now and gets worn all the time. Last I saw there was someone on Etsy selling them.
@@SSkorkowsky it looks great, thanks for the Etsy idea - I’ll take a look :)
Nice 👍.
Wait what? Seth's books don't have adventures in them? What's a story without adventure?
Are you even running sessions anymore? I dont know the answer
You'll have to wait and see when the Campaign Diary series drops
(I talk about it in various threads and social media all the time, but I'm going to at least pretend it's a secret)
Dang it. This is the first time I have to stop watching your video for spoilers. I just ordered the paperback. I could do ebook, but I like paperbacks. Yeah, I'm a monster I guess.
I'd love to hear your thought on Heart of Darkness as well. We loved the first 2 cinematic scenarios in ALIEN, but that one was just atrocious. The writers just threw a ton of stuff in there and it ended up being a convoluted mess...
😅 Noone will hear you scream... love it!