Playing the Alien RPG with my 12-year old son

I've had a few games of the new Alien RPG - not with a group but with my 12-year old son Bruce. This is his first proper introduction to roleplaying games (we have experimented before but this is the first time he's taken it seriously) and because he knows I have a huge love for Alien he was very attentive.

We did three games - escape from an infected colony to a waiting ship, deal with a rogue synthetic who murdered the ship's crew to obtain an alien specimen for transport, then deal with the alien on the ship. As the games progressed he got more and more into it, and now he's always asking, 'When is the next game, when is the next game?'

We had a long conversation about gaming today and now he wants to try Cyberpunk. I'm going to use the Mini Six system, for ease of use and adapt my Cyber Streets game to it, and he's already designed a character named Pin and designed her background and motivations. Set in a future London where commodoties and resources are scarce - except through the Corporations - it's a rough-and-tumble action game with streetwise attitude and cool concepts.

If the games go well I'll adapt the D6 system and release Cyber Streets as a Mini Six sourcebook. I tried it once before as a 'To The Stars, Stellar Cadets!' book but it wasn't great, and I'm a little more creative with my PDF layouts these days.

I'm looking forward to these games with Bruce. Soon I'll branch out and get other people involved, do some online gaming. Most of all, it's great to be creating a world with my son.

Aliens & Asteroids - Interlude #2: The Target

Here's the second part of the Interludes I wrote for Moebius Adventures' 'Aliens & Asteroids', 'The Target'.

Available now on Drivethrurpg.com!

The Dungeons & Dragons movie - a post containing some thoughts I've had

The Dungeons & Dragons movie - a thread containing some thoughts I've had.

I've been reading a bit about the D&D movie, and how fans want it set in their favourite world, the sort of epic film it wants to be and the inclusion of some iconic items, such as The Eye of Vecna etc.

'Use Drizzt!' I hear. 'Minsc and Boo!' 'Elminster!' 'The entire Dragonlance set!' Great ideas and there's nothing I'd like to see more on the big screen, but there's a part of me that thinks that the D&D movie should be approached differently.

I think if you had this huge movie with fan favourites on the screen the newcomers to the movie and the world will be a little left out - why should they be excited about it? What's with the Big Reveal, why are people excited? Who are these people?

Newcomers might feel like new players at a table; not 100% sure what's going on, feeling a little left out and a disorientated by all the noise and kerfuffle from the players who know the system, the setting and the characters.

Nonplussed, the newcomers might wander away and miss the larger worlds on offer, and so D&D on the big screen falters because the films didn't do enough to cater for those who don't know D&D.

I'm not saying this will happen, but it's a possibility. So I say; restart the campaign. Start from the beginning, with everyone beginning at level 1 no matter what their history or experience is with D&D.

Make the story simple - a dungeon delve. Take the Moria segment from LotR and amp it up, give a background but don't give away the world, and focus on the band of adventurers making their way through the dark.

Each one has their reasons for being there, their personalities and goals clash, that kind of thing, but keep the classic 1st level dungeon crawl idea intact; it's what got us first time gamers into it, after all.

Viewers will respond to a good story and good characters, and when things do get amped up in following movies, or the third act of the first film, they'll care, and they'll be invested.

Just like I was with my first character - I didn't know the world or the game, but I knew a sly thief and their aims in life. The fireworks followed later.

I think diving into an explosive in-your-face D&D movie extravaganza might backfire. I think it'd work better as a streaming service TV show, then you can watch the progress of the characters as the story unfolds and there's plenty of time for hugeness.

Just a few thoughts.

RPGs with the family

I've had a few games of the new Alien RPG - not with a group but with my 12-year old son Bruce. This is his first proper introduction to roleplaying games (we have experimented before but this is the first time he's taken it seriously) and because he knows I have a huge love for Alien he was very attentive.

We did three games - escape from an infected colony to a waiting ship, deal with a rogue synthetic who murdered the ship's crew to obtain an alien specimen for transport, then deal with the alien on the ship. As the games progressed he got more and more into it, and now he's always asking, 'When is the next game, when is the next game?'

We had a long conversation about gaming today and now he wants to try Cyberpunk. I'm going to use the Mini Six system, for ease of use and adapt my Cyber Streets game to it, and he's already designed a character named Pin and designed her background and motivations. Set in a future London where commodoties and resources are scarce - except through the Corporations - it's a rough-and-tumble action game with streetwise attitude and cool concepts.


If the games go well I'll adapt the D6 system and release Cyber Streets as a Mini Six sourcebook. I tried it once before as a 'To The Stars, Stellar Cadets!' book but it wasn't great, and I'm a little more creative with my PDF layouts these days.

I'm looking forward to these games with Bruce. Hopefully I'll branch out and get other people involved, do some online gaming. Most of all, it's great to be creating a world with my son.

WEG Star Wars RPG - The Rancor Pit

When West End Games released 'Star Wars - The Roleplaying Game' in 1987 it hit the hobby, and Star Wars fandom, in many ways; a huge new RPG was on the scene and was immediately accessible, it added lore and history to the Star Wars universe (it was the seed of the Expanded Universe, after all) and it created a huge following. This following went from strength to strength and with the advent of the internet it just got bigger.

More than twenty years after WEG stopped producing material for the game the fanbase is still strong and the game is still widely played, with fan sourcebooks and new versions avaiolable across the web. Even Fantasy Flight Games got in on the action with the 30th Anniversary edition of the game, in a gorgeous slipcase with te Sourcebook included.

Many WEGSWD6 websites have come and gone, but one of the best has always been The Rancor Pit. It's mainly a message board, now, but the conversations are regular and informative, with a lot of fan-created material that will keep you in games for a long, long time.

If you still play Star Wars D6 - and I do - then The Rancor Pit is a great place to visit, talk, swap ideas and opinions and get hold of some great material. Check it out.

WEG D6 Star Wars RPG

I was reading a thread about which games we miss from our youth.

I'd say WEG Star Wars RPG for me, not just as a great game but as an amazing group experience. It was the most played game in my groups and overshadowed all my other campaigns. I've not played a proper campaign for 20 years, just the odd game here and there.

I really miss it.