Description
''Aliens Adventure Game'', based on the 1986 film '' Aliens'', emphasizes combat between human Colonial Marines and the space horrors from the movie. Like the '' Living Steel'' adventure game previously published by Leading Edge Games in 1987, ''Aliens Adventure Game'' uses a much simplified version of the complex rules system used in '' Phoenix Command'' in 1986.Publication history
''Aliens Adventure Game'' was designed by Barry Nakazono and David McKenzie, with illustrations and graphic design by Toni Dennis. Leading Edge Games released it in 1991 as a softback 194-page book.Gameplay
Character creation and improvement
All characters are newly recruited Colonial Marines. Primary attributes — Strength, Intelligence, Will, Health and Agility — are either generated by dice rolling, or by a point-buy system. Secondary characteristics — Charisma, Leadership, Perception and Motivation — and skills are then generated by dice rolls. Players can also use pre-generated characters. Once per game year, the character can attempt to increase one Skill with a die roll. Skill levels can also be increased during game play by exceptional successes, at the referee's discretion.Skill resolution
When a character wishes to attempt a task, the referee assigns a numerical Difficulty level to the task. The player adds the character's relevant Skill Rating modifier to the Difficulty, and must roll less than or equal to this total on three dice.Combat
The Combat system uses percentile dice and tables to resolve combat. Rather than the traditional system of hit points used in many role-playing systems, this game uses detailed hit locations and specific injuries.Related product
Two years before releasing this game, Leading Edge Games published the ''Aliens Board Game''. The product consisted of a 32-page rule book, a 4-page rules summary, a 17" by 34" map, three card and counter sheets, a ten-sided die and plastic stands for the counters.Reception
In the February 1992 edition of '' Challenge'' (Issue #57), Kevin Barrett was not impressed by this game, stating, "Leading Edge Games took a great universe with cool hardware and messily glued it all to the ''Phoenix Command'' rules set. The tech-candy movie we all drooled over through 15 viewings got a role-playing butcher job." Barrett concluded that despite this, the subject overcame the problematic rules: "Despite all I've said, I still like this product – mostly because I liked the movie. If nothing else, the source material is a good read and should give you plenty of ideas for military missions, whether you're running ''Aliens'', '' MegaTraveller'', '' Twilight: 2000'' or '' Mechwarrior''. In the July 1992 edition of '' Dragon'' (Issue 183),Reviews
*''References
{{Alien (franchise) Alien (franchise) games Leading Edge Games games Military role-playing games Role-playing games based on films Role-playing games introduced in 1990 Science fiction role-playing games