ALIEN stat blocks (again)

I recently wrote about revising ALIEN stat blocks. However, as much of an improvement as I think they are, I’ve realised I need to be more radical.

I’ve just finished my second session of Destroyer of Worlds as I write this. We’ve had two proper combats and there are more to come.

The most recent encounter involved the ambush I talked about last time, involving six insurgents. And having run it, I don’t think NPCs should be fully statted out. Instead, you just need four numbers—how many successes they rolled, their health, how many successes their armour absorbs, and their resistance to opposed rolls (such as manipulation).

So this is my plan.

Mooks

Your basic everyman thug. Nothing special.

• Combat: Every other turn, they will roll one success and deal the damage according to their weapon. (Pistol/knife =1, auto rifle = 2, heavy machine gun = 3)
• Health: 4
• Armour: 0 successes
• Resistance: 0 successes

The resistance figure is for opposed rolls, such as manipulation. In this case, the NPCs will not roll any successes (so the PCs need one success to succeed).

Tough guys

Tougher opponents. Still mooks, though.

• Combat: Each turn, they will roll one success and deal the damage according to whatever weapon they have.
• Health: 5
• Amour: 1 success
• Resistance: 1 success

Tres tough hombres 

Special forces and the like.

• Combat: Each turn, they will roll two successes and deal the damage according to whatever weapon they have +1
• Health: 6 (or 7 for androids) 
• Amour: 1 success
• Resistance: 2 successes

Named NPCs

For named NPCs, I will mix and match. It will depend on the NPC and how important they are to the scenario. I might even use their printed stats.

What this looks like in practice

 

Why am I doing this?

To make ALIEN easier to run. I find combat fiddly—there are many moving parts. I want to speed things up and roll fewer dice so I can focus on the drama.

Simplifying NPCs (which really don’t need all this extra admin) removes my mental load and lets me concentrate on running an exciting game for the players, rather than trying to remember whether I’ve included all the correct modifiers.

Not Xenomorphs

And just to make it clear, we’re only talking humans and androids here. I’m not changing the monsters—they’re fine as they are.

Later: So how did it play?

I’m writing this part of the post after our third Destroyer of Worlds session. We had the final battle of Act 1, and Act 2 is underway.

Act 1’s final battle was dramatic, to say the least. It started well, with the PCs taking out six insurgents without casualties. But then Captain Silva froze in the door of the dropship (she was about to rappel down and failed a panic roll) and moments later two RPGs hit the dropship, hitting the driver (Chaplain) and sending it spiralling into the ground. Both the Captain and Chaplain took critical damage—Silva’s skull was crushed and Chaplain’s legs were torn off (severe chassis breach…)

However, it was much easier to run (and make dramatic) without having to make so many extra rolls for the NPCs.

So definitely one to keep, especially in a game with numerous enemies and combats like Destroyer of Worlds.