MU TH ER Instructions
Free League have now officially endorsed the system and we have been working to provide official content to enhance the system (see below).
Created by Paul Watson
The core system provides support for:
- Character and Synthetic sheets.
- Including the ability to drag and drop Items, Talents, Agendas and Story Cards.
- Integrated consumables roll mechanics.
- Stress rolls from the character sheet.
- Creature sheets.
- Dropdown to allow the GM to select from a list of rolltalbes for attacks.
- Territories and Vehicle sheets.
- Items:
- Item - General equipment
- Weapon - Personal and Vehicle weapons
- Armor - Personal armor
- Talent - Talents for use within the system
- Planet-System - Details of planetary systems
- Agenda - PC Agenda and Story cards
- Customisable Fonts and text colours.
- 2 sets of custom Alien RPG 3D dice are integrated if using the "Dice So Nice" module.
Should you wish to populate the system with game content for your own use please purchase the rules from Free League Publishing: https://frialigan.se/en/games/alien/ or better still purchase the Starter Set or Core Rules modules.
My intention is to enable people to play Alien RPG remotely and not to create a fully enabled/automated system. MO/TH/ER will still need to do some work.
Save the effort of inputting all the data from the books by purchasing the official modules from Free League:
Alien RPG Starter Set
Alien RPG Core Rule Book
Destroyer of Worlds Scenario
Top Tips
Right Click is used quite a bit in the system. If in doubt, try it out.
Examples are:
- Right click an edit button to choose delete / edit
- Right click to clear radio buttons
- Right click a “roll” to enter modifiers before a roll
There are three main types of Actors available in the system:
- Characters
- Synthetics
- Creatures
Health is not automatically calculated so needs to be updated manually as per the rules.
For the GM, an NPC tick box is visible which changes the Token settings for the actor (see Tokens section).
In the Career dropdown you can select the appropriate career for the PC.
The details boxes are text fields to record short details about the PC's.
The left sidebar enables the player to track Experience, Radiation, Conditions, Consumables and Armor. 
Experience, Radiation and Conditions are radio buttons. Left mouse click to set and Right mouse click to unset.
The "Panicked" condition will automatically set following panic rolls of 7+. This triggers the "More Panic" mechanics in the system. To remove the Panicked condition right click on “PANICKED”. This
will reset the PC's panic level to 0. When active it will also display the “Panic Level” to the player to show how near breaking they are.
NOTE: This does not affect their Stress level.
The consumables and Armor values are updated automatically based on the "Active" items in the PC's Inventory (See Inventory for more details.)
In the system all the items "Active" consumable values are combined to give these totals. While not strictly as per the rules it is the most efficient way to manage these assets so some manual
intervention may be required by the player/GM. Any adjustments need to be done in the detailed entry on the inventory tab.
The Skills tab lists the skills available to players. These are updated by the player during character creation.
Left mouse click will roll the value, taking into account current stress dice.
A Right mouse click will display a modifier dialogue box allowing you to add or subtract Base and Stress dice to the roll.
For instance, having the Field Surgeon Talent gives a +2 modification to Medical Aid, so you would add 2 to the base dice in the modifier box.
Skill rolls are combined with the associated attribute values and Stress dice when making rolls.
Clicking on the spanner icon next to a skill will display the appropriate stunts for that skill at the bottom of the sheet, a second click hides
the description. (See Skill Stunts below).
The Talents and Agenda/Story Cards sections allow the player/GM to drop talent and agenda items (see below) onto the characters sheet. Clicking on the item’s name will display the items description at the bottom of the sheet. A second click hides the description.
Right Clicking on the edit icon to the right will display a context menu allowing the PCs version of the item to be edited or deleted.
At the top of the tab is the Encumbrance meter. This shows the "Total Carried / Maximum Encumbrance" where Maximum Encumbrance is Str *4. The two arrows on the Encumbrance show the point at which
the PC should be taking penalties for being over encumbered.
When the carried items exceed this point the bar will turn red and flash.
Items are dragged on to the sheet from item folders or Compendiums and by default, they will appear on the sheet as Inactive.
Inactive items can be considered as being in a backpack/pocket/slung and do not contribute to Consumables, but they do contribute to Encumbrance.
For gear owned but stored elsewhere (locker/room etc.) use the "Ad Hoc" text area at the bottom of the sheet. The Quick-Insert module can be used to create a link (see Recommended Add-on Modules). Weapons cannot be fired when Inactive.
Left clicking on an items edit icon (2) will open the item in edit mode. Right clicking on the edit icon (2) which will display a context menu with edit/delete options.
Items can be edited or deleted by right clicking on the edit icon (2) which will display a context menu with edit/delete options.
Some items have inline edit boxes (3) which enable you to edit some quantities (Rounds, Food, Water, Air) without the need to open the item.
NOTE: As Items can be dropped on to the macro bar (though only Weapons will trigger a roll). When using inline edit click on the number in the box, delete or backspace then enter the new number. Trying to highlight the number to edit will drag the entire item.
Otherwise, they should use the Synthetic sheet which dispenses with any stats, conditions etc that do not affect them.
Much of the Synthetic sheet is the same as the normal Character sheet so here I will outline the major differences.
As Synthetics do not suffer from Stress that is omitted from their sheet.
If the player is using the Synthetic sheet as a “Secret Android” the can click on “No Stress” to make a stress roll. This will always be a 1d6 roll so always shows as “Keeping it Together”.
Synthetics do not suffer from Radiation or Conditions, so these are omitted from the left sidebar. While the rules state they do not have consumables, I have left Power for them as I am sure they use items that consume power which should be tracked.
The Skills and Inventory tabs operate the same as for a Character sheet
When creating a Creature, the Health is represented as [current health]/[total health], i.e. 6/6. When the creature is injured the [current health] value should be manually reduced. These values are used in the token health bar for the creatures (See Tokens).
By default, values are not entered for Mobility, Observation and Acid Splash as not all creatures have these abilities.
Clicking on the Attack Table drop down will show a list of any attack tables that you have created in the "Alien Tables> Alien Creature Tables" folder. Once selected the table can be rolled against by clicking on the "Roll Attack" button.
The result appears in the chat window as a GM only message, so the GM can narrate the action and add more flair and detail.
As with all chat messages, the detailed dice break down of any damage rolls can be seen by clicking on the dice icon in the chat window.
The Special Abilities section allows quick notes to be added with respect to the Creature or situation. More detailed notes can be added on the Notes tab in the rich text editor.
The territories sheet allows you to create details about each of the sectors in space which you can share with the players.
On the Systems tab you can drag systems (created as Items), clicking on the system name will open the associated sheet.
A right click on the Edit icon brings up the context menu to edit and delete the system attached to that sector.
Though not used very much within the game the Vehicles template allows you to create vehicles within the system.
These actors are designed as templates to allow vehicles to be incorporated into your games.
As yet the Vehicle sheet is not automated as are the character and Synthetic sheets so many of the stats are not rollable and they should be used as modifiers using the appropriate skills on the PC
sheet.
The Inventory tab allows the PCs to roll for the weapons on that vehicle. The GM should make all the players "Owners" of the vehicle in order for them to interact with it. They should right click to
activate the modifier box and add the appropriate number of attribute, skill and stress dice for the test.
The Crew tab allows the GM/Players to record the Pilot and Gunner for the ship and the total of their attribute, skill and stress dice for reference.
- Item - General equipment
- Weapon - Personal and Vehicle weapons
- Armor - Personal armor
- Talent - Talents for use within the system
- Planet-System - Details of planetary systems
- Skill-Stunt - Place holders that drive the Skill-Stunts pop up on character sheets
- Agenda - PC Agenda and Story cards
The item sheet is for generic items for use within the game. When a new item is created, choose the relevant item sub category from the dropdown. This will dynamically change the sheet to include any relevant stats for that item type on its Attributes tab.
Any stats entered for the item will have an in-system effect once the item is "Active".
The Consumables type is a general item that includes stats for Power, Food, Water and Air Supply for any homebrew items.
The modifiers tab allows you to add any +/- effects using the item may have on the PCs attributes or skills.
Modifiers also have an in-system effect once the item is "Active".
Select the type on the sheet (Ranged or Melee) and the sheet will dynamically change to the relevant stats for that weapon type. The Class field is a text field which allow you to classify the
weapon. This is not a required field and can be left blank.
For a Melee weapon the range will be set to Engaged, for Ranged weapons select the appropriate range from the dropdown list. The Cost field will convert the input to a currency so all you need to
enter is the number e.g., 15000 and it will reformat as US$15,000.00.
The stats on the sheet will be used in rolls when the weapon is "Active".
Setting up different armor types is simple as there are only two main stats to be considered, Armor Rating and Air Supply.
The additional modifiers some armor can have on attributes and abilities can be found on the Modifiers tab.
The stats and modifiers on the sheet will be used in rolls when the weapon is "Active".
The Planet-System sheet provides a method of documenting any planets the party might encounter during their missions. The fields are basic text and are intended to contain summaries. Where more
detail is required, use the Rich Text editor in the Description tab. Once created these can be dragged onto the Territories sheet as previously mentioned.
The Agenda item provides a rich text field which can be used to provide additional scenario-based narrative/motivations for the players. These can be used as Agenda or Story cards. Once created,
they can be dragged onto the PCs sheet where they appear on the Skills tab and can be viewed by the player by clicking on the name.
This item type enables you to create talents for your game either homebrew or from the rulebook by adding descriptions to the rich test field. When dragged on to a PCs sheet, these will appear on
the Skills tab and can be viewed by the player by clicking on the name.
NOTE:
With the exception of the "Nerves of Steel" Talent, which will automatically add -2 to Stress rolls, Talents do not currently have an effect in the system so any impact deriving from a Talent needs
to be applied manually during the game.
For instance, the Compassion (Medic Talent) allows the PC to push their roll multiple times but the system will by default only allow a roll to be pushed once. In this situation the player should use the check box in the chat window "Allow multi-push".
When the situation complies with the Talent criteria the player checks the box, before pushing the roll, they then PUSH as normal and a Stress point is added to their sheet.
Skill-Stunt items contain a rich text field that can be populated with the Stunt data from the rulebook for each of the skills.
If any of the official modules (Starter Set or Core Rules) are installed, the text in these items will be ignored but the items should not be deleted or the system will malfunction.
When a Character actor is dragged onto a Scene the token will show resource bars for Stress and Health when the cursor is hovered over the token:
For Creatures, the Health resource bar is shown:
By default, NPCs and Creature tokens are set as Hostile and Unlinked.
For Strength, Agility, Wits and Empathy rolls a Left mouse click will roll the value and Right mouse click will display a modifier box allowing additional dice to be added or subtracted as indicated by the GM.
Stress is automatically added on a Push (see Rolls below) but any other adjustments to a characters Stress need to be made manually. The Stress value is taken into account on all dice rolls.
For Panic rolls, the player Left clicks on "Stress" and the result is displayed in the chat window. Right Clicking on "Stress" will display a modifier box to add or remove stress to the roll.
This will add/subtract the entered value (+x or -x) to the roll and does not change the number of dice rolled.
Supply rolls are made by clicking on the parachute icon. Any failures (1's) will automatically be deducted from the total and the items giving that value will be decremented.
For Armor rolls the player just clicks on "Armor" and the appropriate number of dice are rolled with the result appearing in the character window. As before, the value depends on the equipped armor
on the Inventory tab. Any reduction in armor value needs to be done in the detailed entry there.
Rolls can be pushed for "Human" PCs by clicking on the Push icon in the chat window. If the initial roll includes a Facehugger (1), the "Push" button will not be displayed. When a roll is pushed,
the PC's Stress level will automatically be increased by 1.
On a Pushed roll the second chat message will show the total successes for both rolls.
Some Talents enable PCs to push a roll twice. As these are situational (+2 Wits when doing X) they are very hard to code into the system.
To allow players to make multiple PUSHes there is a check box in the chat window "Allow multi-push".
When the situation complies with the Talent criteria the player checks the box, before pushing the roll, they then PUSH as normal and a Stress point is added to their sheet.
The results of the PUSH will display along with the total to that point and a second PUSH button will show (as long as there are no Facehuggers).
If the results of the second push are sufficient they just inform the GM of the result and continue playing using those results.
If there are still not enough successes to complete the task the player can push the roll a second time and an additional Stress point is added to the sheet.
Once again the total number of successes will be displayed for all three rolls.
For Mobility, Armor, Armor Vs Fire and Observation rolls, a Left mouse click will roll the value and Right mouse click will display a modifier box allowing additional dice to be added or subtracted as necessary. As some creatures have a different armor stat against fire damage this is shown as a separate field.
Where creatures have the "Acid Splash" ability, a left click will display a dialogue box requesting the amount of damage the PC inflicted on the creature.
This is added to the creatures “Acid Attack” value and the corresponding number of base dice are rolled with the result displayed in the chat window. For each success, the PC suffers the appropriate amount of damage as outlined in the core rules which should be manually applied by the player.
Alien RPG system uses custom dice notation for the Base and Stress dice.
If you want to roll ad-hoc dice and don't want to use the macros (See below). You can roll using:
/r xdb - for Base dice
/r xds - for Stress dice
where x is the number of dice.
For both just put /r 4db + 2ds
When rolling for initiative in the combat tracker the combatants will now be sorted in ascending order.
When adding Creatures if their speed is greater than 1, clones will automatically be created equal to their speed.
If not required the GM can remove them by using the context menu.
You can manually clone NPCs/Creatures by right clicking on an actor in the combat tracker you will see "Clone Actor" option appear. This will create a clone of the selected actor to allow the GM to
give a Creature multiple initiative rolls. An actors initiative can be manually adjusted by selecting "Update Actor".
Additionally, in the chat window an initiative card will be displayed. If you wish to modify these images you can by creating your own images (250x349px) png files and storing them in the \images\cards directory. Name the images in ascending order card-1.png to card-10.png.
If you have purchased either the Starter Set or Core Rules these will automatically be replaced with the official Initiative cards.
There are only 10 initiative cards, so if you have a combat with more than 10 actors and roll initiative the system will show a warning and only make rolls for 10 of the actors.
You will still be able to roll for the extra actors manually, but they will have duplicate initiatives with the existing actors.
Alternatively, you can split the party in to two encounters, though I think it's easier to manage with a few duplicates.
| Alien Tables -> | Alien Creature Tables |
| Alien Mother Tables |
Free League have given me permission to include the Panic Table in the core system, which can be found in the Alien Mother Tables.
If you want to create your own rollable tables, you should do so in the appropriate folder.
When entering the tables from the rulebook for D66 tables use 10*1d6+1d6 as the roll table formula and you will be able to import the ranges as per the book.
Hopefully, most of the settings are self-explanatory.
Enabling the "Add Settings Button" will place a quick access button on the Configure Settings sidebar to quickly allow the GM and Players to change fonts and text colours.
When I first created the system, I wanted to give the feel of the old CRT monitors you see in the films. While this initially looks good after playing for a while the text style and colour can be a
little intense. Additionally, having the text colour green can cause issues for people with sight problems.
In order to make the system more accessible, there are configuration options available to change these settings for individual players.
Clicking the Reset button will return the system to the defaults.
The Alien system comes with 4 macros that will help you run the game smoothly.
These can be found in the Compendium under Macro>Alien. I suggest you right click and do an "Import All Content" to get them into your library.
- Alien - GM Dice Roller: Allows you to perform ad-hoc dice rolls. Uncheck the GM Only box to make the rolls public.
- Alien - Player Ad-hoc YZE Dice Roller: Make this available to your players. They need to have a token selected before running the macro.
- Alien - Roll on selected Mother table: provides a drop down listing all the Mother Tables available. Allows multiple rolls against the table and modifiers (+/- x to roll not additional dice).
- Alien - Roll on selected Creature table: same as above for Creature tables but no modifiers and all rolls are private to the GM.
If you want to write your own macros these are the @ tags.
For Attributes:
- @str
- @agl
- @wit
- @emp
- @stress
For Skills:
- @heavyMach
- @closeCbt
- @stamina
- @rangedCbt
- @mobility
- @piloting
- @command
- @manipulation
- @medicalAid
- @observation
- @survival
- @comtech
So to roll for comtech with stress would be:
/r (@wit)db + (@comtech)db + (@stress)ds
Please note that rolling dice from a macro or in chat will not trigger the "Push" or Stress automation.
While not necessary to use the Alien system of this module I would recommend installing the following Add-on modules as they make the GM's job a lot easier:
-
Dice So Nice:
Alien RPG supports 2 dice face types. The new version also allows the GM to add animated effects to dice rolls. -
Token Action HUD:
Fantastic module allowing you to control (make rolls etc.) the character without having to open the character sheet. -
Cursor Hider:
Stops GM and players seeing cursors moving around the screen. This module seems to be currently de-listed on Foundry -
PnP - Pointer and Pings:
Useful for pointing things out to the players and pulling their map focus to where you want it. -
Quick Insert - Search Widget:
Allows you to quickly search for assets and drag them directly on to the scene, sheets or rich text fields. -
Drag'n'Transfer :
This module allows you to easily transfer items from one sheet to another. -
Alien RPG CRT UI :
This module adds an old CRT style for Foundry's Alien RPG system sheets, chat cards, and minor tweaks to the journals and interface. -
Weyland - Alien UI theme :
The main goal of this module is to provide a complete Foundry VTT UI theming, and not only AlienRPG system sheets like Alien CRT UI does. So these two modules are complementary and should be used together. -
Alien RPG - Motion Tracker :
The module installs a button just over the chat box that you can hit. When hit, the button will scan for the nearest active and visible tokens based on the selected token. This is still under development but is a really good effect to add tension to a scene.