Monster of the Week #11

This week we are taking another look at the Alien RPG - but this time, we are using the Neomorph.

The Neomorph is used in addition to the Abomination that players can encounter - but they are much more dangerous.

Similar to the Abomination, the Neomorph has multiple stages a player can encounter it in - which is a really cool mechanic for players who know about the Alien Universe.

The Neomorph's Life Cycle

Stage I: Neomorphic Egg Sacks. Players and NPCs can encounter fungus-like growths. These are inert when frozen, and can be destroyed with fire - which players have access to with the flamethrower that is given as part of their basic equipment.

Stage II: Neomorphic Motes. Once the egg sacks are disturbed they emit a puff of infectious motes which enter a living host to be growing. The Alien RPG allows for a Sickness roll with virulence level 9 - difficult to pass in a contested roll but at least players have a chance, however small!

Stage III: Neomorphic bloodburster. The Neomorphs equivalent of the Xenomorph's chest burster. What's great here is the effects of this are similar to that of waking from hyper sleep - so you can build this up to your players in ways they won't immediately expect an alien. This was fun in one of the games I ran of Chariot of the Gods this week. Neomorphs have an option of 6 attacks which vary between forcing panic on players and delivering fatal wounds. Even while small, players can be swiftly wounded so keep this is mind if you have them in your game! The Alien RPG does a good job at having it's foes incredibly scary to face off against.

Stage IV: Neophyte (Juvenile Neomorph). This is when the Neomorphs become party-killing monsters. It also gains additional sprint bonuses to make them incredibly fast - so players beware!

Stage V: Adult Neomorph. The Neomorph will fatally wound your players very easily in this form. As it has fully grown, its health and armour is at its maximum, so players should either flee or concentrate all fire on the Adult Neomorph - or else they'll lose their crewmates! Multiple new attack options replace older ones, and many of them not only injure crew members, but trigger immediate panic rolls. The Adult Neomorph is intense to encounter and player's found that their characters struggled to fight it physically and mentally with the Stress dice they accrued from previous game events.

Neomorphs die within 24 hours, so if players have the chance to hide that long they will survive. Don;t count on this as an option in Chariot of the Gods however, as players probably don't have the luxury of staying around that long!

Simulating Terror

While the Neomorph is incredibly difficult to dispatch without synchronising everyone's attacks on it, I feel it has represented itself very well in the TTRPG when you compare it with the movie introduction - fast, vicious and deadly.

While maybe a little more difficult for new players, or those who like their odds of surviving to at least reasonable to digest, in actual play I found the terror and fear of players encountering these creatures were similar to that of the movies. Even one of these creatures at maturity is a significant challenge, just like the films.

As an enemy that can track players throughout the SCSS Cronus, the GM can spring these on players at appropriate times to really heighten the impact they have on the game.

Those who have Chariot of the Gods sitting there and haven't played it should give it a look! It's been a great way to introduce several people I know to the hobby as they are huge fans o f the Alien franchise. We'll be finishing off Chariot of the Gods in the next few days - that's unless they aren't finished off first....

-KJ