Heart Of Darkness, Multi Award Winning Alien Rpg By Free League Goes On Pre-Order

Yay! Thanks for mentioning this and the RPG in general. I know I've been on about it a bit, but I'm obviously enthusiastic. I like the job the RPG has done of bringing together the best and most interesting concepts of the movies, games, novels, and comics in the Alien/s universe, and it gives me hope that the future of all of those things will be better as well.

I am currently reading/ studying the Heart of Darkness scenario. Pre-ordering it allows you to get an early version in PDF format before the retail version is out. Its a really crazy and complex story and introduces some very wild new stuff. I actually don't have a group to play with, so I usually do solo runs of these cinematics with dice and a notebook. Its obviously not as much fun as playing with a group would be, but I still get to see the system at work and participate in the kind mental playground aspect of the game.

One thing I enjoy, too, about the RPG is the way that it kind of throws a new light on the movies when you rewatch them. Someone the other day (forgive me, I don't recall who) mentioned this with regards to Prometheus. Suddenly, there are names and an (almost) internal logic to the events of the film and the engineer ruins that the movie did not really make clear. This is obviously a retroactive effect, but, in my opinion, it makes the story more interesting to watch.

I know I don't post much here, and I know that I sometimes am over enthusiastic when I do, but I enjoy reading everyone's opinions on the movies and such, and, as an Alien nerd, heart and soul, I like that there is an interested and equally enthusiastic community of fellow Alien nerds here. I think it will be interesting to see where the new novels, movie, and tv show take things, and I sincerely hope that the RPG really is a foreshadowing of things to come.

Nice to see the Detail  the RPG are Expanding, i may have to Invest in some for Source Material to see what their Take is on things.

Be interesting to see how they Expand the Engineers as looking at the Cover Art it seems to show the Deacon. I have a Different View on the Engineers compared to say the Comics....

I dont see them as Big Brute LV-223 Kinds who just Create all that Crazy £"$£% (Horrors like Deacon and say other Xeno-Related Monsters) to just SMITE their Foes..... especially if its JUST to get rid of Humans...

As a Cargo of Sacrificial Goo would do the TRICK, or HOW the Goo was shown to Infect the Engineers in Alien Covenant (Neomorphs are a Result of UN-Activated/Weaponized Urns that had Fallen/Leaked and Infected Fungi/Mold).

Ive always looked at their has to be another REASON beyond to Create Killing Machines...   and John Spaights Original Pitch for the Engineers to FIT that bill (Quest for Immortality).

so for me its Interesting as to WHAT the RPG could give us in Regards to LV-223 and its other Purposes as its UNLIKELY we will EVER get these Answers from a Movie. I think its a SHAME that Ridley Scott could NOT have been given the Chance to Expand/Flesh this all out.

Can't wait for Heart of Darkness to come out, because after that they might come out with the Space Trucker rulebook. Which is what my campaign is focused on

Xenotaris - Yeah, I'm excited about the Space Trucker book, too. And the one-shots in the upcoming books.

BigDave - They have kept the Engineers pretty mysterious in the RPG so far. I assume its because they want to leave them open for future movies to expand on. I too would love to see Ridley finish the Prometheus arc and add more to the Engineer mythos. It has a lot of potential.

And that IS a deacon on the cover. I won't be spoilery, but lets just say you'd never be able to guess how they come into the story. Its super weird, but I like it.

Yeah the Deacon was a Mystery in Prometheus on that was Vary Ambiguous.  We saw the One at the END of the Movie but this to me was showing the Pathogen in those Urns had Infected a Human Egg-Cell which lead to the Creation of something with more DNA of the Pathogen, mixed with Human DNA.

The Mural to me indicated the URNS in that Room had the DNA of the Creature from the MURAL the other Deacon.

The Origin of this Mural Organism is OPEN to debate... my Interpretation was the Engineers had Encountered a Organism they NEVER had Created and USED their Creation Tool (GOO) to Extract its DNA and Create Many Hybrids of this... the Deacon in the Mural being ONE such Hybrid and the Neomorphs being a Off-Shoot of another Hybrid.

I think its Logical to Assume that Each of the Temple Mounds had a Different Variant of Experiments/Black Goo.

But there have been other Interpretations of Prometheus... i think that the Earlier Drafts give more Clues.... with these we are Indicated the Engineers had Discovered something they had Attempted to Re-Engineer into Numerous Variants using their Scarab DNA Harvesters.

It will be INTERESTING to see if the RPG will Explore as to WHAT was in the FRESCO ;)

As FAR as the Engineers i would keep them a Mystery.... i think some Fans get Caught up too much in the LV-223 Kind and thinking that the Engineers are just Interested in Creating Horrors and Unleash them on the Galaxy.

What we had in ALIEN would be kind of like say we Discover a Human Ship on a World that has either Nukes or some Bio-Weapon on-board and the Pilots have been Poisoned/Killed by their Cargo....

Discovering as to (1) WHY these Humans had Created their Weapon and HOW, would be ONE thing to Explore!

But Once thats DONE... its the (2) WHY would they do so and WHO are they Intending to USE it on!

And Prometheus basically chose to cover (2) but was Vague... but my Point with the Engineers in Context to the Human Ship Analogy.... is there is MORE to Humans and our Agenda, History than just HOW/WHY/WHEN we Created a Weapon that we LOADED on a Ship to SEND to some Place.

And so the Engineers are Creators and THIS seems their Main Motive, but also in ADVANCING their Own Kind..... and so the Creation of Horrors/Bio-Weapons is NOT the Main thing about them.  But Exploring them in this way is NOT what seems to Please the Fans.... so would want to see more about the LV-223 Engineers and their Weapons.

I guess its like the Predators (Yautja)  they must have some History, Culture there is more to them than just HUNTING for SKULLS but maybe thats a Aspect thats BEST left to Mystery and so i think the same is BEST with the Engineers.

"Vary Ambiguous"

I mean Very lol....

So as FAR again as the Deacon... i can ONLY assume its Origins are from the Strain of Goo that was in the Temple Complex we see in Prometheus, and so the Alien Covenant Strain is Different.

And so its likely in the RPG (i have not Read it yet) at some Point a Ship does go to LV-223 to Bring Back some of the Black Goo.....

I fore one would love to know more about the yautja culture, like how Dark Horse handle them