I awoke in the middle of the night to let the dogs out for a nature break. Upon returning to bed I decided I’d fall asleep again listening to Roll for Crit play the Chariots of God adventure for the Alien RPG.

That was a mistake.

I ended up looking at the pdf copy of the rulebook that I had. The game can be played in to modes. A campaign mode and a cinematic mode.

The cinematic mode is basically a one shot adventure. That the authors suggest be played with pre-gen characters. They liken this mode to being similar to a movie. It’s probably the only way I’d get to play this RPG.

However in the section of the rulebook there is a panel that has a list of inspiration for players and games masters alike. It wasn’t a big list, unlike the ones in the D&D Players Guide and DM Guide. But looking at it was another mistake I made.

I was soon on Audible spending some of the credits I had to get some of the recommended reading. Three of the books had been dramatised by Audible. Which was pretty cool. Especially when I saw the first had Rutger Hauer listed amongst the cast.

There was also some books listed that provide background info about the universe Alien is set in. They cover ship specs, vehicle details, weapon specs, etc. Great resources for a GM.

It got me thinking I love it when there are books like this available for something. They help provide a rich tapestry, a depth and life to the world the movie/book/game is set in. Especially when it’s an existing universe, and we are not waiting for the RPG publisher to release this sort of information.

From a GM point of view the stories, the books about the universe are great inspiration. They provide details that help bring a campaign/adventure alive. A location or event described by a single sentence might be enough to inspire a whole campaign or quest.

In my homebrew adventure I was inspired by the map of the Sword Coast and the islands that form the Moonshae Islands along with the smaller island clusters nearby. Heck we have spent our first seven sessions just around the Mintarn group of islands. The players haven’t even made it Moonshae yet.

Although sometimes it can get all too overwhelming. Information overload. It can get daunting. Just look at the amount of stuff out there for the likes of Star Wars and Star Trek. Where do you start?

You can let the characters back stories guide you. Pick a point on a map that looks interesting (that’s basically what I did above). Use a location in a story you enjoyed. Heck you could even just borrow the story itself.

But once you have that starting point it’s just a matter of following the advice from much much more experienced DM/GMs than me, and start small, start local, and spiral out.

Watching, reading other RPGs is usually a mistake for me because I want to get them to the table and explore the worlds they open a window into. I now want to explore the Alien universe. Tomorrow it’ll be Mega City 1. Not enough time, or players.