Now that 2ed TB is almost a wrap (from the rules perspective, I know that there is a ton of other stuff involved in publishing) I was wondering if designers or others have given any thought on what would you change for USCMC hack?
Not just from the 2ed perspective but overall after a few years have passed since it came out. So designwise how would you update USCMC hack?
I stole the warfare results rules from USCMC.
But my real surprise is how poorly USCMC works in practice. It’s an awkward fit that never really delivers on its promises.
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I see a lot of potential in it, but Torchbearer is best suited to stories like Alien: isolation or whatever the hell happened to Newt off screen in Aliens before the marines show up.
Replace “base” with “maybe safe hideout” and make guns useless. All the scrounging, scavenging and survival elements of Torchbearer will shine.
More horror.
One reason is that alien/s franchice is hard to pull of in RPG because of it’s familiarity.
“oooh so the colonist is having chest pains? Wow… wonder what is gonna happen next??”
And simply going “well your characters don’t know it” falls a bit flat imo.
One could also design adventures in the universe in general and introduce aliens later but who wants to repair Weyland-Yutani colony air filters and relationships when one could be fighting aliens?
Systemwise one of TB highlights is the tight focus on loot and inventory management and since the USCMC have pretty much limitless resources and you have a (shitty) pay it might need even more different approach.
Nevertheless during the holidays our group will brave the xenos in a one-/two shot. If it doesn’t work we can always nuke the site from the orbit…
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You’re absolutely right, but this is not an insurmountable obstacle. Many Alien stories evoke dread wonderfully precisely because the audience knows the monster ecology where the protagonists don’t. Tough to do in an RPG where metagaming is a concern.
I’ve also wanted to run an campaign advertised as “Alien” and just totally switch up the monster to work with different rules. I guess Ridley Scott felt similarly with Prometheus. Ah well.
You’re also correct that the USCMC having support from outside violates one of the core premises. All alien stories involve being cut off from any meaningful reinforcements, usually by the designs of a corporation that would see you play host to a xenomorph.
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If you have a chance to play the semi-coop board game Nemesis, you should do it.
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