Alien 1999

I played a couple of sessions of the Alien role-playing game over the past couple of weeks.

Well, not exactly.

I played a couple of sessions of the Space: 1999 role-playing game.

Well, not exactly.

What in fact happened was Stuart ran a Space: 1999 adventure using the Alien system, and it was good fun. I've always enjoyed the late-period Gerry Anderson series -- although I think UFO is better -- so it was fun to play around in that setting, just before the Moonbase Alpha accident that kicks the series off. The Alien ruleset -- derived from one of my favourites, Mutant Year Zero -- is quite good too, and worked well for the relatively low-tech world of 70s UK science fiction TV. It does tend towards horror and stress -- as you'd expect -- so it created a bit of a different tone for Space: 1999, perhaps the sort of thing you'd get if the series had been made in 1985 rather than 1975.

I'm not sure I have any interest in Alien itself as a game setting, but the system seems flexible and applicable for all sorts of things. I wonder how it would handle the Cthulhu Mythos?

Hmm...

Stuart's summary of the first session is here, and the second here.

They Mostly Come at Night... Mostly

I remembered, halfway through the morning, that it's Alien Day today, so I did a quick sketch as my morning tea was cooling down.

I quite like the idea of cooling tea as a timer for a sketch; a time limit forces me to draw without indulging in fiddliness, and means I can't hide deficiencies in my drawing behind detail. I also get a cup of tea out of it, which is a nice bonus.

I used to draw these aliens all the time, as I got a bit obsessed with Trident Comics' old Aliens magazine, which reprinted Dark Horse's comics. This is the first time I've drawn one of the creatures in at least ten years, I think.