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Building better worlds ... or dying trying - a Mephisto review
Building Better Worlds
The title of the Alien sourcebook Building Better Worlds is a direct allusion to the corporate motto of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, one of the corporations dedicated to the conquest and exploitation of space and its colonies in the Alien setting. Like the Colonial Marines Operations Manual, Building Better Worlds is a combined sourcebook and campaign book.
It starts with a few basic explanations of the exploration and colonization of space and the dangers involved. This introduction clearly emphasizes that these colonists must meet special requirements to be physically fit, mentally stable, and prepared to live out their lives in colonies that are barren at the beginning. However, this also gives them the chance to enter previously uncharted territory.
The History of Colonization chapter describes a timeline of the colonization of space in which the first steps begin as early as 2023, while the timeline extends much further to 2186, covering more than 150 years. The chapter describes the history of several topics so that you do not get a chronological sequence at first but only a partial outline of topics such as expansion, the conflicts between the colonies, and other political developments or problems that affected the colonies. Although this gives you a focus on specific topics, it is the added timeline that brings the events into proper order. Here, you can also see that one of the challenges of the role-playing game Alien is to decide when you really want to play within the time frame and which events have already happened for this period. Of course, you can find references to the events in the films, from Prometheus to the Alien series, here.
The following chapter introduces the organizations that play a role in exploration and colonization — from the Scientific Exploration Vehicular Expeditions, i.e., the exploration teams, to the various authorities and government organizations that play a role here. Here, too, the game master is provided with complex material, as the various organizations of the different major powers are presented. You will find exciting information here, but I was somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer number of organizations. Especially as these organizations appear, change their significance, and sometimes disappear again within the timeline in this chapter, it is complex.
The Making Frontier Colonist chapter is much more tangible, as it deals with creating player characters for a campaign as colonists and exploration teams, known to be the third of the three setting variants of Alien (alongside Space Truckers and Marines). This chapter briefly notes what kind of people act as colonists and slightly adjusts the existing careers. This adaptation primarily concerns the description of how such a career fits into the colony context and provides new options in the form of two so-called frontier talents and two pieces of frontier equipment that can be used instead of the standard options from the basic rule book. This chapter gives you a small arsenal of new talents that fit the setting but do not change the game much.
Two new character paths, Wildcatter and the Entertainer, are introduced, with the Wildcatter being a prospector searching for exploitable resources and the Entertainer covering a range of singers, croupiers, and other people from the entertainment industry. The chapter still offers some options for a personal agenda. Then it comes to a close after just a few pages, so that, similar to the Colonial Marines Operations Manual, only limited new character options come into play here.
At least the equipment section describes a small arsenal of weapons, suits, and armor, as well as other pieces of equipment. Of course, there are also numerous different vehicles, ranging from small ground buggies to two-and-a-half-kilometer-long colony ships. The items are each briefly described and tabulated with a stats profile, which seems sensible for the weapons and items of equipment. However, the vehicles and ships are more of a story element, so the statistics are secondary.
The sixth chapter, Campaigns on the Frontier, provides campaign background for the game as a colonist or exploration team. It begins by classifying different types of settlements and explaining what types of settlements there are and what extraordinary worlds players can encounter. Then, the basic campaign styles are discussed, and a distinction is made between explorer and colony campaigns. For the explorer campaigns, various expeditions, i.e., approaches for missions and stories, are provided. Typical tasks are described here in short sections, ranging from salvage operations and scientific field studies to hunting expeditions and criminal investigations. A few additional ways of making money in the border worlds are also described. These include the alien life forms known as harvesters, which can be used for daring mining operations. There are also tables on what you can find as a Wildcatter or what happens if the pressure suit is damaged.
The chapter Systems and Colonies catalogs additional worlds, each with a brief description, a few stats as a table, and a star map section. The focus here is on the Outer Rim Territories, the Frontier, and the Far Spinward Colonies. In the case of the Far Spinward Colonies, with which contact has long been lost, it is also noted that the data, as it can be found here, may no longer be up-to-date. Even if there are exciting ideas for these worlds, this is more of a catalog that is only suitable for reading to a limited extent. However, background information for the campaign is already woven in here.
The next chapter deals with the entries redacted from the Weyland-Yutani Extra Solar Species catalog according to the chapter name. Here the game master once again finds additional variants of the Abominations, such as the Xeno-Cobra, which is a snake-like Abomination, or dog-like variants. There are also further variants of the humanoid Abominations, as they appear in the Spinward region. Some of these Abominations have already been touched on in Chariots of God. A significant contribution revolves around the Perfected, which are presented in detail here and have already been briefly addressed in the Heart of Darkness expansion. There is also a section on the Proto-Xenomorphs, which also appeared in this expansion. The Proto-Xenomorphs introduce another threat to the game and add another stage to those presented in Heart of Darkness. Even the classic XX121 Xenomorphs are given an eighth stage in this book, which is even more dangerous than the Queen, who was previously at the top of the Xenomorph hierarchy.
While the book up to this point consists of various game material, some of which has already been touched on in other sourcebooks or expands on them with minor variants such as new equipment or new systems, the campaign approach hidden in this sourcebook begins halfway through the book with The Lost Worlds. The book presents a look at the Far Spinward Colonies and their development. The special feature is that contact with the colonies was lost for a long time due to solar flares, and the colonists had to survive on their own in isolation. These colonies were founded in the early 2050s, while contact was broken off 75 years later. Now, in 2185, there are new opportunities to reach these colonies, and so the Great Mother Mission is sent to reestablish contact with the colonies and reintegrate them — or, if the colonies have perished, to recolonize the area.
At the heart of this endeavor is the UNCSS Ìyánlá, a gigantic, modular colony ship two and a half kilometers long, which is to transport four complete atmosphere converters, 10,000 colonists in cryosleep, and 12,000 frozen embryos. However, the focus for the player characters is on one of the four SEV exploration ships, from which they are to carry out exploration missions as its crew. The special thing about this endeavor is that several powers are working together here that normally get along with each other to a limited extent. The United Americas, the Three World Empire, the Union of Progressive People, and the Interstellar Commerce Commission are all involved. And, of course, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is also on board. With such an illustrious mix of powers, quarrels are inevitable, not least because the New Albion Protectorate is currently splitting off from the Three World Empire. In addition, Hyperdyne Corporation, Omnitech Resources, and Kellen Mining Company are three smaller corporations striving for power. All player characters have an allegiance to one of the powers involved and different perspectives on the missions. They form the crew of the UNCSS Solovetsky Island, one of four exploration ships docked at the colossal colony ship.
The chapter provides a comprehensive description of the initial situation, the problems between the parties involved, and details of the ships, including schematic drawings and a map of the UNCSS Solovetsky Island. Various characters are described, and a list of the colonies is presented with the data on what they looked like before contact was lost. For the game master, the rest of the campaign is also described. There are tips on how to expand it with additional interim missions. There is also an outline of how to organize session 0 to set up this complex campaign.
In the Expeditions chapter, seven ready-made missions await the player characters. Each of these missions begins with an assignment to explore a system and fulfill the tasks of the entire mission. What the player characters encounter there varies greatly, but generally has little to do with the briefing data on the colonies' appearance before contact was broken off. On one mission, the characters find only two surviving families on a planet, and in addition to a fight for survival, they get caught up in an investigation. On one mission, they find a culture that has become very primitive and are confronted with an opponent they did not expect. On one mission, the characters stumble across various legacies of the Engineers and can explore them with the usual dangers that this entails, until the seventh and final mission finally leads to the ultimate confrontation between all parties involved. This finale decides nothing less than the fate of humanity.
The campaign features mysterious relics of the Engineers and the horrors they have bred. Colonies that have undergone significant changes, some of which have limited interest in giving up their independence, form the backdrop. This setup is mixed with the political ambitions of some of those involved in the expedition, the activities of a dangerous cult, and the legacy of the Engineers, which has awakened and poses a deadly threat. More cannot be revealed here without taking too much away from the campaign.
The adventures are varied but, at the same time, quite tough, so the chapter describes how to handle a character's death during the missions. Each mission presents an initial situation, data tables, and an overview map of the planet, characters, and various events and action sequences. The scenarios are designed in such a way that they are strongly driven by the actions and initiative of the characters. In addition, non-player characters are often assigned to missions and further influence the course of events through their interests.
At the end of the book, there is an appendix with tables for rolling expanded solar systems and planets, which can also be used to record the colonies with game statistics or to go through their development in the game if the aim of a campaign is to play through the rise and possibly the fall of a colony. Here, too, there are various tables and instructions for playing such a colony, as well as a handful of events that can be used to color the whole thing.
I felt the same way about Building Better Worlds as I did about the Colonial Marines Operations Manual. I found the first chapters, with the timeline, the organizations, etc., relatively confusing, as it was not clear why certain events were chosen and how these pages were structured. After all, a lot of space and time are covered here. The approaches to making colonists as player characters were also rather incidental and covered comparatively minor compared to the basic rulebook. The expanded equipment and systems are also an addition that, while interesting, is optional at first glance. Of course, the background material and the description of how campaigns can be played as colonists or pioneers are helpful.
Even the chapter that promises excitement, namely the species catalog, contains some alien species that have already been mentioned elsewhere and are only partially expanded here. The problem is that the different variants of Xenomorphs, Protomorphs, etc., with their various life cycles, are relatively complex, especially as they all pose extreme danger to player characters.
So, while the first part of the book did not really pull me in, this was utterly changed by the campaign because, when you start it, everything suddenly begins to fit together. You understand why certain organizations, storylines, and aliens were presented. Once again, the game successfully creates an exciting and epic campaign, which is exceptionally thrilling from the background of finding and returning the lost colonies. However, the whole thing is combined with a deadly threat that strongly ties in with the Engineer storyline, which Prometheus and Alien Covenant introduced. The campaign offers a broad spectrum, ranging from minor conflicts to major political intrigues and betrayals to insane death cults. The Perfected pose a threat against which the normal Xenomorphs seem almost harmless.
My rating of the book is accordingly. Building better worlds is primarily worthwhile for those who want to play a huge, epic, and hard-hitting campaign in the Alien universe, investigating planets as an exploration team and solving a big puzzle step by step to avert a deadly threat. Anyone thinking about their own campaign game in this direction will also find material here in the form of rules and, in particular, background descriptions and ideas.
In terms of rules material and additional options, the sourcebook is optional. Although there are a few more alien species, some equipment, and a few systems, these alone do not carry the book. This means that the book is mainly worthwhile for those who see it primarily as a campaign book and less as a rules supplement. As a campaign book, however, it once again presents an epic and hard-hitting campaign that really impressed me with its many facets. Anyone who dares to face the horrors of deep space as an explorer or colonist is in exactly the right place here.
(Björn Lippold)
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