FREE LEAGUE ANNOUNCES OFFICIAL ALIEN TABLETOP RPG

LOS ANGELES, CA (April 26, 2019) – Forty years ago, Alien shocked and inspired the world with a horrific sci-fi universe that forever changed the genre.

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Free League Publishing has announced today that fans can soon explore that iconic universe for themselves with an official line of tabletop role-playing games.

The long-term licensing partnership with 20th Century Fox Consumer Products will kick off in late 2019, launching an ongoing tabletop RPG series drawing upon four decades of world-building within this beloved universe.

Free League is renowned for its own world-building in science fiction, with their best-selling sci-fi RPG Tales from the Loop sweeping the 2017 ENnie Awards for Best Setting, Best Writing, Best Art, Best Game, and Product of the Year.

Tomas Härenstam, Free League co-founder and game director of their sci-fi RPGs Tales from the Loop and Mutant: Year Zero, will oversee game design, with original artwork from esteemed artists Martin Grip, John Mullaney and Axel Torvenius.

Taking place shortly after the events of Aliens, the first RPG will propel players into the vast possibilities of the Outer Rim Frontier. From the pioneering colonists and scientists to the ever-present Company reps and Colonial Marines, the game promises a diverse range of characters and gameplay experiences far beyond the staple cat-and-mouse suspense and survival horror of the franchise.

“The Alien saga isn’t about superheroes with superior firepower,” says game director Härenstam. “It’s about placing ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and testing the endurance of the human spirit against inhuman atrocities and impossible odds. Such a harsh yet hopeful universe has captured our imagination for 40 years with good reason, and we’re excited to explore new stories and perspectives as players must face their demons (in a true and metaphoric sense) and brave the horrors of the unknown.”

To best capture the Alien experience, the RPG will provide more than the framework for continuous, open-world campaigns.

Beyond the sandbox campaign game mode, Free League is also designing a “Cinematic” mode, with pre-generated scenarios that players must complete within a single session.

Emulating the dramatic arc of an Alien film, these survival challenges promise escalating stakes and fast (often brutal) gameplay where most players aren’t expected to last the night.

Their first cinematic scenario, Chariot of the Gods written by sci-fi novelist Andrew E.C. Gaska (Death of the Planet of the Apes), is included in the core manual.

Gaska is also the setting writer and canon consultant for the RPG series.

More cinematic modules and game expansions are already in production, with direct tie-ins to Fox’s future plans for the franchise slated for 2020 and beyond.

The Fox-Free League licensing deal was brokered by Joe LeFavi of Genuine Entertainment, who will manage the license on behalf of Free League and serve as an editor on the game series.

Alien is the latest in a slew of high-profile tabletop deals by LeFavi, including the master tabletop gaming license for Dune, the tabletop RPG series for Altered Carbon, and multiple brand extensions of World of Darkness.

For more news and previews on the Alien RPG series, visit alien-rpg.com.

Then follow Free League Publishing on Twitter and Facebook, where fans can discover art and gameplay development ahead of the game’s release.

ABOUT 20TH CENTURY FOX CONSUMER PRODUCTS

20th Century Fox Consumer Products licenses and markets properties worldwide on behalf of 20th Century Fox Film, 20th Century Fox Television and FX Networks, as well as third party lines. The division is aligned with 20th Century Fox Television, the flagship studio leading the industry in supplying award-winning and blockbuster primetime television programming and entertainment content and 20th Century Fox Film, one of the world’s largest producers and distributors of motion pictures throughout the world. For more information on all Alien products and activities, go to www.AlienUniverse.com.

ABOUT FREE LEAGUE PUBLISHING

Free League is a critically acclaimed Swedish publisher of speculative fiction, dedicated to publishing award-winning tabletop role-playing games, board games, and art books set in strange and wondrous worlds. Our best-selling RPG Tales from the Loop swept the 2017 ENnie Awards, winning five Gold ENnies for Best Setting, Best Writing, Best Art, Best Game, and Product of the Year. The game is inspired by a series of iconic art books published by Free League – Tales from the Loop, Things from the Flood, and The Electric State – exploring artist Simon Stålenhag’s original sci-fi universe soon to be realized in the upcoming TV series from Amazon Studios. Most recently, our fantasy RPG Forbidden Lands became the 3rd most successful RPG Kickstarter of 2017 and dubbed one of the best RPGs of 2018. Other tabletop work includes the post-apocalyptic RPG Mutant: Year Zero, the sci-fi RPG Coriolis – The Third Horizon, the fantasy RPG Symbaroum, and the Crusader Kings board game. To learn more, visit freeleaguepublishing.com.

ABOUT GENUINE ENTERTAINMENT

Genuine Entertainment is an award-winning producer and paladin in genre entertainment, specializing in strategic licensing for entertainment franchises and fandoms that demand quality and authenticity in equal measure. It’s our mission to build brands by building worlds and fan communities, making meaningful contributions with premium content and consumer products that extend brands into new markets and genuinely connect with fans across multiple categories. Recent collaborations include such genre greats as Alien, Altered Carbon, Avengers: Infinity War, Blade Runner 2049, Dune, Game of Thrones, and World of Darkness. To learn more, visit: www.genuineent.com.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

For me, like many sci-fi fans I imagine, the original Blade Runner is one of those films as near to perfect as we can hope for... so I wasn't that sure it really needed a sequel.

After Denis Villeneuve's almost three-hour magnum opus had washed over me I was still wasn't wholly convinced that we needed a Blade Runner sequel, but Blade Runner 2049 is still a mighty impressive piece of work.

While it may lack the finesse and subtlety of the original, it has an interesting and challenging story to tell, woven around the spine of a techno-noir thriller.

Ryan Gosling stars as K, a replicant blade runner whose job is to 'retire' rogue replicants (artificial life forms created as a 'slave' class to do the jobs humans didn't want to or couldn't do).

What should have been a routine case leads K to discover a hidden box, which contains clues to a shocking revelation that will "break the world".

Soon, he is following a trail of breadcrumbs, pursued by shady forces, and on the hunt for long-vanished blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and maybe answers to questions he has about his own creation.

Blade Runner 2049 does an amazing job of extrapolating forward 30 years the technology we were shown in the first movie, rather than simply splicing in whatever shiny effects the computers of 2018 can create, compared to the film-making tools of 1982.

This allows for creative use of holographic technology (such as K's beautiful 'girlfriend' Joi, played by Ana de Armas, and cameo appearances from Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and Frank Sinatra) while still relying on print photography to play a major role.

Villeneuve's mastery of Hampton Fancher and Michael Green's smart screenplay means the 164 minute film never drags; nothing feels like padding, even when we are simply revelling in the mise-en-scene (which is almost as beautiful as the original, but not quite) and cyberpunk atmosphere rather than cracking on with solving the mystery.

Had this, somehow, been a standalone movie, it would have been churlish to pick holes in its splendour, but Blade Runner 2049 will always be compared to its predecessor and always comes up that tiniest smidgen short (none of the villains, for instance, are as rounded and interesting as Roy Batty; there are no speeches quite as magnificent as "tears in rain" etc).

That said, aided no doubt by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch's soundtrack that strikingly evokes Vangelis along with plenty of visual nods to the original, Blade Runner 2049 is an amazingly absorbing film that does a damn fine job of entertaining its audience.

The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

In the near-future, the Earth is teetering on the brink of apocalypse, with energy shortages driving countries to increasingly desperate measures to survive.

Meanwhile, in orbit, as society breaks down below them, an international team of scientists - on the massive spacestation Cloverfield - are attempting to fire up The Shepherd, a particle accelerator that could could provide unlimited energy for the planet and save mankind.

Unfortunately, after two years of failure, just as the scientists think they've got The Shepherd working - something goes horribly wrong...

The station loses sight of Earth as bizarre phenomena begin to plague its crew, and down on the planet chaos erupts.

Full marks to producer JJ Abrams for keeping The Cloverfield Paradox pretty much off the radar until it appeared on Netflix this morning.

A companion piece to the original Cloverfield monster movie, this light-weight slice of fun makes liberal use of weird science to explain the goings-on of the first movie, while serving up a pulpy action horror tale of its own.

With echoes of Event Horizon and recent episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, The Cloverfield Paradox is a fine example of the "haunted house in space" sub-genre.

Occasionally formulaic and occasionally surprising, the breathless adventure is broken up with a sprinkling of thematic nuggets ranging from the strength of familial bonds, and heroism and sacrifice, through to moments of delightful dark humour.

It's also one of those wonderful works of sci-fi and horror that you can't really say anything about without spoiling the surprises.

Just sit back and enjoy.

The Cloverfield Paradox isn't high art, but it's a fun romp and proves that there's still life in this odd, episodic, franchise.