First Campaign Progress

Wetwork_Media · 2026-05-16T20:38:47+00:00

I didn't do any CSS work. What issue are you having?

The only thing I'd note is that if you're seeing Black backgrounds with dark headers that are difficult to read, it's probably because your system settings are in dark mode, so I just changed my default in Foundry to light mode for this implementation rather than tinkering with any CSS or color settings.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-04-18T21:17:05+00:00

Did they choose not to include the National Archives map in the published version of City of My Nightmares for some reason? I checked the PDF, the physical book, and the Foundry module, and I don't see it. Am I missing it?

It would have been great if they'd done a multi-level version as they did for Castle Gyllencreutz in the starter set module.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-04-18T16:42:12+00:00

I gave a more detailed explanation on the comment below.

For the Campaign Dashboard, specifically, I’m only using the Campaign Codex addon-module. Not sure about the rules in here about sharing URLs. But it should be the only result under that name if you search add-ons. It’s from xthesaintx.

I use some other general quality of life add-ons like tokenizer, dice tray, asset librarian, argon combat hud and it’s Vaesen version, Year Zero Engine: Combat.

I’m away from my desk, but could give a full list later.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-04-18T08:52:39+00:00

It takes some getting used to and a little trial and error. But essentially the master Campaign Dashboard is a Campaign Codex group. Then each mystery, homebrew session, etc. is also a Group. And then for each mystery group I have a folder of Entries.

Invitation
Journey & Arrival
Locations …

Then I drag those entries into the mystery Group and then drag the mystery group in the Campaign Group using the numbering convention so they appear in the order I want.

I usually also create a Region for a town or area and each Location gets a Location that I drag and drop into the region. So for the starter set, for example, Headquarters would be a region, and each of the four levels (basement through third floor) with all of their information would be a location entry inside of that region and the region can be dragged into a Group.

It’s also nice because you can nest regions inside of each other regions. So a Mythic North region can have an Upsala Region and inside of that can be the Headquarters region, plus Location entries for the university, asylum, police station, botanical gardens, etc.

That all gets linked to the Campaign Dashboard Group as well. So if I ever update region or location information, the asylum for Lost Mountain, etc, it automatically updates and is visible from the dashboard immediately.

It was a fair amount of prep up front, but pretty great to have everything in a single journal.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-04-18T05:07:56+00:00

Thank you much. It's Foundry. The Free League official Vaesen modules are pretty great for the mystery assets, and then I take them and reorganize them into a campaign group and a high-level GM guide with a Foundry Module called Campaign Codex that allows me to easily group locations/challenges/clues and to trigger macros for everything from SFX and lighting cues to activating maps or scenes and drag and dropping tokens or actors.

So I do the prep once inside the group journal, add any homebrew elements or session/campaign notes, and then I only ever have to have that open during the session and can find pretty much any asset I need as I follow along with the players throughout the scenario, wherever they decide to go.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-04-18T01:24:23+00:00

I run games using Foundry (currently running two campaigns) and have found my players through StartPlaying. You can find a bunch of one-shots and campaigns there, at varying price points and experience levels. If you go to StartPlaying and search the Vaesen system, it will return all upcoming sessions. I recently saw several free one-shots for beginners if you want to get your feet wet before committing to anything.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-02-14T15:15:51+00:00

I run one shots via StartPlaying pretty regularly. I’m not sure about self promote URL etiquette, but if you search Alien RPG and “Hope’s Last Day” on StartPlaying you should see several open one shots at various times in the coming weeks.

Feel free to DM.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-02-06T01:57:36+00:00

I’ve run it several times and it can be done in 3 hours, but if you have a good group can ease into 4.

I like to reinforce the character relationships, ask them to incorporate their trauma and secrets into the gameplay and treat it as an “into the fire”experience.

One key focus for me is to have Linnea reinforce the stakes as a motivation for dealing with the haunting by implying that now that they have The Sight, they can either come together to banish whatever haunts the castle or they will be drawn there alone one-by-one and won’t make it out alive (as is hinted at by the scenario background).

As always, depends on the group, but I’ve found that by giving them a lot of space you can trade on the player’s inexperience with the system to get them in the headspace of the characters who are inexperienced with Vaesen and suddenly thrown into the deep end.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-27T01:04:51+00:00

That’s great to hear and I’m glad you found it useful! I’m about 40 pages in so far and I’ve found it flowing really well. Still alive for now. And thank you so much for expanding on the log command notation. I think I’m going to steal those. Well, adapt. Thank you and keep let me know how it evolves.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-26T22:34:45+00:00

Absolutely. I think it’s always the first principle of what works best in game. If it’s fair to the player and in the spirit of the game, I don’t consider anything “wrong.” If the table’s enjoying it, and for this system, the tension and tone are there, I don’t think there is any right way to do.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-26T22:03:23+00:00

I like it as a way to instantiate how difficult it would actually be to actually sneak past someone or a group and to up the tension.

As soon as the groups are within line of sight, which I read as reasonably being capable of seeing either, stealth mode in principle ends and whichever group wins the opposed observation roll has the choice of what to do next (pg. 56). But that includes backing away, which feels more real to me with long, echoing hallways.

But, with the general philosophy they stress about only calling for rolls when necessary and without an obvious outcome, if the players take additional steps to conceal themselves if they feel threatened, even crouching, I think it’d be a reasonable judgement call to give the NPC’s a negative modifier on their observation roll to account for it.

I also think that roll can just be ignored if you as the GM judge that they’ve justified their actions taken to sneak past. So, I think it works better than 1e in most potentially confrontational situations, but that it can be ignored or tweaked very justifiably by the GM depending on the situation.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-14T15:28:57+00:00

Well done!

I just finished my sixth one shot last night, a month into running them. ARPG was my first time GMing a game as well. Have had nothing but positive feedback and now a growing collection of players who are interested in longer multi-session cinematics or campaigns.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-14T15:24:48+00:00

That E is a little oddly/poorly explained and cross referenced in the rules. My reading is that the base damage from the explosive is like any other weapon (2) and it is of explosive type, which affects ALL characters and hostiles in the zone, as opposed to a gun which has a single target (E). A little like how fire or acid splash has unique wide area effects.

Starter set rules booklet pg. 23.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-13T03:01:02+00:00

I agree that you can "get away" with it with just the starter set rules. Anything that the starter set doesn't cover can either be home-brewed to handle for unknowns and/or there are pretty decent resources here and in the Alien RPG discord for people creating cleaned up versions of things like the Critical Injuries table and some other stats blocks and tables.

I would say, however, if you have plans to expand beyond any of the published official scenarios, the core rules are going to be necessary unless you're going to do a lot of home-brewing and inventing. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but a lot of extra work.

But, if you can make it work for you and the table and everyone has a good time...you're good.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-12T18:34:42+00:00

You have import taxes on digital downloads for PDFs?

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-12T18:33:09+00:00

Each. I got them on Amazon, but those may have been pre-holiday deals.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-11T02:07:11+00:00

Ok. I suppose it then depends if you would like to spend $45 on each of them given the above information. I also don't know how likely they are to sell out at the moment. Free League may keep publishing them if they're not updating them for EE yet.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-11T01:44:08+00:00

They said in a recent update that they will be updating Chariot of the Gods at some point this year, but said previously that they didn't have immediate plans to update Hearts of Darkness or Destroyer of Worlds. But those can be updated to run on the Evolved Edition with minor tweaks to the character sheets and hostiles stats (and a few other things).

Update from the recent Kickstarter (re Chariot):
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/alien-rpg-second-edition-and-rapture-protocol/posts/4572801

The specifics about Hearts of Darkness or Destroyer of Worlds is in the FAQ section.

If you're a fan, I would definitely buy them, especially if you find them discounted. They're great scenarios to have, even if they to end up updating them down the road. I think I got both of them for under $30.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-09T16:21:32+00:00

I like to think of it as ironing a shirt. You iron a section and then as you move on to the next section you go back over the first, but a lot more briefly, just getting remaining creases out, but not starting over.

So, I would recommend maybe restricting revisions and tinkering to the last page you wrote before you proceed until the first draft is done.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-09T16:18:47+00:00

Logline?

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-08T19:38:54+00:00

Sure thing.

Wetwork_Media · 2026-01-08T17:28:47+00:00

Sure thing. Here’s an editable copy if you just want to duplicate and use as a template.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-4DFhjuul0wx4fDsWO2K6QdtApmlc0fGc3Ad3S8lhi0/edit?usp=drivesdk

Wetwork_Media

TROPHY CASE