Alien Evolved Edition

[Egheal]

Will the second edition be a separate product or will it be like D&D or Star Trek, with the possibility to switch between editions on the fly?

[ddavison]

We haven't made that determination yet. It normally depends on how similar they are. If they are close enough, we try to allow them to work alongside one another or auto-convert.

Are you familiar enough with the two versions to let us know how you would expect it to be handled from a customer perspective?

[Egheal]

I'll give you my views as soon as the new rules are available in pdf (but I won't be buying the kickstarter as I prefer to buy real books in French).I love what you have done with Call of Cthulhu: 2 separate rulesets but with a system that transforms old v6 characteristics to v7.

[TeamRodriguez]

There are a collection of new tables, new rules for panic and some combat rule changes. Effects are renamed with very slight tweaks ("Exhausted" vs "Fatigued" for example), and a new calculated player attribute called Resolve that is factored into panic table results. I recently played HLD 2025 trying to use some modifications to existing automation and I didn't do so well keeping up with the new tables and rules.

While I hope there's a separate ruleset, Free League have come out on the record on compatibility and said you can use as much or as little of Evolved Edition in existing 1E rulesets and vice versa, just with some tweaks. It seems like any changes would need to be additive, and include both rulesets to let players create as much or as little of each system as they want?

All of the changes made in the Evolved Edition are made either due to community feedback over the last six years or our own experiences and ideas for how the game could be improved.

The key reasons for modifying the stress and panic rules was A) to avoid situations where a skill roll triggered full panic and B) offer longer stress/panic tables with more varied results. These were points that have been raised repeatedly in the community, and they have been addressed in the Evolved Edition.

The Evolved ruleset has been extensively playtested internally, and been found to work well. Some changes are certainly noticable, but it's very much the same game at heart. In play, the changes are not as dramatic as they might seem on the page.

The new edition is certainly backwards compatible, in the meaning that first edition adventures can be played with the Evolved rulebook and vice versa, with a few quick tweaks.

And, this goes without saying, but for the record – if you prefer the first edition rules, it's perfectly fine to continue using them. Or a mix of the two. It's your game.

EDIT - can't forget the new solo mode, which has a bunch of new features too