The Black Dog Tavern Where Stories Are Told and Legends Begin
A Record of Our Journeys Through the Alien Universe
Pull up a chair at The Black Dog Tavern. This is the last quiet moment before the airlock cycles. The first in a series of Alien RPG posts.
The stories here aren’t about winning. They’re about what people do within an TTRPG when the pressure doesn’t let up, when the rules stop being reassuring, and when survival becomes a series of compromises you don’t always get to walk back.
Out there, in the long dark between stars, things break. Trust. Plans. People. What comes back to the table afterward is never quite what left it.
And there is something else out there too. Something that waits just beyond the edge of your nightmares, all metal teeth and malevolence. It does not care who you are. It does not bargain. It does not forgive.
Life in the Big Black is our record of facing it anyway.
What Sort of Day Has It Been?
This is a retrospective of what happened before new rules, before we board a new ship and step back out into the dark. It is where we take stock.
Life in the Big Black isn’t a victory lap. It’s a reckoning. A pause long enough to look at what we brought back with us, and what we didn’t.
Soon, we ship out again. Our next campaign, Rapture Protocol, waits on the other side of the airlock. A new run written for the Alien RPG: Evolved Edition. New rules. Old instincts.
Whatever comes of it will earn its place here in time. For now, this is the moment before we step forward. The pause where you finish your drink, check your gear, and decide not to think too hard about what’s waiting for you out there.
Tonight’s Board
Chalked up behind the bar, half-smudged by old hands
House System: Alien RPG (Free League) House Style: Stress, panic, bad decisions How Long Have We Been Drinking?: Years Current State of Play: Scarred, wiser, still going back out there
I can’t lie to you about your chances, but you have my sympathy. — Ash, Alien (1979)
The Complete Timeline
These are the campaigns that shaped us. Not session logs. Not victory reports. Just the runs we still talk about when someone orders another drink and stares a little too long into their glass.
1. Hope’s Last Day
Where it all began
Our first contact with the Alien RPG. Two groups learning stress, panic, and how quickly plans unravel when the lights go out.
Key Moments
The iron pipe incident
The facehugger surgery gone wrong
Learning that the rules were never going to save us
Status: Completed (several times) Read the full story soon
2. 26 Draconis Part I – Chariot of the Gods
The derelict that changed everything
A haunted house in space. Corporate agendas. Personal directives. The campaign that taught us betrayal doesn’t need monsters.
Key Moments
The locked door betrayal
“Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do…”
Introduction of AGENT A0-3959X.91-15
Status: Completed Read the full story
3. 26 Draconis Part II – Destroyer of Worlds
The conspiracy deepens
The middle chapter. Escalating stakes. The point where the scope of the lie became impossible to ignore.
Status: Completed Records currently classified by the Company
4. The Frontier War
Six months of paranoia, conspiracy, and sacrifice
Our first long-form campaign. Player-created Colonial Marines caught between politics, corporations, and command structures that broke faster than they held.
Key Moments
General Vaughn’s interrogations
The first character death (CBRN specialist)
They killed Kent Gannon
Rolling more than twenty dice for a single attack
Status: Completed (approximately six months) Read the full story
5. USS Dante Missions: Part I – Fear Factory V
Unconfirmed Disturbance Investigation Team
Status: Completed Data flagged for internal review
6. USS Dante Missions: II – Terror on Coriolis
The investigation continues
Status: Completed Recovered fragments only
7. 26 Draconis Part III – Heart of Darkness
The finale
All threads converge. Nothing resolves cleanly.
Status: Completed Classified by the Company
8. Rapture Protocol - Coming Soon
Show Your Scars
We didn’t learn these lessons from theory. We earned them.
Cinematics and Campaigns
Cinematics burn fast. Pre-generated characters. High lethality. Perfect for first contact.
Campaigns linger. You live with the consequences. You watch people change. You learn what survival actually costs.
What comes back is never quite what left.
Running Alien at the Table
Stress and panic are the system
The rules will not protect you, atmosphere might
Paranoia does more work than mechanics
Death is not failure; death without meaning is
If someone dies, the table should feel it
Around the Table
Trust breaks before bones and betrayal lasts longer than acid burns. Somehow, after all of it, people still come back.
The Numbers We Don’t Brag About
Total Campaigns: 8 (7 completed, 1 coming soon) Total Sessions: 100+ Character Deaths: Too many to count Locked Doors: At least two we still argue about Times We’ve Saved the World: Define “saved” Times We’ve Trusted the Company: Zero
We’ve buried good characters and made choices we’d undo if we could. We know exactly what waits for us out there and still, we went back out anyway.
From The Black Dog Tavern