Why? Why are the innocent punished? Why the sacrifice? Why the pain? There aren’t any promises. Nothing certain. Only that some get called, some get saved. She won’t ever know the hardship and grief for those of us left behind.
Alien 3
Alien: The Roleplaying Game was published by Free League Publishing in 2019 and rereleased in a second edition in 2025.
It uses the Year Zero Engine and focuses on cinematic gameplay (the “mode” of play named after that is intended for short games with an Alien-esque collapsing ending, but even the longer campaign modes are in that action horror genre).
One part of that focus is Stress dice. When you fail a roll, you can reroll it, but only by adding to your Stress. This adds to the dice you roll every time… but have severe consequences when you hit them.
This was the mechanic I bought the game for, actually - as I wasn’t looking to play Alien, but rather Pendragon with modifications. I didn’t end up following this track forever, but I think it’s still an interesting one.