(RPG PDF Spotlight) Alien, Us

Alien, Us

Cortex Prime Setting by Rusty Sellsword Design

You crashed here forty years ago. You learned the language, the customs, the clothes, the way they smile with their teeth showing even when they don’t mean it. You got very good at seeming normal.

Then the paranoia started.

Alien, Us by Monte Lin drops players into 1950s suburban Levittown, Pennsylvania, as extraterrestrials stranded in the most aggressively normal place in the universe. Think The Twilight Zone meets The Munsters, filtered through the genuine existential dread of the Cold War era. These aliens aren’t invaders, they’re trying to keep their heads down. Conformity is just a lot harder when you’re literally not from this planet.

Seven values—including Alien, Conformity, Materialism, Paranoia, Patriotism, Secrecy, and Spirituality—create a value system that’s both period-accurate and philosophically rich. The Paranoia Pool is a limited doom pool variant that grows as the neighbors start to notice something’s not quite right about the people at 112 Maple Street.

The tension between desperate assimilation and authentic alien identity gives every character a built-in dramatic arc, and the 1950s backdrop provides period texture without tipping into nostalgia.

Cold War Sci-Fi Drama | Setting d6 / Prep d6 / Complexity d8

The Cortex Prime Spotlights are fully playable RPG settings designed for the Cortex Prime system, spanning pulp adventure, space opera, kaiju action, supernatural drama, post-apocalyptic survival, and more. Each Spotlight includes a complete setting, rules variants tailored to its genre, sample characters, and everything you need to run a campaign or one-shot. All you need to add is the Cortex Prime Game Handbook and dice.

Alien, Us is available through DriveThruRPG in PDF.


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