Phoenix Command

Phoenix Command is a combat-oriented tabletop role-playing game system published by Leading Edge Games in 1986. It was built around detailed, simulation-style combat rules, particularly for firearms and other modern weaponry, aiming for a higher degree of realism than many role-playing combat systems of its era. Its rules proved influential enough that variations of the Phoenix Command combat system were reused in other military and science-fiction themed games from the same publisher, including Morning Star Missions, Living Steel and the Aliens Adventure Game, which licensed the system to simulate combat drawn from the Aliens film franchise. Phoenix Command is remembered today chiefly among tabletop role-playing game historians and collectors as an example of the detailed, crunch-heavy combat simulation design popular in 1980s military and science-fiction role-playing games, standing in contrast to the more narrative-focused systems that became common in later decades.