So I really wanna run a Aliens universe mini-campaign, probably with the players playing Colonial Marines. As I've been thinking about what to put in it, there are some elements that are key to the Aliens zeitgeist
(plus facehuggers, eggs, super acid, groovy vehicles, etc etc)
The problem I'm dealing with is - where can I go from there? Aliens doesn't really extend *anywhere* past those motifs, to the point where you're kinda trapped if you want to tell more stories in that world.
Don't get me wrong - all this stuff is great, and I plan to go ham on it all but it's also pretty limited and pretty well worn. I groaned at the new trailer with them rehashing the derelict and peering into eggs but idk if I can blame them. It's hard to stay faithful to something like this without simply rehashing old ground, and it's hard to put a twist on it without straying too far. You're always in horrible danger of developing 'Yuuzhan Vong Syndrome' where an idea can be pretty cool and interesting in it's own right, but completely wrong for the existing aesthetic you're trying to attach it to. You could add *anything* but most things will queer the mood. tl;dr So I'd love to hear anyone's ideas on this: Alien-style scenarios they'd love to run or situations they think would fit the aesthetic. What can you add to the franchise that would expand it without feeling out of place? What have you always wanted to see in Alien?
Note I've seen all the films (save most of the AvP titles) and played most of the games. And I've read the Fire and Stone Dark Horse series (is the new film based on/inspired by that?)
So far my ideas that 'fit but haven't been in a movie' are: > #1 Marines are sent to collect a small science team from a large colony, who are in possession of an egg or an infected body in stasis. Colonists know enough to know that whatever the scientists are working on puts the whole colony in danger and that Wyland Yutani has a track record of putting entire colonies at risk with shit like this. Colonists probably start rioting, risk releasing the bioweapon in the process > #2 Marines get locked in a secure facility with a large amount of colonists (I'm thinking a different colony from #1), Xenomorphs are loose outside and their numbers are growing (breeding through the rest of the colony I guess). Marine characters are familiar with the threat Xenomorphs pose and how they work by this point. Standard horror movie infighting ensues, risking the security of the facility.
That's it though, and the two ideas share a lot of overlap.
Man the character limit is a real kick in the nuts
Christopher Hughes
#3 Man Vasquez is such a babe in that one shot goddamn
- Notes related to running the campaign:
> Playing Colonists So my go-to for this is the players are all Colonial Marines, either set individuals with plot armour or drawing from a larger platoon(/appropriate unit size) where individual soldiers are much more likely to die
However I feel playing as Marines has been fairly 'done' and maybe I should be playing as Colonists instead, but I can't really come up with any good scenarios for Colonists. Colonists, it seems, are doomed to get stuck somewhere and just get attacked repeatedly by Xenos. You could have a great campaign with something heavily inspired by the events prior to the Marines landing in Aliens but I like the 'variety' that playing Marines offers - they can come and go. Furthermore, it's easy to have the Marines interact with the Corp directly, getting bad orders with messed up corporate priorities. I don't really know how to acheive that with Colonists.
One bonus of playing Colonists is that it's easy to have them get attacked by Marines.
> Sythentic PCs So naturally you gotta have one of the PCs play the Synth, but how do you swing that? One PC gets to be superhuman, but somehow they have to be prevented from turning into Rambo when shit hits the fan. Also, generally they have to be 100% loyal to the company, or at least be unable to disobey outright. I'd love to have a character in the party who's motives are complicated like that and possibly completely untrustworthy (without That-Guyism) but I've never seen that kind of character played before and I have no idea how to DM it.
> Smart Guns How do I give this to a PC without it being totally OP? They seem to be machine guns that are also self aiming. How can this be in the party and everyone else still be useful?
> System
I'm thinking of running this in Savage Worlds because it's what I know. There seems to be a bit of premade homebrew available out there already.
Leo Long
>but you're in horrible danger of developing Yuuzhan Vong syndrome
while I'm here: imo Aliens already has this with Predator.
While Xenomorphs are great for the Predator series (the ultimate quarry for the ultimate hunter), Predators don't fit the overall Alien aesthetic. Predator is a serious-faced-but-camp 80's action thing. Alien is tension and slow burn and lovecraft. Predators are both kinda relatable and powerful which queers Aliens whole 'the whole universe fucking hates you and no one's going to help you but yourself' thing. I guess I'm not totally opposed to a Predator appearing in an Alien space but it'd have to be totally distant and inscrutable and spooky in its own right (without necessarily having to be hunting the human characters)
Colonial Marines and Predators have been overplayed.
Also, many of the themes mentioned by OP in do not work that well with Marines. Alien and horror in general work far better if one is _not_ armed to the teeth (or the enemy is invincible but we know that marine guns hurt aliens a bit too much)
Aiden Powell
Plot twist. Run a campaign with absolutely zero xenomorphs. Use alternate enemies and don't tell your players so they spend the entire game waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Hudson Howard
>Colonial Marines and Predators have been overplayed. So has fantasy. A yet here we are. >Alien and horror in general work far better if one is _not_ armed to the teeth Aliens did it fine. You just need enough Aliens, and depleting resources
Joseph Watson
I dunno, if I was a player in that game I'd feel a little cheated.
Isaiah Howard
Space truckers. Do space truckers (broadly defined).
Juan Gonzalez
I'm thinking do it after establishing you're already playing in the Alien setting. So PCs do an arc with xenomorphs. Next arc has none. PCs are jumpy the whole time waiting for Xenomorphs to show up, but its actually just a routine mission. Then hit them with more Xenomorphs
Charles Bell
So the main thrust of your problem is that you can't think of really "Alien" scenarios that haven't been done before. First things first, if you're going to make a big campaign, don't limit yourself to just "Alien" you can do more traditional sci-fi (with an Alien twist) as you go. Things like simple rescue missions, pirates raiding corp vessels, enforcement or retaking rogue colonies. These can be set in the same universe without needing the "Star" of a Xenomorph to show up. You're absolutely right about your list of essentials for Alien, but you don't necessarily have to have all of them /at once/.
Also, you can always have Xenomorphs as a hidden threat. Your players can get most of the way through a regular, or even tough mission, only to have it all go to complete shit because Weyland neglected to mention they had a science detachment in the area.
Marines vs Colonists Try a mix. Go the CoC route, where overwhelming firepower isn't going to solve your problem all the time, but sometimes the cowardly librarian has exactly the knowhow to get your asses out of this shit. Consider allowing your Marine PCs to die fairly easily and trading them out for Colonists you've pre-prepped for that campaign arc. You know they can be useful in that scenario, so the players aren't feeling cheated by losing their big gun.
Isaiah Allen
While Alien Resurrection was generally terrible, it had one concept in the backstory which could be salvageable with better writing. Specifically, a Synthetic revolution.
Xenomorphs are the perfect weapon... ...for an android rebellion: • Xenomorphs kill humans and megafauna that humans could farm/eat but ignore non-attacking androids. Then due to lacking hosts they die or hibernate leaving eggs everywhere so humans can never recolonize. • Androids are self-aware. • Androids are considered property/kept as slaves. • If humans all died there's no reason why androids couldn't just use already existing factories to reproduce and survive. • Due to the xenomorph biomechanical nature resembling that of androids, some androids might veiw them as a "final stage of biomechanical evolution" sort of like in Mass Effect with the Geth who "worshipped" Reapers.
You can try not playing marines. Honestly, if you have any decent amount of weaponry, xenomorphs aren't much of a problem unless they come at you by the hundreds. If you must play marines, though, there needs to by serious disadvantages. Very limited ammo, no room to effectively shoot, a lieutenant telling everyone this is a pistols-only round, etc...
Yes, the "staring at an opening egg" trope is a little tired and players will just have too much meta to lean over and look. You could skip it entirely. Facecrawlers have already hatched and are on the prowl, or have already found victims, like wildlife.
Synths don't use weapons. If they have to tangle with an alien, it's hand-to-hand, although their melee is pretty good.
Logan Rivera
It's interesting. The Predators are always presented as heroic, almost like Space Marines, whenever they're contrasted with Xenomorphs but when they're alone they work fine as slasher villains.
Parker White
They're still hard-asses, and have no problem hunting humans, even during a xenomorph hunt.
You're relieved as hell when a predator comes out of the shadow and starts racking up a skull count, but if you've ever seen one before, you get the hell out of dodge: If he loses, you've got one more xenomorph to deal with. If he wins, you've got a predator to deal with. The number of times a human and a predator met face to face that didn't end in mortal combat can be counted on a hand.
Samuel Brooks
a Alien Isolation like Game were you play someone being hunted by a Pred would be really interesting desu
Benjamin Robinson
Weyland-Yutani did nothing wrong.
Dylan Gonzalez
Truest words have never been spoken.
What are comics worth reading? i love the setting (although I don't really like the whole Predator deal).
Why not the ayes? There's plenty that could be done >multiple different forms as classes >expand your hive >take out threats >go to space >balance hit and run tactics on marines with all out attacks on colonists >multiple big companies to either boost for own gain or crush under your chitin foot >become the galactic presence your species was destined to be, evolving into the ultimate life forms >speaking of evolve, good excuse to make your PC as out there as possible (smarter, stronger, acid spitting, arm blades, face hugger launching, perhaps even mind control) >options for peaceful symbiosis or total extinction as end games
Seems fun to me as an evil/neutral campaign
Benjamin Lewis
Well he got killed by the Queen, who was super pissed off, and he was in her way.
It's fairly well established that under normal circumstances xenomorphs will ignore androids as long as they don't do anything to provoke them.
Lincoln Parker
I've only played a little Savage Worlds (War of the Dead, or whatever that zombie campaign was called, the one that starts on a cruise ship), but it seems like a decent generic system.
I like your idea of having shady shit occurring on a colony, with an extraction team coming for the scientists and samples, but I would suggest having the PCs be the colonists, not the arriving Marines.
The PCs are friends or relatives, and are among the first to find out there is a military team inbound. The scientists have gotten really quiet, and maybe one or two colonists have gone missing (they stumbled onto the xenomorphs, or just learned more than was safe). They have a few days to use their connections and resources to investigate, and then the Marines arrive.
Now there is unrest, martial law, rioting and resistance. The PCs might pick sides, or just try to survive, or maybe they have an inkling as to the real threat. Sure enough, the xenomorphs get loose, and it all goes to Hell.
Also, the Synth character: They don't have to be overpowered, because their particular model might not be built to the same specifications, or they have software blocks that limit what they can do (such as attacking living things, including the xenomorphs). They also don't have to be loyal to the Company, because they might be infiltrators from a rival corporation, or a would-be rogue (like the ones mentioned in Resurrection) who just wants to live free.
Hudson Campbell
It's a cool idea but I'm not interested in running it.
Also sounds like something you'd need a custom system or colossal homebrew to manage
Also not thrilled about the idea of having 4 players at the table hissing and pretending to have raptor arms (though on second thoughts...)
>they have software blocks that limit what they can do (such as attacking living things, including the xenomorphs) I like this a lot, solves quite a few problems. >their particular model might not be built to the same specifications this is worth thinking about, feels like a bit of a cheat though, and a bit of a problem in a game with a high likelihood that any character gets decapitated and has to be replaced. "oh this new synth is also shitty" >because they might be infiltrators from a rival corporation this is a cool twist on the 'company loyalty' angle
Dylan Rogers
forgot my pretty photo
Chase Nguyen
How about level design? Take this glass dome at 6:16 for inspiration.
Honestly if I wanted to fuck with player's expectations, I'd use the original draft for xenomorphs from Alien.
Rather than just kinda being around as "the ultimate organism" that doesn't have any of its own technology or whatever, the Xenomorphs actually did have a civilisation and everything, and they're murderous, rapacious and predatory because they've been born outside of its nursing and guidance and grown up feral.
Your players are in a settlement that's now losing ground on both sides between xenomorphs and something far deadlier but less thorough, and you don't know if letting the two meet each other is going to solve your problems or multiply them tenfold.
Oliver Green
>Geiger You mean Giger
Connor Kelly
>What are comics worth reading? i love the setting (although I don't really like the whole Predator deal).
Stronghold is one of my favorites. A lot of people love it, especially for the cover character.
Daniel Sanders
I remember Labyrinth when I was younger and I thought it was pretty good. It also got my more deviant fetishes going.
Carson Gutierrez
>stronghold My sex exhibiting human being of african american decent
Easton Nguyen
That was gonna be another one I would recommend.
Ryan Mitchell
The aliens are learning. Making tools, developing their own horrifying culture, maybe even trying to make their breeding more efficient somehow. Just put a spin on them that we haven't seen them do before. Introduce a mutant subspecies that is distinctly alien, but something a little different. Keep your players on their toes so they can't metagame from seeing the movies.
