Genestealer in modern day America

Thinking about running a mystery/horror campaign set in a small midwestern American town where the Protagonists are teenagers and the local police, and the monster is a genestealer. Think IT or stranger things but the kids are a little older. Would a single genestealer pose enough of a threat or would it be better to have a small group/cult of them?

Just one would definitely be enough of a challenge. Hell even then combat to kill it would require ramming a car into it several tines then blowing it up

Unless it takes place right when the Genestealer is first arriving, there will be a cult. I'd suggest asking in /40krpg/ once there's a new thread made, and possibly take some hints from something Call of Cthulhu-esque for the midwestern cult aspects

IMO that kind of game is best done with a more socially-oriented game, rather than a combat-oriented one.

Stranger Things - most of the show isn't about getting into physical contact with monsters. It's about investigating the mysterious and anomalous things, and the mood of encroaching horror, and the relationships and personal journeys of the characters. So it's best to use a system that foregrounds that stuff.

A Genestealer would be extremely effective in America. The midwest is a cultists dream land. Plenty of isolated, under educated, individuals. Once they've got a strong foundation they can just do that mormon thing where the young people get to go into the city and fuck around for a weak before coming back.

>Stranger Things - most of the show isn't about getting into physical contact with monsters. It's about investigating the mysterious and anomalous things, and the mood of encroaching horror, and the relationships and personal journeys of the characters. So it's best to use a system that foregrounds that stuff.
I concur with this user. OP a lot of IT and stranger things was about the mystery and puzzle collecting to find the root of a problem. So your campaign would heavily revolve around that.

Of course, short encounters like insane genestealer cultists and random events (teens running into bullies, bullies get killed off by genestealer) kind of events are great, but the atmosphere and ambiance is what makes these kinds of campaigns great.

A single genestealer (especially a Ymargl genestealer) would be a significant challenge. Just one would easily be able to take a police unit.
If going straight from the lore though, the genestealer needs to generate a significant local population before attaining a pseudo hive mind, and be smart enough to be dangerous aside from its natural weaponry.
Mentioning Ymargl genestealers because they are my favourite, basically like you took a genestealer and lictor and combined the two to make something terrible.

Remember, a genestealer among a human population is not a single monster. The goal of an individual genestealer on a populated planet is to infect members of its population (which only requires a short period of contact) and start a cult, at which point the original genestealer becomes the Patriarch of the cult.

Without that particular aspect a genestealer is just a regular horror movie monster with typical superhuman strength, durability and speed.

I think you might be underestimating how powerful just one genestealer is. Even if it wasn’t trying to start a cult, it’s sheer speed and physicality would make it a very difficult opponent for even a squadron of modern Spec OPs unless caught out in the open. They’re extremely fast, extremely agile and have better reflexes than a space marine. In terms of raw strength they can tear a man limb from limb, overpower a space marine in armor, and tear through terminator armor and rip open tank hatches with their claws. They’re far more durable than a human and could probably survive several rounds from a military grade assault weapon before even slowing down. They’re smart enough to operate operate machinery, and I recall in one story a genestealer pinned down a space marine captain and switched off his power sword. Your average genestealer is a very formidable horror movie monster, and I don’t really see teenagers being able to take one out. A local police force with some luck, maybe, but even that is a tall order.

the end-goal is to convince the government to use the nuclear option.