SF Horror: They want to play Alien, but...

[Freelance GM]

So, I said I wanted to run a sci-fi game for my annual Halloween game.

My group immediately assumes it's going to be inspired by Alien, and gets hyped.

Now, to be fair, I was completely planning on basing it on Alien, but my group is expecting a genuine Xenomorph to appear. Which, you know, kind of eliminates the "horror" aspect. If you know there's going to be a Xenomorph, it doesn't have the same "Oh, crap!" kind of reaction it would have if it was a surprise.

So, I can see three ways of doing this:

1) Instead of Alien-inspired, just make it an actual Alien adventure, and include Xenomorphs, Facehuggers, and the expected nasties. The "Oh Crap" reaction occurs when the players realize there are actually two Xenomorphs loose on the space station.

2) Proceed as it is currently planned, using an original alien that could be mistaken for a Xenomorph. The desired "Oh Crap" would happen when they notice the differences. Currently, I have an idea for a highly adaptive creature that molts into an improved form every time you (think you) kill it. Kill it with fire, the next form is fireproof. Kick it out an airlock, the next form can survive in the vacuum of space. That kind of implacable monster.

3) Bait-and-switch. Now that they're expecting Alien, do something completely different (I'm thinking a sci-fi Ghost Ship adventure a la Event Horizon) and allow the suspense and dread build from no longer knowing what to expect. This one has the most potential for actually causing fear and suspense, but also has a small-but-significant chance of disappointing the players.

My question to the forum: Which one sounds like the best idea? Any advice for running an Alien or Alien-inspired game?

[TheThan]

I say throw them a curve ball and base if off of The Thing (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1).

[TeChameleon]

*snerk*

If you're feeling truly evil, set up a Xenomorph nest in a set of catacomb crypts (handwave it as them wanting to gather easy DNA samples, maybe?) for the players to explore... and have it be conspicuously empty, save for occasional distant shuffling, grinding noises.

Then their NPC guide vanishes without a trace, from a crypt that neither he nor anyone else could possibly have gotten out of without the PCs seeing.

Although... were those statues in the same spots before?

Yes, I do love the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who a bit too much :smalltongue:

And if you do end up going that route, could be fun to have the Alien Queen unexpectedly escape the purge, and be hunting the players while she also dodges the Angels...

[golentan]

I'd say use the ducts and what have you as its preferred mode of attack, go with #2, but have it already have adapted vs. Conventional Weapons. Have it show up late in the game, and have the first part be investigative (apocalyptic logs and posthumous NPCs). Give it some creepy ability to mess with the corpses, (disappearing them except for bloodspots, maybe, or animating them as puppets, or using them as nesting for eggs, or a combo: Bodies are animated by parasitic lifecycle which is released and weaker when the body is killed). Computer of the ship/facility they're investigating appears hostile and has booby trapped everything in a containment attempt, have it be a legit good guy antagonist, but maybe the AI is insufficient to explain the circumstances.

Oh, and make it psychic. Not blatant telepathy or telekinesis. Nothing so obvious. But have it cause hallucinations that put the PCs in danger. Can't see the airlock controls. Walls start bleeding. PC erupts with a monster from the chest in the middle of the group, despite being actually fine. Skittering noises all over.

[Anonymouswizard]

I think you should use 2, but just not have it look like a xenomorph. Use the suggestion of it being psychic and have it avoid direct confrontation, using hallucinations to get them to kill each other off. They see each other as xenomorphs!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

You can still have a horror game where they know what the monster is. It's just survival horror instead of mystery horror. The players are being hunted.

[JeenLeen]

So, I said I wanted to run a sci-fi game for my annual Halloween game.

My group immediately assumes it's going to be inspired by Alien, and gets hyped.

Now, to be fair, I was completely planning on basing it on Alien, but my group is expecting a genuine Xenomorph to appear. Which, you know, kind of eliminates the "horror" aspect. If you know there's going to be a Xenomorph, it doesn't have the same "Oh, crap!" kind of reaction it would have if it was a surprise.


As a side note, make sure you don't accidentally lie to your group and promise an Aliens/xenomorph game. If they assumed and you didn't correct them, that's one thing, but I can see some players reasonably getting upset if they were truly misled. Though, if these are old friends of yours and it is a one-shot Halloween game, I reckon they'd be more forgiving. Basically this boils down to making sure y'all have similar expectations for the game.
If you feel you need to, I could see saying something like, "Just to be make sure no one is disappointed, I never promised this would be xenomorphs. Not saying they won't be there, but just that they won't necessarily be there or be the only threat." Something like that stays vague while giving mystery, especially if there is just one threat. (I guess that is being misled to a degree, but it's a small degree & being explicit about no promises as to what is or isn't the case.)

All in all, sounds cool. I like the suggestions others have made. If hallucinations, make sure it fits the system in a way that doesn't let the players know what's happening. Maybe you should pre-roll Will saves or whatever the equivalent is, and have a piece of paper with roll results so they don't know when they roll.

[Pilo]

First part, make them fight xenomorphs, as it is what they expected, it will confort them.
Second part, make the xenomorphs flee something worse.

[JeenLeen]

First part, make them fight xenomorphs, as it is what they expected, it will confort them.
Second part, make the xenomorphs flee something worse.

I think that's a better recommendation than mine. (Alternatively, after some fighting with xenomorphs, they find the xenomorphs dead and wonder what did it. That's when things really get scary.)

[Freelance GM]

If they assumed and you didn't correct them, that's one thing, but I can see some players reasonably getting upset if they were truly misled. Though, if these are old friends of yours and it is a one-shot Halloween game, I reckon they'd be more forgiving. Basically this boils down to making sure y'all have similar expectations for the game.

All in all, sounds cool. I like the suggestions others have made. If hallucinations, make sure it fits the system in a way that doesn't let the players know what's happening. Maybe you should pre-roll Will saves or whatever the equivalent is, and have a piece of paper with roll results so they don't know when they roll.

This is the case. They're all old friends, and it is a one-shot. They heard "Alien-inspired," and automatically assumed there would Xenomorph. I have never outright said there would be a Xenomorph; the only confirmed detail is that they're on a derelict space station. I'll explain what I'm doing with the hallucination idea next, but I'll probably do the rolls in secret, or make every player roll, even though the ability is only targeting one of them.


Computer of the ship/facility they're investigating appears hostile and has booby trapped everything in a containment attempt, have it be a legit good guy antagonist, but maybe the AI is insufficient to explain the circumstances.

Oh, and make it psychic. Not blatant telepathy or telekinesis. Nothing so obvious. But have it cause hallucinations that put the PCs in danger. Can't see the airlock controls. Walls start bleeding. PC erupts with a monster from the chest in the middle of the group, despite being actually fine. Skittering noises all over.

I'm really liking the good guy antagonist idea, as well as the hallucination idea. Let me give you guys what I thought of while I was away from the thread, and see what you think:


I decided that a better antagonist would be "Cykotech" victims of something Alternity calls Cykosis. Basically, installed too many cybernetics, went nuts. The station was a remote R&D facility for a cybernetics developer. The company got a wave of volunteers from some transhuman cult to try the prototype "Fast Chip" they invented, and the results were, well, violent.

The volunteers started butchering the scientists and the station's crew, and forcibly installed cyberware on the survivors. A lone scientist managed to escape and send out a distress signal, but the cultists deactivated it minutes later.

The players are sent to the station as a courtesy call. Even though an "All-Clear" was sent out, the company wants to make sure everything's alright. It definitely is not. The cultists decided to go into a sort of trance/suspended animation until a ship arrived at the station. Their plan: hijack the ship, "enlighten" the crew, and spread the word of their "Sacred Machines" to a nearby planet.

When the players arrive, there are all the tell-tale signs of a monster rampage (butchered corpses, gunshots, mysterious fluids, etc.) to feed the "Xenomorph" assumption. The surviving scientist is even hiding in the maintenance tunnels, to continue selling the players on a Xenomorph threat with the sounds of something crawling through the vents.

Then, they find the apocalyptic logs and learn the real story. Shortly afterwards, the Cykotechs wake up. Their leader has interfaced with the station computer, and starts turning the facilities of the station against the players while his Cykotechs try to hijack their ship.

As a result, we get a creepy, build-up ending in an action-packed race against time. By having more than one "monster" (the Cykotechs are going to be more or less insensitive to pain, and given superhuman abilities by their augmentations) it avoids the possibility of the PC's somehow killing it prematurely. It uses a narrative/gameplay element that already exists in the rules, so less prep work/homebrewing for me, too. I'll just have to draw out that initial exploration, and tension building, and really emphasize the violent insanity of the bad guys, once they appear, to maintain the horror vibe once combat begins.

I gotta go, but I'll try to write more later, and I'll definitely let you all know how it goes.

[DataNinja]

I decided that a better antagonist would be "Cykotech" victims of something Alternity calls Cykosis. Basically, installed too many cybernetics, went nuts. The station was a remote R&D facility for a cybernetics developer. The company got a wave of volunteers from some transhuman cult to try the prototype "Fast Chip" they invented, and the results were, well, violent.

I don't have anything relevant to add, but I just an heartened to hear that there's at least one other person out there that still makes references to Alternity! :smallbiggrin:

[Freelance GM]

I don't have anything relevant to add, but I just an heartened to hear that there's at least one other person out there that still makes references to Alternity! :smallbiggrin:

Oh, wait, did I forget to mention I was running this with the Alternity Fast-play rules?

*Checks OP*

Man, I totally did.

Well, by the way, I'm running this with the Alternity fast-play rules. I've always been interested in the system, and I finally caved and picked up the core rulebooks over the Summer. I'm using the Halloween game as a chance to try it out and see how my players like it.

[Hopeless]

Hmm you could start off your game with the PCs waking up from stasis in the cargo area of a shuttle with no idea what happened.

Their ship apparently landed inside the hangar of a mining platform that's apparently been abandoned and checking their shuttle computer will only reveal they've been there for 36 hours and everything else was deleted with little to reveal why they have no memories of the last three months before waking up here.

They are actually clones, their progenitors were hired to investigate the mining platform but never returned.

Their patron arranged to have a set of clones produced and sent to the same location to discover what happened.

They will eventually discover the miners broke into a central chamber of the planetoid they're mining disturbing a Xenomorph nest which subsequently led to the miners sealing themselves inside the Living Quarters unaware a couple of them had already been infested.

Waiting for rescue the xenomorphs hatched and hid in the ventilation ducts (thanks to the Corporate Robot) causing the station computer to open the vents to space to suck them out and in turn killed the surviving miners (the Robot overrided the safeties but damaged the station's control computer in the process).

Sent to investigate the original team ended up resetting the Mining Platform's main computer as it had developed a HAL complex from accidentally killing the miners and when they descended inside the mines were eventually cut off by an explosion caused during one of their fire fights with the gathering Xenomorphs so if any of your players lose their character you can then introduce their Progenitor as a replacement character...

Please note at no point should they realise they're clones until they encounter a Progenitor character and even then had time to realise they're not the same character that they started this game with!

The Reason they even leave the shuttle...
One of the Xenomorphs trying to break inside the newly arrived shuttle cut the fuel lines so their shuttle is out of fuel forcing them to have to leave the ship to refuel the ship.

Once refuelled attempting to launch the ship without repairing the fuel lines will blow up the shuttle exposing the hangar to space and killing anyone still aboard the shuttle or don't bother to get further inside the station before the interior hangar doors slam shut due to the lose in air pressure.

If they discover and try to repair the fuel lines the Robot releases a couple of xenomorphs into their hangar and use the distraction to introduce itself by seeming to come to the PCs rescue.

Eventually they will discover the presence of the Progenitor's ship and the fact they entered the mines because their hangar was sealed by the orders of a surviving member of the Miners' when in fact a Corporate Droid copied the chief engineer's voice and used body parts (eyes, etc...) to seal off the hangar to prevent the discovery of the Xenomorphs falling into the hands of anyone except its owners.

They descended into the mines following a tracking signal they assume would lead them to the engineer unaware the robot killed him and left most of his body down there in the Xenomorph Hive as they have no interest in Robots just living beings like the PCs for example!:smallamused:

So eventually they will meet that robot who will reveal that the chief engineer has locked out the other hangar where the only means of leaving the station is located.

Oh and the means to track the engineer should they want to...

Of course they're unaware it has been keeping the Xenomorphs contained and preventing the Progenitors' from returning from the Mines since it has access to the main control computer and the PCs don't know that!

Be interesting to see how they react when they figure that out!:smallamused:

I'd go with option 3 give them a standard space adventure then reveal they have xenomorphs before revealing its actually the humans they need to be really afraid of!

[Freelance GM]

Hmm you could start off your game with the PCs waking up from stasis in the cargo area of a shuttle with no idea what happened.


Lol, believe it or not, that's actually the exact way I started the last SCi-Fi campaign I GM'd for this group.

So at any rate, I ran the adventure. Didn't quite go as planned due to out-of-game complications. We started later than we hoped, players were tired and didn't feel like playing out "the long version" of the adventure.

Ad-hoc, improvised condensation of the plot cut out a lot of the investigation/suspense building, but the terrifying cyborg baddies still managed to evoke a sufficient amount of creepy.

The mere mention of a noise in the ventilation shaft caused the party to nope out of the Life Support room and sprint halfway across the space station. Win.

One of the baddies got a critical hit "amazing success" with a cybernetic hidden blade while he was being grappled by the party mercenary. I described the blade as piercing straight through the merc's forearm, while the cyborg slowly dragged it from the Merc's wrist to his elbow. Gave a player empathy pain, so I'd consider that a win for the creepiness factor.

Had a Terminator-inspired miniboss tough enough to make the party seriously consider taking their chances against every other enemy on the station. Definite win.

However, some of the players couldn't stay in character, which made it difficult to accurately create the "SF Horror" mood I was going for. Nothing breaks immersion quite like a side-conversation about school. Additionally, I've spoiled my group on the magnificently streamlined and beginner-friendly D&D 5E; the Alternity rules were a bit too much for them.

Overall, it was still a reasonably fun game, but I'm not completely satisfied with how it turned out. Thank you all for your help brainstorming ideas! I appreciate that you took the time to help me out!