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I'm planning on reusing one of my favourite old Traveller adventures, Shadows. [DA01 Shadows to be precise]
For campaign play, no xenos required, I should be able to terrify them enough without.
For cinematic add xenos for more carnage.

Short version: players ship is investigating an anomaly on an unihabitated planet with corrosive atmosphere. While overflying, players ship is forced down by an energy beam/blast from anomaly. They can't take off with the likelihood of being shot down and can't stay on ground as there are earth tremors that are getting worse and may disable ship., so have to investigate. They find an ancient looking pyramid structure (including statues of reptile like humanoids) that has been damaged in tremors.
Entering the pyramid is when the fun begins. Interior is filled with circular corridoors with false floors over liquid/mists. There is an animal species living in the pyramid that subsists by eating it's own young, like the Cannibal Frog of Africa. Eggs are laid in the lquid and hatch into snakelike vegetarian juveniles that grow to about 1m long/3kg weight. Then they hibernate and metamorphosize into either a 4 legged carnivourius male of about 6kg or a carnivorous female similar to a large bat 1.2m wingspan. [Can we see why these might terrify the players, as they swim/scuttle/fly about in the misty waters or over their heads in the darkness?]
Eventualy they will discover a control room for a reactor that is venting energy due to damage from the tremors. They will have to work out how to use the alien controls to stop the venting, which will alllow them to take off safely. However this will also cause the reactor to overload and meltdown/explode destroting all evidence of said vanished alien culture.

While I don't have much experience with the system, I have to imagine Call of Cthulhu could offer scenarios that, with flavor text tweaking, could be made to fit the Alien universe. The Haunting - the free scenario that's been in the CoC games since the beginning and initially known as The Haunted House - could be made about players asked to investigate a remote outpost on a random asteroid instead of a house, with personal agendas tailored to the previous owners or prospective owners or the like, and its supernatural threats replaced with being infected by high-tech traps and Chemical A0-3959X.91 (or if preferring the classic Alien material, simply a facehugger and drone), and sanity effects replaced by stress and panic.

If not specifically from the Call of Cthulhu games, I imagine some of the original Lovecraft short stories could be adopted:
1) Polaris (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaris_(short_story)) could be adapted about former Marines who suffer strange dreams in their hypersleep.
2) The Temple (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Templ ... ort_story)) could replace the cursed ivory with an Engineer artifact.
3) The Outsider (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsi ... ort_story)) could a one-shot player twist upon finding out they're the "aliens"/abominations
4) Re-aniamtor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_W ... Reanimator) could be an Alien take on this Frankenstien/zombie story.
5) "The Rats in the Walls" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rats_in_the_Walls) could be facehuggers!
6) "The Call of Cthulhu" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_Cthulhu) could have a xenomorph-worshipping cult culminating in the discovery of a queen.
7) "At the Mountains of Madness" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mo ... of_Madness) already influences "Who Goes There?"/The Thing

I'd be curious if more experienced CoC players think any other scenarios from that could be adopted to the Alien universe.

I think my view of the Alien franchise is shaped by the fact that the original movie is the core to me.

That is the wrong view to take IMO. Because the alien franchise is way more than just the first movie.

The alien franchise is also about saving humanity by declaring war on xenomorphs and the corporations that want to weaponize them.

The first movie is a great starting point but eventually players get sick of being helpless. At some point aliens need to stop being unstoppable forces of nature and become things that bleed and can be killed. IMO thats an important transition that needs to happen when you start running a campaign as opposed to a one-shot.

Vindictus, instead of having the same discussion in several threads, I suggest you start a separate thread about the core themes in the Alien universe. It might be interesting. And I will still say that the original movie is the core.

So, to get back on topic: I would say that several Cold War spy novels could be interesting for adaptations in the Alien universe. U. P. P. would then be the obvious equivalent for anything Soviet or Eastern European while the more Western parts would most likely be corporate. A different take could be to keep Earth as the stage of the drama. I imagine a mega-city Moscow, London or Berlin in tech-noir style... And of course, there are android sleeper agents and super size KGB headquarters full of secrets...

I’m of course thinking of something in John le Carré style. This could be the starting point: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy ... m_the_Cold

I would also add xenomorphs in some form, but not a full scale infestation. Instead, I think it would be more interesting with stolen eggs, embryos or DNA samples. Much of that could be transported inside an android. Maybe an Earth based spy campaign could end in a lab space station, similar to The Cold Forge, with horrifying experiments and specimens of enormous value...

Finally, I think Gebohq made a good point with the Cthulhu connection. Alien is a sister franchise with its cosmic horror. It’s interesting to see what you can learn from a related genres. After all, Alien has a Lovecraftian origin.

Well, I actually don’t think there has to be aliens in an Alien scenario. I would rather say this franchise is about cosmic horror. The brand creatures are a part of something much bigger. They are not just staple monsters, and that is what makes them interesting. Cosmic horror can also include many other creatures, things and bizarre technology. The cosmic horror genre is described quite good here: https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Cosmic_horror

Of course there are also other core themes in this universe. AI challenging mankind is one theme, and dystopian capitalism another. I actually think that those are interesting and significant enough to make a scenario feel truly Alien - also without the actual aliens. The setting is something more than just the brand name.

I think my view of the Alien franchise is shaped by the fact that the original movie is the core to me. No other movie, comic book or novel is not even nearly as good. Going back to the original and it’s rich mythos is a way to be sure that you are being to true to the basics. I’m not saying that nothing else could be added, but I think it should be done careful.

That’s how I see things. Others may prefer to see Alien as just another action game with loads of rifles and predators with dreadlocks, and that’s fine, but not my cup of tea...

from Bengt Petter



Could not agree with you more! GM'ed at least 10 games and only 2-3 had actual aliens. Read "Xenomorphs in campaign play" on p.219 for a bit more perspective. I feel bad for the players that go through a whole game just to get popped by a Xeno at the end (or beginning) for making a bad move. It doesn't take long to run out of characters to play and the game is over without completing the story.

On the other hand, enemy corporations & governments (looking at you UPP) made for some deep story lines that players realized they're in a universe much bigger than just going on a bug hunt. I pulled a lot of material from "The Expanse" series that the players have not seen. They were blown away with the being able to talk by going "helmet to helmet" while in suits when the radio didn't work because different corporations used different radio frequencies and you couldn't talk with the person right in front of you. The military power suits from the show worked nicely with the UPP background. I got other backgrounds from the novels & comic books. Now if i can get my players to STOP reading the aliens universe materials, they might not figure out all the surprises coming their way. Happy gaming!

I feel bad for the players that go through a whole game just to get popped by a Xeno at the end (or beginning) for making a bad move.

Any combat in this game can kill a player instantly. Not just Xenos. Xenos can kill multiple players in a turn though, thats what makes them particularly stupid in campaigns.

The alien rpg is expressly designed for running one shots. Its not really designed for campaigns and when you try to run a long term campaign the fragility of the characters becomes a huge problem. The way I handle it in my colonial marines campaign is by giving each player two characters because I know characters will die. And if theres casualties the squad gets reinforced with new recruits fresh out of boot camp.

The campaign section of the rulebook is almost completely barren too; theres nothing there to really help you run an actual campaign. Ive found that you have to heavily houserule the game to run a campaign. I really hope they release a campaign sourcebook at some point that addresses the long term survivability issues of characters. Maybe the colonial marines sourcebook will do that.

On the other hand, enemy corporations & governments (looking at you UPP) made for some deep story lines that players realized they're in a universe much bigger than just going on a bug hunt. I pulled a lot of material from "The Expanse" series that the players have not seen. They were blown away with the being able to talk by going "helmet to helmet" while in suits when the radio didn't work because different corporations used different radio frequencies and you couldn't talk with the person right in front of you. The military power suits from the show worked nicely with the UPP background. I got other backgrounds from the novels & comic books. Now if i can get my players to STOP reading the aliens universe materials, they might not figure out all the surprises coming their way. Happy gaming!

Ha! Glad to meet someone else that has taken liberties with the Expanse. My players in a long term campaign that is going super well has had them spend ages in the American Arm, where they have been coming across the Frontiers Men, a scary extremist organization whose ideals they can sympathize with but whose actions make them scary and unpleasant people. In short this been my analogy for the OPA. That show is great for this kind of game, all the way down to having a seemingly unknowable cosmic horror. Good gaming to you too bro!