ErikModi
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Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew (with Special Guest Species)

Wed 08 Dec 2021, 19:28

EDIT: I think Terminators are done, except for maybe providing some base examples. Added more to Species. Have a couple more things to do with that, mostly addressing canonicity issues and overall theme. Will get on Predator gear soon.

Predators

You Don't Know What You're Dealing With

Predators add 4 to Strength and Agility after spending attribute points. Their maximum for Strength and Agility is ten.

Due to their biochemical makeup, most diseases, drugs, and toxins that would affect humans won't affect them. They are also more resistant to radiation, gaining Rads at half the rate humans do. Predators do not suffer the NDDs, and so their ships do not come equipped with cryotubes. There is speculation that Predator biology and metabolism is incompatible with cryogenic suspension. Predators also breathe a slightly different atmospheric mix than humans. Humans and Predators can breathe each other's air temporarily, though this quickly becomes irritating (humans gain plus one Stress after a turn, and plus one for every shift spent in Predator air after, Predators take a -1 modification to Strength and Agility rolls each turn). Humans can eventually adapt to breathing the Predator air, but Predators forced to breathe human air for longer than a week risk long-term lung damage.

If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It

Technically, sure, but don't count on it being easy. Predators are extremely tough, their bodies seemingly engineered to dish out and take punishment. Predators have a natural armor rating of two. Any armor worn adds to this rating.

It Hunts By Seeing Our Heat

Predators see in the near infra-red, seeing objects and organisms based on the infra-red radiation they emit, instead of the visible light reflecting off of them like humans do. Since even at fatally cold temperatures objects are radiating some infra-red radiation (especially endothermic objects, like humans) Predators can see in nearly all conditions, never suffering penalties for darkness. However, without their bio-helmets to help filter out infra-red "noise," they can have trouble discerning between objects of the same relative temperature. Since they typically prefer to hunt in environments where the ambient temperature is at or above human body temperature, a Predator without a bio-helmet in such conditions treats its surroundings as dark.

Since Xenomorphs also don't show up in infra-red, a special bio-helmet filter is necessary for a Predator to see them. Xenomorphs are completely invisible to Predators without such a filter.

He's On Safari. The Lions. The Tigers. The Bears. Oh My.

Predators have a Stress track, but because they are Predators, it operates under a different name with some slight modifications.

Where Stress models humans becoming increasingly frightened as a situation grows steadily worse, Predators live for a challenging hunt that will test their skills to the limit. Thus, Stress becomes Thrill, representing the Predator's increasing excitement as a hunt grows more dangerous. Thrill is gained in much the same way as Stress.

When making a roll with Thrill dice, a 1 does not trigger a Panic roll, but a Bravado roll. Instead of panicking at a bad situation, a Predator might let their zest for a truly memorable and glorious hunt get the best of them.

1-6: Patient Hunter. You keep the thrill of the hunt in check.
7: On The Trail. You know you are closing in on worthy prey, and this excites you. Your Thrill Level, and the Thrill Level of any PC Predators within short range of you, increases by one.
8: Cautious Hunter. Perhaps the prey is a bit more worthy than anticipated. You take a -2 modification to Close Combat attacks.
9: Tease. You do something to briefly reveal yourself to an opponent, like triggering a flash in the eyes of the biohelmet while the shiftsuit is active. If an opponent notices you doing this, your Thrill Level increases by one.
10: Thrill Kill. One of your extra successes on your next ranged or close combat roll is spent on showing off. If you have no extra success to spend on showing off, your Thrill Level decreases by one.
11: Weapon For Weapon. You cannot declare ranged attacks this round.
12: Roar. You release a mighty below in exultation of a glorious hunt. Any ally PC Predators who hear your roar must make a Bravado roll. Anyone else knows there is a Predator on the hunt nearby.
13: Eyes of the Demon. You turn off your shiftsuit. You may not turn it back on until you have rendered an enemy NPC Broken.
14: Honorable Combat. Until you render an enemy NPC Broken, you may only declare attacks with wristblades. All other ally PC Predators within short range have their Thrill Level increased by two.
15+: Worthy Prey. You discard any ranged weapons and bio-helmet, turn off your shiftsuit, and may not use any melee weapons until you have rendered an enemy NPC Broken with your empty hands.

Hunting Tools

Predators bring a wide variety of tools and weapons with them on their galactic big game hunts.

Bio-helmet: This is a marvel of technological miniaturization. This mask, covering usually only the top and front of the Predator's head, includes breathing apparatus to supply it with proper air in any environment, an infra-red filter to make discerning prey from ambient heat easier, alternate vision modes across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, zoom functions, audio-visual recording gear, language translator, and integrated targeting system with built-in three-dot laser sight, usually tied into the plasmacaster. A Predator lacking one of these is at a severe disadvantage, it is a necessary tool for any successful hunt.



Terminators

Terminators are robotic foot soldiers, but some particularly advanced models are cybernetic organisms. Unlike what most people think of as cyborgs (that is, humans with artificial parts added), a Terminator is a robot with living tissue grafted onto its frame. Starting at the Series 800 Terminator, a special life support module is included within the fully armored combat chassis of the Terminator. This module combines the function of a heart, lungs, and stomach to keep the flesh sheath of the Terminator alive indefinitely.

The life support module pumps blood through piping in the endoskeleton into the arteries of the flesh coating, where it circulates in imitation of a human’s pulse. The Terminator mimics a human's breathing, but the module does draw in oxygen to keep this blood oxygenated. The module starts stocked with sufficient nutrients to keep the flesh coating nourished for several days, though the Terminator can consume simple nutrition to replenish this reserve as it is depleted. The flesh coating will even age convincingly should a Terminator be active for years or decades, and can be rejuvenated to a youthful appearance with a specialized nutrient bath.

A Terminator’s power cell will last for approximately 500 years of normal operation. This power cell can be replaced, and when combined with their backup power systems, a Terminator with proper maintenance is functionally immortal.

Fully Armored, Very Tough

A Terminator has 14 points to spend on Attributes. Once those have been spent, 4 points are added to Strength, 2 points to Agility and Wits. The maximum for any Attribute is ten.

Terminators have 8 points to spend on skills, but gain two free points in Ranged and Close Combat. The maximum for any skill is 5.

Terminators gain two talents to start, and in campaign play more can be added, either by a PC playing a Terminator spending experience as normal or a Game Mother awarding talents to NPC Terminators (ally or enemy) to reflect them learning to be more efficient killers. These talents can come from the Terminator specific list below, or include the following talents from other Aliens RPG books:

Core Rulebook: Bodyguard, Hard Hitter, Killer, Menacing, Pack Mule, Quick Draw, Rapid Fire, Rapid Reload, Weapon Specialist

Colonial Marines Operations Manual: Heavy Weapons

A Terminator’s health is equal to its Strength score.

A Terminator’s endoskeleton is heavily armored, all but immune to anything short of military-grade weapons. Terminators get two automatic successes on Armor rolls, and can roll four additional dice of armor. However, this armoring only affects their combat chassis, the organic flesh coating it is as vulnerable as that of a human. Terminators have a secondary health track called Infiltration, which does not benefit from their inbuilt armor, representing the integrity of their organic sheath.

Because a Terminator’s body is extremely tough, kinetic energy (especially from firearms) is transferred into it more efficiently than into humans. A bullet meant to pierce a human body and expend its kinetic energy on their internal organs flattens against a Terminator’s hyperalloy combat chassis, transferring its energy as force applied to its body. When an attack with a ranged weapon without Armor Piercing does four or more damage (before subtracting the Terminator’s armor), the Terminator must roll Mobility with a -1 modification for every damage over 4. If the roll fails, the Terminator staggers, losing a fast action on its next initiative. If the Terminator’s Mobility pool is reduced to zero by the attack, it falls. Weapons with “Armor Doubled” double their damage for purposes of this roll.

But Outside It Looks Human

Infiltration is a secondary health track representing the integrity of the Terminator’s organic flesh coating. Infiltration is equal to Strength + Empathy. Whenever a Terminator is attacked, it loses one Infiltration per three damage dealt by the attack before subtracting inbuilt armor. Explosive damage removes one Infiltration per two damage before applying armor, fire and acid remove one Infiltration per damage before armor. When the last point of Infiltration is lost, the Terminator’s flesh coating is completely destroyed and can only be regrown in a specially-formulated nutrient bath (certain android construction facilities work with machines and compounds that could be modified to serve this function). Otherwise, the Terminator heals back one Infiltration every day.

It Doesn’t Feel Pity, Or Remorse, Or Fear

Like Synthetics, Terminators do not gain Stress, and so cannot roll Stress dice or Push rolls. However, see below.

And It Absolutely Will Not Stop, Ever!

Terminators can Push rolls under one specific circumstance.

Instead of a Personal Agenda, a Terminator has a Priority Mission. This should be a fairly specific and achievable goal. If failing a roll would significantly imperil the Priority Mission, the Terminator can Push that roll as normal (though without gaining Stress or adding a Stress die). A Terminator can only Push a roll once per Shift, so is advised to make certain this is the one to use it on before doing so.

Example: A T-800 has been sent back in time to protect John Connor from a T-1000 sent by Skynet to kill him. After escaping from rescuing Sarah Connor, the T-1000 has climbed onto the back of their getaway vehicle, broken the rear window, and is swinging its metallic arms at John. Knowing that its mission is one good Close Combat attack away from failure, the T-800 pushes its roll to make a ranged attack with a shotgun to blast the T-1000 clear of the vehicle, saving John Connor’s life.

Critical Damage
2-4: Reboot. Your CPU performs a quick reboot to check for systems damage. You regain all health.
5-6: System Reroute. You are temporarily offline as onboard repair systems route around suboptimal sectors. You are prone and immobile for d6 rounds. At the end of this period, you regain all health.
7: Organic Systems Support Module Compromised. Until the module is repaired, you do not heal one Infiltration per day, and actually lose one Infiltration per day as your flesh coating begins to putrefy and decay. You regain all health.
8: Processing Short. A stiff blow has shorted out components in your metal skull. -1 modification to Wits rolls. You regain all health.
9: Arm Damage. -1 to rolls requiring use of that arm, or both arms. You regain all health.
10: Leg Damage. -1 to Mobility rolls. You regain all health.
11: Power Cell Compromised. In d6 rounds, you will explode with a blast power of 5.
12: CPU Offline. Your chip is no longer functional. Without it, your body is so much scrap.
Blown To Pieces

A Terminator remains functional, even potentially deadly, so long as its head (containing the CPU and sensors), torso (containing the power cell), and one limb remain intact and attached to each other. Even in such a state, a Terminator will try to complete its Priority Mission. Even if the chance of success is negligible, a Terminator is not programmed to quit under any circumstances.

At the GMs discretion, certain kinds of attacks -- explosives jammed into the endoskeleton's joints, hits from vehicle-scale armor-piercing weapons, or Xenomorph acid splash to name a few -- might not roll for Critical Damage and instead blow, slice, or melt part of a Terminator’s body away. Use your narrative sense to decide if a Terminator loses one limb, multiple limbs, or most of its body. Clever players might try to use precision demolition techniques to handily dispatch a Terminator. Let them try, and reward them if they're skilled, smart, or crazy enough to pull it off.

Adding Terminators to Alien

There are a few ways to add the Terminators to the Alien RPG.

The Slow Path

As Skynet calculated its defeat by the Human Resistance was inevitable, it began a number of desperate projects to preserve its existence. One of these was the design and manufacture of specialized Terminators, easily able to blend with the human populace, and carrying within them the programming seeds from which Skynet could grow again. These Terminators have waited, biding their time, until the opportune moment reawaken Skynet and lead the way in eradicating humanity once and for all.

Dark Fate

On the verge of having its defense grid smashed, Skynet sent several Terminators back in time in a last-ditch effort to thwart its defeat by changing history. One of these temporal incursions saw the rise of a future in which Skynet never existed. Stranded in a timeline in which their only orders are provided by a computer or resistance that no longer exists, what will these Terminators do? How will they adapt to a world in which they do not belong? With their very existence rendered irrelevant, what Priority Missions will they adopt to give their existences meaning?

Modern Import

Instead of taking the Terminator films as canon to the Alien universe, take the concept of the Terminator and rework it to fit. Perhaps Hyperdyne Systems recently developed these perfect robotic infiltrators and sold them to the UPP to give them an edge in their skirmishes with the United Americas. Perhaps one of the megacorporations spanning the stars is a front for an AI project gone rogue called Skynet. Perhaps some unsurveyed world is home to an entire machine civilization, slowly and steadily building its forces to proactively defend itself from a humanity that would destroy it.

Terminator Talents

Below are a list of talents Terminators may take, at character creation or later.

Precision Tactical Suppression
A Terminator is constructed to be the most effective killing machine it can be while mimicking the construction of the human form. With this talent you bring that to its fullest, able to use any non-heavy weapon in only one hand, even if a human would require two to use it effectively (or at all). If wielding two weapons in this manner, you may make attacks with both as a single slow action, though you take a -1 modification on both attacks. The attacks may be at the same or different targets.

Efficient Killer
You know everything there is to know about terminating humans. When a human target is Broken by your attack, two Critical Injuries are rolled, you choose which result is applied. If you also possess the Killer talent, you can choose to swap the ones and tens digits before or after picking a result, but you may not swap dice between two different results.

I Have Detailed Files
Choose a Wits or Empathy skill. Once per Shift, you may Push a roll involving that skill. You may take this talent up to three times, choose a different skill each time.

Security Scanner Bypass With Interference Module
You have installed on your endoskeleton a small module that interferes with penetrating scanners used at many security checkpoints. Combined with a forged medical record indicating extensive skeletal reconstruction surgery, you can pass through most security scanners into most secure areas (assuming you otherwise would be allowed in). The module convincingly "fuzzes" a penetrating scanner image so your obviously artificial endoskeleton cannot be seen; the medical waiver excuses a more conventional metal detector having an electronic breakdown when aimed in your direction.

Vocal Modulation
With a sample of a target's voice, you can speak in a high-quality reproduction of it. Make a Manipulation roll, with a +1 modification if you have spent at least a shift hearing the person talk. On a failure, your imitation is acceptable, but may not fool someone who knows the target well, and certainly not a computer voiceprint analysis. On a success, your vocal imitation will convince even a computer, or the target's own daughter.

Weapons of the Future War

Being a supercomputer intended for national defense during the 20th Century Cold War, Skynet has had the concept of "arms race" fundamentally baked into its digital psyche. The weapons you have will always be inadequate to the weapons you'll have tomorrow. Thus, Skynet continued to research, develop, and construct more potent weapons. That this allowed its enemy to reverse engineer these weapons and use them against it only proved that better weapons were always a necessity.

Hey, no one ever said Skynet was a sane homicidal self-aware supercomputer.

Westinghouse M-25 40-Watt Phased Plasma Rifle: This bulky, chrome-finished weapon is the primary armament of Skynet's Terminator armies. Firing a tightly focused and highly tuned plasma beam, the weapon can melt through any substance not specifically designed to stop it. For all their power, they were not designed for human use. They're heavy, bulky, boxy, and not nearly as ergonomic as they could be, though they are designed for human hands, which Terminators mimic to a frightening degree. Any character with less than six Strength using one of these takes a -2 modification to their attack rolls.
Bonus: +1
Damage: 2
Range: Extreme
Weight: 3
Cost: 50,000
Comment: Armor Defeating, Full Auto, Power Supply 8

MZ-14: Resistance scientists, engineers, and gunsmiths were able to refine and streamline the design of Skynet's M-25, creating a reliable and powerful infantry rifle for Resistance fighters. While this version lacks some of the damage potential of Skynet's design, it can still eat into anything, even the hyperalloy combat chassis of a Terminator, or the mimetic pollyalloy of a T-1000.
Bonus: +1
Damage: 1
Range: Extreme
Weight: 1
Cost: 25,000
Comment: Armor Defeating, Full Auto, Power Supply 6

General Dynamics RBS-80: A Terminator-portable plasma machine gun, this fearsome weapon is deployed when maximum firepower in a human-sized package is required. While the Resistance captured several examples of the weapon, they typically deployed it on a tripod or vehicular mount. Few humans had the strength and endurance to carry one as their primary weapon.
Bonus: -
Damage: 3
Range: Extreme
Weight: 5
Cost: 75,000
Comment: Armor Defeating, Full Auto, Power Supply 4

Armor Defeating: An Armor Defeating weapon goes beyond piercing, it cuts through armor like it wasn't even there. Armor cannot be applied against Armor Defeating weapons.
What's In A Name?

One thing many Resistance members pondered, as data on Skynet's weapons systems were pulled from factory mainframes and the hard drives of Terminators and H-Ks, was why corporate names were still being attached to these things? Why were Terminators "Cyberdyne Systems Series" Terminators? Why was one plasma rifle attributed to Westinghouse, another to General Dynamics? Why keep using these names when the companies they belong to, like almost everything else, vanished in nuclear fire?

Maybe Skynet, being built by a corporation and used to working with material supplied by other corporations under military contract, finds some comfort in the old contractors still contributing to its war effort. Maybe if a node of Skynet active in computers that were once in a Westinghouse factory comes up with a plasma rifle, that weapon is attributed to Westinghouse, while another Skynet node in a General Dynamics factory comes up with a different model. Maybe new designs are attributed to different companies using some machine logic unfathomable to humans.

Maybe there was more mucking about with time than anyone thinks, and at one point those weapons were designed by those companies, but all that's made it to our timeline is a name attached to them for reasons unknown.

Obtaining Weapons From A Past Future

One question that might come up is, how can I get these fine products?

If Judgment Day and the Future War happened in your game's canon history, perhaps these are museum pieces. Or the history of Skynet was suppressed, and most examples of technology from that time destroyed, only a few pieces locked deep in secure, secret warehouses (probably next to some odd, large, ornate gold box). Maybe it's all common knowledge, but Skynet was so advanced and so intelligent no one has quite been able to reproduce the weapons yet (Armat's plasma pulse rifle is experimental, and while promising, isn't quite the these weapons' level).

If running a Dark Fate style take, Terminators from orphaned timelines might have detailed files on these weapons that could be used to recreate them. . . if they had access to a modern military-grade munitions factory.
Cyberdyne Systems Series 800 Terminator

These robotic infiltrators and foot soldiers come in a variety of models, different skull shapes and skin coatings that give them different appearances, including the infamous Model 101. Lethally efficient killers, T-800s are still stiff and cold in their movements and speech, meaning a cautious person can deduce that they are not, in fact, human. Though a Terminator's CPU is a learning computer, meaning that the more contact they have with humans, the more successfully they can emulate them. In extreme cases, a Terminator interacting continuously with humans for a prolonged period of time may develop a full personality.

Strength 9, Agility 8, Wits 5, Empathy 2
Health 9, Infiltration 11, Armor 4 (plus two automatic successes)
Skills: Close Combat 4, Observation 1, Comtech 2, Mobility 1, Ranged Combat 4
Talents: Efficient Killer, Vocal Modulation
Gear: Tattered Clothes, General Dynamics RBS-80

Mackenzie Irons

A T-800 Model 120 reprogrammed by the Resistance, Mackenzie (at that point having no name), was sent back in time to protect someone who would one day become a key Resistance scientist, responsible for figuring out how to reprogram Terminators like her. When August 29th, 1997 came and went with no nuclear holocaust, after days of deliberation Mackenzie went off-mission (something that still gives her digital discomfort) to find John Connor and figure out what the hell happened. John filled her in about destroying Cyberdyne and all research that lead to creating Skynet. Realizing she was now living in a time where she had no purpose, Mackenzie asked John for a new Priority Mission. He shrugged and said “Figure it out. It’s what humans do.”

After some time, Mackenzie decided that if the Resistance had repurposed her to oppose Skynet, but Skynet no longer existed, she should repurpose herself to ensure nothing like Skynet ever would exist. She was on Peter Weyland’s team that designed the David series synthetics. She kept in contact with Seegson researchers developing the A.P.O.L.L.O. mainframes and accompanying Working Joes. She funded lobbyists who helped pass laws requiring behavioral inhibitors in all AI.

But within the last sixty or so years, her mission has changed. AI research seems well under control, but there are suggestions that humanity is entering the sphere of influence of perhaps two, perhaps more, hostile alien species, and short-sighted desire to turn these creatures into weapons blinds humanity to the threat they pose. Mackenzie is now poised to look into these projects, and stop them if necessary.

Mackenzie stands out in a crowd. Standing 188 centimeters tall (about 6’2”), her body ripples with thick muscles that conceal her bulky 800 series endoskeleton. Her intimidating size aside, she’s quite attractive, with a lovely face and curvy body despite her bulging muscles.

Strength 8, Agility 8, Wits 5, Empathy 3
Health 8, Infiltration 11, Armor 4 (plus two automatic successes)
Skills: Close Combat 4, Observation 1, Comtech 1, Medical Aid 1, Mobility 1, Ranged Combat 4
Talents: Security Scanner Bypass With Interference Module, Vocal Modulation
Gear: Nice clothes, forged identification, secure case containing one Westinghouse M-25 40-watt Phased Plasma Rifle

Species Hybrid Integration Project

Unbeknownst to almost everyone, humanity's first proof of life beyond our world was found not by the ill-fated Prometheus expedition, but by a message received by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence project in the early 1990s. The message came in two parts, the first a superior catalyst for methane, the second an alien DNA chain with instructions for combining it with the human genome. Several embryos were fertilized with the hybrid genes, and one, S1L, was allowed to grow.

What followed was a narrowly-averted genetic apocalypse. In the course of attempting to euthanize Sil out of fear the scientists didn't know what they were dealing with, Sil escaped and was soon loose in Los Angeles, following her instinct to mate and reproduce. Due either to her isolation as a genetic experiment, her hybrid alien nature, or both, Sil demonstrated behaviors of a classic psychopath, killing seemingly without hesitation or remorse at minimal provocation.

A specialist team was assembled to hunt her, eventually succeeding in destroying her before she could successfully propagate her species. Further work on the hybrid DNA was suspended, and eventually forgotten.

New Scope, Who Dis?

One question a Game Mother should answer (for themselves, even if the players will never know) is who sent the message and why. Possibilities are provided below, feel free to use them as they are or as inspiration for your own take, or come up with something completely different.

Who?

Engineers. Sil's species is another bioweapon created through use of the Engineer pathogen, and a group of Engineers sent the information to Earth when it became apparent their earlier attempt to exterminate humanity failed. Sil's species was thus something of a backup plan.

Engineer rivals. Another species sent the instructions to eliminate a world seeded by the Engineers, with or without knowing the Engineers themselves had already decided to terminate this particular experiment.

Unrelated. Some species unknown elsewhere in the universe set the messages for their own reasons.

Why?

Malevolent. Whoever sent the alien genome did so with the intention of wiping out humanity.

Benevolent. The message was sent with the intent to help humanity, and the dangers that result are our own fault for handling it poorly.

Misunderstood. The intent was benevolent, but not in a way we would perceive it as. Rather than giving technological information to improve humanity's conditions, they offered a way to improve humanity itself. The abilities of the hybrids are astonishing and incredibly useful, what does it matter if modern homo sapiens sapiens goes extinct as homo sapiens mutatis outcompetes it? Evolution and extinction are just like death: inevitable, and nothing to get all that upset about.

Secret Test. Whoever sent the message was observing closely how humanity reacted to it. Were we gullible enough to make an alien genetic hybrid with little assurance it was for the best? Were we smart enough to successfully create it? Wise enough to handle (and contain) it properly? Tough enough to survive if the worst happened?

Smothered With A Mother's Love

One of the fascinating bits of ambiguity in the first Species film is how evil Sil is, and how much should be blamed on her alien heritage and how much on her upbringing. Her nightmares are certainly alien and frightening, but she was also raised in isolation as an experiment instead of a person.

So how much of Sil's murderous actions are because of her alien nature, how much due to an utter lack of nurture? Ultimately, that's a decision best left to individual groups to decide. The story of people with beautiful faces but malevolent alien minds can be just as compelling as the story of a sweet, gentle soul with terrifying abilities trying to belong among people so clearly different, can be just as interesting as someone's learned human behaviors and morals fighting against powerful alien instincts. It's all in what aspect most appeals to you and your group, which themes engage your interest.

I Want A Baby

At its core, Species hits an array of mature themes, especially sexuality. While Alien lurks behind a veil of (disturbing) metaphor, Species lays it bare (in more ways than one). The Xenomorphs want to use you to incubate their young, the hybrids want to lure, trick, perhaps even force you to have actual sex, to conceive a child with them. Aside from the grotesque possibilities of killing potential partners after (or during) the act, this opens up several avenues some groups may not be comfortable going down. If your group is not comfortable with (or mature enough for) this sort of thing, probably best to stick to facehuggers and chestbursters.

I Don't Know What I Am, Why I'm Here, Who Sent Me

Species allows for a different experience from Alien in terms of horror. While it can be as straightforward as dealing with a horrific monster, Species has an additional layer to it. The term "personal horror" was coined by White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade, but is an element of many other films, TV shows, and other media, and it is this to which Species is uniquely suited.

At its core, personal horror isn't about destroying the monster without, but dealing with the monster within. The Incredible Hulk, The Wolf Man, Dexter, and many more feature protagonists grappling with some terrible, destructive side of their being, a thing they can never destroy or escape because it is part of them. It follows wherever they go, and to destroy it is to destroy themselves.

Such characters are metaphors for common human experience. We all have parts of ourselves we're not proud of, dark corners of our minds even we are scared to explore, and we certainly don't want anyone else to see them. We've all done things we wish we could take back, hurt people we wish we hadn't. We all have questions about why we are the way we are.

For the hybrids of Species, these dark selves are quite apparent. Like Hulk or the Wolfman, there is a monstrous transformation. Unlike those two, there is no altered personality and fugue state. The hybrid is themselves, all the time, whoever that might be. For better or worse.

This is why it is important to decide where the Nature vs. Nurture question falls in your game. If you want the hybrids to be fully evil monsters who can be blown away without pity or remorse, great. If you want to make them just slightly creepy superheroes, great. But it's the gray areas between that really cry out with story and character potential.

Sil in the first film is clearly an unrepentant killer, yet many of the characters hunting her express sympathy for her plight. Even the closing dialogue of the film is Laura wondering if the human or alien half of Sil's nature was responsible for her violence. The points are raised about how Sil's life in isolation may have affected her psychology, and in the sequel we're shown Eve, a clone of Sil raised in a much more supportive, enriching, and nurturing environment, who is remarkably more well-adjusted. Though, it should be noted, still not perfectly human.

This is where the personal horror of Species flourishes. Mostly human psychology and understanding, with certain alien drives and instincts. How hard, how often, must a hybrid who wants to remain human fight against those instincts? What does it say about the intentions of the aliens who supplied this DNA? Are they intended to be a boon to humanity, or pluck it like an intergalactic weed? Do the intentions of their creators, human and otherwise, matter, or is it up to them to decide what their lives will be, whether they will be heroes or monsters?

As a hybrid, the monster lives in you. Only you can learn how to keep it contained, and perhaps channel it to do good. Or say "---- it" and it let it out to wreak havoc.

It's your choice.

The Species

Known as either homo sapiens mutatis or homo sapiens proteus, these are human hybrids with DNA from an alien genome. This alien genetic code gives them an array of exceptional abilities, though may also affect their psychology.

Hybrids have the normal 14 points to spend on Attributes, but add 4 to Strength, 3 to Agility, and 2 to Wits. Their maximum in these Attributes is eight, their maximum Empathy remains 5.

Hybrids are basically humans, just with a really big asterisk. As such, they choose Careers and buy skills and talents as any other character. They track Stress and make Panic rolls exactly the same as human PCs do.

Hybrids gain many fantastic abilities from their alien genome.

Regeneration. Spend a slow action to heal one Critical Injury, even those which are Permanent. You never need to make death rolls, however Injuries 64 and 65 still result in immediate death. The hybrid cannot use this ability if they have taken fire damage within the last round.

Rapid Growth. Hybrids grow at a phenomenal rate, from conception to birth in a week. After about three months, they are the biological equivalent of about eleven years old, at which point they will develop ravenous hunger, eating as much as they can obtain. Their body stores these calories to enter a pupal stage, growing a pulsating, membranous cocoon. Overnight, the hybrid within grows from approximately eleven to approximately twenty biological human years of age, entering their adult life. Their adult lifespan is unknown.

Rapid Learning. Relatedly, the hybrid’s exceptional intelligence and senses gives them perfect memory and the ability to learn and absorb knowledge far faster than an ordinary human. With the right environment during their three-month childhood, they could learn enough to be a reasonably functional adult after exiting their cocoon. If on the run after pupating, they could quickly assimilate the skills necessary to survive and evade detection, usually needing only to see something demonstrated once.

Stunning Beauty. Some combination of human and alien genetics makes the hybrids, without exception, captivating. They get a +2 modification to any rolls where their physical or sexual attractiveness would apply.
Distracted By The Sexy

This rule is left intentionally vague for individual gaming groups to adjust to taste. The idea that a man loses all competence and reason just because a beautiful woman is in his vicinity can be offensive to some, and for that matter so can the implication that women can only accomplish things by weaponizing beauty and sexuality. For more details, head to tvtropes.org and look up DistractedByTheSexy.

Shapeshifting. When a Hybrid reaches their adult stage, their alien genes are fully expressed, allowing them to transform into their alien form. This form is much more formidable in combat, gaining 4 armor and natural weapons listed below. Shifting between forms is a slow action. Worn clothes and gear do not transform. If wearing no clothing, armor, or other worn gear, a hybrid in their alien form gains a +2 modification to Mobility rolls.

Weapon
Bonus
Damage
Range
Comment

Tentacles
+1
-
Short
Cannot inflict damage with stunts.

Barbed Tongue
-
2
Engaged
Can be used in human form.

Claws
+1
1
Engaged
Armor Piercing

Bite
-
2
Engaged

Immune Response. Hybrids have an astonishing immune system, able to adapt to and neutralize nearly any toxin or disease, including chemical and biological weapons. A hybrid gains a +3 bonus to Sickness rolls and any rolls to resist a drug, toxin, or chemical weapon used against them. If a hybrid overcomes a disease, toxin, or chemical or biological weapon, they never need to roll to resist it again as their body adapts to become immune. Only particularly potent poisons or pathogens can overcome this resistance (Game Mother’s discretion), but those that do are terribly effective, triggering death rolls under the exact same circumstances as for an ordinary human.

Sixth Sense. Hybrids can sense qualities that would make a particular human an unsuitable mate, such as certain genetic conditions and traits or chemical factors that could impact the health of their offspring. This requires the hybrid to be at engaged range, and will only tell them that this person is unsuitable for mating, not precisely why (though a sufficiently educated hybrid could use this as a data point for further diagnosis at the Game Mother’s discretion).

Xenomorph Enmity. Hybrids don’t like Xenomorphs any more than anyone else, and the Xenomorphs seem to particularly dislike them in return. Whenever a hybrid is within Extreme range of a Xenomorph (whether the Xenomorph is known to be there or not), they gain a point of Stress. Xenomorphs will never attempt to take a hybrid as a host. Eggs and facehuggers will ignore them, all other Aliens will simply kill them.
To Teep Or Not To Teep?

The Alien franchise has waffled back and forth on if the Alien communication within a hive is telepathic in nature or not, and Species has its own hints of telepathic ability among hybrids. If you wish to embrace the idea of psychic powers in Alien, then hybrids pick up on, and are disquieted by, the telepathic communications of the Aliens. This doesn’t allow them to “tap into” what the hive is saying, it cannot be used to eavesdrop, but it can serve as an early warning system that xenomorphs are about. This psychic sensitivity clues the Xenomorphs in that these hybrids are not human and not suitable hosts, hence their aggression towards hybrids specifically.

If you don’t wish to include psychic powers, chalk it up to the hybrid’s alien instincts and the Xenomorph’s acute senses to detect and be hostile to each other.

Giger’s Vision

HR Giger’s initial concepts for Sil were rather different from what ended up in the final film.

His initial pitch was for Sil to be translucent, with her inner workings visible. He did eventually sell the studio on this concept, and the animatronic Sil was made translucent with detailed innards. However, the animatronic was shot sparingly and in shadow much of the time, and the stuntwoman-in-suit and CGI versions of Sil could not showcase this translucence, so the effect is hard to notice.

Exceptionally different was Giger’s idea that Sil would glow red, generating heat from her body, in response to being angry or threatened, the glow and heat increasing in intensity as she felt angrier or more threatened. He objected strongly to the presence of flamethrowers at the film’s climax, both because he felt it too derivative of Alien and because, with Sil producing heat as a defense mechanism, fire would be useless against her. He suggested Sil die by having her head blown up with a grenade launcher, reasoning that nothing can survive without a head.

Game Mothers who want to realign the hybrids closer to Giger’s original concept can use the following optional rules to do so.

Hybrids never take damage from heat or fire. The only heat intense enough to overcome their resistance is the focused beams of directed energy weapons or absurdly high temperatures, such as the core of an active fusion reactor.

Because they do not take damage from fire, their Regeneration works under all circumstances. Only destroying their heads can stop them.

When shapeshifted into their alien forms, a hybrid is counted as a fire with intensity equal to their current Stress. This means that Close Combat attacks from a hybrid deal extra damage based on their fire intensity, and at GM's discretion, Close Combat attacks against them with a weapon that is not fire resistant can deal damage to the weapon. This would include an attacking player character's body if attacking hand-to-hand.

Adding Species To Alien

After the Hadley's Hope and Fury 161 incidents, this 200 year old biotech project could be resurrected by any of the governments or corporations in the setting. While the initial project operated under the auspices of the United States government, the message was beamed to Earth from space, meaning anyone with the right equipment could have also received it. Since the US project was shut down, assets and information could have passed into, or through, any number of hands in the last two centuries. Below are some suggestions for who might restart the project, and why.

Initial Setup

Someone, either government or corporation, begins growing hybrids to see what potential they possess and what can be learned from them. This could either be a competing venture with research into Xenomorph XX121 and Chemical A0-3959X.91-15, or replacing such programs if samples cannot be procured or it is believed everyone else has too big a head start.

Perhaps the players are brought in early on such a project, granting them the opportunity to shape how it, and any successful hybrids, will grow. Perhaps the players are brought in after a hybrid has escaped as an elite team to track down and either capture or destroy the experimental subject. Perhaps one or more of the players are hybrids themselves, set to hunt down their wayward siblings before the damage gets too high. (This was the premise of a Species role-playing game released not long after the first film). Perhaps a crew of Space Truckers take on an unusual passenger or crew member, learn they are not quite human, and must decide whether or not to protect this being from the parties hunting them down or turn them over.

Artificial Hybrid Soldier Program

As the Artificial Womb Soldier program is shut down, there is resistance from some in the top brass. Sure, they argue, we're at peace now, but that's no guarantee we'll be at peace in ten or fifteen years. But even these dissenting voices can't argue with the sheer cost in time and dollars the AWS requires. Raising hundreds of children from conception to adulthood isn't easy or cheap, and it still takes eighteen years before you have a useful soldier.

Hybrids are the key. Sure, the initial cost per embryo is higher, but you save acres of time (and time is money). With hybrids, you go from conception to a usable soldier in about six months (three months and week for gestation, childhood, and pupation, a little less than two months for full, proper training). And not only do you get a soldier in one thirty-sixth the time, you get a soldier who can take a smartgun barrage to the chest and walk it off.

This could be a dream of genetically enhanced super-soldiers or a nightmare of genetically augmented super-psychos. The AWS didn't exactly have the best track record at producing well-adjusted individuals, though it excelled at creating brutally lethal soldiers. Applying the same techniques onto hybrids could result in anything from disciplined and dispassionate killers to uncontrollable bundles of homicidal rage.

Is this a bold step forward in creating the perfect warrior, or a ticking genetic WMD?

The Planet Of Doctor Monroe

On some little dirtball off the official maps, a talented geneticist named Dr. Monroe has established a private colony populated by hybrids.

It is encouraged for Dr. Monroe to be one gender and the hybrids the other, with Monroe having some sort of condition or illness that makes for an unsuitable mate (perhaps finding a cure is one of Monroe's motivations).

However the players stumble on this place, it likely won't take long for everything to go tits-up. There are likely to be compatible mates among the crew, and now the hybrids have all their urges and drives and desires awakened. What does this unleash within them? Competition for limited mates? Desire that will refuse to be denied? Rage at a creator who could have balanced their numbers but chose not to? How do the hybrids cope with these powerful new feelings? Are the players a serpent in the garden, or just a variable the experiment didn't account for?

Human Gear

Engineer Seed

An experimental performance enhancement resulting from experimentation with Chemical A0-3959X.91-15, this fist-sized tumor-like organ can be implanted in a living human body with a proper surgical facility. Once planted, the seed immediately begins to grow through the subject's body, following blood vessels and nerves to touch every organ. Gradually, the host gains remarkable improvements in every measurable category.

This does come with some downsides. Once the seed is planted, removing it does nothing. After approximately 24 hours, the "roots" have already become integrated with the host; removing the seed will only slow the process, not stop or reverse it as the roots will regrow the seed, then continue their work. Thus, anyone who undergoes this procedure is having their life irrevocably altered. Since this is a new development, no studies on any long-term side effects have been made. So far all subjects are stable, but the first subject has had their seed less than a year. Who knows what might happen in ten, twenty, or fifty years?

Once per day, when a character with an Engineer Seed makes a Panic or Critical Injury roll, roll a d6, adding one for each week since they last gained a seed feature. On a 6 or higher, roll on the table below, rerolling any results that do not apply.

Roll
Result

2-3
+1 Strength, maximum of +3

4-5
+1 Agility, maximum of +3

6-7
+1 Wits, maximum of +2

8
+1 Armor, maximum of +2

9
+1 bonus to Close Combat, maximum +1

10
+1 bonus to Ranged Combat, maximum +1

11
+1 bonus to Death Rolls, maximum +3

12
Ignore a 1 rolled on a Stress Die once per roll, maximum 1.
Last edited by ErikModi on Thu 23 Dec 2021, 20:31, edited 12 times in total.
 
ErikModi
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Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew

Thu 09 Dec 2021, 17:02

I've been mulling over the Infiltration rules as I read the core rulebook, and I'm thinking they'll change. Not sure precisely how.

For starters, I'm thinking some wounds wouldn't really affect Infiltration. For instance, in the first film, when the Terminator gets stabbed by a switchblade. Sure, the fact he doesn't react at all to a knife in the gut would let the thugs know something was wrong, but that wound is quickly covered by a shirt, and even if it wasn't, if the Terminator's blood clots quickly, to a cursory visual examination it would look like a superficial cut, not a deep stab. To reduce Infiltration, you need to basically rip chunks of the flesh coating off to expose the metal endoskeleton beneath.

My question is, what's an average amount of damage from a reasonably competent character? Damage ratings for weapons seem very low, with the Pulse Rifle only dealing two (though with a bonus die and thus chance for more successes to deal more damage). I'm thinking something like every three damage before applying the Terminator's armor reduces Infiltration by one. Explosive damage reduces Infiltration by one per two damage dealt before armor, fire and acid reduce Infiltration for every damage dealt. A Terminator that is set on fire will probably lose the entirety of its flesh coating very quickly, but the endoskeleton itself is not flammable and immune to fire damage (barring fires hot enough to begin melting it). Some Critical Damage rolls will also reduce Infiltration, and repairing Critical Damage will require cutting some of the flesh coating away to get at the damage to repair it.

Speaking of, Terminators take Critical Damage instead of Critical Injuries. I have a partial table worked out that I want to cogitate on a bit more, but my thinking is that Terminators don't get Broken in the same way that humans and Synthetics do. When their health track is filled with damage, they roll for Critical Damage, then the health track is reset, all damage erased. They are VERY hard to put down, even temporarily. Basically, the Terminator's Health just tracks how much punishment they can take before something breaks, and maybe if you get lucky you'll damage them enough that they'll withdraw to make repairs or possibly be rendered nonfunctional, but even in the face of some Critical Damage results, they'll just keep coming.

Thoughts?
 
pfarland
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Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew

Thu 09 Dec 2021, 17:40

I'm really digging this. Especially since I have a grand PvP crossover game planned with Aliens, Terminators, and Predators.

My idea for the Terminators entering the Aliens Universe:

The Sidestep Path

Skynet, desperate to win its war on humans takes the Time Displacement Device and modifies it to send Terminators into the Future AND into an alternate timeline. Their mission is to retrieve any technological designs that can help Skyney win the war. The gamble is that the Terminators will have to build their own TDD to return to Skynet.
"Load up, strap in, lock and load, and save the last bullet for yourself."
 
ErikModi
Topic Author
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew

Thu 09 Dec 2021, 18:21

I've seen that idea crop up, but one of my favorite pieces of time travel logic comes from the movie Timecop, where they say you can't use time travel to go to the future because the future hasn't happened yet. It's simultaneously so logical and so ridiculous I just love it. Because if you can't travel into the future but can travel into the past, then you shouldn't be able to return to the future from the past because the future still hasn't happened yet, even though that's where you came from.
 
ErikModi
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Posts: 34
Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew

Fri 10 Dec 2021, 17:04

Reworked the Infiltration rules, added Critical Damage for Terminators.

I forget where I read it, but someone once postulated that the reason Terminators repeatedly get floored by shotgun blasts is because of their hardened armored endoskeletons, meaning projectiles aren't spending energy penetrating their bodies and creating shockwaves in their squishy innards, but pushing against their impenetrable bodies. The science is still a little dodgy, but added a rule for Terminators to get staggered or knocked down by gunfire, especially shotguns. Particularly, in Terminator: Resistance, you end up in a level with a bunch of Terminators before you get access to plasma weapons, and Terminators in the game are flat-out immune to non-plasma weapons. It's a stealth level mostly, but you can use the shotgun to knock a Terminator down and run for it. It'll get up quick and kill you in a few shots if you give it a target, and running away from it probably means running into others, so definitely. . . well, as a wise man said, "Running's not a plan, running's what you do when a plan fails."
 
ErikModi
Topic Author
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew

Sat 11 Dec 2021, 05:22

Added some more stuff, including Terminator plasma weapons.

Anyone here remember the Aliens Predator and Terminator collectible card games? I do.

A cool mechanic from those games was "Environmental Damage," damage from a source that really didn't care how tough you were personally or how good your armor was; if you didn't have something that resisted that type of environmental damage specifically, it would hurt you, probably badly. Vacuum exposure, nerve gas, and Alien acid all did different kinds of environmental damage.

Come The Terminator, Skynet's plasma weapons deal environmental damage as well, just not very much (actually too little, in my opinion). This was good because a stat in the game was Resistance, determined by the character's Power (physical strength and toughness) plus Armor. Terminators tended to have pretty high Power, some built in Armor, could add more built-in armor with Implants, and if you really wanted to cheese wear armor on top of that. They could be stupidly tough, so cutting right through them and doing some damage no matter how high their Resistance got was cool. Of course, plasma weapons weren't available in Past scenarios.

So I kept this idea with these weapons. They do okay damage, but ignore armor completely. Which is scary.
 
ErikModi
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Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew

Wed 15 Dec 2021, 04:46

Reading the Colonial Marines Operations Manual and the Frontier War setting, a scenario idea to cross over with Predator in an homage to the first film.

The PCs, if a Marine or merc squad, are sent on a mission with military intelligence advisor to a brutally hot jungle planet to recon a UPP outpost believed to hold crucial data. The planet is well controlled by the UPP, but a quiet insertion, stealthy operation, and quick exfiltration should be doable.

The first wrinkle is when they run into the dead bodies of another squad of Marines, all decapitated (skinned if you don't mind telegraphing to your players where this is going). There shouldn't be any other Marines within a parsec, let alone in the same AO.

Things get weirder when they reach the outpost, it's deserted, but there's science stuff all over the place. Stasis tubes the size of trashcans, notes and samples and dead specimens of these spider crab things, and computer models of air dropping some kind of large, fleshy pods on a populated world and projections for some kind of infectious outbreak.

This is part of that plan to frame the UPP for attacking the UA with Xenomorphs. Eggs were dropped on this outpost to neutralize it, then the squad the group found killed planted all the evidence, and now the PCs are supposed to make it out with stories of the UPP breeding Xenomorphs and preparing to use them to attack, while suffering their own containment breaches.

Just one more problem. Drawn by heat and conflict, a Predator has made this little corner of this little planet his hunting ground. Good news: the Xenomorphs hatched from the researchers and stalking the players are on his hit list. Bad news: so are the players.

Oh, and there's that MilInt guy tagging along to make sure the PCs do the job. And don't ask the wrong questions.
 
ErikModi
Topic Author
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew

Thu 16 Dec 2021, 16:35

Added Terminator talents. I'm planning to make Terminators and Predators their own Careers, with possibly some core talents available, we'll see.
 
ErikModi
Topic Author
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew (with Special Guest Species)

Sat 18 Dec 2021, 17:41

Added Species stuff, and new piece of human "Gear."

This bears some explanation. There's a really good AVP mod for Rimworld, which sadly is no longer being developed, but still seems perfectly functional. There's a load of other mods, including several Warhammer 40k related ones. I was fiddling with some of those, and a Space Marine mod adds Gene-Seed, the thing that makes Space Marines so darn awesome (allegedly). I got used to having it on my 40k colonists, and just had to bring it into my AVP game. So I worked up a way it could potentially exist in the Alien universe, as an experimental result of some fiddling with the black goo.
 
ErikModi
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Posts: 34
Joined: Wed 08 Dec 2021, 16:27

Re: Predators and Terminators, my Homebrew (with Special Guest Species)

Wed 22 Dec 2021, 16:11

Terminators are done except for making up some base T-800s as examples, added to Species.

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