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Aliens: Bug Hunt

When the Colonial Marines set out after their deadliest prey, the Xenomorphs, it’s what Corporal Hicks calls a bug hunt—kill or be killed. Here are fifteen all-new stories of such “close encounters,” written by many of today’s most extraordinary authors.
Set during the events of all four Alien™ films, sending the Marines to alien worlds, to derelict space settlements, and into the nests of the universe’s most dangerous monsters, these adventures are guaranteed to send the blood racing— One way or another.

Just got it, and haven´t read it, yet.


Alien: Out of the Shadows

Featuring the iconic Ellen Ripley in a terrifying new adventure that bridges the gap between Alien and Aliens. Officially sanctioned and true to the Alien canon, Alien: Out of the Shadows expands upon the well-loved mythos and is a must for all Alien fans.

Heard it as German audiobook and really enjoyed, because of the setting, the atmosphere and the great speakers (Ripley is spoke by her movie voice Karin Buchholz).

Some of the Dark Horse comics should be possible to mine for ideas as well. Bracken’s World (water world infested by aquatic Xenomorphs) in the first Colonial Marines comic have always intrigued me for instance. The recent Dead Orbit was nice as well, at least in setup and art, if not original.

I haven't read any Alien comics, so I just got the Aliens Omnibus volume 1. I'm currently reading the first part called Outbreak.

It's set after the Aliens movie, and it's very clear that they based the main characters Wilks and Bille on Hicks and Newt from the movie. The comic was originally released between 1988-89, so it's not burdened by the beginning of the Alien 3 movie.

They expand the available technology, for example showing two men playing holographic squash at a table in a way you wouldn't see in the movies. They also don't have to hibernate when flying in space, saying:

"[Billie, narration] I was standing at one of the viewports, staring into space. The light from the stars stretched around the ship like glowing white neon. I was trying to remember my parents. All I could remember was the blood.

[Bueller] 'It -- it's an optical illusion. The stars -- gravity drives so powerful we're bending the light. You get used to it. Beats the hell out of hibernation."

I really like the retro-futuristic technology level of the movies, and I don't want things too sci-fi or cyberpunk. On the other hand, they say that Alien and Blade Runner could exist in the same universe, and holographic video games could work there. Perhaps the reason we don't see it in the movies is that we have an old junk ship in the first movie almost always breaking down, utilitarian military equipment in the second movie, and a prison in the third movie, and just not that many chances for luxury items like holograms. If you like the idea of non-hibernation space travel or not will just come down to opinion. The two modes could exist in parallel.

In short, I like that the comic so far has expanded on the setting in the movies, but in small steps that don't feel like it contradicts anything that's established. It's just great to get to spend more time in that universe, so I recommend the comic based on what I've read so far.

If your planning on playing or GMing Marines, the colonial marines technical manual is a must. You can pick it up for relatively cheap on amazon. It’s written “in universe” which is something that I always thought was cool. Judging from the QuickStart, it’s pretty relevant to the game. It’s great because it really explores USCMC tactics and doctrine, lots of material for creating immersive experience.

I would single out the Aliens: Colonial Marines comic for another great location, the Sun Gun waste disposal station. It highlights one of my favourite things about the Alien franchise, that all this horrible stuff is going down in generally pedestrian locations that are the outer space equivalent of the middle of nowhere special. The station is basically a giant rail gun shooting toxic waste into a star. You can travel between stars and your at a garbage dump in the middle of nowhere. If the Xenomorphs don’t kill you, the slime leaking from that container will.

It’s not exactly related but the movie Outland with Sean Connery might as well take place in the Alien universe. There’s a little throw away detail in the QuickStart about colonies hiring their own marshals because they’ve been abandoned by the corps/ICC.

It’s not exactly related but the movie Outland with Sean Connery might as well take place in the Alien universe. There’s a little throw away detail in the QuickStart about colonies hiring their own marshals because they’ve been abandoned by the corps/ICC.

What an awesome idea. It's been years since I saw Outland, but now that you mention it I would say that it has a vibe very similar to the Alien universe.

I used to run an Aliens home brew game using D20 future, the old Leading Edge game was just unplayable, unless you hated yourself. but the players didn’t know they were playing Aliens, I made them watch Outland and blade runner as reference for a colonial uprising scenario. The players were actually smuggling arms to the rebellious colonists. I told the players I was just using “Marines” and “drop ship” as generic terms, I even told them they could imagine the equipment from Aliens if it helped.

Boy, it was fun to have them respond to the distress call at the company lab with very little trepidation. They sorta just strutted in like they owned the place, I kept my descriptions just vague enough that they weren’t connecting the dots until it was almost too late. Then one of the players was “oh crap, we’ve been playing Alien for 6 sessions and we’ve just now figured it out” of course almost everyone died in the next few sessions. All the players that lost PCs got to come back as marines, sorta consolation prize.

I suppose it helped that I never sat down in front of them with anything with the “Aliens” logo on it. I also skipped obvious Easter eggs like always using Weyland Yutani as the corporate behemoth. Which is one of the laziest tropes in the Alien universe IMO. I get that they’re HUGE, but c’mon, there are other companies out there; I don’t buy everything from Amazon.