Byrax
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Alien Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Tue 20 Apr 2021, 15:11

Any inspirational books, comics, movies set in similar settings as Alien + Aliens?

I am aware of The Expanse (and of course Alien books etc), but there must be more; mainly human space, lots of unexplored areas, not too many alien races if any, low, realistic and "relativistic" tech level (no galactic empires/space opera/psychics etc), "blue collar space truckers" in unfancy ships.
Last edited by Byrax on Thu 11 Nov 2021, 03:28, edited 1 time in total.
 
Brian McReynolds
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Tue 20 Apr 2021, 17:54

Check out 'Outland', starring Sean Connery. It definitely has an 'Alien-vibe'. The reference in the Alien RPG rulebook, where it states that Colonial Marshals oftentimes keep prisoners in zero-g cells while wearing Pressure Suits, is lifted straight out of 'Outland'. It has the 'Greedy Corporation' theme going for it as well. Well worth a watch.
 
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Johnny
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Thu 22 Apr 2021, 10:07

I agree with Outland, is a must see, and while it's not official, it could easily be happening in the Alien universe.
I would say that the Dead Space series is somewhat similar to Alien and can be mined for ideas (there are also a few books and comics): few alien species, gritty setting where humanity is scrapping by mining asteroids and distant planets, no empire, no magical tech, etc.
There's a french comic which is also interesting, some parts of the comic itself where directly inspired by Aliens: Zéro absolu (in English as Absolute Zero) by Richard Marazano and Christophe Beck.
Also, the System Shock videogames have some interesting ideas to explore, it's hard sci-fi and more focused on the cyberpunk aspects of it, particularly AI, but could be used as a reference to create a campaign where MOTHER or Apollo are the nemesis.
The "Hammer's Slammers" books series could be good inspiration for a Colonial Marine or military campaign. I guess some aspects are a bit outdated by today's standards, but it's quite good.
"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?"
 
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Vader
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Fri 23 Apr 2021, 15:00

The "Hammer's Slammers" books series could be good inspiration for a Colonial Marine or military campaign. I guess some aspects are a bit outdated by today's standards, but it's quite good.

I dunno ... other than that part of the rationalisation of the powergun technology has been superseded by more recent science, I'd have to say Drake paints a fairly plausible image of future warfare, even from a modern perspective. He even predicted hard-kill systems that were developed IRL decades after he first wrote about them.
One does have to bear in mind that he's leaning heavily on his experiences from Vietnam.

But Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling's Falkenberg's Legion series also bears mention as inspiration for a Colonial Marines-type campaign.
Before you use the word "XENOMORPH" again, you should read this article through:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/aliens-throwaway-line-confusion
 
Wolfclaw
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Sat 24 Apr 2021, 14:22

Movies: Outland, Moon 44, Moon (2009), Sunshine, Life

Series: Nightflyers, Origin, Another Life

If I remember anything else. I'll update the post :P
 
rennarda
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Wed 12 May 2021, 15:08

Two left-field entries from James Cameron:

Avatar. The tech levels generally seem very similar, there's clearly hyperspace and you need to go into hibernation for it. There's no artificial gravity, aircraft seem pretty contemporary (compare the Samson aircraft with the Aliens drop ship, for example). Weapons are similar. Computer tech is much more advanced - more akin to what we seen in Prometheus than the Alien retro-tech. Nasty corporations exploring alien worlds - check.

The Abyss. It's set underwater, not in space, and modern-day (well, 90's) but the claustrophobia, the sense of impending doom, is classic Alien. Could be great inspiration for an underwater Alien adventure (presumably the Xenomorphs are great swimmers...).
 
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Arnold
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Wed 12 May 2021, 17:46

I latley bought 4 Comis set in the Alien Universe.
Staub zu Staub (Dust to Dust): A young boy on a planet with an Alien investation.
Dead Orbit: The crew of a space station out in the nowhere when a ship with an emergancy signal on arrives.
Defiance I and II. A crippled marine and a synth are fightingagainst a megacon to prevent that Aliens reach earth as bioweapons.

Cool stuff, each cold be a scenario for the game, espacially Dead Orbit could be easy.
 
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blaster219
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Sat 24 Jul 2021, 17:56

I recently reread Ocean by Warren Ellis about a UN expedition discovering alien artefacts under the Europan ice. The artefacts in question being a whole bunch of ancient near-humans in stasis pods with their planet killing weapons. Hinted they may have seeded Earth with life a billon years ago, burned off the Martian atmosphere and destroyed their homeworld in a civil war creating the Asteroid Belt. Very reminiscent of Engineers. Throw in a dodgy corporate executive some really creepy "corporate humans" which people with an implant that switch off their emotions and suppress their personality, replacing it with a "corporate approved" one for the duration of their contract and you've got something very Alien in vibe.
 
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ExileInParadise
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Sat 24 Jul 2021, 20:18

ALIEN was written and released on the cusp of the Cyberpunk wave in literature and BLADE RUNNER pretty much rang the gong LOUDLY for it ...

A lot of 1982-1992 cyberpunk stories can drop into the Aliens universe with only light cosmetic alterations and picking and choosing of elements.

Even some of the golden and silver age sci-fi, proto-cyberpunk, and post-cyberpunk transhumanist blends can be mined.

Change up the armor a little bit and swap corporation names, and something like Peter F. Hamilton's FALLEN DRAGON is an entire campaign arc you could set in the Aliens universe.

How about a colony revolt based on Robert Heinlein's THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS?

Or, Walter Jon Williams HARDWIRED-inspired smuggling weapons under the watchful eye of an orbiting corp?

SENTENCED TO PRISM by Alan Dean Foster could model covert exploration and exploitation of a new colony world.
We live, as we dream -- alone. ~ Joseph Conrad
 
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Jedo
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Re: Inspiration thread: Books, comics, movies set in a similar setting to Alien + Aliens?

Fri 13 Aug 2021, 15:00

Nightside City by Lawrence Watt-Evans. More in the Bladerunner/Cyperpunk space, it does take place on a Mercury-type planet where a deep impact crater on the nightside was able to be terraformed. The location could be a good 'port of call' as it is completely a company town and thoroughly corrupt. (The colonizers made a mistake and thought it was fully tidally locked, but there was actually a very slow rotation, meaning that in a few more years it will be dawn and the city will be burnt up.)

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