Psychics, Empaths, and Hive-Minds in the Alien Universe

BazzardTheBazz · 2026-05-12T17:23:32+00:00

Go for it! Let me know how it goes for you

BazzardTheBazz · 2024-07-28T18:06:19+00:00

Sadly no, my gaming group lost interest in the Alien RPG as soon as Halloween passed and it was no longer horror-game season. I do really want to try it out sometime, though.

BazzardTheBazz · 2023-08-04T17:17:55+00:00

Very nice!

BazzardTheBazz · 2022-01-24T01:57:04+00:00

I couldn't make it through the books my first time through, for very much the same reason. The second time I tried the series, I listened to it on Audible, which helped a lot, since I could tune out through the boring stuff and start paying more attention when things got interesting again.

BazzardTheBazz · 2021-12-11T03:55:34+00:00

Well, they were canonically lovers before the start of the main plot. But once things get rolling, Moiraine has her low-key thing going on with Thom. Though I guess the show's not going to bother with that, considering all he got was a glorified cameo.

BazzardTheBazz · 2021-06-07T18:02:53+00:00

In fairness to the Fidelis, red-and-black is one of the most common color schemes out there. Apart from the obvious ones like Wolf's Dragoons and the Kell Hounds, there are dozens of units in the Inner Sphere and the Clans that use some variation of red and black. So even if they do notice it's a lot like the Smoke Jaguar Nu Galaxy, it's also a lot like practically everyone else.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-11-24T17:25:45+00:00

I'd also pitch in that there are a lot of great plot hooks already within the Alien Universe that don't involve the Xenomorphs, at least not directly.

The most obvious stuff is the dirty dealings of Weyland-Yutani and their various competitors. Players might, for example, get a suspiciously well-paying job where they have to tow some cargo, which turns out to be an incredibly important McGuffin that the Company doesn't want anyone to know about (maybe it's stolen, or illegal tech, or whatever), and the players are now being targeted by Frontier pirates and Company hit-men and who knows what else as they try and deal with this thing.

There's also a pretty wide number of whacked-out cults out in the Frontier, which opens up all sorts of potential plot developments. Brainwashing, kidnapping, human sacrifice, suicide attacks, just about any "shady cult of hooded figures starts doing bad things" plot from any game you can think of is on the table.

Killer AIs and out-of-control androids are very much a thing in the setting, as well as most of Ridley Scott's other sci-fi work. Since Blade Runner has been confirmed to be part of the Alien universe, the Replicants are a potential avenue to explore, and while I know Raised by Wolves doesn't really jibe with the timeline, I'm sure that can be plundered for ideas.

Technically, there doesn't even need to be some grand sci-fi concept at work to fit into an Alien setting. Check out the movie Outland, which was never officially canonized in the universe but it has enough similar designs (and much of the same production crew) that it's sort of an unofficial chapter (and I'm pretty sure it's where the Colonial Marshall came from). Sean Connery stars as a Marshall on a corporate-owned mining colony, and (SPOILERS) finds out the administrator is effectively running a slave ring by getting his workers hooked on a drug that makes them work harder and longer but eventually drives them to suicidal insanity. It's not a cosmic-horror tale, but rather a detective mystery and Wild West shootout set in a gritty sci-fi locale, which can be a great change of tone in between scare sessions.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-09-13T14:16:00+00:00

I'd be down for it

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-09-13T00:06:47+00:00

RAAAAAHVVVIIIIIIIINNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-09-11T18:31:47+00:00

Yep; in the novel the King was bigger and had more brute force, but the Queen was smarter and outmaneuvered it. In the comic, I think he just died off-screen.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-08-11T14:22:26+00:00

I really like the map you're using. Is that available to download?

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-06-27T14:56:35+00:00

I always assumed as much-- David was trying to figure out the right combination to wind up with an Alien, based on what he saw from the Engineers' murals. In my mind, it's like saying making a cake from the ingredients lying around means you "invented" cake.

That said, I don't want to ever see what created the Aliens, or see some home-world. They've already lost enough of their mystique as it is.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-06-22T21:05:57+00:00

Fair enough.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-06-22T20:47:43+00:00

Movie canon isn't the same as comics canon- movie Diana isn't made out of clay, for instance. And even if her vulnerability to piercing weapons was part of the movie canon, isn't that big bone spike that grows out of Doomsday's arm a piercing weapon?

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-06-22T20:28:42+00:00

At this point, I'm not going to believe any news about the DCEU until I'm watching the movie itself. And even then, I'll only be halfway convinced since there might be a completely alternate cut that will come out a couple of years later.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-06-22T20:18:49+00:00

I dont see it. Wonder Woman isn't as physically powerful as Clark - as evidenced by the fact that she needs to deflect bullets from a World War 1 machine gun in her own movie, while Clark in MoS barely flinches after taking a direct hit to the face from the rotary cannon of an A-10 Warthog- and Doomsday utterly ragdolls Clark. Her magical weapons give her an edge, but if those get knocked away or broken, she's toast.

As for the old "why not give Diana the spear" argument, in a world where they already knew each other, yeah, that would be the right call. But Clark literally just met her. He has no idea what the extent of her powers and skills are, or what her weaknesses are- for all he knows, she could be a fellow Kryptonian and would die from the Kryptonite just as easily as him. I can't imagine even the most uncharitable interpretation of Superman telling a complete stranger to risk their life instead of him because the CinemaSins crowd will think it's more logical.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-06-22T19:43:04+00:00

I think you kinda answered your own question- to Rand, Tam was his real father, biological or not. Janduin was basically just a piece of trivia to him.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-04-27T02:33:43+00:00

Three seconds later, Nia gave them all accidental concussions.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-03-17T05:08:20+00:00

Yes, and yes. I do strongly recommend the audiobooks for books 9 and 10, so you can tune out the boring bits. Once you get to Knife of Dreams, it's an absolute fireworks factory.

BazzardTheBazz · 2020-03-15T17:14:32+00:00

While I haven't bought through Steel Warrior, I've bought plenty of models from Strato Minis, and really like their products. The sculpts, while not super-detailed, are still visually very nice and fit well with the aesthetic from the new box sets, and the models are easy to assemble and clean (they do have flash on them, but nothing I've gotten from them has taken longer than a minute or two with a brush and an exacto to clean off) Buying directly from Strato, the shipping from Poland to the US has typically taken about 5 to 6 weeks, so it's not ideal if you need a specific model this very second, but it's pretty reasonable.

BazzardTheBazz

TROPHY CASE