How are you using aliens in your campaigns?

[Hermit]

I'm hoping to get Terran Empire soon (it's part of a plot to get my characters into Star HERO also) and one of the reasons is it has the alien races that even Super heroes in the CU might meet. Even if I can't get a sci fi game going full time, I will still get use out of it. *Knock on wood*

However, I have to ask, how many of you use aliens in your campaigns? Are any of you who already have it, putting T.E.to work in your Champions games? How's it working out if so?

[SirViss]

I've only GMed one other campaign, and GMing Champions for the first time, so i am sticking pretty close to the published material. I was also lucky enough to find a used copy of Terran Empire just a week ago. :D

Personnaly I don't have a problem with characters playing aliens (though none of them are, right now). They are finding out that I can be a conniving GM. I would jusy give me more plot hook to play with... ;)

[Hermit]

Originally posted by SirViss
I've only GMed one other campaign, and GMing Champions for the first time, so i am sticking pretty close to the published material. I was also lucky enough to find a used copy of Terran Empire just a week ago. :D


Lucky bastage :) How useful is TE proving to be in your Champions game?

[SirViss]

Well, like I said, none of the players are playing aliens, so the impact on my Champions campaign is minimal... up to now. ;)

Now, since I only started my camapign about 3 weeks ago, I still have a lot of plotting and the like, so I haven't read the book very carefully. I got it mainly because I heard a LOT of people on this board giving it high praise. Also I have most of the Star Hero stuff, and I want to run a Cyber Hero game at some point, so this has a lot of material I will eventually find useful.

One thing I like is that it talks about the Hzeel, which I might use in a plot in the far future.

By the way, in CU I don't remember any mention of the "alien crash" in Roswell in '48. I wonder fi I will use that... hmmmm... :D

[lemming]

Current campaign has some alien involvement, but so far the PCs only know of one alien with another race mentioned. There are rumours of aliens being involved during WWII and the emergence of wide spread superpowers.

[Stray Cat]

Most of the aliens in the campaigns I've seen and/or run were of the extradimensional sort. I've used lotsa home-growns too. But I would not have a problem with some of the races being PC fodder in a Champs game. I haven't seen TE yet, but I'm sure there'll be goodies for me there.

Cat

[Blue]

There were no known alien races before the campaign, no deep space travel, no contact from the stars. Then one of my players wanted to make an Illithid (MindFlayer) type alien and I told him he could do it but he would be Earth's only example of what an alien is and could not be hunted by anything from space (because I wasn't introducing any NPC aliens to the world).

Then the first scenario I ran was playtesting for Champions Battlegrounds, which includes Herculan. So now I've got an alien NPC. So I've decided that they are the only two aliens in the game.

When the current storyline wraps up and we break off champions in favor of another game, I plan to end with introduction of the coming of an alien race, which will set up the next stage of the campaign.

[Fuzzy Gnome]

Originally posted by Hermit
how many of you use aliens in your campaigns? Are any of you who already have it, putting T.E.to work in your Champions games?
I make underpaid Tibetan Exiles do all the scutwork in my campaign -- research, soda procurement, xeroxing copyrighted works -- and the Dali Llama counts Body and Stun.

[Doug McCrae]

Aliens are known to exist in my campaign. With the first invasion in 1898 and many since, how can they not be? Not all races are open to PCs though. They can't be Celestials, for example. Or Makluans.

[OddHat]

Extra-dimensional beings, dream creatures, astral creatures, and the Old Ones are all "out there" in my campaigns, and they do show up as NPCs and even (very occasionally) as PCs. I think it's the hard science fiction fan in me. Astral / Dimensional creatures come into my games through my fondness for Fantasy and Mythology, and I never have a problem using them. Sci Fi plots always leave me feeling that "These guys have hyperdrive, but not an undetectable and unstopable version of a simple tailored virus or neutron bomb?"

If I did bring in space faring Aliens, I doubt that I could do it Silver Age style, or even the very slightly bronze age WIld Cards approach.

[Hermit]

I just got my copy of Terran Empire and I must say, it is more Champions friendly than I expected. While I want to start a T.E. campaign, I also am looking at the various races and going "mmmmm, which species would make a good super hero?" ;)

[OddHat]

Originally posted by Hermit
I just got my copy of Terran Empire and I must say, it is more Champions friendly than I expected. While I want to start a T.E. campaign, I also am looking at the various races and going "mmmmm, which species would make a good super hero?" ;)

Which ones have no tactical sense whatsoever?
;)

[Enforcer84]

Like coasters. They hold our drinks.

[Hermit]

Wise guys :p

Okay, how many if any of you guys are or have used any of the official races as PC or NPC super heroes? (Not counting Ironclad ;) )

[OddHat]

Originally posted by Hermit

Okay, how many if any of you guys are or have used any of the official races as PC or NPC super heroes? (Not counting Ironclad ;) )

Not quite the answer for this thread, but related; I've used a bunch of Bestiary races for NPCs and a few for PCs. Might do that with the Terran Empire aliens if they are Champions friendly, though I'd drop the space travel aspects and turn them into extra-dimensional beings or such.

[Enforcer84]

I just got Terran Empire and it does look pretty champions friendly. I might use a lot of it, but I have my own alien races that I tend to use as well.

(Covering the (to me) classic comic book aliens: Daxamites/Kryptonians, Coulons, Kree, Khunds, Skrulls, Shi'ar, Warlords of Kaar(?), & The Dryaad (Obsidian's race).)

[Hermit]

Looking at the Perseid/Dorvalian descriptions, I'm starting to see why Ironclad adapted so readily to being a super hero. Though, compared to his people's stereotype, he's a freaking rebel ;)

[TheRealVector]

I try to maintain a certain level of "believability" in the game world. Since its a superhero world, it can be a fine line between believable and silly. For me, once aliens are running around everywhere, any suspension of belief in the game world flies out the window.

[zornwil]

Originally posted by Hermit
Wise guys :p

Okay, how many if any of you guys are or have used any of the official races as PC or NPC super heroes? (Not counting Ironclad ;) )

I'm not, but mainly because my aliens are based on existing UFO-type theories, which fits this campaign world, rather than common fictional ones - well, except the goofy Martians who in essence similar to the Warner Bros. one, which I brought in for reasons I'm still scratching my head over. Well, the cool thing about them is they will recur and actually be pretty tough to mess with, though the first impression they left with a single visitor and his robots was more on the slightly funny and somewhat annoying but not deadly serious side.