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Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

WhollyRandom

By WhollyRandom
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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

Please be gentle with me, it's my first time posting here ... I've done a quick search of the boards and can't find a HERO writeup for the aliens from Aliens*; could some kind soul point me in the right direction?

 

* the fact that the search terms turn up half the threads on this Forum doesn't help ...

They are in one of the books. Bestiary, perhaps. I know they were in the BBB version of Bestiary.

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WhollyRandom Rookie

WhollyRandom

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

Welcome aboard, and dont worry they tend to take it easy on newbies around here.

 

Try this link

 

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsmovie/alien.html

 

Check out Starherofandom.com for lots of links for Scf-fi Hero Stuff

 

I like the Surbrook write-up, I suspect that I'll end up using that. The HKA for the claws seems a tad weak, but I must admit that I have limited experience of how Hero works in practice and how lethal a 1/2d6 HKA actually is ...

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Captain Obvious Grand Master

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

1/2d6 isn't powerful by any means, but the claws are kind of secondary to the teeth in most cases anyway. I see claws being used mostly when the hordes of aliens come charging in after the Marines, and the teeth being used once an alien has grabbed a victim.

 

May not make a whole lot of sense biologically speaking, but in game terms, it gives the GM a way to make one skulking alien as interesting as a whole hive, and a way to make the attacking the whole hive as survivable as attacking just one alien. At least that's how I would use it.

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Susano Grand Master

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

I like the Surbrook write-up' date=' I suspect that I'll end up using that. The HKA for the claws seems a tad weak, but I must admit that I have limited experience of how Hero works in practice and how lethal a 1/2d6 HKA actually is ...[/quote']

 

HKA 1/2d6 can become quite lethal in the right circumstances. For example --

 

HKA 1/2d6 becomes HKA 1d6+1 with you add in the LV-426's lifeform's 25 STR. If you use hit location, an HKA 1d6+1 strike to either the head or vitals can do a grand total of 14 BODY -- more than enough to kill an 8 BODY colonist in a single swipe. I never felt the claws were more than nuisance attacks anyway -- the big danger was being grabbed then bitten by the teeth.

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WhollyRandom Rookie

WhollyRandom

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

HKA 1/2d6 can become quite lethal in the right circumstances. For example --

 

HKA 1/2d6 becomes HKA 1d6+1 with you add in the LV-426's lifeform's 25 STR. If you use hit location, an HKA 1d6+1 strike to either the head or vitals can do a grand total of 14 BODY -- more than enough to kill an 8 BODY colonist in a single swipe. I never felt the claws were more than nuisance attacks anyway -- the big danger was being grabbed then bitten by the teeth.

 

Fair point on the relative values of the jaws that bite and claws that snatch, but I should probably have been clearer and stated that the 1/2d6 includes strength damage. The original HKA pre-strength is only 1 pip.

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Susano Grand Master

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

Fair point on the relative values of the jaws that bite and claws that snatch' date=' but I should probably have been clearer and stated that the 1/2d6 includes strength damage. The original HKA pre-strength is only 1 pip.[/quote']

 

Hmm... I think that needs to be raised.

 

Now why did give it only 1 point of HKA? Those claws are fairly large...

 

Maybe I based it off of something in either HSB or MMM?

 

 

:think:

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Susano Grand Master

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

In case you weren't aware, WhollyRandom...

 

Susano is Surbrook. The guy that did the write-up.

 

Welcome to the boards.

 

Hey, it could be worse. It could be the time someone referred me to my own website. :D

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Curufea Grand Master

Curufea

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

Hmm... I think that needs to be raised.

 

Now why did give it only 1 point of HKA? Those claws are fairly large...

 

Maybe I based it off of something in either HSB or MMM?

 

 

:think:

 

I'd also put in some form of armour piercing for the tail. Especially for the Queen in the movies and the regular warriors if going by AVP.

 

I like the spacial awareness - and if going by the computer games, you could also add some form of life-form detection sense, or possibly just discrimination on the spacial awareness, only for types of life form.

 

Also from the computer games (and the second movie) - super leap (or is that power not in the 5th edition? I need to recheck later).

 

Implied in the movies, and explictly stated in the comics (all of which I have - I said I was a fan), is the genetic adaptability of the Aliens. An Alien will take on some aspects of whatever the local lifeform is when infected with a chestburster. It is yet another super-survivor trait.

 

Clarification to that: This means it would be a waste of time to create all the various movie and comic book versions / castes. There are too many. Just general guidelines stating that when creating an Alien based on a different host, put some points aside for any obvious host survival ability if you wish to use the genetic adaptability mythos.

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Lupus Community Regular

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

Surbrook's writeup looks good to me. I'd prolly agree that 1 pip HKA is too low, but everything else looks good. I especially like that it doesn't go extreme in terms of speed. :) The aliens I remember from the film (rather than the games) were quick like snakes - fast in reactions, but not necessarily fast on the ground. I certainly don't remember any fast-super-pounces like the computer game versions (as much as I like the flying-blender-of-death when I'm the bug).

 

The stinger was also there in the Leading Edge Games writeup. It incapacitated victims temporarily. I personally consider its existence sketchy... definitely, if it exists, it's not as powerful as it is in that game. If it were, why would the aliens ever bother biting someone? They'd just sting 'em and drag 'em off. Surely live hosts are better than dead meat.

 

Just be careful about adapting from sources - look at what you're bringing in and (if you're a canon freak like me) check it against primary sources (the films). But above all, consider what it'll do to your games. Surbrook's primary writeup looks like a good opponent for marines packing armour-penetrating, explosive bullets. :) Meat at range, troublesome (if not overwhelming) up close. CV 6 and 25 strength makes for an excellent grab.

 

(Certainly, be wary of adapting the Aliens vs Predator movie without REALLY thinking about it. I think it's a neat film, but I'd personally be very reluctant about considering it 'canon'. Particularly in terms of the speed of alien reproduction, or their strength.)

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Susano Grand Master

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

Surbrook's writeup looks good to me. I'd prolly agree that 1 pip HKA is too low, but everything else looks good. I especially like that it doesn't go extreme in terms of speed. :) The aliens I remember from the film (rather than the games) were quick like snakes - fast in reactions, but not necessarily fast on the ground. I certainly don't remember any fast-super-pounces like the computer game versions (as much as I like the flying-blender-of-death when I'm the bug).

 

The stinger was also there in the Leading Edge Games writeup. It incapacitated victims temporarily. I personally consider its existence sketchy... definitely, if it exists, it's not as powerful as it is in that game. If it were, why would the aliens ever bother biting someone? They'd just sting 'em and drag 'em off. Surely live hosts are better than dead meat.

 

The sting is in the original script for ALIENS. I put it in as I recall seeing it in the novelization... (I think...).

 

Just be careful about adapting from sources - look at what you're bringing in and (if you're a canon freak like me) check it against primary sources (the films). But above all, consider what it'll do to your games. Surbrook's primary writeup looks like a good opponent for marines packing armour-penetrating, explosive bullets. :) Meat at range, troublesome (if not overwhelming) up close. CV 6 and 25 strength makes for an excellent grab.

 

(Certainly, be wary of adapting the Aliens vs Predator movie without REALLY thinking about it. I think it's a neat film, but I'd personally be very reluctant about considering it 'canon'. Particularly in terms of the speed of alien reproduction, or their strength.)

 

I only used ALIEN and ALIENS for the adaption. Thus anything else is suspect in my book. Especially anything from AVP, which looked like utter crap in my opinion.

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WhollyRandom Rookie

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Re: Aliens, as in ... well, "Aliens"

 

But above all' date=' consider what it'll do to your games. Surbrook's primary writeup looks like a good opponent for marines packing armour-penetrating, explosive bullets. :) Meat at range, troublesome (if not overwhelming) up close. CV 6 and 25 strength makes for an excellent grab.[/quote']

 

... and that's exactly what I was looking for. Of course, against 19th-century British colonial infantry, the Alien might be rather more deadly, but I'm sure that my players will enjoy the challenge at least briefly.

 

(Certainly' date=' be wary of adapting the Aliens vs Predator movie without REALLY thinking about it. I think it's a neat film, but I'd personally be very reluctant about considering it 'canon'. Particularly in terms of the speed of alien reproduction, or their strength.)[/quote']

 

I missed that at the cinemas; it really did strike me as a watch-on-DVD release :P

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