Alien Invasion

[Curufea]

.

[madgoblin]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I would Suggest the following books albeit by another game company:

Warp World

And Space Time

by Greg Porter of BTRC games.

he System is a bit complicated but it can easily convert over to Hero. His story and background is exceptional however.

[OddHat]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I've done this, in a campaign inspired by "The Warlock In Spite Of Himself" and similar books.

 

I don't use or like the technology stops working thing; instead I used the idea that the magic using nobility stomped on any percieved threats to their power, particularly gun powder and the "excessive" concentration of wealth in non-noble hands (thus reducing any real chance for an industrial revolution). Brainy and ambitious young men and women studied magic or entered the Church, and that further reduced the pool of people who might potentially disrupt the semi-classical Greek status quo.

 

The aliens had no magic or psionics, but they had full access to very high tech. They were prospectors and scouts rather than a full invasion fleet, but they still nearly wiped out the main cities of Atlantis.

 

Fun game.

[Curufea]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I would Suggest the following books albeit by another game company:

Warp World

And Space Time

by Greg Porter of BTRC games.

he System is a bit complicated but it can easily convert over to Hero. His story and background is exceptional however.

 

I've got Warp World. And the time travel one (and guns, guns,guns and even Macho Women with Guns by BTRC). I'll give it another read (long time since I last looked at it).

 

Magic isn't inimical to technology in my setting. There is no cause and effect with it.

The laws of physics are different in my Western Shores to explain lack of technology, not the replacement of technology with magic. Magic has simply filled some (but not all) voids left by what we view real world technology should have.

 

That being said - there is no reason why sometime in the future the people could not discover the "Guns of Avalon" (to give it an Amber perspective). A reactive substance that will/may behave similar to real world explosives/power storage. I definitely intend on turning the world into a steam age sometime in the future - just because I love steampunk.

[Big Willy]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I co-GMed an AD&D campaign where the moon fell to earth and disgorged an army of cat- and lizard-people: does that count?

[Old Man]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

That being said - there is no reason why sometime in the future the people could not discover the "Guns of Avalon" (to give it an Amber perspective). A reactive substance that will/may behave similar to real world explosives/power storage. I definitely intend on turning the world into a steam age sometime in the future - just because I love steampunk.

 

You could follow the Guardians of the Flame series example with this. The bad guys couldn't figure out the chemical composition of gun powder (it was a good guy super secret) so they made guns that used a magical variant.

 

The idea is that they converted water into a powder. When the powder is exposed to a drop of water it instantly converts the powder to steam. The reaction is similar to that of gunpowder but with water/steam instead.

[Curufea]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I just realised how silly it was to have a single world running on different laws to the rest of the universe - so the aliens will be bugs (from Roughnecks), using organic technology, which will allow them to cross interstellar distances and not worry about the lack of non-organic technology.

[Old Man]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

You could always make your world a petri dish. The rest of the galaxy is advanced ala Star Hero, but your Fantasy Hero world is either a forgotten colony or science project in progress. The alien invasion just happen to reach your Fantasy Hero world.

[OddHat]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

There was also an early Terry Pratchett novel (Strata) where a fantasy world had been artificially constructed on contract from (essentially) the SCA, and where the inhabitants were the many great-great grandchildren of those colonists. Because their world was set up so that it really was flat, magic really did appear to work, etc, scientific progress just never occurred; why struggle to learn to build a wind mill when the same level of brain power would teach you spell casting?

 

So, your fantasy world is really an artificial construct, and both the inhabitants and the Aliens don't quite realize that "magic" is really very advanced precurser technology...

[tm80401]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

If you haven't started the plotline yet, you may want to consider the Magician series of books by Ray Feist. They centered around a magic based interdimensional invasion. Essentially by humans from an Asian type culture.

[Cancer]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I had a fantasy campaign based on an alien invasion, but I took a longer view.

 

Base assumptions:

• Basic sci-fi concept of a Galactic Council. Every race is represented there, but every race is sovereign.
  
• Habitable worlds without existing sentient races are fair game for colonization, but worlds which have evolved their own sentient races are Hands Off, with "Prime Directive" like laws.
  
• There are races that get around that "Prime Directive" thing by subtle long-time-duration interference, by outright conquest-and-extinction, and other means.
  
• One of those races is a theocratic empire. Their modus operandi is to insert their own theocracy into developing worlds with a minimum of off-world aid. Once the world reaches interstellar tech -- which takes a couple of thousand years -- the infected world joins the empire "of its own free will".
  

 

The campaign takes place on one such world, about 500 years after the injection of the "infection". Very loosely, that "infection" happened around the equivalent of 800 AD. The empire has (after the initial jihad-like establishment) expanded slowly but unstoppably, using every means available. For hand-waving reasons, magic exists on the world (and the empire's off-world tech "looks like" magic), but the indigenous magic cannot directly affect anything of true off-world origin. That's not as big a limitation as it sounds, since all the empire folk now are home-born and approximately all the equipment is manufactured on-world. Note, though, that the off-world sci-fi tech is not subject to the same limit.

 

The PCs are from a relatively isolated part of the world which had its initial contact with the empire about 50 years previous; that contact was incredibly violent and unified their homeland and made it implacably opposed to the empire.

 

The PCs are sent out to scout, seek out allies, and do maximum damage to the empire.

 

By themselves, the PCs cannot hope to win, though before it went on permanent hiatus ten years ago they had dealt the empire three serious strategic defeats, the only ones in its history.

 

I have the concept for a one-shot (probably three-session) adventure to close the campaign, which involves some off-world aid for the PCs. The backstory for that involves a key NPC, himself an off-worlder (in fact, a human from Earth) having a conversation with his off-world backers that runs:

"Instead, you will use this." A softball-size object materializes on the console.

 

(picks it up, looks it over.) "Heh, what is it? A nuclear hand grenade?"

 

"No. That is an antimatter bomb."

 

(He puts the device down with exaggerated care.)

[Curufea]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I will be having aliens invade. All part of the "Red Star" plot of this part of the campaign.

 

I've now decided to make them Tyranids because I've got the Codex, and I've got over a hundred well painted miniatures of them

(To be exact I've a 5000pt army of them from back when I used to play Warhammer)

Plus I like the world invasion tactics of the Tyranids.

 

However - does anyone know of roleplaying statistic write ups for Tyranids? I haven't found any Hero versions, but if I can find another system's version - I can convert that quite easily.

 

The reason for the invasion is that a very powerful sorcerer was studying them, and managed to summon a Hive Tyrant (probably just to chat with - similar to a demon, and may have mistaken the Tyrant for a demon). Loki (the God) found this interesting/amusing and captured the Tyrant before the mage could send it back home. The Tyrant is now imprisoned in a gem in the home barony of one of the characters. The rest of the Hive decides to send only one Hive Ship to retrieve the Tyrant, rather than an entire fleet (I don't want the whole world destroyed, just part of it).

 

Or maybe I'll just have the Tyranids as a single ship race...

[Enforcer84]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I've done this, in a campaign inspired by "The Warlock In Spite Of Himself" and similar books.

 

I don't use or like the technology stops working thing; instead I used the idea that the magic using nobility stomped on any percieved threats to their power, particularly gun powder and the "excessive" concentration of wealth in non-noble hands (thus reducing any real chance for an industrial revolution). Brainy and ambitious young men and women studied magic or entered the Church, and that further reduced the pool of people who might potentially disrupt the semi-classical Greek status quo.

 

The aliens had no magic or psionics, but they had full access to very high tech. They were prospectors and scouts rather than a full invasion fleet, but they still nearly wiped out the main cities of Atlantis.

 

Fun game.

I loved those books. Read the last one. Made me sad.

[OddHat]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I loved those books. Read the last one. Made me sad.

 

I loved the first two or three, even after all the rules went out the window, but I never got into the ones with his son. Still a great setting.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

As a general guide to the invasion subgenre, I'd recommend the 4E Champions adventure/sourcebook Invasions: Target Earth. Although written for a supers campaign, I find that it has good general advice for running alien or extradimensional invasions in any genre that supports that premise. It also has 4E stats for several classic "invader" archetypes, and a whole invasion mini-campaign featuring extra-dimensional demons. It also happens to be available in Hero Games's Online Store for a reasonable $7.95.

 

Now as far as HERO Tyrannid writeups, I would strongly suggest checking here and here. (Hmm... Curufea, you posted to that second thread. Did you not see those writeups, or were they just not satisfactory?)

 

BTW - and I say this with due humility - when looking for HERO RPG conversions, I recommend first checking the compilation which I've posted to the "Other Software And Online Resources" forum. There's a direct link to it in my signature below.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I cannot begin to imagine an alien invasion fun for a Fantasy campaign. Or at least Alien's from space. Some sort of Demonic invasion, creatures from the Underworld invading, or from across the sea, yes can be fun. But from space it seems out of genre.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

Actually, I remember reading Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Darksword Trilogy, which ended with [spoiler WARNING!]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... an invasion of a high-magic world by extensive military forces armed with modern or near-future technology. The reaction of the defenders to tanks and rockets, and the invaders to giants and acid-fog spells, was one of the more intriguing elements of the conclusion.

 

That said, if Curufea does use Tyranids they won't seem so out of place. Those horrors and their weapons already look so demonic that they'd probably be easier for the locals to accept than laser rifles and hovercraft.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

Actually' date=' I remember reading Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's [i']Darksword Trilogy[/i], which ended with [spoiler WARNING!]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... an invasion of a high-magic world by extensive military forces armed with modern or near-future technology. The reaction of the defenders to tanks and rockets, and the invaders to giants and acid-fog spells, was one of the more intriguing elements of the conclusion.

 

That said, if Curufea does use Tyranids they won't seem so out of place. Those horrors and their weapons already look so demonic that they'd probably be easier for the locals to accept than laser rifles and hovercraft.

And that book ending ****ing sucked. Your point?

[tancred]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I once ran a short "invasion" arc in my old The Fantasy Trip campaign.

 

A group of lost Travellers (yes, Traveller characters from our other campaign) crash-landed on Cidri (the world of The Fantasy Trip).

Technology didn't work on Cidri (because the Ancients constructed it that way), so their starship couldn't take off once it landed.

 

Unfortunately, their technology began shorting out magic all over the known world, so the PCs had to find out what was causing the problem.

 

The fun part was trying to figure out how to launch the starship once they discovered that it was the source of the problem (round up every wizard in the known world, and have them all cast Telekinesis).

 

It was only good for 2 or 3 sessions, but it was only intended as a slightly-humorous break from our regular game anyway.

[Old Man]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

I've now decided to make them Tyranids because I've got the Codex, and I've got over a hundred well painted miniatures of them

 

However - does anyone know of roleplaying statistic write ups for Tyranids? I haven't found any Hero versions, but if I can find another system's version - I can convert that quite easily.

 

That sounds cool.

 

For stats, try to find the oldest source material you can get your hands on. If you can get a Rogue Trader book, you're all good. The stats for Tyranids have changed drastically over the years and with the latest version of 40k it's harder to convert to RPG stats.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

And that book ending ****ing sucked. Your point?

 

That advanced tech and sophisticated magic don't have to be mutually exclusive. The conflicts between them can be interesting and fun if handled right. Andre Norton played that up in a number of her books, notably the Janus novels and early Witch World series.

 

And suckage is in the eye of the beholder.

[Super Squirrel]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

And suckage is in the eye of the beholder.

In most cases yes, but I want back my $5.50 plus sales tax, interest, and an hour of therapy for good measure.

[Curufea]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

Argh! How could I have failed to read the rest of that thread - talk about bad memory!

 

I do have many of the modules and things for 4E Champions (or BBB) including Invasion Earth.

 

The Feist Riftwar series is another example of an alien invasion (albeit humanoids).

 

It is their tactics, their demonic appearance, and the fact I've got them ready to hand that is the reason I'm using them

 

[edit]

Hmm, no Hive Tyrant or Zoanthrope.. will have to fiddle.

Also - I noticed the Genestealer didn't have the kiss written up.

 

On a side note - the word Hive comes from the old Norse word of Hufr meaning "the hull of a ship". At least, according to http://www.etymonline.com/

 

I'll have to Norse/Gothic up the names. The PCs will have a number of clues before the invasion begins-

1) Three advanced scouting groups will be dropped several weeks before the main ship arrives. Each group will land in a spore, and probably consist of a single Lictor (them being the most intelligent infiltration type)

2) The sorcerer's notes he was making on the Tyrands. Which will basically be the concept art from the Warhammer website - because that art looks very little like my models (as I have the original Tyranids, not the new ones), and the players who have seen my miniatures won't be able to guess very easily. I'll scatter Norse/Gothic names on the notes instead of the official names.

 

My world is heavily settled, and highly civilised - there are no wandering monsters, most problems are fellow humans. However, occasionally a very powerful mage will appear with huge magical armies and try to conquer the land. This is just a similar concept with an external force.

 

Possibly the PCs will have to infiltrate the ship and kill the hive mind nexus or something...

[Curufea]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

The roots of the names are interesting, I've just finished looking them up.

 

Lictor being a Roman magistrate who carried the fasces

Carnifex being the public execution in Rome

Zoanthrope is a mental illness where a man believes their an animal

Termagent/Termaguant/Hunter Killer - probably derives from agent of termination, someone who carries out assassinations.

Hormagaunt has the similar "agent" implication. The "horm" part is probable from "hormon" meanint that which sets in motion (which later became hormone).

 

I'll write up a list of Gothic German equivalents for any interested..

[War Cry]

Re: Alien Invasion

 

Something to consider.......in the older Warhammer 40k fluff the tyranids would often infiltrate a heavily populated planet with genestealers. They would crossbreed with the native races and produce offspring that looked less like tyranids and more like the other host (but still retain a proper "demonic" appearance). The next step was to start cults across the planet within the cities in preparation for the main assault from the fleets. If you're looking to draw it out, this could be an option for you.

 

On a side note - Tyranids RAWK! I love fighting those things. The game's always a nailbiter.