Space Campaign gone wrong before it starts?

[DocS]

The question is: what other galactic, supernatural, dimensional, etc. reasons could you think of to pretty much say it wouldn’t work.

Dimensional Rifts, sparked off from the energies of the dying in a thermonuclear war, are opening up all over Earth which is also coinidentally experiencing a massive change in humanity due to the spontaneous appearance of epic levels of psionic/magic abilities....

Given this, I would not suggest the vetoing of any idea based on 'lack of plausibility'.

If you sincerely think the idea is unplayable, I suggest not joining the game. There is no law requiring you to be at the table, and right now I'd think the game may do better without a player who goes on message boards looking for people to tell him why the idea is bad. However, if the GM is indeed your friend, be a friend, and let him run his game how he likes. Maybe it will work, maybe it wont, but the only true way to know is to let the game play out.

As for the idea itself, I could see it going wrong, I could also see it being genius, depending on how the GM mixes the elements. There is nothing innately wrong with the idea or an idea like it.

[Rallan]

first up

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PEOPLE, DON'T START DISCUSSING HOW TO STAT ALIENS IN PHASE WORLD. WE DON'T WANT THIS THREAD LOCKED NOW, DO WE.

Moving right along...

Ceizyk is right to be concerned about whether the critters from the alien movies could pose a serious threat to the Three Galaxies. I mean they're not particularly smart. At least not in the building spaceships and laser cannons and conquering the universe way. Plus the weapons and other technology available to the big nations of the Three Galaxies is infinitely more badass than anything from the Alien movies. A bunch of face-sucking egg-in-your-chest-laying bugs might wreak havoc on the less technologically advanced worlds they get zapped to from Center, but the big spacefaring powers would be able to eradicate infestations as fast as they pop up.

Before you know it, the only Alien ripoffs left in any sensibly ran campaign would be some isolated primitive worlds that sensible spacefarers don't travel to, and a bunch of specimens being experimented on in Splugorth and Naruni laboratories.

[glitterboy2098]

and remember that in the aliens universe of the comics and novels, the planets that were infested often just couldn't stop the xeno's before the hives grew too large to take out. and even then there would be a few survivors that restart the hive.

the only 'implusable' element i could see is the use of center's rift gates to spread the creatures, but that would depend on the exact story. if a group of infested hosts got accepted into center without their infestation being found, i could see the xeno's getting a small hive going there, which would infest new hosts which would spread to other worlds in the 3 galaxies before the authorities on center figure out whats going on.
but if the xeno's just rush the gates?

[Rallan]

Based on the movies I think the problem with your idea is the whole "Trying to ivade/ conquor" thinking. They never demonstrated those kind of motivations that I can recall. They are consumers and thats it. They hinted that they may have star ships in the first one but that could easily be an alien ship they infected.

All they ever do in the movies is try and breed. They wipe out everything that might be a threat, breed with the rest, and then try and hitch a lift somewhere. They show a fair bit of raw cunning when it comes to herding people around and deciding which threats need to be removed, but the big-picture side of things seems pretty instinctive.

Which is why randomly seeding something like them across the Three Galaxies wouldn't be that big a deal. Everyone's got the means to keep that sort of outbreak under control. A squad of soldiers can muster more firepower than every human/android character in every Alien movie combined. The only way a similar sort of parasitic critter could ever be the main focus of a Phase World campaign instead of just a Monster Of The Week would be if a staggeringly huge, widespread infestation cropped up all over the Three Galaxies at once, or if the critters in this guy's campaign are significantly smarter and have wiggy powers compared to the critters from the Alien movies.

[DhAkael]

Alien; the original movie.
The derlict spaceship found by Nostromo's crew on LV-426 was a slaver / cargo ship. The Eggs were stored in a stasis chamber (watch the scene were the eggs are found, it's pretty self evident). The reason the Xenomorphs were being carried is thoght to be because they were bio-weapons being transported for sale and / or use on an enemy species.
Containment and quarentine failed (the Xenomorphs are quite clever little beasties), the pilot, which was fused to its ship, became infected and only had time enough to record and broadcast a distress signal.

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using the above as a guideline, the GM could have it that there are dozens of said cargo ships lying ruined on worlds; covered in ice, earth or plants, just waiting for some schlep to find the eggs and get ganked...or worse..somehow deactivate the stasis field and have ALL the eggs hatch at once.
This is one way that the Phaseworld gateway scenario could occour. Someone brings part of one of these slaver ships through into holding, stasis fails and before the Promethians can set up quarintine hundreds of larva scurry through the connecting gates.

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Ripley: "Did you ever communicate with it?"
Ash: "Let me carry at least ONE secret to my grave..."
-Aliens; Novel based off the orginal screenplay, by Alan Dean Foster

Scenario Number2. Androids and robots can not be infected by the Xenomorph. However, one of the reasons postulated why Ash went NUTZ, is that he actualy DID make contact with the Alien's mind...and it drove him mad!
What if an artificial intelligence managed to 'sympathize' with the imperitive of a Xenomorph. Somehow had its programming corrupted and assisted in dispersering warrior drones through the gates, to further the glory of the hive?


I'm pretty sure that the GM has NOT done his reaserch, and that the motivations and reasons for the Xeno's getting spread far and wide are vastly different than the two given here. However, do not dismiss the plot entirely. It is not impossible, just implausible by most peoples perceptions.
Give the dude a chance, you may be suprised at how well he can pull this off.

[DocS]

Everyone's got the means to keep that sort of outbreak under control.

Given this statement, if I may say so, Rallan's universe is doomed to horrific chest-bursting destruction ( I mean that in the best possible way).

The biggest theme in the Alien movies is summed up in the phrase "Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure". All four movies have a running pattern of whenever anyone tries to 'control' these things, that's where the problem comes from. Ripley knows what to do, see an Alien, kill an Alien, no exceptions, no caveats.

The sub theme is that the efforts taken to 'control' and 'study' the infestations are the very things that let the beasties out to wreak their slimy brand of havok. Any beings in Phase World who think themselves invulnerable and who would want to 'study' or 'use' these things would be the ones who bring the horror down on everyone. Inglix would want a look, his efforts would bring them to UWW. Thraxus would *have* to see one (Of course all that phase world tech would be able to keep in caged... right?), and *BAM*, they're on phase world. CCW, they'd have at least one major laboratory facility which would become a bug hunt.

Naruni Enterprises? They'd want one for 'product research' purposes, there goes that facility.

The only race which would have no problem, The Intruders (they kill anything that's not them.... this is the right way to go for this threat).

The theme of the beasties is the ultimate Right-Wing villain. Do not study them, do not try to understand them, don't communicate, don't use any foolish notions of keeping the infestation 'under control', your very efforts to do that will lead to your demise.

Things to play with. Since these guys have this theme, the sub-theme is "Oh, but we learned from last time, it'll work this time! It'll...... AARRRGGHHH". So play with that in the Phase World milleu,

For example, unpleasant trick #1.....

Thraxus gives the party High end phase beamers (only the best!) for the purposes of them party bringing a corpse back. That should be good right?

Well, what if the Phase Beamers don't 'kill' these things, they only put them into a death-like coma..... no one realizes this... until their specimen wakes up and now the party has an infestation somewhere. Pick a place, make it messy.

Unpleasant trick #2.

Telepathic contact..... Doesn't give any information. Seems a total dud. However, unbeknowest to everyone else, it *does* have some sort of horrific effect on the telepath, like making them 'sympathetic''. The sort of being who will 'want' to be impregnated and who will sabotage containment facilities. Poor peacenik Noro, they got it coming.

Unpleasant trick #3

Ugglies can get anywhere. If an ugly gets impregnated, then the impregnated ugly can get anywhere. Ugglies could become a catalyst for this whole thing.

[DocS]

Nasty idea #4....

The Prometheans understand, they understand completely. They've seen this before.

An infestation happens on Phase World, The Prometheans know what to do. They activate a system which is designed simply to exterminate every non-promethean living thing on The Planet. Now The Party has a threefold problem

1) Infestation (Thanks Thraxus)
2) Desperation (There's a Promethen Extermination system going around, it's got plasma, phase beams, rail guns, the works. Kills Xenos GREAT! Kills everything else GREAT too!
3) If they can't somehow get this infestation eliminated, the Three Galaxies will lose their biggest trading hub.

[DhAkael]

Nasty idea #4....

The Prometheans understand, they understand completely. They've seen this before.

An infestation happens on Phase World, The Prometheans know what to do. They activate a system which is designed simply to exterminate every non-promethean living thing on The Planet. Now The Party has a threefold problem

1) Infestation (Thanks Thraxus)
2) Desperation (There's a Promethen Extermination system going around, it's got plasma, phase beams, rail guns, the works. Kills Xenos GREAT! Kills everything else GREAT too!
3) If they can't somehow get this infestation eliminated, the Three Galaxies will lose their biggest trading hub.

You sir, are a sadistic, evil person.
I aprove

[asajosh]

You could research the beasties...
The research facility needs to be carved inside a hollow asteroid. The surface of the asteroid is devoid of atmosphere.
All findings are transmitted to a battleship in close orbit capable of vaporizing said asteroid, for when the inevitable occurs.

[Noon]

Ceizyk, your not GM for this game - Let. Go.

Don't play if you don't like it.

If you feel you own the group partially and can't let go, I dunno what to say.

[Rallan]

You could research the beasties...
The research facility needs to be carved inside a hollow asteroid. The surface of the asteroid is devoid of atmosphere.
All findings are transmitted to a battleship in close orbit capable of vaporizing said asteroid, for when the inevitable occurs.

Plus it wouldn't hurt if all the work inside the quaruntine area of the lab is done by androids or remotely operated waldos.

[DocS]

You could research the beasties...
The research facility needs to be carved inside a hollow asteroid. The surface of the asteroid is devoid of atmosphere.
All findings are transmitted to a battleship in close orbit capable of vaporizing said asteroid, for when the inevitable occurs.

Plus it wouldn't hurt if all the work inside the quaruntine area of the lab is done by androids or remotely operated waldos.

I wouldn't suggest Waldos despite all my searching, I can only find one of them per page.

[Noon]

Noon, that’s nice, if you have something helpful to contribute to the topic please add it in, otherwise hold your comments.

Already posted it upthread - more of a general help though, rather than the specific one asked for.