Because of my love for the Alien/Aliens movies, I made a valiant attempt to play the RPG released by Leading Edge Games. It was a HORRIBLE system. It was very deadly also. But we played it a couple of times and had some fun. These are some adventure ideas I put together for it, some I ran, others I didn’t. They are not system specific so they can be used in other systems.
BASICS
The players are Colonial Marines sent to help out in a revolt suppression, on a colony world in the Hyperdyne Sector. They will be fighting revolting mining colonists, lightly armed.
The planet is called Rabnus Ellios (“Rab”), a recently colonized world, first discovered and surveyed by Wyelund-Yutani. It was deemed usable and possibly profitable, but the the colonists were not getting enough wages and thus revolted. The Colonial Marine High Command deemed it necessary to intervene, despite objections from Weylund-Yutani.
Initially, the players should encounter the rebels, with a few battles occurring while they are doing routine peace keeping jobs. The world is harsh and it its early stages of development. Is is also 82% covered in water, and Weylund-Yutani has a few undersea colonies. The players will begin on the surface, fighting the land colonists and later will be given a mission undersea.
Vital: Map of the colonies (land and undersea) and surrounding areas. The players should also encounter the harsh environment also in a creative way.
PULL
The initial pull is they are ordered to do it. The players will encounter enough to get a feeling that this is a typical suppression mission, almost a turkey shoot: except when the players are attacked by an unidentified group with more than just civilian weaponry (Weylund-Yutani regulars disguised as colonists).
PUSH
Of course, their welcoming to the planet will involve a rebel attack and several will follow, involving different situations. The PCs will be given jobs like supplying certain refugee camps or Colonial Marine installations or rescuing missions to save some trapped corporate regulars. Commonly, they will be attacked by the rebels with their make-shift weapons and lack of true combat tactics.
As mentioned, at some point the players will be attacked by a group of abnormally well-armed “colonists.” Hopefully they will survive the attack. They may have a few NPC casualties to inspect or maybe even a wounded to interrogate. They won’t get much information except that this individual is strongly bound to his cause (his employers).
Afterwards, they will be transferred to the newly organized sea patrol fleet, aboard a patrol boat (map of the boat?). There are rumors that the rebels have a base in one of the undersea mining colonies, and they are needed to patrol those waters for any rebel presence and report it. The patrol fleet is a small one of 18 rigged transport boats, and some are rigged with Colonial Marine submarine equipment (including the PC’s boat, the Leonard). The PCs won’t be alone; there is a crew, but not a Colonial Marine crew. Their loyalties may be crossed (optional).
It might be worth noting that the patrol fleet will be so spread out that the PCs will be virtually alone, aside from long range communications between the boats and the tactical command center.
(Optional) The PCs are given full command of the ship and crew.
At sea, there will be one or two sightings of unauthorized ships, and they will require boarding. Skirmishes may occur but nothing the PCs can’t handle. From the sightings, they may even derive a general area where they rebel undersea bases. (Note: Wyelund Yutani is not being very cooperative and has yet to supply the Colonial Marines with maps of the undersea colonies.) At some point while on patrol, the PCs will spot an object falling from the sky, followed by several others, into the sea. They immediately sink when they hit the surface. The PCs are later told that an unmarked unauthorized ship briefly orbited the planet and dropped a payload of cargo from orbit. Things should be clicking with the players…”maybe we found the base.”
They should report it, but if they don’t the GM may remind through one of the crew NPCs. When they do report the sighting (at which time they will find out about the orbiting mystery ship), they will be ordered to investigate using the submarine. The GM may supply the necessary crew to pilot the submarine, given they stay within the crew limits.
The PCs will encounter several strange things as they approach the drop site (and in turn, the Weyland Yutani secret research base). To find the location of the research station, they can follow the many power and air lines that trace the sea floor and lead to it. On the way, they will encounter a school of strange amphibious shark-like creatures fleeing from something. A native NPC that might be with them might note that as strange. They will also find a vase-shaped object that faintly looks like an eggplant with its top open (Alien egg) and a dead body of one of those shark-like amphibians.
(Optional) First encounter with the hybrid Alien. They may be attacked by one of the hybrid Aliens while en route. It attacks ferociously and with incredible speed. The PCs will not be able to identify it but know it was not one of the shark-like amphibians because of the coloration.
When they reach the station (map?), they will dock and deploy into the research station. The NPCs will stay behind to recharge the sub’s batteries and do some maintenance. (Possible chance for Weylund Yutani agent as one of the NPCs.)
WEYLUND YUTANI RESEARCH STATION G-OMEGA/SPECIAL WEAPONS DIVISION
The base was once in rebel’s hands and was being used as a command post until Wylund Yutani found out about their presence there (See ENIGMA: The Reasearch Station G-Omega).
The base is now deserted, or seems like it at first. They will soon find signs of small arms fire and acid holes. All seems dead until the survivors arrive.
There are 5 rebels remaining out of 75 that populated this station (although the station is only designed for 25 maximum). The rebels will fight until there are only a few left (2 or 3). They know about the station; found out by accessing the computers. Weylund Yutani knew about it as soon as they accessed the computer and sent the Alien egg delivery pods.
GIMMICK
Research Station G-Omega: The PCs are going to find the Weylund Yutani Research Station G-Omega/Special Weapons Division, a secret research station that only the high executives in the corporation knew about. It was once used as a research facility until the rebels took it over. Now something worse has taken it over.
The PCs will encounter a few Aliens in the undersea base, planted by Weylund Yutani (the falling objects from the mystery ship were egg delivery pods). The corporation wants to hide something, and they sent Alien eggs into that vicinity to take care of anyone that gets near it. The rebels were all killed by the Aliens that manifested from the amphibious – indigenous shark-like host that it birthed from (See ENIGMA); kill because, in their ignorance, they stumbled upon things they shouldn’t — the secret Weylund Yutani undersea research station.
Amphibian Aliens: The Aliens that resulted from the amphibious shark creatures are savage and very much like what you would imagine when you cross an Alien and a shark. They are bipedal but have fins at the end of their legs and arms. They are hideous to look at and generally just as blood thirsty, if not more, as their cousins (the ones we are used to dealing with). Treat like an Alien warrior except that they are amphibious and can swim 25 feet per action point.
Impregnated Survivor: One of the surviving rebels is impregnated and will give birth to a normal Alien Warrior sometime in the game.
ENIGMA
Weylund Yutani Research Station G-Omega Special Weapons Division: The players and the rebels have stumbled onto the corporations attempts at Alien research. Somehow the corporation possesses a few Alien eggs and is doing genetic research, discovering that the Alien can take traits of its host, including instincts, knowledge, and genetically coded traits (thus the amphibious Alien — see below).
The Agent (optional): One of the NPCs that accompanied the PCs (if any) is a Weylund Yutani agent and a synthetic, who is programmed to kill the PCs and destroy the station with the nuclear explosive device built into him.