Alien Invasion: Earth! (Idea for an RPG)

[pants]

Ok I watched Independence Day a couple of weeks ago and since then an idea has been rattling around in my head for a RPG.  It would be based on the Invasion of Earth by an alien force, not sure what kind of alien force, and set in the current day.  Instead of being responsible for one character though people would be responsible for a unit, possibly a squad or platoon to start off with, and then as they got more experienced they would get promoted and control more troops.

Ok anybody got any suggestions?

[Morse]

You probably don't know this.

But some time after the events of Alien 3, Earth is over run by the Xeno's.

They come in on a ship that was on it's way back to earth, but the crew was killed by one warrior alien.

It crashes, the alien is captured, in captivity the alien turns into a queen, radicalist nut jobs free it, and the eggs hatch, turnin all the radicalists into about 50 warriors

they spread out everywhere. Earth gets taken out in about 1 year.


We take it back eventually, but it's a good 1 year of serious combat on earth



you do a campaign on that

[pants]

That would be cool but I want to set this RPG in our own time using current military units and technology.  That way people could use their own countries militaries in a battle to the death against the scum sucking alien invaders. 

I think it would be cool to roleplay my own countries Defence Force trying to put the kibosh on a bunch of alien freaks.  I'm from New Zealand so we've got a bunch of guys running around in Orc costumes ready to protect us!  I think if we were really attacked everbody would be praying that Frodo would save us...

Actually what about this, the earth is hit by what people think is a meteorite shower but is in actual fact the vanguard of an invasion from space.  Maybe these meteorites contain a biomechanical creature that can kill and then bring back to life biological organisms.  ZOMBIES FROM SPACE! 

Anyway I'm sure Nick has got something planned for us along those lines Morse.  He's devious like that.

Any more ideas?

[AstroBoy]

I find I have too many RPG ideas, none of which ever actually get written. It's one thing to come up with ideas, it's another to work on them so they work.

[pants]

That's why I'm putting this here brother Astro!

If I can get other people excited about my idea then some of the burden of the work is taken off my shoulders if they decide to contribute ideas and writing. 

Actually I've been thinking about possibly starting up some kind of online RPG distrbutor.  Ok I just thought that up now but it's not a bad idea.

Now back to my Alien Invasion idea!

What do you think could be added to it? 

The aliens couldn't have to great a technological advantage otherwise they'd kick our butts before we had a chance to even engage them.  They'd need some kind of reason to want to invade the planet.

I don't know if anyone has read the Chtorr or Aldenata series of books but I liked the idea of both of them.  In the Chtorr series the aliens started to sneakily terraform the planet for themselves.  In the Aldenata series the aliens were trying to invade us so that they could have another food source.

Either of those ideas could be cool.

Thoughts?

[AstroBoy]

My issue with controlling a squad is that there won't be enough social elements or player interaction. It'd be more like a game. I think the best games are where there is a party with a good reason to stick together.

A useful link for worldbuilding is here: http://www.youmeetinatavern.com/index.p ... pic=1222.0

Sounds like a cool idea and I think that if you follow that link it'll really help flesh it out. The guide isn't finished yet, but at least the first few parts are helpful.

[pants]

I agree that the lack of player interaction may be a problem.  This game might be better suited as a type of wargame similar to warmaster but with RPG elements elements involved.  Perhaps a turn based wargame with players giving orders to their troops that take a certain amount of time to complete and have to deal with things that the modern commander has to deal with like logistics and training.

What I was thinking is that you actually have an Avatar in game who represents you.  This Avatar would be vulnerable to attacks and may even be injured or killed if you expose them to combat. 
Possibly the GM could be the person responsible for the alien troops and making sure that people are moving in the right direction.

Thanks for the link to the world builder by the way Astro. 

Maybe I should change the focus slightly...

[AstroBoy]

Yeah, it sound like you want a classic RPG. Like, the birthplace of RPGs where players are generals.

[pants]

Hmmm, perhaps I can have both.  Create a wargame that focuses on the strategic level as well as a RPG focused on a small unit of soldiers, with the players as characters. 

Ok I'll deal with that later let's focus on the actual universe itself.

My current premise is that humanity is attacked by aliens for some reason in our current reality.  Now if I go with the meteorites idea that means the creatures have to be tough enough to survive the vacuum of space but not so tough that current technology can't kill them. 

I'm thinking the creatures are a form of biomechanical life, similar to cyborgs in that they are a combination of machine and organic life but to a higher degree.  They will be capable of taking and adapting any organic or mechanical organisms that they encounter and using them for whatever purposes they need.  So they can kill people and adapt their bodies to create weird and disgusting amalgamations of man and machine or even just bring the dead back to life as TECHNO SPACE ZOMBIES that fight against their own people.

I also think these biomechanical creatures are just like the first wave, a vanguard if you will, and that the creatures that sent them are on their way to complete the conquest and elimination of humanity.  These following creatures will arrive in some kind of space craft possibly hollowed out meteorites converted to their use or a properly constructed interstellar ship.  However I don't think they should be able to go faster than light speed or else we'd have no chance at all against them cause their technology would be to advanced for us to compete unless they had some weird religious beliefs that didn't let them use their superior tech or something.

When I think of these Overlord creatures I think they should be 20 foot tall lizard beasts, like Godzilla but with fully functional arms and hands.  However it doesn't make sense for an alien to look like that but maybe they've used their biomechanical skills on themselves to create superior soldiers.

Any thoughts on what I've got so far?

[AstroBoy]

TECHNO SPACE ZOMBIES

or strogg?

I'm not sure about your idea about the faster (or not) than light bit. Seems sorta random that techno space zombies would crash our party on a meteor.

I think cryo/statsis has to be the way to go. It means that constant reinforcements aren't likely and tech is likely to be more similar. This is if you want a protracted military combat thing.

I think we should follow the thing on that link I sent you.

i.e. Step 1 - Cool stuff list
So far I think you have:
Overt Military Combat
Moderns
Earth
Cyborg Aliens

Keep going and come back. It's hard to suggest things if we don't know what you're after.

EDIT: My list with the overt military combat condition would be something like:
tanks
desolate, heading towards an aftermath
post immediate invasion
tiberium warsish setting (as in what you would see with regards to buildings)
Some freaky alien tech quirk
Military rule

[pants]

Damn Quake!  Always stealing my ideas!
Ok forget the TECHNO SPACE ZOMBIE idea and lets see what else I can come up with using the ideas from your link.
Step 1 - Cool stuff list
Modern military combat
Alien invaders - Cryo/stasis?
Current Political situation
Cutting edge tech

Ok I've got to put some thought into the alien side of things.  I think I've got a handle on most of the other stuff.

I need a hook for the aliens.  They need something to differentiate them from every other alien race out there. 

What reason do they have to come to earth?  Enslave the populace is a good one.  Maybe they need us to grow more of them by implanting the larvae of their species into our bodies but unlike Aliens they don't explode out of our chest and kill us but are surgically removed or can just exit via one of our orifices.  Not a pleasent thought. 

Perhaps their beliefs force them to travel to foreign places meet new people...and eat them. 

Lets leave that for now.  What do these suckers look like?

I want them to be scary looking.  Suggestions?

[AstroBoy]

You've got the spectrum of little green men to cyborgs to tyranids/aliens aliens.

As for why, as you read through that link it has a fair bit about secrets. I found that I'd get ahead of the system with my thinking but I always came back to that method. I really believe, it's the best way of doing it.

[pants]

Yeah there's a lot of room for creativeness there in what the aliens look like but I want my aliens to be unique but still within the realm of possibility. 

Let me sleep on it and see if I can come up with something. 

TO MY BEDROOM!  THE LAND OF DREAMS AND PILLOWS!

[Jocke]

TO MY BEDROOM!  THE LAND OF DREAMS AND PILLOWS!

Erm, you forgot to add lonely crying and an abundance of pornographic magazines.

But, as was mentioned earlier in this thread- I too have  a problem with my creative discipline, so to speak. I usually write down ideas, but all I've gotten from that is three notebooks filled with stuff that would be decent PnP RPG's, or permaybe books. Thing is though- when I look further into it- I often find that it's already been done... 

[tpc]

I was thinkin about there could be some colonial marines on a mission to resolve a conflict when all of the people turn into zombies and the marines try to survive.