"Settings with or without aliens?" Topic

Which do you prefer for your sci-fi games – a setting where humans are the only force with no alien presence, similar to Firefly, or something more like Star Trek where they live among us?

Or possibly something in between, where the "aliens" are man-made (Terminator and BSG)?

I kind of like the idea in many of Alastair Reynolds' books, that humans are expanding into an otherwise dead galaxy, encountering nothing but the ruins and artifacts of long-dead civilisations … slightly pessimistic, but still kind of interesting.

The Firefly model would be my preference. Its so difficult to do aliens right and not just have them be the 'man in a rubber suit'.

The Reynold's books sound interesting.

I like aliens to be present, whether I use them for PCs or not.

Lots and lots of aliens…

For me, aliens should be present but remote and unrelatable to humans. The aliens in my own sci to setting are all either completely hostile to other life forms( I.e. Xenomorphs from Aliens) of they are aloof and so psychologically different from humans that they view us like we view dolphins and whales (or we them)-somewhat like humans and aliens in The Mote in Gods Eye.

I prefer giving a bigger but still limited role to extinct or apparantly extinct aliens such as Pohl's Heechee and to human creations I.e.out of control genetic experiments.

In this manner humans are -or seem to be- at center stage.

Aliens ala Traveller

Thing is…. there are so many ways to do ALMOST-alien, or alien-analogues… mutated humans, genetically engineered life-forms (human & animal), androids, cyborgs, psionic humans.
With all that to be going on with for the 'everyday' stuff, I like to save genuine alien involvment for the Big Events… black obelisks, Martian Tombs, crashed saucers, etc.
I think it detracts from the wierdness factor when Alien presence becomes mundane & over-familiar.

Case in point:

link

I have played, and enjoyed, all sorts of games in regards to alien involvement (or lack of it). So I guess no strong preference one way or another.

-Will

With …I have to many alien mini's to do without

I guess as a biologist I have a totally different take on all this, so probably shouldn't comment. But I *will* agree with The G Dog on how hard it is to do other sentients correctly, and to my mind only the HELLFIRE 6MM rules do any justioce to nonhuman intellects, in wargaming. Some of teh Traveller iterations did do them quite well for RPGs however, though it depended on the player following the suggestions and so forth.

I really like the idea of a long dormant galaxy. We explore, find lots of evidence, long gone and dusty.

If there are aliens I would prefer them to be in the form of flora and fauna…not so much partners with us. Like on Earth now…cuttlefish are clearly intelligent and can communicate with colors/textures no less (with each other for now), dolphins/greater apes/etc., and even the house hold dog and cat have some range of intelligence…but beyond the special needs helper animal or your hunting buddy they are not partners.

or

Lots and lots of aliens…just huge hind end loads of them! So many species rather than numbers though…you could run into a dozen or more at the local eatery but most likely just one or two of each type.

The idea of an Ancients race that built a vast galactic web and then fell into dust is great. The common rub with that one is to incorporate the genetic seed of the humaniod form throughout the same galaxy…immortality through variety of the basic stock…say our planet was closest to the best case setting so we prospered more so than the remaining 99% seed spots. Or something along those lines.

I guess you should rather ask yourself do you want to play hard science fiction, space opera, or science fantasy…the reality of warp is immpossible at our current understanding (we need magic at this point) so travel beyond the reasonable is quite seriously unlikely at best.

But it is a game. If we took our compliment of flora/fauna to other locations then the results would vary beyond measure…and thusly you would find alien and bizzare adaptations to these new environments…take that to heart, consider the Ancients did this vary thing billions of years ago through out the galaxy and you have some what compatable worlds with most likely familiar flora/fauna…but different enough to be alien.

So either lots and lots of aliens and enjoy the space opera or animals/plants/and BEMs or play it safe…and it is just us and our stuff. I would hope for some color and variety out there, even if we have to put it in place!

Can't have a proper bar on a dusty backwater planet without aliens…. ;)

Both …

I like most settings, although "neighbouring alien empires" don't do it for me. The odds of a neighbouring alien civilisation being equal in power are low indeed. Rather some sort of whacky situation like Farscape, with Peacekeepers keeping everybody in check (some of the time).

Twisted Metal: "I kind of like the idea in many of Alastair Reynolds' books, that humans are expanding into an otherwise dead galaxy, encountering nothing but the ruins and artifacts of long-dead civilisations …"

28mmMan: "I really like the idea of a long dormant galaxy. We explore, find lots of evidence, long gone and dusty."

I kinda prefer something along those lines . . . but with a twist:

TMP link

CC

Alistair Reynolds' House of Suns is a rather good example of what can be done with a humans only galaxy (well, almost), tho I suspect for gaming purposes the specific setting is too steeped in his trademark "deep time, vast space" concepts.

If thinking from purely a writing standpoint, I should think it's easier to go with a setting that is human only (Star Trek is close enough actually, almost everybody who isn't a trancendent superbeing is basically a human with a funny forehead). Making a plausibly alien alien is a problematic thing while even a weirdly phenotyped posthuman will be allowed to "act human", at least once in a while, without taxing the suspension of disbelief.

That said, I think miniature gamers have learned to expect at least some alien races in the mix, so it might be prudent to go through the motions.

Thanks CC, I was thinking of doing something similar, possibly using necrons. Humans arrive in a dead region of space, find the remains of an ancient alien culture and begin to loot it … only to awaken something in the ruins!

Gamed both, like both – probably more inclined towards some sort of aliens, preferably not "guys in rubber suits"

I like the Star Wars concept of aliens all around us, interacting with us in various ways, just as humans and other animals interact with each other in various ways on earth.

atb,
khurasanminiatures.tripod.com

I like it all, aliens or no aliens.

But I've got a special love for David Brin's Uplift universe where there are loads and loads of aliens. Humans are the scrappy underdogs because we haven't been uplifted by another race and only survive by outsmarting the many, many alien religious fanatics who want to exterminate us.

I did not use GREYS as post apocolyptic alien survivors, i used HERITAGE MODELS (i think they were HERITAGE) 25mm wingless gargoyles from one of their fantasy lines .

i armed them with stone tipped spears, axes, knives, and coup de splat clubs, and used these to populated my FORERUNNER world.

i used some epoxy ribbon to make some bad smelling, "hairy pancakes" (about the size of a US dime) to represent another type of lurking alien inhabiting an abandoned FORERUNNER fleet base on a desert world. these being had become completely feral, and were possiblly the mutated descendents of the fleet base personnel.

i also had some working FOREUNNER tech scattered about the base in the form of robots and such that generally ignored my EARTH explorers unless they were assigned to a base security mission (and then they were implacable, deadly enemies).

i used some "mermen" (actually more like CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) to represent retrogressed sentients on another planet and gave them primitive weaponry as well.

i also used a number of KREIGSPEILER cave trolls and some other near nakes from various ancient lines to make humanoid "cavemen" for another FOREUNNER world.

and i used my ever-popular one eyed, rubbery limbed, spandex wearing aliens (known as BOOBAKS in the DFW) and the naked (wy would an ent need clothes?) ent-like aliens (known locally as GNARLIES) as high tech FORERUN – NER survivors on a couple of other worlds. these were from a sci fi line that had powered armor human troops similar to those in JOE HALDEMAN'S "FOREVER WAR". came out in the 1970s and i think the line was called GALAXIANS by GRENADIER MODELS.

KREIGSPEILER snaga orcs and goblins populated another planet.

long out of production MINIFIG-USA itty bitty kolbolds were used on another wrecked FORERUNNER world as survivors.

and i used HINCHLIFFE BARSOOM figures for another FOREUNNER world that had not devolved as far as some of the others after the FORERUNNER WAR.

HERITAGE MODELS octopoid MARTIANS from the 25mm GALACTA line as hostile intelligent FORERUNNER survivors lording it over BARSOOMIAN red, yellow, white and green MARTIAN survivors on a dying world

i used different poker chips to represent the KRELL id monster prowling about the perimeter of the EARTH explorer's landing site and bingo discs to represent the invisible alien energy life forms that fed on life forces on a fog shrouded world.

i also used a number of other fantasy and CHULHU critters from various companies and dimestore toys for alien wildlife on various planets.

YES, ALICE MARY NORTON was (and still is) one of my favorite sci fi writers.
<:O)

yes, i did and still do use books, tv, movies, video games and even comics to provide myself with scenario ideas. <:O)

DAWGIE

ON another occassion, long before figures were made for it, we played a BERSERKER campaign and used CYBERMEN as warbots.

but i have run games in universes like FIREFLY where the aliens do not exist, or where they are long gone after a catasphic war, leaving dead and damaged worlds littered with ruins of different races behind them.

DAWGIE

I love the Aliens, every sort.

I will concur with Hexxenhammer's love for Uplift Saga.

Also The Culture Saga helps setting many alines side by side.

Really I do prefer variety and sometimes that means aliens. I can appreciate a setting with few or no aliens but for some players that can be limiting.

-Eli

Battletech did a great job of no aliens only human empires. But personally I like the idea of ancient aliens leaving only clues for humanity to uncover. Ancient portals/webways/stargates are a great ancient alien calling card.

Cheers

Jerry

I prefer a plurality of Other/Alien Intelligences. A Cosmopolitan Universe.

I also like Humans as Alien in a interplay of cultures.

But my general rule of the thing is if the Miniature exists they are in….

Wow this is a tough one…it greatly depends on the technology of the setting.

Hard science, with a tweak of science fantasy to allow for warp travel or the like…then I would be happy with no intelligent aliens but would greedily welcome alien flora/fauna of any nature from algae to macro fauna.

Soft science, with a flourish or two of science fantasy (Firefly for example, which I will always support) then I would be happy to have grand and dramatic alien ruins of a forerunner civilization with the potential for some element of these aliens still around in some form…sustained within moon sized computers, immortal sententials managing great Dyson's Spheres, etc…or just ruins and alien artifacts.

Any softer science fiction then I do not mind aliens; I tend to go one way or the other…

just one other intelligent race of alien origin

or

lots and lots of aliens of all kinds, even those which we could never meet face to face for many reasons…either species' mind might go insane, exotic environments, vastly extreme pressures, etc.

*****

For the most part, yes, I like aliens in my games but I do not like magic cheetos…the magic cheeto allows for Star Trek's Q for example where wishes can provide anything in or out of the realm possibility…the magic cheeto is the writers special tool to make the story work, even when it is broken beyond reason.

I vote for space opera and guys in rubber suits.

"I vote for space opera and guys in rubber suits"

…or that.

:)

Agreed with that comment… fill my worlds with mutants, humans, aliens, and weird variations thereof…

Tons of aliens.Dozens of races,shapes,styles and technologies.

A fun direction might be a whole collective of intelligent species but we are the only humanoid types…the rest run the limits of the imagination.

I would guess that a fair number could communicate through humans…colony, symbiotic, energy, etc. types might wear us like a suit or use us like a microphone/computer to interface with others.

Surely someone has written some science fiction/fantasy along these lines?

There was an SF novel about a Canadian cyborg, and a couple of spaceships that showed up in orbit that were radically different from each other. The supposition was that they needed humans to act as an "intermediary" because their psyches were so alien (I mean like blobs of metal vs. some kind of spacegoing plant).

Canadian cyborgs ARE radically different from most lifeforms… even Canadians.

Oh, I like either LOTS of 'aliens' or none (see 'Fermi's paradox' IIRC).

I have never used Canadians in a sci-fi setting, however.

I like aliens to be as in movies such as Alien or The Thing: A rare encounter, and it is something we can't relate to or fully understand. Those kind of meetings usually end up very unpleasantly. I think that too often, aliens are depicted as nothing more than humans with just a different physiology. They have the same goals and same sense of logic that we do, but I prefer aliens to be something we have difficulty understanding and relating to.

"I like aliens to be as in movies such as Alien or The Thing: A rare encounter, and it is something we can't relate to or fully understand. Those kind of meetings usually end up very unpleasantly. I think that too often, aliens are depicted as nothing more than humans with just a different physiology. They have the same goals and same sense of logic that we do, but I prefer aliens to be something we have difficulty understanding and relating to"

Also good points. Keeping that they are alien, the complexities of being human become clear. We can barely understand and communicate with each other much less aliens.

What do you say to a cuttlefish?

low flash*pink-red-brown*pulse pulse*blue-brown*high flash*red?

low flash*pink-red-brown*pulse pulse*blue-brown*high flash*red?

There's no need for that kind of language young man!

What was that thing on the Science Channel on Cable where they had the robotic Probes sent to a planet called Darwin IV, and they finally encounter intelligent aliens.

The Aliens they showed on that series were very well done (almost none "seeing" by what we think of as Visible light, strange symmetries, evolution working with very different tools, etc.).

There was another similar program, but it didn't use the Trope of the "exploration drones." It just dropped into an alien world and began describing the inhabitants.

As a massive fan of Doctor Who, i need aliens everywhere with everything. They also almost all want to invade Earth for some reason.

Aliens can sometimes be too alien to play. I once created a race for a game where each player made his own race. They ended up so alien that we all agreed that diplomacy with them was nearly impossible.

How do you communicate with an electromagnetically levitating space jelly fish that has no visible eyes, ears, mouth or facial features of any kind that communicates with its own kind through a form of electromagnetic display.

You would have to, at minimum, find a way to duplicate this display capability after you learned to read it and duplicate it.

There were other issues such as the semi-transparent bodies of the aliens that showed off their food digesting slowly within them and there method of eating which involved disgorging their stomachs around their food and then drawing the entire mass back inside of themselves.

-Eli

"It's life Jim… But not as we know it" --some doctor.

There was another similar program, but it didn't use the Trope of the "exploration drones." It just dropped into an alien world and began describing the inhabitants.

I think I know that one, but I saw it in a book, not the show. The book was basically to showcase the work of several (I think) sci-fi artists, but it was laid out like a report on the exploration of the planet, detailing the plants and animals. There was also a race of intelligent creatures who made clubs out of tree limbs and formed hunting groups. They were basically giant gas bags who floated around just above the surface of the ground. Pretty cool idea, but I don't remember the name.

Aliens of some sort, even if just swarms of bugs.

Dan

Another issue I had with my aliens was coming up with a reasonable interpretation of ground troops for them.

How does a hovering jelly fish fight?

I do like my universes with diverse aliens though. Usually in such universes, I try to come up with some sort of plot device or PSB to explain why there are so many alien species with such similar anatomy.

Usually this brings up another scifi "trope" of an ancient alien race that intervened in cosmic affairs to spawn such common evolutions.

-Eli