ALIENS: World of Darkness (version2)

By Steve Kok (kok@mhd1.moorhead.msus.edu)

Author's notes

I've seen some Aliens adaptations to the White Wolf game system, but have seen some problems in the past posts. Some information is from a previous post by Ed Payne in 1995; everything else is taken from intensive study of the films, novels, and Giger artwork. Personally I dislike a lot of what I've seen in the comics and therefore disregard what those authors have done to the Alien concept entirely.

All stats are default or "average" stats for the following:

Alien Drone

("Bug" from Alien and Aliens)

[Nature and Demeanor have no place in Aliens]

Physical:

Strength: 4
Dexterity: 5
Stamina: 4

[Social stats have no place in Aliens]

Mental:

Perception: 4
Intelligence: 2
Wits: 4

Talents:
Alertness: 3
Athletics: 4
Brawl: 4
Dodge: 2
Intimidation: 5

Skills:
Stealth: 4

Willpower: 8

Abilities:

Lifesight (See Wraith: The Oblivion) or Aura Perception (See Vampire: The Masquerade)

Blood of Acid (As in Sabbat Players Guide, p. 113, plus acid will eat through glass, plastic, metal, and wood)

Telepathic link with the Queen, and/or other drones.

Heightened Senses (See Vampire: The Masquerade)

Drawbacks:
If separated from a Queen, drones lose one willpower per week. If their willpower drops below 0, the Alien becomes lathargic and dies.

Fear of fire.

Facehuggers

Physical:
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 5
Stamina: 2

Mental:
Perception: 3
Intelligence: 1
Wits: 4

Talents:
Alertness: 2
Athletics: 4
Brawl: 1
Dodge: 2
Intimidation: 3

Skills:
Stealth: 3

Willpower: 5

Abilities:

(See Drone Abilities)

Impregnation: Self explanatory if you've seen or read any Aliens info.

Drawbacks:
Short lifespan after leaving the egg; loses one willpower for each day out of the egg, and dies when willpower reaches 0. If a Facehugger remains in the egg, it may live for centuries.

Fear of fire.

Facehuggers only have access to the Combat Maneuver: Grapple

Alien Queen's Guard

Physical:
Strength:5
Dexterity: 5
Stamina: 5

Mental:
Perception: 4
Intelligence: 2
Wits: 4

Talents:
Alertness: 4
Athletics: 3
Brawl: 5
Dodge: 3
Intimidation: 5

Skills:
Stealth: 5

Willpower: 9

Abilities: [See Alien Drone]

Drawbacks:

Identical to Drone, but if separated from the Queen they loose 2 Willpower per week.

Fear of fire.

Alien Queen

Physical:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 8

Mental:
Perception: 5
Intelligence: (3 to 5)
Wits: 3

Talents:
Alertness: 4
Athletics: 2
Brawl: 4
Dodge: 3
Intimidation: 5

Skills:

Stealth: 1

Willpower: 10

Abilities:

(See Abilities for Drone)

Double the Queen's Health levels, with two levels at each Wound Modifier.

Egg Laying: Self explanatory...

Drawbacks:

The Queen lives for it's Hive, and will only act against opposition on its own if the Hive has been destroyed.

Fear of fire

Alien-Canine Breed ("Dragon" from Alien 3)

Physical:
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 4
Stamina: 6

Mental:
Perception: 4
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 3

Talents:
Alertness: 4
Athletics: 3
Brawl: 5
Dodge: 4
Intimidation: 5

Skills: Stealth: 4

Willpower: 9

Abilities:

(See Alien Drone abilities)

Dragon is exempt from 'fear of fire' drawback and 'separation' willpower flaw.

Habitual Quadrapedal: When "on all fours" Dragon gains +2 Dexterity and +1 stamina in running/speed situations.

Heat Tolerance: Dragon may withstand temperatures up to and above 280 degrees F.

Birthing Process

1. A Queen Alien lays an egg containing a Facehugger
2. The Facehugger emerges when proper prey is available
3. The Facehugger attaches itself to the prey and inserts the necessary Alien "bits" into the prey; during this time the Facehugger also reworks the hosts anatomy, making it more resistant to environmental dangers (add +2 Stamina to the host).
4. The Facehugger dies and detaches.
5. The Alien pupa grows, stealing some DNA structures from the hosts DNA, and feeding subtley from the host's organic matter.
6. After the incubation period of 12-24 hours passes, the Alien larva will attempt to break free of the host. This takes only one turn and deals 8 dice of aggravated damage to the host, needing at least five successes to escape.
7. The young Alien flees to a safe area and grows to full size within 12 hours, during and after which it will attempt to feed from any living creature save its own kind. As the young Alien will be weak during this time begin with a -4 modifier on all roles, increasing the abilities by 1 each hour passing.
8. If there are no Queen Aliens present the larva will develop Queen physiology. If this happens the host will pass out 12-24 hours after the Facehugger falls off, and will begin to develop into a human cocoon (See "Giger's Alien" for representation). Four hours following this the host will complete the transformation to cocoon. 12 hours later the Queen larva will emerge and grow. If the larva feels that it may not make it to this stage it may attempt to emerge prematurely (As in the finale to Alien 3) but may have extreme problems in growth and may be deformed or malformed.

As the Dragon Alien formed habitual quadrapedalism from birthing from a dog, it is probable that other Alien variations may be created from other species, though only minor changes should take place. It is quite inconceivable that an alien would develop bat wings and fly if crossed with a bat (no matter what the comics say). The reasoning behind this is that most Alien larva seen in the movies and novels are bigger than most bats! Aliens crossed with bovines (cattle) probably won't have hooves or hornes, but may develop a more bulky quadrapedal body. Simply put: use common sense.

Combat

Combat Maneuvers	Difficulty	Damage
Bite	5	Strength +2
Rake/Claw	6	Strength +2
Kick (uncommon)	7	Strength +1
Grapple*	6	Strength
Tail**	7	Strength +2

^* If grappling an opponent the Alien may use it's inner jaws at Difficulty of 4 and Damage Strength: +3

^**Damage: Strength +4 for Queen Alien

Healing

As we see no Alien healing in any of the movies or novels, I don't believe that they would be able to heal wounds that break their "skin," however if you must, use regular mortal healing rules according to White Wolf. (See Vampire: The Masquerade, or Wraith: The Oblivion)

Aliens Marines

For marines I've simply revamped the Vampire Mortals sheets to my own liking, and made stats for the weapons and equipment which I'll release later under the title "Alien Marines." I also added the Knowledge: Loader Operations, with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Class ratings. More to come.

World of Darkness Integration

I personally loathe the idea of merging White Wolf supernaturals or even Numina with the Aliens concept. I guess I just have too much respect for them both. However, should you want to perform the aforementioned abomination, these are my ideas on the subject..

Kindred: The Aliens would probably pass by or destroy the vampire as they would any android. No attempt to impregnate them would occur.

Garou: A Facehugger may attempt to impregnate a werewolf, but would be in for one hell of a surprise as the Garou (or any Bete for that matter) switches to Crinos. If impregnation was managed, the same damage would occur as the larva attempts to break free, though Garou would be able to soak this, as it is not silver.

Mages: Too complicated. . .take this into your own hands.

Changelings: Who cares.

Wraiths: Uh......right.

Mummies: They'd die and eventually come back to whoop some Alien butt.

Gypsies: No comment.