GM Ideas: Hell Planet

It may sound like Mustafar, from the Star Wars Universe, but the very real 'hell planet' of K2-141b could give WASP-76b a run for its money as one of the most extreme yet discovered by astronomers.

According to an article on CBS News, this tidally-locked planet boasts rock-vaporising temperatures of over 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit (almost 3,000 degrees Centigrade) on its "day side" while its permanently dark "night side" is a balmy negative 328 degrees Fahrenheit (or minus 200 degrees Centigrade).

As well as a thin, inhospitable atmosphere, the larger-than-Earth-sized planet - which is 202 light years away - rains rocks into 60-mile deep oceans of lava.

The article explains:

"The sodium, silicon monoxide, and silicon dioxide on K2-141b evaporate into mineral vapor, which is carried to the dark side of the planet by supersonic winds that rage over 3,100 miles per hour. From there, rocks "rain" back down into the 60-mile-deep magma ocean, which flows to the bright side to restart the cycle."

Rehomed Predators To Return Late 2021

Cover art by Iban Coello

The first Predator omnibus from Marvel Comics is scheduled to hit stores in August next year, according to the AVP Galaxy website.

Reprinting old Dark Horse comics, Predator: The Original Years Omnibus Vol. 1 will include:

PREDATOR (1989) #1-4, PREDATOR 2 #1-2, PREDATOR: Big Game #1-4, PREDATOR: COLD WAR #1-4, PREDATOR: THE BLOODY SANDS OF TIME #1-2, PREDATOR: RACE WAR #1-4, PREDATOR: BAD BLOOD #1-4, PREDATOR: INVADERS FROM THE FOURTH DIMENSION, PREDATOR: DARK RIVER #1-4, PREDATOR: STRANGE ROUX, and PREDATOR: KINDRED #1-4 – Plus material from DARK HORSE PRESENTS (1986) #46, #67-69, and #119: DARK HORSE COMICS #1-2, #4-7, #10-14, #16-18 and #20-21; and A DECADE OF DARK HORSE #1

As well as the standard cover, featuring cover art by Iban Coello (pictured above), there is to be a direct market variant with a cover from original Predator comic artist Chris Warner.

While the Predators are most definitely not part of the official Alien canon, there's still an enormous overlap in the fandoms and there's nothing to stop Game Mothers from including the Yautja in their campaigns.

These reprints may provide crucial inspiration fuel for those who missed the numerous Dark Horse comics on their first publication.

Looking For Some Real, Terrifying Sounds Of Space For Your Games?

NASA · Sinister Sounds of the Solar System

Just in time for Halloween, NASA has released a new playlist of sounds — or other types of data that have been converted into audio — recorded by a variety of spacecraft and instruments, ranging from the agency’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to the InSight Martian lander.

We didn't mean to frighten. It's just that our new @SoundCloud playlist captures all the creaks and howls of our amazing universe and we want to share it all with you! This #NASAHalloween, enter the deepest depths of space: https://t.co/unCW8BG9SN

— NASA (@NASA) October 28, 2020

What's Canon And What's Not

Alien RPG author and franchise mythology guru Andrew EC Gaska has penned a definitive guide to the canon of the universe where the official Alien roleplaying game (and the movies) takes place.

You can read it in all its glory here:

https://roguereviewer.wordpress.com/2020/10/12/defining-canon-in-an-alien-world/

Before you ask: no, Predators aren't part of the official Alien canon and, yes, it's your game universe, so you can have Predators if you want to stat them up and throw them at unsuspecting colonial marines.

Of particular interest to me is the tier of "myths and legends", which is sort of what I was getting at with my Space Beast ruminations the other month.

Aliens: Last Stand

Aliens: Last Stand is a fan made film by German directors Felix Berner and Dieter Joppich. Berner and Joppich who are both sci-fi enthusiasts and fans of the ALIEN franchise started filming in 2017.

They were supported by the German Colonial Marines, a Germany-based group of Alien fans founded by Berner in 2016. The two filmmakers filmed most of the material in front of a green screen.

Aliens: Last Stand takes place on board the military ship USS. Yotumo where Sgt. Davis (played by Ricco Ross from the movie Aliens) sends out a distress signal into space.

A troop of marine raiders stationed on moon LV-446 head immediately towards the USS. Yotumo. Little do they know that arriving on board of the ship will not only seal their fate but also end their lives.

Deep inside the ship there are creatures already lurking for their next price.

Will the marines survive against the xenomorphs? And how did Sgt. Davis manage to send a distress signal in the first place? Reload your pulse rifles and buckle up, because in space nobody can hear you scream.

Raised By Wolves: Ridley Scott Gives Us A Glimpse into His World

Ridley Scott gives a behind the scenes look into the process of creating the futuristic world featured in Raised By Wolves. Stream the new series now on HBO Max

GM IDEAS: Wormholes & Space Travel

GM IDEAS: Asteroid Mining

After you've watched the short clip above from Ancient Aliens about the wealth of resources in our asteroid belt, check out the infographic below (you'll have to click on it to make it more legible) from space mining start-up Planetary Resources explaining the trillion-dollar potential of industrialised asteroid mining.

click to embiggen

GM IDEAS: Underwater Space Station

Fabien Cousteau, grandson of legendary ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, is proposing the construction of The Proteus, an underwater 4,000-square-foot modular lab off the coast of the Caribbean island of Curaçao.

CNN reports:

"Designed as a two-story circular structure grounded to the ocean floor on stilts, Proteus' protruding pods contain laboratories, personal quarters, medical bays and a moon pool where divers can access the ocean floor. Powered by wind and solar energy, and ocean thermal energy conversion, the structure will also feature the first underwater greenhouse for growing food, as well as a video production facility.

"The Proteus is intended to be the underwater version of the International Space Station (ISS), where government agencies, scientists, and the private sector can collaborate in the spirit of collective knowledge, irrespective of borders."

Not only do you have the potential for Underwater-style Earth-based adventures, but this idea of a submerged 'space station' could easily be transposed to any alien planet with a large body of water.

John Was Trying To Contact Aliens - Netflix Trailer

John Shepherd spent 30 years trying to contact extraterrestrials by broadcasting music millions of miles into space. After giving up the search he makes a different connection here on Earth.

GM IDEAS: Irradiated Oceans

Scientists studying exoplanets now believe that the class they've described as "mini-Neptunes" (just over twice the size of Earth)  may actually be "rocky exoplanets covered by thick, deeply-irradiated oceans", according to an article on Futurism.

The article, on research by scientists at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, explains:

"...some may have oceans of highly pressurized and heated supercritical liquid that’s been irradiated by a powerful greenhouse effect. The ocean, just like a gas giant’s atmosphere, could account for the low density and mass of the exoplanets."

Just something else trying to kill your explorers in a cold, uncaring universe!

Warrior: Predator

A 16th century Native American warrior is forced to fight for her life against sister Predators. Will this fierce warrior survive? Or will she become another trophy for the deadly hunters?

(a fan film by Chris .R. Notarile)

Mystery Of Xenomorph XX121 Life Cycle

I like Ripley's theory that some (all?) drone xenomorphs are capable, in extremis, of creating their own eggs in this fashion... to continue the species.

In Space No One Can Hear You Smeg Up!

My great friend Adam Dickstein of the marvellous Barking Alien blog has put into words an idea I, co-incidentally, had been toying with recently.

A thought exercise combining the, actually very similar, universes - both in live-action and roleplaying games - of Red Dwarf and Alien.

Adam, of course, has summed it more eloquently, and with a better grasp of the game mechanics involved, than I could.

Read his wonderful article here: It's Cold Outside, There's No Kind of Atmosphere...

For several years I have been tinkering with my own Red Dwarf RPG campaign idea (it's currently docked here at The Red Knight Chronicles, although it began life as its own Wiki) and this is encouraging me to dust it off as a back-up campaign in case my planned Alien RPG falters.

Planets Of The Alien 'Verse

The planets of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Prometheus and Alien Covenant.

Sourced from the films, novelisations by Alan Dean Foster and The Weyland-Yutani Report by S.D. Perry

ASMR ... From Spaaaaaace!

We removed the music track from these scenes from The Expanse, the result: ASMR in space.

Underwater Alien Art From The Abyss

Looking for inspiration for unusual underwater alien species for your games?

Then check out this concept art from the legendary Jean Giraud aka Moebius for James Cameron's wonderful 1989 movie, The Abyss.

Originally sourced from Monster Brains.

Could You Survive Alien?

In space no one can hear Jake (me) scream...but as Jake (me again) races to destroy a terrifying xenomorph hunting his crew, they’ll learn if you can survive the world’s deadliest acids, how to communicate across the vast distances of space…and why you should never, EVER fire a flamethrower in a spaceship.

GM IDEAS: Spacesuits

Continuing Wednesday's theme of 'contemporary antiques' that could make interesting plot points, salvage etc in the world of 2183, here's a graphic by u/crunchsmash of 20th Century spacesuit designs.

Some Random Thoughts On Alien 3, 'Space Beast', And My Headcanon

Space Beast was Fiorina 161 convict Robert Morse's first-person account of a "xenomorph" killing spree and the subsequent death of Ellen Ripley.

This pamphlet/novella was uploaded and circulated around the Frontier colonies between 2180 and 2183, before being banned by Weyland-Yutani because of the sensitive nature of the material included.

The Weyland-Yutani Report states:

"Despite its crudeness, Mr Morse's account of the events is particularly valuable, as the facility's audio and visual recording capabilities were inconsistent. Evidence at the site confirms much of his story."

In my headcanon, Morse's testimony is the basis for the movie we know as Alien 3. But, of course, there are, at least, two different versions of Alien 3 - the theatrical release and the "special edition" or "assembly cut" - which tells me there are, at least, two different versions of Space Beast.

And all of these are subjective. I'm a big fan of the "unreliable narrator" trope and this is an ideal way to seed it into the backstory of an Alien RPG campaign.

Robert Morse

Morse certainly wasn't present for all the action, what he heard of those moments would have been recounted during a period of incredible distress and chaos, and he had no one to "fact check" with after the event.

I strongly suspect that, as one of the few people ever to survive an encounter with a "xenomorph", while Morse seemed quite rational at the end of the movie, his psyche was probably severely damaged by the incident on Fiorina 161.

So, you could argue that Space Beast/Alien 3 doesn't tell the whole story.

Perhaps some people we are told died, didn't. Perhaps Morse wasn't the only survivor, after all?

And where is Morse? Surely Weyland-Yutani didn't just let him go after he was "debriefed"?

But if he's still incarcerated at The Company's pleasure, how did he manage to write and distribute Space Beast?

Was his account originally handwritten or an oral account of the events, then transcribed by someone else? If that's the case, did this other - unknown - person add or edit anything?

Perhaps, and this is my headcanon really reaching, the much-maligned Alien Resurrection was actually Morse's deranged attempt at writing a sequel to Space Beast? Some form of Ripley fan fiction?

• For more on Space Beast, check out this Xenopedia article.