tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post2569343136763260516..comments2024-03-28T21:12:06.818-07:00Comments on B/X BLACKRAZOR: Alien StalkersJBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-76420110910987365272010-12-11T11:07:17.720-08:002010-12-11T11:07:17.720-08:00I haven't seen all of the Predator movies, but...I haven't seen all of the Predator movies, but despite their reprehensible practice of hunting other intelligent humanoids, it is clear that the Predators must have an advanced culture, or else they couldn't have acquired all of their impressive technology.<br /><br />For the purposes of the film series (at least the installments I've seen), the Predators are uncommunicative ciphers, but wouldn't it be interesting to break through that wall, to communicate with them, to visit their societies?<br /><br />Whether broached in the format of movies, comic books, or RPGs, this is clearly a project for someone who knows and loves the Predator series more than I, but if undertaken, it would allow Predator to fit into a space opera genre.<br /><br />On the other hand, I like combining things that don't fit. One of the things that made Barrier Peaks so fun was the surprise collision of fantasy and sci-fi. I love the idea of Star Trek's do-gooders having to deal with an antisocial species like the Predators. It would be fun to see Jedi Knights cope with Tribbles, to see how a D&D world might respond to a War of the Worlds-type invasion, and to see Boot Hill heroes take on Lovecraftian monsters.Brian MacKenziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12752842049666489041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-77650596661227677832010-12-02T00:12:40.744-08:002010-12-02T00:12:40.744-08:00Okay, here's a sick idea for getting Predators...Okay, here's a sick idea for getting Predators into Space Opera. Suppose the Preds exist, and have good weapon and stealth tech, but their capacity for space travel remains very limited. They haven't left their own planet, or at least not their own star system.Maybe they're actually quite primitive and unaware of other sentient life. In fact, most of the galaxy is unaware of their existence. They only ones who have discovered them are whoever happens to be the adversary of the setting - the Klingons, the Dominion, the Centauri, the Sathar, the Red Lectroids - whoever. <br /><br />The Bad Guys harvest the population for its best hunter-warriors, pack 'em in cryo-freeze, and thaw 'em out when they meet someone they really, really hate... or when they want to make a particular space station, colony, or planet largely uninhabitable. If the Preds are indeed a primitive race, they may consider themselves 'chosen by the gods,' waking each day to find a new 'happy hunting ground' that has been set before them, totally unaware that that they are hunting anything more than clever monkeys with sticks - or battling demons? <br /><br />So yeah, weaponized Predators. Their stealth gear confounds even scifi sensor systems, their blades cut through high-tech armor, their blasts ignore force fields, have a blast. And of course, it's possible for PCs to attempt communication, but the hunters don't expect communication to be possible, so the PCs will have to be very good and very obvious to get anywhere with it. If the predators learn that these creatures really are intelligent, well, maybe they'll be inducted into civilization? Maybe the PCs will help them find their homeworld and try to free it from the bad guys' grip? <br /><br />Maybe those left behind have developed culturally and technologically but regard all aliens as invaders, abductors, and a threat to their way of life, but still defend themselves through the exploits of individual hunter-warriors rather than through tank maneuvers and anti-aircraft guns.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-2049081306974560542010-11-30T12:28:44.131-08:002010-11-30T12:28:44.131-08:00@ Iron Goat: Way ahead of you...i.e. we're on ...@ Iron Goat: Way ahead of you...i.e. we're on the same page.<br />; )<br /><br />@ Kelvin: Ditto on #2...if you think about the "Predator mythology," the aliens have hunted the Earth since prehistoric times. Might as well have one or two show up in a D&D/pseudo-medieval world.<br />: )JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08532311924539491087noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-87959515405359258162010-11-30T09:42:14.423-08:002010-11-30T09:42:14.423-08:00Two thoughts:
1) I could see a more "liberal...Two thoughts:<br /><br />1) I could see a more "liberal" kind of Galactic Federation -- more on the <i>Star Trek</i> end than the <i>Warhammer 40,000</i> -- placing a quarantine on the predators, crippling their ability to leave their planet, but not exterminating them, despite their belligerence. This planet would make for a nice "beware the natives" location on a space-based game's map.<br /><br />2) I could see a predator working quite well in a <i>D&D</i> game, like <i>Barrier Peaks</i> gone very wrong. It would make for a nice spoiler in a long-term game, or a fun one-off.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-25636346437333096182010-11-30T09:35:26.026-08:002010-11-30T09:35:26.026-08:00if you do go the B/X space opera route, please don...if you do go the B/X space opera route, please don't define the alien cultures too much. That was what prevented our group from ever playing Star Frontiers...it was built around the author's "universe," (which we found pretty uninspiring) and wasn't much good for anything else (at least not for 11 year olds...I'm sure more savvy gamers could adapt the rules to whatever they liked). We never even got far enough to notice the lack of space flight rules.The Iron Goathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15839364742884404019noreply@blogger.com