From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: stats for Aliens
Date: 9 Oct 92 21:25:30 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1992Oct9.184204.11389@ugle.unit.no*> skomedal@solan.unit.no (Knut Torstein Skomedal) writes:

Well, you're certainly entitled to run your Aliens your way.  However,
if you are going to try and keep this similar to what we saw in
the movies, you need to re-do a LOT of this stuff.

*>Each tribe is telepathically controlled by a Queen.

*Where* did you get this from????  I can see improvising things that
we saw in the movie that were never explained (like the organ for
squirting acid used by the facehuggers), but this is something that
you invented.

*>Should you discover a 2' tall
*>leathery egg in a strange old dungeon, destroy it at once from a
*>distance. It might contain a facehugger. If it does, it will open at
*>the top and a Facehugger spring forth if you make noticeable
*>vibrations or radiate heat within a 5' radius of it.\\

Again, where does this come from?

*>The Facehugger will keep the victim comatose until
*>the chestburster is selfsustaining, which takes approximately 72 hours, 
*>then it dies.

72 hours???  Where did this number come from?  Kane wasn't even out
of it for 24 hours.

*>If a Facehugger is incapable of finding a victim inside
*>of 12 days after it has hatched, it dies.

Again, where did you get this figure from?

*>Facehuggers are without
*>intelligence, operating on instincts only, but they are superbly
*>programmed. Since they have no mind, they are immune to mindbased
*>spells. They are one of the most efficient organisms in existence.

Ditto.

*>If no dangers threaten, the Queen has the Chestburster eat the host to gain 
*>sufficient nutriments to complete its rapid growth, else she tries to
*>hide it. The Queen is in telepathic control of the Chestburster from
*>the moment it emerges from the host, and will not let it be killed
*>without reason.

Where does this idea come from???  I just don't get it.  I never saw
anything to suggest that the chestburster is under the control of
the Queen.

*>The Chestburster is the young form of the Drone, and grows 
*>to full size in 20 hours if there is food available. It is usually 
*>sufficient to eat the creature it hatched from.\\

20 hours??  The alien in the first movie killed everyone in less than
24.  That includes hatching, growing, and taking everyone out.  I
think it's more like 2-3 hours.

*>The Drone
*>injects a paralytic poison that immobilizes the victim for 1d4 turns unless a
*>Neutralize Poison spell is used at a successful hit with the tail.

Poison?  Paralytic?  Huh?

*> The drone is telepathically controlled by the Queen, and functions 
*>approximately like a worker/warrior ant. Because of this outside
*>control they are immune to mindbased spells.

Telepathy again?

*>They do not normally
*>reproduce, but if the Queen should be killed, all Drones have the
*>capacity to produce a new Queen. They function somewhat like the
*>facehugger in this respect, inserting the embryo of a Queen into a
*>host creature. {\bf How} this is done is not known.

That's right.  In fact, *IF* this is done is not known.  Where are
you getting these ideas from?

*>The Queen can access all sensory input the Drones experience, and will
*>employ clever tactics in battle. No army this coordinated exist
*>elsewhere.\\

Aghh!  Now the queen has every drone as a familiar, too?

*> The Queen is capable of laying a number of eggs equal to her hit dice
*>every day if the food-suppy is sufficient. Whenever the population of
*>the hive grows too large and there is sufficient land for the new
*>Queen to emigrate, the old Queen lays a batch of Queen eggs.
*>As soon as the fledgling
*>Queen has grown to the size of a Drone about half of the Drones leave 
*>with her to start a new hive.


Wow, now the Aliens are bees.  Cool. :-/

*>Remember
*>that the Queen can se all that the Drones can see, so she is
*>immediately aware of the intruders and can direct more Drones to the
*>area without delay if the intruders cannot be handled by those present.\\

Right....

[Stuff about Champions deleted.]

*WHERE* did this come from?  What's a Champion?  Where's it come from?
What's it do?  Where have you ever seen anything in any of the movies
to suggest that such a thing even exists????

And nothing is stronger than the Queen.  Re-watch Aliens.


-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | "I want you to remember, Clark... in all
Georgia Institute of Technology  |  the years to come, in your most private
Office of Information Technology |  moments...my hand at your throat.  I want
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |  you to remember the one man who beat you."