Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
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Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
I want to stick aliens
🛸 into my next D&D campaign. My idea is to have little grey men show up in a flying saucer and abduct the party. However, I'm worried that this is too comprehensible for the average #DnD character. I want the PCs to be confused, but not the players! What's the weirdest alien you've ever thrown at your D&D party?Side note, I also want to give the baddies #mechs. How do I mechanically handle this?
@Shkshkshk @rpg Clarke's 3rd Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
So magic users are going to be really confused, because this magic is totally unlike anything they've ever encountered.
Think hard about how D&D magic interacts with the alien tech.
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@Shkshkshk @rpg Clarke's 3rd Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
So magic users are going to be really confused, because this magic is totally unlike anything they've ever encountered.
Think hard about how D&D magic interacts with the alien tech.
@Shkshkshk @rpg E.g. does "befuddle" work on the ship's AI? Can you cast a fireball through a force field?
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Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
I want to stick aliens
🛸 into my next D&D campaign. My idea is to have little grey men show up in a flying saucer and abduct the party. However, I'm worried that this is too comprehensible for the average #DnD character. I want the PCs to be confused, but not the players! What's the weirdest alien you've ever thrown at your D&D party?Side note, I also want to give the baddies #mechs. How do I mechanically handle this?
For the mechs, either magic statue or nerfed iron golem, but requires a rider vulnerable to called shots and the whole thing is vulnerable to electricity.
Aliens? Make them weird. No, weirder. No, weirder than that. Have them make mistakes or horrendous assumptions based on mistranslation or skewed concepts.
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If you’re looking for some inspiration, might I suggest the Orz?
Weird talking fish aliens whose language can’t always be properly translated. Replacing more alien concepts with words like *happy*, *frumple*, etc.
Part of the fun would be to determine if being called a *happy* *camper* is a good or a really bad thing.Interesting idea. Wonder how to do this best at the table
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@Shkshkshk @rpg Given that magic and high fantasy are commonplace in D&D and the average character sees ten impossible things before breakfast, it'd be hard to pull off something truly confusing/surprising.
Maybe something like the Borg that very distinctly meld technology with organics, using technology that's utterly alien to a fantasy setting, like calling in an orbital bombardment or plasma beam rifles or energy shields.
You actually gave me a different great idea. In my setting, we have all the normal fantasy stuff, but the elves are robots who often modify their bodies to do stuff like have plasma cannons hidden in their arms or directly interface with the GPS satellites. I think something like the Borg would be a great way to handle half-elves.
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@Shkshkshk @rpg Clarke's 3rd Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
So magic users are going to be really confused, because this magic is totally unlike anything they've ever encountered.
Think hard about how D&D magic interacts with the alien tech.
In my setting magic is superscience left over from the first age. Could be nanites in everything, could be something weirder. The players casting spells is similar to if your dog figured out how to say "Alexa, all lights on" and realized saying those magic words created light.
Also, the aliens are going to be demons, sort of, being the children of the Fear of the Other and the Fear of the Incomprehensible. Not that the aliens or PCs would know this. So magic will work fine.
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If you’re looking for some inspiration, might I suggest the Orz?
Weird talking fish aliens whose language can’t always be properly translated. Replacing more alien concepts with words like *happy*, *frumple*, etc.
Part of the fun would be to determine if being called a *happy* *camper* is a good or a really bad thing.@thelsim
Great idea. I will look into the game, too. -
Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
I want to stick aliens
🛸 into my next D&D campaign. My idea is to have little grey men show up in a flying saucer and abduct the party. However, I'm worried that this is too comprehensible for the average #DnD character. I want the PCs to be confused, but not the players! What's the weirdest alien you've ever thrown at your D&D party?Side note, I also want to give the baddies #mechs. How do I mechanically handle this?
@Shkshkshk @rpg a big thing about aliens is that the concept works because there is only humans in our world, so they are true aliens to us. The moment there is diversity of intelligent species, the impact is lower in that aspect. I think that what you need to ask you is What makes this aliens and not just another specie that comes from somewhere else? What are the rules that are broken with their presence? What constitute their alterity? The answers to that will guide you to what you are after
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@thelsim
Great idea. I will look into the game, too.There’s a free open source version you can download at http://theurquanmasters.com/
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You actually gave me a different great idea. In my setting, we have all the normal fantasy stuff, but the elves are robots who often modify their bodies to do stuff like have plasma cannons hidden in their arms or directly interface with the GPS satellites. I think something like the Borg would be a great way to handle half-elves.
@Shkshkshk @rpg That is unsettling and really, really cool.
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If you look up Expedition To The Barrier Peaks it’s a dnd module from the 80s where the party investigates a crashed spaceship and deals with robots and aliens, it’s still pretty good I’d say
Just adding that illithids were first introduced in this module as the aliens.
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Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
I want to stick aliens
🛸 into my next D&D campaign. My idea is to have little grey men show up in a flying saucer and abduct the party. However, I'm worried that this is too comprehensible for the average #DnD character. I want the PCs to be confused, but not the players! What's the weirdest alien you've ever thrown at your D&D party?Side note, I also want to give the baddies #mechs. How do I mechanically handle this?
You might try the novel Eifelheim for inspiration. In 1348 an alien ship crashes in the Black Forest. It’s wild exploring how the Jesuit priest, peasants and villagers react. The author throws a lot of medieval trivia around and it’s fascinating.
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Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
I want to stick aliens
🛸 into my next D&D campaign. My idea is to have little grey men show up in a flying saucer and abduct the party. However, I'm worried that this is too comprehensible for the average #DnD character. I want the PCs to be confused, but not the players! What's the weirdest alien you've ever thrown at your D&D party?Side note, I also want to give the baddies #mechs. How do I mechanically handle this?
If you’re open to branching into other systems, the folks at !scifi@ttrpg.network can help you pick an easy to learn and vibe appropriate system for your adventure.
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Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
I want to stick aliens
🛸 into my next D&D campaign. My idea is to have little grey men show up in a flying saucer and abduct the party. However, I'm worried that this is too comprehensible for the average #DnD character. I want the PCs to be confused, but not the players! What's the weirdest alien you've ever thrown at your D&D party?Side note, I also want to give the baddies #mechs. How do I mechanically handle this?
You might be interested in #rifts setting
Rifts: An Underrated Gem in the World of Tabletop RPGs
When you think of popular tabletop role-playing games, certain names inevitably come to mind—Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, or perhaps Shadowrun. But amid these heavyweights lies a game that often doesn’t receive the credit it deserves: Rifts. Released by Palladium Books in 1990, Rifts stands as one of the most ambitious RPGs ever created, blending science…
The Role Playing Journal. (therpjournal.wordpress.com)
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth where dimensional rifts have torn open, bringing magic, monsters, and alien technology to the planet. This fusion of genres allows players to encounter everything from high-tech cyborgs and vampires to dragons and ancient deities. Rifts offers an unprecedented amount of flexibility for creating characters and stories. You can be anything from a power-armored soldier to a mystic who commands the forces of magic, or even a dimensional traveler with access to alien technologies.
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You might be interested in #rifts setting
Rifts: An Underrated Gem in the World of Tabletop RPGs
When you think of popular tabletop role-playing games, certain names inevitably come to mind—Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, or perhaps Shadowrun. But amid these heavyweights lies a game that often doesn’t receive the credit it deserves: Rifts. Released by Palladium Books in 1990, Rifts stands as one of the most ambitious RPGs ever created, blending science…
The Role Playing Journal. (therpjournal.wordpress.com)
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth where dimensional rifts have torn open, bringing magic, monsters, and alien technology to the planet. This fusion of genres allows players to encounter everything from high-tech cyborgs and vampires to dragons and ancient deities. Rifts offers an unprecedented amount of flexibility for creating characters and stories. You can be anything from a power-armored soldier to a mystic who commands the forces of magic, or even a dimensional traveler with access to alien technologies.
@INeedMana
I just noticed Piefed's hastags aren't visible over here on Mastodon. Odd. -
@INeedMana
I just noticed Piefed's hastags aren't visible over here on Mastodon. Odd.I was hoping it would behave like a hashtag when you view it via mastodon instance. AFAIK so far link aggregation fediverse doesn’t really interact with hashtags fluently. Even on *bin it is like a separate thing
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Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
I want to stick aliens
🛸 into my next D&D campaign. My idea is to have little grey men show up in a flying saucer and abduct the party. However, I'm worried that this is too comprehensible for the average #DnD character. I want the PCs to be confused, but not the players! What's the weirdest alien you've ever thrown at your D&D party?Side note, I also want to give the baddies #mechs. How do I mechanically handle this?
Honestly, I’m half thinking of running mines of phandelver, but replacing the black spider with a Warhammer 40k crossover: The Patriarch.
Genestealer Cults infect the local population, preparing for the main invading Tyranid forces. -
Low-fantasy D&D aliens?
I want to stick aliens
🛸 into my next D&D campaign. My idea is to have little grey men show up in a flying saucer and abduct the party. However, I'm worried that this is too comprehensible for the average #DnD character. I want the PCs to be confused, but not the players! What's the weirdest alien you've ever thrown at your D&D party?Side note, I also want to give the baddies #mechs. How do I mechanically handle this?
D&D actually has its own unique space aliens; I’ve always just used those because everything about space in D&D is gnarly. There are a lot to choose from. Some entirely unique to D&D, others inspired by popular media like the Cthulhu mythos.
For mechs you have all sorts of golems, clockwork/steamwork machines and races like the Warforged.
