Are there any Alien Invasion RPGs/Settings

[Old Fezziwig]

If you want some game mechanics that might be useful for the modern military (well, near future military) part of the equation, there’s a cool hack of Apocalypse World designed to model the Aliens movie.

There was also a hack of Torchbearer aimed at this setting by BWHQ, though it didn't quite work as hoped. There's a recent conversation on their Discord that might be interesting.

 

[CandyLaser]

A few others that came to mind:

• Cthulutech is all about various invasions, including at least one traditional invasion of aliens from outer space in the form of the Mi-Go, but it's also tied heavily into the Cthulhu mythos and has way more edgelord bull than I like.
• The very first Palladium RPG is The Mechanoid Invasion, about alien robots invading Earth.
• Star Hero's Alien Wars is a military sci-fi alien invasion setting; it uses the Hero System, but not the superhero stuff from Champions.

 

[MGibster]

• The very first Palladium RPG is The Mechanoid Invasion, about alien robots invading Earth.

I think it's only been about 27 years since Mechanoid Space was announced and we're still waiting for it.

 

[aramis erak]

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

That's the same one I was going to suggest: FFG's End of the World: Alien Invasion
That said, the timeline is great, the rules are very light, and it's exactly what it promises.
The other 3 titles are also the same rules, same format. I want to get it to table, but I want to use Rise of the Machines.

TORG, either edition, is a variation, in that it's interdimensional and it involves imposing their own realities, and they're multiple factions only loosely allied... for the time being...

The other ones I know of are not the classic War of the World/Mars Attacks type scenario...
Starchildren: Velvet Generation is aliens come to restore rock and roll to a dictator ruled dystopia where rock is banned.

Burning Wheel: Jihad is essentially the Fremen invasions with the serial numbers filed off. Yeah, it's Dune in all but name. It's a setting for BW Revised, but can be used with BWG or BWC just fine.
Burning Empires is Chris Moeller's Iron Empires done as a variant on BW and Jihad. Essentially Stargate's Goa'uld but with less egomanaiacal BS, and Classic Traveller's ship paradigms. It is a standalone.
Note: both Jihad and BE use a variation on the Duel of Wits mechanic to handle the invasion timelines, so it's totally not going to be that useful to JD.

Hunter Planet: The All Australian Role Playing Game This is basically Predator in humor mode... the hunters look like stuffed animals and are dropped in pre-gun-buyback Australia... with high tech zap guns. The sample adventure is in Sydney... It's hilarious, but also it's out of print long ago last I heard. No timeline, the invasion is simply hunting expeditions.

 

[aramis erak]

• The very first Palladium RPG is The Mechanoid Invasion, about alien robots invading Earth

Not Earth, per se, the Gideon-E colony. The sequel is Humans invading the mechanoid ships, the second sequel is a general space opera setting with the Mechanoids inbound...
Then the revised version, The Mechanoids is just an expansion on, and rules revision of, The Mechanoid Invasion. And hence, is Gideon-E.
The actual Invasion of Earth is in Rifts: The Mechanoids. But that's Rifts Earth.
And the Mechanoids are not the classic invasion scenario, either...

Spoiler: Metaplot spoiler

The mechanoids don't care about the world's population other than as speedbump in their plan to excise the inner core to power their mothership.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If I was interested in an alien invasion game I'd probably run a combo of features from the Without Number series. Maybe the core rules from Ashes or Cities Without Number and the aliens and tech from Stars Without Number.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Burning Empires, based on the Iron Empires graphic novels by Christopher Moeller, might fit the bill.

600+ pages but no real setting? Inane terms instead of things like roll # dice? Mind-worms no one believes in?

I'm glad I saw it. I am impressed, I have to say.

 

[Jd Smith1]

If you want some game mechanics that might be useful for the modern military (well, near future military) part of the equation, there’s a cool hack of Apocalypse World designed to model the Aliens movie.

“The Regiment: Colonial Marines”; see The Mighty Atom

(Edit: wrong link at first)

Nope, not useful. You put glitter on bad rules, its just bad rules with glitter.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Nope, not useful. You put glitter on bad rules, its just bad rules with glitter.

Seriously dude? You’re being obnoxious. People have suggested every game system from the past 20 years and you belittle all of them. Why would anyone want to help you?

So you act like this IRL? You must be a delight.

 

[aramis erak]

600+ pages but no real setting? Inane terms instead of things like roll # dice? Mind-worms no one believes in?

I'm glad I saw it. I am impressed, I have to say.

There very much is a setting, but it's not entirely in prose. It's also built into the character gen and invasion mechanics. And the Tech burner section. About a third of that page count amounts to character gen. Maybe 10% is prose about the setting. Which is a lot more than Burning Wheel itself.

When I ran it, I'd not read the graphic novels... I logged my session reports on the Burning Wheel forums... Christopher Moeller said I'd nailed the setting... when all I did was apply the rules.

Likewise, my run of Mouse Guard, the resulting story, when told to David Peterson (the author of the comics) got a "That's a pretty nifty and very suitable outcome..." tho' I'd read the comics, my players hadn't... and they still were able, based upon the rules and a singe page précis of the setting and tropes.

The use of an extended task resolution in both Jyhad and BE is a great way to handle the technical progression of such an invasion, if one is willing to engage with such mechanics. It works fine in Mouse Guard, too, but isn't actually in the rules of Mouse Guard.