Alien Intelligence Hooks/Dangers

[Alrik Vas]

Okay. So...from what I've been able to glean from Palladium over the past 20 or so years is that...

Alien Intelligences play the long game.

They're eternal, so they can wait for the best opportunity to make it all happen, slowly increasing influence so it's easier to get it done when the time comes.

Or, in some rare cases like Splynncryth, they're just chillin' on an island sucking down mai tai's and livin' large.

Let me ask you all though, what do you see as the real danger, in a campaign that these guys represent? I've already run a mini-campaign about the Liberator of the Corrupt (...and the bad guys triumphed because good is dumb, and very mopey). So I'm trying to come up with a central theme and villain for my upcoming game and I'm liking alien intelligences for the big bad.

My problem is, what other danger do they represent aside "one day a portal will open, and all will fall before their might"...? I mean...i kinda did that one already with an army of demons, so I'm looking for a different kind of challenge.

Maybe a more body snatchers type of environment...where it's really hard to tell who is serving the evil guy (vampire? maybe...)

Or a bunch of religious fanatics who serve the overlord from beyond.

I'm open to suggestions.

[say652]

I like Dark Olympus as a way to introduce a serious power into a campaign. Two Intelligences are always better than one.

[taalismn]

The AO that's duping your summoners, and your party, into being proxies in its feud with a more obviously(and incompetently) evil alien intelligence. Or one that corrupts with tainted power armor or cookies.

[Zamion138]

The AO that's duping your summoners, and your party, into being proxies in its feud with a more obviously(and incompetently) evil alien intelligence. Or one that corrupts with tainted power armor or cookies.

Airhiam and the angar power armors a good use of that, ive never used those , maybe I should now that i think about it, they are just so tough though its a heavy battle to be sure.

[say652]

The Splugorth Fake Norse God Wothan is a Good choice as well, add in the Vampire intelligence Woden and it's a Pantheon war.
The False Norse Gods vs The New Asgardians.

[glitterboy2098]

i think it is deceptive to say they are 'just waiting around for the opportunity".. that's like saying senator palpatine did nothing while waiting for someone to vote him emergency powers. or that sauron did nothing for centuries.

these threats aren't waiting, they are manipulating and building. they are recruiting allies, armies, and arsenals. they are manipulating politics and events through graft, alliances, assassination, and deceptions.

they don't have to rely on the right time and events just coming along, they are actively trying to make events occur to create that right time, place, and events.

and since reality being what it is, everyone else is doing the same for their own goals, they have to constantly tweak their plans, rethink their methods, change their strategy to accomidate the results of the inevitable Gambit Pileups.

[Alrik Vas]

Well, to be fair I did mention they were always increasing their influence all the while, sometimes that does mean you end up creating your opportunity.

Though I get what you're saying, and I agree with it, GB. In any case, I don't want a super convoluted plot, but I hate force feeding the players as well. It's a tough call here.

[taalismn]

i think it is deceptive to say they are 'just waiting around for the opportunity".. that's like saying senator palpatine did nothing while waiting for someone to vote him emergency powers. or that sauron did nothing for centuries.

these threats aren't waiting, they are manipulating and building. they are recruiting allies, armies, and arsenals. they are manipulating politics and events through graft, alliances, assassination, and deceptions.

they don't have to rely on the right time and events just coming along, they are actively trying to make events occur to create that right time, place, and events.

and since reality being what it is, everyone else is doing the same for their own goals, they have to constantly tweak their plans, rethink their methods, change their strategy to accomidate the results of the inevitable Gambit Pileups.

Worse; some of them might be GameMasters. Or simply regard reality and everybody in it as amusing(and ultimately expendable) NPCs and background.

[Mack]

So change it up a little... how about the players end up in the service of a Good AI? One who grants them just a little power to start, but steadily increases it as they perform good deeds. Could make for some interesting role playing, especially for those who start out with selfish alignments.

Plus they could find themselves facing all manner of unique challenges. Anything from "how to stop the rampaging demon" down to "how do we smuggle school textbooks to this little town."

[say652]

I'm doing a False Pantheon War in Europe that spills into Warlords of Russia.

[taalismn]

So change it up a little... how about the players end up in the service of a Good AI? One who grants them just a little power to start, but steadily increases it as they perform good deeds. Could make for some interesting role playing, especially for those who start out with selfish alignments.

Plus they could find themselves facing all manner of unique challenges. Anything from "how to stop the rampaging demon" down to "how do we smuggle school textbooks to this little town."

Or the AI can be just a snarky creep who's trolling other AIs, or an underconfident Alien Intelligence that's acquiring minions and sending them on quests because that's 'what beings like me are supposed to do'...yeah, peer pressure in the alien intelligence circles, and your AI patron is either doing the bare minimum to qualify, or else is clumsily trying to scheme and plot, and it's all trial and error, with the PCs as the crash test dummies.

[say652]

So change it up a little... how about the players end up in the service of a Good AI? One who grants them just a little power to start, but steadily increases it as they perform good deeds. Could make for some interesting role playing, especially for those who start out with selfish alignments.

Plus they could find themselves facing all manner of unique challenges. Anything from "how to stop the rampaging demon" down to "how do we smuggle school textbooks to this little town."

Or the AI can be just a snarky creep who's trolling other AIs, or an underconfident Alien Intelligence that's acquiring minions and sending them on quests because that's 'what beings like me are supposed to do'...yeah, peer pressure in the alien intelligence circles, and your AI patron is either doing the bare minimum to qualify, or else is clumsily trying to scheme and plot, and it's all trial and error, with the PCs as the crash test dummies.

This

I'm using Wothan as the guy that lost his Confidence and this totally describes him.

[taalismn]

Or have your Alien Intelligence use the PCs to pull off a prank on another AI. Like have them search for a powerful artifact, that happens to be in or near the followers of another AI...the artifact really doesn't exist, but the whole idea of the quest is to convince the other AI that it DOES exist, and have them trip up the PCs or pursue them hunting the same thing...it's all a wild Maguffin chase that's set up to make the other Intelligence look like a cosmic moron. The PCs MIGHT be rewarded afterwards for their troubles, or might be left swinging in the wind, none the wiser that they were just vectors for misinformation.

[say652]

Or have your Alien Intelligence use the PCs to pull off a prank on another AI. Like have them search for a powerful artifact, that happens to be in or near the followers of another AI...the artifact really doesn't exist, but the whole idea of the quest is to convince the other AI that it DOES exist, and have them trip up the PCs or pursue them hunting the same thing...it's all a wild Maguffin chase that's set up to make the other Intelligence look like a cosmic moron. The PCs MIGHT be rewarded afterwards for their troubles, or might be left swinging in the wind, none the wiser that they were just vectors for misinformation.

I did similar way way back, the hunt for Nephs sword.

[taalismn]

Or have your Alien Intelligence use the PCs to pull off a prank on another AI. Like have them search for a powerful artifact, that happens to be in or near the followers of another AI...the artifact really doesn't exist, but the whole idea of the quest is to convince the other AI that it DOES exist, and have them trip up the PCs or pursue them hunting the same thing...it's all a wild Maguffin chase that's set up to make the other Intelligence look like a cosmic moron. The PCs MIGHT be rewarded afterwards for their troubles, or might be left swinging in the wind, none the wiser that they were just vectors for misinformation.

I did similar way way back, the hunt for Nephs sword.

To add insult to injury, an artifact CAN exist, though if the PCs use it on the other alien intelligence, it essentially delivers the equivalent of a custard pie to the AI's face....

[say652]

Heroes battling through the nether realms for pieces of a broken sword, that was broken.

[taalismn]

Heroes battling through the nether realms for pieces of a broken sword, that was broken.

"IT WAS BROKEN, YOU DONUT-HEADS! AND YOU CAN'T JUST PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!! YOU'RE BETTER OFF FINDING AN UNBROKEN SWORD THAT ACTUALLY STILL-WORKS-!!!!"

[say652]

That's how the campaign ended, they expected a God level Weapon, instead they got a broken pile of sword.
*first time as GM i had to make a hasty "tactical flanking maneuver"*

[taalismn]

That's how the campaign ended, they expected a God level Weapon, instead they got a broken pile of sword.
*first time as GM i had to make a hasty "tactical flanking maneuver"*

Open window into a pile of garbage? Or did you plan ahead, and sit by the only door to the room(door lockable from the outside)?

[say652]

Walked away with the phone to my ear "Hey Mom, what's up....."

[taalismn]

Walked away with the phone to my ear "Hey Mom, what's up....."

"We can't possibly kill him while he's talking to his mom-"
"Oh yes we can. Object lesson to the next one."

[guardiandashi]

it also depends on the "power level" of the game, for instance in one of our adventures, the characters ended up fighting "dieties" out of Pantheons of the Megaverse, where all the dieties were sort of like the stuff from the stargate SG-1 show.
where it got to be a kind of odd scenario was that 3 of the characters were Deity level beings on their own and after defeating a few on earth, the "bad guys" called in reinforcements, when the "reinforcements" showed up it was with a whole fleet of starships. of course the pc's proceeded to pull their own fleets out of their collective backsides.
one character pulled out a fleet of essentially robotech ships (lots of relatively weak ships)
the second brought in their fleet of mid-ranged powered stuff.
and the 3rd pulled out a couple heavy warships