Pushing The Envelop - Aliens Colonial Marines Comics And Novels As Fodder For A Mutant Future Or Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns

Part One available right over HERE

Because of the mutability of the Alien Darkhorse comics and paper backs added a whole level to the franchise. There have been numerous times I've used the Xenomorphs in games. The Earth War material dovetailed right into the post apocalyptic wastelands that always seemed to be around my gaming table.
The Xenomorphs always seemed to be squiring off against everyone who was  part of the super heroes genre including Terminators, Super Man, Batman, and many others. This fact allows a DM to throw his PC's into the deep end with the Xenomorphs and not worry that his campaign is becoming a cliched mess.

This campaign was set right against the back of the Earth War saga from Dark Horse comics back in 1990 something. Back then Dark Horse kept churning out comics with every super hero facing down the xenmorphs. Fun times I can assure you and there were multiple times when a Colonial Marine ship dropped out of the sky right into the lap of Gamma Terra from Gamma World first edition.  

Aliens: Nightmare Asylum is the title of a 1993 novel by Steve Perry, set in the fictional Alien movie universe. It is an sequel to Aliens: Earth Hive

Basic plot According To Wiki : 

Wilks, Billie, and Bueller were the last survivors of a devastating assault on the aliens' home planet. But their return to the solar system made them refugees once more, fleeing Earth and its alien infestation in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Now in an otherwise unmanned military transport, they hurtle through space. Destination: Unknown.

Little do they know the cargo they carry with them is a legacy of death that they will ultimately have to face. Nor do they know they head toward a remote colony and military outpost. This pocket of humanity at the very edges of space is at the mercy of a general named Spears with an agenda all his own. Now Billie, Wilks, and Bueller face a new nightmare, and it is nothing they could ever have imagined: a gift of madness from an alien world, an unbalanced mind and the experiences of a mysterious pilot named Lieutenant Ellen Ripley.

 The ship that crashed in my Gamma World campaign was a experimental weapons R&D ship with corporate mercenaries aboard it and a cargo of Xenomorphs aboard! Chris Van Deelen has a great Xenomorph conversion for the Mutant Future Rpg system right HERE 

 One of the weapons that was on board was the M4RA Battle Rifle a brand new prototype that was being tested aboard the craft. Further Details Right HERE

The PC's seemed to have a handle on their mutations when one of these would pop out of some inconvenient place. More details right HERE 

Another weapon that was commonly on aboard was the M39 Submachine 

More details right HERE

 There's also the canine conversion up as well. Alien 3 added still more bits and pieces to the franchise. Here's a conversion of the xenomorph canine mode. 

Right HERE

And finally a weapon I like to keep handy for my Colonial Marines in case of those close encounters. More information right over  HERE

 Because of the nature of the comics there were plenty of trouble from those so called heroes of my games to get into. Couple this fact with all that hardware and spacecraft that never seemed to have its plots status revealed and you've got a cocktail to add plenty of corporate intrigue and mayhem just waiting within this time frame of the Earth War with the Aliens. 
There are two additions I would convert. One is of course the 'bug men' from the Colonial Marines. And the other is the Royal Jelly of the Aliens, one of the ultimate euphoric highs. Twenty times more addictive then crack cocaine. This stuff has the potential to make or break a campaign. Very nasty stuff. 
 The waste lands of the post apocalyptic landscape are not safe anymore with the addition of the Xenomorphs.