As in the "acid-for-blood-gestate-inside-of-you" kind from the movies. How 40K might they be?! Granted, they're a plot device from hell, but what a great one! Sure, we have genestealers and such, but they're not the same. Anyway, I can see using them in a massive ship (ala "Dead Space") or a mining world that awaken them. Hell, you could totally riff the Giant's ship from the first film. It'd be hard to make them as scary since they're so familiar, but that familiarity could be an aid in creating tension as well.

I'm all for making obscure and frightening threats, especially ones that violate the flesh; it's so much more visceral...literally. Dead things are also totally awesome antagonists. I mean, who doesn't like zombies? Especially plague-zombies. Again, "Dead Space" rocks in this regard. Unknown xenotech? Check. reanimated dead flesh? Check. Warping of said dead flesh? Check. Trapped in an environment? Check. You get the idea. Man, "Dead Space" comes up a lot on here!

TalkingMuffin said:

They pretty much are the same. Tyranids are pretty much meant to fill the same roll as the xenomorphs do in the Alien movies. Genestealers and xenomorphs are pretty much interchangeable.

A lot of it's the visuals and the ecology of the aliens (they so need a name, like the predator's "Yautja"). I love the mucus-covered hives, the ant-like hierarchy, the rows of leathery eggs. In many ways I see them as more of a threat than Tyranid as they can procreate at an alarming rate. Hell, they could be a new "faction" of Tyranid, a new race altogether, a xeno-weapon, a human experiment from the Dark Age of Technology. I just the idea that they're like Tyranid, but aren't. I think it'd kick-ass for them to be something new and maybe even be something the Tyranid "fear". What would be very cool is for orks to be immune to they're egg-laying due to being fungal. I can see an unfortunate but necessary alliance with orks to eradicate them.

TalkingMuffin said:

They have a name you know, Lieutenant Gorman in the movie "Aliens" refered to them as "Xenomorphs". So if you want to impress your friends with extremely nerdy terminology then that's the word to use.

Anyhow, I dont know if you've read much about Genestealer cults. They did have their own codex before and also i think there is supposed to be a pdf about Genestealer cults over at Dark Reign which describes how a cult functions. All in all the similarities between Genestealers and Xenomorphs are so many (they both like to skulk around in labyrinthine corridors, they like to build ant-like nests with lots of slimy spiney looks, they have a way of implanting victims with their progeny etc. etc.) that I myself wouldn't feel it to be necessary to include xenomorphs as they are in the movies (I try to stick as close to canon as possible in order to differentiate the WH40K universe from other franchises), but if you feel like doing it differently then by all means do so.

Nevertheless, if I were to need a creature that pretty much works the same way as the xenomorphs from the alien movies, then I would look among the Tyranids first and foremost. But thats just me and there is no "right" or "wrong" way to go about it.

About the Orks though, I read in the latest Tyranid Codex that Lord Inquisitor Kryptmann once used a brood of genestealers to infect an Ork Waaagh in order to buy the Imperium some time against both the Orks and one of the big hive fleets. Meaning that Orks don't seem to be immune to the ovipostor implantation of genestealers at all. So why would they be immune to the similar reproductive methods of Xenomorphs?

Just something worth considering if you're gonna bring them to your DH campaigns.

The Alien aliens in the W40K universe are Genestealers.

Have you played Dawn of War 2? The Tyranids strike me as a much more complex version of the Xenomorphs - the aliens we know being one of the major warrior forms. In fact I found the Tyranid ability to evolve so quickly - and integrate the knowledge of those they killed - as effectively disturbing as the Aliens' egg implantation.

The Genestealers are good, but I don't think the cult aspect would work for reproducing the same feeling of the films.

I like the idea of Orks being immune because of their physiology; attempts to ally successfully with Orks would be interesting in itself.

TalkingMuffin said:

The Yautja call them Kiande Amehda, "Hard Meat". We are Pyode Amehda or "Soft Meat".

The Xenomorphs are pretty much Genestealers Except Xenomorphs are cooler Much cooler.

cyclocius said:

Have to agree there. The reason why I like Tyranids is because they share so many similarities with Xenomorphs. Although the Tyranids are unfortunately a bit "kid friendly" in comparison. The Xenomorph on the other hand have so many disturbing and sexual themes integrated (like the elongated head resembling a ***** in the original drawins by H.R Giger, and the facehugger forcing it's way down the hosts throat resembling a **** etc. etc.)

No wonder why the Xenomorph happen to be the ultimate alien monster ever created. The stuff of Lovecraftian nightmares!

But for WH40K it would almost be very Slaanesh-inclined while at the same time being a Xenos creature. Wierd and scary combination.

I'm honestly not trying to be rude here, but I wasn't looking for opinions on whether or not the 'morphs were better or worse than Genestealers or whether or not to use them. To me they're are both different. The Genestealers may be like "Aliens 40K" in theory, but they aren't the same. I dunno'...maybe it's because Genestealers are purple.

I like the aliens better and the fact that they're similar enough to be mistaken for Genestealers is a cool way to drop something of a surprise on your players. I'm all for making up and/or using new creatures and the like and the aliens scream "40K!" so much it seems to be a crime not to use them. For those who don't like them, then I'd say not to use them, of course. But, for those who do like the idea of using them in DH, how would you do it? What other creatures might be cool to use? What about the blob?

Just grab any popular movie/game monster.

As you mentioned aliens (xenomorphs) are great, and if you want them to be seperate from Tyranid, they could just be an ancient seed race that the Tyrinid encountered and assimilated early in their developement (to explain away similarities), or perhaps a bio weapon created to fight the tyrinid on an even footing by another race (space jockey anyone).

Predator is a natural fit as well. Since they do not appear to have any goals for conquest they would easily fly under the Empire's radar as a non-military threat and therefore Inquisition juristiction.

The Ruins, a carnivorus plant with pre-natural cunning encroaches on a hive through a crack in the foundation/bedrock. Or perhaps a fast growing genetically altered food source, that takes over the hydroponics of a ship/hive.

The Thing (or invasion of the body snatchers, or Phantoms), this could not possibly end well, although it would be a great opportunity for the Players to flex their inquisitional might with the destruction of an entire hive/world.

Dawn of the dead. Find out just how resourceful your players are when they run out of ammo (and food). Just drop them in a hive with a tainted corpstarch factory, or better yet bring in a little Army of Darkness, and put them on a feudal world.

Scanners, it will make your players hate Psykers

Blade Runner, great movie, great story, and so 40K... do not suffer the Replicant to live.

Well any alien is a "Xenomorph" it just means foreign or alien form, something non-human if you will. However the stealers are pretty much the "Alien" of the 40k universe, if you don't like the variation on colour just have the hive your guys run into be glossy black combine parts of both creatures... Have the players investigate a new version of the tyranid grunt and infiltration forces. But I am kinda a purist and don't think that an unmodified "Alien" belongs in 40, but you could use the rules to run an alien game that might be kinda fun for a one shot or three.

BTW OFC the Alien looks better, its designed by H.R. Gigier a very sick mind with a beautiful expression, look up his stuff, lots of slanneshie stylings, good for a lot of scary

I do believe that somewhere on Dark Reign, there are stats for Xenomorphs Also, rules for Predator PCs :L

Sorry, I had to add that in

Seriouslly though, nearly all movie monsters can be 40K'd if you put a bit of thought into it.

Even the Iron Giant >.>

Hi TM,

Xenomorphs were discussed and statted up over at Dark Reign and might be of interest to you.

Discussion http://darkreign40k.com/forum/index.php?topic=729.0

The files with the stats are in the OP of the thread.

While it's not directly related, there's a little comic called "Judge Dredd vs Aliens". Seeing how Judge Dredd and the Judges in general was one of the prime sources of inspiration for the Adeptus Arbites and the Mega Cities of the setting are pretty much hive cities you could plunder it for inspiration on what might transpire should a xenomorph get loose in the Imperium.

As for fitting them into the setting, there's no reason you can't just transplant them directly. They're a horrible, utterly inhuman and incredibly deadly thread and the setting has a potentially infinite number of xenos species out there to cross the Imperium of Man. Fits perfectly.

The thought of a creature like a stealer or "alien" loose in something like a hive scares the **** out of me.

UncleArkie said:

Great! Because the next scenario im GM:ing is going to be about just that.

As always, everyone rocks and I love these kind of friendly discussions. Agent.0.Fortune, the Thing and the plant from "The Ruins" are killer ideas...literally! A zombie-plague? How can you got wrong? Add-in not being able to leave Area X and you've got Left 4 Dead 40K-style! Of course, you'd have to have them shout the 4-color platitudes from the latest CoD:WaW zombie map!

Oh, I almost forgot! What about "Slither"? Slugs that slide into your mouth and turn you into a zombie? What's not to like?!

Predator is a natural fit as well. Since they do not appear to have any goals for conquest they would easily fly under the Empire's radar as a non-military threat and therefore Inquisition juristiction.

They're also already 40k-ized - the Fedrid Skin Taker from Creatures Anathema sounds very familiar in its MO.

You mean it scares your players shitless As a GM, it's your responsibility to laugh at your players discomfort Sometimes

Also, kinda OT, but Alien related nonetheless.

If 1 face hugger facehugs someone, does said chestburster turn into a queen? Or are there spcial queen facehuggers? I don't think the one in Alien turned into a queen...

And another thing, how do they get into that harness and have the sack that spawns the eggs?

cyclocius said:

There are special queen facehuggers. However I can't really say why and how often these royal huggers grow. Also im not sure if the queen was in an actual "harness" (it might just have looked like it but it might as well have been the queens own legs and arms, of which it has several). The egg-sack seems to be something that the queen grows after having found a proper nest.

If there is only one facehugger then the lone spawn will become a queen in order to lay eggs. This is supported in the fiction as well as the RPG.

TalkingMuffin said:

Yeah I guess the morphology of a facehugger will be influenced about whether there are other xenomorphs in the vicinity or not.

Thanks for the answers I've only seen Alien, Aliens, ALien 3 and AvP (the last 2 sucked beyond belief) and the queen appeared to be in a harness when laying eggs ^^

Now that I know queens are formed due to lack of Alien proximity my alien overtake of Scintillia will work....>.>

cyclocius said:

You haven't seen Alien: Resurrection? (the fourht movie in the alien franchise) In that case, check it out! Although it is no way near as good as the first three it is several hundred times better than AvP.

About AvP, the "harness" in that movie was something to restrain the queen (and it was possibly built by human hands) in the temple as to provide the predators with xenomorph prey.