I was thinking about what kind of enemies to do my Mad Mad Mojave campaign and thought about one which wasn't really a part of traditional Western lore in the Grays. I'm not sure whether or not they're actual aliens in this universe, though I rather like the idea of adapting Delta Green's version of the Grays in they're something infinitely stranger and extra-dimensional but which have taken the bodies of human-cloned creatures to walk around in. Alternatively, there's the Fringe idea of having the Grays as humans from the far future.

It occurred to me, Cowboys vs. Aliens aside that it might be a fun incursion to have something which is completely beyond the understanding of the characters themselves but something which is familiar to the players. A sort of Barrier Peaks-style adventure if anyone knows about that rather hilarious adventure.

The question is what, of course, to use the Grays for in Deadlands. Obviously, "someone is abducting people" is a very good starting point, especially if they're substituting clones or clockwork robotics. However, you could also do something more insidious like have Hellstromme Industries having made a pact with the Grays in exchange for technology.

A lot of the Gonzo Tech in the setting might be interesting if you have that as filtered down Gray technology having been given for prisoners or ghostrock or whatever they're in Earth for.

What do people think? Any adventure ideas? Thoughts? I welcome your ideas on adapting more Grays or Gonzo tech to the setting or whether it's a terrible idea.

If it works for you and yours, go for it. Aliens exist in the Deadlands setting; see the Devil's Tower stuff for more info as well as Lost Colony for another species that was found in the future. So there could easily be other races of extraterrestrials out there and you could make up your own backstory/history with them for an alternate take on Deadlands. Time travel is also canonically viable so that can thrown another wrench into the works.

If you're going to use the Delta Green greys then I'd go the step further and include the mi-go... known to come to earth to mine rare ores and to kidnap people, put their brains in jars and take them on journeys to other worlds. Also presenting stand-ins for the abducted when necessary. The other mythos stuff can be downplayed/ignored (but those giant worms in Deadlands do seem an awful lot like Cthonians).
So maybe an adventure to rescue the abducted son of a cattle baron... and when he's found he's just a brain in an alien jar hooked up to hearing/seeing/speaking devices. Bring that back to his family or claim he dead when you found him?

There was a rash of UFO sightings in the US during the late 1800s. Some were described more as dirigibles, but there were also stories cigar-shaped crafts with men from Mars. Most of them are a little past the Deadlands period, but they could easily be shifted back a decade or two and mined for ideas.

The Aurora, Texas incident even has its own Wikipedia page.

It could be fun to even recast the Reckoners as Fortean alien overlords. Monsters could be part of terraforming projects. Maybe the aliens, excited to find a whole planet of unfamiliar living things, are busy playing around with this newfound pool of alien DNA, making plenty of abominations in the process.

You could also mix Reckoners and aliens. Maybe the aliens are aware of the Reckoners breaking through into their universe (or one of their universes). Their goal it to find a way to wipe out humanity before their unstable emotions can fuel a full breakthrough of the Reckoners. Or maybe they want to uplift humans into more stoic, emotionless (perhaps more docile) creatures that will no longer produce the fear that the Reckoners need. Being more merciful, rather than wipe us out, they simply want to make us pod people.  Maybe you have different factions of aliens trying both approaches, warring with one another. Both approaches will probably be unappealing to the PCs.

Quote from: Brand55;914487If it works for you and yours, go for it. Aliens exist in the Deadlands setting; see the Devil's Tower stuff for more info as well as Lost Colony for another species that was found in the future. So there could easily be other races of extraterrestrials out there and you could make up your own backstory/history with them for an alternate take on Deadlands. Time travel is also canonically viable so that can thrown another wrench into the works.

Thanks,

For my first adventure I'm going to go with the "Clockwork Men are replacing people" and then tracing them down to someone who is working for the aliens (perhaps a vampire cattle rustler because why not mix genres). The PCs promptly get abducted by aliens and have to do a escape like Mothership Zeta before crashlanding on the Mojave.

Should be fun.

Quote from: Simlasa;914500If you're going to use the Delta Green greys then I'd go the step further and include the mi-go... known to come to earth to mine rare ores and to kidnap people, put their brains in jars and take them on journeys to other worlds. Also presenting stand-ins for the abducted when necessary. The other mythos stuff can be downplayed/ignored (but those giant worms in Deadlands do seem an awful lot like Cthonians).

So maybe an adventure to rescue the abducted son of a cattle baron... and when he's found he's just a brain in an alien jar hooked up to hearing/seeing/speaking devices. Bring that back to his family or claim he dead when you found him?

That's a very good idea. I think I will make my "Grays" actually Mi-Go. Plus, Aliens mining for Ghost Rock seems all too believable in this setting.

Quote from: Baulderstone;914502There was a rash of UFO sightings in the US during the late 1800s. Some were described more as dirigibles, but there were also stories cigar-shaped crafts with men from Mars. Most of them are a little past the Deadlands period, but they could easily be shifted back a decade or two and mined for ideas.

The Aurora, Texas incident even has its own Wikipedia page.

It could be fun to even recast the Reckoners as Fortean alien overlords. Monsters could be part of terraforming projects. Maybe the aliens, excited to find a whole planet of unfamiliar living things, are busy playing around with this newfound pool of alien DNA, making plenty of abominations in the process.

You could also mix Reckoners and aliens. Maybe the aliens are aware of the Reckoners breaking through into their universe (or one of their universes). Their goal it to find a way to wipe out humanity before their unstable emotions can fuel a full breakthrough of the Reckoners. Or maybe they want to uplift humans into more stoic, emotionless (perhaps more docile) creatures that will no longer produce the fear that the Reckoners need. Being more merciful, rather than wipe us out, they simply want to make us pod people.  Maybe you have different factions of aliens trying both approaches, warring with one another. Both approaches will probably be unappealing to the PCs.

Simon R. Green does a good job of combining Squid, Demons, and Heaven so that seems like a good combination here.

Also, my game takes place in 1890 so that shouldn't be an issue.

My first adventure is going to be a bait and switch adventure. I'm going to start it with a "parody" of the original Ravenloft module. Cattle Baron Strauss Rich lives on an isolated ranch with carnivorous cattle where travelers frequently go missing. Supposedly, he came back from the Civil War traumatized and drunk before he made a pact with the Devil before his brother's wedding, killing everyone there.

While everyone is expecting the full on Cattlepunk-ized Ravenloft module, it's actually going to drop a bunch of hints about the UFO business in ways both subtle and small. Accompanying Tanya to the cattle ranch after finding a bunch of Clockwork People have infiltrated the place after visiting the Raven's Roost cattle ranch, they're going to deal with Strauss.

...

Only to find themselves abducted by aliens.

Yes, the vampire had made a deal with aliens! He was trading experimental subjects in exchange for knowledge of alien technology in hopes of resurrecting the real Tanya (who is inside a bell jar in this reality). The PCs will have to escape their captivity on the alien Mothership before taking a saucer that will crash down onto the plains of the Mojave! Then they can take their revenge on Strauss!

Or the aliens will, feeling he's betrayed them, take him as a DNA sample off to another planet where he's never seen again.

Where do they crashland? The Barrier Peaks

Am I remembering wrong, or wasn't there a Deadlands adventure with the Mi-Go??

Quote from: RPGPundit;915316Am I remembering wrong, or wasn't there a Deadlands adventure with the Mi-Go??

Yep, it's Adios A-Mi-Go

https://www.peginc.com/store/deadlands-dime-novel-adios-a-mi-go-pdf/

Quote from: CTPhipps;914642My first adventure is going to be a bait and switch adventure. I'm going to start it with a "parody" of the original Ravenloft module. Cattle Baron Strauss Rich lives on an isolated ranch with carnivorous cattle where travelers frequently go missing. Supposedly, he came back from the Civil War traumatized and drunk before he made a pact with the Devil before his brother's wedding, killing everyone there.

While everyone is expecting the full on Cattlepunk-ized Ravenloft module, it's actually going to drop a bunch of hints about the UFO business in ways both subtle and small. Accompanying Tanya to the cattle ranch after finding a bunch of Clockwork People have infiltrated the place after visiting the Raven's Roost cattle ranch, they're going to deal with Strauss.

...

Only to find themselves abducted by aliens.

Yes, the vampire had made a deal with aliens! He was trading experimental subjects in exchange for knowledge of alien technology in hopes of resurrecting the real Tanya (who is inside a bell jar in this reality). The PCs will have to escape their captivity on the alien Mothership before taking a saucer that will crash down onto the plains of the Mojave! Then they can take their revenge on Strauss!

Or the aliens will, feeling he's betrayed them, take him as a DNA sample off to another planet where he's never seen again.

Where do they crashland? The Barrier Peaks

I'd suggest stealing an idea from Mothership Zeta, and have the PCs meet a cadre of humans from different time periods, captured using TIME TRAVELLING (TM) Technology of Greys. Or just from periods before Wild West.

Quote from: Simlasa;915335Yep, it's Adios A-Mi-Go

https://www.peginc.com/store/deadlands-dime-novel-adios-a-mi-go-pdf/

Thank you!

This is awesome.

Hah! I knew I wasn't crazy. About that, at least.