Cults in space 3 - Exploratations

Alien the movie is just a HPL style haunted house in space. It has all the good elements of a space SF story - the 80s was when traditional supernaturalism waned in horror. Freddy and pinhead cant be stopped by a crucifix. The Thing is another Benchmark.

70s style dirty SF realism (Silent running, Space 1999 and 2001) tried to be intellectual till starwars cast its spell.

These are all fine game examples for many space horror games right now. 2300 and aliens games even TSR  Bughunters (not bad actually) all good.

Stalking aliens in ruins and wrecked spacecraft with not too advanced tech is the mode of choice. Eclipse Phaze seems to be one of the most truly modern.

I am pleased that the Science & Sorcery and post apocalypse genre all can intersect her too. Warhammer fantasy and space games have lots of HPL - Spacehulk and genestealers were great space dungeon fodder. Space dungeon crawl retro style DnD in space games are doing ok too. I like all this stuff.

My SF universe Ive been on off with since 83 (it predates my gaming) has me writing again too. But it features exploration of alien wrecks and ruins with extreme variations of tech for 28 000 years of humans in space amid the ruins from billions of years earlier. Has mythos elements too, some of my ideas re-used in my gamma world (using game as a lab for crazy).

I will do my DECO Cthulhu Space notes here too later - where everything revolves around the worlds greatest city Metropolis.

Anyhow for now here is some of my Cthulhu in space and my own Shadow Space World - use as you may even for dungeon crawls in space, super heroes whatever

Cults in space 3

Some space horror formula for onion skin plots:

Strange Heritage > Investigate > Clue > Explore > Encounter > Wrap up > final bad clue turns up

Strange Invitation > Journey > Arrival > Clues > Confrontation

Journey > Exploration > Artifact > Clues > Something Loose > Confrontation > Escape

Journey > Trapped/Stranded > Survive > Explore > Clue > Encounter > Escape

d100 space locations:
01-03 Urban - ultra dense cyberpunk city
04-05 Urban - tunnels beneath city
06 Urban - laboratory complex
07-10 Urban - gangland ghettos
11 Urban - industrial mega complex
12-13 Urban - colony base arcology
14-15 Urban - space mega hab
16-18 Isolated Outpost - marine hab
19-22 Isolated Outpost - orbital space hab
23-27 Isolated Outpost - deep space hab
27-30 Isolated Outpost - ice hab Isolated
31-34 Isolated Outpost - secured bunker
35-37 Isolated Outpost - scientific mission
38-42 Isolated Outpost - military base
43-45 Isolated Outpost - generation colony ship
46-49 Isolated Outpost - mining (asteroid, planetary, fuel)
50-53 Isolated Outpost - criminal (pirates, smugglers, adventurers)
54-58 Isolated Outpost - industrial (processing something)
59-62 Isolated Outpost - inter system hab (rogue gas giant moonbase for example)
63-67 Isolated Outpost - cultist or extremist sect (fanatics)
68-71 Isolated Outpost - secure cultural enclave (rare group)
72-77 Isolated Outpost - shipwreck (possibly with survivors or archeologists)
78-80 Alien - single artifact like a monolith
81-84 Alien - exotic alien planet
85-88 Alien - ruins of ancient stone wonders
89-91 Alien - ruins of advanced alien civilization
92-94 Alien - evidence of ancient life
95-97 Alien - ruins of alien space craft
98-00 Roll twice


Some Ideas

Gamma Gate
A highly irradiated glowing rock in space has a viable structure but super lethal radiation emission - team of  robots and scientists in extreme space suits are attempting to explore. Strange guardian beings lurk in the threshold guarding a gate.

Red Temple
A structure is found on a red mars like dust world. As exploreres set up air preassure and humidity climb in local area and biological traces develop as conditions improve. Eventually a gate opens and a being come through to see what his trap has attracted.

Green Planet
Garden world of plants, many are mobile and carnivorous, plants found herding animals (possibly degenerate colonists bred into cattle). Algae clouds fill skies. Shub-Niggerath cultists possible made this planet within human history. Human colonists in domes. Some earlier colonies gone feral and have plant symbiotes making a new species. (I had a star trek annual with a planet a bit like this + a bit of Brian Aldis).

Swamp world ruins
A bog covered planet has redneck miner outposts. Alien ruins of stone are common but humans dont have any interest in unprofitable crap. Primitive alien newts like in Karol Capek are found but they are on lots of planets so nobody cares. Ruins are not theirs but they may be befriended and show secret alien ruins. Local humans getting wind of treasure hunters go deliverance on the party. Anything could be in ruins. I have Newts as a surviving ancient race but nobody is impressed by them and mistreat them mostly. They are all clone hermaphrodites with no genetic variation. Possibly they worship Bokkrug and he may protect them from humans one day.

Alien Machine City
Nano machines and robots built city for colonists that never came. Appears ruined on arrival but machines begin to awaken and rebuild city. AI wants to capture party believing they are mentally unfit colonists.

Idol of Ygolnac
Alien primitives give crew members statues made of valuable materials (they practice self mutilation as highest art). Some crew begin to have dreams. Next thing engineering section has a full blown Ygolnac cult.

Vault of life
Under lifeless moon geoscientist discovers the vault of life the primal source of all life. Actually it is a vault of Abhoth. A lake of biomass creates increasingly advanced life forms to attack the mine. The scientist wont admit he is wrong and tries to protect the horror lake.

Vulthooms Dreaming
Martian hab members being guided by vulthoom who in the dreamlands is taking them to ancient mars. They believe they can restore mars to life by bringing dreamlands through. Some of his Alhais awaken and help influence humans. Vulthoom really just wants mental energy to awaken his race and kill humans. His ruins from the dreamlands appear and disappear.

Spiders Web
A ship crew member is bitten by a child of Atlach-Nache the spider goddess. How the coconut sized creature got in who knows. The victim goes mad but bides there time before bursting open and revealing their new form. The spider seeks food and reproduction. She seeks a human mate.

A colony gone mad
Lost colony of hastur culltists have a giant array of 7 monoliths in a v shape. They offer food (baby flesh), a play (king in yellow), then tell players they are baby eating cultists who should join them. Byakee riding cultists on spacemead attack ship possibly summon shamblers who can carry them inside.

Caverns o Terror
A cultist carried cthonians eggs here hundreds of years ago. Now they are ready to arrise and enslave humanity as cattle.

Maggot filled Wreck
A wrecked space craft is crawling with maggots. Either brood of Eihort or after eating somebody assemble into a worm colony being with horrible secrets and habits. It will kill everyone it can or enslave as zombies or use as slave processors for its alien maths.

Frozen Ocean
A iced over sea where Xothians and deepones have been sleeping. Scientists detected life and are drilling into the aliens biological hab structure.

Crazy old Man in the Stars
He warns colony to leave, he is a wizard hiding here for centuries and call monsters to kill the colonists.

From beyond the Threshold
Alien or human Tillenghast resonator increasingly powers up letting humans see horrors from beyond. Gets worse till artifact stopped.

Eihorts Brood
Human disappears in lifeless location and broodlings are found. Scientists look for life are trapped by gate, impregnated and released one by one.

Asteroid Mine
Prospector has awakened a horror. A tunnel dwelling predictor, summoning sorcerer or a ship eating spawn of Azathoth. Why can one be all 3?

Cthugas Sons
Venus like colony under attack by fire vampires and cultists. Attempt to drive colony mad with murder, leaked cult books and monsters. Find and stop cultists.

Yesterdays Children
Colonists find degenerate tribals from past unknown colony. Do gooder colonists want to help them and send expedition to find their village. Ship wreck, alien ruins and worse - the cultists utterly evil.

Killer in the wind
Colony awoken a flying polyp. Explorers find vault, now outpost being murdered one at a time by alien horror. Aircraft crash fatally trapping outpost.

Saturn Dreamlands
An outpost near Saturn is getting dreams of Tsathoguas Kin and the wizard Eibon in the dreamlands. Finally a party are drawn through to meet cats from Saturn, Tsathoguas kin and various friendly but hideous races. Possibly they may be able to return through to dreamlands of earth or mars. Of course imigration wont be impressed.

Space Ghosts
An alien or ancient astronaut has left a psionic remnant feeding of increased mentality of an outpost exploring a wreck. Its power grow and it sabotages there escape. Science a d medical skills may be the answer or guns.

Dragons Domain
Lliogor inhabit a ruin or alien ship graveyard. Explorers are lured into the lair and drained or released to lure more explorers. If Liogor threatened it moves the graveyard a few dozen parsecs away.

Brains Trust
A disguised Mi-Go needs helpers to recover some brain cyilinders. Some other race is interfering so the Mi-Go uses human dupes to assist him. He migh abandone them or re use them again for other recovery missions.

Grey Matters
MiGo appearing as greys meet humans and try to trade. They need a few brains to repair their network. Will offer terrible cursed tech in return for some humans.

Mind Parisites
Attacking astronauts as they enter orbit. Colonists cant explain and need help.

Chaugnar Faughn
A colony has discovered a lost human feral colony devolved into crazed tribal midgets the NiriGiri. In their mountain temple is a statue which is one of Chaugnar's brothers. They have been here since Roman times.

Shining One
A colony of a benevolent sect hoping to colonize planet. Their leader is a clone of  Shoggoth Mr Shiny.

Colony Zero
Dreamlands horrors are killing colonists and leaving no trace. Nightgaunts are leaking in and carry to dreamlands.

Space Vampire
Ship found crew all dead. Space vampire is now on explorers ship.

Endless Darkness
A golony transport spotted between systems, very old long lost ship. Nyagthoa has turned ship crew into nocturnal cannibal cultists. Some frozen humans could be saved. (See film Pandorum).

Horror from the Stars
Azathoths flutist outer gods keep attacking colony. A cultist has a flute of Azathoth to call them.

Ressurection Lab
A high tech lab working on life extending tech goes lockdown. Someone has been trying to use mythos and failed.

Outpost gone to Rats
Outpost in ruins. Rats and rad hominids are all that's left.

Outpost going to rats
A familiar rat thing and weird dreams menace a colony. Witch cult familiars are out to drive colony mad.

Alien Mummies
Dessicated reptile mummies taken from ruins begin to absorb life. Increase in power as they drain power then rise to menace humans directly.

Insects aren't the best sex
A station operated as a brothel and fuel station has gone funny. An insect from shaggai is driving mad and killing in as many fun ways as he can.

Europa Trashed
Investigating strange traces of biomatter and sounds in deep surface lab on Europa when shoggoth attacks and seals from the surface.

Protoshoggoth Me
A mad scientist has succeeded in turning himself into a protoshoggoth. He is working o converting more and replacing all humans.

Serpent Men
A team has a serpent man infiltrator using humans for own ends. Will aggravate and disturb any mythos entities from curiosity.

Something alive in our stardrive!
Drive attracts multiplanar horror. Hound of Tindolas unhappy at FTL, or perhaps something hatches into world through the drive or it acts as a Tillenghast resonator revealing otherworldly things.

Scion of Tsathogua
Someone has taken idol from alien ruins and a horror wants it back.

SOS
Cultists use SOS to attract and contaminate more humans.

Ice World
A ice age world where last feral humans battle undead. Friendly if helped but Iquatha will eventually discover meddlers and crash their ship.

Snake World
Colony reporting venomous earth reptiles menacing colony. Yig cult at work trying to covert colony to taunt Mi-Go.

Forbidden Beacon
Cultists are broadcasting spells and blasphemous lore at several outposts find and destroy whoever responsible.

Sons of Yog Sothoth
A backwards yokel on colony has mated his daughter to Yog Sothoth. The locals scientists seize the human lookign one to find his invisible brother wants to free his bro.

Zarian Contact
An outpost is contacted by Zarians. All thew want is to awaken a sleeping god and humans are in the way.

Divine Reaction
An insect from Shaggai wants to call Azathoth and he reacons a reactor is the perfect place.

To Trap a Monster
Scientist Traps a star vampire and need help in study and relocating. Creature can summon friends when he needs to get out but for now he gets regular meals.

Old Trails
Coordinates from odd source sent party to temple of Azathoth on alien world.

Eihorts Return
Children on a colony have become a cult and are spreading Eihort brood around colony. He gives them more attention than colonist parents.

Sons of Azathoth
A moon sized spawn rains meteors and monsters down on a colony. Cultists are calling him.

Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
A stranded colonist needs help - he has one book. He begins trying to introduce the play to the crew then leaves cursed signs that drive crew mad and summon monsters to readers.

Song of the Spheres
Experimental musician colony menaced by madmen and sonic beings like Tru'Nembra

Vampires Planet
Psionic vampires have infiltrated colony and are attempting to enslave colony as a larder. Perhaps they've already won.

Tunnels of eternal Night
A tunnel complex is discovered - deep inside is a Tsathogua temple and his spawn

Green Flame
A gas mining rig explodes, letting Tulza the Green flame leap from gas giant to moon. There he finds his ancient temple and revives ancient alien mummies to menace local outpost.

Lucky Star
A colony is much bigger than it should be, industrialized and building weapons to conquer nearby colonies. Ruled by cult.

Mothers Milk
Colony or gen ship been tainted by monster milk - mutant horrors on the loose

Vibur
Blue crystal feces of old one found, inspires cannibal cult.

Swarm
Local creatures menace colony under control of city sized subterranean being

The Night Fisher
Ship arrives in dust cloud - no light no stars no navigation. EM scan has shifting chaos which occasionally forms a face. Crew are one by one turned to killers. A nuke could bother the Night Fisher and give a glimpse of EM scan from outside to make a emergency jump. The night fisher is a half light year across dust cloud of blackness.