Alpha Centauri is a wonderful game by Firaxis Games and is almost a sequel to their Civilization games. It presents an interesting turn based game set on a new world, the world of Chiron in the Alpha Centauri star system, which is the destination of a space ship that can be launched to win the game Civilization. Although the game is getting old (originally released in 1998), it is still very fun to play. Below I present three different ways for how the setting could be used in a campaign.
In the default setting, the one presented in the original computer game, the colonists come from Earth, leaving around the year 2050 CE. The Earth is being torn apart by disasters, both natural and Humans-made, and governments are breaking down very quickly in some areas. Out of this increasing chaos came a project from the United Nations to build a colony ship to take people to the stars. Choosing the closest star, Alpha Centauri, which scientists had determined held a habitable planet, the project to build the SS Unity took several years to complete. Selecting and training the crew and the colonists of the ship was equally hard, but a completely international crew was chosen and the ship was launched with much fanfare.
It took roughly a hundred years for the ship to arrive in the Alpha Centauri star system and to approach the chosen planet, Chiron, but the original crew and colonists were kept alive by using primitive cryogenic chambers. Unfortunately, problems began to occur almost immidieately. The ship’s fusion drive suffered a catastrophic failure, causing heavy damage to the ship, although minimal casulties. This alone was a terrible disaster as the ship was headed directly towards Chiron with no way of slowing down, although there was still several days before the ship would actually hit the planet. Disaster struck again when the ship’s captain, the only person able to bring together the large international crew, was assassinated. Fighting flared up between a variety of factions within the crew and when the ship was abandoned, escape pods dispersed across the planet. Although most of these escape pods landed without incident, nearly all were able to see their ship, the SS Unity, break apart in orbit of Chiron and come crashing down upon the planet.
The colonists emerged from the escape pods to discover a planet that is habitable, but strangely alien. Drawn towards one of the factions that emerged from the aftermath of the captain’s assassination or to one of the newer factions that have split off of these groups, the colonists drew lines of control across the surface of the planet and are began to expand again. The world of Alpha Centauri in the default setting is completely cut off from Earth, alone on a harsh, but habitable planet, and to add to their distress on the frontier world, large sections of the planet are covered with a strange growth, dubbed Xenofungus.
A campaign can be set at any time after or before the colonists’ arrival on Chiron. The characters could be involved in securing the SS Unity from rioters and protestors on Earth before the arrival, or they could be charged with tracking down the assassin that killed the captain. After landing on the planet, the characters could be part of any of the factions or they could be alone, trying to survive while they attempt to locate other survivors. A campaign could begin several years or decades after “planetfall,” the year the colonists arrived on Chiron, and could involve raids or war against another faction or against the Mind Worms that swarm over the planet. The characters could be charged with figuring out the secrets that the planet holds and the planet’s mysterious origins, which could involve espionage missions in the cities of other factions and long missions deep in uninhabited sections of the planet. If the Progenitors are used, then a campaign could easily revolve around locating them, trying to communicate with them, or capturing and destroying them. The default setting is an S.D.C. world and is written using the rules presented in Heroes Unlimited and Aliens Unlimited and although set a few centuries in the future, the circumstances surrounding the colonists’ landing could easily explain the lack of a number of high tech equipment.
Although originally written with the Heroes Unlimited rules, the default setting is not in the world of Heroes Unlimited. The colonists have no superheroes among them, there are no superheroes on Earth, and there are no aliens in the universe that the colonists know about, at least until the Progenitors arrive. This could easily be changed. A campaign could be set in the Heroes Unlimited setting with little changes. Instead of playing normal people the characters could play some of the few superheroes that were selected to go on the mission, they could have hid their super powers hoping to find more acceptance on a new planet, or they could be new super heroes created in the years after the colonists arrive. Since the technology in Heroes Unlimited is slightly more advanced then current day technology, and there is a history of alien interference on Earth, such as at Century Station, it is not impossible for the United Nations to build the SS Unity much sooner then in the default setting. Perhaps the ship is ready to launch in 2005 CE instead of 2050 CE.
Once on the planet, the psionic powers of the Mind Worms might not be completely unfamiliar to the colonists, they might be able to develop defenses faster and more easily. Another interesting possibility is that other aliens, not just the Progenitors could visit Chiron in the years after the first colonies are formed. Alpha Centauri could be a good way to bring Humans into the galaxy at large without brining too many aliens to Earth. Furthermore, maybe Humans are not colonizing the planet, maybe another race has arrived on Chiron first under similar conditions, with a crashed colony ship, limited supplies, and a variety of factions. How would they react to the Xenofungus and the psionic Mind Worms?
Another possibility is a large step away from the default setting where Alpha Centauri is the first world colonized by Earth. Instead this setting could involve a new world colonized by a group of Humans or another alien race. They could arrive under similar conditions as in the default setting, with a crashed colony ship, limited supplies, and a variety of factions. The colonists would certainly know about Psionic powers and alien life forms would not seen very strange, but many of the circumstances and adventures from the default setting would still apply. This setting is not very appropriate for people from Rifts Earth. There is no magic in this setting, so the colonists could not Rift in from Earth and the space stations in orbit of Earth do not have the resources or the population necessary to send a colony mission of this nature.
The major change with this setting would be the conversion of everything from the S.D.C. setting of Heroes Unlimited to the M.D.C. setting of Rifts. This has the biggest effect on the technology of the colonists. Presumably, they could still have M.D.C. alloys and weapons that could inflict mega-damage, so the Progenitors, the Mind Worms, and the ancient alien technology would have to be altered accordingly. Conversion notes are present when needed to assist GMs that wish to run an Alpha Centauri campaign in an M.D.C. setting.
A fun variation of this campaign would be to have it based in the Robotech universe. Colonization of the planet could occur following the end of the First Robotech War (Macross), just prior to the beginning of the Second Robotech War (Robotech Masters), or during the time of the Sentinels. The Humans attempting to colonize the planet would have all of the same problems as Humans from the other settings. Aliens are known but are still new enough that encountering the Progenitors would have an impact, and psionic powers are virtually unheard of. An interesting twist on this setting could involve the destruction of the colony ship, but instead of breaking into factions, which could still occur, maybe a group of Zentraedi or the Invid could arrive to terrorize the beleaguered colonists.
Converting from an S.D.C. to an M.D.C. setting would be necessary for this campaign, but since the power level is lower in Robotech then in Phase World, using the conversion notes will greatly increase the power of the Mind Worms, so some modifications may be necessary. Since the colonists have limited supplies, this campaign could be played in a similar manner as the Invid Invasion, where ammunition supplies are low and damaged or destroyed mecha are not replaced for the next mission.