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I'm looking for a contemporary or sci-fi horror adventure (for any such rpg), set in a polar – Arctic or Antarctic or alternate planet – environment.

Mind you, I'll be trying to come up with my own story in my own world, so I need this adventure only for reference, to see what kind of environmental hazards, environment-resistant technology, and what kind of (N)PCs I should take into consideration and build upon.

Yes, The Thing would be a perfect answer, were it an rpg adventure. (Is there an rpg adaptation of the movie? Or of its prequel-sequel?) Chaosium's Beyond the Mountains of Madness would also be great, were it set in a way later time period.

The more detailed and well researched (and concise!) the setting and the "dramatis personae" of the adventure, the better.

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Ice Station Zebra‌​? – Sardathrion Mar 15 at 13:24
@Sardathrion I haven't read that book, but it seems interesting, thanks. – OpaCitiZen Mar 15 at 13:32
The Rucka/Lieber graphic novels Whiteout and Whiteout: Melt are excellent sources of information about the environmental hazards of the Antarctic, and could be mined for story hooks and NPC inspiration. Beyond that, they're both tight, well-drawn stories. – Erik Schmidt Mar 19 at 23:02

5 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Eclipse Phase fits this, especially the Rimward (set in the outer edges of the solar system) and Gatecrasher (exoplanets) books. Eclipse Phase is a game of post-apocalyptic transhuman conspiracy and horror. You could easily adapt both The Thing (a Titan nano-swarm) and At the Mountains of Madness (Ancient civilisation discovered through a Pandora Gate).

While both books are supplements describing settings and not adventures, they do contains many adventure seeds that are easily expended to fit a particular group. Most of the hazards of alien environments is indeed described therein.

Because the books are available on torrent (CC license), you can download then and look at then first. Then either not get them, pay for the pdfs, or get hard copies. It is that easy.

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I'm not exactly looking for a game/system here. What I'm trying to find is a pre-written adventure (for any suitable game) - like Chaosium's Beyond the Mountains of Madness (see the Q) - that details the technology, hazards and personnel typically found in such a polar setting. – OpaCitiZen Mar 15 at 13:38
@OpaCitiZen: Does my edit help? – Sardathrion Mar 15 at 14:09
Yes, it does, thanks. The answer is still too broad for me as I've been hoping for something more like BtMoM, a focused piece. (The EP supplements seem great but cover way too much besides cold climate environments.) Anyway, it's not a bad answer, and I'll accept if noone comes up with a more specific one. – OpaCitiZen Mar 15 at 22:14
up vote 0 down vote

There is a d20 Fright Night adventure called "Polar Terror." I am not sure if it was made into a pdf format since it was from 2004.

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why would you recommend this? – wax eagle Mar 19 at 19:09
It is a contemporary horror adventure set in an arctic environment. – committed hero Apr 16 at 17:58
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If you're willing to do a fluff re-skin then Dark Sun from D&D could work. It features a harsh desert environment and makes players have to plan ahead for survival (clothing, supplies, endurance checks). Change the desert to tundra and change the weapon fluff on ranged weapons and magic attacks to be conventional ballistic weapons.

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First Edition dark Conspiracy has an adventure Ice Daemon Here is a detailed review.

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Welcome Tad. Could you instead of just simply linking us, give us some details about the adventure and the review? We like to armor (even slightly) against bitrot. – Brian Ballsun-Stanton♦ Mar 23 at 2:49
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I doubt I'm helping but there are at least a couple of adventures exactly like that in old Finnish rpg magazines....

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Magazine titles and issue numbers would make this a useful answer, even if it would only be useful to Finnish speakers. – SevenSidedDie Mar 19 at 19:52

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