Space Opera: Races

[virgil]

When making a sci-fi setting for an RPG, how 'human' do the playable aliens need to be? I'm aware of the fact that there are many people who will shy away from a game for being too weird, which is a line I'm sure you'd cross if all of the non-humans came from the esoteric roster from the Green Lantern Corps. But is the common gamer only going to feel comfortable in a space-faring game when the PC aliens are no more 'alien' than the members of the Federation?

[PoliteNewb]

When making a sci-fi setting for an RPG, how 'human' do the playable aliens need to be? I'm aware of the fact that there are many people who will shy away from a game for being too weird, which is a line I'm sure you'd cross if all of the non-humans came from the esoteric roster from the Green Lantern Corps. But is the common gamer only going to feel comfortable in a space-faring game when the PC aliens are no more 'alien' than the members of the Federation?

Probably depends, but personally I like my aliens as alien as feasible. For playability, you probably want them to be able to walk around like an average person (no problems with atmosphere, no problems with pressure, temperature, gravity, etc.) and communicate with the average being, but in a soft sci-fi setting you can make exceptions with tech corrections...breathing gear, special suits, universal translators, etc.

I would have no problems with a group consisting of an amoeboid blob, a giant arthropod, a dude who wears a containment suit to keep his temperature at a comfy 133 degrees Kelvin, and a brain in a jar. But hey, that's just me.

[Maxus]

No. Your common gamer is still a weird creature. Most people would dig having the option to be something other than a person with nose putty on, even if they don't take it every time.

Hands are a must, I think. Or something that can perform the same job as hands, be it tentacles or short-ranged telekinesis.

The second must is you must be able to move under your own power.

But apart from that, anything goes. Enviro-suits and multiple arms and synesthesia? I think all that would fly.

[Spike]

Its probably best to have a mix of 'humans with ears on' and 'freaks'.

I like Battlelords a bit in this regard. You have giant lizard men who are really more 'big dumb humans with ears on', space samurai methane breathers and Orions (who are REALLY human, with an extra finger'.

Then you have an amorphous blob with no visual receptors, giant octopoids that eat people (though I couldn't say, from the art, how non-human they get. No arms (tentacles) and, according to the text, they walk on short stumpy tentacle things, but the art is really murky on body layout (focusign on head and tentacles)...


The central idea is that they have to relatable to the players on some level. Coolness factor can substitute for essential humanity but some very well designed 'alien' races I've seen in a number of games are simply... unappealing because, well, they are just alien. Not cool alien and not 'near human alien'... just... alien.

[Dean]

Yeah I would say having a little three point scale of "basically human" to "pretty weird" to a couple "total freaks" aliens would do best. Give people a smorgasbord

[CatharzGodfoot]

Futurama might make a good model. I'm not even kidding.


For less 'operatic' settings, you probably want to go fewer and stranger. Alternity actually did it pretty well with what amounted to grays, lizardfolk, cyborgs, wookies, and pterodactyls.

[TheFlatline]

Since scientists have recently discovered non-carbon based life on earth (arsenic based I think it was), even hard sci-fi can go of the deep end into some really bizarre shit. Xenomorphs (The Aliens movies) aren't that scientifically unfeasible (ecologically their reproduction method isn't that sound unless the universe is highly populated with host capable lifeforms).

Creatures that develop in near or total zero-g are going to look and function absolutely nothing like any traditional organism we see on earth. I suspect that the nitrogen/oxygen mix we breathe wouldn't necessarily be the dominant atmosphere, so you're going to have to deal with atmosphere suits.

I actually dig the xenos in Mass Effect. It's cosmopolitan and each species is pretty unique, except for the humans, asari, and taurans.

[Spike]

If you ignore what the Asari look like their biology is actually pretty unique, and if you ignore/gloss over the Taurian culture their appearance is fairly non-human.

I think it isn't going out too far on a limb to suggest that an advanced, tool using, space faring culture, regardless of biology, is going to wind up having a great deal in common with human cultures, at least relationally. In presentation you focus on the points in common with human cultures, and then you highlight the differences that will stand out most.

[kzt]

Since scientists have recently discovered non-carbon based life on earth (arsenic based I think it was)

If that's the study I remember, they claimed life that was using arsenic in place of phosphorous. They got a lot of pushback about bad technique, no idea what the current thinking is.

But yeah, having bizarre aliens is cool, as long as there is enough detail to understand them, they can rationally interact, and they are actually both somewhat alien in thinking and not unplayably alien.

[fectin]

Since scientists have recently discovered non-carbon based life on earth (arsenic based I think it was)

If that's the study I remember, they claimed life that was using arsenic in place of phosphorous. They got a lot of pushback about bad technique, no idea what the current thinking is.

But yeah, having bizarre aliens is cool, as long as there is enough detail to understand them, they can rationally interact, and they are actually both somewhat alien in thinking and not unplayably alien.

That was a whole different fight. But really, the end result there was fairly indistinguishable, except for not dying. That life:Normal life::vulcans:humans (because of the copper blood).

[Spike]

Since scientists have recently discovered non-carbon based life on earth (arsenic based I think it was)

If that's the study I remember, they claimed life that was using arsenic in place of phosphorous. They got a lot of pushback about bad technique, no idea what the current thinking is.

.

Its a bacterium and the prevailing HYPOTHESIS is that its using arsenic. They haven't actually proven it, or hadn't when the story broke, they just observed that this particular bacterium was thriving when robbed of (yes, I believe it was phosphorous, but I don't want to die on that stand...) and surrounded by arsenic. I want to say the idea is that it can replace the one with the other in its DNA strands when it has too, despite all the problems with that idea. Something about instability (Due to electronegativity/weaker molecular bonds I'd guess) and something else about water...

[Ganbare Gincun]

You're going to need at least one insect and one lizard. I also recommend adding some kind of intelligent slime, and a species that is built like a Grell.

[CatharzGodfoot]

You're going to need at least one insect and one lizard. I also recommend adding some kind of intelligent slime, and a species that is built like a Grell.

Aside from the slime I totally agree with this. Gas giant grell are great. A robot 'species' would be cool too, though.

[PoliteNewb]

You're going to need at least one insect and one lizard. I also recommend adding some kind of intelligent slime, and a species that is built like a Grell.

Aside from the slime I totally agree with this. Gas giant grell are great. A robot 'species' would be cool too, though.

Robots/Cyborgs are practically a must, IMO. I agree with the remainder. Some kind of Bird-men (with or without flight capability) would also be a good suggestion, as would an amphibian or aquatic-type mammal...not solely water based (so they don't need a fishbowl), but able to be comfortable in water. Weirder stuff includes plant-based or mineral (silica, maybe?) based beings. Maybe something that's basically an animal, but with a symbiotic plant/fungus that grows on it?

As far as "slime" goes...I do support blob people (like Plasmoids or Dralasites), but not stuff that's too...slimy, I guess.

For good ideas on weird aliens that still make some sense, try looking up "Isaac's Universe" by Asimov (although Locrians, Crotonites, and Naxians are the only ones that would probably be playable in a game...maybe Samians). Also, Joe Haldeman came up with some pretty funky aliens..."All My Sins Remembered" has some.

[CatharzGodfoot]

Iain Bank's Culture series is a space opera, and has some great examples even if you don't like the superhuman AI baggage.

[kzt]

A predatory carnivore and a herbivore. Possibly a proactively violently aggressive herbivore too?

[Vebyast]

Since I have nothing really interesting to contribute, I'm going to dump my standard spiel about how Robots from the Future aren't going to look anything like you might imagine. Feel free to ignore it.
[*] Robots are either going to be nearly indistinguishable from humans or completely inhuman (Reason: the uncanny valley). About the closest you're going to get to actual human is C-3PO or HK-47, and 3PO is pushing it. If the robot is designed for efficiency instead of social interaction, it would be only vaguely humanoid; the basic "two legs and a torso" shape is all you need to fit into spaces designed for humans. Tentacles are better than arms in most ways (except cost), and those tentacles would probably be lined with dozens of opposible digits (enough to actuate anything a human could and more). The robot would also have enough cameras for continuous 360-degree imagery, as well as some telescopic and microscopic optics on a stalk where our head would be; think of the Geth from Mass Effect. The robot might even be equipped with radar, sonar, or lidar; respectively, these would let it track things through dense shrubbery and thin walls, detect movement through meters of concrete, and measure objects shape and placement with near-micrometer precision and accuracy. In general, a future high-performance robot (such as a player character might be) is going to be like the unholy union of Cthulhu, Data, and Argus.
[*] Unless you handwave it away somehow, robots are going to be fast and nearly perfectly accurate. They're not just going to be fast or precise compared to you or me, or even compared to one-off world-record human performances. They're going to literally inhuman. Composites and electronically-controlled actuators are more precise and more rigid than biological materials, electronics are orders of magnitude more sensitive than humans across a far wider range of inputs, and computers measure and respond hundreds or thousands of times faster. Seriously, your nervous system takes 50ms for even the most basic reflexes, and I've developed a relatively cheap robot with a sense-decide-act time around 80 microseconds. That same system could repeatably place its end effector anywhere in a two-meter-cubed workspace with submillimeter precision without any sensors except for joint rotation; if your eyes were closed, I'd challenge you to do better than two centimeters. To get an idea of what a robot would be able to do in a fight, watch Iron Man's shoulder rockets in the live-action movies.

Some more videos of what high-end modern robots can do: Fast hand, pick-and-place robot, component placer for electronics manufacture, Goalkeeper point-defense system. Now imagine that those systems are being driven by computers that make our computers look like four-function calculators, and you'll have some idea of what a futuristic robot might be able to do.

[TheFlatline]

Since I have nothing really interesting to contribute, I'm going to dump my standard spiel about how Robots from the Future aren't going to look anything like you might imagine. Feel free to ignore it.
[*] Robots are either going to be nearly indistinguishable from humans or completely inhuman (Reason: the uncanny valley). About the closest you're going to get to actual human is C-3PO or HK-47, and 3PO is pushing it. If the robot is designed for efficiency instead of social interaction, it would be only vaguely humanoid; the basic "two legs and a torso" shape is all you need to fit into spaces designed for humans. Tentacles are better than arms in most ways (except cost), and those tentacles would probably be lined with dozens of opposible digits (enough to actuate anything a human could and more). The robot would also have enough cameras for continuous 360-degree imagery, as well as some telescopic and microscopic optics on a stalk where our head would be; think of the Geth from Mass Effect. The robot might even be equipped with radar, sonar, or lidar; respectively, these would let it track things through dense shrubbery and thin walls, detect movement through meters of concrete, and measure objects shape and placement with near-micrometer precision and accuracy. In general, a future high-performance robot (such as a player character might be) is going to be like the unholy union of Cthulhu, Data, and Argus.
[*] Unless you handwave it away somehow, robots are going to be fast and nearly perfectly accurate. They're not just going to be fast or precise compared to you or me, or even compared to one-off world-record human performances. They're going to literally inhuman. Composites and electronically-controlled actuators are more precise and more rigid than biological materials, electronics are orders of magnitude more sensitive than humans across a far wider range of inputs, and computers measure and respond hundreds or thousands of times faster. Seriously, your nervous system takes 50ms for even the most basic reflexes, and I've developed a relatively cheap robot with a sense-decide-act time around 80 microseconds. That same system could repeatably place its end effector anywhere in a two-meter-cubed workspace with submillimeter precision without any sensors except for joint rotation; if your eyes were closed, I'd challenge you to do better than two centimeters. To get an idea of what a robot would be able to do in a fight, watch Iron Man's shoulder rockets in the live-action movies.

Nice musings...

Robots of the distant future probably won't all 100% be capable of the things you're talking about. We have to interact with them, and the uncanny valley is a very real thing to take into account. Even if the robot looks like the actuator test shown in your links, that it's doing things humans ought to be doing, our uncanny valley detector goes off. At least, it does for me.

The real question is: is the uncanny valley something genetic and innate in us, or is it cultural? Is being around robots that are capable of human-like actions going to feel natural to people that grow up around it. I simply do not know.

If it *is* genetic, then the more we interact with robots, the less human they are going to be, or the more human they'll have to be. We'll never be able to work with them in a day-to-day basis if we're constantly uncomfortable around them.

Beyond that, robots built for pure function will be much like you say and be built for their specific task as opposed to built for human interaction.

[TheFlatline]

Since scientists have recently discovered non-carbon based life on earth (arsenic based I think it was)

If that's the study I remember, they claimed life that was using arsenic in place of phosphorous. They got a lot of pushback about bad technique, no idea what the current thinking is.

.

Its a bacterium and the prevailing HYPOTHESIS is that its using arsenic. They haven't actually proven it, or hadn't when the story broke, they just observed that this particular bacterium was thriving when robbed of (yes, I believe it was phosphorous, but I don't want to die on that stand...) and surrounded by arsenic. I want to say the idea is that it can replace the one with the other in its DNA strands when it has too, despite all the problems with that idea. Something about instability (Due to electronegativity/weaker molecular bonds I'd guess) and something else about water...

I stand corrected. But my basic point was that you can go hog-wild with physiology, biochemistry, and all kinds of funky shit with your aliens once you stop requiring what we assume is necessary for life. I mean, we could totally ditch bilateral symmetry in an alien physiology and go with a sentient radial symmetry biology or even more freaky a non-symmetrical physiology. It might be a bitch to create a believable environment where non-symmetrical lifeforms prosper and become the dominant, sentient species, but I'm sure someone out there could invent a plausible story.

Bipedal humanoids are easy to do, especially in a movie/tv show (Star Wars & Star Trek) which lead to lower effects & makeup costs, but in a space opera RPG you're not constrained by that and I'd be disappointed or expecting a deliberate plotline for why the galaxy is teeming with bipedal humanoid species.

Oh... and as for Mass Effect, yes the Asari are pretty cool biologically, and I dig the Taurans, and I can even more or less accept why 90% of the galaxy is bipedal and humanoid.

Warning, Spoilers for people who haven't played through Mass Effect 1:

The Reapers guide the technological growth of a species/culture by introducing them to the Mass Effect and element zero and the relay system. That way, everyone they come to conquer is very predictable. It's not infeasible that after the unknown cycles the Reapers have engaged in that sentient life tends to form along preconceived patterns as well, either as the fallout of the last culture to be eradicated or by the interference, either intentional or unintentional, of the Reapers. Perhaps in their act of destruction, they act as something of an "ancient astronaut" and seed worlds that they cleanse with errant DNA or other life forms that evolve into what is humanoid.

[Grek]

Here's the list thus far:
+Bug people.
+Lizard people.
+Aquatic people.
+Blobs.
+Robots.
+Obligate herbivore.
+Obligate carnivore.
+Giant brain.
+Hive mind.

Which is a bit too many. I would combine some:

+ One of [Crab People/Fish People] which is aquatic.
+ Lizard People or Bug People, whichever you didn't take above.
+ Slimes
+ Robots created by one of the above
+ Giant Brains that are the Hive Mind of one of the above.

[Spike]

I'm not sure I buy the obligate herbivore. At least in the terrestrial model we can observe hierarchies of general intelligence, with omnivores on top, carnivores next, and herbivores on the bottom, just above plants (which is all they really have to outsmart).

We can even explain why this is in pretty good detail.

So, while we can buy an evolved, intelligent carnivore (one step from the top tier intelligence), buying an evolved, intelligent herbivore is a little harder (two steps). Compounding it, most people what their intelligent herbivores to be SMARTER than everyone else (or, at least, wiser), as they certainly have less reason to be meaner...

[CatharzGodfoot]

Here's the list thus far:
+Bug people.
+Lizard people.
+Aquatic people.
+Blobs.
+Robots.
+Obligate herbivore.
+Obligate carnivore.
+Giant brain.
+Hive mind.

Which is a bit too many. I would combine some:

+ One of [Crab People/Fish People] which is aquatic.
+ Lizard People or Bug People, whichever you didn't take above.
+ Slimes
+ Robots created by one of the above
+ Giant Brains that are the Hive Mind of one of the above.

Blobs can be hive minds. Alternatively, an engineered cyborg plant species like Brin's traeki is a sort of hive mind...

Lizard people would be fine obligate carnivores. Bug people would make fine obligate herbivores.

Gas-giant dwellers might be as comfortable in aquatic environments (on life support) as terrestrial environments (on life support).

And what's with the "giant brain"?


Finally, the idea of "too many" species in a space opera is ludicrous.

[TheFlatline]

Here's the list thus far:
+Bug people.
+Lizard people.
+Aquatic people.
+Blobs.
+Robots.
+Obligate herbivore.
+Obligate carnivore.
+Giant brain.
+Hive mind.

Which is a bit too many. I would combine some:

+ One of [Crab People/Fish People] which is aquatic.
+ Lizard People or Bug People, whichever you didn't take above.
+ Slimes
+ Robots created by one of the above
+ Giant Brains that are the Hive Mind of one of the above.

I'd say it's on the slim side actually, and your pared down list is... boring.

The very nature of space operas suggest that they should be teeming with varied alien life.

[PoliteNewb]

I'd say it's on the slim side actually, and your pared down list is... boring.

The very nature of space operas suggest that they should be teeming with varied alien life.

Yeah...my quintessential space opera is Star Wars. Basically, ever bar or spaceport should look like the Mos Eisley cantina. And yeah, since coming up with unusual and unique aliens can be tricky sometimes, it doesn't matter if most of the varied aliens are basically forehead/pointy ears aliens. Just so long as any crowd is probably going to include some weird funky guys, including some you might not immediately recognize as people.

You shouldn't have "bug people"...you should have several kinds of bug people. If you tell Star Patrol that "a bug man robbed me", he should give you a lineup with a Vrusk, a Thri-kreen, a Locrian, and Bug from the Micronauts.

[Cynic]

I like the idea of Slow or Fast creatures. That is creatures that interact with time easily. Slow creatures may take millenia (Nasqueron Dwellers) or Fast creatures that act faster than we do.

The idea of how this would work in scifi rp worlds is another ball game altogether.