"In Space Opera or Science Fantasy aliens" Topic

Would you choose an alien race if there were no real +/- bonus?

Just a superficial choice…human or "insert"

8' but skinny and same strength as human range
deep green/red/blue/yellow/etc. skin
antennas (weak ears but antenna compensate)
big eyes (human standard reverse, strong night vision weak day vision)
etc.

Basically the Star Trek/Roddenberry forehead alien rule of thumb…be as weird as you like but have a clear view of the eyes or the audience will not connect with the character.

So your choice is same stats range but the form can be modified…within a humans being 50/50 of common population…everyone has a vote and there is no more or less prejudice for being human, mutant, or alien…which would you choose?

Certainly no right or wrong here.

I find this sort of canvas rather interesting as a whole. That some players gravitate one way or another for various reasons, those factors are intriguing to me.

Thanks for playing along.

Please feel free to include a pic of the alien/mutant/etc. that draws your consideration if you lean that way :)

Perhaps, for a change of pace.

Depends on the aesthetic. If that species is interesting looking, or has cool or impressive looking ships/AFVs, then I might play it regardless.

In existing SF canon, I usually play Klingons or Romulans. The former for the direct approach to warfare, the latter for byzantine plotting before waging war.

I don't subscribe to the "forehead appliance" view of aliens. I like my aliens bizarre… the harder it is for me to wrap my head around them, the more likely I am to play them.

Oh I am with you my bizarre brother from another weird mother (no insult it just rhymed :)

Really strange is loads of fun…for this example you could look like anything you would like…the stats would stay within human ranges of high and low…go for it.

:)

As long as the culture, society and tech was equally as alien.

hmmm I suspect as the setting is 50/50 human standard, not so weird or alien :)

No, but then I always prefer humans even if they have the worse stats.
BUT if there were aliens in my games I would have no issue with stat neutral aliens being in it.

Well I tend to play humans as i don't think the vast range of the 'human alien' has been fully explored yet in SF. But I would definitely have a crack at playing an alien if the motivations interested me. The +/- of game mechanics are completely irrellevent.

"The +/- of game mechanics are completely irrelevant"

We are of like minds…though I suspect we are in a small club indeed.

But nobody wants to play an amorphous blob of luminous green goo that breathes ammonia and communicates via gas excretion….!!!

…Or do they?

But what about the amorphous blob of luminous green (or blue) goo that breathes standard air?

Well, that's alright then…
But don't blame me when the bad guys shoot him/it first…

After Jar Jar Binks, of course.

Yes, all rules should make Jar Jars priority targets, along with Ewoks too. Not sure which is worse.

Perhaps targeting the closest ones should be best, to ensure the greater likelihood of hits.

At least the Ewoks stayed on their planet…me'sa tinksa do E'woksa isa bunerfuls!

lol

If I was feilding a space pirate force, then yes I think it would be cool to mix aliens in with my force. I wouldn't for a regular army coz it would look funny on the table, but for star wars type rebels it would be perfect to mix spiecies.

Makes sense for regular army types.

How about an Alien Legion unit?

There are humans and aliens together…

How about this guy? Do anything for you?

That pseudo-arachind is certainly interesting (even though it's apparently from Star Wars, the second worst offender in the "lame aliens" contest after Star Trek) and would work for a low gravity world alien.

I don't mind too much that alien breathes the same air or eats the same food as humans even if it is apparently a product of a very different evolutionary path on a very different world. I can suspend my disbelief on those issues. And in a pinch I'll just claim the aliens have been phenotyped or fitted with nanite life support packages so they can do that.

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As to the OP I don't think I understood the question, really. But assuming I did, a "wringly forehead alien" the same size as a human, having one head, two legs and two arms and using exactly the same tech as humans isn't my cuppa. I suppose there's no reason to assume an interesting miniature could be made for such, I have plenty of just plain ole human miniatures after all. I just would not like to treat it as an alien but rather as a phenotyped human.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go paint some of my Eldar q-:)

I just wrote on this in the Star Wars thread….

Humanoid Aliens are just different expressions of a precursor races genes in different planetary regimes…

I had the idea once that all the alien races encountered are hybrids of humanoids and and the really bizarre non humans, that's why they can live in human type atmospheres etc. it would be a way for an advanced race to colonise other worlds by sending thier hybrid vassals to go where they could not.