Alien constuction guidelines

[Kpeterson]

Pardon me if this has already been asked, but will T20 have guidelines for creating alien races apart from the Traveller canon?

I'm planning on porting a few alien races from a different SF game over to my (planned) T20 campaign, and I'm curious to know how easy this task will be.

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by Kpeterson:
Pardon me if this has already been asked, but will T20 have guidelines for creating alien races apart from the Traveller canon?

I'm planning on porting a few alien races from a different SF game over to my (planned) T20 campaign, and I'm curious to know how easy this task will be.

No not really though that would make a very cool supplement of its own!

Hunter

 

[tjoneslo]

Depends upon what you mean.

Since T20 is D20, all creatures created for the D20 system can, in theory, be imported to T20 with (almost) no changes.

In the last playtest draft there were the create Animal Encounter table system, adapted from CT Book 3 to generate D20 creatures. So if you could roll the creature up on those tables, you can call it an alien race and use it directly.

If I can interpret, the real question you are asking is "What are the guidelines for fitting [Creature x] into the Traveller universe?". Which is a harder question to answer clearly.

* If the creature requires magic, or uses magic, it won't fit.
* If the creature requires or uses psionics, it won't fit.
* You need to think more about the envornment in which the creature lives, what it eats, and how it reproduces. For intelligent creatures, be very aware of their social interaction. Loner creatures do not build great civilizations. Xenophobic creatures tend to be isolated. Psychotic races would either kill each other off or get themselves killed off.

My experience with creating alien races for Traveller, and watching other do so, that there is a huge range of possiblities, but the Traveller universe "Hard Space Opera" places some (apparently random) restrictions on what can be done.

The last point would be: Try to maintain the canon distribution of alien races. There should be about one Minor Human Race and two or three alien races per sector. Both the Spinward Marches and Ley sector (at last count) were over this limit, so you may want to try and spread your's thinner.

If you don't mind constructive criticism, post a few general ideas and we'll offer some suggestions.

 

[Kpeterson]

I wasn't speaking so much of taking "creatures" from D20 and thrusting them into T20. (I have no plans to include Bugbears, Beholders, or Banthas in my T20 campaign

). What I'm referring to is taking alien races from other SF rpgs and including them in my Traveller universe.

For example:
I'm quite a fan of the old TSR, space opera Rpg, Star Frontiers. It was my first introduction to SF Rpgs and, though it had some major flaws, left quite an impression in me.
In my upcoming T20 campaign, I want to create rules for generating Dralasites. (Check out this webpage for more details: http://www.blacklagoon.net/starfront/Database/dralasite.htm ).

Or, another example:
I'm somewhat intrigued by the plant alien race shown in the Farscape television show. That might be another considered inclusion in my campaign.

What I'm looking for are ways to detail these races in a way similar to the standard Traveller alien races. (Vargr, K'Kree, etc.). Make them major alien races with space travel technology. Take their characteristics and define them in game terms. (Dralasites elasticity, for instance). I don't merely want to create minor Alien races described in terms of ecological niche.

 

[tjoneslo]

Sorry, I forgot rule 1. Canon is for writers, in your traveller universe you can do whatever you like.

The description you posted for the Dralasites is about as much information as was originally written about most of the Traveller races. I don't see anything overwhelmingly wrong with them, use as written. Were you going to submit this for an official publication and I were to playtest it, I might have a few comments.

But if you like an alien creature, stick them on in your campaign.

The other half of your request, converting game stats would be like any other conversion to D20. Elasticity should allow DEX/2 limbs. I'd have to check sources but I believe there is already a feat which duplicated the Detect Lie ability.

 

[T. Foster]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
The last point would be: Try to maintain the canon distribution of alien races. There should be about one Minor Human Race and two or three alien races per sector. Both the Spinward Marches and Ley sector (at last count) were over this limit, so you may want to try and spread your's thinner.

Are those numbers official/canonical? Because the rule of thumb I remember Marc Miller mentioning (either on the TML or in the early days of these boards) was approximately one intelligent minor race (non-human) per subsector, noting that most minor races are very limited in distribution and rarely/never encountered more than 5-10pc from their homeworld.

While I admit that sounds like an awful lot of intelligent alien races, it does better fit the example of something like The Traveller Adventure which, under your numbers, singlehandedly fills the alien quota for the entire Spinward Marches sector.

 

[tjoneslo]

Originally posted by T. Foster:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by tjoneslo:
The last point would be: Try to maintain the canon distribution of alien races. There should be about one Minor Human Race and two or three alien races per sector. Both the Spinward Marches and Ley sector (at last count) were over this limit, so you may want to try and spread your's thinner.

Are those numbers official/canonical? Because the rule of thumb I remember Marc Miller mentioning (either on the TML or in the early days of these boards) was approximately one intelligent minor race (non-human) per subsector, noting that most minor races are very limited in distribution and rarely/never encountered more than 5-10pc from their homeworld.

While I admit that sounds like an awful lot of intelligent alien races, it does better fit the example of something like The Traveller Adventure which, under your numbers, singlehandedly fills the alien quota for the entire Spinward Marches sector.</font>[/QUOTE]The are as official as anything I've ever seen, but don't have the sources to quote.

The MT rules established there are 49 surviving Minor Human Races. Given the area over which the Ancients traveled, a random scattering gives about 1 per sector. Obviously, the MHRs are not randomly scattered but it gives a good rule of thumb to get writers not to add a dozen to a small cluster.

I'd not seen the 1 alien race per subsector figure before. I believe the number comes from a similar offhand comment about there being around 100 alien races within the Charted space, divided by the 128 sectors in Charted space gives 1 or 2 per sector. 100 races in the Imperium gives 9 per sector. (I can't remember if the number is for the Charter or Imperial space)

IMTU prefer the lower number as it makes the races more unique. If you prefer the Star Wars cantina style, use the higher numbers. But I wouldn't go any higher than 1 per subsector.

The Spinward Marches is not a good sector to treat as "Average" in this regard.

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

*snort*

All of a sudden I'm imagining Beholders and Illithids in T20. *That* could be amusing -especially if you throw in some oversized rodents too

 

[justacaveman]

There is a D20 Farscape RPG out now. It's put out by AEG. You should be able to convert the races to T20 with only a little effort.

 

[tjoneslo]

Originally posted by Evil Dr Ganymede:
*snort*

All of a sudden I'm imagining Beholders and Illithids in T20. *That* could be amusing -especially if you throw in some oversized rodents too

Well, most Imperal citizens would the difference between an Illithid and a Zhodani noble to be pretty mininal.

 

[GypsyComet]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
Well, most Imperal citizens would the difference between an Illithid and a Zhodani noble to be pretty mininal.

depends on whether or not the turban includes a facial scarf...

I'd be much more inclined to transfer the Neogi, actually, and if Moon Rats aren't a Solomani genetics experiment gone terribly wrong...

I'm also dragging GW's Kroot into Daibei sector, now named the Tekot (and placed on Teko/Narya/Daibei), though without some of the race's more "charming" characteristics...

There are LOTS of races already in the Traveller universe, though, so I expect to have a fun time just converting the ones I'm likely to need...

 

[EvilDrGanymede]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
Well, most Imperal citizens would the difference between an Illithid and a Zhodani noble to be pretty mininal.

Hey, maybe we can explain a Contragrav drive in Trav too - it's obviously a Beholder-In-A-Box! Though if that's true I'd hate to be the engineer that has to get more juice out of it.