• Welcome to the new COTI server. We've moved the Citizens to a new server. Please let us know in the COTI Website issue forum if you find any problems.

Alien Sex and Reproduction in Traveller 5

Well I pretty much use the Star Trek approach, if it looks humanoid in build most likely they can play with each other. Now weather they can actually mate and produce children, then that is a whole other matter.

I will say this, in my 37 years of RPGing and 25+ yrs of GMing I think I can count on One hand and using one finger how many times mating has ever come up in a game setting. Now the player that brought it up was a Social Pig in real life, so that would explain that!!!

I noticed at the local game stores the only ones bringing it up in their game sessions were kids between about age 12 and 16. Lots of giggling and saying things in an attempt to get a rise out of the gamers at the other tables.

Those of us gamers over 21 years of age never brought it up in a game session.
 
I noticed at the local game stores the only ones bringing it up in their game sessions were kids between about age 12 and 16. Lots of giggling and saying things in an attempt to get a rise out of the gamers at the other tables.

Those of us gamers over 21 years of age never brought it up in a game session.

Thank you! It's a relief to me to see there are sane and mature people still on this thread.
 
Sure, but a PG rating means "cut to the female brushing her hair and Kirk putting his boots back on".

I would seriously like to thank both of you for these two posts. The Trope is one thing but much of this thread was way beyond appropriate.

It could have, and should have, stayed within the PG bounds.

Actually PG means: "Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content might upset younger or more sensitive children."

- Source: British Board of Film Classification

It goes on to say: "No theme is prohibited at PG, as long as it is treated in a manner appropriate to the category. PG works can explore challenging issues such as domestic violence, bereavement or racism."

and: "References to sex are acceptable if the activity talked about or shown is implied and lacking in detail. In addition, if a child is unlikely to understand a reference, we may allow it at PG. Comedy can also often lessen the impact of sex references and innuendo.

Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same – so there could be mild or undetailed references to gay or straight sex at PG."

I haven't seen any detailed discussion of coitus or anything other than discussion about what the new genetics rules suggest about relationships between different alien races.

We can discuss alien biology but not emotional or physical attraction? I'm not sure we're all on the same page as to what PG means. Can we have some moderator guidance please?
 
"Are you suggesting that a group made up entirely of females will... breed?"
-Henry Wu
Jurassic Park

(Sorry, just watched the 3D a couple days ago. :p)

Breed, no. :nonono:
The table is set-up like a reaction table but on a more "basic" level attractiveness to the opposite sex of both there species and 'others'. There is also how a world's government/society would react based on Gov type & law level.
The group in question is a merchant crew and I just wanted to figure out a way for interactions with NPCs especially passengers stuck on board for a week, or dealing with that official you need to use skills like carouse, persuade or bribe. Or even how you could interact with patrons & contacts. :file_23:

As for producing offspring, IMTU anything is possible naturally given time, determination and frequency. T5 just gives a more coherent result. :D
 
Actually PG means: "Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children. A PG film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content might upset younger or more sensitive children."

- Source: British Board of Film Classification

It goes on to say: "No theme is prohibited at PG, as long as it is treated in a manner appropriate to the category. PG works can explore challenging issues such as domestic violence, bereavement or racism."

and: "References to sex are acceptable if the activity talked about or shown is implied and lacking in detail. In addition, if a child is unlikely to understand a reference, we may allow it at PG. Comedy can also often lessen the impact of sex references and innuendo.

Heterosexual and homosexual sex and sex references are treated the same – so there could be mild or undetailed references to gay or straight sex at PG."

I haven't seen any detailed discussion of coitus or anything other than discussion about what the new genetics rules suggest about relationships between different alien races.

We can discuss alien biology but not emotional or physical attraction? I'm not sure we're all on the same page as to what PG means. Can we have some moderator guidance please?

The board is US based. PG in the US is MUCH lower than in the UK system.

MPAA said:
PG — Parental Guidance Suggested. Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children. A PG-rated motion picture should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates, in the view of the Rating Board, that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision. The more mature themes in some PG-rated motion pictures may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated motion picture.

The F-word usually rules out PG, tho' a variety of mild profanity if used rarely and in a dramatically appropriate manner can slide at present. Sex is off-screen, and sexual humor is usually absent. Nudity must be brief and no frontal nudity.
 
Okay, thanks Aramis. That answers something for me. The fact that sexual humor is absent from the US PG rating is what was confusing me as a European. Most of the references in the thread have struck me as wry, humorous or innuendo bordering on crude but I found nothing actually offensive.

Perhaps you'd consider discussing putting a note on PG rating and constraining sexual humor in the Imperial Law (Board Rules) section, with the other mods? The only guidance in this area concerns inappropriate images.

And my Vilani Book of Blue Jokes will now be published as the Vilani Book of Blue Files and Accountancy Practice. :)
 
Which ones of us are calling insane and immature? And why?

Possibly a poor phrasing on my part. Didn't apply to you. If I were to answer this question I'd for sure violate CotI board rules though wouldn't I?

The phrasing wasn't intended as a "back hand" insult to anyone. Simply a complement to those who wrote back and I posted their quotes.
 
And, it should be noted, is almost never granted anymore. The slightly more permissive PG-13 all but killed off the original PG.

There have been several PG movies in the last year alone. ALmost no adults go watch them...

Sexual humor is usually enough for an R , tho' I've seen low amounts in PG13.
 
Not to get too off topic, but it's been one of my causes for re-entering the film industry. After the corporations bought out the major studios in the 70s you still had a plethora of G-rated and PG-rated films that all ages could enjoy, and they weren't strictly family fare either. They were adult films about relationships, politics, personal issues without any swearing or sex. Some of them were boring as hell, but others, dramas and comedies, were excellent or at the very least, quite good. That was in addition to all of the R-rated stuff being produced.

Now G-rated or PG-rated films are strictly meant for kids, and that mainstream adult audience that used to get packed into movie houses (professionals between 25 and 50) are now all but vanished because of the quality of films and the film going experience.

On alien sex; I think I've heard mention that Marc Miller wanted to get Traveller away from sex and violence in his game. Me, using sex (even inter-species relationships) seems to be reaching for something to spice up an otherwise mundane story; i.e. add sex because we've explored everything else.

If sex is your thing, then go for it. Me, I prefer to write stories and adventures that deal with adventuring.

As far as alien mating habits go...hell, I don't know. Do the Virushi do somekind of ceremonial dance before the honeymoon? Are Vargr like their ancestral progenitors back on Earth and just have at it out in the street when the "urge arises"? Do the K'Kree massacre a bunch of meat eaters before nuptials? Do Hivers...heck, I can't even imagine what they do. Bwaps, Vegans, some of those crazy whacked out races from TNE/T4?

I don't know, and really don't care much.

I can see an adventure where the players have to stop a wedding, and there this topic might come into play. Beyond that, unless you have some evil scientists type splicing DNA together to make monstor-soldiers or something crazy like that, I don't see this as being very pertinent to sci-fi in general.

However, if you do like this topic, then one anime film comes to mind; "Dirty Pair; Affair on Nolandia". It's got some of the issues in this thread in that film. Be warned, it's an R-rated viewing experience. The Gall Force anime series deals with
Spoiler:
Solenoids (female hottie soldiers) fighting against the Paranoids (shapeless "male" aliens who can take any form), and how the two species merge to form the human race (sorry for the spoilers).
There's a couple of other films out there.

Okay, now I'm really done with this topic.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thank you! It's a relief to me to see there are sane and mature people still on this thread.

Well, I'm not sure that precisely defines me... but I can do and say what is appropriate. I had a very strict upbringing, not just my parents but the area as well. I prefer to speak the way others do in the location they do. i.e. I can talk gaming or make a very vague attempt to talk about quantum mechanics. But if someone wants to talk about string theory and the origin of universes, I'm lost.

For my game sessions in AD&D, sex never came up. Most of my players were not interested in discussing it. They wanted dungeon crawls, or going after liches, dragons, protecting a village, etc. Magic items and gold pieces entered into it as well.
 
There have been several PG movies in the last year alone. ALmost no adults go watch them...

Sexual humor is usually enough for an R , tho' I've seen low amounts in PG13.
Heh, the last movie I saw was Monsters University [rated G], and before that Brave, The Lorax and Wreck-It-Ralph [all PG] ... the joy of having a 7 year old daughter. :)

My only point was to indicate some recent PG movies to give a sense of where the line is drawn for PG. ;)
 
Well to list some quality PG movies I'd put these out there:
The Last Starfighter
Enemy Mine
Original Star Wars trilogy
Explorers
Flight of the navigator

Now there's some movie that kids should grow up on. :)
 
How very 80's of you.

My kids love the 70's BSG, Buck Rogers, and the 70's/80's Star Wars, plus ST:TOS, and The Last Starfighter. Tron, too.

Good storytelling remains good storytelling forever.

Heck, they even like Space Precinct - despite the cheesey non-flight FX...

All are excellent storytelling, despite the primitive graphics.
 
My kids love the 70's BSG, Buck Rogers, and the 70's/80's Star Wars, plus ST:TOS, and The Last Starfighter. Tron, too.

Good storytelling remains good storytelling forever.

Heck, they even like Space Precinct - despite the cheesey non-flight FX...

All are excellent storytelling, despite the primitive graphics.

Preaching to the choir Aramis :)
 
Note that the PG-13 rating was invented in 1984, and it took several years for the exact meaning of the rating to stabilize (if indeed it has). For instance, if The Last Starfighter were released today it would almost certainly be PG-13.

The relationship between ratings and target audiences has gotten strong enough that scripts are deliberately altered to hit the desired rating, regardless of whether or not the changes are necessarily appropriate to the story. A number of R-rated features are only so because the studio wished to draw the 20- and 30-something crowds who would not be as likely to see a PG-13 film. Likewise, a PG rating causes some people to assume that the movie is "for kids," so some swearwords might be added to boost it to a PG-13 rating that is thought to draw more teenagers.

Obviously, that's not what the ratings system is for, and there are certainly quite a few people, myself among them, who wish that movie makers would default to lower ratings instead of higher ones (did Jerry Maguire really need to be rated R? Cut a couple of scenes differently, and it's easily PG-13.)

Anyway, back to the actual topic: I generally prefer to skirt the topic of sex in my games. I did have one player who insisted on an unusual hybrid character in a fantasy setting (troll/elf), but beyond the backstory of how the character came to be it didn't figure into the game at all. However, that event does tell me that some rules regarding hybrid characters would have been useful to me at least once.

In the event that a romance (interspecies or not) seems to be heading toward an inevitable conclusion, my policy is to "fade to black" and pick things up the next day, preferably after breakfast. I have never yet needed to exercise that policy, but it's in place just in case. I used to game with some real sickos when I was a teenager, so I thought it best to be ready.

I have been considering running a Dr. Moreau scenario, and obviously geneering would be involved there, but it would definitely be a sterile, scientific treatment of the topic rather than a salacious one. I will almost certainly leave the matter of how the hybrids will get along in the greater universe as a post-game talking point rather than fully exploring it at the table.
 
Back
Top