More Than Just A Furry Suit

[kurtis]

Okay, a neat (and for me, timely) subthread has broken out on the Is Known Space too big...? thread about Traveller's furry suit du jour aliens. I think this topic deserves it's own thread.

Here is some recent thought I've put into making vargr (for example) a bit more alien. I like to use ideas from some of my favorite SF authors IMTU. One of these authors, C.J. Cherryh, has a distinct knack for making her alien races really pop. (Cue Emeril: "kicking up another notch, BAM!" )

In the case of her Foreigner series, I think atevi psychology makes a great reinvention of vargr racial society. While some of the cultural trappings might not fit (kabui might work better for the aslan or vilani), the whole concept of man'chi makes a rich, complex reinterpretation of charisma. I think many elements of atevi politics and society (the various guilds, associations, etc.) would fit well in the vargr racial envelope. Imagine a large vargr state bordering the Imperium patterned after the Western Association.

This kind of thinking gives me huge hooks I can use to really get a handle on how a race like the vargr can function IMTU.

If you haven't read this particular series, consider this a recommendation.

The atevi are a species whose loyalties center on individuals, not geographical borders, and whose laws sanction registered assassination as a means to keep the peace. They do not experience the same emotions as humans. They are of a species "which has fourteen words for betrayal and not a single word for love".

EDIT: sorry - wrong thread, corrected.

 

[Malenfant]

Well, the thing with Vargr is that they're evolved from terran canines. We know how terran canines act. A rapid uplift isn't going to do away with millions of years of evolution, any more than our relatively rapid rise to intelligence does away with our primate origins.

So Vargr shouldn't be THAT unfamiliar to humans. Now, Aslan or any other race that is not terran in origin might certainly have completely different social wiring.

 

[Spinward Scout]

That's one of the reasons I liked the Llellewyloly so much. Not just a guy in a suit.

Dameon

 

[Whipsnade]

Originally posted by Sir Dameon Toth:
That's one of the reasons I liked the Llellewyloly so much. Not just a guy in a suit.

Dameon,

The Llellewyloly work as aliens because Traveller never treated them as potential PCs/NPCs. There is no Llellewyloly chargen, no guide to playing the Llellewyloly for RPGers, none of that. Just a few sentences regarding Llellewyloly behavior for the GM.

The Llellewyloly are an 'event' and not a 'NPC/PC'. That makes them alien.


Have fun,
Bill

 

[mike wightman]

I remember reading C.J Cherry's Chanur novels years ago and thinking that the Hani were a lot like Aslan and the Kif very Vargr like.

 

[Scarecrow]

I have a love/hate relationship with anthro-aliens and bumpy forehead aliens in general. I hate them because they are just, literally, guys in suits. At the same time they're much easier to relate to than something truly alien.
I've never fancied playing a Hiver or indeed I never considered playing a pentapod in 2300. They're just too alien.
The Vargr, as much as I do actually like them, are the worst offenders. At least the Aslan only look like big cats. The Vargr are quite literally just anthro dogs and the fact that this was explained by having their ancestors taken from Earth just digs the hole deeper IMO, so I welcome anything that will make them a little less 'guy in a suit'.

Crow

EDIT: I see that this opinion has allready been done to death in the other thread. Apologies!

 

[mike wightman]

For more event like aliens like Bill describes you could look outside of Traveller.

Start with the T2300 aliens - there's one race in particular that are very different, the Pentapod.

You can also look outside of the sci-fi genre altogether - there are several monsters in D&D which would make for good alien encounters, and then there is the best source of alien-ness, IMHO, Call of Cthulhu.

Take out the cultists, magic, and sanity loss, and many of the Lovecraftian horrors make for interesting aliens.

 

[Scarecrow]

There are actually some nice aliens in Fading Suns too.

Crow

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

I wonder if our fascination with aliens is just another way for us to try and answer the question of, "What does it mean to be human?" One of the reasons some aliens really work for people is that they show just a purified slice of a particular personality trait or psychological profile - or even a combination of a few - that we don't normally see in our mainstream western culture. So the aliens are a way for us to explore the 'humanity' of different extremes of behavior.

If what I just typed doesn't make any sense, its OK, I'm pretty sleep-deprived at the moment.

 

[daryen]

Originally posted by Scarecrow:
The Vargr, as much as I do actually like them, are the worst offenders. At least the Aslan only look like big cats. The Vargr are quite literally just anthro dogs and the fact that this was explained by having their ancestors taken from Earth just digs the hole deeper IMO, so I welcome anything that will make them a little less 'guy in a suit'.

Actually, I hold the reverse opinion on this.

I have no problem with the Vargr looking like wolf-men because the are wolfmen. So, while they are anthropomorphic dogs, that is built into their description, and they are such unapologetically.

The Aslan, on the other hand, try so desparately to not be lion-men despite the fact that that is what they are. There is a level of denial there that I find unpalatible.

So, if you are going to include anthropomorphic animals, at least be honest and say they are such. The Vargr do this; the Aslan don't.

 

[kafka47]

Aliens, also give us a chance to know that we are no longer in Kansas. They give a chance for a mystery or behavoir that cannot be normally explained. For instance, the Aslan sense of honor that I explored in the adventure on this board. It had the elements of a springboard of changing perceptions.

Aliens are also very effective Ref's devices to withhold information from PCs, as Alien thought patterns are usually that - alien.

Lastly, whilst, do agree with Jeff that they allow a pure "strain" to be explored they also allow a multiplicity of viewpoints to be explored. For instance, the Aslan are so much modeled on Japanese culture but as Japanese culture has gone through many different phases and periods, it allows for multiple interpetations of Aslan culture as it is encountered on countless worlds.

 

[Scarecrow]

Originally posted by kafka47:
Aliens, also give us a chance to know that we are no longer in Kansas.

Oh, I don't know. Have you ever been to Kansas?

Crow
(who will no longer be able to go to Kansas)

 

[flykiller]

The Vargr are quite literally just anthro dogs ....

no, they're not. they're dogs. dogs with intelligence artificially superimposed upon them, but dogs nonetheless. but no-one seems to run them that way. everyone talks about charisma and runs vargr as if they're slightly looopy, but what about territoriality, submission, roving pack behavior, and chasing chickens?

a vargr, run as a smart dog with its own history and culture, would be very alien but still might be accessible to a human.

 

[kafka47]

Also remember that the ancestor of the Vargr was the wolf, not, canine familais. Therefore, they might look like our household pooch, their behavoir is bound to be alien. Even our household pooch can display a wide range of behavoirs and actions depending upon the breed...now, give Fido intelligence and hence the ability to sustain a culture...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Well, give them intelligence and thumbs....

Could you successfully destroy a military charge of Vargr by flushing loads of gamebirds across their AoA?

 

[kafka47]

Presumably the Ancients would also work to eliminate some of those traits much as you and don't go Ape crazy when we see bananas, or at least, I know that I don't.

Whilst, delving into quasi-forbidden canon here, DGP postulated a great number of Vargr subraces.

I wonder how much the Vargr are responsible for geneering themselves once they achieved the right Tech Level. Just as the K'kree were determined to weed out those characteristics that made them weaker in the eyes of the other races. Now, if the Vargr united several different of the subraces that Dogs & Cogs mentions and perfects the super-Vargr...

Which I have always assumed to be embodied in the group of Corsairs that were after the March Harrier (otherwise, why would GDW pay so much attention to them).

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Actually, my least smart-aleck question concerning Vargr has always been: Do they sweat? If not, panting could be a hindrance inside a spacesuit - fogging up a faceplate much more quickly than sweating + normal breathing. Of course, designing the rest of the garment would be simplified by not requiring moisture absorbent materials as an undergarment....
(And, no, I don't have any of the Alien Modules; and I haven't read the JTAS article very closely, yet.)

 

[Vargas]

Originally posted by flykiller:
no, they're not. they're dogs. dogs with intelligence artificially superimposed upon them, but dogs nonetheless. but no-one seems to run them that way. everyone talks about charisma and runs vargr as if they're slightly looopy, but what about territoriality, submission, roving pack behavior, and chasing chickens?

Actually this was one of the things DGP got right, it emphasized the pack nature still resident in them. Well, GDW got it right too if memory serves . . .

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Has anyone ever had a vargr meet up with a dog in game? How did they react to each other?


For that matter, how do you think a Zhodani would react to the anime/manga Akira?

 

[mike wightman]

I found that once I started describing angry Vargr as like crinos form werewolves they earned a lot more respect from the players - especially if they (the vargr) were wearing cloth armour and carrying gauss rifles...

In fact, I've used a lot from White Wolf's Werewolf game to flesh out the Vargr. Packs, tribes, etc. all fit IMHO.