So recently I decided to get over my fear of Savage Worlds (I think I was afraid it would replace D6 in my heart as my favourite generic rpg) and give it a whirl.
First up I am running Ultimate Star Trek online for some friends all around the world. That should be a fun time.
I am also very interested in doing a "generic" sci-fi setting using D6, but every time I decide which one I want to run, I get bogged down in minutiae of the various settings (Traveller, Star Frontiers, Shatterzone, etc...) and then there is all the cool stuff I have seen over the years in various sci-fi films.
So much like my amalgamated fantasy setting (more on that is another post) I am going to cobble together an "any thing goes" sci-fi setting. I will use Dralasites (Star Frontiers), Vargar (Traveller), Elerians (Masters of Orion), etc...
Part of me thinks I should avoid any aliens from TV shows or films, as they are too instantly recognizable. I mean if I say Klingon, or Rodian, or even Centauri, you immediately fill you head with a number of ideas about what you know about these races. Now if I say Zhondani, or Yazirian or Slirdarian unless you know the source material, you don't have a mass media vision of them.
Now that does limit me to lose some of the cooler exotice races from say Star Wars like the Ithorians or the Rodians, or say the Andorians from Star Trek. Still I can always find "serial numbers" filed off on them, or just use them and not worry about it.
What do you think?
Should I use Klingons and Vulcans and such things? Or should I stick to my thoughts about using NONE of these televised/filmed aliens?
Either way, more to come.
Cheers!
Honestly? I've been having fun taking aliens that are randomly generated using Star Cluster 3, while I love Star Frontiers and some of Traveller's races, I just think its neat to see what crazy things a random universe might turn out.
ReplyDeleteYou might find a similar system and try new aliens completely randomly generated...:D
Neat idea, and what is Star Cluster 3? This concept also completely defeats the purpose of me having to do a bunch of work ;)
ReplyDeleteStar cluster 3 is clash Bowley sf RPG under Flying mice Games. It uses a lot of his ideas from previous editions plus a lot of do it yourself stuff. It is pretty simple and has plug and play rulesets for handling things. Several rule systems in fact. The alien gen stuff is a couple if charts but it returns some strange and near aliens rapidly. I'll link ya when I can
ReplyDeleteWeb page:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flyingmice.com/starcluster3.html
PDF: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/84274/Starcluster-3---Standard-Edition
(It is also available on Lulu.)
It has rules for rolling up diet, size, tegument (body covering), manipulative limbs, movement limbs, aging cycle, sexes, sensory abilities, then it has this whole write up for doing their psychology--how curious they are, etc etc etc.
I say go with your own imagination. There is nothing wrong with gaining inspiration from a variety of sources, but it is how you use said inspiration that will get you where you want to be
ReplyDelete