M1900: Five Sophonts in Three Pages

[Magnus von Thornwood]

My dear fellow...

I looked it up and found them. I never paid any attention to the artwork of that or most other articles. If I did, I simply put them down as a creation of the illustrator, with no other purpose. Guess just another reason to ignore a lot of the OTU.

Look, we get it, you are not a fan of the OTU. Which is odd since you are a fellow Licensee and generally even when we are working our own little fief [m;]we do not crap in the Manor House of Our Patron.[/m;]

You do have some good stuff, timerover51, but please do not push your dislike of the OTU with such vehemence. It makes you look ungrateful to be working in any TU. You don't have to like it, but have some respect for those that do. We don't let people harp on Piper and Norton so turn about is fair play. Don't knock theirs so quick.

Thank you for your cooperation Citizen.

Laterness,
Craig,
Who is a Mod now and would rather not cite people.

But he will.

 

[robject]

I looked it up and found them. I never paid any attention to the artwork of that or most other articles. If I did, I simply put them down as a creation of the illustrator, with no other purpose. Guess just another reason to ignore a lot of the OTU.

On the contrary, this is a happy case of using previous artwork in support of future development. It wasn't planned, which is the interesting part.

In other words, art was a spur to the imagination. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Timerover51]

Look, we get it, you are not a fan of the OTU. Which is odd since you are a fellow Licensee and generally even when we are working our own little fief [m;]we do not crap in the Manor House of Our Patron.[/m;]

You do have some good stuff, timerover51, but please do not push your dislike of the OTU with such vehemence. It makes you look ungrateful to be working in any TU. You don't have to like it, but have some respect for those that do. We don't let people harp on Piper and Norton so turn about is fair play. Don't knock theirs so quick.

Thank you for your cooperation Citizen.

Laterness,
Craig,
Who is a Mod now and would rather not cite people.

But he will.

I understand the implied action. I will cease and desist with comments on the OTU. I will still say that rigid adherence to the OTU stifles, rather than encourages, imagination and creativity.

 

[savage]

Depends on the generation. I loved CT art, the OTU was interesting because of it back in the 80s. I bought some on the Ebay auctions, one was even stolen.

It's all personal taste. I was openly not fond of T4 art. Perhaps it tainted my view.


So onward,

Robject this pdf is pretty cool. A good read.

 

[savage]

One thing I thought of.
Have any of these races changes by 1900? With the complexities of the imperium
-Bwaps may become very fast technicians,
-Aslan may have adopted their culture to integrate with other culture via a complex form of acceptance,
-Dandies may learn to establish leadership through an individual to other cultures. Often mistaken as their leader this sophont is a liaison.
-Grasshoppers may like to show off their agility now in situations where they're challenged.
-Vargr may have learned...oh well ok, 4 races with changes are interesting. Right? :rofl:

 

[Condottiere]

The Vargr may have learned that cats can be both dead and alive at the same time, and asked the Aslan what Zombiesm feels like.

 

[robject]

One thing I thought of.
Have any of these races changes by 1900? With the complexities of the imperium
-Bwaps may become very fast technicians,
-Aslan may have adopted their culture to integrate with other culture via a complex form of acceptance,
-Dandies may learn to establish leadership through an individual to other cultures. Often mistaken as their leader this sophont is a liaison.
-Grasshoppers may like to show off their agility now in situations where they're challenged.
-Vargr may have learned...oh well ok, 4 races with changes are interesting. Right? :rofl:

EXCELLENT suggestions Savage. I think I should work some of your suggested cultural ideas into the doc. Especially with the Aslan and Grasshoppers. These aliens will all be first found within human culture, so that should at least be mentioned -- while they're still alien, they're living in and around human-majority worlds.

 

[savage]

EXCELLENT suggestions Savage. I think I should work some of your suggested cultural ideas into the doc. Especially with the Aslan and Grasshoppers. These aliens will all be first found within human culture, so that should at least be mentioned -- while they're still alien, they're living in and around human-majority worlds.

Exactly, can you see a Aslan teacher with a human student teaching him the "ropes of Aslan culture."

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

Cool.

I understand the implied action. I will cease and desist with comments on the OTU. I will still say that rigid adherence to the OTU stifles, rather than encourages, imagination and creativity.

Thank you.

And two, your last sentence is a valid take and possibly even true, but some folks just don't have the time, energy, creativity or desire to create their TU. Hell, I am doing it now and it turns out to very much work and little play.

I mean, in the end some dig turning out a setting of their own creation and others thankfully rather others do all the hard work. Which is good since I now make a buck at making stuff up.

 

[savage]

Thank you.

I mean, in the end some dig turning out a setting of their own creation and others thankfully rather others do all the hard work. Which is good since I now make a buck at making stuff up.

Well said Magnus.

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

whateva.

Well said Magnus.

Thank you, and I meant all that stuff I said when they gave me the badge about trying to be better and hold to a higher standard and that means more kind words and understanding and less me swing my power around.

I blame Don McKinney (especially since he's dead and can't defend himself ), he ran the T5 forum like a damned gold plated champ! I mean it's not like the Mods are a bunch of jerks (no really you just don't know and I can't say, but yeah, we try not be jerks), but he did run a beautiful ship. Miss that. So I try and use him as my model as a Mod. Be nice, be understanding that not everyone is you, a polite early warning tape is better than a citation. Stuff like that.

He was my Mod hero.

And well, I do like the Job in a way. Let's me play out my Paladin fantasy without all the danger. :devil:

So, thank you, but also thank you Citizen for being cool when you do get pulled over.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, which was why are the Dandies every damned where now? Seriously I don't recall them being that prevalent, but I ain't Hans.

 

[robject]

... rigid adherence to the OTU stifles, rather than encourages, imagination and creativity.

That depends on how one views the OTU. I view it the way an artist views his medium.

 

[mike wightman]

Paint with broad strokes, or use an abstract or impressionist style and people can interpret your work in a way that is personal to them.

Produce photorealism with all the detail and suddenly it is no longer inspiring for the imagination of others...

 

[Drakon]

I understand the implied action. I will cease and desist with comments on the OTU. I will still say that rigid adherence to the OTU stifles, rather than encourages, imagination and creativity.

I have to disagree. While working on Lemish, I find it challenging to stick within the OTU. That is part of the game, fitting my bits of "creativity" in with what is already written and built. Anyone can start with a blank canvas and set of dice. But trying to make something that coherently fits with canon is far more challenging and fun.

Yes if I had my druthers, things would be different, but also a lot more boring.

 

[Quint]

I have to disagree. While working on Lemish, I find it challenging to stick within the OTU. That is part of the game, fitting my bits of "creativity" in with what is already written and built. Anyone can start with a blank canvas and set of dice. But trying to make something that coherently fits with canon is far more challenging and fun.

Yes if I had my druthers, things would be different, but also a lot more boring.

Heck, even within MTU painting inside the lines that I've already drawn can be a challenging and enjoyable exercise. In every extended campaign for every game (canon or self-generated) I've ever run making sense of events and things in the already established context of the setting has been a spur rather than a bar to creativity.

D.

 

[robject]

And finally, it's only a constraint if you're writing something to publish.

When I'm refereeing a game, I'm all over the place, and I don't care. The players often take shocking liberties with the setting, as well -- and well they should, the game is for all of us.

 

[Vargas]

Hmm - according to a source the untitled picture on page 14 may show one...

Sounds like wishful thinking . . .

 

[robject]

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Originally Posted by mike wightman
Hmm - according to a source the untitled picture on page 14 may show one...

[/FONT]

Sounds like wishful thinking . . .

It was a happy coincidence. Marc had long envisioned the Amindii for Regina and postulated what they sorta looked like.

My Regina Trading Card says

NIL [native intelligent life] Amindii. Herbivore grazers. EAB. SDEIES: 432222. Size= 2.3 * human.

I then remarked: "I'm not sure if I want Regina overwhelmed by green-skinned, bug-eyed, slobbering alien monsters..."

To which Marc replied: "The Amindii are NOT green."

Fast forward six years:

I was reading Best of JTAS #2 and saw that image of the busy customs area of a starport. In the front are two luggage inspectors with vaguely reptilian heads and four arms. Are they Amindii?

That picture captures my idea of what goes on in a starport, and the degree of diversity in sophonts. They fit the description of Amindii.

Notice the other people in the crowd.

The bird man near the stairs (and another Amindii with all four arms folded) watching.
The guy with the wings. And another Amindii watching the crowd.
The giant to the right.

The robot.
The Aslan with a guitar case.
Someone with a fishbowl helmet.

 

[robject]

A Droyne snippet I found in the archives but had long ago forgotten. Has anyone else seen this?

Music is puzzling to Droyne; they don't understand it. But a favorite pastime is synchronized motion... complex marching patterns that cover hectares and thousands of participants at a time. Sort of like military Marching, but more akin to dancing or synchronized swimming.

 

[jcrocker]

They'd love the North Korean Mass Games then.

You know, I hear the current guy is about Droyne height...