OTU races in ATUs

[BwapTED]

Which, if any, OTU races do you use or would you use IYTU?

• Hivers

I'm not sure. I own the book in PDF format but I haven't read it front to back and I don't have a strong grasp on this race.

• Droyne

ditto

• Vargr

They could be adapted or reskinned (I've posted a couple of reskins).

• Aslan

Easy to adapt but I'm not sold on the race.

• Solomani, Zhodani, Daryen

Too connected with OTU history for me to use without major changes to background, but they all look fun.

 

[BeRKA]

I wrote something about this:
http://zho.berka.com/2015/02/11/the-major-races-in-an-atu-setting/

 

[Fovean]

I’m currently building a campaign area spin/rim ward of Earth using Vargr, Ursa and Aslan, uplifts from Terra long, long ago (campaign secret) and coming from/residing in their respective constellations : Lupus, Ursa Major, and Leo.

Also using Bwaps as a minor race.

Using Mongoose 2e but with the 1e sourcebooks for Vargr and Aslan, with reference to the old CT sources as well. I have an old GURPS book describing Bwaps and the Ursa I’m building from scratch since I don’t have the T20 material.

 

[BwapTED]

I wrote something about this:
http://zho.berka.com/2015/02/11/the-major-races-in-an-atu-setting/

Aha, I've seen that!

:ssb:

 

[BwapTED]

I’m currently building a campaign area spin/rim ward of Earth using Vargr, Ursa and Aslan, uplifts from Terra long, long ago (campaign secret) and coming from/residing in their respective constellations : Lupus, Ursa Major, and Leo.

Also using Bwaps as a minor race.

Using Mongoose 2e but with the 1e sourcebooks for Vargr and Aslan, with reference to the old CT sources as well. I have an old GURPS book describing Bwaps and the Ursa I’m building from scratch since I don’t have the T20 material.

Bwapppaparapppabuhwappaaa!

credit to a dude on RPG.net whose name I haven't got right now.

 

[RandyB]

Not a fan of any of the Traveller aliens, to be honest. I'm more apt to port aliens from other sources *coughfasatrekorionscough* into my ATU.

 

[nobby-w]

My TU isn't exactly an ATU - it's set around the Daibei and Reaver's deep around 2780 AD as the rule of man is going tits up. The region has some Aslan presence as the two major clans with jump drive tech have established some colonial presence in the spinward/rimward parts of the region.

The Saie have some presence in the spinward parts of the sector, with some backstory about naturally occuring high-quality zuchai crystals in their home system. At the time of the campaign, there has been a major bio-disaster on their homeworld, leaving a population in the 10's of millions in asteroid and off-world colonies. They are building spacecraft to bring in revenue through trade.

Vilani establishment view the Terrans as little more than an invading barbarian horde (in much the same way, perhaps that the Mongols were viewed in the Golden Horde).

There are one or two droyne worlds in the region, and perhaps one or two other minor races with significant representation.

The region is a mecca for exiles and others looking to get away from Terran or Vilani rule, as most of it is out of the direct control of the Rule of Man. Some small Vargr presence might also be found here, formed of exiles fleeing political shenanigans in the extents. This would be little more than a few isolated settlements.

The single most wealthy world in the deep is Drexilar, home to the Drex, Ilthari and Tring. These are minor human races that have a booming planetary economy and an expanding presence in the region, being one of the few worlds with the capability to manufacture jump-capable spacecraft.

Drexilthar would go on to become a major reaver state, ultimately losing a war to Cleon's fleet and being glassed as a warning to the Geonee and Suerrat - which is why the 1107-era population is very small and rabidly anti-imperial.

Charles Stuart Scott's Caledonian society has colonised several worlds around Caledon, and only recently re-established contact with outside parties through the Saie. The Caledonians have an uneasy relationship with the Saie, leasing large ranches where the Saie can raise breeding stock.

IMTU the Saie have a parasitoid larval stage, something like the prawns from District 9. In order to breed they must deposit eggs in a host, which is generally fatal to the host. As their homeworld has been rendered uninhabitable through contamination from a biowar agent, they are now dependent on other worlds to maintain breeding ranches.

The Caledonians agreed to host ranches on a humanitarian basis, although many humans find the life cycle of the Saie to be disgusting. A couple of hundred years after the game is set, a cult will arise amongst the Saie with a doctrine preferring sentient hosts. This incites the Caledonian authorities to start a genocidal war against the Saie, wiping out most of their population.

Subsequent historical revisionism eliminated most records of the war, leaving the fate of the Saie almost undocumented.

 

[BwapTED]

Not a fan of any of the Traveller aliens, to be honest. I'm more apt to port aliens from other sources *coughfasatrekorionscough* into my ATU.

Complete with green-skinned slave girls?


"They're like animals: vicious, seductive. They say no Human male can resist them."

 

[boomslang]

Which, if any, OTU races do you use or would you use IYTU?

I use both the Hiver and the Droyne as the primary alien races in MTU.

Culturally, they are pretty much as given in Trav. Historically, they represent the two large, well-established, millenia-old races that dominate this galactic neighborhood.

Terrans have long since learned not to trust either of them. The Hivers and Droyne are locked in a very long-running cold war, and they each have their respective designs on the Children of Earth. Hat tip: Babylon 5.

Hivers were the Terrans' First Contact, and have been lying about everything since Day One. The Droyne, on the other hand, while more consistent in their dealings, are aloof and inscrutable and give Terrans the heebie-jeebies because of the incessant low-level, paralyzing-fear-inducing, predatory psionic emanations they rather discourteously give off second-naturedly.

Plus, both species present as truly "alien" -- whether it is the eerie hush of the mute, tentacles-everywhere-and-into-everything Hivers, or the always-watching bug eyes of the occasionally clicking and twitching raptor/bat/mantid Droyne; they are both clearly not just humans in rubber suits.

And speaking of Humans, note I refer to "Terrans" in general. I use the Vargr, the Aslan, the Ursa, and the Tursiops -- again, culturally as given in Trav -- as Uplifted Terran Races (mostly to offset Human guilt at extincting all the other primates before First Contact, but the Vargr and the Aslan helped with the later Uplifts, too). Hat tip: David Brin.

Along with the Humans, the Vargr and the Aslan are "Major" Races, while the Ursa and Tursiops are more "Client" Races without much starfaring capacity (or interest in it) of their own. The K'kree are likewise a pacified Client Race of the Hivers.

The three senior Terran races (monkeys, puppies, and kitties) have established a mutual non-aggression arrangement, and have headed out from Terra in mostly-separate directions to make their own ways and build their own interstellar civilizations. There is barely even any family rivalry between the Terran Races -- plenty of internecine conflict within each Race, but a good faith effort to avoid interspecies conflict and maintain more of a friendly rivalry (and mutual defense pact, if necessary).

 

[BwapTED]

I use both the Hiver and the Droyne as the primary alien races in MTU.

Culturally, they are pretty much as given in Trav. Historically, they represent the two large, well-established, millenia-old races that dominate this galactic neighborhood.

Terrans have long since learned not to trust either of them. The Hivers and Droyne are locked in a very long-running cold war, and they each have their respective designs on the Children of Earth. Hat tip: Babylon 5.

Hivers were the Terrans' First Contact, and have been lying about everything since Day One. The Droyne, on the other hand, while more consistent in their dealings, are aloof and inscrutable and give Terrans the heebie-jeebies because of the incessant low-level, paralyzing-fear-inducing, predatory psionic emanations they rather discourteously give off second-naturedly.

Plus, both species present as truly "alien" -- whether it is the eerie hush of the mute, tentacles-everywhere-and-into-everything Hivers, or the always-watching bug eyes of the occasionally clicking and twitching raptor/bat/mantid Droyne; they are both clearly not just humans in rubber suits.

And speaking of Humans, note I refer to "Terrans" in general. I use the Vargr, the Aslan, the Ursa, and the Tursiops -- again, culturally as given in Trav -- as Uplifted Terran Races (mostly to offset Human guilt at extincting all the other primates before First Contact, but the Vargr and the Aslan helped with the later Uplifts, too). Hat tip: David Brin.

Along with the Humans, the Vargr and the Aslan are "Major" Races, while the Ursa and Tursiops are more "Client" Races without much startfaring capacity (or interest in it) of their own. The K'kree are likewise a pacified Client Race of the Hivers.

The three senior Terran races (monkeys, puppies, and kitties) have established a mutual non-aggression arrangement, and have headed out from Terra in mostly-separate directions to make their own ways and build their own interstellar civilizations. There is barely even any family rivalry between the Terran Races -- plenty of internecine conflict within each Race, but a good faith effort to avoid interspecies conflict and maintain more of a friendly rivalry (and mutual defense pact, if necessary).

Sounds cool!

 

[Timerover51]

I will be using the Aslan, and maybe the Droyne, if I cannot avoid copyright issues on them. The Aslan present no problems, as the name "Aslan" is not unique to Traveller, obviously. I do have them as genetically engineered Terran Lions however, with a lot lower populations on their planets. Carnivores require a lot of land to support their diet. The maximum population density of the Aslan is 5 per square mile of land surface, which is quite a lot denser than the populations on the African savanna. They do not do well in a prolonged period in inclosed spaces, so require reasonably habitable planets to settle on. That does lead to more conflict with humans, but also is a weakness, as they ignore planets that humans can operate on. They are definitely not into Asteroid Belts. Again, that is my take on them in My Traveller Universe.

 

[kilemall]

I think I would only use the Hivers, and maybe the Vargr as an uplift pack that got away and came back a 1000 years later.


The 2300 aliens were far more compelling. Although imagine using the Pentapods as the threat race rather then the Kafers. Whoa nelly.


I do have an alien race preplanned for MATU. But it isn't like anything in the games. Although now that I've been looking around, looks like others have had this concept.

 

[Gray Lensman]

The last large campaign I did I used ALL the Traveller races, the 2300 races, the Star Frontiers races, David Weber's treecats, ... I'm sure I've forgotten a few.

I've always take a little Megatraveller blurb to heart "Space is Empty, Life is Everywhere."

 

[Timerover51]

The last large campaign I did I used ALL the Traveller races, the 2300 races, the Star Frontiers races, David Weber's treecats, ... I'm sure I've forgotten a few.

I've always take a little Megatraveller blurb to heart "Space is Empty, Life is Everywhere."

As I am working well to the Rimward of the Solomani area, about the only official alien race is the Aslan. I have some Great-Grandchildren of Grandfather in my sector as well, keeping a very low profile.

As I am working from the books of H. Beam Piper and Andre Norton, there are some different races around, as well as remains and ruins of older star-faring races. Definitely not the Official Traveller Universe.

 

[mike wightman]

IMTU I have used all the usual suspects:
CT OTU alien races
T2300 alien races
Star Frontiers alien races
Alternity alien races
StarCraft alien races (praise be the Alternity version of StarCraft)
Thri-Kreen
Illithids
Vau
Simbiots
a whole load of the Cthulhu mythos races

 

[robject]

I'd probably roll up some unique aliens, instead of using OTU ones.

I thought about a "Known Space" game, using Kzinti and Puppeteers, but meh!

 

[AndyW]

IMTU I have largely stuck with Humaniti. The canon aliens are there, but since most of my games have been in either the marches or the Solomani Rim, they are not populace enough to have been encountered widely. I did have a Hiver make a walk on appearance as a non-involved patron once.

Most of my PCs, encounters and patrons have been of the Vilani/Solomani stock, with one PC having been a wandering Zho. We spent a few hilarious hours trying to pronounce the name of that one, as we rolled it in the Zho name table. Another player wished to play a Vargr in a short lived cycle of scenarios.

 

[Timerover51]

The problem with the Droyne and Vargr is that they were developed by GDW and come under Marc's copyright. For a private campaign, that is not a problem, but if you want to publish material under the Cepheus Engine rule set, the copyright issues appear. Once I get my sector more organized and closer to publication, I am going to see if I can use the Droyne. For the Vargr, I have a couple of options. One is Piper's "z'Srauff", which are close to the Vargr, but for which I have no artwork. The other would be Howard Pyle's piratical biped Foxes, for which I have some artwork.

For private purposes, I would like to have some of Grandfather's great-grandchildren around, with some high-level equipment as an option. A couple of ANNIC NOVA type ships would be nice as well.

 

[Maksim-Smelchak]

All is fair in love and war.

Shalom,
M.

 

[Golan2072]

My first full-scale ATU (Outer Veil) had no living aliens; just dead ones. Ascraeus Civilization (dead reptiloids) and the Monument Builders (far weirder). Ascreaus killed themselves/were killed in a massive war about a millennium ago. Monument Builders... Who knows.

My second full-scale ATU (These Stars Are Ours!) has its own aliens, which lack direct OTU equivalents.

However, in my OTU variant, Dark Nebula 2900 CE, set in the OTU during the early Long Night, there are, of course, OTU aliens. Aslan - a very young Major race making their first steps in space; Solomani (Rule of Man remnants); and Droyne (at least one local Droyne world). There is also at least one non-canonical minor race in this setting (the reptiloid/geckonid Desertborn).