What Alien Races do you allow for PCs?

[ACK!!]

I can't believe a thread on this did not exist.

Maybe I missed it earlier.

Some of the Character generators allow Aliens I would never allow in a campaign.

So the question stands which do you allow as PCs?

Please list and try to keep it canon or explain your custom races very well.

Thanks ahead of time for the input.

 

[GypsyComet]

My current T20 game is all human, though Aslan and Vegans are possible (the game is in early Rebellion-era Daibei). I also have a race vaguely similar to the 40k Kroot available (I use the minis).

It comes down to some form of balance, with T20 and G:T at least. The "Alien levels" are there to deal with the balance issue in T20, and G:T uses a point-buy system, to the extent that Traveller has *ever* worried about balance. In other iterations of Traveller, it is typically not an issue, as the lethality of violence far outweighs the advantages of taking, for example, a H'khar, Ithklur, or Virushi (and ignoring the racial pacifism in the later case) for "the cool combat advantages".

There are races in canon that are *extremely* challenging to play correctly, but that's a different issue...

 

[ACK!!]

Originally posted by GypsyComet:
My current T20 game is all human, though Aslan and Vegans are possible (the game is in early Rebellion-era Daibei). I also have a race vaguely similar to the 40k Kroot available (I use the minis).

It comes down to some form of balance, with T20 and G:T at least. The "Alien levels" are there to deal with the balance issue in T20, and G:T uses a point-buy system, to the extent that Traveller has *ever* worried about balance. In other iterations of Traveller, it is typically not an issue, as the lethality of violence far outweighs the advantages of taking, for example, a H'khar, Ithklur, or Virushi (and ignoring the racial pacifism in the later case) for "the cool combat advantages".

There are races in canon that are *extremely* challenging to play correctly, but that's a different issue...

I am thinking about allowing Humanati (of course), Aslan, Vargr, Darrians, Droyne, Newts, H'khar and Vegan characters.

I started to think that might be too large a list. Especially for a human-focused universe of the Third Imperium right after the Fifth Frontier War.

What do others think?

 

[soloprobe]

Since my Campaign takes place in the Solomani Rim.......
Only Men(or Women) of SOL can be player characters

 

[mtgeiger]

In my T4 Traveller campaign, I am having my players to contact and interact with the Chirpers, which are a lesser cousin of the Droyne. Since the Droyne have not been contacted yet in Millieu 0, there are numerous worlds that are inhabited by chirpers. The sources are from Classic Traveller Supplement guides and having humaniti to interact with chirpers would be exciting in any campaign.

 

[Flynn]

In my current T20 campaign, I started off only allowing Human characters.

Now that the party has been exploring for about a year, they've encountered the Ursa as independents, having escaped the labs less than a decade ago, and an interstellar federation made up of the Vegans, Bwaps, Ss'tark (a reptilian lizard race from a fantasy race supplement), Virushi, and an insectoid race whose name eludes me momentarily. That opens those options up to the players.

However, this will all change as we start our TNE 1248 playtest campaign in the next month or two. At that point, we'll play using OTU choices rather than those from my homebrewed milieu.

Hope this helps,
Flynn

 

[ACK!!]

Originally posted by Flynn:
In my current T20 campaign, I started off only allowing Human characters.

Now that the party has been exploring for about a year, they've encountered the Ursa as independents, having escaped the labs less than a decade ago, and an interstellar federation made up of the Vegans, Bwaps, Ss'tark (a reptilian lizard race from a fantasy race supplement), Virushi, and an insectoid race whose name eludes me momentarily. That opens those options up to the players.

However, this will all change as we start our TNE 1248 playtest campaign in the next month or two. At that point, we'll play using OTU choices rather than those from my homebrewed milieu.

Hope this helps,
Flynn

Cool. They are going to be in the Spinward Marches during the Third Imperium right after the Fifth Frontier War around 1110 Imperial. I figured that would open a lot of flexibility for PCs to play alien characters if they so desired.

I am trying to go for flexibility while still keeping the Traveller human-focused experience.

My only fear is that the whole thing is going to fall apart soon. I have a job, wife and two kids so ducking once a week or even once every two weeks might not work. My players are kind of cold on the Grip/Aim chat/IRC ideas I tried to push.

I had a real good experience doing an IRC game once. It was a real eye-opener to play the Grip game back in the day with Hunter and some of his friends. I had never played the game before as a PC and never with a group of people that had a history with the game.

Might be a new Contact thread coming if it all falls to pieces. Thanks for the input.

 

[Flynn]

I personally play once a month, but it's the first regular Traveller game I've ever had. I think spacing it out to a monthly game works very well, especially if you use a mailing list to support your game in the interim.

I highly recommend it if you think that once a week or biweekly will impact you too heavily.

Hope this helps,
Flynn

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I allow any alien species as long as they are played well, and don't unbalance the game. The Universe somehow doesn't seem as large with only humans in it... In my current campaign, aliens are all over the place...I prefer a more cosmopolitan setting, for the increased flavor.

 

[ACK!!]

Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran von Gushiddan:
I allow any alien species as long as they are played well, and don't unbalance the game. The Universe somehow doesn't seem as large with only humans in it... In my current campaign, aliens are all over the place...I prefer a more cosmopolitan setting, for the increased flavor.

That is how I feel.

Most players I have personally met feel the same way especially if they are not steeped in Traveller history.

I got a guy who wants to play a Droyne in Imperial Space but he seems to be really intent on playing it right from a technician caste as an Engineer. He rolled his character with me right there and got pretty decent psionics. He even seems understanding of how he will have to hide it. He jokes its like having super powers and a secret identity.

Rarely meet players who have actually played Trav anymore. That is why this forum is so important.

I might even make a seperate thread on how to deal with AD&D, Shadowrun, White Wolf RPG'ers who have never played Traveller before.

The mix of hard and soft science and Sci-Fi genres seems a bit hard on Star Wars and Star Trek sect of players. I try to explain it from a Starship Troopers and Aliens kind of view. That seems to be working so far.

 

[GypsyComet]

Originally posted by ACK:

I might even make a seperate thread on how to deal with AD&D, Shadowrun, White Wolf RPG'ers who have never played Traveller before.

The mix of hard and soft science and Sci-Fi genres seems a bit hard on Star Wars and Star Trek sect of players. I try to explain it from a Starship Troopers and Aliens kind of view. That seems to be working so far.

You can also invoke Firefly, Farscape, and elements of Space: Above and Beyond.

If you (or your players) have not yet seen any of Firefly, proceed to your nearest purveyor of DVDs (I found mine at Target) and buy ASAP (though at this point, wait until after Christmas).

 

[savage]

I've had great fun with Ursa and have created a prestige classes Ursa Monks and Warchiefs.
Your welcome to borrow it.
http://www.angelfire.com/empire2/savage/1WorldOrder/Ursa_MWC_Prestige_class.html


I use all of the standard classes but consider Doyne and some of the less friendly aliens to be NPCs.

Have been kicking around adding in a few other races like the Centauri (B5) and others on the outskirts of known space.

Savage

 

[ACK!!]

Originally posted by Savage:
I've had great fun with Ursa and have created a prestige classes Ursa Monks and Warchiefs.
Your welcome to borrow it.
http://www.angelfire.com/empire2/savage/1WorldOrder/Ursa_MWC_Prestige_class.html


I use all of the standard classes but consider Doyne and some of the less friendly aliens to be NPCs.

Have been kicking around adding in a few other races like the Centauri (B5) and others on the outskirts of known space.

Savage

Really cool stuff. Do you have any general links to Ursa information and what the modifiers and career makeup is like?

 

[Whipsnade]

ACK asked:

"So the question stands which do you allow as PCs?"


Mr. ACK,

What an interesting question! Like you, I find it odd that it hasn't been brought up before. Let's see, thinking back to my long gone GM days...

I'd think the only canonical Major Races I never PCs play during a session were K'Kree and Hiver. IIRC, this was due more to those races' descriptions in the CT Alien Modules. The problem with the K'Kree was due to the 'herd' any K'Kree player would have with him; wives & daughters are little more than property and any bosses will have underlings with their own wives & daughters etc. The difficulty with Hivers was their lack of speech. We figured the Hiver PC would have to write or sign (in order to model their chest voders) and no one wanted to play a Hiver due to that. There were also some questions regarding manipulations; all PCs generally follow their own paths but a Hiver would really have something else going on.

As a GM, I never flat out forbid a PC from playing an alien. If a player wanted to play one, she did have to have a good reason to do so, had to have a good backstory, and had to make an attempt to follow the CT Alien Modules. You just couldn't wear a Vargr or Aslan label and then 'act' human, you had to try.

Playing Minor races never came up, although we did have a number of Minor race NPCs controlled by both the GM and PCs.


Sincerely,
Larsen

 

[Flynn]

Larsen,

When I played a Hiver, I acted the typing out on my chest as I spoke in a flat, mechanical monotone to simulate the Hiver's use of a translator unit as described in the CT Alien Module. The game didn't last long enough for me to explore the possibility of longterm manipulations, though. *sigh*

Enjoy,
Flynn

 

[Whipsnade]

Flynn wrote:

"When I played a Hiver, I acted the typing out on my chest as I spoke in a flat, mechanical monotone to simulate the Hiver's use of a translator unit as described in the CT Alien Module."


Mr. Flynn,

A neat solution!

"The game didn't last long enough for me to explore the possibility of longterm manipulations, though. *sigh*"

That's a shame. IIRC, the player who was interested in portraying a Hiver in our group was never able to come up with a long-term manipulation that he and the GM could agree on. The group figured that a Hiver being that far away from home; we nearly always played 'behind the Claw, must have a good reason for it.

All in all, it was something our gruop should have tried.


Sincerely,
Larsen

 

[savage]

Really cool stuff. Do you have any general links to Ursa information and what the modifiers and career makeup is like?

Thanks. ACK haven't gone beyond prestige classes yet. Although, I have been considering their impact on the mercenary trade at present.

I also haven't seen anyone else doing much with Ursa. From memory a Bear race existed in the CT.

I think their an awesome NPC and player character type. With great potential for entertainment.

Savage

 

[ACK!!]

Originally posted by Larsen E. Whipsnade:
Mr. Flynn,

A neat solution!

"The game didn't last long enough for me to explore the possibility of longterm manipulations, though. *sigh*"

That's a shame. IIRC, the player who was interested in portraying a Hiver in our group was never able to come up with a long-term manipulation that he and the GM could agree on. The group figured that a Hiver being that far away from home; we nearly always played 'behind the Claw, must have a good reason for it.

All in all, it was something our gruop should have tried.


Sincerely,
Larsen

I completely agree. I heard tell from a player of a group where a deaf player actually loved playing a Hiver seeing the whole translation and sign language aspect as an insight into his own adaptations of language for understanding.

I completely removed Hivers from my list primarily because of the difficulty.

I am really hoping my cube partner at work and his friend will give Traveller a try.

For Savage,

I saw that Ursas are a t20 race but I play CT so I do not know how hard the transfer over would be.

Plus, I am letting them use the mtcg.exe program for character generation with appropriate restriction. Since that race is not listed it might also be an issue.

They sound really neat though.

 

[savage]

ACK,
I haven't been able to find the Bear race in my CT materials but I was informed that they did exist or
were mentioned.
The Ursa might be the T20 version. Don't know. I suppose if you find PC specs for an earier verion
you could make it an option should anyone decide
to not use the character creation program.

On the other hand the origins of the Ursa might be a good question for Hunter, MJD or one of the developers.

Savage

 

[ACK!!]

Originally posted by Savage:
ACK,
I haven't been able to find the Bear race in my CT materials but I was informed that they did exist or
were mentioned.
The Ursa might be the T20 version. Don't know. I suppose if you find PC specs for an earier verion
you could make it an option should anyone decide
to not use the character creation program.

On the other hand the origins of the Ursa might be a good question for Hunter, MJD or one of the developers.

Savage

Thanks Savage. I will lay off the Ursas right now then. I have another problem now.

Yeah I have a bad feeling that allowing alien characters will lead me with this crew to having a group of primarily alien characters. None of them seem interested in playing humans.

Great. Either you ban them and restrict the play or you allow them and none of the PCs play humans.

Ugh.

I kind of like having one hot-shot vargr or a Darrian or some other race on board the group.

But a whole group of them from a human-centered Imperium point of view is going to be a mess.