Eodin Posted September 2, 2007 Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes Take a look at my free Trek Hero books (PDFs), for a vast array of aliens you can steal. http://www.starherofandom.com/h_trekhero/index.php is the site The FASA Trek link is http://www.starherofandom.com/h_trekhero/FASATrek.pdf The TNG Trek link is http://www.starherofandom.com/h_trekhero/TNGHero.pdf You've got everything there from the powerful Talosians to the sentient plant Phylosians to the shapeshifting Vendorians and Antosians, and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted September 2, 2007 Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes Wise Mystic Cold Scientist Honourable Warriour Brutish Warriour Primitive in Tune With Nature Conniving Villain Bald Bulgy Headed Mentalist Unscrupulous Merchant (Similar to conniving villain, except without the megalomania) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clsage Posted September 2, 2007 Report Share Posted September 2, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes I'm putting together a Star Hero campaign universe and need a diverse array of aliens to populate it. I'm looking for all of those stereotypical stables of space opera and epic SF aliens' date=' such as the cat people, the detached emotionless people, the machine people, the people who love archaic weapons, etc.....[/quote'] In addition to the various excellent suggestions already given, you might want to take a gander at the Hero System Beastiary for possible species packages (eg: Bear People of Algol 5 ? Use the stats from page 133-136 as a basis....etc). And there are several sections with templates that could prove usefull for species generation, either straight for the stats or for starting point ideas. And for some existing species packages for you to use, take a gander at: http://www.starherofandom.com/b5/packages.php as well as most of the rest of Starherofandom.com () ...And you might want to give http://www.usandacat.com/herohq/campaigns/Star%20Aria.pdf a gander too...... -Carl- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes It's also worth noting that more often than not cold blooded species get typecast as implacably hostile to humanity, particularly the arthropods whereas while it is easy to get into a fight with furbearing mammals, humanity is usually expected to get along with them given time except when it is humanity's fault that the conflict continues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maur Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes It's also worth noting that more often than not cold blooded species get typecast as implacably hostile to humanity' date=' particularly the arthropods whereas while it is easy to get into a fight with furbearing mammals, humanity is usually expected to get along with them given time except when it is humanity's fault that the conflict continues.[/quote'] That is usually because the arthropods (with only a few exceptions) are just scaled up bugs. The same drives that smaller bugs have are in the larger ones with only a little more intelligence (think Brain bugs from Starship Troopers). It is kind of hard to negotiate or get along with a species when its only thinking about food and shelter. If you aren't part of its colony then you are either a threat or food (or both). We can get along with the mammalian-like species since, in the long run, we find we both have very similar motivations, needs, desires, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowsoul Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes Here's a thought. Although it may not be very helpful for a serious campaign. What happens when the mighty human galactic empire encounters the greys in space i.e. those strange aliens who used to abduct humans, impregnate them, flit around their skies, mutilate their cattle and perform unspeakable acts of probing? That would be quite a fun meeting as the horde of terran battleships turns up at the grey's home planet and demands to know what all that stuff was about. If you wanted to actually use this race seriously then they could be described as long term economic and military spies/investigators. They study young species to discover how powerful and dangerous they are likely to be and what their weaknesses are and then sell the information to potential neighbours and conquerors. The stuff with cows and crop circles could just be some off the clock recreation to worry the locals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes That reminds me of a wonderful scene from Babylon 5, when the local magistrate on B5 was adjudicating a complaint by a human against one of those little grey aliens. The human alleged that his ancestor was abducted and "probed" by the alien's ancestor, and demanded compensation. When the judge asked for the alien's plea, it wordlessly held up a sign with some esoteric symbol written on it. The exasperated judge asked for a translator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clsage Posted September 5, 2007 Report Share Posted September 5, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes That reminds me of a wonderful scene from Babylon 5, when the local magistrate on B5 was adjudicating a complaint by a human against one of those little grey aliens. The human alleged that his ancestor was abducted and "probed" by the alien's ancestor, and demanded compensation. When the judge asked for the alien's plea, it wordlessly held up a sign with some esoteric symbol written on it. The exasperated judge asked for a translator. And for those who wish to use the afformentioned species.... http://www.starherofandom.com/b5/package_deals/vree.php -Carl- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted September 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes Here's a thought. Although it may not be very helpful for a serious campaign. What happens when the mighty human galactic empire encounters the greys in space i.e. those strange aliens who used to abduct humans, impregnate them, flit around their skies, mutilate their cattle and perform unspeakable acts of probing? That would be quite a fun meeting as the horde of terran battleships turns up at the grey's home planet and demands to know what all that stuff was about. If you wanted to actually use this race seriously then they could be described as long term economic and military spies/investigators. They study young species to discover how powerful and dangerous they are likely to be and what their weaknesses are and then sell the information to potential neighbours and conquerors. The stuff with cows and crop circles could just be some off the clock recreation to worry the locals. Oddly enough... My campaign is intended to be serious, as least as far as the environment, science, etc is concerned. However, I was planing on using the "gray men" in a way. In this campaign, Earth was been conquered and occupied by an alien race extremely similar to the gray man physical archetype (except they are taller than humans rather than shorter). This occupation has recently ended and while the Earthers are now free, most have a deep hatred for this race despite being treated extremely well by them during the occupation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted September 10, 2007 Report Share Posted September 10, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes In the ancient TV show "Quark", Ficus was an intelligent plant, and thus without emotions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_%28TV_series%29 There was a hive mentality in "Battle Beyond the Stars." Along with a space-trucker and a valkyrie. http://geo_lit.tripod.com/id1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palaskar Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes Don't forget the "cute" aliens and the plant aliens. (i.e. fuzzis and Cotatai.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bygoneyrs Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes I feel the best answer is to create your own Aliens that fit your GM point of view and tailor them to meet what you are looking for in them. Penn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 Re: Alien Stereotypes Matt "Asimov-Rules" Frisbee Are those from something Asimov did? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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