Humans are a must?

[Huw]

The only exceptions to the basically-human alien syndrome I can think of are a few of the Lovecraft species and a couple of exampels from sci-fi (like the badguys from Ender's Game). They stayed alien because their authors explicitly state, "We can't understand them. No matter how we try, we can't really even communicate meaningfully with them because they're just too alien."

Here are a few others. Note that all of these feature regular humans as well as the "aliens".

Isaac Asimov The Gods Themselves. A major section of the book features a gaseous alien race with three sexes and very different morality.

C.S.Lewis Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra. These books are full of non-human intelligences and some very long moral discussions regarding them. Out of the Silent Planet features a planet with three intelligent species which have evolved concurrently, each with their own niche in ecology and society.

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy. This has humans in, but they're very different from this world's humans. The world of Northern Lights/The Golden Compass features humans with personal demons (which manifest as animals) and intelligent bears.

Arthru C. Clarke Rendezvous with Rama. You never see the aliens, but the whole tone of the book suggests that we wouldn't understand them even if we did meet them (disclaimer: I've only read the first two books. I've no idea if the real aliens appear in the later books.)

 

[WayneLigon]

I think you need to have the human baseline. Otherwise, you need to have everyone a couple of paragraphs about the basic assumptions their race has about life, somewhat like the PHB does for the races there.

 

[WayneLigon]

Bah. No matter what nonhuman race you take, you always play that race as if it is human, anyway, because you're hardwired to be human.

Only if you don't bother putting any basic thought into playing a non-human race. You can do it - many science fiction authors manage to do it - but it's hard and takes some time for you to develop the basic structure of your behavior.

 

[Ranger REG]

Only if you don't bother putting any basic thought into playing a non-human race. You can do it - many science fiction authors manage to do it - but it's hard and takes some time for you to develop the basic structure of your behavior.

Oh, don't get me started on sci-fi authors trying to portray alien races in their stories.

 

[Turjan]

Oh, don't get me started on sci-fi authors trying to portray alien races in their stories.

Pointy ears or tusks is all you need . Okay, okay .



I found the following statement from Dragon #347 quite fitting for the current debate. The topic is the planning of an Eberron novel which is supposed to have a changeling as main character:

Sehestedt, for his part, just wants to make sure that the novel remains marketable. "Changelings are an alien race," he stresses, "and we need to make sure that the hero is still someone the audience can identify with. That's the danger of writing about non-humans - elves we can get away with, because they're sexy, but no matter how cool the book is, if you put a dwarf or halfling on the cover, sales drop. The audience needs to relate."

That's very telling.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Disney's Dark Crystal did OK, and there weren't any humans in it...and is popular enough that it may yet spawn a sequel. (http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/050515d.php)

However, IME, there are enough "humanocentrists" out there that it can definitely impact the bottom line.

For example, Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall" has no humans in it- he says so explicitly in the intro to the story. It is considered to be one of the best sci-fi stories ever written. However, he wrote the story as if the characters were fully human.

The movie version is full of humans...with no disclaimer. (OK- it WAS made in Baliwood, so cost probably played a factor in that decision.)

I've actually had players tell me they wouldn't play in a campaign in which the possibility of playing a human was eliminated. They didn't neccessarily want to play one- they just wanted that possibility.

 

[Turjan]

Disney's Dark Crystal did OK, and there weren't any humans in it...and is popular enough that it may yet spawn a sequel.

Well, Gelflings look pretty much like humans and act like humans. You even have a blond white girl and a dark-haired brown-faced guy for pc-ness reasons (and for maximizing the audience). Anyway, I don't think the film is a good example for the topic at hand. The main characters of the film address others of our instincts, like the child care reflex.

However, IME, there are enough "humanocentrists" out there that it can definitely impact the bottom line.

That's about it. Eliminating humans drastically decreases the consumer or player base. But this is the same with other aspects, too. Tékumel, which has been mentioned further above, is a good example, because it deviates from American culture and thereby repells lots of potential players. In a certain way, most fantasy is very conservative in its scope and works more on the basis of elimination of complications as compared to the real world than of adding lots of fantastic elements. Successful fantasy is most of the time quite sparse with the latter.

 

[LightPhoenix]

That's about it. Eliminating humans drastically decreases the consumer or player base. But this is the same with other aspects, too. Tékumel, which has been mentioned further above, is a good example, because it deviates from American culture and thereby repells lots of potential players.

Woot, I've been kinda waiting for someone to bring up this point (though I did notice the Tekumel reference above).

There's a VERY large difference between playing difference human cultures and playing a completely alien culture. In fact, I'm willing to wager most people here play differences in races more as differences in cultures (frex, American vs. Cherokee vs. Chinese, for a non-subtle example), or a mishmash of cultures. There's nothing wrong with that, that's how I do it too, but it's indicative that we draw upon human experience to project upon whatever we consider different. I'm also going to point out that this is hardly an American, or a Western thing. This is without a doubt a human thing to do.

As a geeky biochemist, I believe (read: opinion) that biology directly influences our sociology and psychology, and that anything with a substantially different biology will therefore be substantially different with regards to sociology and psychology, and we will not be equipped to handle it. Hence, anthropomorphic projection.

 

[Turjan]

There's a VERY large difference between playing difference human cultures and playing a completely alien culture. In fact, I'm willing to wager most people here play differences in races more as differences in cultures (frex, American vs. Cherokee vs. Chinese, for a non-subtle example), or a mishmash of cultures. There's nothing wrong with that, that's how I do it too, but it's indicative that we draw upon human experience to project upon whatever we consider different. I'm also going to point out that this is hardly an American, or a Western thing. This is without a doubt a human thing to do.

I did not want to single out Americans in any way; it's just catering to the predominant cultural influence on this board and even more so among RPG writers. I'm no US American, and when I look at one of the most successful fantasy settings ever, the Forgotten Realms, they look much more distinctly US American to me than European (pick whatever European culture you want). And Tékumel is a good example because it portrays that even a mix of some relatively well-known human cultures that deviate quite a lot from our normal life presents a difficulty to most players. Alien cultures, here I agree, should be even much more difficult.

Elves or dwarves are a somewhat different case, because they draw from British/Irish/Scandinavian sources and are relatively familiar concepts to most members of the American society, because they are close to the cultural roots of the majority. They don't really need much of an adaptation, because their portrayals live mostly from a reduction to some specific human behavioral stereotypes. I never saw anyone having difficulties with a dwarf. They fit pretty much the stereotype of a miner or sailor as they have been portrayed in a long tradition of literature. Reduction is a much easier way to play "alien" cultures than to think of something different out of our normal experience.

 

[Ranger REG]

I did not want to single out Americans in any way; it's just catering to the predominant cultural influence on this board and even more so among RPG writers. I'm no US American, and when I look at one of the most successful fantasy settings ever, the Forgotten Realms, they look much more distinctly US American to me than European (pick whatever European culture you want).

Blame the Americano, Jeff Grubb, who was the co-author of the commercially published setting created in the basement of a Canadian library clerk (Ed Greenwood) ... eh.