Alien races?
- Thread starter Psion
- Start date
Alien races. I've not seen a good set of D20 based rules for SF alien races.
I could suggest a few non-D20 alien race sources (Alternity, GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 4, SpaceMaster, Torg, etc).
If you want better D20 alien races, take the D20 monster manual (or the SRD), take the animals and vermin section, apply one or more of the "make me bigger" templates, with a few points of intelligence works wonders for hard science aliens.
I've also found that some of the magical beasts or outsiders stripped of the blatently magical powers make good alien menaces. A Vrock (for example) as a screaming, spore throwing flying hunter makes a wonderful creature to tangle with.
Of course this just gets you the monster stats, not the culture and living conditions, which requires more work. As you have discovered, most RPG alien races are either "Just like humans except <short list of quirks>", or have one human trait exaggerated (E.g. "the warrior race").
I could suggest a few non-D20 alien race sources (Alternity, GURPS Traveller: Alien Races 4, SpaceMaster, Torg, etc).
If you want better D20 alien races, take the D20 monster manual (or the SRD), take the animals and vermin section, apply one or more of the "make me bigger" templates, with a few points of intelligence works wonders for hard science aliens.
I've also found that some of the magical beasts or outsiders stripped of the blatently magical powers make good alien menaces. A Vrock (for example) as a screaming, spore throwing flying hunter makes a wonderful creature to tangle with.
Of course this just gets you the monster stats, not the culture and living conditions, which requires more work. As you have discovered, most RPG alien races are either "Just like humans except <short list of quirks>", or have one human trait exaggerated (E.g. "the warrior race").
I'm still looking.
What I really want is a book (or pdf) of space-opera-style alien races suitable for PCs and NPCs. I want them to be open content so that we can use them in our shared campaign (http://www.d20space.com) both in the setting description and in the scenarios. I'm happy to pay for the supplement and also to recommend that players interested in playing an alien do likewise.
I have the Galactic Races book from FFG and I'll probably use some of the races from there, but a lot of them really feel like D&D rather than space opera. I also have
Any other suggestions? I also have Fading Suns and I'm looking at allowing some of those races in, too, but a nice supplement dedicated to this would be perfect.
What I really want is a book (or pdf) of space-opera-style alien races suitable for PCs and NPCs. I want them to be open content so that we can use them in our shared campaign (http://www.d20space.com) both in the setting description and in the scenarios. I'm happy to pay for the supplement and also to recommend that players interested in playing an alien do likewise.
I have the Galactic Races book from FFG and I'll probably use some of the races from there, but a lot of them really feel like D&D rather than space opera. I also have
Any other suggestions? I also have Fading Suns and I'm looking at allowing some of those races in, too, but a nice supplement dedicated to this would be perfect.
Pozatronic
First Post
I also recommend Fading Suns. The Ur races are some of my favorite alien races I've encountered from any source.
Don't laugh, but have you checked out Rifts:Atlantis?. Ignore the rules, because they are awful, but some of the races in it are pretty neat. You could tone down the Splugorth from Cthullu like Gods to funky aliens with lots of Psi powers. The Kittani make a neat warrior race, as do the Kydians. Of course, alot of this book would probably be pretty useless to you (lame rules for tatto magic and bio-wizardry, ancient atlantis uber-artifacts), but I figured I'd give it a shot.
I realize this post probably won't help you, but I wanted to add my two cents :\
Don't laugh, but have you checked out Rifts:Atlantis?. Ignore the rules, because they are awful, but some of the races in it are pretty neat. You could tone down the Splugorth from Cthullu like Gods to funky aliens with lots of Psi powers. The Kittani make a neat warrior race, as do the Kydians. Of course, alot of this book would probably be pretty useless to you (lame rules for tatto magic and bio-wizardry, ancient atlantis uber-artifacts), but I figured I'd give it a shot.
I realize this post probably won't help you, but I wanted to add my two cents :\
Turanil
First Post
Fathead said:
I like this idea. It finally appears that most of us are not satisfied with the sci-fi races described in many d20 supplements. I propose a new thread to create a couple of alien races that make sense both from a (pseudo) scientifical point of view, and from a gaming perspective.
Last edited:
tbug said:
Well Blue Devil Games is hard at work on a new d20 Future setting, Dawning Star. Operation Quick Launch is getting closer to release and the pdf should contain over half a dozen new playable alien races, not to mention dangerous xenomorphs, new weapons, cybernetics, and other things to tickle you fancy.
The link to the first preview is here: http://www.bluedevilgames.com/images/DawningStar_Preview.pdf
Theophagos
First Post
Hi,
has anyone mentioned the "Babylon 5"-Stuff? B5 had some interesting looking humanoid - but not wrinkled-noses - aliens. I don't know the D20 rules for B5, but I guess there are some things to find.
You said, that you wouldn't want Star Wars aliens - why not? Because of their popularity? SW has quite some less known, humanoid aliens. How about them?
I guess you won't like Cthulhu & Friends, prob. too outlandish for you. But still you might want to take a look on them.
Probably you'll have to make them up yourself anyway.
Salvete - Theophagos
has anyone mentioned the "Babylon 5"-Stuff? B5 had some interesting looking humanoid - but not wrinkled-noses - aliens. I don't know the D20 rules for B5, but I guess there are some things to find.
You said, that you wouldn't want Star Wars aliens - why not? Because of their popularity? SW has quite some less known, humanoid aliens. How about them?
I guess you won't like Cthulhu & Friends, prob. too outlandish for you. But still you might want to take a look on them.
Probably you'll have to make them up yourself anyway.
Salvete - Theophagos
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