A hypothetical question

[AlienBastard]

Let's say there is only one alien species an RP allows and that said species however can have multiple civilizations and be culturally diverse even if the baseline biology of the species must remain consistent. For instance that the species has multiple life stages [like frogs or butterflies have] and lays eggs instead of giving live birth.

Would multiple people be able to use the same species without issue?

[ASTA]

I don't see why not.

Roleplayers already do this with a rather infamous example of alien life: Humanity.

EDIT: However, player interest might be difficult to garner or retain. When it comes to aliens, everyone has their own take on them. Some players may find it annoying that their creativity is somewhat suppressed by the whole 'One Species Only' rule.

[Gwazi Magnum]

Yes an RP can function with only one species, and honestly I don't even see it as a creativity killer.
The majority of RP's that exist expect everyone to play as a human, like if I randomly made a wookie in a High School RP people would probably go "Say what?".

If you have an RP with only one species but said species is alien and not human? In my mind that still gives more creativity because you at least have a brand new species to work with and roleplay with rather than going with traditional humans.

And yes, all the players should be able to play the same species fine. Cause once again, we do it all the time as humans.

[AlienBastard]

ASTA said
I don't see why not. Roleplayers already do this with a rather infamous example of alien life: Humanity.

Thing is that everyone's a human on this forum.

EDIT: However, player interest might be difficult to garner or retain. When it comes to aliens, everyone has their own take on them. Some players may find it annoying that their creativity is somewhat suppressed by the whole 'One Species Only' rule.

The problem I see with the one species policy in Empty Horizons was that in practice it was highly unstable since it turns out players don't want to compete for "special" spots. The policy was broken since it ultimately implied only one player can be alien, something of which would have been the case with the atompunk race you had for instance. However would creativity be stifled if instead of having any player who wants to make the species, the GM[s] designed the species instead?

The challenge I see would be making a alien race that is distinctly alien without making the alien race unappealing to utilize by other players. Especially since the players would have to take into account the biology of the alien race. For instance what sort of traditions a egg laying species may have likely would be different from one that gave live birth.

[Nemaisare]

The problem I see with this, while making it appealing could be one, is that if you're designing the full species yourself, there's either going to be a lot of information to read, or freedom for the players to get confused. Or both....

Personally, I'd probably find more information more interesting, but not everyone likes to have to read lots before they can play. And info isn't always easy to keep straight.

So you'd probably have to find the right balance between cementing points that should stay the same throughout, and letting players have some input of their own. If you're allowing them to answer such questions about the culture of an egglaying species, then you're certainly not stifling creativity. But if you're answering all those questions by yourself, then you might be...

[AlienBastard]

So the GM makes a alien species that is a template for players who use them to mold the culture of?

This does however make a question of its own; what sort of species is most suitable for player use that is alien enough to be considered alien, while not so alien no one wants to use them?

[Nemaisare]

Hmmm, anything humanoid... Shape can beget at least some outward familiarity. But it doesn't necessarily need to look the same.

But the basics would be to think about connection and story. If you can use these aliens to create a story that the players can understand, and if their basic emotions function in a manner similar to the players' experiences, even if it might be expressed differently, then they have something they can connect with.

It's probably best to avoid giant tentacle beasts or strange globs of jelly or anything too unfamiliar, but if you look at the more exotic animals on Earth and mix and match or tweak them a little, like, for instance, apes that can talk... Giant crabs... I've read about something like manta rays swimming through the gases of Jupiter...

[AlienBastard]

Thing is, even if the alien is a biped the psychology of the race would have to have some degree of difference. And not in the woo woo alien space magik sense [referring to telepathy or "being one with nature innately" or having monolithic dullbore hive mind wankery], I mean in the way they think. For instance their intelligence may not do things or act the way humans do, even if their brains converge with the human brains in many ways. One example being that they might only do actions and not have internal thoughts, instead constantly needing to be communicating to others of their kind or inanimate objects if alone and despising silence, and constantly be around anything they believe they can communicate with. Or perhaps in the opposite direction, be naturally inclined to territoriality Instead of communalization despite being able to process information far quicker than humans can.

Or perhaps the alien is highly eusocial and despite members having individual thought have castes that mindlessly obey the orders of higher ups in their presence due to natural pheromones with reproductive drives existing only for a minority of their kind. Such alien race may not have be a hive mind, and in fact could be oligarchical instead of having central control of a queen.

Humans like you or me I see generally as a social race that work in groups that have leaders to them. In contrast, there could be social aliens that have communal groups lead by other groups instead.

Could multiple players agree to follow a alien mindset? Of the alien psychologies I've mentioned, which one is best for RPing with that isn't too humanesque? I don't want the aliens to be like humans since when humans can have genetic modification and all sorts of odd societies making the aliens like humans wouldn't contrast well and if too human-like they minus well have been a lost colony.

[Nemaisare]

Wankery... Good word, that.

Honestly, I doubt there's any firm and solid answer to this hypothetical question without turning it into an actual experiment and IC with other players. I can only say that for myself, I think people can be capable of playing a separate species they didn't come up with. After all, there are plenty of rpers who write as wolves, or warrior cats, or horses, or dragons.

Whether or not they'd be able to rp the mindset of these aliens to your satisfaction would be a secondary, but also important, question. If, in making this alien race you want to allow the rpers to play around a bit and help them grow, they've got a slightly easier time of pleasing you, but there's also a chance things won't go in the direction you might have thought they would. If you start with a very firm grasp of the mind and mannerisms and methods of communication and social structures, etc. that's great for you, and there might be some willing to still give it a try, but they're far more likely to disappoint simply by missing the crucial details that can't necessarily be set into written words without oodles of explanation. There's a good chance they'd be just as frustrated trying to figure it out as you might be in having to read them not managing it quite the way you envisionned. (I keep saying you, it's a hypothetical you, yep)

Multiple people could agree to play a certain mindset, though I'm sure they'd all like the chance to individualise it at least a little, unless they're playing the same overall mind in different bodies and it's basically the same character. That might get iffy... Or crazy fun, I dunno.

Eusocial is probably the easiest to understand and the simplest to explain. It's a group structure, so it would also make it easy to have plenty of characters in one spot and plenty of NPC examples for them to follow. People know about ants and wasps and molerats, and about their caste system, and it's not hard to look up if they want to.

I don't think it's necessary to make aliens like humans to be playable, they just have to be understandable for humans. This does limit the options alittle, but there's still a huge range of variables that can make a mindset alien to most humans' way of thinking without making it impossible for a human to understand the thought process that reaches that point.