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I have looked through my Aliens sourcebook and remembered creating some never used SCs and some (used) NPCs from diverse Aliens from that sourcebook.
Amongst them were an Andorian and a Selay, as well as a few Romulan and Vulcan hybrids.
Have you used the stats given in the book to create SC/NPC aside from the species found in the PG? Unusual species, I mean.
If so, which species did you try and how happy were you with the outcome?
Maybe I am an idiot, but what does "SC" refer to?
Supporting Cast, I'd guess.
Or Space Clown.
Uhoh. My bad. You're not the idiot. I am.Quote:
Originally Posted by CypherWest
SC is the german abbriviation for the term "Spieler Charakter", being the german version of the term Player character (PC). I mixed up those two.
I have only ran games, haven't played in one yet but I have made some NPCs from Aliens.
Obviously Human, a staple on the majority of Starfleet ships. I think they offer the widest range of behavorial characteristics out of the NPC cast. It is easy to make them as devious or as noble as a narrator wants them to be because the Player's won't form an opion of the entire race based on one good or bad encounter like they can with some of the races they are less familiar with.
I have also made quite a few Andorians as the last major game I ran took place in the Andorian Sector. This was before I had seen their depiction on Enterprise but as it turns out I wasn't far off the mark on how I portrayed them. I admit they are one of my favorite alien races of any science fiction series. Some of the characters were more memorable then others but overall the Andorians made both good adversaries and good friends for the PCs.
The Vulcans have become somewhat of a cliche over the years and I find it can be difficult from a narrarator's perspective to bring something new to the race that the Player's will except. I have found they work best as NPC crew members. From a story-telling point of view I appreciate the writer's efforts in bringing something new to the Vulcans in Enterprise, even if it wasn't received well by some people.
I have also used the Orions quite a bit. Seeing as my campaign was set in the interior if the Federation, I needed a group of consistant adveraries. The Orions worked well for that. One of the recurring villians throuout was an Orion and he worked well in that role.
I made up a Betelgeusian and he worked out all right as supporting character. He was a Security Officer but I found that the penalties that that race takes when being forced to do things other then what they are set up to do is far to restricting to rely on them consistantly. Maybe as a one off crewmember where being faced with such a challenge helps the plot or is part of the side plot would be fine but not as a recurring character. In an adversarial role they may work a bit better, and I could see using them in an Enterprise era campaign in that role.
THe Axanar ended up being an interesting alternative to the Betelgeusians. I have only made a single NPC using this race but if I had to do it over again I would use these in the role of supporting NPCs working as crewmembers that still retain their more "alien" attributes.
I have also used both Romulans and Remans (From the Nemesis Sourcebook) quite a bit with a good outcome for both. I like using the Remans as an alternative to any Romulan boarding parties that happen.
I made a half-human, half-Orion character to play in a game but the game fell through before I had a chance to playin it. He was a Helm officer but I don't know how he would have turned out in the end.
I have made others I am sure but those are the most memerable.
If you are looking for anything more specific let me know.
Great input. Thanks for the summary CypherWest!
Something else occured to me. Since seeing Enterprise I modified the Orions a bit from how they are in the book. They are also one of the weaker races in the book as far as abilities, I split the Orions into male and female and gave a few differences to each. I'll have to find my notes if you or anyone else is interested.
I don't really warm up to the Orions. As it is I have just started my first honest run of Enterprise. I didn't watch it when it aired on german TV and right now it's not being rerun. I have the first 12 or 13 epsiodes of Season 1 on DVD but no Orions just yet. My last watching of TOS is a long time back and I am not sure if I have seen all episodes back then. Anyway german dubbing wasn't that honest to the original version sometimes, so I'll have to wait until I find the TOS DVDs cheap or a friend will lent them to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by CypherWest
The Andorians on the other hand have come up once ('The Andorian Incident') during the ENT run I have and looked 'promising'.
If you come up with notes and share them here, that'd be cool. Not only for me, but for us all here :)
The Orions don't come up until Season 4 the episodes "Borderland" has a couple Orion ships I am thinking of doing writeups for and you see the males for the first time (I think). The next time I know of where they come up is later in the season in the episode "Bound" that episode shows us a bit more about their society and culture. It also features a different Orion ship then seen previously, and I am thinking of doing a write-up for it as well.
I don't know, the Pheromone rules in Aliens aren't that different from what was shown on-screen, just a little underpowered. I'm not sure I like the idea of every Orion chick being all Bene Gesserit 24/7.Quote:
Originally Posted by CypherWest
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
True, but their physical attributes are non-existant. The women should have a positive modifier to Vitality and the men a positive to Strength. Both should have the "Fit" Edge. In my opinion, that would bring them up to how they have been displayed onscreen.
Stil interested in your answers to this question ;)
Well... we also haven't seen any Orion janitors, so for all we know the Orion heavies take space steroids.Quote:
Originally Posted by CypherWest
Which would make an interesting species schtick, actually.
I'm very split on the Enterprise Orions.I like the way the men were portrayed (hated the way FASA portrayed them)but I felt the animal women were very pg rated.The way Susan Oliver portrayed Vina as the animal woman was around a soft r.The am's on Enterprise spent to much time sceaming.They didn't even fit Commodore Mendez's discriptions of them.
Yeah, they seemed like scheming high school girls rather than people with... appetites.Quote:
Originally Posted by WarriorKnight
The only time I've played has been at conventions, but I've been a human, Andorian, Klingon and a preying-mantis character from one of the Star Trek computer games that the Narrator had made especially for his convention game. All were great fun, but there's something liberating about the occasional non-Starfleet adventure, with all the chaos the turtle-heads can and will unleash! :D
Very big appetites.I always envied Pike the way Vina looked at him.I would have been cussing when they broke up that fanasy if I'd been him. The new ones never managed to get that feel;not even Yvonne DeCarlo as the crazy animal woman w/ Capt Garth.They should have made it a requirement to watch Susan Oliver to learn how to play one.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
I'm trying to think of people who got it right... the only one I can think of off the top of my head recently Cleopatra from the HBO Rome series.
I haven't gotten to see it,have to barrow my friend copy & check it out.I can't think of any in recent tv or movies.No one seems to be able to do that "Hunger" look Susan Oliver pulled off.Kind of funny considering how everyone goes on about how "open" tv & movies are,but an actress in a mid-60's science fiction series not only did it but it made it on to tv of the time.But the actresses now can't seem to pull it off to save their lives.Heck if they even would act slutty would be a big improvment.:)
Standards and Practices rarely comments upon acting ability...Quote:
Originally Posted by WarriorKnight