Tired of Cookie-cutter Terrans?

[redwood973]

Okay, almost forgot to post this before going to bed. Sunday some friends and I were talking about how 99% of our Terrans that we use are all basic cookie-cutter folk with little ethnic diversity. One of the reasons I loved the TOS movies so much is we not only got to see more alliens, but the Terrans where much more culturally diverse as well.

To help solve our little conundrum I came up with this little item. It's based on todays population figures and only uses the largest popullations as options. One could very well just use this for ideas--one could roll for Puerto Rican and start looking into information on that nation and find the island of Trinidad and decide the character is from there. (oh, man. I'm tired. I just realized i typed this all up as if they were from that nation and not of that nationality. Too tired to change it all. One could very well be German and live in the US or on Mars--but you all knew that. )

1.1: Roll 1d10
1: Africa (see 2.1 below)
2-6: Asia (see 2.2 below)
7: Europe (see 2.3 below)
8: Latin America & Carib. (see 2.4 below)
9: North America (see 2.5 below)
10: Southeast Asia & Oceana (see 2.6 below)

2.1: Roll 1d10
1-3: North Africa (see 3.1 below)
4-7: South Africa (see 3.2 below)
8-10: West Africa (see 3.3 below)

2.2: Roll 1d 10
1-5: Far East (see 4.1 below)
6-9: Middle East (see 4.2 below)
10: Near East (see 4.3 below)

2.3: Roll 1d10
1-5: Eastern Europe (see 5.1 below)
6: Northern Europe (see 5.2 below)
7-10: Western Europe (see 5.3 below)

2.4: Roll 1d10
1-3: Central America & Carib. (see 6.1 below)
4-10: South America (see 6.2 below)

2.5: Rol 1d10
1-9: Character is from the United States
10: Character is from Canada

2.6: Roll 1d20
1-8: Character is from Indonesia
9-11: Character is from the Philippines
12-14: Character is from Vietnam
15-16: Character is from Thailand
17-18: Character is from Burma
19: Character is from Malaysia
20: Character is from Australia

3.1: Roll 1d20
1-6: Character is from Ethiopia
7-11: Character is from Egypt
12-14: Character is from Sudan
15-16: Character is from Algeria
17-18: Character is from Morocco
19: Character is from Tunisia
20: Character is from Somalia

3.2: Roll 1d20
1-4: Character is from the Democratic Republic of Congo
5-7: Character is from South Africa
8-9: Character is from Tanzania
10-11: Character is from Kenya
12-13: Character is from Uganda
14: Character is from Mozambique
15: Character is from Madagascar
16: Character is from Angola
17: Character is from Malawi
18: Character is from Zimbabwe
19: Character is from Zambia
20: Character is from Rwanda

3.3: Roll 1d20
1-9: Character is from Nigeria
10: Character is from Ghana
11: Character is from the Ivory Coast
12: Character is from Cameroon
13: Character is from Niger
14: Character is from Burkina Faso
15: Character is from Senegal
16: Character is from Mali
17: Character is from Chad
18: Character is from Guinea
19: Character is from Benin
20: Character is from Togo

4.1: Roll 1d10
1-8: Character is from China
9: Character is from Japan
10: Character is from Korea

4.2: Roll 1d10
1-8: Character is from India
9: Character is from Pakistan
10: Character is from Bangladesh

4.3: Roll 1d10
1-3: Character is from Turkey
4-6: Character is from Iran
7: Character is from Iraq
8: Character is from Saudi Arabia
9: Character is from Yemen
10: Character is from Syria

5.1: Roll 1d20
1-8: Character is from Russia
9-11: Character is from Ukraine
12-13: Character is from Poland
14: Character is from Romania
15: Character is from Greece
16: Character is from the Czech Republic
17: Character is from Hungary
18: Character is from Serbia
19: Character is from Belarus
20: Character is from Bulgaria

5.2: Roll 1d20
1-13: Character is from the United Kingdom
14-15: Character is from Sweden
16: Character is from Denmark
17: Character is from Finland
18: Character is from Norway
19: Character is from Ireland
20: Character is from Lithuania

5.3: Roll 2d20
1-5: Character is from Germany
6-9: Character is from France
10-13: Character is from Italy
14-16: Character is from Spain
17: Character is from the Netherlands
18: Character is from Belgium
19: Character is from Portugal
20: Character is from Austria

6.1: Roll 1d20
1-11: Character is from Mexico
12: Character is from Guatemala
13: Character is from Cuba
14: Character is from the Dominican Repulbic
15: Character is from Haiti
16: Character is from Honduras
17: Character is from El Salvador
18: Character is from Nicaragua
19: Character is from Costa Rica
20: Character is from Puerto Rico

6.2: Roll 1d20
1-10: Character is from Brazil
11-12: Character is from Columbia
13-14: Character is from Argentina
15-16: Character is from Peru
17: Character is from Venezuela
18: Character is from Chile
19: Character is from Ecuador
20: Character is from Bolivia

[tonyg]

How about expanding the East section a bit? No Tibet, Nepal.

I noticed it since< i once wrote up a secuity character who was from Nepal and carried a Kurkri (why not, the Andorian was wearing a knife for cultural reasons, too).

Basically, I thought that if I diversified the redshirts and other "extras" the PCs would note who they were and be upset when they got them killed.

[redwood973]

I’m afraid, based on the current populations, China and India so outnumber other populations in their areas that most other ethnic groups in those areas are statistical anomalies–best represented by not appearing on the charts, but by random choice of the player; who’s first step in character creation using this chart I would expect to be checking out a map of their nation rolled and them getting all tingly seeing, say Nepal.

But, for those whom want a little more diversity (as much as I could get) in the Asian regions here’s a fudge–

4.1: Roll 1d20
1-15: Character is from China
16-17: Character is from Japan
18: Character is from Korea
19: Character is from Taiwan
20: Character is from Mongolia

4.2: Roll 1d20
1-12: Character is from India
13-14: Character is from Pakistan
15-16: Character is from Bangladesh
17-18: Character is from Afghanistan
19: Character is from Nepal
20: Character is from Sri Lanka

4.3: Roll 1d20
1-4: Character is from Turkey
5-9: Character is from Iran
10-11: Character is from Iraq
12-13: Character is from Saudi Arabia
14-15: Character is from Yemen
16: Character is from Syria
17: Character is from Israel
18: Character is from Jordan
19: Character is from the United Arab Emirates
20: Character is from West Bank/Gaza

[The Tatterdemalion King]

You should probably have another chart for ethnic background as well.

[Dan Gurden]

Having set it around modern population figures is all well and good but could be a bit dated set in the Trek era in an age after a nuclear war would have reset the polouation figures a bit and following an American led colonisation of the stars (seeing as how Cochrane was US, Starfleet was based out of the US and nearly. every. single. colony. encountered. was American.

Sure we all know itys a literary concrit of the show... But should be covered if you want to randomise a characters background.

But I think the details are too simplistic.

After all, your Far East is limited to;
1-15: Character is from China
16-17: Character is from Japan
18: Character is from Korea
19: Character is from Taiwan
20: Character is from Mongolia

Now I can categoricaly state that mongolia is closer to mid east than far east. And this list misses off Vietnam, Cambodia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand... And Taiwan, in a theoretial future of a 1 world government is likely to have reunited with China...

And then of course there is no possible way to then show rcacial diversity in this system.

TBH, its all well and good as an optional system, but you have to throw reality out of the window and present broad strokes because you risk making something so detailed that you need to set aside a couple of hours to work out the background.

Personally I prefer players to just pick a background... And if they do so with a smattering of knowledge thaey may even get the additional skills to go with it (the aforementioned Kukri along with a rank in primitive weapon to go with it)...

[Pericles]

Having visited that area of the continent, this omission was obvious to me, but you seem to have skipped East Africa to include the nations of Eritrea and Djibouti.

[redwood973]

For all we know, Dan–China may have been over run by Taiwan after the war. It’s been broken up into provinces of the Empire of Taiwan.

I guess for my group I associate with we all find the creation process of the characters (or NPC of the week) we create to be just as much fun as the game play itself. It’s just unfortunate that most often we end up with the Bob Smith from the U.S.A. Which is understandable, they players enjoy creating fantasy lives for themselves through these creations and they automatically think of things they know and have experienced. Thus far, they have loved using it and have a ton of notes already for future characters and NPC’s. By all means: use if you like, change if you like or ignore as you like.

I should point out that the regions are grouped as they are based on how the U.S. State Department divided the world up into regions back in the late 19th/early 20th century. (I was so confused at first when I kept seeing references to the Middle East and they were talking India.

[Phoenix]

I'm also noticing the omission of things like Oceania and Native North/South American cultures.

[Pericles]

Hey Phoenix, long time no see.

[Phoenix]

Hey Phoenix, long time no see.

I've been around, where've you been hiding?

[Pericles]

I've been around, where've you been hiding?

Mobilized to Texas, still Mobed, but back in the Springs now.

[Owen E Oulton]

I dunno, I much prefer creating characters completely, rather the using (no offense) a Judges' Guild-style "roll once on column A" schtick.