Quote:
Originally Posted by soltakss
Look at most Sci Fi series nowadays, and even going back some, you have races/species in abundance. Nobody blinks an eye at Klingons, Vulcans, Mimbari, Vorlons, Peacemakers and so on.
So, why have a problem with intelligent species on a fantasy world?
Sure, you have to have a reason for them being there, they don't just pop out of nowhere, or perhaps they do.
I like having different species, it adds flavour and a certain amount of exoticism that playing humans all the time just doesn't give you. When there are different cultures of the same species the game gets even better as you don't always know what they are going to do.
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But generally those "species' aren't alien species at all, but really just humans with funny ears, noses or whatnot. Klingons are Vikings with a bit of samurai thrown in, along head ridges.
In Sci-Fi these species usually serve as menaces that the more enlightened humans can show their superiority to. We don't need to do that in Sci-Fi.
I think the problem is that there is a tendency to make the humans bland, and just rely of the non-humans to provide the difference between cultures. And then by acting "elvish".
I think we would be better off to put detail into the human cultures. Take away the head ridges and Klingons could just as easily be a human culture.
So, unless there is something about a species that would make it different from humans (like maybe a race of lizards who guard their ancestral nest while their young hatch), we should just ignore the species stuff and concentrate on the culture.
I don't want to see the "cut & paste" humans that are in most RPG worlds. Lets give all the cultures some flavor. Then right up a world of cannibals!
