 October 15, 2012 - 2:13pm | The alien species called Jakar are listed in this project, under downloads. I remember reading about them on their original website years ago. I think they have some potential, but as is they seem a bit cartoonish. What can we do to "rehabilitate" them into a more complex alien species? |
 October 15, 2012 - 7:01pm | I forget the name of the rpg that is basically basic D&D converted to a sci fi theme, Stars Without Number maybe? in it they had a porcine race that was clearly a space orc which predisposed me to not like them expecially since I'm not buying 40K orks as a race I would even consider using unless I was playing a warhammer rpg setting. however, after having read the treatment of this race in that RPG I could see myself using it as is- pig headed space orc look and all- I just liked the culture. The problem I have with the Jakar, is it violated my "Alien races should not be a fantasy escapee from D&D rule" which obviously after the above paragraph that maybe more of a guideline then a rule or law (but then my favorite quote from the movie Tombstone was "It seems my hypocracy knows no bounds"). the difficulty would be that with a lot of things lightning only strikes once so could the jakar be rehabbed? Art wise? perhaps new art might help them but I doubt that you'll get for from the fantasy escapee accusation. So what will rehab them from me would be culture much like that procine race in that other RPG. On the other hand if you play with miniatures there certainly plenty of minotaur miniatures out there that could be converted. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 16, 2012 - 2:16am | Yeah, I felt the same way about the "D&D escapee" thing. They seem too much like a fantasy race. Of course, they were adapted from the TMNT RPG, so that doesn't help. Should we move them away from the minotaur image? I get your point about miniatures. If we keep their cow-man look, that opens up a lot of miniature possibilities. As tempting as that is, I'd like to try and take them in another direction, towards something more original. In the Jakar text, it describes them as more like "horned canines" than cows. I think we could expand more on that aspect. |
October 16, 2012 - 3:56am | Call me prejudice for having spent most of my life living in an Earth based ecology but my aesthetic sensibilities tell me that most things should have 1 or 2 horns. How many horns were you thinking? Clearly, two horns positioned off center from the spine is a successful structural arrangement. Even a rhino's horn is not in line with his spine most likely to protect the spine form jarring. Antlers serve a mating and defensive function in herbivores horns and tusks give a herbivore the ability to be more aggressive and back that aggression up. trying to think of a carnivore that employs horns and not coming up with one I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I'm trying to imagine the form and function of these horns. a quadruped is well suited to having horns and dropping its head for a gore attack but a biped in not and the minotaur of myth and fantasy only really works there IMO simply because he is big and scary. So, canine suggests carnivore or at least ominvore. which in turn suggests claws and fangs for taking down prey and rending flesh which then begs the question on why horns?- they seem unneccessary unless they are vestigal features that evolution left in place and they had important role in mating- females are turned on by big ones (did I just type that with a straight face?) and ore males use to fight it our over the females for the right to mate. However, it seems to me that if you had rending claws and or teeth that you used for the daily chore of eating then you'd go with what was the most familiar to you and just rip the stuffing out of an opponent with that armory instead of horns. I'm just throwing mud against the wall here I hope you can make something of it. EDIT found this http://www.trollandtoad.com/p123974.html of a mage knight swordbane miniature and perhaps it might work as inspiration for retooling the image of the jakar. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 20, 2012 - 6:24pm |
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 October 20, 2012 - 8:13pm | Maybe they don't have fangs but rather tusks. Lots of herbivorous have tusks. -iggy |
October 20, 2012 - 8:51pm | So from your comment I gather its a canine "look" with horns regardless of the actual diet. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 20, 2012 - 8:55pm | Just giving ideas. I don't intend to ever use this species. -iggy |
October 20, 2012 - 9:03pm | I think tusks would be a bit atrophied. Domesticated pigs that are released to the wild will grow tusks but kept penned on the farm they dont need them so they dont grow them. In the wild they used them as part of their foraging I believe and so they grow them. Unless the Jakar simply like to chomp on things (enemies) and thus evolution has preserved them. I'm good with them being a bovine- what if their horns were less cow like and more like something else? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 27, 2012 - 1:01am | I could go either way on the bovine/canine thing. I just don't want them to look like cartoons or get laughed at by the players. I like the idea of fangs or tusks. Gives them a less docile edge. Maybe they once had tusks, but now that they are a civilized spacefaring species you don't see the tusks so much any more. Hmm... different horns.... maybe like twisty goat horns, or backward-curving oryx horns. What other ideas do you have for horns? |
October 27, 2012 - 5:12am | I could go either way on the bovine/canine thing. I just don't want them to look like cartoons or get laughed at by the players. I like the idea of fangs or tusks. Gives them a less docile edge. Maybe they once had tusks, but now that they are a civilized spacefaring species you don't see the tusks so much any more. Hmm... different horns.... maybe like twisty goat horns, or backward-curving oryx horns. What other ideas do you have for horns? I'd have to take out my Guide to North American Animals and flip through it to come up with an idea. However, for the past year to year and a half I've been considering the problem of what makes a good alien species. One half of that is certainly a good look and good art to inspire. TSR had some good artist that delivered that. But in studying what the designers did with the Star Frontiers aliens (which in my opinion was pretty much lightning in a bottle) they took a fractured piece of the human id, ego or psyche to an extreme and made that the focus of the alien. This maybe why the Star Frontiers aliens are so believable- we can recognize the humanity in them? Finally, in studying what makes a good alien I found some that had interesting and believable cultures that were not at first blush human. So if I might propose a 3 pronged attack for the jackar. A. physical structure and look (this will almost certainly require an artist to step up and draw them and I'll try my hand to help with that) B. find the personality focus for the race- fractured piece of the human id, ego or psyche C. Culture- decide on some base assumptions and begin extrapolating their culture I think if the personality and culture sell the race that the original picture of the race would be something you could get away with. I have to ask, what was it about the jakar that intrigued you? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 29, 2012 - 4:43am | Good question. I think they have potential as something greater than their origin. I also think the original picture could work, if we have a strong enough text. Here's a first draft: |
October 29, 2012 - 5:03am | Here's a first draft: Where? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 29, 2012 - 5:53am | The Jakar are warm-blooded humanoid aliens, with both canine & bovine features. They have a pair of sturdy, backward-curving horns. Their hands and feet are exceptionally large, and they cannot use many items designed for human-sized creatures or smaller. They have four fingers on each hand, and four toes on each foot. Their mathematics are based on an octidecimal system, and they see numbers in patterns of eight. Jakar are physically very strong, far stronger than a Human or Yazirian. Although their eyesight is not as good as a Human's (they are somewhat colorblind), their hearing, smell and taste are more acute than a Human's. Their extended canine muzzle gives them a superior sense of smell, like a dog, and their directional, deerlike ears provide excellent hearing. A wet nose is a sign of good health. It is not unusual for a Jakar to lick his own nose, as a dog might. Jakar are known for being quiet, friendly and reliable. Other species find them to be quite likeable. They are hard-working, diplomatic and philosophical, with a relaxed sense of humor. They are peaceful vegetarians, although they can be quite fearsome when provoked. It takes a lot to provoke a Jakar. Their sheer size, standing head & shoulders above most other species, inspire a combination of fear & awe. They often get their way by merely tipping their head & flaring their nostrils. Jakar have two genders, and are polygamous. In theory, there is no upper limit to the number of wives a male may have, but more than eight is considered excessive and careless. There is no limitation placed on females regarding their career choices, and both males & females can be found in almost any career. Female Jakar tend to be less aggressive & competitive than males, and are sometimes elected to positions of power due to their level-headedness. Females are also commonly found in careers that require calm, unbiased thinking, such as scientists or accountants. Education is shared by the church and the parents. There are no elementary schools as such, and most early education is done exclusively by all the mothers in a family. One of the primary functions of the church is to provide support to mothers. Children receive religious instruction daily, which includes all the sciences. For older children, there are university-monasteries that provide a more advanced education. Jakar are quietly reverent and religious. Their religion is steeped in ancient traditions, ceremonies and spiritual rituals. They practice these ceremonies outdoors, or in large, roofless buildings. Jakar religious elders act as a ruling council. The wisest Jakar, of either gender, is elected by the people from the ruling council to lead the species. In theory, the council and leader have veto power over each other, but in actuality they usually agree. The council and leader are treated with a great deal of respect by the Jakar. Jakar are very social, and enjoy large gatherings and community events. They are also very rustic, and enjoy simple, uncomplicated pleasures such as sitting by the fireplace reading an old-fashioned book, playing verbal games as a family, or relaxed sessions of drinking and storytelling & sharing ideas. Because of their general amiability and low-key nature, there have been no formal wars in Jakar history. However, minor scuffles between energetic young males do happen occasionally. When involved in any sort of multi-species endeavor, a Jakar lends the effort a sense of stability. Having a Jakar there, you know the job is going to get done. Jakar buildings, spaceships and technology are basic & functional, and have a simple, uncomplicated quality to them. They do not build elaborate skyscrapers, but have low, sprawling communities. Jakar are comfortable around Humans, Dralasites & Ifshnits, and see Yazirians & Vrusk to be basically good. They see Humma as naive younger "siblings" who are in need of their older wisdom & moral guidance. Jakar react to Osakar as Humans do, with mild discomfort. The Jakar language has many nonverbal cues. They tend to use a lot of vowel sounds, with softer consonants like H, M, N, L. Their language includes breathy or nasal inhalations (sniffs) and exhalations (snorts), as well as |
October 29, 2012 - 5:53am | body language such as head shaking or pawing the ground with a foot. Translation devices will not include bodily movements, and it is recommended that speakers attempt these in order to avoid misunderstandings. |
 October 30, 2012 - 9:37pm | Nice write-up bossmoss. You had said something about tusks maybe earlier. What if the males had tusks for shows of strength, but as the society grew more civilized they trim them down. Especially those males that interact with other races. Once in awhile a rogue male will let his tusks grow, he also has a more agressive nature too. These could be outcasts to normal Jakar society. Maybe they serve as mercenaries or pirates, or they could be just a loner. This would allow a Jakar henchman if the gm needed one. |
October 31, 2012 - 3:00am | Random thoughts and comments- equipment costs a % more out side their society to modify it for their hands/ body. wet nose also helps trap sense molecules and a dog licking his nose is also tasting smells. Racial abilities? One could be always "on" like dralasite shape shifting and yazirian gliding One scould be an improvable % like lie dectection in drals and battle rage in yazirians and finally one can be a small % bonus for something I would propose these ideas for consideration: +10% for jakar medics to diagnose due to the extreme sensitivity their nose gives them (like dogs that can detect cancer (sets up a jakar archtype) and or +10 for tracking (also sets up another jakar archtype- bountyhunter) I'm presuming that we're talking about a +20 to STA/STR so which abilities are going to get whacked? LOG/INT and PER/LDR? Each pair for -10? that plays into the big dumn ox stereotype I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 31, 2012 - 5:01am | I like the idea of a Jakar medic. That seems to fit. |
October 31, 2012 - 5:14am | A -10% on LOG/INT doesnt force them to be dum just that racially they are not prone to producing geniuses and it simply plays into the stereotype. Incidently, medic skill tests off of LOG so a player going for the Jakar medic archetype will put his best score there. Perhaps make it +2o on STR/STA, -10 on PER/LDR and -5 for everything else so as to not terribly penalize character concepts that are not going to focus on strength and pounding people into unconsciousness. Just imagine having a Jakar where the player put his highest score on STR/STA got the +20 and became a walking tank lugging a heavy laser around or is an NPC body guard. We should consider adding one more band to the table on punch scores that applies to only jakar and gorlian thugs despite the fact that this would allow for strength over 100%. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 31, 2012 - 6:39am | The only thought I have on the medic is that surgery requires fine/delicate control and I wonder what their larger/different hands do to that ability. On the stats is the +20 to STR/STA required. Maybe make it +15 and then do -10 to PER/LDR and -5 to DEX/RS to reflect their larger size, or even go -10 on the DEX/RS if you want the +20. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
October 31, 2012 - 9:24am | I think that a Jakar surgeon is probably at no disability working on a Jakar but on an ifshnit he'd be grumbling under his breath. I suspect that they have tools like human surgeons for precision work on small stuff- again the % increase on equipment for the jakar. You could go with the +15 for STR/STA but the +20 just feels right to me. These guys should be tough- perhaps their native world is a little higher than 1g gravity. EDIT: does their sense of smell let them identify the emotional state of a subject like wolves smelling fear? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 31, 2012 - 12:22pm | Ok! Alien rehab fans. Talk about the perfect storm. We're doing this rehab of a creature and XEternalBarugon at deviantart.com just asked if I might consider doing a drawing of one of his creatures. I think he's looking for a dragonish/dinosaur/Godzilla sort of creature but he has this interesting picture in his gallery called the Rositro if the following link does not work right use the search feature of DA and type in rositro to view it. http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=rositro#/d5e5e9l its big, hulking, has a longish nose and I kind of like the feet. it lacks horns though but.... do we really need horns? Anyway, something to consider.(not sure if its part of someone's IP or copyright so have to confirm that it isn't) I'm replying to his query without making any promises. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 6, 2012 - 6:47pm | Just an update - I have been using the Jakar in my campaign, more or less as I wrote them up in the above post. I placed them just outside the map of Frontier space, to the "East". I had some players who are setting out to explore unknown space, so I thought the Jakar would make a good "unknown species". |
January 30, 2013 - 6:07am | found this picture on DA http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=minotaur&offset=48#/d4tin7s its inspirational but not sure I'd go with it yet. Hey the jakar have a drop ship: http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=star+ship+#/dwf3xa I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 11, 2014 - 6:27am | So last night I got my sketch on at sketch group and creative juices were still flowing strong this morning thus: I toned down the horns for the simple reason that I think civilization would have influence their atrophy and for the expedient that they are a space faring race that will need to use a vacuum suit and you have to get a helmet on that head. Other change: no nipples on the pecs. i decided that their mammary glands are lower and that part of the wearing of pants and elaborate sashes is that this covers them (a little bit of modesty for the Jakar) a female will have a set of four gorilla like tits and they wear their pants or surong high in the classic "high water" range with a sash. Otherwise drawn from the original pic. Edit: I might revisit this drawing to actually redraw the pants higher on the torso. Note to self: suggest that they get a body builder to model at sketch group I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 1, 2014 - 11:57pm | Finally got back in here, and was pleasantly surprised to see the new pic. Excellent job, Jedion. I hadn't thought about the space helmet thing. Good point. Regarding the number of breasts, do Yazirians have 4 or 6? I couldn't remember. Anyway, I think the Jakar should be a contrast to the Yazirians, so maybe the number should be fewer for the Jakar. Keeping it two might be OK, because we want them to keep that buff bodybuilder look. If we give them too many, players might say, "I'm not playing that, it's a damn cow". (Maybe they wouldn't even notice if they are lower, and covered up.) I guess I had visualized female Jakar with huge mammaries, since the males seem to have huge pecs. What do you think? |
March 2, 2014 - 12:28am | Just checked, and the original Jakar website is still there. The Jakar also appear on Ragnarr's site. The original site does not list any stats for them, which must be why I didn't have any. Ragnarr gives them: +10 Str/Sta -5 Dex/RS -5 Int/Log +0 Per/LDR This is a little different than what we had been discussing. Any thoughts? |
March 2, 2014 - 5:15am | Just checked, and the original Jakar website is still there. The Jakar also appear on Ragnarr's site. The original site does not list any stats for them, which must be why I didn't have any. Ragnarr gives them: +10 Str/Sta -5 Dex/RS -5 Int/Log +0 Per/LDR This is a little different than what we had been discussing. Any thoughts? I keep forgetting that Ragnar hosts these on his sight, does +10 to STR/STA feel right to you? It certainly exeeds the ability modifers of all of the core four except the +10 racial abiltiy of humanity. Ok I'm down with only 2 breasts. I'm leaning away from them being in the same location as human though. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 3, 2014 - 1:30pm | Maybe +10 is OK. Not sure. We were talking about +20 earlier in this thread. +15 was also suggested. I think their strength is their defining feature, but how far do we want to take it? I don't use Gorlians as an alien species, but what is the Gorlian Str/Sta? Maybe we can use that as a guideline. I'm still leaning towards +0 for Int/Log. Regarding the breasts, I think I will wait and see what you and RKingway (and others) come up with as far as Jakar art. We may end up rethinking several aspects of their biology. |
March 3, 2014 - 4:49pm | Maybe +10 is OK. Not sure. We were talking about +20 earlier in this thread. +15 was also suggested. I think their strength is their defining feature, but how far do we want to take it? I don't use Gorlians as an alien species, but what is the Gorlian Str/Sta? Maybe we can use that as a guideline. I'm still leaning towards +0 for Int/Log. Regarding the breasts, I think I will wait and see what you and RKingway (and others) come up with as far as Jakar art. We may end up rethinking several aspects of their biology. How about +10 STR/STA and -10 RS/DEX It plays to the big tough and slow cliche but does not make them out to be Big and Dum I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
Good point about the canine aspect. What do they need the horns for if they are carnivorous canine creatures?