 November 25, 2013 - 7:28pm | I Know, I Know, I Know... I've written in the SFman that sf aliens should not be fantasy escapees. And all i can do is quote Val Kilmer in Tombstone; "It seems my hypocrasy has no bounds." Perhaps I'm just lightening up a little after reading the treatment in Star's Without Number of what was clearly a space orc race that did not feel like fantasy escapees but rather a legit race with a real culture. I was just talking miniatures with Jaxon and my brain wandered over to some goblin miniatures that I happen to like but haven't purchased: Hassel Free Minis has some space goblins with sci fi clothes and equipment: http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=stahler~hfsa100&category=miniatures~sci%252dfi-aliens http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=bohkin-troopers~hfsa101&category=miniatures~sci%252dfi-aliens Confrontation has some goblin pirates (pirates of the carribean look) but I think they may be out of production. If you can get the metal ones without paying through the nose its well worth it. The Klinkon Goblins form the Flintloque universe (Alternative Armies) are south east asian goblins with swords, spears, conical hats and samurai like armor. http://www.alternative-armies.com/Kinkon_Goblins.htm Hassel Free is a great little company in England run by some very nice people and I love buying their stuff. These are clearly the miniatures for space goblins that are the least work- the others require some conversion work though simple weapon swaps are easy enough. More than a few years ago I started painting orcs yellow instead of green and found they looked so much better. Truthfully yellow is more believable as a skin color than green IMO. So I thought I'd propose a race of space goblins and elicit feed back and imput. The working title is Bokar which is a corruption of Bogart which was an impish fantasy race and Noglins is short for Not Goblins. I'm not married to those names and would switch to another that sounded better. I'd like to make them a nuisance and a menace. Willing to trade like the ifshnit but equally capable of outright piracy, extortion and black mail- for instance a ship finds itself misjumped into some system and while trying to figure out where it is and how to get back to civilization a couple of Bokar ships turn up and extort a "toll" (they clearly out gun the lost ship) but on another occassion back at say Minotaur, one of those Bokar captains offers to sell back to the extortees the property taken from them and they do it with sincere straight faces as if the gun point extortion never took place. (perhaps they channel the Ferrengi a little - amoral wandering merchants, though they would scoff at Rules of Acquisition ) Shiftless scavengers with no ties to anyone or anyplace. suspected of trading even with the sathar. Just no political will in the Frontier to actually bar them from the UPF. The ifshnits and the CFM on the other hand have all but banded them from the Rim. (needless to say the Bokar kind of hate the ifshnit). I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 26, 2013 - 10:28am | I am cool with the idea as long as they feel Sci-Fi and are different then the Goblins of Fantasy. I like the name Bokar better then Noglins simply because Noglins is too close to Goblin. I think these guys might be a nice Orion Pirate/Ferrengi type race. Maybe they are nasty genetically modified relatives of the ifshnits or not and even if they where related the ifshnits might deny it. They could be escaped Sathar GMO, or ifshnits that have changed so much through purposeful genetic modification that they are now a new species or simply another race that somehow got into space that has very opposite customs to the ifshnit. I would think conning non-Bokar might be a point of pride amongst them. In short all non-Bokar are a renewable resource to be taken advantage of in anyway possible. I am thinking though they would need a caste/clan structure like thieves, smugglers, con artists, tinkers/mechanics, musicians/entertainers, slavers, etc as they are probably very mobile so formal education would not be their thing. Strict rules within their society towards each other, but completely different rules towards non-Bokar. I would actually have them being "very clean at home" though scavengers and into leaving as little trace as possible with secret camps/colonies/stations (nothing big as they are mobile 1st and foremost). These guys could be fun to work into the SF 'Verse. I like the Yellow colour suggested. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
 November 26, 2013 - 2:26pm | YES! Space gremlins or goblins! I think the goblin/ferrengi feel is GREAT! (I liked the Bojkin troopers.) |
November 26, 2013 - 2:54pm | I like Tcklinxa's take on a decentralized society and methods of education. Wont call the societal organization clans (to differentiate it from yazirians and saurians which organize into clans ) instead i think guild might be a good option. Secret bases are a great idea too. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 26, 2013 - 4:09pm | When we were doing development work for Frontierspace I got one heck of a cold reception for a space ork like race I called the Okanin. So much negative feed back that I dropped the concept entirely. So I have to admit that I am very skeptical about space goblins getting a warm reception. But if you can make it work more power to ya! |
November 26, 2013 - 6:27pm | @AZ Gamer: Well Frontier Space was or became the sand box of one individual so I would interpret your comment as a reflection of that individuals vision. And i myself would have been resistive of a n ork race as I suggested in the beginning post but I've had my horizons expanded recently. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 27, 2013 - 3:36pm | Yellow skined humanoids a little taller than ifshnits. Society is guild/caste oriented and generally centered on a ship or outpost. The crew of one ship are loyal to each other but not the next ship. Young are raised in the guild but females are not brought on ship. Guilds trade with each other and new crew are brought on ship when traded/bartered for with say a brothel guild at an out post. I like the idea of the Bokar being immune to sarthar hypnotism and this lets the trade with the worms when it suits them. They can occupy a unique place as go between with the sathar and UPF if you could trust them not to double deal which you cant. The hypno immunity means the worms cant dominated out right but their complete lack of morals and greed means the worm can bend them to their purposes. A common joke in the frontier is to say something sarcastic about finding an honest bokar. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 27, 2013 - 8:08pm | Kicking around guild and caste basic building block of society is the guild and any business enterprise is a guild whether a trading ship or a brothel/tavern. Within a guild are various caste, usually two. On ship its the Jineers caste who are responsible for keeping the ship running and fixing things, the other caste is the Ouways who pilot, navigate, handle business trades. The head of the Ouway's is the "captain" and the head of the Jineers is the 2nd in command except he never advances to Captain becasue that is not his caste. Now females are never brought on ship unless they are being transported for an important reason as its bad for morale and disciplin. Females are generally rellagated to the chattle caste which can be found in guilds at out posts and stations. These guilds are run by Ouway caste with the head Ouway running things but the head of the chattle caste is second in command in this situation. She can actually be more powerful within Bokar society than the nominal head of her guild. This is because all guilds must obtain new recruites from the chattle caste and its always a negotiation. On top of that this Madam Bokar has well learned the arts sex and desire flirts rapaciously with Bokar Captains but rarely indulges them so that they alway keep coming back. A ship captain negotiates and barters with the Head of a chattle caste to obtain a young "cabin boy/bildge rat" for his crew. Males tend to out number females in bokar society. because of the somewhat strict segregation most low level bokar fantasized, obsess and dream of a trip to see chattle caste females. They find Frontier ships with females on them odd and their obsession with females makes them crude and rude when in contact with Frontier society. More than once a lower level bokar has snuck onto a UPF ship to find the orgie he was sure was going on. A planet or station side business is run by Ouway caste with some jineer caste in support and or chattle caste. Bokar smell. Vrusk note the scent but it doesn't bother them, humans find it disagreeable but yazirians and dralasites are bothered by it. Savy Ouway caste captains and leaders have learned to use perfume but they tend to bathe in it and its 50% likely to be the wrong scent for their gender. They are immune to sathar hypnotism which would make them ideal go betweens to open negotiations with the sathar if you could trust them not to double deal and you cant. their greed and complete lack of morals leaves ample room for the sathar to influence them. Its rumored but unconfirmed that bokar do meet and trade with the sathar. Star Law is looking into this but the secretive nature and decentralized organization of their society had made it difficult for anyone to investigate their society beyond the occassion they visit Frontier Trade stations and do business. they are scavengers, and potentially pirates, not above extortion and con schemes. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 27, 2013 - 11:17pm | You should roll that up and submit it to a magazine. I would like to hear about the "orks" too. |
 November 28, 2013 - 6:00am | I've been doing this for a while myself. But I tend to make changes to make them seem more alien like. I've created a version of elf like aliens, but to make them distinct from somethings like Vulcans and Eldar I've made some cosmetic changes. Such as dark non-human eyes like this. But why not draw from fantasy for some aliens. Are not the Eorna just another lizardmen? And reptile aliens are as much a part of sci-fi as they are of fantasy. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
November 28, 2013 - 9:21am | At some point i feel escapees from fantasy dont work in sci fi- like centaurs and unicorn. Or at least are not in keeping with the flavor of sci fi I'm interested in. Thus I've had a rule of No fantasy escapees. But the Stars without Number rules had a well done Porcine race that was clearly a mix of space ork and klingon and I found my self liking it greatly. So since I knew Hassel Free minis had some space goblin minis I figured why not and mix in the yellow skin which I like so that they are not so obviously goblins. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 28, 2013 - 10:39am | I would like to suggest that the females are the only ones that can stop a fight between males. Females may also hold a lorekeeper/historian/religious type position that is not understood by outsiders. Possibly also have medical knowledge as well in the society. "Never fire a laser at a mirror." |
November 28, 2013 - 9:03pm | Getting a write up together on the bokar: http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/7868 For special abilities I'm going with their sense of smell and hearing being acute and it gives them a bonus against being surprised and or a +1 to the initiative modifier. My take on special abilities is that there is usually 2 (thats the pattern in AD and 3 in Zebs) and they can be any of the following: 1. should be improvable like lie dection for dralasites and battle rage for yazirians 2. one should be a flat bonus like the ifshnit bonus to haggling or appraisal. 3. one should be something interesting the alien can do like gliding or ambidexterity or elasticity I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 28, 2013 - 9:14pm | Ironically, centaurs & unicorns are alien species in the Well World books. |
November 28, 2013 - 10:54pm | One thing you can be sure of. Palladium Books took fantasy creature into sci-fi to a whole extreme level with their 'Rifts' RPG. So what we're talking about here, it's not like it hasn't been done before. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
November 28, 2013 - 11:55pm | "For special abilities I'm going with their sense of smell and hearing being acute and it gives them a bonus against being surprised and or a +1 to the initiative modifier." And immunity to Sathar Hypnotism. |
November 29, 2013 - 11:15am | "For special abilities I'm going with their sense of smell and hearing being acute and it gives them a bonus against being surprised and or a +1 to the initiative modifier." And immunity to Sathar Hypnotism. That's right, So a IM bonus Immunity to sathar hypnotism and perhaps a +5 or 10% bonus to ability check involving PER and attempts to dupe or lie to another character. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
