 March 2, 2014 - 12:51am | The Jakar are large, bovine/canine aliens for Star Frontiers that first appeared on a website called the Hound. They are also listed as one of the playable races on Ragnarr's Ships & Bots. I have been using them in my own Star Frontiers game for a couple years now. We have discussed them here on this site a few times (do a search for Jakar, and you'll turn up several mentions of them). The art for the Jakar is taken from a TMNT book, but they were rewritten to be an alien species. Here is the original picture:  This is a picture by Jedion:  I would like to put them in an issue of the Star Frontiersman or Frontier Explorer, to give them more exposure. I think the original art would cause some copyright issues, despite it being a widely circulated picture on the web. I like Jedion's, so maybe we can use that. Would anyone else like to contribute art as well, or just provide some brainstorming ideas? If you have any questions, refer to Ragnarr's site or the original description at The Hound, or look at the discussion here under "Giving the Jakar More Depth". |
 March 2, 2014 - 3:19am | It'd be interesting if they were bovine/canine but don't actually look like Minotaurs or something from Earth... |
March 2, 2014 - 4:51am | But here's a few quick scribbles based on what previous discussions have described: |
 March 2, 2014 - 5:07am | It'd be interesting if they were bovine/canine but don't actually look like Minotaurs or something from Earth... I agree that they should not acually look like minotaurs. I like the direction of your sketchs as they seem more alien and the horns are not curving up behind creating problems for wearing a vacuum suit. I'll take another stab at drawing them based off your design. I think a picture showing the jakar with a vrusk and dralasite doing something would be good as well, at least I would want that for a FE layout. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 2, 2014 - 6:24am | I'm planning on making them look more 'alien'. The above sketches are still too rooted in Earth analogues. |
March 2, 2014 - 7:14am | Something more like this extremely quick doodle: |
 March 2, 2014 - 8:40am | Eye stocks don't work for me. To much like Jar-Jar Binks. I do like the horns being an extension of the lower portion of the eye socket. It is unexpected but natural looking, nicely alien. -iggy |
March 2, 2014 - 9:12am | Yes, I may instead have them as more globule-like in a stretched way, rather than on stalks. It'd be nice to have something other than conventional eyes. I have to do a bit more thinking about the underlying shape of the skull. At the moment I'm trying to steer things as much as I can away from how the Thyrann turned out, as on paper - aside from the reptilian head - these two have various similarities. A walking bull and a walking monitor lizard don't give me room to manouvre...  |
March 2, 2014 - 1:02pm | I like this http://www.deviantart.com/art/Fifth-435688253 From deviantart.com It has a nice feel. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 2, 2014 - 1:16pm | Hmm - seems a tad too human to me. |
March 2, 2014 - 5:19pm | World make a good Gamma World character. -iggy |
 March 2, 2014 - 7:17pm | To throw a little more on the dialog, what we think of as the Minotaur was not always what it was. Here's a wiki link with some variations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur Oh and bovine does not necessarily mean horns. This can be an interesting take on different races of the Jakar. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 March 2, 2014 - 9:39pm | Just to throw this out there, I made a reverse monster from the minotaur for my DnD game, the manotaur: |
March 3, 2014 - 5:21am | Oh and bovine does not necessarily mean horns. This can be an interesting take on different races of the Jakar. That said, horns are a common theme running throughout the group. It all depends on what the original description of the Jakar meant by using the word bovine, of course. The author may have meant 'bull-like', but perhaps not. |
March 3, 2014 - 1:12pm | I think the pic in the link provided by Jedion looks more horse-like, although it is a nice pic. Maybe de-emphasize the bovine aspect, because that leads to it looking more like a minotaur. Perhaps focus on more of the "horned canine" look. That said, I like how things are progressing so far... |
March 3, 2014 - 2:12pm | The whole bovine/canine thing is such a clash that it makes it a tad tricky to figure out what it may look like. Horned canine starts reeling things back to Earth analogues too perhaps... |
 March 3, 2014 - 5:04pm | Just to throw this out there, I made a reverse monster from the minotaur for my DnD game, the manotaur: I made a group for fans of Hero Machine, right here. It is a place to show off one's HM creations. All content is welcome. |
March 3, 2014 - 5:10pm | The whole bovine/canine thing is such a clash that it makes it a tad tricky to figure out what it may look like. Horned canine starts reeling things back to Earth analogues too perhaps... If we emphasize canine more than we simply pull up some gnoll pictures or screen shots from Everquest Black Burrow zone. Lets be honest, the original art lacks any semblance of the canine in it. Its all bovine. I've always like the backward knee that is usually pictured on a gnoll. Its structurally different and visually it suggests that this is not just a human in a funny suit. Perhaps borrowing from the gnoll artwork out there but keep the horns and some of the bovine features in the face. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 3, 2014 - 5:24pm | But then I'm reminded of the Vargr... |
March 3, 2014 - 6:47pm | Yes, the original art IS all bovine, because the original art wasn't made to be the Jakar alien itself. It was just meant to be a humanoid water buffalo. We are trying to break away from it, because it wasn't made for Star Frontiers. We don't have to be limited to a cow image, and I think we're doing well there, but we ARE limited by the actual description. Remember that this alien has already been out there for years, and people are playing it "as is" (meaning they use the cow image because that's all that out there). We are trying to provide a better image for an existing alien people already use in their games. I think a Gnoll or Vargr is not right. The whole creature should not look like a canine animal. We only want a hint of canine in the head or face. All we need to do is take it a step back away from the cow, so that it doesn't look like a D&D monster or cartoon. The tusks help, as do the alien "horns". I think the first sketches by RKingway at the top of this thread are on the right track. It is a massive creature - very tall & broad, and very strong & muscular, like a bodybuilder. Its arms & legs should be thick & strong. It should intimidate others with its mere presence. |
March 3, 2014 - 7:23pm | Like a Balrog, but with a canine snout. |
March 7, 2014 - 7:10am | The problem is that the design needs to many things that aren't related. Either it's bovine, or canine. If you try and mix the two, even if you put a canine nose on a balrog, you then start uncovering problems about where the space is in and on the skull for the various features. Or, if you try and make things fit, you end up with things that look like rams or deer. This is one of the reasons I tend not to like 'alien' designs which are simply cobbled-together Earth analogues. At least Yazirians and Vrusk are their own thing, despite resembling some things we'd recognise from Earth. A giant walking bull-type thing isn't really going to work unless the design goes it's own way away from anything Earth-like. At the moment, the on-paper Jakar design is too limiting. |
March 7, 2014 - 9:17am | How about this? |
March 8, 2014 - 11:46pm | I think that's fantastic. I think you've nailed it. |
March 9, 2014 - 4:37am | Good  Here's another one: The rear horn is slightly misplaced, but you get the general idea. One concept that I had with both drawings is the basset hound-like droops to the lower eyelid. There are some water buffalo and bull terrier influences in there also. |
