 August 12, 2014 - 3:26am | I have 42 PC races and 5 NPC races - Sathar (Bora-Kai & Zuraqqor), Clikk and Bokar (Neutral traders). The Bora-Kai can also be PCs. I use the timeline to bring these races out. Currently we have the Core, Rim + Natives (Nagana & Tyleri) and those of the Frontier but, with no homeplanet; Gorlian & Vimh (Corporate experiment that escaped). The rest are based on:
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 August 12, 2014 - 4:24am | I limit it to 1. core four (and if I know I'm dealing with individuals that dont like the expanded frontier then I partician my thinking to say things dont include the Rim race but also dont neccessarily exclude them, if at all possible. This is actually a very real issue since I'm so involved with fan magazines.) 2. plus rim races (I put the Boon-sha as a race that co-evolved with the humma since structurally there is some similarities and it explains the Zebs comment that the humma were involved in continuous interspecies war- they virtually hunted the boon-sha to extinction and now many have been relocated to a reservation on one of the other planets in the humma system. thus they are a marginalized race and i dont have to make any real room for them) 3. plus all the "damn dirty hairy ape" primitives from all the modules. 4. I embrace the saurians - after all we did a major thing with them in one of the FEs but again they are a marginalized race living as refugees in the frontier. (I suppose that issues facing refugees should be examined and perhaps an article can be done on that with adventure hooks. 5. The zethra were presented as optional and I would leave them as a big unknown, I haven't used them but would allow them since they again are a marginal race. 6. Zuraquor- like them as a client speceis for the sathar 7. Sessu (the more friendly sathar of Dragon mag) on an intellectual level I accept them as a divergent branch of the sathar family but on a practical level I dont make room for them but would use them in a massive Sathar campaign where the ultimate goal might be bringing the war to the sathar. They would be cast in the role of manipulators using the UPF to become the preemminent clan in sathar pan galactic society. 8. Most other fan magazine races are optional IMO, use em if you wish but 9. Vimh are a good one with the corporate experiment angle that we discussed quite a bit on this site 10. Alternity races I have very little connection to and pretty much ignore as an option I dont use 11. Now one race I really like is the myxine In fact you could totally get rid of the zethra and use the myxine in its place. In a Frontier according to the Jedion that would happen. but again the myxine is an oddity and a marginal race more likely to be an NPC that the PCs interact with or end up with as a travel companion. Timeline issues- I'd need to think about that. One thing here is that with a large number of sapient races in such a small locale as the Frontier sector its a little unbelievable that evolution would produce that many in such a tight loction. Now to be fair the eorna evolve and then due to unique pressures on their civilization they evolve 4 more races thus giving us 5 from one planet- imagine how many researchers would descend on Volturnus afterward? And the core four are characterized as entering the Frontier from elsewhere the Rim is a very tight place- three planets within minimal light years of each other and three species? plus I put the boon-sha as co-evolved with the humma so 4 species. Then we put in sathar and klikk and their client species of heliope and zuraquor but they are all from parts unknown Then there are the two species from the Beyond the Frontier modules What you end up with is a Star Wars creature canteena by default. You can either embrace that or kick against it. I do not embrace it willingly but my hypocracy knows no bounds and I've more or less fallen into that bed and slept with the green skinned alien chick- so to speak. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 12, 2014 - 10:58am | Went a little different. Start with the Core Four as PC races. They each have a homeworld in the Frontier. Then add in the Sathar and Zuraqqor as the Bad Guys. Depending on how a campaign goes the NPC races are introduced from the adventures and their home planets (most of the NPC races are primitive tech or like the Eorna have reasons not to leave their home planet so are not big in the continueing plot). Now a couple NPC races are in the mix for background and because they developed or have access to Space Travel such as the S'sessu, Vimh and Gorilian. Robots and Androids are part of the mix and sometimes NPC and sometimes equipment. Klicks and Tetrachs are races but more background material than a part of the living world. The Rim races are not a part of my campaigns. Just never took to them. I usually stay in a timeline before the 2nd Sathar War. I generally prefer a cleaner Frontier without alot of races popping up every week. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
August 12, 2014 - 2:05pm | The Rim races are not a part of my campaigns. Just never took to them. I usually stay in a timeline before the 2nd Sathar War. I generally prefer a cleaner Frontier without alot of races popping up every week. for this reason I attempt to write things that can be used by both parties with the two major parties being those that dont use Zebs and those that do. Of course sometimes its impossible to do this as some material is overtly Zebs material. Even when I created the Mooks Without Number serial I allowed for the option of a referee to simply approach the adventure from a strictly AD/KHs perspective since the CFM were a cadre first introduced in KHs and thus you just change the captain of the ship to be human. This idea of straddling the Zebs/ AD divide is important to me only because I've been so involved in the fan magazines and I'm mindful of my audience. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 August 13, 2014 - 12:57pm | For me, the core four met in the Frontier. After meeting, they have slowly come to know other races and contacted other frontiers, such as the Rim Coalition. (Though I prefer not to call them that because they exist outside the Frontier, being their own, neighboring frontier.) I ignore races pulled or derived from other systems, including Alternity and the Vimh. (Vimh are just another version of the rat race found in just about every other Sci-fi and Fantasy universe. In other words, they are ubiquitous. I like to keep my Star Frontiers universe original.) Thus, I also do not use Bora-Kai, Nagana, Klikks (Clikks), Ghed'yan, Clii'jak, Saurian, Thren, Belphan, Arborean, Andorian, Beelovan, Slirrys. I was disappointed with the direction taken with the Gorlians. (I preferred the Yazirian route as reflected in the Yazirian Clans article in the same issue, which seemed clear to me by the context. I also did not like the bull-gorilla mix to the race. It made them wholly uninteresting to me.) Laamvin and Felpa just don't work as character races; I will only use races that work as characters. (I don't dangle carrots that don't get eaten.) My favorites for character races are the Boon'sheh, Yinni (As a planet-hopping, but non-technological race; I normally would not do that for a primitive race, but I like them a lot,) and sentient robots. I like the Zethra as a character race; they are the most interesting to me. I like the Zuraqqor as dupes of the Sathar; besides, they are included in the game pieces, so that's canon to me. I also like the Basilisk, but I would prefer to rename them. Since I believe in making all races available as characters, I like the S'sessu. Eorna are canon, of course. Though Zeb's has its troubles, I like the Zeb's races as described, but not as shown, except I prefer my version of the Ifshnit and Osakar, (I never got to send my Osakar to print,) the remake of the Humma, and I like the Mechanon as an aloof and semi-hostile A.I. race of robots (Particularly as illustrated by Shell,) that could end up on any side of a conflict, even the Sathar side. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 August 12, 2014 - 3:03pm | I'd like to see your take on the Osakar. -iggy |
August 13, 2014 - 9:57am | Here is an Osakar up close and personal, based on the description. Based on the description, it is impossible for two Osakar to look exactly alike due to their plant-like appearance and scaling, and environmental factors, character, personal experiences, discolorations and chips of the scales would be common, so I have reinterpreted the description to say that Osakar are incapable of distinguishing facial features, as is the case with some creatures. So Osakar identify each other, and members of other races, based on their clothing and jewelry. Their accouterments are gaudy (not so much detailed which can get lost in distinction,) because they seek to be easily recognized by other Osakar. The image depicted in Zeb's is wrong for putting the top knee outward and bottom inward. They should be reversed. The hands are "short and powerful", so they can't be as long as depicted in Zeb's; they would look broad and stubby-fingered and look like the fingers curve rather than bend. The neck would be thicker at the base and shorter than depicted in Zeb's. "Long neck" does not have to mean a giraffe neck. In this image, I made the skin barklike, but technically I should have gone for a more shingle scales look as described. Though based on the fact that Osakar resemble a white plant, shingled bark seems appropriate as it is more recognizable as plant-like, whereas overlapping scales would look more snake-like, especially given their facial appearance. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 August 13, 2014 - 12:32pm | Over the course of almost three years, I went completely crazy with races in my game. I'm using the core four and Zeb's races. Eorna in my game were saved from PGC and Streel by working with the CFM and becoming part of the Rim Coalition. Once we played through all of the canon adventures, we ran through SW 2 as a Campaign Climax event before expanding the entire setting by over 300%. We had an entire arc where the PCs encountered several regions of space, each as large as the Frontier or larger. All in different stages of coming back from an ancient Clikk war. In one region, I added races from Alternity. And used some of the races from Mass Effect to make the factions less human-centric. The Rigunmor Star Consortium is S'sessu, Star Mech is Salarian, etc. In another region, I added some races from various sources - Traveller, Mass Effect and STNG. And finally I have a couple of planets that were hit with Biogenic Weapons in the Clikk war. On these planets, scattered about, are other races of mutants from various stock. It probably sounds ridiculous, especially compared to the Old School type of SF a lot of you play, but my kids love it. It resembles Star Trek/Wars without being them. Also, I only allow them to play Core 4 PCs. So Grand Total: Humans, Dralasites, Vrusk, Yazirians Humma, Ifshnit, Osakar, Vimh Eorna, Mechanon Darrians, Turians, Volus, Cardassians T'sa, Weren, Seshayan, S'sessu Salarians, Asari Clikk, Sathar, Zurraqor |
 August 16, 2014 - 2:50am | I just keep things as they are in the original rules and Zeb's Guide. Any other aliens I've added are NPCs, either from published TSR modules or a few I've made up for exploration missions. I'm interested in the Tetrach Societies and have on occasion had my players find odd remnants of their culture. The reason I've not used races published elsewhere (i.e. Jakar, Thyrann) is because they seem a bit too rooted in Earth-based memes and would have to be heavily modified by me in order to work with how I do things. This may sound somewhat boring but thus far it's stood me in good stead. I still think I've only really seen the tip of the Star Frontiers iceberg  |
August 16, 2014 - 5:26am | By "Earth-based memes", what do you mean? Something other than raging chimps, industrious ants, segmented worms and form-mooshing amebas? View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 16, 2014 - 6:19pm | I think I'd like to play around with a sketch that is a SF take on Michael Angelo's ooops I meant DaVinci's "Last Super" with the various races taking place as one of the 13 at the table. Jesus would naturally be replaced with a human male John, leaning on Jesus's breast would be a dralasite. Peter, who was famous for being a loud mouth and actually called "a son of thunder" by Jesus would be a yazirian Judas would of course be a sathar/ sessu core four plus rim 3, plus sessu, plus zethra equals 9 total but 4 more are required Saurians are four separate races, mechanons are possible, eorna and their 3 primitive races are possible. eorna and 3 primitive races, core 4 and 3 rim races are 11 total add in a sessu/ sathar and a zethra or a mechanon would round out the 13. EDIT: sort of like this-  I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
August 16, 2014 - 6:56pm | That image is not actually exactly depicting the original. In fact, except for a bunch of people at a long table, it is nothing like the original in any way. Also, the original has 13 (Jesus and the twelve apostles,) whereas the Battlestar Galactica image has only 12. (The twelve Cylon models.) In the original, no one is pointing accusatorially, no one is leaning on anyone's bosom and no one is sitting on the table. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
August 17, 2014 - 2:08am | By "Earth-based memes", what do you mean? Something other than raging chimps, industrious ants, segmented worms and form-mooshing amebas? Yep - there is enough Earth-based memes in the game from the get-go, so the other races I mentioned don't really inspire me (aside from drawing them). So I've kept things (what I call) simple. |
August 19, 2014 - 8:31am | Didn't we find out Starbuck was a Cylon later and she was the 13th. I may not be remembering correctly. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
August 19, 2014 - 12:22pm | Yes. I forgot the list. Looking it up, there are a few not there and a few there that are not. So it's not the cylon models. But point being that it is not the same. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 October 18, 2014 - 1:59am | Ascent - love the Osakar pic! Jaxon- I organize my aliens into Primary, Secondary and Tertiary species. Primary species have a major influence on the Frontier. These include the Dralasites, Vrusk, Yazirians and Humans. In general, these are the only species the average Frontier citizen will encounter. Secondary species have spaceflight, but only have a marginal influence on Frontier civilization & culture. They are not commonly seen, and the average Frontier citizen is only aware of some of them. Examples include the Saurians, Mhemne, S'sessu, Zethra and Mechanons. Tertiary species do not have spaceflight of their own (most are completely planetbound), and thus are quite rare outside their homeworlds. Most Frontier citizens are unaware of their existence. Examples include the Ul-Mor, Edestekai, Kurabanda, Heliopes, Notui, Wypong, Vimh, Nagana, and a few others. Beyond the Frontier, there are other "Primary" aliens which are the dominant species of their own regions of space. Because these other regions are not part of the Frontier, interaction with these aliens is extremely rare at best (thus avoiding the "Star Wars cantina" effect). The Rim (NW): Humma, Osakar and Ifshnit The Ash (far North): a distant region of devastated solar systems, and home of the Sathar, Zuraqqor and Bora-kai. The Interplanetary Union (East): Jakar, Thyrann, K'larr'gk and a race of feline humanoids The Verge (far West): the aliens of Stardrive (Alternity) - this region is so distant that it would normally take years to reach I love the aliens of Star Frontiers, but I also like to keep things from getting out of hand. So, the aliens are there, but you really have to look for them. |
