Alien RP

You will not be able to keep track of everything that is needed for a referee persona. It is recommended that you print out a persona record sheet to keep track of stuff. Download the bare bones PDF (75K) at Alien Record v7

Not all RPs are created equal. Some personas are less important than others. The referee usually knows the importance of the persona before she starts generation. An RP’s relevance increases the more entangled they are with the expedition.

The alien being evolved is usually a member of a species. The species could be mundane flora and fauna, an invading alien horde, or a close encounter of the 3.14th kind. The species may define everything the referee requires for her RP. Every member of the species may all have the same size, shape, belief and personality. A homogeneous alien species is undoubtedly the easiest pathway for the referee.

An alien referee persona need not be part of an entire species. There are many story-based explanations of solitary aliens. The alien may be the sole member of an alien species so distant they will never be part of the story. The alien may be the sole survivor of a species that suffered some cataclysm. The alien may have been grown in a mad biologist’s vat for nefarious purposes.

If an alien is part of a larger alien species she may have her own way of partaking in that species. The RP Story Cues represent the individual quirks of the alien. These may set the persona apart from her species predominant smell, religion or political beliefs.

Alien RP attributes have the same ranges as player persona alien attributes. If the referee is looking for a particular configuration of attributes, she can change them in the Strong Descriptors section.

The size of the alien RP affects its appearance, wate and hits points. Alien RPs can have extremely small or large sizes that are not available to player personas. These extreme sizes are called Minute and Humongous.

Bigger aliens tend to have more hit points than smaller aliens. Minute aliens must apply their size modification to the hit points generated here.

The number of attacks indicates the number of attack rolls the referee makes each unit. This attack frequency is only for the alien’s naturally evolved attacks and does not apply to equipment weapons.

The vast majority of aliens will bite, slap, punch and kick their way through combat. Other attack types exist. For simplicity, the attack type will apply to all of the alien’s attacks. The referee can make multiple rolls on this table to give her RP alien with multiple attacks different kinds of attacks. For instance, an alien with three attacks per unit could have three Strike attacks or two Strike attacks and one Fling attack.

Bigger aliens tend to inflict more damage than smaller aliens. Minute aliens must apply their STR modification before determining their damage per attack. The damage per attack is only for the alien’s naturally evolved attacks and does not apply to equipment weapons.

How hard is it to damage this alien in combat?

The alien shape is entirely random and makes for very diverse corporeal denizens. For more details about alien shape, jump to Detailed explanation exist at Alien Shape.

The referee makes four rolls on the Alien Body Parts Table. One roll for each of the four body parts that compose the alien. Each body part has a terrain type associated with it. The terrain type is in brackets and looks like (l, a, w, s). It is crucial to record the terrain type along with the shape of the body part.

These are optional accents to the alien’s appearance. Adornments are entirely descriptive. Adornments do not detract from or add any abilities to the alien.

Alien movement rate is as important as size in regards to combat. The shape of the alien determines whether it hops, slithers, flaps, or gallops along. More detail is available at Alien Movement

Add the terrain types (l, a, w) for each body part shape and multiply them by the movement unit.

Aliens can enjoy all the special abilities that psionic and phenomic mutations offer. However when a player is generating an alien they are generating an entire genus and species. These mutation abilities are evolved abilities and not point mutations. Hence the naming convention of evolutation.

Adding powerful mutations to an entire species requires consideration to plot and milieu. An evolutation may only appear at certain life stages, or only certain members of the species have the evolutation. An army of gigantic flying aliens with death field generation would be a world breaker. However, a species of tiny aliens with weak telekinesis would be make for an interesting culture.

Aliens are biological in nature and can acquire unique mutations from radiation or cheeky pharma.

Life expectancy is defining feature of organic life forms.

To determine the persona age the referee must determine the age category first. All biological life forms have the same age categories.

Once the age category is determined the referee can just assign any age that fits into the age category. It is very common to just use the age category for aliens, skipping all the maths.

Good for flora, fauna, and vocations. An alien predator with a high experience level will be more dangerous than a low-level predator of the same species.

Often a referee will want a tiny alien, a dumb alien, a slow alien, or even a stupid, slow, small alien (prey). Alien attributes tend to be higher than other personas. Descriptors such as tough, smart and strong give attribute values relative to anthro personas. This table may fall short if the referee is trying to generate an alien persona stronger than other aliens in her species. The downwards attribute modifications are most helpful.

The wate allowance is the same for all personas. The WA indicates how much the alien can carry without being encumbered. For tool users this could be weapons and computers. For flora and fauna wate allowance represents what they can push around for no good reason.

The attack table keeps track of the persona’s combat skills and increases with EXPS level. The referee may need two attack tables for her tool using aliens. For general info about attack tables, jump to Attack Tables in tactical combat.

The attack table calculated here is for the alien’s naturally evolved attacks and is not used for any tool using attacks. For a detailed explanation of alien attack tables jump to Alien Attack Table. Aliens that are tool users do not use their alien attack table when using weapons. The referee must generate another vocation attack table for tool users. For the vocation based attack table, jump to Anthro attack table.

Alien biology assigns terrain, eating habits, reproduction etc. The referee should always massage the alien biology to work best within her campaign milieu. Many alien species will have evolved beyond the most primal aspects of their biology. It would be unlikely for a creator tool user to still ambush prey in the desert, but their restaurants may reflect this biological history.

Alien society is something for the referee to consider and prepare for her campaign carefully. A single alien society can be the basis for an entire campaign. The process for determining an alien player persona’s society is complex and time-consuming.

For alien referee personas, the society and tech levels are on one table. The referee generates a society level and then generates the tech level in a second roll. There is a much higher chance of an alien having a vocation and having tech level creator.

The society levels are cumulative. If the alien has Education, she automatically has Culture and Language. For a refresher on the implications of alien society jump to Alien Society.

Alien tool usage is absolute. For a refresher on the implications of alien tool usage to Alien Society.

Alien RPs get startifacts like any other persona. RPs are typically awarded one roll per EXPS Level. High level RPs can be very dangerous by way of their TOYs alone. For Startifacts jump to Startifacts

The alien should have a name as any other player persona does. The referee may have to name both a referee persona and an alien species. For alien, naming shenanigans jump to Alien Name.

There are all manner of story cues that the referee may wish to generate. All are optional. For setting up story cues for this referee persona jump to Story Cues.

The combat ratio determines how dangerous a referee persona is. Combat ratio is partially optional, but plays a roll in assigning combat experience. To generate a danger number for this persona jump to Combat Ratio.