[Space] Interactions between species

[Frost]

I am looking at running a campaign that is more or less stock space opera (ok with a bit of a hard SF undertone- it's still me) but with exclusively non humanoid, if not full on starfish, aliens.

While I am still at a very early stage so I don't know the species I want to use I am trying to figure out how the fundamentals will work and would appreciate any experience or ideas you have.

My big questions are:

How do these species interact?

I am assuming that for the sake of my sanity that all my species are going to have carbon/ water chemistry and breathe oxygen but that still leaves room for a lot of conflicting needs. How are environments organised to meet the needs of more than one species?

How do I handle equipment?

I know there are rules for differing sizes for armour suits and other life support items but how best to handle (or even describe) gear for species with different manipulators has me stumped.

Thanks in advance.

[Frost]

If it helps stimulate a few ideas what I have so far is this:

Think of something that is in broad strokes a standard space opera universe. FTL is possible and attainable in the near term (by multiple methods) and sapient life (with similar biochemistry) is relatively common.

The current seriously misnamed 'Galactic civilisation' began some centuries ago with the explorations of the 'Eldest' and the discovery of the principles behind the jump gate.

The gates have permitted the Eldest to maintain a presence and tentative control over a region that is (in human terms) potentially covers several hundred lightyears. In the he course of extending this process the Eldest encountered and technologically uplifted several pre industrial species.

Humanity has recently entered the picture as something of a wildcard, the first entirely independent industrial let alone space fairing species the Eldest have encountered. To make matters worse, from the point of view of the Eldest, first contact occured between Eldest and Human colonists in a location somewhat removed from Sol.

The campaign as it is currently planed will be space opera in the loose sense of adventures with larger than life characters, probably doing something unofficial though I am not sure what that will be.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Frost

. . . sapient life (with similar biochemistry) is relatively common.

There are several meaningful grades of "similar biochemistry":

1. We can breathe the same air. This might not be identical to anyone's home atmosphere, but it's compatible with the species of interest.
2. Same air, same water (nobody requires strange additives in the water).
3. Same air, water, and some of the same foods.
4. Same air, water and food, with nutritional supplements. Quite a lot of space opera can fit this, if you assume characters take their vitamin pills off-camera.
5. We're from essentially identical biospheres.

[Pursuivant]

Not to push my own work, but I provided a fairly extensive write-up for the Sector General series of books, which includes lots of material on how very different species - with different Sizes, home gravities, atmospheres, etc. - interact.

It includes "crunchy" rules on using and adapting alien tools which you might find useful. Do a search for "GURPS Sector General" on this board.

If you want written material with good ideas for how very different species interact, in addition to James White's "medical space opera-lite" take on the subject in his Sector General books, David Brin's Uplift series is also excellent while leaning towards hard SF.

There were two editions of GURPS 3E Uplift published, which might be worth checking out if you can find a used copy. The second edition is more comprehensive, but the first edition has a bit more rules crunch, which was later incorporated into GURPS 4E material.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by johndallman

There are several meaningful grades of "similar biochemistry":

1. We can breathe the same air. This might not be identical to anyone's home atmosphere, but it's compatible with the species of interest.
2. Same air, same water (nobody requires strange additives in the water).
3. Same air, water, and some of the same foods.

As I say I am not sure of my species other than a version of one I have had lying around for a while I figure that similar is going to be somewhere between 2 and 3.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Not to push my own work, but I provided a fairly extensive write-up for the Sector General series of books, which includes lots of material on how very different species - with different Sizes, home gravities, atmospheres, etc. - interact.

It includes "crunchy" rules on using and adapting alien tools which you might find useful. Do a search for "GURPS Sector General" on this board.

I will take a look, that should help.

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

There were two editions of GURPS 3E Uplift published, which might be worth checking out if you can find a used copy. The second edition is more comprehensive, but the first edition has a bit more rules crunch, which was later incorporated into GURPS 4E material.

I actually own one or both of these as part of a job lot of books I got some years ago now I just need to find them.

[Fred Brackin]

If you are describing interactions between generic and/or collective humans there is little reason to limit the categories of aliens. If the two species can do nothing but send each other text messages with what the other will regard as badly broken syntax that still leaves room for the interactions to be important or even critical to the setting.

Now, if you're talking about how player-characters would interact with each other you've run into what I call "The Aircar/Cantina Rule". PCs in the same group must be able to travel to the adventure site in the same vehicle be it aircar, starship or whatever. Otherwise all of the PCs just aren't in the same situation.

The "cantina" part means that the PCs must be able to spend time in the same place during what they believe to be "non-adventuring" time. Otherwise the GM's ability to start and or advance adventures in unexpected manners will be strongly impaired.

So, it's probably "yes" on the same breathing medium. Not so much on solid and liquid nutrients. If those have to come from different shelves behind the bar at the cantina that's workable as long as the substances aren't too volatile and/or toxic.

Note that very large, "centauroid" or other oddly shaped lifeforms are going to be difficult to fit in just for simple physical reasons.

[Refplace]

I wrote a few articles you might find useful.
An Alien Way of Thinking. Pyramid #3/110 Deep Space
Its a short Appendix Z type article that goes over interacting with and races that think differently due to certain racial advantages. Most of the word count is devoted to telepathic races but I give a paragraph each for different senses, mathematical ability, Memory, and superior senses.

Exotic Social Communication, Pyramid #4/6 Sci-Fi Tech II
The last kickstarter so if you did not subscribe it likely wont be available on W23 for a year or more. This is a full length article useful for fantasy or sci-fi that gives ideas on how races might develop and interact based on how they communicate. This extends my thoughts on senses from the previous article considerably. How would a race communicate based on smell? Psychometry? Virtual reality? Hive Minds and other forms of telepathy, and even just using touch.

[WingedKagouti]

Depending on how hard you want to go on the Hard SF angle, different manipulators will require different grips. Even if two species use the same basic manipulator (such as hand with fingers) the dimensions of each element of that manipulator will dictate how well gear appropriate to that species will fit another species. For instance, a human-sized species with 6 inch long fingers will almost certainly find that human equipment has uncomfortably small grips, while humans will likely struggle to use their equipment with one hand.

Same with two tentacled species, where one has roughly 1/2 inch thick tentacles and the other has roughly 2 inch thick ones. Not only will the grips and controls of any device be tailored to the standard size of each species, but it's likely that the thicker tentacles can carry more weight and thus their equipment seems likely to be bigger and heavier overall.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Exotic Social Communication, Pyramid #4/6 Sci-Fi Tech II
The last kickstarter so if you did not subscribe it likely wont be available on W23 for a year or more. This is a full length article useful for fantasy or sci-fi that gives ideas on how races might develop and interact based on how they communicate. This extends my thoughts on senses from the previous article considerably. How would a race communicate based on smell? Psychometry? Virtual reality? Hive Minds and other forms of telepathy, and even just using touch.

For the latter, GURPS Template Toolkit 2 has the Signals advantage, which gives you the equivalent of linguistic communication in a medium other than sound. There are specifics for color changes, light flashes, electrical pulses, and chemical secretions.