Aliens and skills.

[drewkitty ~..~]

The skills rules within the HU2 and AU texts say that the rules given are for those aliens that were starship crews.

How do you handle Non-Humans in their native settings (playing an AU:GG game)? Or that were never starship crew?

Still follow the given text or just roll up their education as if they were humans?

[Glistam]

The skills rules within the HU2 and AU texts say that the rules given are for those aliens that were starship crews.

How do you handle Non-Humans in their native settings (playing an AU:GG game)? Or that were never starship crew?

Still follow the given text or just roll up their education as if they were humans?

Doesn't the AU:GG have a section on skills that addresses this?

[eliakon]

The skills rules within the HU2 and AU texts say that the rules given are for those aliens that were starship crews.

How do you handle Non-Humans in their native settings (playing an AU:GG game)? Or that were never starship crew?

Still follow the given text or just roll up their education as if they were humans?

That most dreaded of answers. "Depends"

If the game is a pure AU game, where everyone is playing aliens? Yeah, I would not think twice about using the education table for everyone. It would make perfect sense, and since everyone is on the exact same footing there isn't any problem, IMHO with doing that.


If the game is one where the player wants to have an alien that was not a space crewmember that comes to earth? I would be willing to work with them to figure out a skill package that would be reflective of what they did before hand. They would get about as many skills, with about the same break down of availability of skills as the crew packages. The reasoning there is that the Alien Power Category was designed a certain way, and that I am not going to allow someone to get around the way it was built simply by changing some flavor text.

[drewkitty ~..~]

The skills rules within the HU2 and AU texts say that the rules given are for those aliens that were starship crews.

How do you handle Non-Humans in their native settings (playing an AU:GG game)? Or that were never starship crew?

Still follow the given text or just roll up their education as if they were humans?

Doesn't the AU:GG have a section on skills that addresses this?

There is one line about rolling on a ed table for Aliens that was suppose to be presented in the AU:GG book (according to the text of that sentence) but no such table is in the AU:GG book.

[Regularguy]

The skills rules within the HU2 and AU texts say that the rules given are for those aliens that were starship crews.

How do you handle Non-Humans in their native settings (playing an AU:GG game)? Or that were never starship crew?

Still follow the given text or just roll up their education as if they were humans?

I'd probably still follow the given text, because, well, if you're not part of a starship crew, then maybe you're a streetwise 'rogue' who prowls around, finding contraband easy as hacking computers; or you can be a 'military' specialist with espionage skills, or you can be a 'science' specialist who solves medical problems -- or, of course, you can be a 'general studies' type, or an analytical genius with a far-ranging grab bag of knowledge, or whatever.

Anyhow, you can build outdoorsy athletes, and financiers with lovely singing voices, and artists and researchers and cooks and inventors and -- look, if you want to declare that someone with a particular skill is doing their thing on an alien world, it seems like the tools are pretty much already there, y'know?

[drewkitty ~..~]

There is another problem with the texts, in that the when the "powers" are selected/rolled for they can be a Mystic Study or one of the Hardware power cats. Both of which the text assumes that you have more then >One< skill program, to be able to drop one of the said skill programs.

This is a long standing problem with the Aliens power cat. that would not be there if the chars just rolled for ed normally. Yes, the chars could just drop one of the skill programs to get one of the Aliens' "`crew` skill packages".
This thought that Aliens, which Have StarShips would have a 1920's education system for their ship crews is a bit outrageous.

[Regularguy]

There is another problem with the texts, in that the when the "powers" are selected/rolled for they can be a Mystic Study or one of the Hardware power cats. Both of which the text assumes that you have more then >One< skill program, to be able to drop one of the said skill programs.

Isn't the official answer that you drop half of your skills?

(Well, unless you're going Hardware: Analytical.)

This thought that Aliens, which Have StarShips would have a 1920's education system for their ship crews is a bit outrageous.

I'm not sure I follow you; what skills do you think they should have?

[Glistam]

There is another problem with the texts, in that the when the "powers" are selected/rolled for they can be a Mystic Study or one of the Hardware power cats. Both of which the text assumes that you have more then >One< skill program, to be able to drop one of the said skill programs.

Isn't the official answer that you drop half of your skills?

It is. Check the errata in the GM's Guide.

[drewkitty ~..~]

This thought that Aliens, which Have StarShips would have a 1920's education system for their ship crews is a bit outrageous.

I'm not sure I follow you; what skills do you think they should have?

Even if a char ed roll just gets them a highschool ed, the char still gets them Two skill packages.
------------------

@G
That is just a,… the "solution" is worse then the problem.

[Regularguy]

I still don't understand what you're getting at. What's "outrageous"? What do you expect such aliens would know, such that it'd be "outrageous" for them not to have it? What is it, specifically, that you're objecting to?

I'm not even disputing your point; I just genuinely can't tell what it is.

[RockJock]

If you give up half the skills that would mean an Alien with HS education would get one skill package, and 5 secondary skills, thus making the alien much less learned than their human counterpart. I think that is what Drew was getting at.

It never made sense to me that an alien architect, or taxi driver, or whatever would have half the skills of their earthborn counterparts. In my games we have always let aliens take normal educational backgrounds, and treated the Alien education rolls as sort of the more rigid academy type backgrounds. Also had a handful of basic skills like earthlings have, with changes in language and piloting skills where appropriate(Pilot hover versus auto for example).

[Regularguy]

If you give up half the skills that would mean an Alien with HS education would get one skill package, and 5 secondary skills, thus making the alien much less learned than their human counterpart. I think that is what Drew was getting at.

It never made sense to me that an alien architect, or taxi driver, or whatever would have half the skills of their earthborn counterparts.

But you're only supposed to give up half the skills if you're playing, like, an alien Mystic, or an alien Hardware: Weapons Expert, or whatever; if you're picturing a taxi driver who isn't a mystic or a weapons expert or whatever, then he doesn't give up half his skills.

[jlm2924]

In HU2 there is an alien education table. My Alien character got the one where I got a certain skill program and then I got 2 skills from a ton of categories, then something like 4 secondary's. I have half a sheet of skills as a result, even more fun poor Z'elle she doesn't know anything about Earth. No space ship, just rocket boots! Luckily she has the knowledge on how to fix'em and rebuild them as necessary.

I guess to everyone's point, if you feel the character is seriously lacking get with your GM and fix it. Nearly all of us play under some sort of house rules. Also consider this: a human on earth from say the 1800's who has say Basic Mechanics will have a totally different grasp on Mechanical devices than say someone more advanced from the 21st century. That 21st century guy might have been considered a Mechanical Engineer in the 19th century. How much further is an Alien from a world where there ate FTL vehicles and dimensional portals? See the point. So if you GM permits it, the alien with their "limited skills" can make rolls on things with a lower skill than say a normal hero with a higher skill and all of it's prerequisites.

[Regularguy]

Heh. You could maybe even do that the other way around: a futuristic alien civilization with starships might have its computers do tons of the thinky stuff, such that just having the ability to operate computers is pretty much all you ever need to get the job done.

[jlm2924]

That is true. I know that if a player tried that in one of the games I GM, I'd be like ... "No, the computers here are less thinky and harder for you to use because of a lack of understanding of them." Look at it from this angle: How many of you still know how to use full DOS?
Still I'd allow them to use their basic mechanics in place of mechanical engineer if their civilization came from a significantly advanced culture.

If you put me, an Electrical Engineer in the Middle ages, they'd likely burn me at the stake for using Magic for the things I'd be able to do (Yes I would have IRL Electrical Engineer and Electricity Generation). Then combined with other knowledge I could make a ceiling fan to keep my house cool, then build a light bulb, etc.

[Regularguy]

ME: "Siri, where's the nearest gas station?"
YOU: "Uh, that -- that's a Commodore 64; it doesn't understand you."

[jlm2924]

Hahaha! yes! Except I STILL have a functional Commodore 64! It's fun to hook it up to the LCD TV and run my old games on it.