[Character Concept/Snowflake] How egregious is this?

[Kiero]

In an ironic turnabout given the thread about available character races/species, I may end up in a snowflake situation. We're discussing an alternative Mass Effect game, which will be set before ME1. One of the suggestions is that it might even be set before the First Contact War, ie before humans appear on the scene.

I pretty much only play humans, and obviously this would be an issue, since canonically, there are no humans in Citadel space before they make accidental contact with the turians in 2167. What we're talking about here wouldn't be a few years, but more likely centuries before first contact, possibly long before humans had even achieved spaceflight. I have a notion for essentially being the only human who isn't on Earth at the time the game is set, but it's pretty outré.

We know from the games that the Protheans watched primitive species, and had a monitoring station on Mars, from where they observed Earth. My character would be a test subject who'd been put on ice during the Prothean Empire's war with the Reapers, and forgotten about. I'd leave it deliberately vague as to whether this human was a clone/genetically engineered, or a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer abducted and experimented on. Indeed, the character would have no memory of their former life (if indeed they ever had one), nor for that matter of their time with the Prothean scientists, because they were never thawed out. While in cryo they were sleep-taught various things deemed useful, and that's all they wake up with, when some archaeologists discover the pod they were stored in.

So completely out of time and place, you have a human who doesn't know what it means to be human, nor has any memory of Earth or humanity. They are the sole member of their species who isn't on Earth, with no knowledge how they came to be. In-game, they'd have been around for a few years, long enough to have caught up on what's going on, and the novelty of their existence and any celebrity to have faded.

Is this a really egregious, super-special, precious snowflake of an idea?

[goto124]

How does your group feel about this?

What does your DM think of it?

What does your group consist of- strangers, friends, close friends?

[Kiero]

How does your group feel about this?

What does your DM think of it?

What does your group consist of- strangers, friends, close friends?

My group knows I only play humans - were I to play anything else, then they'd be surprised. The when isn't nailed down yet, but it obviously has a big impact on the species options, but nothing is set besides "before ME1".

Don't know what the GM thinks yet, I've floated the idea by email when we were having our initial discussions, not had a response yet.

My group are friends, we've been playing together weekly since 2008. If it were really problematic, I assume we'd probably find a when that isn't so restrictive, but this was me offering a possibility to allow us to go way outside the established stuff.

[Kalmageddon]

Is this a really egregious, super-special, precious snowflake of an idea?

Yes, absolutely yes, but if your GM and group is ok with it, it shoudln't matter.

[mephnick]

I'd never allow it, but I'm not your group.

It's not that hard to play other races, maybe you should give it a try. I have a player that plays the same class every campaign and it's annoying.

[TheIronGolem]

There is nothing wrong with your character concept, and it is perfectly in keeping with the Mass Effect universe.

The backlash against perceived "special snowflakes" in tabletop gaming has long since become worse than any actual special-snowflake-ism that has ever happened in it.

[Maglubiyet]

The backlash against perceived "special snowflakes" in tabletop gaming has long since become worse than any actual special-snowflake-ism that has ever happened in it.

When it comes to snowflakes we have to remember -- they all eventually melt (preferably like that guy at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark).

[TheIronGolem]

When it comes to snowflakes we have to remember -- they all eventually melt (preferably like that guy at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark).

Thank you for that succinct demonstration of my point.

[Maglubiyet]

Thank you for that succinct demonstration of my point.

It seemed an appropriate time to interject that.

[Flickerdart]

This seems entirely pointless - while the character is physically a human, they wouldn't act like one and thus any roleplaying you do would be as an alien anyway.

[sakuuya]

This seems entirely pointless - while the character is physically a human, they wouldn't act like one and thus any roleplaying you do would be as an alien anyway.

This. What is it you like about playing humans, OP? Because if it's about the human mindset/cultural experiences, you won't get that in this game, no matter what race you play.

[Mr.Moron]

8.5/10. Needs more mysterious powers not normally available to PCs.

[mephnick]

There is nothing wrong with your character concept, and it is perfectly in keeping with the Mass Effect universe.

No, it's really not. Not in the time period being used anyway.

[Kiero]

I'd never allow it, but I'm not your group.

It's not that hard to play other races, maybe you should give it a try. I have a player that plays the same class every campaign and it's annoying.

Not interested in playing a non-human. I'll give the game a miss over that.

This seems entirely pointless - while the character is physically a human, they wouldn't act like one and thus any roleplaying you do would be as an alien anyway.

"Physically a human" brings a lot more than just how they look, it brings a human biochemistry and neurology as well. So why wouldn't they act like one of us, just because they have different experiences? Human experience covers a pretty broad spectrum of possible expressions.

This. What is it you like about playing humans, OP? Because if it's about the human mindset/cultural experiences, you won't get that in this game, no matter what race you play.

It's about the fundamental essence, as above. A human with a completely different culture and set of experiences is still intrinsically something I can identify with. If I can't identify with a character, I have no connection to them and thus have no interest in playing them. I feel no connection whatsoever to non-human characters.

8.5/10. Needs more mysterious powers not normally available to PCs.

Haha, I'm afraid it's just a snowflake-of-origin, rather than snowflake-of-nature as well. No mysterious powers or anything that isn't available to everyone else.

No, it's really not. Not in the time period being used anyway.

Actually, it's entirely within the bounds of possibility in the Mass Effect universe. Remote and unlikely, but not impossible. We know the Protheans observed Earth. We know they can cryogenically freeze living beings for millenia. Add the two things together and its possible.

[TheIronGolem]

Actually, it's entirely within the bounds of possibility in the Mass Effect universe. Remote and unlikely, but not impossible. We know the Protheans observed Earth. We know they can cryogenically freeze living beings for millenia. Add the two things together and its possible.

More to the point, it's highly characteristic of the kinds of character arcs that appear in the Mass Effect games. It's essentially an inverted Javik.

[Elderand]

More to the point, it's highly characteristic of the kinds of character arcs that appear in the Mass Effect games. It's essentially an inverted Javik.

That's not so much a characteristic of mass effect as it is a characteristic of people at bioware unable to write a character that is interesting whitout making them super special snowflake in some way. (Which aren't actually special because they simply swap the bells and whistle on the same characters they've been using for the last 20 years)

[Flickerdart]

"Physically a human" brings a lot more than just how they look, it brings a human biochemistry and neurology as well. So why wouldn't they act like one of us, just because they have different experiences? Human experience covers a pretty broad spectrum of possible expressions.

Ah, the old "nature versus nurture" debate. You'll have a hard time convincing me (and, I would imagine, most other people) that a human raised by aliens to possess alien values, language, problem-solving skills, and experience will act anything like a human being just because the programmable meat in his head is pink instead of blue.

If what you're trying to do is turn Mass Effect into Farscape with Hollywood amnesia, that definitely crosses the special snowflake line.

[TheIronGolem]

That's not so much a characteristic of mass effect as it is a characteristic of people at bioware unable to write a character that is interesting whitout making them super special snowflake in some way. (Which aren't actually special because they simply swap the bells and whistle on the same characters they've been using for the last 20 years)

Irrelevant; I was citing evidence supporting my position that the OP's character concept is fitting for the Mass Effect universe by showing how it parallels an established character.

It's also a meaningless distinction, as any fictional universe's characteristics are by definition set by its writer(s) and their habits.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Yes it is very special snowflake, but so what? The people that hate on snowflakes are themselves outré special snowflakes. The mass popularity of "Super" Heroes (a snowflake, each and every one) demonstrates that it is a workable and much-loved character development technique.

Oliver Twist, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and endless other characters from classic literature use this technique as well.

[kyoryu]

It's snowflakey.

It's also so that you can play a game that due to race restrictions, you wouldn't otherwise play in. So less snowflake (which has more of a 'look at me!' vibe) and more a clever way around the restrictions.

Snowflakey characters aren't inherently the problem. It's the "look at me!" attitude that causes issues.

[mephnick]

Not interested in playing a non-human. I'll give the game a miss over that.

What an odd thing to say. Do you mind if I ask your age? For interest sake, of course.

[LibraryOgre]

I think this is a bit of a misapplication of the special snowflake idea; it's seldom that someone is simply unique, but that they have access to abilities others do not by virtue of that uniqueness. I don't view a human-out-of-time as a special snowflake*, per se, unless being a human gives him special abilities. If you make him the only human in the setting AND he has a special ability to read and use Prothean artifacts, then you're going into a special snowflake territory.

For example, superheroes aren't really special snowflakes in a superhero game, because while MY character doesn't have psychic powers or super-soldier serum or whatever, yours doesn't have unbreakable bones or magic farts. The uniqueness is built into the concept of a superhero game... when everyone's a special snowflake, you've got a blizzard, and individual snowflakes are relatively unimportant.

But if you create a superhero character in a bog-standard fantasy? Like, he's a standard fighter in a group of standard characters, but THIS one is also immune to arrows, or half-dragon, or a drow, with a slew of special powers? Then he's a special snowflake. Everyone else is playing elves, dwarves, humans, and halflings, but you're playing something outside the norm AND that being outside the norm gives you special abilities (and, frequently, an assumed immunity to the consequences of uniqueness... you're the only drow in the game, but no one is supposed to negatively react to you being a drow).

To me, being a special snowflake isn't just "I'm the only one just like me", but "I'm the only snowflake in a field of rain, and that makes me special and powerful." A human in a pre-First Contact War game would be an oddity, and would get a lot of "What the hell are you" responses (since the Mass Effect Universe isn't one of limitless racial diversity, like Star Wars). But unless it's a human who can do something incredibly special, then you're not a special snowflake, just a funny-looking raindrop.

*You know, except for the fact that he was cryogenically stored.

[Kalmageddon]

Actually, it's entirely within the bounds of possibility in the Mass Effect universe. Remote and unlikely, but not impossible. We know the Protheans observed Earth. We know they can cryogenically freeze living beings for millenia. Add the two things together and its possible.

Allright, let me burst your bubble immediately.
The Protheans did experiment on other species and even had some long term plans for them BUT they also were incredibly arrogant and ethnocentric, so it's completely unlikely that your character would have recieved any amount of "useful skills" through memory implantation or whatever. At most, I could see it posessing some kind of physical gift as a result of experiments (biotic, maybe?) but definitly nothing that would imply the protheans cared at all for what happened to test subject no. 357654 after they were done with it.

It's a bit useless to ask if the character you are planning is a special snowflake only to immediately try to justify it. Most people in this thread seem to think your character is not something that would normally be allowed in a ME game set in that era. But as I said before, that doesn't mean you can't play it. It just means that if your group is anything like the users of this forum, they would probably have a problem with it.

[Gavran]

More to the point, it's highly characteristic of the kinds of character arcs that appear in the Mass Effect games. It's essentially an inverted Javik.

Beat me to it.

If Bioware can just Javik all over the mystery of the Protheans, you can get away with this.

I do think it's quite weird that you utterly refuse to play a non-human, and if I actually knew you I'd probably become quite annoying in trying to convince you to just try it this one time rather than do this, but... I don't, so I'm just going to assume your reasons are internally consistent and immobile. Ask your group; doesn't sound like the worst thing to me.

[Geostationary]

I'm guessing that the argument that the ME races (as is typically the case) boil down to humans with exceedingly silly hats doesn't hold much truck with you then.

[goto124]

The fact that he's worried about being a special snowflake is a good sign already.

Since it appears that OP doesn't want to play a non-human just because (I'm honestly curious about this one, since the different races whether elves or dwarves or aliens are often portrayed as humans with funny hats), and otherwise wants to play a 'normal alien' like the rest of the party...

Let's see what the DM says. OP, will you be alright if the DM says the setting/plot just can't accommodate a human?

[Kiero]

What an odd thing to say. Do you mind if I ask your age? For interest sake, of course.

I'm in my mid-30s and I've been RPGing for over 20 years. I know what I like, and I have no tolerance for playing characters I know I won't enjoy.

The fact that he's worried about being a special snowflake is a good sign already.

Since it appears that OP doesn't want to play a non-human just because (I'm honestly curious about this one, since the different races whether elves or dwarves or aliens are often portrayed as humans with funny hats), and otherwise wants to play a 'normal alien' like the rest of the party...

Let's see what the DM says. OP, will you be alright if the DM says the setting/plot just can't accommodate a human?

If it can't accommodate a human, then the game can't accommodate me.

As it's turned out, we've gone for four years before ME1 (2179) - I think the GM wanted to keep relatively close to the setting we're familiar with - so the question has become moot beyond a hypothetical. Funnily enough, she asked if I was going to use this very concept for the near-contemporary timeline, but I declined.

Instead, it's very regular Earther who enlisted in the Alliance to escape childhood poverty and deprivation.

[lytokk]

Would this human be a snowflake? yeah, I think so. IF the DM allows it, then there really is no problem.

But thinking about the prothean experiments, it put in my mind a timeline. You wouldn't be able to be a modern day human, you'd be a human from over 50,000 years in the past. Which would be 50,000 years of evolution missed out on. Now, since evolution is a slow process, it doesn't change much century to century. But, 50,000 years, things might have changed quite a bit. Now since you wouldn't have the nurture of thinking flying ships being chariots of the gods you could fit, but this would be something to look into regarding human biology 50,000 years ago. Yeah, the protheans might have changed you, messed with your DNA to make you more receptive of biotics, or even spliced you with some other alien species, since thats really waht the protheans did.

Heck, I even recall in ME1 of something, but I don't know if it was the protheans. You had to get some amulet from the consort and go to a specific planet where there's a large floating orb, where you get visions of a prehistoric caveman being abducted by aliens. So yes, some alien species did this, so you do have some sort of ME canon to fall back on.

Btw, what system are you using for this? I've been hoping for an ME system to come out for a while so I could run games.

[Palegreenpants]

Solution: play an asari. Really, though, why not be a non-human?

Seriously though, if you want to be the only human around, the Collectors would be a better method of having escaped earth. Lets say they hired some vorcha thugs to take a trip over to Earth and box up a dozen orange-haired blue-eyed humans for the purpose of experimentation. Its far more plausible, lore-wise, to be an escaped Collector test-subject.

[lytokk]

If we're talking about better options, I'd think maybe the Salarians would be a good race to have plucked you off of earth. It sounds like something they'd do in order to run experiments. I'd say them over the collectors since the collectors didn't really ever play nice with other races other than kidnapping and then distilling thier biology into reapers.