It's Actually Our Galaxy (Star Wars D&D 5e, Custom Setting, Potentially Lore-Heavy)

[ProgressPaladin]

HP
(1d8+1)[4]
(1d8+1)[3]
(1d8+1)[8]
(1d8+1)[6]
(1d8+1)[5]
(1d8+1)[6]

[Rokku]

Oh yeah, I should roll stats.

(4d6b3)[11](4d6b3)[18](4d6b3)[13](4d6b3)[6](4d6b3)[13](4d6b3)[8]

[Dusk Raven]

Oh yeah, I should roll stats.

[roll0][roll1][roll2][roll3][roll4][roll5]

6, 8, 11, 13, 13, 18... I'm not sure if that's good or not. An 18 is always nice, but it doesn't have much else going for it. My benchmark so far is that I let people re-roll if their stats are less than even what little you can get from 5e's point buy... but it's hard to figure that with a 6 and an 18. With a bit of an extrapolation, I think it's worth... 28/27. Hmm. What do you think?

[Rokku]

6, 8, 11, 13, 13, 18... I'm not sure if that's good or not. An 18 is always nice, but it doesn't have much else going for it. My benchmark so far is that I let people re-roll if their stats are less than even what little you can get from 5e's point buy... but it's hard to figure that with a 6 and an 18. With a bit of an extrapolation, I think it's worth... 28/27. Hmm. What do you think?

It depends I suppose on how the grid thing is going to end up working? 27 is exactly 5e point buy, and an 18 is good but yeah the rest is not great.

[RandomWombat]

It depends I suppose on how the grid thing is going to end up working? 27 is exactly 5e point buy, and an 18 is good but yeah the rest is not great.

Good if you wanted an idiot savant or a desk warmer nerd sent into the field. But a bit limiting, yeah. There's always the 6x6 array selection once we get rolling.

[Rokku]

Good if you wanted an idiot savant or a desk warmer nerd sent into the field. But a bit limiting, yeah. There's always the 6x6 array selection once we get rolling.

Yeah that's what I mean. Is it just gonna be picking anyone's array? Or can we do vertical, diagonal, etc? How are the numbers going to be arranged? In the order we rolled them?

[Dusk Raven]

It depends I suppose on how the grid thing is going to end up working? 27 is exactly 5e point buy, and an 18 is good but yeah the rest is not great.

It's 28 out of 27, one point above point buy. But yeah, not a good array for a Sentinel, I think, since those tend to really want Wisdom/Charisma, Dexterity, and Constitution. Sacrifices can be made if one is leaning more towards combat or powers, of course.

But anyway, yeah, the grid will be a matter of, each player rolls an array, and each array forms a row. I roll for any remaining rows. Once those are in place, a player can pick any vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line. Ideally people can ration the lines out democratically. Players will, of course, have the option of using the array they rolled here if they prefer.

I may also allow for the option of deleting a line that's already been used - which means, of course, that all the numbers in it get re-rolled.

[Dusk Raven]

Google Docs works, and there's also a character creator on the SW5e site, although it's a little unpolished, and doesn't allow for custom species, archetypes, or powers. You can get around that somewhat by using the "Custom Features" section on the sheet (and, in the case of species, manually inputting what your ability scores should be), but it can still be a bit awkward. And you'd also have to export it and send it to me somehow so I can actually read it, and that might be a bit of a hassle.

Once characters are actually selected, we'll try and recreate everything on Roll20.

I'm silly and completely forgot that there's a Google Sheet template people have made for this. I won't require anyone to use it, of course, but it's there if you want it. It probably is more convenient in some ways than a Roll20 sheet. It's certainly got more places to put things.

[RandomWombat]

Pulse checking in, who we still got around?

[flyinglemur]

I’m still here. We’re just waiting for anyone to be a third.

[Dusk Raven]

Likewise, just haven't had any questions to answer or new information to post.

If all else fails, I can trawl the SW5e Player Search Discord (because that exists) but I don't think I'll need to resort to that. Just need to hear from those others who have expressed interest.

I could always share/develop some details that your respective characters would know. In particular, flyinglemur, I'd like to figure out where your character comes from. The Nitatiko have had a thousand years of admittedly slow space travel, give or take a century, and their habit of considering anybody who can talk and isn't trying to eat them to be a potential friend. So their territory overlaps with a bunch of other species, mostly the other Corundorian Union species but also humans and the Zodine League. So they're one of the more prolific and widespread species in the setting. Still working on a full sector map (which is to say I keep shifting the system positions), but I can still give suggestions, or accept them.

Oh yeah, if you guys feel like it we can get started on that grid. You two can each roll an array, and whoever else joins in, or shows continued interest, can add to it.

[flyinglemur]

I sort of imagined that Zadock would be from the Nitatiko homeward, whatever that's called. They would think of their joining the rangers and traveling through the galaxy as a similar journey to those first Nitatiko who took to space. Is there anything special about that homeworld? Regardless, I imagine Zadock is not super attached to wherever they were born. They believe a true hero is an explorer, motile, not sedentary.

Aside from that, I'm certainly willing to hear more details as to how exactly the Nitatiko operate, and their relationships with the other species. Even if they are odd, they are responsible for the uplifting of the Daniobi, the Midrac, and humanity. Seems like other species owe a lot to them.

I want Zadock to try and strive to be the best sort of Nitatiko that can exist, even if their own pride so often gets in the way. That's their central issue. If they can actually be like the hero they want to be, which would require putting aside their own arrogance and glory hound tendencies. What are the heroes of the Nitatiko like? What do they look up to, and believe to be ideal? I figured that the first space travelers would surely be remembered in history, so I imagined that those are the sorts that Zadock looks up to. However, I don't know if you have any specific individuals in Nitatiko history already established. Otherwise, mind if I come up with some names? Just to have some names that Zadock can invoke when they try to get all heroic.

[ProgressPaladin]

I’m going to have to decline interest, as I accidentally put too many things on my plate. I hope you all can forgive me.

[Dusk Raven]

I sort of imagined that Zadock would be from the Nitatiko homeward, whatever that's called. They would think of their joining the rangers and traveling through the galaxy as a similar journey to those first Nitatiko who took to space. Is there anything special about that homeworld? Regardless, I imagine Zadock is not super attached to wherever they were born. They believe a true hero is an explorer, motile, not sedentary.

Aside from that, I'm certainly willing to hear more details as to how exactly the Nitatiko operate, and their relationships with the other species. Even if they are odd, they are responsible for the uplifting of the Daniobi, the Midrac, and humanity. Seems like other species owe a lot to them.

I want Zadock to try and strive to be the best sort of Nitatiko that can exist, even if their own pride so often gets in the way. That's their central issue. If they can actually be like the hero they want to be, which would require putting aside their own arrogance and glory hound tendencies. What are the heroes of the Nitatiko like? What do they look up to, and believe to be ideal? I figured that the first space travelers would surely be remembered in history, so I imagined that those are the sorts that Zadock looks up to. However, I don't know if you have any specific individuals in Nitatiko history already established. Otherwise, mind if I come up with some names? Just to have some names that Zadock can invoke when they try to get all heroic.

The Nitatiko homeworld has the unimaginative name of Nitatariko, and it's not too atypical for a temperate world - though it gets a good amount of tourist traffic for its extensive beaches around the tropics and colorful wildlife. It's other notable feature though, is the variety of dangerous predators throughout its jungles, deserts, tundras, and even oceans. It is because of these predators that the Nitatiko are so willing to unite and cooperate. Unlike humanity, the Nitatiko's worst enemy was never their own kind. And, fortunately for them, it was a long time before they encountered a species violently opposed to being friends, and by that point they had a good web of allies. Among them were the species they'd uplifted, but others as well. They were a bit iffy about the Terratoria at first, seeing as how the latter are blatantly predators - but it didn't take them long to recognize that predators aren't necessarily enemies, and that enemies aren't necessarily trying to eat them. One can thank the Gerron and the Redracoids/Ceruleoids for that.

Spoiler: Slight meta tangent about the "uplifting" part

Show

The uplifting part is, of course, a result of the Nitatiko being perfectly happy to share technology with new friends, but out of universe it's also there to solve a particular issue of mine. I find it unlikely that a bunch of species near each other would develop space travel at the same time (even the Zodine League stretches my credulity), so I simply made it so that a small handful of species developed interstellar travel first (in this sector, the Nitatiko, Gerron, and Ophios) and then the tech proliferated from there. In the case of humanity, it also let me leapfrog humanity into the interstellar age without the several centuries of progress that such tech would otherwise require.

It's also why the theme of "primitive people that gets boosted into the space age" shows up a lot in this setting. The Terratoria, the Redracoids, the Midrac, the Daniobi (whose lore I might alter, but that's another topic), and of course humanity all got this boost in some fashion (technically the Kronn too, but I haven't talked about them much since they're extinct. Important to human and Gerron history, but extinct). And the jury's still out on whether the Zodine League and Zekkai got boosted too. In the League's case, it's funny to imagine the four species having a little friendly competition to see who can develop interstellar travel first, and thus travel to the other species' homeworlds... and then some other species shows up and delivers the tech, so none of them win the race. Anyway, it is a theme I use a lot, but I think I've got good reason for it.

As for how they operate... I've described the Nitatiko as being rather childlike, and on the surface they don't seem much smarter than human ten-year-olds. But they do some mental tasks very well. They're good at mathematics, and social intelligence. On top of that, they can process language faster than humans can, and also learn languages very quickly. This meant that the Corundorian Union often used them as translators and communication officers, able to jabber away with officers in other ships or units while still listening to those around them. But they can also be rather rational, in an odd way. The Nitatiko are fascinating for being such a violation of how mob psychology should work in a species. When a group of Nitatiko discusses things, there's a very rapid series of suggestions and attempts to scrutinize those suggestions. If any Nitatiko sees a problem, they speak up without hesitation and the entire group mulls it over. The Nitatiko may have conformity of action, but they neither expect nor are capable of conformity of thought or speech. They are all the child in the tale of The Emperor's New Clothes, who does not hesitate to say exactly what he sees. On top of that, they're weirdly able to compensate for their own childlike minds by a sort of metacognition, bouncing their thoughts off others and being smarter for it. Two Nitatiko with half a thought can make a whole thought pretty easily.

Humans, by contrast, can often be described with the saying, "One of us isn't as dumb as all of us." Sometimes we too can get better perspective by interacting with others, but it's also too easy for us to fall into herd mentality.

Of course, while the Nitatiko are naturally a direct democracy kind of species, they also recognize that sometimes in an emergency it can be more effective for someone to take charge and more swiftly direct the self-organizing chaos of the Nitatiko swarm mentality. And that is where heroes come in.

Nitatiko history and folklore of heroes is... a little interesting. Generally, the Nitatiko are a very collectivist species, as implied. Nitatiko are only as strong as those around them. Few things are done by lone heroes in Nitatiko history (even fewer than in human history, really), so more common are stories of heroic teams, like the "Ace Squad" of the early Corundorian Union period, each of whom was admittedly a hero in their own right. This isn't to say they don't have individual heroes, but by and large they come in three types. There are those who, though they become isolated by mistakes or bad luck, are able to keep their wits about them and safely reunite with their comrades, showing courage and ingenuity in horrible (for a Nitatiko) circumstances. There are also those who sacrifice themselves for the greater good. But finally, there are those who are able to come up with a good idea and convince or inspire their fellows to follow that good idea. Sometimes these individuals are inventors or scientists, but other times they are military leaders of some fashion, since a proper chain of command can be essential in combat, as mentioned. One such leader was Commodore Sundokiwaria ("Sun" for short), one of the top Corundorian Union commanders during the final Terran-Corundorian war. After Corundor was temporarily occupied by the Terran Coalition, Commodore Sun was able to take command of much of the Union's scattered forces, rallying the different species into an effective guerilla force even in the absence of instructions from Union High Command - all from the bridge of his modified Skydart-class corvette. Able both to recognize and take good suggestions from his comrades, and come up with an ideas of his own, Sun was a true Nitatiko leader. Alas, he was killed in action during a mission to investigate a top-secret, high-priority Terran Coalition project that turned out to be the excavation of the Devastation Engine, making him also an example of the second type of Nitatiko hero.

If there's any room for personal glory in the Nitatiko mindset, it's in the above. When the going gets tough, someone who can salvage a situation through their own cunning and influence will earn the respect of their peers. Assuming they really are that competent, of course.

Oh, right, names. Feel free to come up with some, I may have come up with names in the past but I've since forgotten them. Fortunately, there aren't a lot of guidelines for Nitatiko names, given the number of languages the Nitatiko have or can learn. Since the Nitatiko have a big population, unique names are more important to have, so they either have really long names or a lot of them, depending on the culture. Beyond that, come up with whatever sounds good to you. I may be a bit of a linguistics nerd, but I'm not enough of one that I'd be able to come up with naming conventions for each of the multiple cultures each of my species have. At least not all at once. So I won't interfere too much with chosen names unless asked for guidance.

...Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention the Nitatiko belief in Marisonza - a kind of spirit. Marisonza are believed to possess individual Nitatiko and... well, they don't actually override the host's personality, but they do inspire the host to accomplish (or perhaps make them obsessed with accomplishing) some challenge or task. One of the most famous is known as Calnofikip, loosely translated as "Duty Incarnate" who enters into a Nitatiko soldier on the battlefield when their comrades need them most, making them capable of seemingly impossible feats of courage, skill, and badassery, until the battle is won and the spirit departs for another warzone. On the one hand, it's possible to think of this belief as taking away from the agency and ability of the Nitatiko involved and crediting a spirit instead, as if the only way a Nitatiko could achieve such deeds is through supernatural forces - but a Nitatiko who believes themselves inhabited by a Marisonza will go to great lengths to accomplish what they believe is their destiny, and will be cheered by their fellows should they succeed.

*ahem* That was a bit of a ramble, but it's a worthy set of worldbuilding questions.

I’m going to have to decline interest, as I accidentally put too many things on my plate. I hope you all can forgive me.

Unfortunate, but understandable.

...I think I'm going to wait another day or two for anyone else to renew or show interest, and then I'll post on the SW5e Player Search Discord. That ought to give us the one or two additional players we need.

[RandomWombat]

Sounds like what's going on with the Nitatiko cognitively could be that their brains have poorer storage capacity (which makes them look scatterbrained in the moment, and childlike when they rediscover in awe things they forgot), but exemplary ongoing neuroplasticity (great capacity to learn and relearn). Normally for us, that capacity fades in time as humans get older. But for Nitatiko it's constantly forming, unforming and reforming synaptic pathways. Their memory is composed of constant 'aha' moments where old pathways are reformed and they recall important information from cues they get from others. Just talking in a language they once learned is enough to bring it rushing back in the moment they need it, like riding a bike.

Just a bit of speculative evolution thoughts.

I'm still around and not going anywhere, I love all the worldbuilding and strange aliens in the setting.

[flyinglemur]

...Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention the Nitatiko belief in Marisonza - a kind of spirit. Marisonza are believed to possess individual Nitatiko and... well, they don't actually override the host's personality, but they do inspire the host to accomplish (or perhaps make them obsessed with accomplishing) some challenge or task. One of the most famous is known as Calnofikip, loosely translated as "Duty Incarnate" who enters into a Nitatiko soldier on the battlefield when their comrades need them most, making them capable of seemingly impossible feats of courage, skill, and badassery, until the battle is won and the spirit departs for another warzone. On the one hand, it's possible to think of this belief as taking away from the agency and ability of the Nitatiko involved and crediting a spirit instead, as if the only way a Nitatiko could achieve such deeds is through supernatural forces - but a Nitatiko who believes themselves inhabited by a Marisonza will go to great lengths to accomplish what they believe is their destiny, and will be cheered by their fellows should they succeed.

When you give an answer, you give an answer. Much appreciated. I think I can use this rather well. Tell me how this sounds.

Zadock is a weird Nitatiko, in ethos rather than skill. Their skill with machines is just related to the typical Nitatiko capacity for math. Their failures are a result of having a way more individualist bent then most, translating into a tendency to try and do things on their own that blow up in their face. They lose the most important advantages Nitatiko have. Relating to this, Zadock is going to invoke these spirits a lot. I think they might feel that they get possessed all the time, and that the spirits and heroes of long past want them to succeed. They fully believe they have a grand destiny in store for them, and that is what bolsters their arrogance and general recklessness. They don’t understand what they’re doing wrong, and how they keep failing when they know the Marisonza are inspiring them. Zadock can only think that they just aren’t strong enough or smart enough yet to accomplish their destiny. Hence, the continual addition of more cybernetic parts. They have yet to realize that they need to give up their ego and become a team player, like a true hero would do.

[Dusk Raven]

Sounds like what's going on with the Nitatiko cognitively could be that their brains have poorer storage capacity (which makes them look scatterbrained in the moment, and childlike when they rediscover in awe things they forgot), but exemplary ongoing neuroplasticity (great capacity to learn and relearn). Normally for us, that capacity fades in time as humans get older. But for Nitatiko it's constantly forming, unforming and reforming synaptic pathways. Their memory is composed of constant 'aha' moments where old pathways are reformed and they recall important information from cues they get from others. Just talking in a language they once learned is enough to bring it rushing back in the moment they need it, like riding a bike.

Just a bit of speculative evolution thoughts.

I'm still around and not going anywhere, I love all the worldbuilding and strange aliens in the setting.

I do like speculative evolution. It's an important field of study when it comes to making sci-fi species, anyway.

What you described is pretty much what I'd imagined them as - that thing human children have where they learn much more quickly than adults never really fades for Nitatiko, except perhaps in old age, at which point most other species finally treat them as adults.

They've also got another thing, which I called metacognition, but I'm not sure if that's the proper term for it. It's basically the use of external elements to augment one's own thinking. In humans, it's stuff like using written notes to help us remember things, or an abacus to help perform complex math equations. I imagine Nitatiko are quite good at that. This might mean that they developed writing and cognitive aids like abaci sooner than one would it expect, but they specialize in using other sapient beings to help them think.

...I really like the work I've done for my species so far. I used to kinda just make races in my settings (fantasy and sci-fi alike) pretty much for fun, but as I've gotten older I've started trying harder to make sure there's an actual point to having a different species or race. The best way to do that, I think, is to give them some meaningful psychological or biological differences from humans (and often both, since the two can be interconnected). For anything less, one might as well just have different human cultures instead of different races.

When you give an answer, you give an answer. Much appreciated. I think I can use this rather well. Tell me how this sounds.

Zadock is a weird Nitatiko, in ethos rather than skill. Their skill with machines is just related to the typical Nitatiko capacity for math. Their failures are a result of having a way more individualist bent then most, translating into a tendency to try and do things on their own that blow up in their face. They lose the most important advantages Nitatiko have. Relating to this, Zadock is going to invoke these spirits a lot. I think they might feel that they get possessed all the time, and that the spirits and heroes of long past want them to succeed. They fully believe they have a grand destiny in store for them, and that is what bolsters their arrogance and general recklessness. They don’t understand what they’re doing wrong, and how they keep failing when they know the Marisonza are inspiring them. Zadock can only think that they just aren’t strong enough or smart enough yet to accomplish their destiny. Hence, the continual addition of more cybernetic parts. They have yet to realize that they need to give up their ego and become a team player, like a true hero would do.

It's actually not uncommon for Nitatiko to become engineers or technicians, there's a certain logic in it that works for them. That, and being small and compressible is of great help when working on ships or other vehicles. Anyway, everything makes sense to me!

And I'm glad both of you seem to enjoy what I've got, that's just what I've been looking for! Now I just need to deliver on the actual campaign...

[Rokku]

I'm still around.

[RandomWombat]

Going to go ahead and roll one of the sets for the grid and see what comes out.
(4d6b3)[7]
(4d6b3)[12]
(4d6b3)[15]
(4d6b3)[17]
(4d6b3)[11]
(4d6b3)[10]

When you give an answer, you give an answer. Much appreciated. I think I can use this rather well. Tell me how this sounds.

Zadock is a weird Nitatiko, in ethos rather than skill. Their skill with machines is just related to the typical Nitatiko capacity for math. Their failures are a result of having a way more individualist bent then most, translating into a tendency to try and do things on their own that blow up in their face. They lose the most important advantages Nitatiko have. Relating to this, Zadock is going to invoke these spirits a lot. I think they might feel that they get possessed all the time, and that the spirits and heroes of long past want them to succeed. They fully believe they have a grand destiny in store for them, and that is what bolsters their arrogance and general recklessness. They don’t understand what they’re doing wrong, and how they keep failing when they know the Marisonza are inspiring them. Zadock can only think that they just aren’t strong enough or smart enough yet to accomplish their destiny. Hence, the continual addition of more cybernetic parts. They have yet to realize that they need to give up their ego and become a team player, like a true hero would do.

I find it amusing we picked two of the most social species, but for their own reasons they're both individualistic loners. Zadock's got an arrogant ego to contest with, and Craver is just numb and jaded.

I do like speculative evolution. It's an important field of study when it comes to making sci-fi species, anyway.

What you described is pretty much what I'd imagined them as - that thing human children have where they learn much more quickly than adults never really fades for Nitatiko, except perhaps in old age, at which point most other species finally treat them as adults.

They've also got another thing, which I called metacognition, but I'm not sure if that's the proper term for it. It's basically the use of external elements to augment one's own thinking. In humans, it's stuff like using written notes to help us remember things, or an abacus to help perform complex math equations. I imagine Nitatiko are quite good at that. This might mean that they developed writing and cognitive aids like abaci sooner than one would it expect, but they specialize in using other sapient beings to help them think.

...I really like the work I've done for my species so far. I used to kinda just make races in my settings (fantasy and sci-fi alike) pretty much for fun, but as I've gotten older I've started trying harder to make sure there's an actual point to having a different species or race. The best way to do that, I think, is to give them some meaningful psychological or biological differences from humans (and often both, since the two can be interconnected). For anything less, one might as well just have different human cultures instead of different races.

I think the Riltha are one of my favorite in terms of being weird, because they're sort of like what would happen if not all the symbiotic components of a sapient life form adapted to operate under a single brain. Having two components that can mix and match phenotypes for new pairs means they get the best of both worlds for sexual and asexual reproduction, as well. Perfectly capable of making a colony of clones if necessary, but they can create their own biodiversity after a certain point. As some of the best medical researchers, I imagine they're pretty good at biotech and gene editing too.
My alternate character was going to be one of them, but a more straight-laced serious Ranger type.

I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts about the Karkero and their societal norms as well. Craver was abducted pretty young, but what would she know from early education on a Zodine League planet?

[Dusk Raven]

I think the Riltha are one of my favorite in terms of being weird, because they're sort of like what would happen if not all the symbiotic components of a sapient life form adapted to operate under a single brain. Having two components that can mix and match phenotypes for new pairs means they get the best of both worlds for sexual and asexual reproduction, as well. Perfectly capable of making a colony of clones if necessary, but they can create their own biodiversity after a certain point. As some of the best medical researchers, I imagine they're pretty good at biotech and gene editing too.
My alternate character was going to be one of them, but a more straight-laced serious Ranger type.

I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts about the Karkero and their societal norms as well. Craver was abducted pretty young, but what would she know from early education on a Zodine League planet?

The Riltha have been popular among my IRL players. I partially attribute this to the image I found for them. It's great not having a mental image of a species, and then finding some great art of them. Or seeing a pic and thinking, "I must make something based off this." Which is what happened with the Riltha. They're also one of the rare instances of me trying to do something really weird and different on a biological level - I'm normally more of a social sci-fi person.

Anyway, the Karkero... I actually don't have a lot for them as of this time, since I made them only recently. But there's a decent amount I can still provide. So, they are of course one of the more cooperative and empathic species. This is partly because, like the Nitatiko, they had to deal with a lot of predators - the ocean is a scary place on any planet. Unlike the Nitatiko, they're very slow. I mean, they can breathe underwater, but they don't really swim, they just walk along the bottom. Not the most speedy form of travel. And if you can't run from a predator, and you can't hide, you have to fight. And so, the Karkero stand firm, and they stand together.

Beyond that, I said they were rather empathic and cooperative. The phrase "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" is an important cultural concept for them, especially since they're incapable of reaching behind their own backs. That, and they do have to worry about little drillshrimp that like to burrow into their exoskeletons and get at the juicy bits. Not fun. They're like mosquitoes but they leave big holes that take way too long to heal.

I also imagine the Karkero were kind of the main driving force behind forming the League - at least when it came to motivation. And then the Taupin were like, "I'll guess it's up to us to make this work," the Riltha were all like "YOLO" and the Skipiri just quietly got in line. And when they got space travel, the Karkero wasted no time in colonizing as many shorelines as they could. Like the Nitatiko, they probably spread around a bit, although in a bit more of an organized fashion.

...Going to have to work some more on them.

[RandomWombat]

Makes sense they would prefer to set up settlements at the shoreline, where they have access to water but can avoid the additional flanking direction of 'up' from predators. I imagine being a sea-floor walker would lead to interesting sports for a social sapient species as well, with all the ways being underwater would affect movement and trajectories.

[Dusk Raven]

Makes sense they would prefer to set up settlements at the shoreline, where they have access to water but can avoid the additional flanking direction of 'up' from predators. I imagine being a sea-floor walker would lead to interesting sports for a social sapient species as well, with all the ways being underwater would affect movement and trajectories.

Well, they're generally fine with living in shallows, at least - they don't need to compete for housing when it comes to underwater real estate. But that's a valid point, and it reminds me of something else. Water is fundamentally hostile to most technology. There are a lot of water worlds out there, but if they have no land, or their sapient species can't go on land, then they'll never even get close to space travel. Hard to do metallurgy, for instance, when you can't make fire. The Karkero are capable of going on land, at least for a while... and probably 95% of their advancement as a civilization was done on the 10% of their planet's surface that isn't covered by water. Of course, with advanced technology comes the potential to make stuff that works underwater, but still. At this point, they're likely in a weird place where they're most accustomed to life in air, but are still adapted to being in water - and prefer to never be too far from it, anyway.

Victoria is going to dislike it on Ereshkigal. Hope she's got plenty of water bottles.

Underwater sports is an interesting concept, although I imagine it would be somewhat slow from the perspective of humans. Karkero, as mentioned, are not fast, certainly not underwater. That probably lends itself to more tactical sorts of sports.

...I've also kinda got the idea that the Karkero have some pretty good shipbuilding operations around their world. They may be the "feeling" type, but they're capable builders, too. Maybe that comes from all the engineering challenges involved in building their structures... or maybe boats, because while the Karkero may be able to breathe water, they sure didn't spread to the various islands of their world by swimming or walking. Or maybe their home system has a lot of shipbuilding materials, or perhaps their aquatic adaptation means they don't mind low-gravity or zero-gravity physics as much. So many possibilities.



Otherwise... I think I'll post that advert in the SW5e Discord server now. As for our existing players, or at least one who's shown interest: Rokku, any updates or questions?

[Rokku]

I'm still here! I haven't done much work on the character yet and I'm about to crash for the night but I'll get back to you tomorrow.

[RandomWombat]

Victoria is going to dislike it on Ereshkigal. Hope she's got plenty of water bottles.

I'm sure the desert will do wonders for her sunny disposition.

[Rokku]

So coming back to questions... I kinda feel like I've lost track of what this campaign is going to be? And also I feel like the weird ability scores thing makes it impossible for me to make a character sheet.

[Dusk Raven]

So coming back to questions... I kinda feel like I've lost track of what this campaign is going to be? And also I feel like the weird ability scores thing makes it impossible for me to make a character sheet.

Well, it hasn't changed from whenever you lost track of it, and I'm not sure where that was, so... I'll try and go into more detail with the premise. Or at least restate it. It seemed longer in my head.

The galaxy is at peace, in large part due to the efforts of the Galactic Peacekeepers - and a constant effort it is. The PCs are part of their Ranger Corps, the branch given the most free reign and license to act on their own initiative. Either that, or they're freelancers who can be trusted enough to work towards the common good for various reasons. The PCs are sent to the planet Ereshkigal, a troubled world with trouble brewing. Between rival organized crime factions and an unknown disease starting to spread, the PCs are going to have their hands full trying to manage things. But the Peacekeepers have never given up before, and they're not about to give up on some arid manufacturing world with authority issues. The PCs are the first line of defense against chaos, crime, and suffering. And they won't be alone.

As for the ability score issue, by that do you mean that the array you rolled isn't working out for you? If so... you can roll a new one if you'd like.

[Rokku]

As for the ability score issue, by that do you mean that the array you rolled isn't working out for you? If so... you can roll a new one if you'd like.

Oh no, I mean I thought we were doing the thing where we put them all in a grid and then people pick lines and basically we wouldn't know what they were gonna be until you'd picked all the players. Anyway!

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[Dusk Raven]

Oh no, I mean I thought we were doing the thing where we put them all in a grid and then people pick lines and basically we wouldn't know what they were gonna be until you'd picked all the players.

Well, we are going to make that grid, and it won't be complete until people are picked, but until then, people can roll an array normally and use that. Then after the grid is made, people can switch to a line from it if they wish.

[RandomWombat]

Any biters on the Discord?

[Dusk Raven]

I had one person show interest, but I haven't heard from them after I mentioned the thread. I'll poke them.