Not to distract too much from my recent posts on leprechauns and the usefulness of the undead (both of which are well worth reading, if I do say so myself), but I keep forgetting to mention this:
Really, I'm at a loss. Isn't Traveller supposed to be the "smart" sci-fi RPG?
This kind of thing is why I have never bothered to buy a single sourcebook for the new Mongoose Traveller...if I can't dream it up myself (and make it work with the rules), chances are I'm not really interested. Sheesh!
The Darrians were pretty elfy even in Classic Traveller.
ReplyDelete@ Scott: Well, *I* never met 'em back when I played Classic Traveller (point of fact, I don't recall ever meeting ANY aliens...but I wasn't running the game). Even so, they smack a little too much of WH40K Eldar (sans pointy hats) for my taste.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't super-fond of them myself, but I thought a lot of the CT aliens were dippy.
ReplyDeleteI liked the hivers, droyne, zhodani and vargr. Aslans and centaurs were dubious.
ReplyDeleteWere the Darrians really space elves? I dont remember them that way. Odd.
Here's the only image I could find of the old CT Darrians supplement:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/2w4jfoh
They weren't strictly elves, but they did strike me as a sop for the elf enthusiasts.
old CT Darrians supplement
ReplyDeleteYep, I have that old book :) I didn't care for a lot of the 'canon' Traveller aliens, because they were so stereotyped. Centaurs, wolfmen, lionmen named after CS Lewis.. bah! lol. My solution was to use Kzin for the Aslan (which isn't just a cosmetic switch, but close to it) and then mostly just use my own creations. Of course, the first thing my PCs fought were zombies, so not really a 'standard' traveller campaign anyway.
I viewed the Darrians more as a Vulcan stand-in for the Traveller Universe. Pointy eared, technologically advanced, driven by logic, and possessing some limited psionic abilities, the Darrians simply lacked green blood from being a Vulcan clone.
ReplyDeleteAt least, that was my interpretation. The illustrations were elfy, but the content was primarily Star Trek-inspired, if you will.
YMMV, of course.
With Regards,
Flynn
The Darrians weren't originally space elves, but they became such as time went on. By the late 80s, when the Alien Module in question was released, some of the illustrations showed them with pointy ears. Before that, as I recall, they were just a very tall, thin minor human race with "delicate" features.
ReplyDeletelionmen named after CS Lewis
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, "aslan" (or variations thereof) just means "lion" in several Turkic languages. It's sometimes even used as a personal name.
Wow, I totally missed the elf connection when I was discovering Traveller back in the day. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I do like some of the CT races. Hivers might be my favorite alien race of any game setting and I had a soft spot for the Vargr as well (I had both Alien modules).
Hhhhmmm... Vulcans from Star Trek had pointy ears. Did people consider them "space elves"? I know I didn't.
ReplyDelete@ Zan: I don't remember thinking vulcans were "space elves," but it's funny that (as a kid) I always assumed elves had green blood. If I had to guess where that idea came from, I would guess it was vulcans...
ReplyDelete: )
I never played with the official races in CT back int he day, but going through my omnibus reprints of the LBBs...the original Darrians did come off much more as Vulcans than Elves. That they were sequestered in their one little star system, though, does give a feeling of Rivendell in space...
ReplyDelete