Forums of the Megaverse®

Greetings and Salutations. Yikes! That can definitely be a tough one. Well, of course, there is appearance. But you asked for beyond that fact. I'm going to figure different types of beings (mammal, planet, energy, gaseous, etc.) and natural abilities probably won't count much either.

1) Well there are a few other things, but one of the main things for me is their culture. You naturally should try to make it different. They should have different customs, beliefs, mannerisms, etc. Sometimes the little things can really help make them feel different. For example: Aliens aren't as likely to understand things like shaking hands or waving, at least not to the same extent. I had one race that greeted people by putting their hand on the person's head and sliding the hand down their face. This was their way of saying hi. It's not something major, but can still help feel not normal/human.

2) Keep in mind that they're not human, and they won't think the same as humans. They may not be able to comprehend "love" because they're simply not capable of such an emotion. This isn't like Vulcans who suppress emotions, but the actual inability to feel or comprehend that emotion. It's just something so alien and foreign that they'll never understand. The books series Foreigner by C.J.Cherryh is a good example of this inability to comprehend some human concepts because their alien mind just won't process it. And, though based on Earth based life forms to some degree, the Formics in Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is another example. This is alien thinking not being able to comprehend human thinking (trying not to give away any spoilers). An example I did in one of my games is using the Protoss race (from Starcraft, by Blizzard) in a game (this is NOT a conversion). I described how they didn't have love (not in the same ways as humans), but it is the closest feeling that could compare to the Protoss "Merging" (how two High Templar make an Archon). Another example is a race that literrally could NOT betray a friend or ally. The understood humans did such things, but they couldn't comprehend it themselves. My players had been on a ship captained by one of these aliens, and she always made jokes about kicking them off her ship and betraying them, then laugh and laugh about it and the players always just thought she was cruel. They didn't understand (until later) that she thought it was so funny because she couldn't do any of those things, and if they had just known that they would've gotten the joke better (at least in her mind). I mean, it was a literal impossibility for her to have done anything bad to them. Another male of that species dates a human female, and it was described how he can't cheat on her, ever! Not only does it not process in his mind, another woman touching him in any type of affectionate way makes his skin crawl and makes him physically ill (and this happened while he had lost his memory and didn't even remember the human female, he just knew on a biological level it was wrong and that anyone else made him sick).

3) Consider their history and biology, and how that can affect their development. I'll give an example of something I did. There was a warrior race (classic, I know). They never slept (biologically not required). They said that humans and other races slept from prehistoric times when because of predators and all that stuff (you may have heard this theory before), but since their race has ALWAYS been the dominate life form on top of their planetary food chain, this was never required. A member of that race later became badly injured and entered into a coma. When he awoke he snapped and tried to kill some people (he was eventually brought to his senses). It was explained that they do dream (in those rare instances) but it's like playing your worst fear over and over and over again for years and after they wake up they can have trouble separating reality from their dreams. They also had the theory that while their process of dreaming may not be so different than humans, the fact that this race never dreams (except in rare situations) that their brains aren't ready to process it/adjust. For them this is something strange and horrifying while humans deal with it on a daily basis.

I don't know how much that helps. But more than anything what I'm trying to say is that aliens can't be just strange looking humans. They need to think and act alien, at least to some degree. Their history and biology can play important roles in how they develop their cultures. On the other hand, if you make them TOO alien, then the players will have trouble associating with them. Since the readers and players are human, it helps to connect with these characters if there is enough human aspects for us to latch onto. Anyways, that's all for now. I hope that helps. I tried to give some examples, hopefully at least as jumping off points. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.