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guide:creating_a_species

Creating A Species

A new species is just one of the many things you can add to lore of the Star Army universe. You can submit a new species after being an active member on the forums for three months.

Overview

We're looking for new species that add quality and variety to the site, and it should be designed to fit into the overall story of Star Army. New species have the most value when they interact with plot RPs and player characters. Making a new species is easier when you integrate it into some existing faction.

  1. Create a unique species that is more than just a human with add-ons like pointy ears and green skintone.
  2. Have a plan to connect your species with an existing playable faction.

Species Page Template

Species Submission Rules

The Golden Rule of Species creation is Species approval is a privilege, not a right. Just because you spent a lot of time on writing your species, worked hard on it, and you want to change it so it's approvable that doesn't mean it will be approved. If a reviewer dubs your creation unsuitable for SARP and you cause a large amount of drama over it you may be prohibited from submitting new additions in the future. However, if you take it in stride and carefully listen to their advice, there's always hope your submission can be revised and resubmitted at a future date.

You should have some experience roleplaying in the community

The staff is only willing to accept submissions for major setting additions if you have been on SARP for at least 3 months, and shown you are consistently active as well as a competent roleplayer.

If you intend to run the Species as a faction manager, you should have at least one other person with the time and inclination to Co-GM with you.==

In the event you have to take a hiatus and you have no GMs to take over for you it's very likely your player base may fall apart in your absence. Always have a backup GM.

Unless the Species is for GM use only, you must create a Species-specific Character Creation Guide

This is to help potential players understand and play your Species in the future. See the CCG section for an example.

You should have at least one player-character for every additional planet your faction owns.

Sorry, no major empires run by one or two players.

Order

Adding a new culture should generally be submitted for approval in this order:

  1. Start with art! Concept art is required.
  2. Initial Submissions (try to submit these at the same time):
    1. Species biology and basic culture
      1. Cultural quirks
    2. Star System
      1. Planet (species' homeworld)
  3. Any relevant new core technologies
  4. Detailed cultural stuff
  5. Character creation guide, if applicable
  6. Everything else, like guns and tech

Don't be more powerful than existing factions

Starting at a lower technology level is okay. If you start as an advanced species it may make it harder to explain the lack of encounters with your Species so far in the IC timeline, as well as make the staff wary of potential power gaming.

A civilization should start with average resources.

We frown on so many species starting with heavily industrialized nations on very resource rich homeworlds, or those that have some miraculous new wonder fuel/substance totally unique to them that exponentially increases their power.

Cliches to Avoid

These are less important than the above. Breaking the one or two is pretty common for most approved species, but breaking several at once may mean your Species is quite cliche.

Avoid being pseudohuman.

That means you shouldn't call yourselves a separate Species if you're really just humans with special powers, minor cosmetic changes (ears, etc), or an extra organ or two. This alone may be grounds for the denial of a submission because the setting already has more than enough pseudohuman species.

If you can't easily interchange the word “alien” with “creature” consider upping the strangeness.

We already have way more types of humans than we need.

Avoid physiologically unbalanced species.

This is a big one. This means avoid making your species stronger, faster, smarter, and longer-lived than humans with bonus powers to boot (such as telepathy, heightened senses, etc), while at the same time having absolutely no weaknesses, or negligible weaknesses that don't really bother them too much. Emphasis on the “negligible weakness” part; trying to pass of a weakness as being vulnerable to bullets, poison, or gamma radiation just won't cut it. Also consider that making the Species too powerful may lead to potential power gaming issues on behalf of future players, so keep any racial abilities at a reasonable level.

Telepathy should be avoided. In the past so many species were submitted with telepathy that it became very, very cliche in SARP. In addition, there is also the potential powergaming/metagaming in regards to potential players of telepathic species which have caused trouble in SARP's past. For this reason it is strongly recommended you avoid any sort of extrasensory perceptions along the lines of mind-reading.

Avoid the big bad mysterious foe cliche.

The mysterious evil alien attackers and/or overlords and/or monsters has been done to death. Having an antagonist species rule over yours is fine, but make sure you give it depth to avoid the aforementioned cliche.

Avoid the "we're perfect" cliche.

Try not to make your Species one that has a perfect corruption free government, and whose entire citizenship is always extremely virtuous to the point of dying for righteousness, and so on. Just about every Species should have its flaws, scumbags, criminals, and dissidents. If your Species doesn't have these types, make sure you also consider the negative impacts.

For example, a Species without crime or corruption may be that way because they are religious zealots who exile nonbelievers and criminals from their cities. Another example might be a police state carries extremely heavy punishments for criminals, such as torture and execution.

Avoid the "we're totally badass" cliche.

What is meant by this is having your Species possess a unique martial art, swordfighting technique, or mastery over Ki that allows a single person to decimate an entire squad of infantry. Having unique fighting arts is fine; just be sure to keep the power levels reasonable given their technology level. Also keep in mind your Species's society; a pacifistic free society shouldn't have very many citizens well-versed in the art of fighting.

Examples of what to avoid: An ancient sword technique that allows your Species's swordfighters to block bullets, or a traditional martial art that gives your fighters the ability to punch through battle armor.

Avoid the "monopoly material" cliche.

Try to avoid having any materials totally unique to this Species or planet that totally compensates for their lack of technology. This is essentially attempting to exploit or avoid the technology limitations of starting species, and is generally frowned upon. It's also considered quite cliche to have a special resource that naturally occurs on your planet, but nowhere else in the entire galaxy.

Examples of what to avoid: Ancient alien artifacts that give you a totally unique and copyrighted weapon that no one else has. A natural super-potent power source that allows your predominantly low-tech Species to match the weapons technology of interstellar empires. An ore unique to your planet that allows knights with plate armor to withstand laser fire.


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guide/creating_a_species.txt · Last modified: 2023/12/20 18:20 by 127.0.0.1