NevelioKrejall

I get that OC can mean lots of things, but I think most people in this thread are willfully misunderstanding you because of preconceived biases about original characters being ‘childish.’

I will instead attempt to engage in good faith. Here is an original character I conceived for a Star Control D&D game I ran. Archivist Ryll (pictured at right) is an Yllk who joined the crew after they performed a mission to help him study an anomalous neutron star. He is pragmatic and cheerful, and always game to help out, but dislikes authority figures. He lost his rear legs in an accident involving IDF (interdimensional fatigue). He is shown here in the epilogue of the campaign in his capacity as archivist, assisting with the official documents as the Alliance of Free Stars signs a formal cease-fire with the VUX Admiralty after the Battle of the Sa-Matra and subsequent dissolution of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy of Battle Thralls.

People usually see doctors when something has gone very wrong with their life. It’s scary when your body backs you into a corner, and fear makes people act stupid and angry. I would hope they could be given a little bit of slack.

I recognize and sympathize with the energy of this comment. I have also had a medical setback recently that is making it really hard for me to exercise. I had a tumor removed and they took my thyroid out with it, and something is not right with the replacement meds. It is tough to make people understand just how awful it can be to feel exhausted and irritable and confused every single day. What happened to you sucks, and it isn’t fair, and it’s okay to not be okay with it. For what it’s worth, I hope your bone does grow back.

I think there are different kinds of violent fantasies. I imagine all kinds of violent stuff in an unrealistic action movie kind of way, with exploding heads and disembowelment and all that (I run D&D games lol). I got worried that I might be dangerous. Then, one time I tried to vividly imagine the actual real world consequences of hurting a real person that I knew, and I couldn’t get any further than imagining the pained, betrayed look on their face before I had to hit the eject button. That brief exercise fucked me up for weeks afterward, but it was pretty reassuring. In the long run. I think I’m the schmuck in the horror movie that chokes when it comes down to actually firing a gun at someone and gets killed for hesitating, and honestly I think I’m okay with that.

In my scifi campaign based on Star Control II, all genetic engineering was illegal (one of the primary antagonist groups is a race of blade runner style artificial humans). So of course two of my players teamed up to be an outlaw geneticist and his awakened capuchin monkey. They played it 100% unironically and it resulted in some of the best role-playing it has been my privilege to DM for.

This post has a weird energy. I can’t decide if it reads more phobia or more fetish. Maybe both XD

A psychopath wouldn’t be worried about whether they’re a psychopath.

I don’t think anybody really sees themselves as a simple ‘A’ or ‘B’ in this way. Maybe I’m wrong. It just seems impossible to simplify an entire life and experience of the world as either ‘blessed’ or ‘cursed’.

Which isn’t to say I think models of human capability can’t be fun.

I like to imagine it more like ability scores in D&D. Someone might have low Wisdom, but training and proficiency can still make them extremely perceptive. And in some cases, you can find ways to leverage an unusual ability when you’re trying to do something, like making an intimidation check using Strength instead of Charisma. What is a weakness in one scenario can be a strength in the next.

This model is still simple enough to visualize easily, but has enough moving parts to allow for lots of different ways of being without any one way being ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Neurodivergence might be part of the stats you roll up, but your circumstances and your choices combine to build a life experience around them that can be completely different from another person who rolled the same numbers. Likewise, different rolled stats can affect how well you handle certain situations and adventures, but this is neither a curse nor a superpower, and is true for everyone.

Models only get you so far, but humans are a social species. We need each other by our very nature. Teamwork is in our DNA. And, like DNA, teams are more adaptable when they are diverse. Everyone has something to bring to the table, neurodivergent or otherwise.

Assuming you are genuinely asking, “ugly” is entirely subjective. Someone might be unattractive to you for any number complex reasons, including the possibility that you are simply not who they are trying to appeal to (or they don’t make appealing to other people a priority at all, for political reasons, personal reasons, or just convenience), but there is no objective standard of ugliness, despite what mainstream media and beauty standards may want you to think. Everyone is beautiful to someone.

Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters has an excellent story and wordbuilding, and you can talk to all kinds of weird aliens. If you don’t like the ship combat, you can set up the game’s AI to fight for you.

If you liked this game, you might be interested to learn that Pistol Shrimp games, an independent game dev company started by Paul Rieche III and Fred Ford (the original creators of Star Control and Star Control 2), are making a sequel, with story written by Paul Rieche III.

The re-release on steam is partly to get the word out about it. Join our discord to learn more!

Disgusting things, children. Glad I never was one!

There’s coffee in that nebula!

I am having a hell of a time trying to find this image without text already on it