Forums » Looking for RP » Getting players to be aliens? (closed)

Edit: I just realized I put this in the wrong forum section. I thought I was posting in the RP discussion area. Sorry

I have an interesting problem for my roleplay group, Serik. In the story, there are seven alien species alongside the humans, ranging from gigantic insects to amphibious salamanders to lizard-centaurs to dog-people. I put a ton into each species, giving them unique backgrounds, lores, personalities, and more, but I did my best to keep it from being heavy reading. (Admittedly, the alien page could use some revising, which I've been working on)

Nevertheless, of the several people who have joined, I've yet to see a single one who is not human. The only exception is a player who joined with a custom race, and they seem to have ceased posting.

I understand that people might not want to create a fresh character just to play an alien, but all the same, does anybody have any advice for ways to encourage newcomers to play as aliens instead? There are so many humans in the galaxy, I'm afraid it will just get boring.

Sorry man, I don't got any ideas. I believe I did check you're group, but I don't remember. If I join I can guarantee I'll be using an alien. It'll prolly be filed under my "Niche Characters"

Why not ask the people who joined your group why they didn't choose aliens? Did you get in touch with the person who stopped posting? You didn't include a link to the group or gave a lot of info on the races, so I think the people directly involved with your group will be able to provide more fitting answers.

Alien creatures are the best-- it's just that humans always seems to take the spotlight in every story, be it sci-fi or Fantasy, and everyone wants said spotlight. So it is in our hands to make Aliens or beastmen/woman to be "cool"!

I'd highly suggest anyone who read this to give a thought on creating an alien specie...! And they not necessarily need to be a monster. I don't know, I just get the feeling seeing OC that are not human make them much more unique.

Also, I'd vouch for Kiri's (Hwothumb) group and lore. Very interesting group if you're looking for some Sci-fi exploration (:

Encourage them to try something other than human??
Uhhh...

I think whatever you wrote about the alien species should be enough. It would be for me, certainly if I found one that stood out among the others. Even if I didn't I'd roll a die, flip a coin, and come to a decision because I think taking a break from being human once in a while is fun.

Also, who the heck wouldn't want to create a fresh character for something they find INTERESTING? Isn't that what you do when something intrigues you? Try it out even if it's new to you? To me that's some of the fun of RP from what little I've done.

Also, who wouldn't want to be an alien? Isn't that kinda an important part of a 'Sci-Fi' setting? Or did I miss something?

So many questions, not enough answers. If I think up a way to promote being an alien as cool OTHER than the fact that it just IS, I'll let you know.

You can't make anyone do anything in a roleplay that you made. And I'm saying this to save you some sanity. Gms and dungeon masters have dealt with this problem of making elaborate detailed stories, games and npcs only for the player's characters to decide they want to do something else. The gms that tried to railroad the characters into doing what they wanted only drew resentment. Experienced gms have realized that making something with a lot of detail only for it to be ignored is a fact of life. You have to adapt to the stories that those players want to play. Otherwise there is no game when they leave out of frustration.

If you really want to see those races in use, then I suggest making some interesting Npcs that they can encounter as well as dilemmas that those players may have to solve or deal with. If they are interesting enough for the players, then they may actually grow interested in those races and create their own. I think this is the best suggestion because it would still utilize the races you created but not force anyone to do something they don't want which in the end would create resentment and drama.

I'd be willing to venture a guess that people are going with the race that allows them to use the character in other RPs and/or that they have enough familiarity with to feel comfortable playing. I know that I tend to feel uncomfortable and uncertain playing a character that was fully or partly created by someone else in some significant way. I keep thinking I'll mess it up or something.

One thing you could try is to ask the players for input on what races they would like to see. Depending on how that goes, you might be able to guide them into taking on one of the ones you created, our you might end up with another that had common community interest.