What the heck is that! was:RE: [gurps] Re: Goat Headed Races

[Nigel McCarty-Eigenmann]

> On 10/5/09, Travis Watkins <terwin3 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Then again, if chimerical sentients are common enough, it might not be
> > that much easier to track.
> >
> > What is the difference between 'tall Caucasian with short brown hair'
> > and 'short Minotaur with light-brown head-fur' when at least 1/3 of
> > the local population are chimeric?
> >
> > It just depends on the local population('We don't have many of _your_
> > type around these here parts' works just as well for Arabs, Asians,
> > Cat-men, and Minotaurs), if there are several families in the area,
> > 'just follow the horns' does not work quite as well.
> >
> > Also, the Uncanny Valley is a race specific modifier, and if that race
> > is not around much, then that should not be a relevant modifier.  Just
> > as if red-heads cause Minotaurs to charge, it is not relevant for
> > playing a red-head in a sci-fi game without chimeras.
> >
> > I would put all racial appearance modifiers in a 'setting specific'
> > section of the description.
> > Anything else is just flavor.
> >
> Besides, humans aren't the "norm" in all settings. Sure, it's typical
> of fantasy settings for humans to form the majority and baseline, but
> that's not necessarily the case. In settings where all kinds of
> sapient species are widely represented (e.g. Earthdawn) it would be
> rather silly to rate the point value of everyone's appearance based on
> what a single specific species thinks of them.

Precisely.  It's a points sop.  Or humanocentrism.

All tribes see themselves as normal and others as weird, alien and wrong.

But this leads to you needing a matrix of points and taking a mean figure
for the template.

...which could also be said to be a points sop.

So there really isnt a good answer...

Ta


McE