Breakouts for Human Cultures in an Alien Landscape

[Stan Shinn]

I’m creating a Star Trek / Orville / Galaxy Quest style genre pack (but with an original IP) for QuestWorlds and I need some advice on how to handle Human cultures. 

For Alien cultures, I include distinctive features for that species. Using Star Trek as an iconic example, Vulcans might have this Culture:

Vulcan 13  
— Alien Strength +1
— Desert Adapted +1
— Mind Meld +1
— Nerve Pinch +1  

With Flaws like Arrogant and Emotionless.

For humans, I was thinking of taking this approach:

Terran 13
— Versatile +1
Plus 3 more breakouts from  your personal background on Earth such as ‘Animal Handling’ (if you grew up on a ranch) or ‘Alien Cultures’ (if you grew up in a multicultural environment with extraterrestrials).

So I wonder:

(1) Is ‘Versatile’ or ‘Adaptable’ too broad a term for a breakout? What is something else that would pertain to Human Culture that I could include?

(2) Are personal backgrounds like ‘Animal Handling’ and ‘Alien Cultures’ good options, or what sort of things could you list for a human culture in a Sci Fi universe where most other cultures are alien species?
 

[soltakss]

On 11/2/2022 at 12:55 AM, Stan Shinn said:

(1) Is ‘Versatile’ or ‘Adaptable’ too broad a term for a breakout? What is something else that would pertain to Human Culture that I could include?

It might be useful, but the GM should stop it being used as a fix-all ability.

 

On 11/2/2022 at 12:55 AM, Stan Shinn said:

(2) Are personal backgrounds like ‘Animal Handling’ and ‘Alien Cultures’ good options, or what sort of things could you list for a human culture in a Sci Fi universe where most other cultures are alien species?

Knowing about a nearby Alien culture would be an interesting and useful breakout. Animal handling would also make sense.

I would have the alien species as a keyword, which also reflects the culture. Some aliens might have different cultures, maybe one per planet or group of planets.

Humans could have different cultures, depending on where they came from or how they developed. Look at The Expanse, the Belters have a different culture to Earthers.

I would have "Belter", "Earther", "Marser" as keywords that incorporate the culture and, perhaps, any adaptations to the environment. So, Belters might have Zero-G as a breakout.

 

[AlHazred]

When I wrote a convention scenario for "sci-fi horror" many, many moons ago, I created multi-part pre-gens. It was made in Hero System. You selected an Occupation which gave you skills, a Background which gave you characteristics and a few abilities, and a Secret (which in a few cases overrode the other two cards). The Backgrounds I made were things like "Heavyworlder," "Deathworlder," "Lightworlder" (or maybe "Belter"? I don't remember exactly), "Core Worlder," and so on. I'll have to find the list I made, but they would make good generic breakouts.