This is something of an unusual article.

As many of you know, I got my start submitting guest articles for Roleplaying Tips, and eventually co-founded Campaign Mastery with the writer/editor/publisher of that email newsletter, Johnn Four.

A recent article was about “How To Think Like An Alien” – Johnn no longer numbers the issues in the subjects, so I’m not sure which issue it was, but it hit my inbox on 13 August.

I thought the article was excellent, but incomplete in one or two important respects. Today’s article here at Campaign Mastery is intended to correct that situation.

Johnn’s article is now available online; just click the link below to open it in a new tab. You have to read this article before continuing with my contribution to the processes.

How To Think Like An Alien by Johnn Four – Roleplaying Tips, Aug 13, 2018

Alien image by pixabay.com/TheDigitalArtist, background added by Mike

The missing half of the equation

It’s relatively easy to give the natives a strange thought process, and have the PCs eventually figure out the way they think as described, but this can consume a GM’s total attention, leading them to forget that the NPCs are also trying to figure out how the PCs think.

The “aliens” often seem to understand the human side almost completely, an unrealistic situation if this is really a “first encounter”.

I’ve seen this mistake in innumerable examples within science fiction, so much so that it is the norm and those that don’t make this mistake are very much within the minority. A notable exception that gets it right more than most is “Mars Attacks!” Literary examples that get it mostly right include “The Black Cloud” by Fred Hoyle and the “Lensman” series by E.E. “Doc” Smith. Another novel in which understanding alien points of view is central to the plot is “The Gods Themselves” by Isaac Asimov, especially the middle portion of the novel.

Of course, an RPG environment is quite different to a literary one. The lesson, from a role-playing perspective, is “Don’t make the alien society so complicated that you have no room for the counterpoint.”

Established Protocols

The more a society anticipates potentially coming into contact with aliens, the more they will have thought about the problem and prepared in advance. SETI, for example, have established protocols in place for dealing with possible signals from an advanced society.

These protocols deal with the obvious problems – verification, ensuring that no part of the message(s) are lost once one is first detected, and analysis of the message. But they also deal with more complex problems – who speaks on behalf of humanity, what they should establish and what they should not mention, how to deal with rogue parties who don’t want to play ball with the protocols and attempt to open a second line of dialogue with the aliens, and so on.

In effect, some of these protocols mandate the immediate creation of a world government based on the United Nations, with the military forces of the members under their command for explicit purposes. The national leader of the nation in which the contact occurs is notified, as a matter of course, even as the protocol’s provisions effectively sideline him or her.

That’s a point of major difference between the typical D&D world and the human historical models on which they are based – there are so many sentient races in existence that the “obvious mistakes” in first-contact would have been experienced and a practical set of procedures and protocols established, though these would be colored by racial imperatives and personality profiles.

A chief concern of the SETI protocols is that the aliens not perceive human society as something to be exploited. Of course, if the technological divide is too great, we may not recognize the exploitation in time.

One form of this phenomenon was explored in a Star Trek novel, of all places – “Spock’s World” by Diane Duane, another of the handful of sources that get alien contact “right”.

Consistent Alien Perspectives

One technique that can greatly reduce the effort required of the GM is to have simple guidelines as to the alien “thought patterns” that are both consistent and can be readily extrapolated to identify human reactions that are analogous to the alien behavior.

The starting point is always the race themselves. I’ve written about how to create logical, internally-consistent aliens in the past: Alien In Innovation: Creating Original Non-Human Species.

Once you’ve got the basics of the biology down pat, you can think about the way that they think, guided by biological necessities and priorities. Although no article of mine actually discusses the process explicitly, I have talked about creating consistent alien personalities (which encompasses their thought patterns) in Creating Alien Characters: Expanding the ‘Create A Character Clinic’ To Non-Humans.

Once you have the alien’s thought patterns, you can think about how their mental and physical structures affect their technology – see Studs, Buttons, and Static Cling: Creating consistent non-human tech.

But I would actually run the aliens through the processes described in my Distilled Cultural Essence series first.

It’s common to see technology as the driver of society and culture, and perhaps even more correct to do so, but in terms of making it as easy to create something as possible, I usually find it easier to get a satisfactory result by expanding personality patterns into social structures and implications, then choosing technologies that fit, than vice-versa.

Of course, the principles explained in Ergonomics and the Non-Human and its sequel, The Ergonomics Of Dwarves can also be very helpful.

Universality Of Application

Alien Species abound in almost all gaming genres.

In fantasy games, there are things like Elementals and Undead and Beholders and Ilithids (and more) – none of whom will think in exactly the same way as humans. On top of that, you can have distinctive thought patterns in new population groups even if the racial profiles are the same.

Westerns have Indians and other native tribes.

In Pulp and Cthulhu and other age-of-steam / pre-WWII genres, not only can you have strange tribes but some human cultures and subcultures are so different from the norm of the characters that you can consider them alien.

The sci-fi applications are obvious.

This universality is because “the outsider” always makes good story-fodder, and an RPG is about a shared experience in storytelling.

Language

A non-human language is obviously going to be constructed from the sounds that the species can create and will exclude any that they can’t. There are lots of factors that go into determining those sounds, and not all of them are obvious – birds, for example, look very similar in structure from one species to another, but the variety of sounds they can produce and that are specific to one species are incredible. Some of the differences are too subtle for anyone but an expert to distinguish; others are blatantly obvious. Being Australian, the example that comes immediately to mind is the Kookaburra, with it’s distinctive laugh which can be heard on the Wikipedia page for the species.

But there are still more possibilities. Crickets create their distinctive chirp by rubbing their hind legs together.

Even if you stick to more mammalian structures, mouth shape, throat shape, and many other factors remain – compare the sound of a cow with that of a horse with that of a dolphin.

It’s probably going too far to suggest that any sound that you can imagine is a plausible “vocalization” for a non-human species; inorganic sounds still sound inorganic.

This 2014 article from “The Atlantic” gives the inside story of the creation of the unique vocalization of the Wookies for the original Star Wars, which combined the voices of four bears, a badger, a lion, a seal, and a walrus. A key consideration, according to a quote from the article, was to select sounds that were appropriate to the physiology: “He didn’t have articulated lips; he could basically open and close his mouth. So you also needed to create a sound which would be believable coming from a mouth that was operated like his,” according to the quote from Ben Burrtt, the sound designer on the film.

It’s important to give some thought to what sounds the alien species can make, and how they structure these to produce their language.

The second edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains entries for 171,476 words in current use; 47,156 obsolete words; and around 9,500 derivative words included as sub-entries (according to the dictionary’s website). Call it a little over 228,000 in total. Also according to Google, the human voice is able to create 500 basic sounds (only a small fraction of which are used by any given language). That means that two syllables are enough to encode 250,000 words – every word in the English language, plus almost 22,000 up our sleeves for new technical terms.

Of course, this language would be a nightmare to learn. Languages have rules that generally group words with related meanings together (horse, horses, horsehide, etc for example, or run and ran). English is actually one of the worst languages in this respect; my Thesaurus groups its words into just 990 individual concepts. Even assuming that we need a different word for use as an adjective, etc, and suggesting that this degree of compilation goes too far in abstracting its concepts, 9,900 words would seem to be ample for general communication.

Another key concept is the hearing range of the species. I once read somewhere that Dolphins have a hearing range that extends up to 100,000 Hertz (depending on the species) – much higher than humans, who generally top out at 20,000 Hertz. Potentially, up to four fifths of the tones they might be able to make are completely inaudible to Humans – and, from the Dolphin point of view, even a tonal language would be shockingly monotone and flat.

Now consider how we humans incorporate additional emotional nuance through the tone of voice (in English at least), and what an “unnaturally flat” voice generally is considered to mean – serious, calm, unexcited, and – to at least some extent – uninteresting.

Here’s another way of interpreting it: take a paragraph or two of English dialogue and remove all question marks and exclamation points, replacing them with commas and full stops, respectively. Then read the dialogue to yourself and see how it changes.

Here, for example, is a passage from Triplanetary, the first book in the Lensman series:

“I am a poor, ignorant specimen of ape that can be let play with apparatus, am I?” he rasped, as he picked up the key tube of the specialist and opened the door of his prison. “They’ll learn now that it ain’t safe to judge by the looks of a flea how far he can jump!”

Compare that with:

“I am a poor, ignorant specimen of ape that can be let play with apparatus, am I,” he rasped, as he picked up the key tube of the specialist and opened the door of his prison. “They’ll learn now that it ain’t safe to judge by the looks of a flea how far he can jump.”

The emotional tone is completely different. What was a rhetorical question now contains an overtone of anger and bitterness, while the latter exclamation becomes a simple statement of fact and implied expression of ruthlessness. The passion has all been squeezed out of the passage.

Simulating alien Accents

But it’s probably more important to think about what kind of accent an alien physiology mandates when the aliens speak English – and a heck of a lot easier. So make up whatever you want for the alien voice, but then take that into account when deciding how their English sounds.

Personally, I would employ the same basic methods as described in the two “Ergonomics” articles described earlier. Write the passage of dialogue in English and decide what your aliens can and can’t do with his mouth and voice (based on the ‘native’ vocalization you’ve created), then precede the passage with appropriate notes:
“Don’t move lips”, “tongue to one side and held immobile”.

More advanced techniques replace impossible phonetics with spaces – for example, here’s a recent passage from an Adventurer’s Club case describing the history of one John F Brinkley:

“A fraud, a quack, a loopy practitioner who claims to be a medical doctor – he has no legitimate medical education and bought his medical degree from a “diploma mill”, and is better known as the “goat-gland doctor” because of his national infamy, international notoriety and great personal wealth. He has made a fortune espousing the xenotransplantation of goat testicles into humans as a universal male panacea. He has clinics and hospitals in several states centered around Kansas, and despite the fact that right from the start, the medical community thoroughly discredited his methods, he has been able to continue his activities for almost two decades now. He lures victims to his facilities by blasting radio across the border from Mexico, where he isn’t required to adhere to US regulations. In 1930, he was stripped of his license to practice in Kansas and neighboring states, and launched a campaign to become Kansas Governor so that he could appoint his own medical board and regain those licenses and might even have won had it not been for widespread ballot tampering by his opponents!”

…and here’s that same passage with every “d”, “l”,”t’, and “z” replaced with “-e-“, every “j” replaced with “-ay-“, every “n” replaced with “-eng-“, every “q” with “-coo-“, every “s” with “-th-“, every “w” replaced with a “-h-“, and every “x” with a “-ch-” – which, when you run through the basic sounds of English is every change that occurs if you can’t touch the roof of your mouth with your tongue:

“A frau-e-, a -coo-uack, a -e-oopy prac-e-i-e-io-eng-er -h-ho c-e-aim-th- -e-o be a me-e-ica-e- -e-oc-e-or – he ha-th- -eng-o -e-egi-e-ima-e-e me-e-ica-e- e-e-uca-e-io-eng- a-eng–e- bough-e- hi-th- me-e-ica-e- -e-egree from a “-e-ip-e-oma mi-e–e-“, a-eng–e- i-th- be-e–e-er k-eng-o-h–eng- a-th- -e-he “goa-e–g-e-a-eng–e- -e-oc-e-or” becau-th-e of hi-th- -eng-a-e-io-eng-a-e- i-eng-famy, i-eng–e-er-eng-a-e-io-eng-a-e- -eng-o-e-orie-e-y a-eng–e- grea-e- per-th-o-eng-a-e- -h-ea-e–e-h. He ha-th- ma-e-e a for-e-u-eng-e e-th-pou-th-i-eng-g -e-he -ch-e-eng-o-e-ra-eng–th-p-e-a-eng–e-a-e-io-eng- of goa-e- -e-e-th–e-ic-e-e-th- i-eng–e-o huma-eng–th- a-th- a u-eng-iver-th-a-e- ma-e-e pa-eng-acea. He ha-th- c-e-i-eng-ic-th- a-eng–e- ho-th-pi-e-a-e–th- i-eng- -th-evera-e- -th–e-a-e-e-th- ce-eng–e-re-e- arou-eng–e- Ka-eng–th-a-th-, a-eng–e- -e-e-th-pi-e-e -e-he fac-e- -e-ha-e- righ-e- from -e-he -th–e-ar-e-, -e-he me-e-ica-e- commu-eng-i-e-y -e-horough-e-y -e-i-th-cre-e-i-e-e-e- hi-th- me-e-ho-e–th-, he ha-th- bee-eng- ab-e-e -e-o co-eng–e-i-eng-ue hi-th- ac-e-ivi-e-ie-th- for a-e-mo-th–e- -e–h-o -e-eca-e-e-th- -eng-o-h-. He -e-ure-th- vic-e-im-th- -e-o hi-th- faci-e-i-e-ie-th- by b-e-a-th–e-i-eng-g ra-e-io acro-th–th- -e-he bor-e-er from Me-ch-ico, -h-here he i-th–eng-‘-e- re-coo-uire-e- -e-o a-e-here -e-o US regu-e-a-e-io-eng–th-. I-eng- 1930, he -h-a-th- -th–e-rippe-e- of hi-th- -e-ice-eng–th-e -e-o prac-e-ice i-eng- Ka-eng–th-a-th- a-eng–e- -eng-eighbouri-eng-g -th–e-a-e-e-th-, a-eng–e- -e-au-eng-ch-e-e- a campaig-eng- -e-o become Ka-eng–th-a-th- Gover-eng-or -th-o -e-ha-e- he cou-e–e- appoi-eng–e- hi-th- o-h–eng- me-e-ica-e- boar-e- a-eng–e- regai-eng- -e-ho-th-e -e-ice-eng-ce-th- a-eng–e- migh-e- eve-eng- have -h-o-eng- ha-e- i-e- -eng-o-e- bee-eng- for -h-i-e-e-th-prea-e- ba-e–e-o-e- -e-amperi-eng-g by hi-th- oppo-eng-e-eng–e–th-!”

though you might find it easier without the hyphens:

“A fraue, a coouack, a eoopy praceieioenger hho ceaimth eo be a meeicae eoceor he hath engo eegieimaee meeicae eeucaeioeng aenge boughe hith meeicae eegree from a “eipeoma miee”, aenge ith beeeer kengoheng ath ehe “goaegeaenge eoceor” becauthe of hith engaeioengae iengfamy, iengeerengaeioengae engoeorieey aenge greae perthoengae heaeeh. He hath maee a foreuenge ethpouthiengg ehe cheengoeraengthpeaengeaeioeng of goae eetheiceeth iengeo humaength ath a uengiverthae maee paengacea. He hath ceiengicth aenge hothpieaeth ieng theverae theaeeth ceengeree arouenge Kaengthath, aenge eethpiee ehe face ehae righe from ehe theare, ehe meeicae commuengiey ehoroughey eithcreeieee hith meehoeth, he hath beeeng abee eo coengeiengue hith aceivieieth for aemothe eho eecaeeth engoh. He eureth viceimth eo hith facieieieth by beatheiengg raeio acrothth ehe boreer from Mechico, hhere he itheng’e recoouiree eo aehere eo US regueaeioength. Ieng 1930, he hath therippee of hith eiceengthe eo praceice ieng Kaengthath aenge engeighbouriengg theaeeth, aenge eauengchee a campaigeng eo become Kaengthath Goverengor tho ehae he couee appoienge hith oheng meeicae boare aenge regaieng ehothe eiceengceth aenge mighe eveeng have hoeng hae ie engoe beeeng for hieethpreae baeeoe eamperiengg by hith oppoengeengeth!”

Some words – “be”, “from”, “a”, “he”, “of” – are unchanged. But they are in the minority.

Some – “fraue”, “egree”, “Mechico”, “hath” – could possibly be puzzled out, or are an archaic form of the current word in the latter case.

Most, however, are just gibberish – though it’s a consistent gibberish.

In practice, this is a longer speech than I would actually deliver “in tongue” – one or two sentences would be more than enough, and then have the PC roll to correctly “interpret” the rest of the speech, which is duly delivered in English on a success. But it amply illustrates the point.

Of course, your “aliens” might be fundamentally human or humanoid. Does that sbsolve you of the above technique? Heck, no! Remember my telling you that the human voice can produce 500 distinctive sounds (regardless of pitch or timbre of the voice)? English uses just 44 of these “Phonemes” – which leaves 456 others up for alien-language grabs.

Too much work. I’m not a linguist and most probably, neither are you. So just use a more judicious sprinkling of “alien conversions” to simulate your “alien” language, and be done.

You will find in the latter part of most entries in the “On Alien Languages” series, the conversions that I used in one of my campaigns for Dwarvish, Elvish, etc. Unfortunately, this series was never finished (because the campaign shut down), so the discussion of “why” promised in the last published part was never provided – and, because much of it would be redundant after this article, probably never will be.

The Wrap-up

It’s both important and useful to be able to think like aliens, and not as hard as it might initially seem. It’s equally important to present the aliens AS alien, and this is also not as difficult as you might think – though it does usually require some thought and advanced planning.

These shortcuts are vital, because you also need to roleplay the aliens trying to figure out the PCs, part of the “alien encounter” plot that is often either overlooked or oversimplified – when it shouldn’t be, and doesn’t have to be.