Alien Lifespan

All organic personas have a projected life-span. Aliens and anthros are born with consciousness and a limited time to use it. Robots have an unlimited life-span until they acquire consciousness through entropy.

The alien’s life span impacts the alien species' society and behaviour. Long-lived species may have fewer offspring and may take fewer risks than short-lived alien species. Long-lived species may get profoundly bored and take tremendous risks near the end of their life-span. Life-span should not rule how the player runs her persona.

Total Life Span

The player generates the total life-span in years of the alien on the Alien Life Span Table. The years are mundane terran years. The referee is free to create planet dependent years and calendars as she sees fit.

Total Life Span

Determine the total life span of the alien.

Die Roll (1d100)

Maximum Age

Die Roll

01-10

1-10

1d10

10-25

10-60

1d6 x 10

26-75

50-120

50 + (1d6 x10)

76-85

110-160

100 + (1d6 x 10)

86-93

160-250

150 + (1d10 x 10)

94-95

100-600

1d6 x 100

96-95

100-1200

1d12 x 100

99

100-100000

1d1000 x 100

00

Ref’s Own Table

Die Roll

Maximum Age

Die Roll

Large alien biped with scary head, smaller version and egg version.

Life stages are not just about size.

Alien Life Stages

The alien life stages are anthropomorphized and random. The alien life stages indicate how much time the alien spends in each life stage. The life stage does not indicate the life stage details like pupae, puberty, dormancy, ferality or dependency. The life stage does not indicate any superficial changes to appearance or demeanour.

The life stages indicate each stage’s duration and the attribute adjustments of each stage. For the attribute adjustments levied for breaching life stages jump to Aging.

Alien Life Stages
Anthropomorphizing alien life stages for our convenience and fun.

Life Stage

Proportion of Life Span

Child

First 1-10%

Adolescent

1-6%

Adult

10-80% (10d8)

Elder

Remaining Life Span

Aged

Last 1-4%

Life Stage

Proportion of Life Span

Persona Age

After all the above machinations, how old is the player’s persona? The player must choose an age from late adolescence to young adult. EXP humbly recommends that the alien persona’s start age represent the alien that the player evolved. If any of these life stages represents a pupal, dependent or feral stage, the referee must have all of the details set out.

Example Alien Life Span

To start, the player rolls 82 on the deci-die and generates a total life span of 160-250 years. She determines her persona’s total life span is 200 years. Her die rolls on the Alien Life Stages Table determine how much time the species spends in each life stage. The player and referee engage in some simple maths to generate the alien’s life span.

Example of Alien Life Stages
Dividing a life span of 200 years into ages.

Stage

Die Roll

Maths

Duration

Ages

Child

10%

10% of 200

20 years

1-20

Adolescent

4%

4% of 200

8 years

21-28

Adult

70%

70% of 200

140 years

29-168

elder

Remainder

200-172

28 years

169-196

Aged

2%

4% of 200

4 years

197-200

Stage

Die Roll

Maths

Duration

Ages

The player can choose a start age between late adolescence (25 years old) and young adult (40 years old). In her 169th year, she becomes an elder, and in her 197th year, she becomes aged. Beyond 200 years, she has exceeded her life expectancy. For the effects of these age changes jump to jump to Aging.