Sort of an oddball question, but I've wished for a while that there was a rarity system for species to give you an idea of their prevalence throughout the galaxy, though of course it largely depends on where you are as to how likely you are to run into a member of a specific species, but I think that it would be useful to have a general guideline. One potential use is for making Knowledge (Xenology) checks to determine whether or not you know about/have encountered a species using the same/similar method as finding an item for sale.

I'll start the ball rolling with Humans at a rarity of 0, cuz GOOD GRIEF do we breed like bunnies in Star Wars!

Droids would obviously be at a rarity of 0 as well, because droids of some type or another are ubiquitous across the galaxy.

Shistavanen I would propose a rarity of 7, because they seem to be rare, but not all that rare.

Twi'leks I would put at 2.

Clones are sort of an outlier, I would probably suggest 5 maybe?

Gran I would put at a rarity of 5, because they seem to have spread out fairly far into the galaxy at large, while not being high in concentration.

I would put Geonosians at a rarity of 9, because they are almost solely found on Geonosis.

Kaminoans I would put at 10 because they really didn't spread out all that much.

Ithorians I think I would put at 4, because they seem pretty common, and in slightly higher concentration than the Gran.

Umbarans I think I would put at a rarity of 8.

And I think I would put Wookiees at a rarity of 4, because they seem pretty common, while not being everywhere.

What are your suggestions/critique? I am not an expert on Star Wars anthropology, so I have not listed all of them, these are just the ones i have more defined opinions on.

Geonosians don't have a rarity because the Empire exterminated them after the Clone Wars. Any surviving Geonosians would be anywhere except on Geonosis.

As for all the rest? Depends on where you are. Twi'leks seem like a 9 or 10 on Coruscant and like 0 or 1 or so on Nal Hutta.

So here's the thing. There's never been a "species rarity" in any of the Star Wars RPGs, official or fan made.

Because let's be honest here, if looking at the movies, than anything that's not Human is pretty darn rare, with only a small handful of species showing up as more than just background scenery, who are only there to try and impress upon audiences that the GFFA is something of a cosmopolitan setting in spite of all the major movers and shakers being various flavors of Human. Ahsoka Tano in Clone Wars and Hera Syndulla in Rebels are aliens, but are so human-looking that it's a distinction without that much of a difference, and really only done because their respective shows were animated, thus not requiring time and money spent on actor makeup. As beloved by the fandom as he is, Chewbacca is ultimately a sidekick/companion character that for much of the franchise is attached at the hip to Han, and outside of Solo is the only Wookiee we see in the films.

If you really must have some sort of "species rarity," then as micheldebruyn noted is it going to vary based on what part of the galaxy you're in. Although a good ad hoc determination would be "if it's in one of the three core rulebooks, then the species is fairly common, but if it's only found in a splat book, then it's much rarer."

15 minutes ago, micheldebruyn said:

Geonosians don't have a rarity because the Empire exterminated them after the Clone Wars. Any surviving Geonosians would be anywhere except on Geonosis.

As for all the rest? Depends on where you are. Twi'leks seem like a 9 or 10 on Coruscant and like 0 or 1 or so on Nal Hutta.

yeah I forgot about that. I was thinking about the Clone Wars.

I don't think Twi'leks are THAT rare on Coruscant. There seem to be a pretty good mix of all species on Coruscant, and Twi'leks are pretty common.

10 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

If you really must have some sort of "species rarity," then as micheldebruyn noted is it going to vary based on what part of the galaxy you're in. Although a good ad hoc determination would be "if it's in one of the three core rulebooks, then the species is fairly common, but if it's only found in a splat book, then it's much rarer."

Yeah it will vary dramatically, as I acknowledged in the OP, but the idea of this is to give a general guideline (for example, you are much more likely to run into Twi'leks anywhere in the galaxy than to run into Kaminoans). It is also intended to give somewhat of an idea as to how common knowledge about the species is.

Saying "if it's in the CRBs than it must be fairly common" is not a bad idea, but there are notable outliers such as the Gand and the Bith.

Thinking about it more though, there are enough issues with trying to do this that I think it probably isn't worth it. It would be helpful, but I don't think it's worth it.

Just eyeballing it depending on the location the scene is set should be enough, I think. How rare is a Twi'lek on an Imperial shipyard facility? In an Imperial prison camp? On Ryloth? The same for Chandra-Fan? How Human-centric is the Mos Eisley Cantina?

A general guideline? Take the home planet of a species (Humans have several noted as specifically human planets). The species is very prevailent there, others being diplomats, rare tourists, traders. The systems surrounding that would probably have a couple of colonies and outposts, making the species sort of prevailent there. Other species there would have a bigger chance of being traders, travellers, etc. In other systems beyond colonies and outposts, that specific species fills the role of diplomats, traders, travellers. And then there are (primarily, but not always, Outer Rim) hives of scum and villainy.

I have seen several sources name Duros as the second most common intelligent species in the Galaxy, as they were early hyperspace pioneers. The Edge of the Empire CRB makes the statement that there are more than five million intelligent species known to the Empire, and while the vast majority have never engaged in hyperspace travel/colonization on a large scale, "it is quite possible to regularly meet species one has never seen before" (pg. 325).

Basically, each GM needs to find their own balance between the narrative logic that says there should be a lot of non-humans in a lot of places and the visual storytelling we see in the films that centers humans in most parts of the galaxy (bearing in mind Doylist concerns regarding production budgets and creators' beliefs about the ability of audiences to engage with non-human characters). I generally fall on the side of having humans being the most numerous species in the galaxy but not comprising a majority of intelligent life in the galaxy. In other words, there will be more humans than any other single species, but less than half the NPCs overall will be human (barring specific situations, like the Empire's human supremacist stance). Beyond that, Xcapobl's guideline based on how far you are from a planet that has a large population of a given species is a good one.

Which planet is the original planet of humanity ? For every other species their original planet is named, but I can't remember if any is named for humanity.

16 minutes ago, WolfRider said:

Which planet is the original planet of humanity ? For every other species their original planet is named, but I can't remember if any is named for humanity.

It's believed, in universe, that Humanity originated on Coruscant.

8 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

It's believed, in universe, that Humanity originated on Coruscant.

O_o

Who are you? What have you done with Tramp!?! 😋

The Living Force series considered Human, Cerean, Duros, Ithorian, Kel-Dor, Rodian, Sullustan, Trandoshan, Twi’lek, Wookiee and Zabrak all reasonably common off-world. Galaxies added Bothan, and Mon Calamari (which Living Force noted weren't found much off-world before the Rebellion era).

@WolfRider

Looking at the species names, most actually seem to be pretty clearly named for the planet instead of the otherway around. Humans do have tons of groups known by demonym (Corellian, Alderaanian ect.). There's a handful of mentions of species being known by different names in their own language, which could be comparable to "terran" or "Earthling", which are never used outside of sci-fi.

On 8/20/2019 at 5:00 PM, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

Thinking about it more though, there are enough issues with trying to do this that I think it probably isn't worth it. It would be helpful, but I don't think it's worth it.

I love this topic

I love the Rarity system for the question "Hey is this present?" So I like how you made this a check to see if the character has had contact with this species in the past.

On 8/19/2019 at 11:44 AM, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

yeah I forgot about that. I was thinking about the Clone Wars.

I don't think Twi'leks are THAT rare on Coruscant.

Yeah, they occupy every strip club and cantina as pole dancers no matter what planet you are on. Though you have to consider population density versus Strip Clubs per capita on Coruscant. Inside the club, their population rarity is not actually a number, and might as well just say Yes, because it's ALWAYS Twi'lek strippers, once you step outside the clubs though, mostly humans during Imperial days.

2 hours ago, KungFuFerret said:

Yeah, they occupy every strip club and cantina as pole dancers no matter what planet you are on. Though you have to consider population density versus Strip Clubs per capita on Coruscant. Inside the club, their population rarity is not actually a number, and might as well just say Yes, because it's ALWAYS Twi'lek strippers, once you step outside the clubs though, mostly humans during Imperial days.

lol I have noticed that sometimes the same stuff gets trotted out over and over and it does end up being like that. I think there is a fine line between doing service to tropes and being bland.

23 minutes ago, Archlyte said:

lol I have noticed that sometimes the same stuff gets trotted out over and over and it does end up being like that. I think there is a fine line between doing service to tropes and being bland.

Sometimes? *looks around the Star Wars franchise*, what do you mean sometimes? This series is so guilty of content recycling, for DECADES of material, that it's to the point of absurdity now.

3 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

Sometimes? *looks around the Star Wars franchise*, what do you mean sometimes? This series is so guilty of content recycling, for DECADES of material, that it's to the point of absurdity now.

Oh I meant in games lol. Yes I agree with you about the material.

I also think Twi'leks are human-looking enough not to freak out potentially prudish audience members (and ratings people?) in this situation, yet alien enough to remind those same people that this is Star Wars.

On 8/19/2019 at 10:29 AM, Donovan Morningfire said:

As beloved by the fandom as he is, Chewbacca is ultimately a sidekick/companion character that for much of the franchise is attached at the hip to Han, and outside of Solo is the only Wookiee we see in the films.

The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith would like a word with you.

As to rarity look at it this way: Where are you?

If you're in Idaho, you're going to see a certain kind of person.

If you're in Tehran or Kyoto or Tel Aviv or New Delhi you're going to see a different kind of person.

If you're in New York you're going to see lots of different kinds of people.

If you're in Los Angeles or Chicago or Beijing or Tokyo you're going to see lots of different types of people, but they will not be in the same proportions as in the other large cities.
So George Lucas was born in Modesto and he has said it was his inspiration for Tatooine and Luke's feelings of isolation from anything interesting. So when Ben takes him to a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" you could substitute San Francisco (or probably Oakland) in for Mos Eisley.

Does that paint a better picture of what rarity should look like?

Never heard of Modesto. Is it a real place on this planet ?

San Francisco: A wretched hive of scum and villainy. Ha!

I agree with your appraisal, and that's the real problem with making a rarity system for species. It would be really nice if we could, but it looks like we can't.

25 minutes ago, WolfRider said:

Never heard of Modesto. Is it a real place on this planet ?

It's an agricultural town south of Sacramento and east of San Francisco in the Central Valley. Very much the epitome of "if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that its farthest from."
Or, watch Corvette Summer American Graffiti. You'll see exactly where George got the idea of a farm boy on a desert planet trying to escape to adventure.

23 minutes ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

San Francisco: A wretched hive of scum and villainy. Ha!

Watch Dirty Harry. That's the San Francisco that would have formed the idea of Mos Eisley.

Thanks for the answer. I might have travelled through Modesto since I've visited the Valley a few time, but I can't remember that place. I saw American Graffiti 40 years ago, give or take a coupe years. For me it was another American movie mythifying the 50's and the discovery of Rock'n Roll, cars, girls, etc... Even if for the teen French boy I was, the fast food with waitresses on rollers, watching movie in your car was fascinating. It was like going on Mars.

The late seventies and eighties loved mythologizing the fifties. American Graffiti , Grease , the extreme macho masculinity that came into fashion during the Reagan years. Lots of influence in music, too.

Devaronian males are probably very common in the entire galaxy, since the species developed hyperdrives on their own and the males are plagued by wanderlust.

Systems close to Devaron would likely see a lot of females too. Same goes for any relevant hyperlanes close by.

Another angle to consider is whether or not the on-screen "evidence" from movies and shows introduces a psychological "sampling error." In other words, just because writers and directors like to showcase specific species in their stories doesn't mean that those species are actually as prevalent (ubiquitous?) as they first appear to us.

There is also a question of species reputation. Some species billing is going to far outstrip their numbers. For instance, there may not be that many Mandos, but their reputation hits way above their numerical weight. The same would be true of Twi'lek's to a certain example because they are highly sought after (which aids in their far-flung appearances).

I do agree that some species are going to be more fecund, adaptable, advanced, or even "wandery" than others, and that they may be more prevalent in some regions of space than others. I would suggest that, numerically, humans are by far the most numerous and widely distributed individual race, but that there are a multitude of other races out there who, when aggregated together , probably rival or outstrip their numbers.