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Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...


UltraRob

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So, I've been planning my upcoming FH campaign, and I planned on making it a good ole traditional D&D type High Fantasy setting with the usual PC races (minus dwarves, gnomes and halflings, although I did allow for them to be there as minor races) adding a few races (bear men, cat people and magical goblins) and I customized them as per the HERO GM's credo and was off and running....Til I a thought suddenly occured to me....

Why was I bothering to include "races" at all? All of them could simply be cultural or physical modifications of humanity itself with almost no changes except for a little fur here and there. In face, the more I thought about it, it was more interesting to come up with backgrounds, psychologies and ideals about these "human races" than it was to sit there and play with the worn-out Fantasy cliches I had there already. Especially when I know my PCs are just going to be played as humans in makeup anyways.

I just got done a China-based campaign with no non-human races and that was tons of fun, why bother with "Fantasy Races" when in the end all it will mean is a bunch of cliched PCs and stereotypes. At least if we have to deal with human cultures the Players and I will have to actually think about the people a little bit more to understand what makes them different.

I almost wonder if non-human races hurts Fantasy gaming in some ways, after all, don't most gamers just players "play to type" when playing non-human characters? Races have often become as much "personality types" as they have anything else, (ie "Stoic elf", "agressive orc", "surly dwarf", etc) and those are human traits anyways, so why not just play them as human? Any of those can be cultural traits, and even exist in a single geographic area as they did in real life, so why should we have our PCs put on "makeup" before they show those traits "onscreen"? (To say nothing of the morally questionable idea of thinking of people in terms of "race" to begin with.)

Another thread here asks "why should humans rule?" But, I ask in return why should we be playing or bothering with nonhumans at all?

 

Rob

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

I think it helps in some ways, but hurts in others.

 

When one uses the "good ole traditional D&D type", you're using a pre-defined types. Most people in RPGs, you tell them, "you see a pack of orcs", they don't need an explanation of what an orc looks like, why they are the bad guys, or why they pray to one god and the elves pray to someone else. So for good or ill, you have avoided the whole "what is an orc" debate.

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

Because they're fun!

 

I know that's fairly lame, but it does spice things up for folks if they get to play something off the beaten path.

 

For me the trick is more than just cultural (although that helps), but some of the psychology of the race (maybe sociology is a better word) must derive in some ways from whatever abilities or limitations that race has as part of their being.

 

Take, for instance, a flying race (dragons, bird-men, gargoyles). They will probably tend to congregate in lofty areas (because they're safer from non-flying races) and they'll tend to thing a lot more in 3 dimensions than their earth-bound brethren. They might also tend to be agoraphobic, and probably not be all that fond of crowded places.

 

One thing I did in my latest campaign is blend the races together a little more -- in terms of countries and cultures. For instance, although dwarves have a homeland, they can also be found practically anywhere, among most of the other cities. (I don't use traditional dwarves.) In some ways, this makes them more like "humans", but it also makes the cultural differences more important in many ways than the racial ones. Hmmm, I think I'm helping your point.

 

Well, doing the all-human campaign can be interesting, and yes it'll help in some ways to focus on culture, but don't think that even the same race in different cultures won't have similarities.

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

There is also the consideration of how NPCs react to the character. Even if the character is just a human in dwarven clothing, the other NPCs still see and react to a dwarf, or an orc, or an elf, etc...

 

Brett

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

Also, even if you did not have elves, dwarves, and such, the Humans tend to be broken down into different varieties.

 

Even thought the Turakian Age has many nonhuman races, there are still about eight types or cultures of humans.

 

Brett

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

To quote my buddy Brian ...

 

"If I wanted to be a Human, I'd go outside."

 

I prefer to differentiate my races from the others with at least some little power/ability/quirk/stat adjust that nobody else gets to do, or even a Disadvantage that gives them some flair. For instance, the wolf-men I created have Tracking and Discriminatory Smell; nobody else does that. I made a race of bipedal unicorn-folk who can teleport (with a massive Mana cost), and I'm trying to figure out a race of bug people who can 'eat' objects, absorb the ambient magical energy in them, and spit it out as energy blasts. :) On the more 'human-looking' front, I'm pondering a 'near-human' race, with a few cosmetic alterations, that can sprout bone-spurs to use as weapons (at the cost of a bit of damage to themselves ... said spurs *do* have to come out through their skin). Kinda freaky, but most of my players like freaky. :)

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

Also, even if you did not have elves, dwarves, and such, the Humans tend to be broken down into different varieties.

 

Even thought the Turakian Age has many nonhuman races, there are still about eight types or cultures of humans.

 

Brett

 

Oh, I agree 100%. Especially if you don't have non-human races, there should be many varieties of humans and different cultural takes. That's actualy my point, why bother with races when you can just make many types of humans and have fun with them. :winkgrin:

 

Thus far the reasons for including other races seems to be:

1) Because it's Fantasy/Players want them.

2) They're fun.

3) They serve as a metaphor for certain human traits.

4) They add colour to the setting.

5) They allow for "cannon fodder" like Orcs, which can be killed without concern about morality. (Nice idea that, that some "races" are just good as cannon fodder...Although Warhammer had an interesting take on this...in that setting...Orcs are actually sentient plants...fungi in fact, "born" fully grown and ready to fight.)

6) They allow for characters who can do things most normal humans cannot.

 

Anything else?

 

Rob

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

Oh' date=' I agree 100%. Especially if you don't have non-human races, there should be many varieties of humans and different cultural takes. That's actualy my point, why bother with races when you can just make many types of humans and have fun with them. :winkgrin: [/quote']

But is this not "six of one, half a dozen of the other"? I would think that it would get down to the personal preference of the GM and players. Part of the appeal of the stereotypical elves, dwarves, trolls, and orcs are that they are familiar. We have a general idea of how they act, who they like, and what they do.

 

With the human cultures, one would have to learn about them individually. (Which should make for more interesting role playing). It would kind of be like Star Trek or Stargate, where the players meet human or humanoid races and have to learn about their cultural and social quirks.

 

I've read the first part of the Turakian Age and could tell could tell you the major races, but I could not tell you anything special about any of the eight human races, except that one is regarded as cursed.

 

Brett

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

Wow, I wish the bone spur in my left elbow could become a weapon. It would make up for the pain it causes me every day. :(

 

Interesting that Warhammer has Orcs being sentient plants. Runequest's Glorantha setting does the same thing with Elves.

 

My 2 cents on this topic: How about having all "nonhumans" actually be a human ethnic group? Or they could have evolved along with humans from a common ancestor. Then divergent evolution heightened the changes among the different races. They could still interbreed if they're the same species.

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

But is this not "six of one' date=' half a dozen of the other"? I would think that it would get down to the personal preference of the GM and players. Part of the appeal of the stereotypical elves, dwarves, trolls, and orcs are that they are familiar. We have a general idea of how they act, who they like, and what they do. [/quote']

 

Well, my complaint really is that those "races" amount to little more than shorthand for a series of traits, instant fantasy race - just add water. Although as Blue Jogger points out above, in many cases that is the point I guess, you make a "Fantasy" world in most cases by tossing in a bunch of "kit" elements and flavouring to taste by giving them quirks.

Actually, my other burr when it comes to fantasy "races" is that the core ones amount to:humans, tall thin humans with attitudes, short squat humans with attitudes, small humans with foot hair, and small squat humans who wish they were the short squat humans. Since when is that variety? Or deviating from a game where everyone is just human? It's just culture coding by body type, and boring body type at that.

At least when you start to add animal people they become physically different or can do things that normal humans can't. Fantasy's supposed to be about imagination, so why isn't there more effort to actually be imaginative when it comes to races? [i think all assembled here now understand why Rob is a HERO gamer....;) ]

I'll give Japanese fantasy RPGs this, when they put together a setting they usually use humans, maybe elves, and then go nuts from there most of the time. (Although they have their standards too...animal people (cat people mostly), "big guy" races, and usually magical goblins of some kind). Heck, I'm still trying to figure out what race half the PCs in Shining Force were.... :bounce:

 

I've read the first part of the Turakian Age and could tell could tell you the major races, but I could not tell you anything special about any of the eight human races, except that one is regarded as cursed.

Brett

 

With apologies to Steve Long, is that because it's hard to tell humans appart (they all look alike, blast it! :P) or the author didn't do a good enough job distinguishing them from each other?

 

Rob

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

Interesting that Warhammer has Orcs being sentient plants. Runequest's Glorantha setting does the same thing with Elves.

 

Given the whole Elves/nature thing. I can actually see that in regards to the Elves, it almost makes sense and even explains things like their longevity and connection with nature. (Hmm...I like that to the point I might rip it off for my game if I still go multi-racial.... :thumbup: )

 

The Orcs thing kinda freaked me out, as my friend explained it to me, they grow like mushrooms underground over a period of about 10 years, then are suddenly "born" in a fully awake, fully aware form which has a racial memory already in it so they don't need to learn the basics. They just explode up from the ground one day, seek out other Orcs, and then do whatever it is Orcs do.

When I heard this I had visions of a "night of the living dead" situation as a new farming village settled 10 years previous suddenly wakes up one night to find themselves with Orcs coming out of the ground everywhere...Nasty!

 

My 2 cents on this topic: How about having all "nonhumans" actually be a human ethnic group? Or they could have evolved along with humans from a common ancestor. Then divergent evolution heightened the changes among the different races. They could still interbreed if they're the same species.

 

It would make sense, wouldn't it? They all look human anyways, and I think that's been in a lot of gamer's heads for years since all these "races" seem to be able to interbreed. Not sure I've ever been fond of that idea, but it is one more thing to play with. :)

 

Rob

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

If you want a truly interesting take on Orcs, try Ork! The Roleplaying Game published by Green Ronin. All orks are male, and they reproduce asexually by budding (ie baby orks sprout from their body). They explode if they eat broccoli, but they can safely eat anything else. They also use "am" for every verb. Examples: "Me am no smell like flowers." "You am shut up!" (my personal favorite)

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

read Grunts by Mary Gentle. :eg:

 

If you want a truly interesting take on Orcs' date=' try Ork! The Roleplaying Game published by Green Ronin. All orks are male, and they reproduce asexually by budding (ie baby orks sprout from their body). They explode if they eat broccoli, but they can safely eat anything else. They also use "am" for every verb. Examples: "Me am no smell like flowers." "You am shut up!" (my personal favorite)[/quote']
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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

With apologies to Steve Long, is that because it's hard to tell humans appart (they all look alike, blast it! :P) or the author didn't do a good enough job distinguishing them from each other?

 

Rob

I would say that it is because they are not standard. You can skim over Steve's elves and say, "They are pretty much like most other elves." The humans in TA require you to spend some time getting familiar with them since they are new and unfamiliar. Even the names take a while to get accustomed to using.

 

Science Fiction seems to have less problems with nonhuman races, in the context that we are discussing at least, because they are usually somewhat unique. Players have a good idea what to expect from a dwarf (which give the opportunity to pull a surprise on them), but they are probably clueless when you tell them that they come face to face with a X'abarix. Most fantasy campaigns use the same fantasy races (with maybe one or two nonstandard or unique additions), while most SF campaigns do not (unless the setting relies heavily on animal people).

 

Brett

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

Umm' date=' dude. Dwarves have night vision. End of discussion.[/quote']Of course, you could have a species or culture of humans with night vision also. (Riddick)

 

However, if that is the case, how much different would it be from just having Dwarves?

 

Brett

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

I'd say that the multiple sentient species model will give you a certain flavor of campaign that a "humans only" won't. ("It must be fantasy, there's an elf over there!") In the standard D&D world, there are four or five main humanoid species, with ten to a hundred more marginalized ones depending on how you count and what the GM decides she wants to play with. This makes for a very "busy" world with all these separate peoples trying to find or make room for themselves and advance their individual causes. Often in alliance with others, of course.

 

Any new territory found is likely to be swarming with sentients just as advanced as oneself, making colonization tricky at best. And since their gods are about as active as your own....

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Re: Thoughts on having a multi-racial game...

 

I went through this years back: all the elves were basically snotty archers, all the dwarves were basically short vikings, etc. I had tried to differentiate the races by working up different cultural group and attitudes, none of which had any impact at all. The mindset carried over from D and D was simply too ingrained. You get this in Runequest too: the authors have tried to make their elves and dwarves (erm, sorry, Aldryami and Mostali) different from the standard fantasy topes: but if I had a clack for every dwarf (sorry, mostali) called Thorin, or Durin...

 

In the end, I abolished them all as player races. The Elves went back to iron-allergic faerie types (as did goblins, etc), and the dwarves/gnomes went back to deformed underground dwellers. Neither type is suitable as player characters (although I keep coming back to the idea of a game set in these "fringe worlds" where all of the characters were faeries of various sorts, which would be kind of cool)

 

The halfings became pygmy humans, while Ogres became big, tough humans, which cleared all the fantasy stereotypes away. Theor culture became more important in determining their skills and attitudes than their shoe size. I have cat-men, bird men and so on, but the difference is that none of these are races, per se: they are wizardly creations and each is unique. That means their cultural backgrounds depend on their origin.

 

It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it works for me and my players. And we have plenty of variety in the scores of different human cultures that swarm over my fantasy game world.

 

cheers, Mark

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