Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

[SSgt Baloo]

So... Have any of you run fantasy campaigns where the non-human races were definitely NOT from Middle Earth?

 

I may have mentioned elsewhere that I did a fantasy setting (with a post-technological-apocalypse back story) where Intelligent Apes shared and competed for territory with humans.

 

Examples:

 

Another renaissance campaign I planned would have, in addition to humans, various anthropomorphic animals. In some (most) cultures, "animen" were second-class citizens, when they were citizens at all. The PCs were all animen who were trying to establish their own nation where they could live without oppression.

 

Examples:

Warning! Spoilered for lioness boobies! NSFW!!

 

 

 



 

What nonstandard nonhumans have you invented?

[The Suave]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Furry Hero?

[Rapier]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Furry Hero?

 

And just as they change the name of Seduction!

[AnotherSkip]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Man I keep on planning on postin a poll about Fuzzy supers, this could be better!!!

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

What nonstandard nonhumans have you invented?

 

Many times, I'll use a, "standard" fantasy race and then run in a different direction. My favorites include nomadic, desert-dwelling elves, technically-advanced but magic-poor orcs, and Buddhist, kung-fu-using dwarves.

[AlHazred]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

My current High Fantasy campaign has a list of about 50 races PCs could choose from -- and only six of them were Dwarves, Hobbits, or Elves.

 

I need to post that sometime.

[Vexxation]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Here is one I use. I hope you all like them.

 

 

Character Urisk Archer

Point Breakdown

Base 200   171 Characteristics

Complications 45   104 Skills

Experience 191   116 Powers

Total   391   391  Total

Characteristics

Val Char Base Cost Pts Roll Notes

15 STR 10 1 5 12- * Lift: 200.0kg * HTH Damage 3d6 END [1]

18 DEX 10 2 16 13- * Initiative: 18 *

17 CON 10 1 7 12- * Stun Threshold: 17 *

15 INT 10 1 5 12- * PER Roll 12-

17 EGO 10 1 7 12- *

12 PRE 10 1 2 11- * PRE Attack: 2d6

7 OCV 3 5 20 *

7 DCV 3 5 20 *

7 OMCV 3 3 12 *

7 DMCV 3 3 12 *

5/7 PD 2 1 3 * Resistant: 0/2 * Total: 5/7

5/7 ED 2 1 3 * Resistant: 0/2 * Total: 5/7

5 SPD 2.0 10 30 * Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12

10 REC 4 1 6 * Recover 1 BODY every 3 days *

60 END 20 1/5 8 * 1⁄3: 20 * 1⁄2: 30 * 2⁄3: 40 * 1: 60 *

20 BODY 10 1 10 * 1⁄3: 7 * 1⁄2: 10 * 2⁄3: 13 * 1: 20 *

30 STUN 20 1/2 5 * 1⁄3: 10 * 1⁄2: 15 * 2⁄3: 20 * 1: 30 *

12m Run 12 m 1 0 * Total: 12m * END [1]

4m Swim 4 m 1/2 0 * Total: 4m * END [1]

16m Leap 4 m 1/2 0 * Total: 16m * 16m forward, 8m upward

171 Total Characteristics Cost

                                 

Hit

Senses

PER Roll: 12-

Sense Effect END

Device Effect END

Movement Effect END

Leaping 1

Equipment Effect END

Complications

Complication Points

Social Complication: Must follow orders of Military Superiors Frequently, Major 15

Hunted: By Military Superiors Frequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Watching) 15

Alt Hunted: Local Sheriff Frequently (As Pow; NCI; Limited Geographical Area; Harshly Punish) 15

Total Complication Points 45

Fantasy Hero Everyman Skill List

40 +5 with Ranged Combat

6 Human Culture: CuK 15- 15-

2 Human Common: Language (fluent conversation)

6 TF: Carts & Carriages, Chariots, Equines, Large Rowed Boats, Rafts, Small Rowed Boats

4 WF: Axes, Maces, Hammers, and Picks, Blades, Clubs, Common Melee Weapons, Common Missile Weapons, Unarmed Combat

9 Bowyer: PS 18- 18-

9 Fletcher: PS 18- 18-

3 Shadowing 12- 12-

4 Survival (Temperate/Subtropical, Mountain) 12- 12-

11 Magic: Power 16- 16-

1 11) Language: Native / Racial Language (Idiomatic, native accent; literate) (5 Active Points)

3 12) Climbing 13- 13-

3 13) Stealth 13- 13-

0 14) Concealment 8- 8-

0 15) Deduction 8- 8-

0 16) Disguise 8- 8-

0 17) Paramedics 8- 8-

0 18) Acting 8- 8-

 

3 Absolute Range Sense

104 Total Cost

Powers

Points Power Range END

11 Leaping +12m (16m forward, 8m upward) (Accurate) 1

105 Variable Power Pool, 45 base + 120 control cost; all slots: Common Adder, (105 Active Points)

0 1) Concussive Shot: Blast 12d6 (standard effect: 36 STUN), STUN Only (+0), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Area Of Effect (1m Radius Explosion; +1/4), Variable Special Effects (Any SFX; +1/2) (120 Active Points); OAF (-1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (Arrow; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), No Knockback (-1/4), Requires A Magic Roll (Magic Skill roll, -1 per 20 Active Points modifier; -1/4) Real Cost: 34 600m 5

0 2) Explosive Shot: Explosive Shot: Killing Attack - Ranged 4d6, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4), Area Of Effect (2m Radius Explosion; +0), Selective (+1/4), Variable Special Effects (Any SFX; +1/2) (120 Active Points); OAF (-1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (Arrow; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Requires A Magic Roll (Magic Skill roll, -1 per 20 Active Points modifier; -1/4) Real Cost: 37 600m 5

0 3) Silencing shot: Darkness to Hearing Group 30m radius, Alterable Size, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (112 Active Points); OAF (-1), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Real Weapon (Arrow; -1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Requires A Magic Roll (Magic Skill roll, -1 per 20 Active Points modifier; -1/4) Real Cost: 34 850m 4

116 Total Power Cost

Equipment

Weight Equipment Range END

0.50kg Long Bow, Heavy: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (45 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 14-18 (15 Str; -3/4), Required Hands Two-Handed (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), Concentration (1/2 DCV; -1/4), 12 Recoverable Charges (-0) 300m [12 rc]

0.25kg Spear, Short: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6+1, Range Based On STR (+1/4), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (35 Active Points); OAF (-1), STR Minimum 9-13 (12 STR; -1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4)

 

Notes: Can be thrown, carries three spears

var. 0

5.00kg Leather Armor: Resistant Protection (2 PD/2 ED) (6 Active Points); Normal Mass (-1), OIF (-1/2), Real Armor (-1/4) 0

General Non Magical Equipment: 15-

 

Notes: Chance to have the correct peice of equipment with Urisk Archer. or the "I was smart enough to pack what I need before I left Skill"

 

APPEARANCE Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Brown Height: 1.50 m Weight: 44.00 kg Description:

The Urisk is a satyr-like creature with a goat like head with four curved ram horns. they are usually wear light to medium leather armor and clothing.

BACKGROUND Urisk live in rugged and mountainous regions. Most are simple hunters/gathers or farmers. A few do hire out as mercenary / soldier work or work as bandits if they have been expeled from society. PERSONALITY Normal soldier / mercenary or bandit movitation QUOTE POWERS/TACTICS Urisk archers act as Archer / Artillery CAMPAIGN_USE Urisk Archer act as back up / support. They will hire out in ones and twos for small groups, larger groups have been know to support militarty companies and full compaines of Urisk have been seen in major military battles. Urisk Archer can use any arrow with any bow to work their magick. If an Urisk Archer is trapped and beleives he is going to tortured and/or killed he has the ability to use his arrow magic and strike the arrow on the ground to take him and his closing enemy with him. Character created with Hero Designer (version 20100110)

[tkdguy]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

My latest AD&D game (using the First Edition rules) was a homebrew campaign. My sources were the Conan stories and the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories rather than Middle-earth. The only nonhumans the PCs encountered were serpent men, the main baddies in the campaign. I was going to use lizard men and bird men as well had the game continued, but it was a one-shot deal.

 

Edit: Here's a thread I started when I first thought of this setting.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

I am in fact terrible at coming up with non-standard races for games. FWIW I ran for years in the long-published Talislanta setting, one of whose selling-point slogans is, "No Elves!" I.e. the game world has many original non-human races, and while some bear a passing resemblance to the mainstream fantasy races in a few respects, they all have at least a distinctive twist that sets them apart. Even the "humans" in Talislanta are not the same as Earthly humans.

[mayapuppies]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

I use standard and non-standard in my game world, but I generally try to differentiate the races through their cultures.

[Markdoc]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

I haven't used the "standard" fantasy races in my games for long, long time. I have "fay" who draw pretty heavily on european legends of "fairies" and (in theory) the evil serpent men (I say in theory, because although they're a background element, I've never actually used them in an adventure. But that's it.

 

There are multiple races of humans, though - halflings (or pygmies, if you prefer), and Ogres (humans, magically bred as warriors by the aforementioned snakemen) - but they're just slightly smaller or slightly bigger humans, respectively. There are also Lunites (humans who live on the moon) and Marsans (humans who live on Mars). They are physically different but show up rarely if at all all because neither like Earth much: too much gravity, too hot, the air's hard to breath, etc. I also have lots of constructs: the players right now are dealing with "Destroyers" - sharkmen, basically. But there's no race of sharkmen - all the Destroyers are cultists warped by the practice of unspeakable rites. So their children are just ordinary humans, until they are initiated into the cult (this is a Multiform). Likewise, many years ago, a different group of players had to deal with a bad guy who had a bunch of catgirls. But there's no race of catgirls: he has the Minglers of the Blood extract the life essence of some big cats and then infuse it into some of his slaves to produce a (for him) amusing troupe of dancing girls who were also deadly fighters and doubled as his bodyguard. (we're simply talking Transform, here).

 

cheers, Mark

[tkdguy]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

I did a "humans only" fantasy campaign. There wasn't any magic there either.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Where to start? I always avoid or substantially re-write the Tolkien style races.

 

My current campaign includes;

 

Strell, sky dwelling Bat People.

 

Kerak, powerful subterranean Lizardmen with a shamanistic culture.

 

Golgira, sadistic pygmy like creatures who war with the Kerak.

 

Eldren, magically enhanced humans descended from ancient wizards.

 

Mor, humanoids that have been remade by the God of Death and Balance and now serve him as assassins, ghost hunters and healers, (those last ones are based on Goths, the subculture not the tribe).

 

In the past I've created;

 

Ock-Ock, small forest dwelling lizardmen with latent psychic abilities and a childlike mindset.

 

Grek, huge, muscular humanoids with a civilised and matriarchal society.

 

Tuath, highly individualistice four-armed nomads descended from humanoids who took longer to come down from the trees than normal humans.

 

Iylim, winged cave dwellers who are renowned for their wisdom and have prehensile feet in place of hands.

 

Cronmuir, malevolent fay who are kin of both the Fomori and the Tuatha De Danaan.

 

And probably a few more that I can't remember.

 

Here is a link to a previous thread on non standard fantasy races which I threw out a while back. 'Old Races, New Tricks'.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

My primary fantasy Hero world has Dwarfs, Elves, and the other Tolkien/Gygax-esque peoples.

 

Another world that I have run has three races: Men (humans), Fair Folk, and Iron Folk.

 

The Iron Folk, as I tell my players, are not Dwarves. They have short, thin torsos but long, lean limbs. Humans tend to think of them as miners and workers in metal, but that's because humans don't know much about their culture at all, rarely seeing any of them except the tradesmen who bring metal goods to market.

 

The Fair Folk are not a single race, but a myriad of beings who share some magical characteristics. They range from tiny sprites to huge giants and everything inbetween, but the majority of them don't look anything like a human. There are Fair Folk who look like a swirl of autumn leaves in the wind, ones who look like trees or animals, and so on. The ones that Men most commonly see and interact with tend to look and sound human-ish, but even those guys aren't really like humans at all.

[spaceprincessecho]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

My fantasy setting has dwarves and elves, of a sort, but also a number of "non-standard" races:

Jotunkin, storytelling nomads descended from giants

Dji, sand-magic using fox-people

Himur, a race of people that are sentient dream-fragments of the gods

And some stranger creatures for NPC use.

[SSgt Baloo]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

I've always thought that centaurs, satyrs, nymphs, etc., would make for interesting character races. Note that I use race to denote physical form rather than culture. In my furry-non-human campaign, the furred folk were part of the human culture they shared territory with, but, like any underclass, had their own culture as well (think of the upper and lower classes in England or master-slave relations in other cultures). Rats from the Italian peninsula had a different culture than the rats from England or Arabia, and so on.

[Old Man]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

I am in fact terrible at coming up with non-standard races for games. FWIW I ran for years in the long-published Talislanta setting' date=' one of whose selling-point slogans is, "No Elves!" I.e. the game world has many original non-human races, and while some bear a passing resemblance to the mainstream fantasy races in a few respects, they all have at least a distinctive twist that sets them apart. Even the "humans" in Talislanta are not the same as Earthly humans.[/quote']

 

Talislanta was a real mind-bender. Please do limit the number of strange races to less than two dozen so that I don't have to campaign in the Mos Eisley cantina, thanks.

[Lezentauw]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

I remember Talisanta as a player, as Old Man stated it was a mind-bender, especially for when it came out.

 

If I was to be introduced to a world with a lot of strange races, the most important thing to me, is for each to have a fairly developed culture. The development of cultures and geography should cause the fact that not every race in the world be present in every country in the campaign. So even if you have two dozen strange races, if you are only dealing with 7 to 10 races at a time, to me it makes it not only more plausible but easier for everyone to grasp...

 

I also lean towards the "every race and creature has a culture". While the creature's may be more simplistic, it definitely is more than walking meat waiting for a hunter to kill...

 

 

On a side note. I read that Dark Sun originally did not have some of the 'standard' races. I would of loved to see that setting, in the original concept, instead of including the obligatory races.

[Curufea]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Medieval Chinese Felines. A matriarchal, matrilineal society with multiple species of feline, a tremendous sized land mass, and slavery of non-felines.

Medieval Arabian Reptiles. Two species, cold and warm blooded. One was the slaves of the other - but if they weren't they'd grow up to be dragons.

[RexMundi]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Talislanta. Always ran with "NO ELVES" on the covers originally. Shoulda read "NO ELVES, just 400 Races that LOOK like ELVES!"....heh

 

I liked the approach Monte Cook used for his Diamond Throne setting (Giants, Lion People (Without the Horrible Furry Factor in it, Stuff like that). Gotta give mention to a Certain HERO developers Wheel of Time RPG as well. Both excellent settings using things other then your basic Tolkein WoW fare. Even EVERQUEST, had a good RPG with a lot of Alternate races.

 

~Rex

[Old Man]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

On a side note. I read that Dark Sun originally did not have some of the 'standard' races. I would of loved to see that setting, in the original concept, instead of including the obligatory races.

 

Best campaign setting ever. I'm not clear as to whether 'obligatory' races were added back in before the original boxed set, but the extinction of gnomes and orcs and the elimination of PC halflings still seemed radical enough, along with the modifications to elves and dwarves. If I had to guess, elves might have been added back in before release, since they have practically no interrelation with the setting or backstory.

 

From what I read briefly, they're working on 4e Dark Sun, and having a hard time of it since 4e classes and races are so tightly defined. It winds up being a near-total rewrite of the system.

[Old Man]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Medieval Chinese Felines. A matriarchal, matrilineal society with multiple species of feline, a tremendous sized land mass, and slavery of non-felines.

Medieval Arabian Reptiles. Two species, cold and warm blooded. One was the slaves of the other - but if they weren't they'd grow up to be dragons.

 

Somewhere in the gaming multiverse there exists a miniatures combat system based on mythic Egypt. So there are cat-people, jackal-people, falcon-people, etc. I can't remember what it's called.

[tkdguy]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

The AD&D Oriental Adventures game had Spirit Folk (children of human/nature spirit unions) and Hengeyokai (shapechanging animals; different breeds).

 

Alternatively, you can use the standard fantasy races but avoid the cliches. So you can have a high elf society that trades with nomadic orcs and wages war on a neighboring high elf nation. One dwarf culture is based on ancient Scandivai, while another is based on Renaissance Italy.

[AlHazred]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

If I was to be introduced to a world with a lot of strange races' date=' the most important thing to me, is for each to have a fairly developed culture.[/quote']I actually differentiate quite strongly between culture and race in my games; it doesn't make sense to me that you might have tens or hundreds of thousands of dwarves in a universe, and they all have this insanely monolithic culture. Where are all the lazy dwarves who smoke weed? Why don't we read about the mariner dwarves?

 

In the aforementioned High Fantasy game with so many races, I have a document of cultures which borrowed heavily in concept and execution from a Rolemaster FRP supplement. I believe it was called Cultures and Races, and covered by generic Rolemaster and the Shadow World setting, and split races from cultures well.-

[Curufea]

Re: Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits Need Not Apply!

 

Somewhere in the gaming multiverse there exists a miniatures combat system based on mythic Egypt. So there are cat-people' date=' jackal-people, falcon-people, etc. I can't remember what it's called.[/quote']

 

It's called the War Gods of Aegyptus. I've not played it though. Those two races and cultures aren't Egyptian though and I can't imagine a reason why I'd put a furred race in a desert climate.

I could use their heads, but not their bodies for the felines. The bodies are far too human and not feline enough - they have breasts and hips.