My Elves Are Different!

[Lawnmower Boy]

No offence to Kraven Kor, but that phrase has led to more silliness than I can remember. So help me remember, and together we can work out the most differentest elves evar!1!!

 

Some that I do remember

 

"They're Science Elves!"

"They're scary Elves!"

"They're space elves!"

"They're scary space elves!"

[Kraven Kor]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

I honestly don't recall any. Nearly every time I came across the "My elves are different" thing, it either went straight into total perv territory, or they were no different at all.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

Copied from a thread I started a long time ago. 'Old races, new tricks'.

 

My elves are short.

 

The Touel'alfar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_DemonWars_Saga

Called Elves but standing around the height of a dwarf and with wings like a pixy. They live in a small hidden kingdom since they lost around 4/5ths of their population fighting a great Demon bent on conquering the world. They practice an especially deadly martial art involving swordplay and acrobatics. They teach this art to a chosen few human rangers but are otherwise highly secretive and paranoid, for a ranger to teach the Elven sword dance to another carries a sentence of death.

 

My elves have poor standards of hygiene.

 

Bone Elves

Another one of mine. Probably inspired by Warcraft's Blood Elves as well as a desire to have Elves who were 'good' but not 'nice'. A bit long I'm afraid but it all seemed shorter in my head.

 

Bone Elves are a people born of war and war is the eternal state of their lives. Centuries ago the free peoples of the world were menaced by the vile forces of the Ilkarrian Empire, these dark conquerors practiced all the Black Arts and increased their ranks with undead, demons and terrible war machines of bone and flesh. The High Elves were foremost in the battle against the invaders and one regiment broke through the enemy's defences and penetrated to the heart of the Empire, hoping to disrupt the enemies supply lines and perhaps raise a resistance amongst downtrodden inhabitants of this cursed land. They found only desolation, all but a few scavengers had been slain, inducted into the Empire's ranks or both. The Elves encountered many Ilkarrian soldiers and monsters however and they fought with desperate strength to survive and gain victory, yet every day seemed darker and hope itself began to fade from the hearts of these lost Elves.

 

At some point the armies of the free proved victorious and the broken remnants of the Empire's armies began to flee back into the devastated wasteland that had once been their home. The remnants of the lost Elven regiment either misinterpreted this influx of new foes or were now beyond caring. Sickened to their core by the horrors they had encountered and the destruction wrought on the earth they now lived only to destroy the dark hordes that assailed them. The Elves appeared little different from their foes by this point, blood spattered spectres with rusted and battered weapons who arose with the dawn to begin the killing once again.

 

Finally, as they fought their way through the Boneyards of Harak, the Elves gave in to despair and their last surviving mage enacted an ancient and terrible ritual. Harak was a place where the giant bones of ancient beings once slumbered peacefully but these relics had been torn from the earth by the Necromancers of Ilkarr to serve as raw materials for the Empire's mystical war machines. The High Elves, perhaps learning from their Wild Elf scouts, turned to a more ancient magic, cleaner than the powers of Ilkarr but every bit as vicious. The ritual drew upon the titanic remains scattered all about the Elves bound every surviving warrior to fight until his last breath and granted strength and ferocity such as few of the Sylvan race had ever known.

 

Renewed and affirmed the Elven warriors arose and all around them the ancient bones sang, acknowledging the purity and savagery of their purpose and granting them wisdom that was old and terrible. From these bones and those of their enemies the warriors fashioned new weapons, magically invested spears, daggers and arrows that hungered for the blood of evil doers and struck with murderous force. Thus armed the Bone Elves began their dark crusade and yet they had not foreseen an end to their enemies, they were not prepared to survive the consequences of their final desperate action.

 

The Iltkarrian Empire has long vanished into the mists of history and the wasteland its rulers created is being reclaimed by nature. But some monsters still roam this scarred land and the descendants of the original Bone Elves still hunt them. A curious side effect of the ritual has made these Elves far more fertile than their cousins and their population has grown considerably since their creation, this bounty is balanced by the brutal and often brief nature of a Bone Elf's life. Bound like their predecessors to the war against evil these Elves pursue their duty with an obsession that passes the threshold of madness, there is little pleasure in their lives other than the destruction of evil doers. Although some hints of culture remain, such as the haunting music of bone flutes and harps made of beast-gut, the Bone Elves are for the most part a tribe dedicated to killing, only their choice of target makes them one of the 'good' races. Utter savages the Bone Elves care little for hygiene and are happy to adorn themselves with grisly trophies of their hunts alongside powerful charms carved from their favoured element. Their Shaman have lost the ways of Elven Sorcery and instead practice primitive magics that utilise items of invested bone.

 

As the wasteland fades and its monsters grow weak many Bone Elves have begun to venture beyond it in search of more prey. They remember their pledge and do not attack those they judge to be good but their mad and murderous mien has won them few friends. Other Elves in particular fear this people as an example of how far they can fall, they see a people that have lost all joy except in killing and are doomed to a nightmarish existence until death releases them.

 

The Bone Elves do not care. They stalk the world in search of evil to destroy, their grinning, blood spattered faces made all the more disturbing by the immortal beauty that lies beneath the marks of war.

 

Copied from 'Pseudo-elf race as monsters' by Ragnarok.

 

My elves are irredeemably evil.

 

 

One of the ideas I had for a campaign is to shake up the stereotypical trope of the elf. I've unsuccessfully (as of yet) been trying to come up with a better name than "elf," something less....universal. The goal is to break preconceptions of elves while still retaining some elvish characteristics. My "elves" will be dangerous, and downright terrifying when angry. Their campaign use would likely take the typical niche of orcs; a less developed but dangerous group that is a big frontier threat. I doubt they'll see use as PCs, unless a player gives me an awesome reason.

 

Elves rose to the top of the ecological food chain by mixing deadly predator attributes with group intelligence. Here is what I've got so far.

 

• Elves are rather scary when angry or during times of extreme duress. Their pupils widen an extraordinary amount, making their eyes appear jet black. This is to help let in more light, as they originally come from low-light environments. They also have naturally sharper teeth than humans due to their hunter-gatherer lifestyle. So, we have creepy black eyes and baring of sharp teeth. Sort of like sharks. So I figure this would be a significant bonus to PRE when angry/in extreme situations.
  
• Elves are top predators, so they're naturally quick and strong (+ to DEX and STR)
  
• Elves have sharp predator senses, namely sight and hearing, though I could definitely see smell as well. I *might* give them nightvision, but definitely a bonus to PER rolls. I could see the more experienced ones have Danger Sense.
  
• Centuries of natural selection through interacting with poisonous plants gives them Immunity to Poison.
  

 

These elves have a loose tribal-based society, though certain leaders are making steps toward small-scale unification. They have lower tech than humans, namely bronze weapons and instruments where as humans have iron (and are developing steel). Their armor consists mostly of leather, though sometimes they put bronze scales or plates over the leather. Their combat style is mostly stealthy guerilla warfare (I have to give them ghillie suits), though their conflict with humans has prompted them to use psychological guerilla warfare; unbalance and strike fear by attacking unexpectedly then once the enemy morale is broken, rush in and use their strength to finish the job. Since they have bronze, they favor thrusting and piercing weapons rather than slashing weapons, as bronze slashing weapons tend to bend. They do have something akin to the Mesoamerican macuahuitl: basically a cricket bat with obsidian blades embedded in the edges, more like a jagged club than a sword. They try to take down heavy armored troops by using a weighted net to immobilize them, then they can slip a spear into their neck at their leisure.

 

Also, from the world of literature.

 

My elves use muskets.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/e/chris-evans/darkness-forged-in-fire.htm

 

I'll let you know if I remember any more

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

I personally like Eberron's Valenar elves, who are trying to provoke other nations into attacking them so they can die in the manner of their glorious ancestors (while fighting a brutal guerilla war against a numerically superior foe). One of my favorite images of Eberron is an elf and an orc squaring off, with the subtitle: "One of these is a savage, ruthless marauder. One is a member of a protective druidic sect. Guess which is which."

[IndianaJoe3]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

No offence to Kraven Kor' date=' but that phrase has led to more silliness than I can remember. So help me remember, and together we can work out the most differentest elves evar!1!![/quote']

 

Ah, you're invoking this trope.

 

I'm working on a fantasy world where the elves (and other humanoids) are an offshoot of the human race that were affected by an ancient curse.

[Old Man]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

I did one variant where I switched the standard habitats of dwarves and elves. Dwarves then became Snow White-like forest caretakers, while elves became a mountain dwelling race that used their supernatural agility to negotiate sheer cliffs and passes.

 

Problem is, players who want to play elves usually want to play elves, not different elves.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

I did one variant where I switched the standard habitats of dwarves and elves. Dwarves then became Snow White-like forest caretakers, while elves became a mountain dwelling race that used their supernatural agility to negotiate sheer cliffs and passes.

 

Problem is, players who want to play elves usually want to play elves, not different elves.

 

Well, they can play their same old elf ... but in this world, that would make him something of an outcast, because by being the same old elf, he's different.

[Escafarc]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

I just returned the Elves to my game world(which only has humans) and they have been corrupted by the Elder Worms(I went Stargate and gave each of them a symbiote which gives them Mental Powers which up to now hasn't been seen in the campaign). I'm also returning Half-elves(I'll allow these as PCs if they ask) who are not corrupted as allies of humans.

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

The problem with "different" elves is that you can only do so much before they are unrecognizable as elves. Sure you can call them elves, but really they are your own creation. Why not create the race and give them their own name? Probably for the same reason Hollywood makes movies "based on the book" which are nothing like the book except for the title character. Name recognition.

 

The real trick is not making the most divergent elves possible, but taking the concept of elf and giving it a unique twist to make it your own without twisting it so much you break it. That will depend on the campaign tone and setting, and how much of a stickler you and your players are for historical/mythological accuracy.

[teh bunneh]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

My elves are pretty much the same.

[yamamura]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

My Elves are all female and Dwarves are all male (different gender of the same race).

[Enforcer84]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

Hmmm. Edean has no elves. But usually when I've done home brewed with elves they're standard D&D fare.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

One of the longstanding advertising slogans of the classic Talislanta fantasy game world setting has been, "Still No Elves!", implying that Tal is different from all the Tolkien-derived D&D-esque settings in the hobby. In truth Talislanta has races that contain elements of classic elves: Cymrillians are obsessed with magic, Muses are flighty and dwell in forests, etc. Tal contains more races that resemble the stereotypes of dwarf, orc, halfling etc.; but all of them have some distinctive twist and go by different names.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

I like elves and use them in most of my fantasy games, but I'm a little sick of how the culture drift has altered perceptions of them, so I tend to either pull a Tolkien and derive my elf races from original mythological sources, or go kinda Julian May and make them a survivor remnant of an earlier civilization like Atlantis.

 

Someday I'm going to run a game with Diskworld style elves tho

[Mister E]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

Is an elf a Universal or a Personal Focus?

[Enforcer84]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

One of the longstanding advertising slogans of the classic Talislanta fantasy game world setting has been' date=' "Still No Elves!", implying that Tal is different from all the Tolkien-derived D&D-esque settings in the hobby. In truth Talislanta has races that contain elements of classic elves: Cymrillians are obsessed with magic, Muses are flighty and dwell in forests, etc. Tal contains more races that resemble the stereotypes of dwarf, orc, halfling etc.; but all of them have some distinctive twist and go by different names.[/quote']

 

If you have all the stereotypes in your game, calling them something else and trumpeting the difference is kind of silly. I do it to, so I don't hark on the "I'm different!" bits.

 

 

We don't use swords...we have blade-sticks!

[teh bunneh]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

One of the longstanding advertising slogans of the classic Talislanta fantasy game world setting has been' date=' "Still No Elves!", implying that Tal is different from all the Tolkien-derived D&D-esque settings in the hobby. In truth Talislanta has races that contain elements of classic elves: Cymrillians are obsessed with magic, Muses are flighty and dwell in forests, etc. Tal contains more races that resemble the stereotypes of dwarf, orc, halfling etc.; but all of them have some distinctive twist and go by different names.[/quote']

 

Yeah, technically my world doesn't have Elves -- it has Alvhair (which is what they call themselves, but which the other people typically shorten down to "Elves"). They've got pointy ears, long lifespans, slender builds, and are commonly quite beautiful (even the males, who tend to be kind of "bishi" in appearance). But they're totally different! They don't all live in the forest, and they don't all shoot bows. Oh, and they tend to be nocturnal.

[Orion]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

Problem is' date=' players who want to play elves usually want to play [i']elves,[/i] not different elves.

 

It has always annoyed me greatly when some writer creates something new, and then gives it the name of something widely recognized, yet very different. Yeah, your elves are different - because they ain't elves! Superman better have a reporter girlfriend and have a code vs killing, and Conan must love wenches and beer.

 

I have no problem with the creating of new stuff, but it comes off as a bait and switch when they use the old name for something new. You tell me I'm going to be battling orcs, and I will have certain expectations. Doesn't matter how many times you explain to me these orcs are completely different, it will still cause a disconnect when you tell me an orc does not act as they always have in my past experience. New Coke would have been an easier sell if it hadn't been called Coke, and reusing a old name is no easier to accept.

[Clonus]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

Yeah' date=' technically my world doesn't have Elves -- it has Alvhair (which is what they call themselves, but which the other people typically shorten down to "Elves"). They've got pointy ears, long lifespans, slender builds, and are commonly quite beautiful (even the males, who tend to be kind of "bishi" in appearance). But they're totally different! They don't all live in the forest, and they don't all shoot bows. Oh, and they tend to be nocturnal.[/quote']

 

Someone needs to tell people that even in Middle Earth, not all elves were Legolas. Some of them lived in caves and couldn't shoot a bow to save their lives.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

Someone needs to tell people that even in Middle Earth' date=' [b']not all elves were Legolas[/b]. Some of them lived in caves and couldn't shoot a bow to save their lives.

 

*head asplode*

[Lucius]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

It struck me that all these posts have something in common.

 

The problem with "different" elves is that you can only do so much before they are unrecognizable as elves. Sure you can call them elves, but really they are your own creation. Why not create the race and give them their own name? Probably for the same reason Hollywood makes movies "based on the book" which are nothing like the book except for the title character. Name recognition.

 

The real trick is not making the most divergent elves possible, but taking the concept of elf and giving it a unique twist to make it your own without twisting it so much you break it. That will depend on the campaign tone and setting, and how much of a stickler you and your players are for historical/mythological accuracy.

 

 

It has always annoyed me greatly when some writer creates something new, and then gives it the name of something widely recognized, yet very different. Yeah, your elves are different - because they ain't elves! Superman better have a reporter girlfriend and have a code vs killing, and Conan must love wenches and beer.

 

I have no problem with the creating of new stuff, but it comes off as a bait and switch when they use the old name for something new. You tell me I'm going to be battling orcs, and I will have certain expectations. Doesn't matter how many times you explain to me these orcs are completely different, it will still cause a disconnect when you tell me an orc does not act as they always have in my past experience. New Coke would have been an easier sell if it hadn't been called Coke, and reusing a old name is no easier to accept.

 

If you have all the stereotypes in your game, calling them something else and trumpeting the difference is kind of silly. I do it to, so I don't hark on the "I'm different!" bits.

 

 

We don't use swords...we have blade-sticks!

 

Namely, they all make me want to ask "how does one define an Elf?"

 

If I create something Enforcer thinks is Elf-like but I don't call it an Elf, he's going to call me silly. If I do call it Elf but Orion thinks it's not Elf-like enough, he's annoyed.

 

 

I like what Ockham's Spoon said - give it a unique twist without twisting it so far it's broken. The question of course is, at what point is it "broken" - when is an Elf, not an Elf?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

When is a palindromedary not a palindromedary?

[Enforcer84]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

If I create something Enforcer thinks is Elf-like but I don't call it an Elf, he's going to call me silly. If I do call it Elf but Orion thinks it's not Elf-like enough, he's annoyed.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

When is a palindromedary not a palindromedary?

 

Worry not yer pretty little head (or heads in the palindromedary's case) I will only call you silly if your non-elf is an elf in all but name and you place a "no elves" stamp on all your supplements.

 

Edit: Not that that's what Talislantia does. I haven't seen their game in years.

[Lucius]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

And two people can get different impressions from the same source materiel.

 

Want to know what MY most powerful impressions of Legolas are?

 

One is from the moment the Fellowship comes into a countryside that had been the home of Elves - millenia ago. And Legolas knows it. Not because he knows Elvish history - he knows because the land is telling him. He knows his people lived there long ago - so long ago that the beasts and birds have forgotten, and they do not recognize him. So long ago even the trees had forgotten, and he is a stranger to them. But the stone of the land still remembers Elves, and recognizes him, and sighs about the old days: "Deep they delved us, high they builded us, fair they wrought us; but they are gone."

 

And to me, the implication is, this is going on all the time. He is presumably always in communion with his environment; he takes it in stride that the stones under his feet are talking to him, and only mentions it because what they are saying is of interest.

 

The other is when they are on the Paths of the Dead. Legolas is described as the only one completely unafraid of the ghosts, because he is the only one who sees them clearly as what they are. This, and a few other hints in the books, reveal that the Elves live and experience simultaneously in "two worlds," the same world of the common senses of Men and Dwarves, and the "spiritual" or "otherworld" realm that is the reality of ghosts and Ringwraiths.

 

 

So when someone says "give a Human pointy ears and a long life and you've got an Elf" I think, there is someone with no clue what an Elf is.

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Most people have no clue what a palindromedary is.

[Clonus]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

 

So when someone says "give a Human pointy ears and a long life and you've got an Elf" I think, there is someone with no clue what an Elf is.

 

You have to give a Human pointy ears, long life and woo-woo. (Thus, Vulcans are elves) That being said the elves in the Phoenix Unchained series were interesting, because they used to have woo-woo, but traded it in (mostly) for long life.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: My Elves Are Different!

 

I like elves and use them in most of my fantasy games, but I'm a little sick of how the culture drift has altered perceptions of them, so I tend to either pull a Tolkien and derive my elf races from original mythological sources, or go kinda Julian May and make them a survivor remnant of an earlier civilization like Atlantis.

 

I appreciated how fiction author Poul Anderson drew from pagan European traditions for the Elves in his novel The Broken Sword; beautiful and magically powerful, but also fickle and ruthless, as perilous to trust as to cross.