How do I make the traditional fantasy races actually interesting?
Use them creatively in line with the themes and tone of your setting. It's not that hard.
The same way you make any fantasy race interesting.
I really wish I could use non-traditional races, but every group I play with can't handle things because they're too unfamiliar.
>>43842554
By not playing them
>>43842524
Do what you think is interesting. Stop asking us what you think is interesting.
>>43842564
>non-traditional races,
Like what?
What race would be a good fit to live in a place like Antarctica?
>>43842524
Internal variation. And I mean variation beyond "High Elves", "Wood Elves", "Dark Elves", "Cowardly weak goblins and Uruk Hai" and suchlike.
Depends on the setting. Spelljammer Lizarddudes are going to differ from Gurps Traveller Lizard citizens are going to differentiate themselves from Macross Lizard people.
>>43842659
>more alien in physiology/culture.
How are you supposed to relate to and play with or as something like this? How can you seduce it?
>>43842524
STOP FUCKING THEM! For fuck sake man! Just because it isn't human means you need to stick your dick in it! I don't care if you are tired of screwing elves and dwarves with raw, abused shlong, I am not going to think of new depraved ways for you to keep pounding!
>>43842690
>dat neck
>dat frill
>those dick sucking lips
How could you Not seduce it?
>>43842595
Homebrew ones.
Species:
>Humans are biologically similar to those you see around you in our world, but their cultures have been shaped by hardship and dread. Instead of being born free, and living in their world as it’s masters, ever man and woman for a thousand generations were born into servitude. Beneath the heel of the Kreen they existed, as pets and toys, as soldiers and laborers, as concubines and entertainers. Though theirs was an easy servitude no less was the yolk against them. Then came the pure, and the world changed, and now humanity live in the bones of what was before.
Ethnicity:
>Orthrian, pale skin and fair hair mark these people as descendants and inheritors of seat of Orthron, the pale spire of salt guarding the end of the world. Nearly albino, they are forced to wear heavy clothing in any conditions that could cause sunburns.
>Forlish, what marks the Forlish are their diversity. Not of hair and skin, but of body. Deformities permeate the people, manifesting as extra fingers and knobbed protrusions. Said to have been twisted by the passing of Kreen in the time before the pure.
>Thilidine, an empire spanning since the pure’s founding. Their speed glacial and their vast networks of offices and clerks stretching as a spider web back toward the old world. One of Thilindian descent enjoys the sharp features and olive skin stemming from the capital.
>>43842690
>How can you seduce it?
You get some half-decent taste and don't.
Look at the races you have and how they are typically done then just do something different. For example I have humans be deathly allergic to magic and so they take Trans humanism to the extreme.
>>43842706
Species:
>Yelvin
Ethnicity:
>Yelvin do not have creed, nor culture. They merely exist as expressions of the world around them. One may be working one day, and think how their job would be easier with someone to help, and someone will thus appear. Their skin range from slate grey to parchment white, and their eyes black as pitch. Little is understood of their coming and going, and unless killed they will not seem to age, merely exist till they disappear. Though their emotions are similar to humans they are stunted, dulled to the world around them. Physically their bodies take forms of what the task required, making most large brutish figures for heavy labor, or wisp like bipeds meant for delicate tasks. An average does not seem to be their lot.
Species:
Pek:
>Pek, like man, were creations of the Kreen. However they did not exist as moving servants. Instead the Pek lived as art pieces. In cages they lived their lives, twisted and bent into what ever shape their master chose. Many Kreen existed purely as aesthete, creating ever more decadent expressions of their craft. Now however, the Pek live free, taken from their cages. However that which binds still exists. Physically they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, as during their adolescence they may shape their body to their will, most choose to be roughly human in stature.
Ethnicity:
>Crovian descend from he who first sought freedom, Crovar. In their legends he is said to have taken from his cage a stone, and won his freedom in three trials set before him by his masters. As such the Crovian try and emulate his form, however different sects can not agree on what this form is. The only agreed upon features are bulbous heads, and a disproportionately muscled left arm.
>>43842690
No you fool. I don't mean crab people, I mean elves that aren't just pointy eared girls with big titties. There should be something different about them to the point where they're obviously not just people with some small variation.
>>43842725
> Aesthete do not exist as a single culture, instead an ideal. Unlike their fellows they do not seek to emulate humanity, and change themselves into new forms. Some go so far as to render themselves incapable of movement, planting their feet in the ground and swaying in the wind. One can normally find at least one Aesthete in the city, marked by their delicate beauty.
>Greveir pay homage to a Kreen who is said to have taken pity on the Pek and hasten their rise of civilization. This Kreen, in their legends, died long after the pure arrived, hidden away from the world to guide the Greveir people. The Greveir as such take on forms more similar to the Kreen than humans, their features somewhat insectoid.
>>43842645
Super merefolk/selkie on the cost mixed with marrow and further inland Frost dwarves and some sparse human settlements.
You need to have an overall theme and aesthetic to your world, that alone can inform what traditional races are like.
>>43842542
First post, there you go.
>>43842524
All the elves and elvresses player come into contact with are roleplayed as different versions of Link and Zelda personalities.
>>43842524
Have you tried trying a little?
Also, have you tried moving away?
>>43842524
Stop trying so goddamn hard, that's how.
>>43842645
Ice amazons
>>43842524
Cultures
>>43842524
If you don't like Tolkien fantasy races, don't fucking use them you tard.
>>43842524
Add tentacles.
For my world I have
>Men
>High Elves
>Low Elves
>Giants
>Orcs
>Goblins
>Trolls
>Ogres
>Cyclops
>Halflings
Anything more I should add?
>inb4 Dwarfs
I don't like Dwarfs
>>43842645
Elder Things.
>>43842524
Stop playing Forgotten Realms.
>>43842925
No, they specifically couldn't live in the Antarctic as it was now.
>>43842946
What if we gave them jackets and fuzzy hats?
>>43842991
They tried that.
But that might be cute.
![Just_055ed6_5661199[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/4NeJSBa.jpg "Just_055ed6_5661199[1].jpg")
>>43842524
1. Pick a bunch of races. Only look at their physical traits/mechanics for now and nothing else.
2. Design a world map. Think of climate and geography.
3. Think about what climate each of your assigned races would be best suited for. Would mountain elves be viable? Could dwarves make for a good seafaring folk? Weigh your options and assign races to regions accordingly.
4. Don't forget that it's not impossible for multiple races to share a single habitat. Designated elf-only areas can be a thing, but they could easily be a minority in dwarven lands as well.
5. Look at cultures that live in comparable climates for each of your regions. What do various desert people have in common, for example? What is the common factor between the Saharans, the Nevada Indian tribes and the inhabitants of the Gobi desert? Try to distill common factors and include those in your regions.
6. Create the rest from your culture from there. Forget all standard clichés like dwarves being clan based and having Scottish accents.
A quick example: halflings are short, but more slender than dwarves. This gives them a lot of skin compared to their total volume, allowing them to easily lose heat. They could also have large ears making this even easier (compare the Fennec to Northern European foxes for a radical example). Halflings make for a great desert race because of this.
Now let's look at desert peoples in real life. A lot of them tend to cover themselves completely to protect themselves against the desert sun. We already have an idea of what halflings would dress like.
Furthermore, most (or the most famous) desert cultures are Arabic. We could borrow some elements from Arabic culture.
Voila, unique and interesting halflings that aren't just hobbits who live in the Shire and smoke pipeweed in an idyllic landscape of rolling hills. And it barely took us any effort!
If I can pull this out of my ass, you can create an interesting and unique campaign world in no time at all!
Elves think and act like the classical Fair Folk. Behaviour seemingly arbitrary and chaotic at first glance but in reality obeying a series of obscure rules that they don't bother to ever, ever tell you. Act like Aliens abducting people with flying saucers.
>>43842694
>Just because it isn't human means you need to stick your dick in it!
Where do you think we are?
They steal cattle and babies...
They steal milk...
They love music, and steal away musicians...
In fact they steal everything.
We'll never be as free as them, as light as them, as beautiful as them; we are animals.
Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvelous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.
Good fairies don't exist.
>>43843164
Mmmm boy do I love that quote getting spammed to hell and back.
I want to know the connection between the elves and nazis.
>>43842524
Roll twice. Double up on a result if you get it over.
>1. Cannibals
>2. The entire race is sexually predative little girls
>3. Russian accents
>4. Slave race
>5. They live under cliff-bellys and travel everywhere by line
>6. They all believe in a vague prophecy about the end of the world
>7. They're actually magical constructs created in the image of a dead race
>8. Born as fully concious adults
>9. They live in an isolated realm that can only be found by accident
>0. Singing and dancing musical race
Sure is Dragon Age in here.
>>43843212
>connection between the elves and nazis
Damn those Thalmor.
>>43842731
Man, this is probably the first time I've actually wanted to fuck an elf.
>>43843364
And no one will ever call you out for magical realming.
Isn't it great?
>>43843164
Oh, fuck off. You're not original, you're not even clever. yes, we all love Pratchett. But you sjhould fuck off.
Rolled 2, 9 = 11 (2d10)
>>43843252
Rolled 5, 6 = 11 (2d10)
>>43843252
Rolling for elves.
By only allowing the players and NPCs to be humans, and making elves and dwarves creatures of myth and fiction.
>>43843494
well fuck
Rolled 9, 9 = 18 (2d10)
>>43843494
Literally a magical realm.
>>43843627
>9,9
Rolled 3, 5 = 8 (2d10)
>>43843252
Rolled 9, 2 = 11 (2d10)
>>43843252
Let's roll dwarves!
>>43843843
Oh, for fuck's sake.
>>43843252
Gimme some singing and dancing russians!
One idea is to truly think of them as aliens. They all have that "uncanny valley" look to them. Almost-human-but-not-quite.
Rolled 1, 9 = 10 (2d10)
>>43843252
Rolled 7, 1 = 8 (2d10)
>>43843252
Rolling
>>43842524
How do we make humans interesting in fantasy?
By fleshing out societies, not races.
You can have your tree hugging elves and deep in the mountains dwarves if you want, just fleshed out their societies.
>>43844189
You can pretty much just as easily substitute tree hugging human tribes and deep in the mountain human cities.
My preference is that traditional fantasy races pretty much don't need to exist. I think that sapient races in fantasy settings should be weird and more distinguishable from humans.
>>43844189
>How do we make humans interesting in fantasy?
But humans are the most boring part of any fantasy setting
>>43843164
>They steal cattle and babies...
>They steal milk...
>They love music, and steal away musicians...
>In fact they steal everything.
wait, you mean they're niggers
>>43844225
>You can pretty much just as easily substitute tree hugging human tribes and deep in the mountain human cities.
Assuming dwarves and elves have psychological and physical differences, no.
>>43843164
>They steal cattle and babies...
>They steal milk...
>They love music, and steal away musicians...
>In fact they steal everything.
wait, you mean they're niggers
>>43844274
Sure you can. Physically. pointy ears and being short don't really mean anything in the long run.
Psychologically, you would be surprised in the variety of human cultures out there, past and present.
>>43844304
>Physically. pointy ears and being short don't really mean anything in the long run.
The thing on outside is not the only thing that matters. And even then, being short would actually mean a shitton.
>Psychologically, you would be surprised in the variety of human cultures out there, past and present.
And what keeps dwarves/elves from having different cultures?
>>43844304
>pointy ears and being short don't really mean anything in the long run.
Manlet detected.
>>43844334
>And what keeps dwarves/elves from having different cultures?
If you're going to stray from the generic interpretation of an elf or dwarf, why bother having them at all then? There's no reason, except to make the setting somehow more "fantasy".
>>43844771
>If you're going to stray from the generic interpretation of an elf or dwarf, why bother having them at all then?
Well, that was disappointing and predictable.
Good day, anon.
>>43842645
Demon-possessed penguins.
>>43844852
Sorry if I don't see the appeal of "sea elves" or "japanese dwarfs". Picking a random human culture and giving them pointy ears to make them "elven" is boring and disappointing.
>>43844771
>>43844897
How do you feel about The Elder Scrolls setting? It's not standard elves and dwarves but, or maybe espeacially because of it, it's got a great setting (in my opinion)
>>43844897
Wait, you're not trolling?
>Sorry if I don't see the appeal of "sea elves" or "japanese dwarfs".
Good thing that i wasn't even talking about that.
>Picking a random human culture and giving them pointy ears to make them "elven" is boring and disappointing.
Yup, that's disapponting, that's why i don't do it like that. I actually ask myself: "how would a civilization of beings
that live 1000+ years, is proficient as fuck with magic and has physique/senses of a predator (and no, elves don't strike
me as dandelion eaters) would develop?". Once there's a general line, it's time to tinker with civilization, add little schisms that eventually develop into more different cultures, or add some changes/mutations that could take the offshoot of a race in entirely different direction.
Then, when all is done, carefully cut off the central stalk (initial culture), so it looks like there was some common ancestor, but he's shrouded in millenia-long history. Congratulations, now there's a race that doesn't act like one big, goofy stereotype, actually has multiple wildly (or not so wildly) different countries and is not a copy of an existing culture.
>But they're not elves anymore
They got long ears, slender, sinewy physique, live for 1000 years and have magical abilities. I dunno, they sound like elves to me (and, more importantly, to players, who WILL simplify things because it's just not convenient to call them dh'ruupli or whatever.)
...fuck, this sounds autistic as fuck, but screw it, building cultures is fun (even if my players will only touch them for a session or two)
>>43844874
>>43844771
Mechanics? These are games, remember.
>>43845190
>a civilization of beings that live 1000+ years, is proficient as fuck with magic and has physique/senses of a predator
Why do we have to start with these traits as a "seed" for our culture? Listen, I like the process you are doing. I'm just saying that many world-builders hamstring themselves by shoe-horning archetypal 'elven" or "dwarf" traits where they really don't have to.
I'm not saying that elf-variants and dwarf-variants are BADWRONG FUN, per se, I just think that a lot of creative energy is being wasted by making sure that these races are somehow represented in the setting.
>>43844052
Now this one has potential.
>>43845478
Well I think he made his post to account what the other guy said. Non-standard elves being copies of human cultures plus pointy ears and all that. That's why in this post he restricted himself to elves, because he wanted to prove that non-standard elves can be done decently.
>>43842524
All elves are large breasted, well endowed futanari.
>>43845478
Honestly, i just like me my elfs and dorfs.
>>43845478
Personally I like elves a lot, but they really should only live a few hundred years, or a 1000 for the oldest ones.
Having a race of true immortals is really hard and ridiculous to make up for. It's like how are they not overpowered, and if they are overpowered how can they be playable? I mean they may not always be, but you get the idea.
Elder Scrolls Dark and Wood elves are among the best elves I've seen. The high elves are ok, not sure if they are immortal though.
Though we all know half human half elf is the true master race.
Robots
>>43845802
In my world, all sub-races elves can become immortals, but they have to live an ascetic life for many years and follow certain rules that differ from culture to culture. Basically is Buddhism meets Druidism/Buddhism meets Gnosticism/Buddhism meets whatever religion I was inspired by.
>>43846031
That sounds like ... Ahrg I know a system that does them like that. The name won't come to mind though.
Oh, yeah. Song of Swords does it like that.
I think that is a quite good way to handle it.
>>43845802
They aren't.....yet. The Thalmor were trying to do that, but they got screwed over pretty nicely in Skyrim. Still, that's something /v/ would argue on.
As for the longevity thing on Elves - depends really. Reasonably long lives (300-400-ish) isn't too bad. Thousands of years = Call bullshit.
As for Dorfs - well, Dragon Age made them slightly more crazy tha everyone else, but you really can't improve something that's already badass awesome to start with.
>>43842991
Can somebody draw this?
>>43846286
Not exactly a drawing, but that's pretty close to what they look like.
>>43843128
>another mideastern shitfest
>no glorious aztec paladin offering smoking hearts of evildoers to his god
>cryingindian.jpg
>>43845802
Elves are immortal because they are the progeny of an attempt to create a "master race" of Superhuman God-Men.
They don't like to talk about it much, as it just leads to non-stop infighting
>>43842919
Nah bro, you make your dwarves 1930s gangsters with big eyes and whiskers. focus on the politics of the gangs and the rampant alcoholism problem
