Most standard races are really generic. Like dwarves are always drunkard master builders living in a city in the mountains, elves are always racist hunters in the forest, etc.
What's some good spins on these races, as well as Orcs, Lizardfolk, Giants, etc. What races do you have in your campaign?
>>45988521
Warforged and goblinoids because im the fag running Eberron.
Also have their jungle drow and druid orks. No real spot for giants and halfgiants because of the setting.
![57-char001[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/dvxIlA5.png "57-char001[1].png")
>>45988521
>What's some good spins on these races, as well as Orcs, Lizardfolk, Giants, etc.
Gurps Alien generator, you do it by rolling, but instead of rolling and picking what you get, you roll 3 times and pick the one you want
>>45988623
Link?
>>45988521
Don't use standard fantasy races at all then. Humans are probably a given, but make a world free of elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc and either come up with something new or just adapt some existing lesser-known races to be the new standards.
>>45988652
>Gurps Alien generator
http://www.sedesdraconis.com/index.php/Gurps_Tables#Communication
>>45988521
OP here following up
I'd like to use standard races, but I'd also like to just give them a twist. I'm having elves live in the sea, and orcs in the desert/plains
I'm keeping dwarves in the mountains, but I can't think of any way to change them around. I may just put them in the forest.
>>45988861
Thank you friend
Racial stereotypes are fun. It's cozy to have your dwarves with tunnel systems through the mountains, and halflings in peaceful villages along rivers. Going against these stereotypes simply for the sake of going against stereotypes homogenizes the races and makes their characteristics less defined, and differences less interesting.
Your ideas are stupid and dumb, what you think is fun is terrible and you should feel terrible about being wrong and liking things that are bad.
>>45988885
Elves live in the sea - are they mermen, or do they all live on ships like in Waterworld?
>>45989036
Well, they're seafaring. They live on islands and have big ass ships and raid the mainland. They're the strongest naval force in the setting. However, they're also strong swimmers and even have sort-of gills, that allow them to breathe underwater for up to ten minutes.
>>45988885
the dwarf i use are travelling craftman ,they never settle for long :just come get some bizness at repearing tools, city wall, and deliver the previous order
no mountain stronghold for them
>>45988521
>Elves
Warhammer Wood Elves, Lorwyn, Shadowmoor, Scarred Lands, and Llanowar
>Dwarves
Warhammer Chaos Dwarves
>>45988977
You're very dull and wrong. And creating differences doesn't homogenize anything.
>>45988560
Half-Giants are Sarlonan, I want to say they were Quori creations?
Great, now I have to add Sarlonan Half Giant explorer trying to learn about his heritage, who's entire world collapses when he finds out his benevolent Quori masters were the ones to destroy the Giant civilisation to the long list of Eberron characters I'll never play.
The way I have it written up, Dwarves are the architects of the world. The Gods brought them in as like, contractors from a realm of existence beyond ours in order to craft an endless dungeon beneath the world in which the divine could toss all of their enemies.
Elves are literally dryad aliens. They came from a massive seed that crash landed on the world and grew into a giant tree, from which they all spawned. They are vaguely aware of their connection to the stars but lack the technology to return to their homeworld.
Humans are the descendants of the soldiers of the God of Fire and Magic, a force from a different reality who invaded the world tens of thousands of years ago. Though their invasion failed and their God was imprisoned in the sun, the soldiers were granted permission to stay and live in the world by the gods of the sea, earth, and sky since they had no way home.
Make humans the only playable race. Any other intelligent creature is a mysterious oddity.
Seriously, you should try it at least once.
>>45989518
Sarlona is basically, "weird shit, the continent".
Always wanted to run the dragon temple gauntlet for some players but my group never wants to do straight dungeon crawls.
>>45990232
One of our dms does this every game he runs and we get tired of it pretty quick.
I remember when he tried to do it with shadowrun and got pissed we refused to play.
>>45988521
I try to get to the heart of what these races are.
Dwarves were akin to maggots of Ymir's corpse given sentience by the gods, so dwarves are gross, ugly, hungry things that are also very pious. They're strongly associated with death, the underworld, and metalworking. So they deal death, have fatalistic faiths, and are masterful workers of their craft. They make mead from the blood of poets, and craft intricate and beautiful jewellery that even goddesses would offer themselves for it. As the Giants made the arms of the gods, so to do they make arms.
>>45990232
This only works if you remove ALL non human intelligent races.
No super scheme dragons, no fey bullshit from the wilds and no LOTR elves showing up out of nowhere to be better than humanity in every way.
>>45988977
While it can be true that the racial stereotypes can be fun if in the right hands, I'm not sure how changing the races for your setting "homogenizes" them. We're not necessarily talking about making it so that Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings, all live in mountains, forests, and quaint villages, together we're talking about changing the "general rules" for a race in your setting.
>>45990866
Why? Why not just say "This race is too alien for you to be able to play, roll a human instead"?
>>45989992
I like it. It doesn't so much change the races for the sake of changing them, it finds clever and unconventional explanations for things that are people's general expectations of those races.
>>45990826
Nigga that's edgy
>>45990882
the problem is right in how you said it. "they are too alien for you"
1. you just told a player they can't handle it. that's a challenge being issued
2. you just made humans the boring race
3. You are forcing people to be the boring race.
I'm all for an all human campaign with other races being treated as strange new and exotic, but if my GM said THAT to me I'd immediately want nothing more then to play an elf, or orc, or anything non-human
>>45991034
>Nigga that's edgy
Dwarves are edgy as shit if you do your research.
>>45988521
Haven't had chance to quite yet run it, but:
Human, forsaken by divinity and magic alike.
A cross between dragon and man, created some thousands of years ago by a thaumaturge as an experiment.
Floppy-eared folk, long-time friend of humanity. Resilient and capable thaumaturges.
Lizards of the east, have empire divided by a strict caste-system based on gendermorph ( 5 of them, think of side-blotched lizards )
Slug-like creatures, capable of living in death-jungles of south.
Small avians that are capable of hovering and even short flight via rigorous training, known for their mimicry.
Most numerous of them, anyway. Well, humans got short end of the stick ( least numerous of the bunch ), but stay on list thanks to their historic significance.
There are other ones, for example non-humanoid octopodes ( with weak manipulating limbs ).
Mind, despite relatively modern age, the world is still fragmented. Quite bit is still unexplored.
>>45990760
Well, it needn't be a default option, and you should probably do it an appropriate mileu.
Sounds like you GM just wants to run a game of Cyberpunk 2020.
>>45990866
Where did the bad GM touch you anon?
>>45991212
why is everyone so kawaii
do you have a gallery? I dig your style
>>45991034
Hi there, >>45989992 here,
The thing is that you, as a human, can only ever truly play as a human within a certain archetype. If you were to play an elf in a standard fantasy setting, you would just play it as a human who lives in the forest because that's what elves in standard fantasy are.
Everything in standard fantasy is just *Humans, but with X*. Orcs are strong ugly humans who like to raid. Dwarves are short crafty humans who like beer. Elves are lithe, woodsy humans who use bows and sometimes are adept at magic.
When you have a setting like mine where you went out of your way to make the elf and dwarf analogues into something far from human, that is to say a race solely dedicated to the expansion of a celestial dungeon and a race that is LITERALLY alien, you really can't have players play them in a way that will do justice to what you have created. And yeah, you can whine that the DM shouldn't create things that can't be used in a campaign, but sometimes we just want to create something unique.
>>45990882
In my personal experience, "too alien" races in fantasy are a dm's crutch.
Two of our old dms loved to use fey to just fuck us over, no matter what your character was.
Elves that could not been seen until they were on top of you, when your characters entire thing is awareness.
Fey women that awe struck you with their looks, even when you put everything into over coming and ignoring mind effects.
Wild things that any and all damage from you and move faster than you, who drop you into unconsciousness and take your things.
If you are going to limit people to being people, do not use bullshit and think it is a good challenge and hide behind the crutch of them not being humans.
>>45991242
floatrand.tumblr.com
Mostly because it is a quick sketch, it sorta lends to that.
>>45988521
I've done this before.
>Dwarves
Are now swamp-dwelling cajuns. Their resistance to poisons is ideal for the swamp, their stability keeps them moving smoothly on their flat-bottom boats, houseboats, and stilt-houses. their engineering skills are now applied to shallow water craft, crossbows, and alchemy (both cooking and poisons).
>Elves:
Racist xenophobes, they now live on top of mountains where they literally look down on the 'unclean ones' living below them. Their pale skin and fair hair blend in with the frigid mountain tops well. Their preference for archery is amplified by height advantages.
>Lizardfolk
Most lizards don't live in swamps. Lizardfolk are now desert cliff dwellers like the Hopi Indians of the American southwest. Replace the swim speed with a climb speed. Their villages are situated on cliff faces angled for maximum sunlight exposure (LIZARDS).
>Orcs
Nomadic horse-lords. They're Cossacks now. Strong tradition of honor and martial prowess, they take to animal husbandry very well. Never far from their horse, and rarely fight on foot.
>>45988977
This is like ban level retarded bait.
>>45991282
Ah, I'm following you already, I knew your style seemed familiar.
I love your stuff, keep it up!
>>45991269
Too alien doesn't mean too powerful. When a DM confuses the two, that's when it becomes a crutch.
To me, too alien means something more like they speak a language that cannot be mimicked by human mouths, or they see in a different spectrum of light, or they absorb nutrition in a way that would make it hard to adventure.
Because ultimately, that's what a campaign is about. Adventure. No one wants to play a game where you roll to see how well you can dig a corridor all session, or where you constantly have to stop dungeoneering in order to bathe in sunlight and eat tree sap. If you really want to sacrifice things like speech and sight and food in order to play a certain *alien* race, go right ahead I guess. I can guarantee you won't have as much fun as if you rolled up one of the "boring" humans.
Reminder that "le epic subversions XD" totally miss the entire point of having dwarves and elves in your setting to begin with.
They exist to allow a player to jump into this world he's familiar with, a standard fantasy world, and have an immediate understanding of what the peoples are like and what they do, but the places, the names, the threats, the politics, are all malleable by the GM. If you make the dwarves seafaring rice farmers who can't forge worth a damn, you're not adding shit to your setting, you're just removing functionality for no goddamn reason.
If you want to use new archtypes make new races.
>>45991701
The point of having dwarves and elves in my setting is to make it seem familiar to the players.
The point of having dwarves and elves be "le epic subversions" is because I, as the creator of the setting, want to do something different than what others have done.
It's the balance between familiarity and the unknown. When you get the perfect blend, in my experience, it creates a wonderful setting that isn't too hard to get in to but also keeps you wondering.
>>45991701
Or you know, since it's my setting and I'm the DM, and my players WANT to play stuff like this, that will be the deciding factor of whether I want to do it or not. Not some Jew on the internet.
I made this thread to get ideas, and have people spread some around so others can utilize them in their own campaign as well. If you're not here for that, then get out.
>>45991816
I use the general rule of thumb that if I have to explain how something works I should have my own name for it. If what my players think of when they hear 'dwarf' is accurate to the setting then I use dwarf, if not, I need to name them something different to avoid confusion.
>>45988521
I try and start from the basic thing for each race and work outwards. Elves live a long time, each elf is more or less defined by how they choose to spend eternity, if you could live forever what would you do with it.
Dwarves are all about rigid tradition and social structure. I usually have dwarves as lacking the same personal drives or self-fulfillment humans have, so each dwarf is driven by devotion to something larger, they don't get bored, their focus doesn't waver, but a dwarf with a job to do will keep doing it the same way for the rest of its life if need be.
In my setting, I have a few subversions. The largest is Orcs. Orcs are physically the same, but Orcs have a mental empathetic link with any Orc within a certain distance.
They can feel what the others are feeling, and send thoughts. Nothing as formed as words and sentences, but ideas and mental images. Because of this, they can learn very quickly from each other, and so organize themselves into Companies, groups dedicated to a specific trade that travel from hub to hub, where they ply their trade, have members leave to join other companies, or join up. Orcs can often jump to new trades once they feel they've learned all they can from their current one.
Because of the mental connection, they excel at tactics , possessing a nearly instant channel of communication that can't be drowned out by noise.
As a consequence of their connection, Orc on Orc violence is pretty rare, since hurting another Orc is also hurting yourself.
Some Orc are Silent, with no mental link, either through birth or maybe a curse or injury. They are often seen as either mentally handicapped, sociopathic, cursed, or just an outright abomination, depending on the culture.
These Orcs are fine in their own, but otherwise, Orcs get really uncomfortable and risk going insane if they stay out of mental range of any other Orcs for too long.
>>45992869
As far as other races are concerned, to Orcs, they are an entire race of Silents. They can't empathize with each other, or us. To some cultures, they are pitiable, to others, they are lesser beings, to assume, they are just odd, and to some, they are no more than animals.
Combine this with the fact that Orcs never developed the need to remote physically, and communication with Orcs comes off as cold, stony, and uncomfortable (unless the Orc has practiced speaking with humans).
The Orcs most likely to encounter humans are Raiding Bands, and in combat, Orcs fight with great tactics, and a considerably lower emotional connection to their event. Once they start dying in large numbers, the empathetic pain starts to become too much to bear, and so Orcs are relatively easy to rout. This has given Orc soldiers a reputation of being strong, brutal, merciless, but also cowardly at heart, fleeing once their victory isn't certain.
>>45988521
>dwarves are incapable of getting drunk
>elves are actually quite friendly
>>45988521
>>45989244
Not that anon, but if everyone is "unique" and "different", some homebrew masters tend to make the mistake of actually making everything generic through sheer ineptitude.
A lot of the time, I treat dwarves like most people treat gnomes. I blame Dwarf Fortress.
>>45999435
Yeah, DF did some pretty bad things with Dwarves. It seems like most Dwarves are either "le drunken scotsmen" from WoW or "le crazy randumb hobos" from DF
>>45988584
^This Rabbits, Cats, Dogs, Centaurs, but if I see a "furry style" pic they are out.
>>45988584
Based jew rabbit
>>45989992
>Dwarves as Extradimensional Subcontractors
kek
Dragons in this world is really just lucky lizards who ate meteorites and grew really big.
They don't mate or reproduce but instead they just lay an egg right before they die and then a new lizard eats that "egg" and the cycle continues
>>46001194
What if something not a lizard eats the egg?
>>46001243
well then they get a big ass omelet. It only works on lizards.
And sometimes a chicken. But this only happens during an eclipse. The time where the chickens natural bloodlust awakens
>>45988521
More and more I feel that new takes to make the races feel more unique in your setting is good, so long as that change works with existing stereotypes and/or the mythos from with they originate. If you start going against the racial tropes or changing them altogether, its probably better to just create a brand new race with the qualities you want.
It's been mentioned earlier, but Eberron really did strike the right balance. The kind of twisting of a racial trope to a point where it's a new and fresh culture, but the heart of the original remains.
>Dwarves
Very resembling your typical fantasy dwarf, but instead of being isolationists they thrived off urban gold, through mercantile and banking. They are one of the most widespread races, with a small to siginifcant minority in nearly every nation.
Highelves
>Still holier-than-thou and wise, but they are death worshippers of their still active ancestor's ghosts. Juggalo make-up is the norm with them.
Woodelves
>Moved this subtype from the woods to the plains. They covet honourable combat and are obsessed with roleplaying the deeds of their ancestors. Basically Klingelves.
Halflings
>A tribal nomatic race who live on plains ajacent to the elves. Still very halfling in spirit with strong family ties and oral tradition, despite the less european flavouring.
>Also, they tame and ride dinosaurs
>Fucking awesome
Gnomes
>A very polite and friendly people, somewhat resembling victorian england in tone with a more tropical aesthetic. But behind every smiling face is a calculating mind. Intrigue is high among them, but ever with the courtesy of civilized society. They don't like trouble, and often those who bring it in their lands have a habit of simply disappearing without a trace or question asked.
Most everything in Eberron has been bent from the greyhawk/faerun standard, and the results are very interesting yet comfortable. Striking that kind of balance is probably the best way to subvert a norm while keeping that racial identity available to players to grasp onto while learning the setting.
>>46002629
Seems to me they reversed elves and orcs. That always struck me as odd about the setting. Don't really like dinosaur riding halflings either. Now if the orcs rode dinosaurs, even the dwarves, I could get behind that, but halflings? Eh.
I have DM'd two campaigns now, one current and one in the past, using D&D 5E. I use a "points of light" setting for both.
In the first campaign, the players were a ragtag spelunking company, sometimes on commission and sometimes working for themselves. They often dealt with a race of lizard-men that lived in the great desert past the mountains bordering the "known-world".
The lizard men were very intelligent, and lacked much physical strength. Their nobility were albino, and once controlled a vast empire through the use of powerful relics. A large quest chain for the PCs was the returning of these relics for large sums of cash.
Their second campaign is in a world sometime later, where lizard men who were once desert dwelling rule with an iron fist. Their castles contain great sand courtyards, and wizards are paid to stave off rain and humidity.
My players seem to think the idea of a race adapted for living one way but forced to live differently is cool.
>>46002738
Halflings have always had a thing for animal husbandry but instead of cows and pigs, these hobbits live in dinosaur land
I had this idea of flavoring Orcs to be basically Native Americans. Either as an your standard noble savages living in the untamed wilds or your disenfranchised marginalized population trying to survive and keep their traditions alive.
>>45989137
So basically Tolkien Elves?
>>45991282
Do you take requests?
>>46003024
You should look into the lore of the "Orcs of Bran-O-Kor", one of the races from the old Confrontation mini game. Very much what you were thinking, might be good inspiration.
On a related topic, anyone got some pictures of bipedal elephant men? Want to throw a berserker at my players and have it be a bit more unique than "Angry Swede". Also, do you think an elephantman would be more easily sent into a panic or rage, since that's been a problem of war elephants since antiquity?
Contributing the only good one I have.
>>46003632
Check out the Elephantmen comics.
Mad acientist makes Furry super soldiers in Africa, they take over a good chunk of the old world. Then they get taken to America for another chance at life.
>>45988521
Current setting includes:
>Orcs
Viking-Thracians with a big Shaman/Druid based religion and court/tribal politics that appear utterly Byzantine to outsiders. There's about three or four major religious/socio-political/economic descriptors for each tribe detailing whether or not they kill other Orcs, whether they hunt in summer or winter, and whether or not they will kill you, rape you, or give you gifts on any given day (and even then some do all three, and in different orders). Basically rules-lawyers on steroids.
>Elves
The Fae refined some Orcs they found into a warrior caste to serve them, then got shanked. Elves went on to conquer everyone else and then break up when their Not!Alexander-the-Great died.
>Dark Elves
Elves with recessive Orc genes on display. Currently engaged in murdering all the Dwarves and stealing their shit.
>Dwarves
Gothic Romans, if that makes sense. Have a sense they've lost more than they'll ever know (they went full Vault-tech for 1,000 years at one point and woke up with their civilization erased). Tend to overcompensate by playing up their ruthlessness and their "Imperial Destiny and Birthright". Constant Civil War for the last few centuries, no end in sight. Full-on Balkan Dwarves.
>Humans
Dragon and Snake worshipers. Tend to live on the steppe and have built the second most urban civilization at the moment.
>Aasimar
Several-generations removed Rape babies from when some Angels went full Morningstar and started dicking mortals on their way to hell. Lean evil and chaotic. Found in every race.
>Tieflings
Descendants of the Demons who tried to repent, and got stuck being the gate guards of hell.Virtuous pagans, and all that jazz. No one knows that though, and most assume they're demon-spawn and kill them as often as not. Lean lawful and good.
>Halflings
Picts. They're the fucking picts. Watch your ass around these vicious shits. You have been fuckin warned, boyo.
Pic unrelated, I just think it looks cool.
>>46003024
Been doing something like that by mixing Native Americans with Celts and Mongols.
I use lizardmen pretty frequently, since I'm a sucker for reptile characters in general.
I have them, in my setting, set up in 5 different ways
.
>Swamp loving, xenophobic voodoo lizards, your token standard lizardfolk.
>Desert dwelling lizards, modeled after ancient Mesopotamia with some Egyptian themes
>The mountain lizards, who are a combination of the Inuit, Inca, and Iroquois
>The Plains lizards, who are basically just Native Americans but only work together since herds and living in groups is a good survival tactic. Have no real structure, basically just a bunch of strangers living on the plains together because the orcs down the street might murder them if them if they don't
>Chinese lizards. Basically just imagine a ton of anoles but in Asiatic garb.
I also only have, like, 5 sentient sapient species in my setting.
>>45988521
Dwarves and Giants are the same race. As Dwarves grow older they slowly enlarge. Furthermore Dwarves/Giants magical powers revolve around the manipulation of the earth. The smaller they are the more dense materials they can manipulate whilst the larger they are the more material they can manipulate.
Elves are fucking savages. Very much inspired by Norse and Pict legends. Immortal Warriors who's motives can be somewhat unusual, for example an Elf might be motivated to die in a particular fashion and their entire life will revolve trying to die under very specific conditions or they might want to make sure a particular species of flower grows in a particular grove.
Humans are the mysterious elder race that are exotic and rare. Left over remnants of their mighty civilization are everywhere.
Orks run civilized roman-esque empire and are the most common species. Very orderly and strict. Punishments are often in excess of the crime.
Standard Knights and Castles Feudal Lizardmen who are a species originally created by dragons as a servant race. Rebelled and are now famous for their dragon slaying knights.
>>46002629
Riding on this, Short people ho!
>Halflings
Darksun
>Two "types": Halfings are murderous cannibals, the other half is are sophisticated progenitor species that blames the rest of the races for the world's problems. The sophisticates and rarely the savages have access to biological-technology of crazy sci-fi levels.
>Gnomes
Al-Qadim
>Gnomes do not have the standard low-level magic they receive in other settings, instead at birth each one is bound with a tiny Djinn (usually in the form of an animal). Gnomes roam the seas of sand offering their expertise in genie craft to any one that would have them.
>Halflings/Humans
Darksun & Planescape
>The Vistani a strange race of wandering people that are able to roam in and out of boundaries without magic or protection. They also seem to be able to navigate disastrous phenomenon that is normally impossible to traverse, and walk through "locked" towns/worlds without a second thought. Often giving that same vibe as mystery gypsies with monkey paws to sell.
>Halflings
Birthright
>Creatures of the shadows, they are able to fade in and out of this world and the realm of shadows, blurring the lines between them often. These mysterious half people seek shelter in the realm of light, claiming they are running from a terrible threat in their home land. Often seen as good luck, the literately combat bad luck and curses keeping their new communities safe.
>Gnomes
Golarion
>Having hair and personalities that usually belong in a anime, Gnomes live by their obsessions. Literally needing to preform their craft or basically "starve" to death as their color fades and they weaken.
Another race in Darksun was similar but I forget who... Dwarves?
>Halflings
Dragonlance
>Kenders, heh.
>>45988521
What do i have in my setting?
>Dwarves
Old and wise scientists and researchers of all kind of studies, even arcane. Dwarves make the best wizards and alchemists and treat magic as another science that must be studied
>Elves
The youngest of the races, shoveled on the world while still incomplete, they change race depending on the place where they develop during pregnancy (city elves, forest elves and sea elves)
>orcs
Native americans with a trace of voodoo. Their leaders are usually shamans or druids
>lizardfolk
Swamp dwelling tribes with an highly complex matriarcal society.
>hobgoblin
Once ruler of an empire, got thrashed almost to extinction by a revolt of human slaves
There are no mixed races, except some extraordinary cases like half-feys or tieflings and aasimars
>>46003353
Sorry, no.
Have some ideas of my own to share, will do so when I'm next on an actual computer and not my phone
>>46006194
bumping out of curiosity
>>46002738
Makes since in setting because halflings ended up on the dino side of an almost 3000 mile wide continent, in the plains.
Dwarves were from a set of Rocky Mountain like chains that formed next to one another.
Orcs are from the other side of the continent from both and their homeland is a 500 by 700 miles swamp and a forest so large it makes up its own nation.
>>45990720
You're thinking of Xen'dric, Sarlona is psionic North Korea/China run by creatures from the dream dimension, fighting psychic Tibetan monks empowered by rebel dream creatures.
>>45988521
My setting has Mushmin, who, like Tolkein's Hobbits, enjoy the simple things in life; family, good food, and a nice nap! They're not really into adventuring at all, "Makes you late for supper!", so much so that you'll never come across a Mushmin adventurer or bandit, or even more than a few guards, and I ask my players to refrain from playing them.
They're often quite varied in appearance and size, but all of them live in little villages Snowy Swamps. They don't really hate any of the other races, enjoy the occasional traveler, and trade with nearby human settlements often, they usually prefer to live among themselves.
Despite being somewhat of a "MacGuffan" folk, they have good Int and Wis, alright Cha, and a butt ton of Con. Slow and not very strong, though.
>>45988521
in my campaign, halflings are still nomadic travellers, but since its a high-magic setting, they have enormous magically powered roving city/vehicles, called "Caravans". Here is the Caravan of Freepath, from which a PC in my game hails.
Something about the name Halfling pisses me off and I don't know why. Anyone use a different name for them?
>>46012916
You can always call 'em "Hobbits" if you don't mind getting sued by the Tolkein enterprises.
>>46012916
Nelwyn :)
>>45999500
>le crazy randumb hobos
You have learned nothing from dwarf fortress.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is1wSwdaM2w
>>45988521
What's a good way to have humans be unique? Trying to come up with ideas for human kingdoms but they're all ending up either like England or Rome.
>>46014290
medieval or renaissance russia
>>45991290
>short heavy people living in swamps
retarded
depending on how buff your orcs are horse lords is retarded to
>>46014373
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfW1bkPI8Kc
forgot to put music that goes with it
>>45988521
Look op, i don't know if this has already been said because tldr, but youre saying that because there are stereotypes about these races then all the characters from a race are the same? Only way that is true is if youre playing with a group of rollplayers who just don't care about making personality in their characters. Changing the races around probably won't do you any good.
>>45988521
Everything usually ends up being humans in hats. I think you're better off scrapping those races and developing more fully fleshed human societies.
Maybe have things like lizardfolk or giants at the edges of the map where they may or may not exist solely as folktales.
>>46011821
Races that aren't antagonistic or are suitable for use as PC material don't make a lot of sense to me, just doesn't seem to have a point really
>>46012916
My preferred names for Halflings are Pech(the term Fantasy Craft uses) and Hin(the term Mystara uses)
>>46014610
That's boring and unimaginative though
>>45991290
I like this a lot
>>46015294
Is it? I think you can do a lot more with a well thought out fantastic society, then trying to shoe horn old fantasy tropes into different holes in order to get some semblance of novelty.
Setting tl;dr: magic industrial revolution in 3.5's broken-ass magic system made everything utopian perfect, magic broke under stress, new magic powered by melting stuff down, world is a wasteland filled with flying citystates where only a tiny chunk of the city still works 'cuz no one remembers how to work the devices anymore.
Elves think in centuries, so they weren't even a little prepared for the speed of the change and by the time thy got their shit together they were being forcibly relocated into the cities so their magic bullshit tree palaces could be melted down for batteries. Now they live in sealed greenhouse domes and stubbornly pretend the outside doesn't exist.
Dwarves live as long as elves; most of them looked at what was happening and said "fuck, nope" and bailed underground. The rest have been around long enough that they still know how the shit works, so they're wealthy powerful technogods who've taken their crafting fetish to insane heights, most of 'em being lunatic noneuclidean artists now.
Halflings died. Fuck 'em. Gnomes are boring cyborg ants.
Orcs were mounting an attack on the civilized world in one mighty horde right as the revolution got going, led by a smart-ass warlord-king. Got their asses fried by fireball machine guns, slunk away, and came back in a few weeks when it became clear that "no, we are never gonna beat that". Joined society as laborers. Became very useful as soldiers when magic broke, returned as dynastic war heros. Now a wealthy elite with a mostly ceremonial martial culture: gold-plated diamond-clustered waraxes, and stuff.
Yuan-ti and gnolls just kind of showed up when it became clear which way the wind was blowing and got in to the floating cities while the getting was good. Yuan-ti are weird snakes who like weird snake things and have weird snake priorities, buy they also play the nicest with humans in terms of social niceties. Gnolls are great lolloping furrybait hyena people who live in giant pack-clusters.
>>46015610
>t their asses fried by fireball machine guns, slunk away, and came back in a few weeks when it became clear that "no, we are never gonna beat that". Joined society as laborers.
The rest wasn't so bad. But that's almost painfully dumb.
>>46015704
It kind of relies on their getting organized primarily because of slavish devotion to their god-king, who was smart enough to look at magic so overpowered and broken it would actually break the way magic worked and say "FUCK that".
Like, the ones who came back in a few weeks were the survivors after Lord Highgod Bigdick Axe King declared they were surrendering and the rioting started.
At least they have a reason. Yuan-ti and gnolls are there because I like 'em. POOF, PC races, fuck you.
I gotta work on that, actually.
>>45988521
>Like dwarves are always drunkard master builders living in a city in the mountains, elves are always racist hunters in the forest, etc.
That's not really true at all.
>>46016385
Unless you break the trend, which is what we're trying to do lol
I replace the standard races with animal-people races. Therefore they are more different from generic humans and you can implant their strange biology into the mix.
>>46014375
Who said dwarves are all that heavy? And I'll have you know many cajuns aren't much taller than 4'8".
>>45991282
Aha, I knew something seemed familiar. I love your mech's design.
>>45988521
The Best Way:
Warhammer 40k
Elves are cowards that fucked the god of excess into existence, and now have to refrain from getting emotional all day, every day, some of their young'uns are punks that go through a rebeliouspunk-lke phase (Corsair, Ranger)
Orks are killer-funghi with attitude
Goblins are lesser funghi with even more attitude
Dwarfs ar--- were trike riding leather cloth wearing Hells Angels
Lizardfolk were the architects of everything (now deceased)
>>45988521
Just something I've been working on off a whim. Could use some more input:
>Elves being a mix of Mediterranean and Arabic/Turkish cultures, empire based in the desert and coast. Heavily based on trading, sailing, philosophy, and arts. Base elf is tanner than their generic depiction with black hair. Magic is mostly based on the element of fire
>Orcs being a mix of Slavic and Nordic cultures from the wintry north. Less savage, more Tsarist Vikings. Originated from an empire of "Ice Giants" that resemble yetis coupling with human slaves to create a hardier slave population. Eventually overthrown and exterminated save for a few isolated pockets that have devolved over the years.
>Humans are more Celtic/Norman/Saxon in inspiration which is where some of the more Nordic influence comes from with the Orcs. Considered one of the first races along with the elves. Originated from fey similar to how elves originate from some sort of Djinn analogue. Mounts consist mostly of griffons.
>Goblins are a corruption of Elves. Originate from an area known as the "Desert of Glass". The name is self-explanatory as a huge portion of the desert near the Elven Empire has been turned into jagged glass and crystal. A mixture of something akin to radiation and particles of fine glass in the air makes the area incredibly toxic. Those that spend too much time begin to almost devolve and have crystalline growths appear across their body. Goblins are the end result of that. Though they lack intelligence, some sort of force compels them to spread and infect others. Much of the Elven Empire’s resources are devoted to keeping them from encroaching on their borders. Most of the influence is caused by some Lovecraftian Horror but more of a Color from Outer Space type of entity rather than Cthulhu.
>>46022015
>Dragonborn-like race based on Chinese culture. Created by an Imperial family of Dragons who rule them. There are two separate factions, one that resembles your more traditional European dragon with some Asian influences who focus on martial combat and another which are based on your average Chinese dragon and have a higher magical affinity. Both factions are constantly in a state of civil war. Dragons are primordial forces like the fey/djinn but unlike them still have a more direct role in the world acting as this race's rulers. The origin or the race came from dragons being jealous of the fey/djinn's creations and thought they could do better. The two dragon types disagreed on whether to focus on martial/mystic prowess hence the civil war.
>Halflings are basically gypsies. Offshoot of humans and took to caravanning. Nomadic and spread out in clusters, society heavily based on mercantile.
>Dwarves are inspired by Scottish/English. Maybe a dash of Germanic considering their origin. Definitely the weakest link so far and really need more work.
>>46022015
>Most of the influence is caused by some Lovecraftian Horror but more of a Color from Outer Space type of entity rather than Cthulhu
Hands down the scariest story of his; would play campaign.Seriously, sounds like a cool setting.
As for your dwarves, maybe give them the vibe of an ancient civilization rather than a medievalish one.
Greek, Babylonian, Egyptian, or a unique blend thereof.
Dwarves' tendency towards stubborness and conservatism always makes me think they'd be a little behind the curve if you're basing your races partially of existing earth cultures. Yet they endure, because they're always tough lil sons of bitches who don't say die.
If your current dwarf model is too ingrained in their current style/aesthetic to do such broad strokes, you could do something like make Dwarves have a secret ruling caste, above the King Caste. They may dress and speak in the ways of ancient ancestors. Very ritualized and strict. From their secret tunnels far below the deeproutes, they try to orchestrate the perfect path for dwarves.
Most kings are beholden to the scrolls that arise from below, oathbound to follow their true lords and keep their very existence from being known of.
>Now I'm just gettin all pumped about the Dwarf Illuminati idea i just had
http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/11/god-hates-orcs.html?m=1
>>45988521
Here's some ideas I made up with some friends. Without going into too many details, it was for a setting we made up where the world was flooded during a battle of the gods and everyone is pirates. So D&D meets Wind Waker meets Water World or something.
>Humans used to be the most powerful race in terms of military and mercantile might, but have fallen from grace and have been replaced by Lizardmen as the dominant power in the world. They are still around, but the Humans are scattered and prone to infighting.
>Elves live on secluded tropical islands in the great ocean. They are masters of healing magic and are led by the last druids in the known world. The Elves rarely leave their islands, as the Drow who drowned en masse during the great flood still haunt the seas.
>The Dwarves escaped the flood by enchanting their entire country to take off into the sky. The landmass broke apart in the process, meaning that various clans of Dwarves were left to fend for themselves against the many subterranean monsters that hitched a ride on their floating islands.
>With the Humans out of the way, Lizardman (or Dragonborn, they're interchangeable) have become a major power in the new world. Lizardmen pirates plunder the land and sea with impunity, fearing retribution from only other Lizardmen and the great sea serpents (dragons) whom they are often vassals to.
>>46003632
Only one I've got is a photo of an old McFarlane figure, hope it helps.
>>46015261
Isn't that (Pech) the derogatory term used in Willow?
>>46028445
Is that a xenomorph next to it?
>>45988521
>elves are always racist hunters in the forest, etc.
There are also elfs in regular cities and who are not racist.
>>45988521
>What's some good spins on these races
Same concepts different execution.
>Elves
>Rather than being supremacist racist rangers, they are woodland amazones who, due to some genetic defect that makes elven males incredibly rare, have a deep interest in humans and desire nothing more than to be "culturally enriched"
>Dwarves
>They are still master tinkerers, but prefer hilltop settlements as the fresh air and access to the plains allows for better experimentation. They are monklike in their attitude to alcohol: they love brewing it, but drink with moderation
>Gnomes
>This is the burrowing race that has deep, underground structures, sometimes in the mountains. Their small stature, disproportionately large ears and habbit of burrowing away from the sun helps them survive in the harsh desert climate. They also dress in an Arabic fashion (you know, to protect themselves from the desert sun?)
>Orcs
>Rather than brutal savages, the orcs are a militant civilization. They care very little for the arts and sciences, as all their artistic and scientific efforts are directed at perfecting the art of war. When it comes to building strongholds, designing siege engines or coming up with new stratagems, the orcs are geniusses.
So without betraying their nature, I switched some roles around: the orcs are civilized, the elves are savage. The dwarves are a jolly hill folk, the gnomes burrowers and mountainfolk.
>>45988521
My DM used to have an idea for elves where they were predominantly composed of merchants. A mercantile empire. Basically an entire race of Happy Mask Salesmen.
I thought it was a pretty neat idea, but we never got around to implementing it.
>>46029784
Ugh
>>45989137
Where do the ships come from?
>>46029784
>elves are magical realm - the race
I'm using Stars Without Number ( asci-fi system), so I decided to go with the "heavyworlders/lightworlders" approach. Spending too much time in a gravitational field too strong/weak for ordinary humans leads to health problems, but over the generations colonists of such places would adapt with technology, selective breeding/genetic engineering, or just natural selection.
Heavyworlders end up like dwarves, with short, stocky, and strong bodies but relatively difficult space travel (high escape velocity), so they're relatively insular and disdainful of visitors. On the plus side, their homeworlds have lots of resources, so they have plenty of know-how about their home turf.
Lightworlders/spacers end up like elves, with frail, tall bodies, a nomadic lifestyle (low-grav planets are small and don't have much resources), and a propensity for psychic powers (spacetime warping can cause MES, a psi-granting neurological disorder). When they encounter other people, they rely on their closeness with their spaceships and their psychic powers (if they have them) to settle matters. Vain elves might play up the "tall, frail alien waifu" cliche for their personal gain or amusement.
I've got some tl;dr notes, but do you really want to see them?
>>46030769
>>46031258
That is simply how I elf, nothing more.
>>46032237
I meant the post not the image.
>>46028445
>>46029403
Lol yes it is. Its the panther alien, I have this toy as well along with the flying queen, the giant face hugger, the killer crab, and the wild boar alien
I always wanted the snake alien, the bull alien and the yellow modelmof the panther alien (puma alien) but they never came to the store i used to buy them
I'm introducing nagas in my campaign.
Any ideas on hwo to make them intresting- link to someone who made them intresting?
>>46035088
Nagas? Make them Sikhs.
>>45990826
To continue.
My Orcs are a corrupted mutt race made in a profane way by Orcus. He twisted men and dwarves into these twisted things, and filled their veins with blackness, setting them out to enact revenge on the gods.They breed with humans, dwarves, ogres, and trolls, their society being a brutal meritocracy. They make war on whomever they can, be it other races or their own kind. Depending on the disposition of the clan, they could be barbarians or mercenaries, the line between being very thin.
While some worship Orcus still, others have canonized their own hero-god Grummsh, who is basically Orcish Odin. Through sacrifice you gain strength, with ritual scarification and maiming. A few tribes led by the two-headed ettin follow Demogorgon, rival of Orcus.
>>46015193
How about occupying an ecological niche in your imaginary world beyond being a walking sack of HP for your players to gank?
You donk.
>>46035088
Caste based society, ruled by Demigod-Kings with multiple arms and heads, and their buildings are often partially underwater, and of antique Cambodian design in the manner of Angkor Wat.
>>45988521
I take the normal fantasy races, but I apply, to some degree, logic regarding cultural evolution. Elves are essentially the French- they always have the second most powerful army in the world, only to be invaded by the first most powerful at the most inconvenient moment. They have an intense problem with cultural diffusion- Elvish sounds beautiful, but it isn't a practical language in the age of the "common" languages, but they have, in turn, influenced human culture immensely.
>>45988521
Humans - bad motherfuckers
Elves - basic dnd elves
Dwarves - pic related
Trolls - muh noble savage
Orcs - unplayable monster race. Not unintelligent, but inherently evil and savage.
I've got a low fantasy world going where Orcish society is basically partways between OWoD werewolves and Warcraft orcs. Geographically and traditionally divided Tribes that split into more political/philosophically split Clans. Some tribes are more unified while others have more solitary clans. They all worship a central pantheon that everyone recognizes, but each regional group also has a bunch of periphery lesser gods and demigods and sometimes they have varied interpretations of the main gods. Orcs consider it rather wasteful to argue about religion and actually often look down on humans of particularly zealous nations.
>>46003877
>>45989992
Good shit.
>>46039704
cont.
Humans were the first race and run big kingdoms and empires. Elves and trolls came second. They fled the spirit world and took material forms to avoid to war between angels and demons. There are four large cities within the elven kingdom. Trolls are more widespread and scattered into small tribal kingdoms. The Demon War bled into the physical world and demons started manifesting as undead. Angels are dicks, so they didn't do much. To combat the ever growing undead legions, some mad wizard tortured a few elves until their souls abandoned their still living bodies to reincarnate. The soulless bodies were the first orcs. Orcs were supposed to be a sort of super soldier weapon against the undead, because they don't have souls to corrupt. They were effective against the undead, but they quickly turned on their masters afterwards. To combat the ever growing orc threat, a group of elven mages used a bunch of science and magic to create dwarves. Dwarves were meant to be magically automated fleshy robots, the perfect shock troopers, miners, farmers, and general slaves. Dwarves were too a success at first, nearly bringing the Orc to extinction, but as they aged, they learned, and soon they began to grow souls and personalities of their own. Once enough dwarves gained sentience, they rebelled against the elves and claimed a mountain stronghold as their fortress kingdom.
I really like elves as asshole techno wizards who end up fucking everything up while doing science.
>High elves
Extinct due to being accepted into human society and then swiftly bred out of existence
>Dwarves
Always on the defensive. Their entire kingdom is surrounded by Trump walls. They focus most of their efforts towards keeping their penninsula-trapped enemies out of the mainland.
>Dark elves
Stuck on !Not Florida. Their race was blocked off from the mainland before a giant chunk of robot-infested human spaceship landed on top of them. They never did learn how to make boats
>Snow elves
Symbiotic relationships. The snow elves were the only old-world race to have been experimented on by the humans. They were connected to now sentient mammoths via a psychic link. A snow elf and a mammoth are linked together as lifelong partners and as soon as one dies the other immediately does as well. They also require a mixture of elf and mammoth sperm in order to get their respected females impregnated. All of this forces partners to view each other as one being that behave very nicely towards each other.
>Orcs
The first great power in this world. They were wiped out when the humans and the high elves teamed up in the first Great War to exterminate them from this planet. Not much is known about this due to most of the knowledge on it being lost in the day of mourning or just rotting away due to being for-fucking-ever ago
>Humans
Was the most successful race on the planet. They wiped out the orcs and accidentally the high elves and then promptly had a huge technological revolution. Their race moved into a spaceship that orbited the planet. While their spaceship was being prepared for long-distance space travel they created most of the other races in the setting. They got wiped out due to an unfortunate streak of bad luck. Their slave race (skaven), rose up and wiped out a good chunk of them and the next day a huge meteorite crashed into their ship and created another moon, the northwestern radiation/skaven wasteland, and the southeastern robot wastes (bye bye dark elves).
>>46041205
>They also require a mixture of elf and mammoth sperm in order to get their respected females impregnated.
That's pretty fucking realmy, dude.
>>46029784
So, the orcs are basically Sparta?
>>46041375
Sorry. I only put it in there to show how dependent the two are on each other. I'm not fucking jacking off to elephant schlongs over here okay? I'll probably just take that out now that I think about it. Not like someone will ever ask a question about it. Fuck. I'll take it out. Thanks actually
Why not create a new race or not use fantasy races
>>46041549
I create new races as well. It's just good to have something that players are comfortable with but are still interesting and not overused.
>>46041583
Well it's one thing to say that now elves live in mountains and not forests and it's another to say that they are aquatic wolfkin that morphed from a cow's ass.
Some of these people should just take elves out of their games
>>46041640
Yeah. That is too far. I didn't do any of that but the race should still resemble their Tolkien counterparts somehow. And not just physically either
>>46041676
Tolkien or just regular mythology
I decided to have some justification for dwarf beards, so a braid in a dwarf's hair is a mark of a major accomplishment in one's life, be but in battle or craft or love -- it's all on the specific dwarf to decide if something justifies it, but a dwarf who has a lot of braids for their age might be seen as arrogant, more than accomplished or even lucky. Beards are grown by male dwarves who need more to braid, whether they're old or just full of themselves. Female ones can't grow beards, so they tend to just grow out their hair if they need more to work with.
>>46041720
You know what I mean
>>45988521
Elves are actually less intelligent than humans, being that they're a younger race that barely came into sapience recently (on a geological scale, mind). However, they're convinced of their own superiority and actually have a placebo-effect aura that makes everyone else around them dumber, thus supporting this erroneous belief.
>>46041770
Sounds stupid as shit.
>>46029358
I don't know if the term itself is derogatory, but Willow didn't correct him, so I'm guessing he was just irritated at somebody calling him by his face instead of his name.
Pech is also an actual mythological term, while "hobbit" and "halfling" are just Tolkien.
>>46041729
My justification is that they're swarthy hairy fuckers.
>>46041460
Instead: Any elf pairing cannot conceive unless their soulmammoths also pair up.
Dodges the weird sex connotation, makes elves low birth rate, and you can easily generate lore based on the notion of soul mate and the like. Easily romanticized and incorporated while remaining abstracted.
Why do elves need to have a low birthrate. Why not have the vast bulk of the population just somewhere else? It seems to stupidly contrived.
>>46029358
wouldn't know, haven't seen Willow
>Dwarves
>Thick-headed thrill seekers, that have long lost their sense of tradition and are constantly out for a joy ride.
>Kobolds
>Honour driven warriors with a culture of strict martial doctrine, often travel in bands that hire themselves out as mercenaries.
>Ogre
>A once nomadic race that's seen integration into the civilized world as laborers, crafters or soldiers, or have been enslaved to do the same for free.
>Orcs
>Disgraced and conflicted warriors with a long forgotten history of a culture that was built around bushido inspired principals.
>Bullywugs
>Commonly known to be merchants, powerful spellcasters, book keepers and historians. Effectively the Jews of my campaign.
>Kenku
>Live in countless small communities out in the ruins of long dead civilizations, most believe they have a duty to keep outsiders from acquiring the powerful knowledge that originally destroyed the surrounding landscape and its occupants. Have a culture based on taoism.
I like what Endless Legend did with their races. Their Elves are forest dwellers- who also function as the "industrial" race, because their willingness to exploit the land and talent for doing so sustainably makes them able to build shit and expand at a rapid pace. Their Dragons/Lizardman race has Ancients who have been alive for centuries, so they are great at gathering knowledge and making scientific progress... and that knowledge cumulates into them being the Political faction, able to generate the "Influence" resource quickly and the unique ability to force other factions into peace/truce/alliance; to me it sounds like a sort of Godfather setup where they know all the dirt on literally everybody else, and use that to make people offers they can't refuse.
Seriously, check it out. It might be a video game, but the lore is certainly worthwhile.
>>45999435
I have "Beastkin" in my campaign. Greedy young gods tried to create more worshippers by warping fierce and cunning animals into man-like creatures.
Now they're all one race, but striated into rough castes by what "type" of creature they come from. Goats, wolves, bears, oxen.
A different campaign I played in flipped orcs around, and made them more tribal, anti-civilization humans. Having them talk normal, not like idiot brutes, makes a big difference in players' perceptions of them.
I always flavor my elves to be indian, reflecting hinduism and sikhism. They also are not the longest living races in my setting. They only last up to 250 years, where as dwarves live up to 300.
I flavor my dwarves to be either arabic inspired bowmen or hardasses that live in the badlands. The badlands ones have no sense of craftmanship, engineering or metalworking.
the orcs I create are reflective of ancient china. I do warrior monk orcs or alchemist/inventor orcs. I also make guardsmen with them from time to time.
>>45988977
Here's your ^
>>46048512
No that guy is correct
>>45991353
I don't know man I think it's pretty funny
>>45988521
>elves are degenerate fucks who enjoy gambling and brothels
>from an unspecified distant land across the sea
>greedy with a good head for mercantile
>one of their old heroes is basically Odysseus
>given their own private island off the mainland because they agreed to serve the human royal line
>>46041459
I was thinking more of Rome acually, but Sparta fits too.
>>45988861
GURPS alien generator is a great way to come up with some funky shit.
>>45989137
So, Kevin Costner in Waterworld with a fleet and pointy ears?
>>46050650
>rolled a giant hairy telepathic starfish
For my next campaign setting, I wanted to keep the same general idea (lots of fairy-tale races), but more or less ditch the Norse and Tolkien influences. This resulted in:
>Dwarfs
Forest-dwelling little people; deft, clever, curious, but usually not very brave.
>Fairies
Swashbuckling, far-roaming hedonists and thrill-seekers; elfin adrenaline junkies, basically.
>Goblins
Mountain-dwelling miners, tinkers, engineers, craftsmen; violent, oft-drunken hoarders of gold and treasure.
>Ogres
Green-skinned tundra-dwelling barbarians and shamans; bro-tier friend to humanity.
During the last Great War (the campaign's backstory), the Goblins and the Ogres were tricked by the Dark Evil Lord into fighting against Men, Dwarfs, and Fairies. In the time of the campaign, though, the new evil on the rise is basically Tom Bombadil finally rising up, animating the forests, coming to get his; and so this time around, it will be Men, Goblins, and Ogres fighting for Law and civilization against the Fairies and the Dwarfs.
>>46051512
>Dwarves are Elves
>Fairies are Gnomes
>Goblins are Dwarves
>Ogres are Blizzard orcs
yawn
>>46051805
No, you dumbass, the dwarves are hobbits, the goblins are dwarves, the ogres are blizzard orcs, and the fairies are tall kender.
>>46051805
>>46051868
Honestly the dwarves sound more like gnomes to me, and the fairies are pretty much how I always imagined pixies
>>45988521
>Elves as stone age type nomads in the wild lands to the east.
>Dwarves as somber slaves to their now dead god. They still carry on his old orders.
>Humans as generic medieval humans. Welp...
>>46051868
close enough, it's all derivative
>>45988885
>I'd like to use standard races, but I'd also like to just give them a twist.
Why do people do this shit?
>>46052295
Rather than understanding why these races are used, and history and mythology behind them, they take the name and associate it with whatever they like because it's familiar.
But you're running into the 'My Elves Are Different' problem. By trying to make your fantasy races different from the norm, you're either going to turn them into ridiculous charactures of something else, or you wind up with bland 2-dimensional tropes with familiar names.
>>46051954
For some reason I really like that spin on Dwarves. Maybe they're responsible for their gods death themselves, which is why they carry on the tradition of it's final decree as a form of penance?
>>45988521
Orcs are civilized and live in cities
Dwarves are druids and barbarians and live in the forests
Elves are short and angry and live in the mountains
It's perfect!
>>45988861
this made me imagine how a world with just alien generator living beings would be
>>45988521
Game i'm running now has elf/dwarf alliance about guarding the earth (above and below).
Halfings - fairly racist against tall races
Orc/gobbo/ogre/gnoll - beastman alliance
>>46052573
The history and mythology behind them have very little to do with why they're used in anything beyond Tolkien's work, and even his work warped the pre-existing mythological beings beyond recognition. Re-imagining mythological creatures is as fantasy as it gets.
