Let's say you're making a new setting and you're only allowed to include six sapient races. What do you pick and why?
>>47849120
I'd probably focus on archetypes rather than races. Most of the time they're all stereotypes anyway so cut the middleman and make the forest folk tree people or whatever
I can't do six. I can work with seven, but not six.
Maybe six if it's a somewhat isolated area and there are others in far off countries, but it's not enough for the whole world.
>>47849120
Can I just leave it at humans?
Hmm, that's a toughie. I would probably include the core:
Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Orcs
These are used so often for a reason. Everyone knows them, they're flexible, and even if they can seem stale at times, they're more fun than some of the stupidly overwrought attempts at "Totally Original Do Not Steal" races you sometimes see.
Plus, i think these four could probably contain other archetypes within them. Like, halflings could just be pygmy humans, Elves could have different cultures and ethnicities that correspond to subspecies without needing separate stats etc.
I also like the idea of making "monster" races into deviations from the standard four. For example, Dryads could simply be Elves that have entered into some sort of magical pact with the spirits of the forest. Cyclopes could be magically mutated humans or orcs. Etc.
I don't know if that's cheating according to OP's rules though.
In any case, in addition to the core four I would probably have demons (or simply Outsiders) and dragons as the other two sapients.
>>47849120
1. human
2. human
3. human
4. human
5. human
6. human
If you pick any other race, you're a furry degenerate.
High Elves
Wood Elves
Dark Elves
Sun Elves
Moon Elves
Dwarves
>>47849120
Good Guy Races: Humans, Cats, Computers.
Bad Guy Races: Crows, Animated Statues.
Neutral Observer Race: Jellyfish.
>>47849120
Estonian, Moor, Kellesh, Olsdan, Gruesh, and Itlanian.
>>47849217
This. The whole
>Average race
>Strong race
>Tough race
>Agile race
>Magical race
>Pretty / cute / comedic race
array is so standard now that deviating from it usually feels like something is missing from the setting.
Though I prefer ditching the 'average' race.
>>47849328
This. Humans are so varied both in culture and ethnicity that there's really no need for anything else.
I always wanted to write a post-aocalyptic sword and sorcery setting that's also quite neo-primitive. Like if Conan's Hyborea and Gamma World had a love child, and Heavy Metal raised it with it's life partner Fire and Ice.
So likely some sort of "pure" human and variant mutants. Maybe even animal people?
>>47849120
Humans
Dwarfs
Giants
Elves or Tree People
Frog or Fish People
Orcs
>>47849120
Humans, then 5 all female races that need human to reproduce. This justifies Female Human Warriors, as they have to be strong to protect their mates from the other races.
>>47849289
The PCs could be sentenced with death randomly by their civilizations, all with their backgrounds, to compete in a game on another who knows where(i.e.planet) where it is sure
they will get killed like a lot others before. Who hosts the game and why?Gods?Other race?For what purpose?Entertainment?Tribute?Casting?Why do their own races offered them?Why(if) do their races look like they owe to someone?
You can/remove elements freely its a pretty broad idea
>>47849120
I'd still only use the one and leave it at that. If you need other races to fill in your blanks, chances are your humans are boring as shit and you need to restart your worldbuilding. Why do you need orcs or dwarves or elves when a human culture could be just as effective in their place?
>>47849674
>wah stop liking what i don't like
Your autism is showing.
Buff bull people.
Sleek bird people
Barbed cat people.
Ferocious wolf people.
Sneaky lizard people.
And humans, whom the other races view variously as ideal sacrifices, a delicacy, or rape-bait.
>make a fantasy realm full of things unseen on this world
>populate it with humans
>>47849472
This. I'd include bonuses and other extras based on the region the character comes from, and have five, six of them - coastal people are good at seafaring or being merchants and pick up an extra language, while mountain people are hardy and know how to hunt trolls, stuff like that.
>>47849818
>make a fantasy world full of the unknown for people to explore
>don't give your players a basis to feel comfortable with so that they focus more on actually exploring and seeing the world around them instead of spending session after session just trying to learn about their own goddamned culture
>>47849120
But I only need two.
1. fish people.
2. bug people.
>>47849731
>No industrious mole people.
It feels like nobody likes what I like.
>>47849120
To be honest I only need the one.
It depends on the genre of setting I'm making and the goal of the story or game I'm putting together.
>>47849120
>races
Clearly you meant Species?
1. Humans
2. Elves
3. Dorfs
4. Giants
5. Kobolds
6. Seraphim/Nephilim
>>47849120
I guess I could use my current setting as an example
1. Humans
2. Dwarves
3. Savages, sapient that evolved on a separate continent that are larger, less hairy, stupider and we'll savage
4. "Gods" or "Godians" however in my setting they're just near immortals that posses great power, can still be killed by mortals easily. They also reproduce super slowly.
5. Elves, tree fucking magic guys, and a second set that love fine metallurgy and live holed up in a city
6. Kender becuase fuck I love having them fuck absolutely everything (would never let a player play as one)
Keep in mind, guys, that "six sapient species" is a hard cap, not just the player character cap. The temptation to go "JUST HUMANS WORLDBUILD AND MAKE HUMAN CULTURES INTERESTING" is strong, but keep in mind that by saying "only humans" you're depriving yourself of nonhuman but sapient non player races - faries, Fair Folk, and dryads in the woods, spirits of various stripes, etc.
"Why not just make the dwarves human, they're just humans with beards" is an understandable sentiment when you're working with the standard elf/dwarf/halfling fantasy races, but there's plenty of "sapient" fantasy races you can't adequately replace with humans because they amount to more that just "forest-dwelling humans with pointy ears" or "short humans with hairy feet." Only humans as PCs is one thing, but the OP says "six sapient races" total. You're losing your giants, your fae, your sirens, and all that other cool shit along with the Elves and Dwarves when you just hard cap it at Human.
>>47849920
>seraphim/nephilim
In what interpretation? Or is this your way of--forgive the usage of D&D terms--saying Aasimar/Tieflings?
>>47849385
That setting sounds quite 90s.
>>47849120
>Humans
>Dwarves
>Dudes with a third arm coming out of their forhead
>Goblins
>Cuttlefish/Finch hybrids
>Djinn
If we go to seven, we add robots.
>>47849120
Human, Dwarf, Orc, Ogre, Halfling, Giant
Skeletons
Succubi
Vampires
Spiders
BelmontsKender
>>47849955 Die in a fire.Or ideally, several fires.
>>47849967
I'd rather they lived in a fire.
>>47849926
Eh, that's honestly such a big deal you make it sound. Consider Robert E. Howard's Conan books, those are mostly devoid of non-human sapient beings and they're still classics. You don't always need elves and dwarves for fantasy.
>>47849120
Ogres
Humans
That's all I'd need, you can make interesting dynamics with just 2 races
>>47850065
>humans are the males of the species
>ogres are the females of the species
Dynamics!
>>47850008
He's probably just not a very experienced GM outside of D&D, that's all.
Not saying D&D is inherently bad or anything, but if it's all he knows or has tried then it's probably fairly skewed his idea of what setting-building even is.
>>47849357
Would play in
I only need one: human. Everything else is gimmicky retardation.
>"LOOK A HIVE MIND SPEICES"
>"LOOK A SPECIES WHO IS BIG AND FAVOURS MARTIAL COMBAT"
>"LOOK A SPECIES WHO FAVOURS MERCANTILISM AND TRADE"
>"LOOK AN ELEGANT SPECIES WHO FAVOURS SCHOLARLY PURSUITS AND MAGIC"
>"LOOK A RACE IN TUNE WITH NATURE"
I can already imagine all the retards in this thread no doubt spamming their own SUPER SPESHUL SNOWFLAKE variation of the above. These are the type of threads that people most huge blocks of text and never reads anyone else's... and for good measure too. It's always universally shit, without exceptions.
I'm pretty sure they have sub r eddits for garbage like this. Take your "creative" settings there.
>>47849120
Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Orcs (of the porcine kind that are just strictly stronger goblins )
Kobolds
Goliaths
Done.
>>47850116
I run a lot of games that only have humans available as player classes and I fucking hate standard fantasy Elves but desu I feel at this point like you're passing up a lot of good story and worbuidling opportunity when there aren't at least some fair folk or woodland spirits lurking in the forests
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Orc
Halfling
Gnome
Drakken, Broken Lords, Necrophages, Endless, Humans, Silics
Feline kemonomimi (housecats, great cats)
Canid kemonomimi (dogs, wolves, foxes)
Rabbit kemonomimi and rabbit-fauns
Scaled sinuous lower body monsterboys/girls (nagas/lamias, merpeople)
Arachnes
Harpies
Would you play in my world?
>>47850233
Ironclaw is already this, but with aa bigger zoo
>>47850149
>Not having a bulky race that favors magic to compliment their existing strengths.
>Not having having a nature loving race that trades with their neighbors for things they can't get without harming their own lands.
>Not having a small race that is athletic from having to run to keep up with the longer legged races.
It's like you're not even trying.
>What do you pick
Elves, dryads(male), catboys, merboys, dickwolves, kender. Elves of both genders always have female reproductive organs in addition to whatever else, and the other, all-male races have to breed with them to produce offspring. Kender happen spontaneously and are considered a venereal disease.
>and why?
Many religions speak of a supposed race of antediluvian assholes who are said to have created the speaking peoples of the world, removed all solid evidence of their own existence then promptly went extinct as a sort of an ultimate sick joke.
>>47850164
I said earlier; it depends entirely on what kind of genre and setting I'm doing.
Fantasy? Scifi? Urban/Modern?
What kind?
What sub-genre?
How many players?
Am I telling a story to them?
Am I WRITING a story?
Will the story ever be a /tg/ thing?
How much can I reasonably expect the players to care?
There isn't a universal method for building settings and such, therefore I tailor my settings to the needs of the group, genre, objective of setting creation, and plot if there need be one.
>>47850149
Seriously, this. Worlds with humans have plenty potential for complexity without needing to insert retarded species that serve no purpose a really neat fantasy human culture couldn't also fulfill.
Pic related is a good example. Demons and spirits exist, but the "playable race," are humans, and they're plenty engaging, allowing the game to put emphasis on the cultural and world-building aspects of their world instead of what stupid fantasy races fill in what niches.
>>47849731
> Barbed cat people.
ERP?
>>47850320
Indeed!
Tailor not the setting or story based on the "requirements" of the genre because the genre is made-up shite and thus it's only requirement for being interesting is to BE INTERESTING.
If your setting has different hominid species and such, then make use of them and do something with them rather then slap them into a world like a tasteless sticker on your face; they don't NEED to be there if you're intending to build something from scratch.
>>47849886
I feel you Anon.
>>47850149
Posting just for you
>>47849886
>Industrious mole people
I like where this is going.
So I came up with this:
>Industrious mole people, most of the lore and cover art focuses around them, 'default' race
>Mushroom people, scavengers, live even deeper in the earth than the other races, journey up to mole people cities and raid their cemeteries for nutrients
>"Drow", but Drow in name only, humainoid faces but sunken with long, sharp teeth, small prehensile but useless wings, tend to be tall and lanky by human standards, close to blind but with advanced sense of hearing
>Worms the size of small dogs, prey upon the other races, absorb the memories of sentients they eat. Sometimes they think they are their last meal.
>Spiders whose total size is slightly larger than human, the most technologically advanced race, but antisocial by nature.
And now for an NPC race:Human scientists studying the planet who occasionally break through the surface to see what's down there, causing the highly toxic atmosphere to break through and contaminate massive parts of the underground
>>47850149
I personally feel your autism is inflamed by the fallout of decades of shitty fluff in d&d, rather than some actual issue inherent in fantasy as a genre. When elf, dwarf and orc are described in essence as 'slightly agile human, slightly tough human and slightly special needs human', yes, you might as well just drop the pretense of having different races in your setting.
>>47850271
> Magic
It's handwave bullshit, might as well have there be only one species that uses magic or technology to alter their forms. So that catperson? Human. That Troll? Human. Those six dwarves operating in unison? Human controlling six individual bodies using magic telepathy or radio and multiple path processing logic or whatever bullshit you want to use.
>Not having having a nature loving race that trades with their neighbors for things they can't get without harming their own lands.
Exporting the negatives of industry to foreign nations is like Industrialization 301. Yeah, it doesn't happen right away but you usually get around to it.
> Retarded bullshit about running.
>>47850428
18 STR + Bull's Strength > 14 STR + Bull's Strength.
Shit, you really just want to bitch for the sake of bitching, don't you?
1. Humans, doesn't really need explanation
2. Dwarves, see above
3. Elves, see above
4. Orcs, see above
5. Ratfolk, having a society of traveling merchants is pretty cool. They also provide some different elements than Goblins or other small usually nuisance races.
6. Dryads, I think they're under used given how cool of a concept they are.
7.Gnolls, they're my favorite
>>47850492
> D&D
Stop giving me things to bitch about then, Anon.
I'm just saying that there's nothing you posted that couldn't be represented by a society of humans.
Except Magic, but that's because like I said it's handwave bullshit if you restrict it to a specific race. Even then, technology can balance that out.
And your bullshit about a race with short legs having to be athletic to "keep up with other races" is like if I said "Japanese people are more athletic because they have to keep up with White Folks" it's just so fucking stupid.
Keep trying, by all means, there's nothing wrong with having 99 failures to get 1 success.
But don't expect me to just jerk you off for trying.
>>47850320
>>47850149
Is this how you always respond to a writing prompt?
>Okay kids, now write a poem about this painting
But none of my favorite poems are about paintings!
>Now use this list of words in a paragraph
But I don't like those words, they remind me of a story I dislike!
>Describe a world with six sentient races
But I think lord of the rings is overrated! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!111111
>>47850524
Literally none of those qualities are exclusionary to human behaviour.
It's why this shit is so lame. It's just repackaged, preexisting human cultures with DUDE LOOK A LITTLE RAT INSTEAD OF A MAN LMAO
I really dislike non-human races unless they do something that humans cannot do or don't like highly evolved primates do. I mean, there is a world of difference between the brains of mammals let alone mammals and reptiles and god forbid anything else and insects.
>>47850601
Are you ok Anon? It's ok to not like things other people like.
>Literally none of those qualities are exclusionary to human behaviour.
Never said that they were. There will be overlap. How that's handled is the better measure of how "good" the world is.
>>47850574
Is there some particular reason why those six sentient races can't be different varieties of human, hmm?
>>47850574
It's a stupid writing prompt. I would much rather have a discussion about how to make races unique or non-human than just "Humans with +/- attributes".
Hell, even trans-humanism is better than this garbage.
Or at least I would like to have honest answers where people just talk about their monster girl fetishes.
You'll note nobodies giving the guys talking about arch-types or not trying to represent their races as unique or necessary shit, nobodies giving shit to the guys asking WHY you are putting these races in.
You're just a whiny child trying to use the excuse of it being a writing prompt to deflect any criticism. Grow the fuck up faggot.
>>47850601
I hope you realize that's the point for humans, they can do anything. That's why there is the other species that do specific things better than others. Humans can be wizards, hunters , thieves etc etc etc better than and ork could be but the human wouldn't be as a good as say a barbarian.
>>47850677
> Humans are the every man, and this is terrible.
This is how HFY starts, Anon. Are you prepared to take responsibility for that?
>>47850601
That's a good point. People don't often question _why_ they feel the need to put in orcs and elves and whatnot in the setting, beyond just the force of habit. You should always ask yourself 'what this race is', what it means to the game, before including it in the setting.
>>47850638
It's a facade of creativity. There's nothing imaginative about just going "DUDE RAT TRAVELLING MERCHANTS LMAO" or "DUDE ROMAN ORCS". It's worse than not being creative because it hides behind this veil false imaginative design.
It's still hallmarks of the setting except this time you have an autistic fatass neckbeard demanding you adulate him over this revolutionary choice of having elves be surrogates for native american cultures
tl;dr bite me autists
>>47850773
>tl;dr bite me autists
Please don't bite yourself, anon.
>>47850670
All I'm trying to say is that if you're really better than the exercise, like you seem to think you are, then you're good enough to something new and inspiring with it.
Blow me away. I'm waiting.
>>47850773
I always felt the best middle ground to this in fantasy worldbuilding is to make all the civilized cultures that the players use human, jettison the "traditional fantasy races" like Elves and Dwarves, and have trolls and giants in the hillside and faries in the forests around for players to interact/fight with. That way you don't have the autistic "this race is human but x" and you're forced to develop culture for the nations in your setting beyond their hat, but you still have fantastic creatures from old fairy tales to play them against.
>>47850773
I think you're just angry because someone shit on your setting and now you're getting even by telling everyone else that they're having bad wrong fun.
Seriously, people like different things and that's ok.
>
tl;dr bite me autists
I think you're the only autist here actually.
Pic related is what I would consider a good use of nearly-human races in a fantasy novel.
>>47850839
LOL, looks like we got a spurned retard here who has japanese elves or korean halflings or some such shit like that. Complete with a circa 2009 image macro with "u mad"
You should go back to re ddit, I hear they have rules over there that help to prevent poor babies like you from getting their feelings hurt. I'm sure you'd fit right in with the other 90 IQs who go there
>>47850826
That's not a bad approach at all! It does hearken back to the 19th century fantasy, with mysterious fey folk hiding in the dark forests and hillsides (in contrast to the post-LoTR tropes).
>>47850723
I never said that humans being the everyman is terrible, I always play humans in any fantasy game precisely BECAUSE they are the everyman.
You are literally putting anything that isn't 100% original down becuase you personally think that dwarves, orks, elves are just "x plus this but minus this". Maybe in a vacuum you aren't wrong but that's not what we are talking about. They have different cultures and what not and no, some of the cultures can not apply to humans. For instance, you have elves that live an exceptionally long life and have difficulty with reproducing, leading to an extremely value of life. Humans cannot do this becuase they don't live as long as the elves and reproduction is relatively easy compared to them.
I don't know why I'm explaining this to you thought, you're just going to say "NOPE IT'S STILL HUMANS PLUS X XD XDXD I'M RIGHT YOUR WRONG FANTASY RACES CAN'T BE DIFFERENT THEY ARE WALL HUMAN PLUS X"
>>47850905
I don't have any skin in this game. Don't really write settings myself. I generally just give a few tweaks to an existing one depending on what I'm going for.
In fact, the only real donut steel thing I've written that is /tg/ related is a couple posts about how Death Knights operate as good guys. But that's neither here nor there.
Why is it so bad to have multiple races? I personally like them, but you clearly don't for some reason. Not sure what your argument is beyond "YOU'RE ALL HAVING FUN WRONG!" and "YOUR TASTE A SHIT!"
Come on Anon. It's ok. Get up from away from the computer, go for a walk. The internet will be here once you're back and a little calmer.
Merelves, a playful and bohemiam folk with skin as blue as the sea and hair as colourful and varied as tropical fish. They ply the crystal waters in impossibly delicate ships.
Dulkelves, a hardy and boisterous lot with ashen skin and eyes that crackle with orange firelight. They pride themselves on their music and their fur-work.
Nériniai, gentle mothlike creatures possessed of an insatiable, yet slightly alien benevolence. They dance under the light of the moon with divine grace.
Seyat Kedi, quadrepedal felines that travel the dusty plains in nomadic, animalistic tribes. They are fierce in both heart and faith, erecting strikingly simple totems wherever they wander.
Nagaki, stoic and solid reptilians that spend their lives in pursuit of inner peace and philosophical perfection. Where merelves dance across the surface, Nagaki build great temples on the ocean floor.
Humans, a foreign folk of almond eye and fair skin who travelled from the distant west. Proud nearly to the point of hubris, their great cities are a welcome port to all.
>>47849357
>dwarves
>not short elves
Would play anyways, elf varieties are fun.
>>47849385
Would play, I have an idea for immortal, intelligent jellyfish that drift above the clouds, growing more and more massive with age. It doesn't really seem to fit in with any setting though.
>>47849411
10/10
>>47849674
Because physiological differences can be fun anon.
>>47849731
Hehe, noice
>>47849883
Three different fish? Three different bug?
>>47850149
Lmao
>>47850210
Great taste
>>47850233
Without a doubt
>>47850428
Magic exists everywhere in the universe
Except when it comes to sentient creatures
That would be retarded
>>47849120
Dryad, Jinn, Shadow people, Sirens, Gorons, and Dragon girls(like gria). Because I like these things and they seem like a good spread. Though I am tempted to change out Dryads for a different kind of plant people, and possibly Jinn for a race of sapient goo. Gorons and Dragon girls would stay though.
>Humans. Newly arrived foreigners from a cataclysmically destroyed contient across the sea, the humans here are the last survivors who escaped the destruction of their homeland.
>Tall, Elflike Race that lament the idea of war and violence outside of heavily ritualized duels, but despite that are consistently considered the best weaponsmiths by far.
>Race of Bee girls. Cute, sentient bees who happily trade honey and such to outsiders, all lead by a huge Queen with a cold personality and immense magical power
>A race of biomechanical (mostly mechanical) beings in the shape of well-formed humans, left behind from an older age. Pretty much just Warframes because i'm lazy with a latex/robot fetish.
>Crows Harpies. They'd be a cool race. I love ravens and crows. Maybe they'd be like, common mail couriers?
>A race of 'undead' changelings. Any body buried in a specific graveyard on a hill has a chance to come back a few days later, but only fragments of their soul return, mixed with ancient spirits and beings, essentially creating a new conciousness. Humans come back with sharp teeth and stuff, but are generally just like lost, confused people stuck in the bodies of someone who died. Only desperate, heartbroken people try burying anyone there now. Other races buried there might come out different. Like, a Beegirl Queen buried there might come back as a horrifying Wasp Lich.
I dunno. Just random spitballing. I usually just stick with the basics.
>>47849731
>And humans, whom the other races view variously as ideal sacrifices, a delicacy, or rape-bait.
This sounds like something else I've heard discussed on this board.
>>47849385
>crows bad
>cats good
I've been considering a setting that technically has no humans as we know them, but two of the races are literally just human with extra bits.
The basic gist is that mammals (or a lot of animals at least) in the setting evolved along a hexapod body plan rather than a quadrapod one. I mostly started considering this while thinking about stuff like Centaurs/Pegasi, Griffons, or Dragons that often appear in fantasy and are naturally hexapods. So I thought I'd try to make a setting where six limbs is the norm. I never got very far, but my concepts were pretty basic for playable races.
>4 armed humans
>winged humans
>4 legged dwarflike equivalent, related to centaur but much more humanoid
>straight up centaurs
I'm a little more interested in the animal side and how life might have developed in that world than the sapient species, but I don't have solid concepts for either yet. I'll probably make their cultures reflect their physical abilities when I do get around to thinking about this seriously again.
>>47849674
You use orcs, dwarves, or elves when there's niche you want filled where a human culture wouldn't be just as effective in their place. If your fantasy races could just be replaced with Humans, then you're misusing them.
>>47849120
That depends; what's the rest of the setting like? I'd rather have my races/species tailored to the world than the other way around.
>>47849120
Droids. Naturally.
That way you can have a plot device race available for your evil GMing needs.
Six total?
Medusa, with limited transmutation abilities. Only truly ancient matriarchs could turn sentient creatures into stone with a glance.
Minotaurs, with rhinoceros flavor.
Light-averse creatures without standardized shapes that can create the finest craftsmanship ever seen, but are highly xenophobic and distrustful of any creature that walks in the daylight.
Diminutive gremlins that can squeeze into tiny holes and are proficient with metallurgy.
Mimics.
Nature spirits that spontaneously erupt in the most remote of regions in order to jettison some power from the land when one of the primal elements grows too strong.
Humans.
Sapient skeletons of dead humans.
Ghosts of dead humans.
Shapeshifters that look like humans.
Spirits that possess humans.
Wendigos that want to wear human flesh to look more human.
>>47849357
Instead of Dwarves, Fae Elves.
>>47850233
misread harpies as herpes at first
gave me a new disease idea: harpy's herpes
>Humans
>Shortfolk
>Elves
>Greenskins
>Beastfolk
>Giantkin
And then just a whole lot of curses and mishmash inbetween, fuck you OP
>>47850897
I think I have the issue of Dragon that has the main races, monsters, some magic items and some setting lore so you could play a campaign in the same world as the book.
>>47849120
>Commonwealth ratfolk
>United States of orc tribes
>Soviet union of dwarves
Vs.
>Elf Nationalists
>spaghetti eating pigdogs
>The empire of gnomes.
IT WILL BE CALLED WORLDETH WAR THE SECOND.
>>47850801
Hey, I already posted about going full trans-human about it. Not to mention that your post is like claiming pointing out this is shit posting means I should be able to shitpost exceptionally.
What have you yourself added? Oh yeah, Jack shit.
If you want to have non-human in your game you have to have them be NPCs or severely limit player agency by having hard wired reactions and perceptions the players have to follow. Otherwise you just get humans in another shape.
Most people don't enjoy that kind of limitation, but I'd you are interested in it then I recommend taking inspiration from the works of CJ Cherryh. She's quite good at writing aliens and contrasting their perceptions with the humans in her work.
>>47849120
Humans, because they're a baseline and it is easily relatable to players, as well as being immediately recognizable as culturally diverse internally; they're adaptable and can go anywhere on the map, and because they're not inherently magical they have the last for power and political ambition to make a plot progress easily.
Dwarves, because they're easily used in cold environments and mountain/cave environments; they're easily assumed to be a very old race and therefore their deep kingdoms and lost redoubts can be full of forgotten secrets and reasonably stocked with monsters.
Orcs, because they're suitable to a number of environments, they give me an easy warrior culture low-effort antagonist when I need it and a noble savage cop-out when I need it.
Lizardmen, because they're sufficiently alien to players to pose an immediate threat of the archetypal other when the Orcs run dry and the association we have as humans with lizards being an old, ancient species of critters inherently carries over so it lends weight and credibility to rumors or facts of the lizardmen being the corrupted descendents of an ancient advanced race who fucked with the wrong gods/hubris/magic/whatever plot device.
Elves, because they give us easy tree cities and temperate dominion as well as long-lived magicians with perhaps more knowledge than they're willing to share, lending gravitas to any situation they suddenly take a cooperative interest in.
I struggled with a sixth, because small races are cancer and I'm not a fan of superdragons that rival gods all the damn time. I don't have a concrete choice but I think I'd probably default to picking one that would fill the role of general antagonist along the lines of a mind flayer, though I detest psionics so it'd be suitably different enough to avoid causing my spergin' to flare up. Some kind of old, malevolent, species, I guess. I really do not know.
>>47849120
1. Humans.
2. A single sentient gigantic fungus.
3. Anthropomorphic vermin that don't consider species to be different.
4. Actual embodiments of emotions.
5. Fire elementals.
6. Zombies.
>>47851969
i like this you explained it well and it's not touching magic realm shit
>>47849120
Caucasians, Red Injuns, Negroes, Asias and Neanderthals and Homo Heidelbergensis
>>47849120
Democratic Race (Humans or another race with few outright supernatural properties): Specialize in technology and buffing others.
Communist Race (Elves): Specialize in healing and growth magic.
Anarcho-Capitalist Race (Dwarves): Specialize in Enchanting and Scrying.
Kratocracratic Race (Dragons): Specialize in Direct Damage and Debuffs.
Geniocratic Race (Undead): Specialize in Necromancy and Alchemy.
Outer Gods (Outer Gods): Specialize in making everyone no matter who wins, it is all ultimately insignificant and that nothing they do will do anything but delay the inevitable end, and mind magic.
>>47851969
First actual response with thought out reasons.
For your sixth race, may I recommend either a progenitor race that decayed for some reason and now lurks among their descended creations.
Or a viral/parasitic race that inhabits the bodies of the other races and seeds them into the societies. Kind of like Vampires I guess. Mostly because then you have a good general antagonist that can move easily among/provide a threat to all the races and give the players a cause to be different races banding together.
Or they can play it from the viewpoint of the viral/parasitic race.
You can even have there be members who reject their "race" and choose to fully integrate. Without any groupmind shenanigans or magic/psionic bullshit you could have members who don't even know what they are.
>>47852051
Correction: making everyone remember that no matter who wins,
Sorry about that.
>>47852051
>Kratocracratic
That's a new one to me
>>47852065
Sorry, meant Kratocratic.
>>47849120
I need only 5
Humans, Demons, Fae, Elemental Spirits, Gods.
And players can only play humans.
>>47852079
>Kratocratic.
Oh yeah, that'd make a bit more sense.
>>47850414
>Ant dwarfs
>Moving plant elves
>Mushroom halflings
>Octopus merfolk
>Platypus gnomes
>Baboom orcs
>>47852152
Replace gnomes and orcs with humans and dragons, and we have a deal
Humans
Vampires
Werewolves
Fae
Nephilim
Cambion
>>47849120
Evolved - an organic carbon-based race of flesh- and DNA-absorbing shapeshifters. They reproduce asexually, splitting their offspring from themselves, making it inherit all of the genetic material their parent has collected.
Blednotiks - an organic carbon-based "lab-rat" race artificially created by Cybers to experiment on. They eventually become smarter than Cybers due to all biological enhancements they get in the course of experimentation, and erode the Cyber society from within.
Cybers - a race of naturally evolved both carbon- and silicon-based life. The oldest race in the setting, responsible for the creation of Blednotiks. Their bodies can't withstand oxygen, so they live underground or in crystal-domed cities.
Fedhas - a race of organic carbon-based plant-like lifeforms. They can merge their own bodies for instant communication and hivemind decisions. When a Fedha dies, its body is merged into the Great Tree, which is sort of like an ancient intelligence where all the dead reside and you can communicate with.
That's only four that I thought up on spot, but I guess this will be enough for the players to wrap their heads around.
catgirls
doggirls
demongirls
elfgirls
lesbians
NEETs
>>47852198
Humans are your fairly bog-standard humans of today's world
Vampires were humans who were altered by Angels to make them decent shock troops and given bloodthirst to keep the moral ones loyal, with a promise to change them back after the war which never got fulfilled.
Werewolves were similar, chosen from the strongest warriors of tribes closest to Demons to fight alongside them in the war
Fae are fallen Angels who weren't corrupted enough to become Demons but were still refused entry into Heaven, and so were forced to find their own realm
Nephilim are what happens when an Angel and another species have a pure enough love to do the dirty and make a kid
Cambion are what happens when a demon shags something
>>47849385
I would play an evil crow.
>>47849120
Fug, my setting has at least 10 human variants alone.
>>47852259
Fact: NEETs are the strongest race.
>>47851257
Moderately Interesting.
Elves could lament war due to old war Fucktonnes of years ago with the robot race?
Crow people are Usually one great Self sustained city.
Crows that leave said city are generally vastly differing to their city counterparts?
Bee People have Secret Civil wars going on?
Oomies are all great at doing lots of different things. But are fewer in number.
>>47849120
I would throw out humans as too generic.
Kobolds, dryads, trolls, mers, bat-people and myconids.
>>47851889
As an outside observer, I'd just like to say that you're an asshat.
What makes you an asshat is that you're quite certain of your opinions, enough to decry any opposition, and that really just means you have difficulty entertaining any ideas outside of your personal convictions.
That places you firmly stuck on Mount Stupid. You know just barely enough to act like an ass, but you are unwilling to entertain new ideas and are even opposed to trying to learn something outside of your own experience.
I recommend that you adopt a tripcode, so people can know not to bother discussing anything with you, since you are a one-way street that doesn't even lead anywhere good.
>>47849217
>>47849328
these guys have it
i love having a huge variety of races and when i GM i encourage people to have a range, but i also play in worlds with humans only and its fine.
Goblin, Elf, Human, Beastman of some kind, other two whatever you want. You can do enough with the first four to build something interesting. You could probably even get away with removing humans and spinning elves as the perspective characters
>>47849120
Humans
Dwarves
Elves
Tieflings
Lizard folk
40k Ibixian/goat men beastmen
>>47849999
Quads of Tzeentch that i can support
>>47850149
Serious question, how can I make a culture unlike any human culture without doing some ridiculous bullshit?
>>47849120
1) Humanoids in all their variation.
2) Tree people
3) Giant bugs
4) Dragons
5) Fairies
6) Squids that can float when on land.
>>47849524
I would enter that magical realm
>>47853243
How about you make an actual argument instead of just shiposting, faggot.
>>47851969
INSECT-MEN! INSECT-MEN!
>antagonist, malevolent
Always hungry, always hostile!
>no psionics
Only plague, claws and teeth!
>old
"We were the first, so Auriga is ours, we'll eat all tresspassers"
>>47853616
See >>47851889
> If you want to have non-human in your game you have to have them be NPCs or severely limit player agency by having hard wired reactions and perceptions the players have to follow. Otherwise you just get humans in another shape.
The flaw is that ultimately, they're being played by humans so you have to set some hard behavioral boundaries and try to imagine their responses within a constrained framework.
Even then, you end up finding shocking similarities to racist stereotypes of foreign cultures.
I was already doing exactly six in the setting I'm working on right now anyway.
Humans
Dwarves
Giants
Trolls
Eldritch horrors and their spawn
Dragons
>>47853644
But Necrophages are my magical realm, anon.
Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Orcs
Lizardfolk
Goblins
Plus non-sentient or barely sentient creatures like trolls and other stuff
>>47853650
I'm not worldbuilding for a game, but just for the fun of trying to create an interesting world, what sort of advice do you have for that?
>>47853664
humans
small humanoids with animal ears
big humanoids with horns
precursor race/First Ones
angles
dumons
Dwarves
Halflings
Gnomes
Goblins
Hobbits
Giants
>>47853664
Hi Ka-Riss
>>47850320
>unironically agreeing with shitposting
Honestly, you "my way if the only way" people are the fucking worst. At least that other guy is trying to rustle jimmies, but you're just being stupid.
And the ridiculous part is that you're STILL shilling for a genre where magic is everywhere. Christ, you're talking about demons and spirits. So if we're talking about using only shit you need, dropp ALL the make belief crap, and just set your RPG in rural Ohio.
If I've only got six then I'm gonna go with a rule to explain the six and give me broader possibilities (and some setting metaphysics) to play with.
So let's start with:
>Human
>A human soul and human body in alignment.
Then from that let's go to:
>Option #2
>A human soul and *something else* for the body
>Option #3
>A human body and *something else* for the soul
This gets you all your insect men, werewolves, beastmen, mutants, etc. at the very least as subsets of a general type with an in-setting explanation.
Then we go could go:
>Option #4
>A bodiless soul
>Option #5
>A soulless body
Which gives (in conjunction with the above, anyway) all your undead of various types at least. Keeping this as just soul and body also allows for the existence of nonhuman spirits and spiritless flesh. We could actually roll these two into one, but eh.
That gives a spare slot and I'd probably choose something for that based on what kind of setting to run. I want something big and encompassing but distinctly opposed to ordinary humanity, so something like 'demons' or 'fairies' seems a good option. A big category with a wide variety of types that can interact, ally and entice with individual humans but which as a group is antithetical to human civilization.
>>47849120
I only ever use two or three and one of them is always objectively inferior to the other(s) and either used as a quick slaughter or for those masochists who want to make the game harder.
In the end the species (not races, because each species has its races) end up interbreeding anyways because, lets face it, that is what would happen if you introduced multiple sapient species anyways.
>>47853735
If they are separate species that is by definition impossible
>>47850381
Holy shit I love it anon
>>47850897
This is legit the worst book I've ever read, and that list includes something called American 2040.
It's a good example of Fantasy races that are weird for being weird's sake. For all the preaching Mieville does about multiculturalism, he doesn't seem the fucking understand culture as a concept. He revels in shit being as weird as possible without having it make sense. So you end up with the only distinction between all these races being that they live slightly differently. Well, whoopdeedoo.
If I had to point to one example of how not to do Fantasy, Perdido Street Station would be it. From the hamhanded moralistic preaching, to the boring special snowflake races, to the drawn-out joke about adventurers, to the edgy deus ex machina noble serial killer, to the overuse of bombasting, loquacious language.
It fucking sucks. It has no redeeming values, and it's entirely up its own ass, convinced with how special it is. Well, it isn't. It's the kind of "fantasy" story that could be ported directly to the real world, and would even be better for it.
>>47853745
Didn't we Humans and the Neanderthals reproduce?
Or were we the same species, just different subspecies?
>>47853662
Nice thing about having trolls is pic related
>>47853673
What's the point of Orcs AND Goblins? If you're going for efficiency theirs no reason your orcs can't just vary in size.
And lizardmen tend to be either reskined orcs or elves extra alien edition ,so you best be finding them a different niche.
>>47853681
Nice korean mmo
>>47853788
VERY close species.
>>47853788
If we reproduced we are by definition the same species, (although in fairness taxonomists don't really have their shit together)
A species is defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals are capable of reproducing fertile offspring, typically using sexual reproduction, so if humans and neanderthals successfully interbred, that means we were just different subspecies, not different species.
Six Monster Girl races
Catgirl
Wolf Girl
Dragon Girl
Fox Girl
Dog Girl
Cow Girl
Why? Why not?
>>47853810
Because then their is no human generic protagonist for me to self insert onto.
>>47853810
>missing best monster girl race yet having 4 variations of fluffy tail and ears
Would not play
>>47853838
>Touching scaly things
Not in my setting
>>47853874
Scales are pretty smooth and pleasant fag
>>47853901
Then get a dragon girl they have scales, no snek here
Flies - dedicated workers and family men (like hobbits)
Termites - wondrous builders who live in deserts (Dubian niights)
Bees - diplomancers, explorers and elves
Ants - inventors, warriors and dorfs
Butterflies - lazy fucks
Faeries - tiny magical humanoids
>>47851874
one day.
>>47849120
> Humans
> Robots
> Cyborgs
> Silicone Beings
> Synthetic Humans
> Grey Goo
>>47853775
>So you end up with the only distinction between all these races being that they live slightly differently.
Isn't that kind of the point of the city? In the city, yes, that's true - outside of it its not. The creatures in the city are more denizens of the city than they are their own cultures.
I'm not a huge fan of PSS but I disagree with an awful lot of your post.
>>47853930
>not wanting to see a doge girl knit a super long and fluffy sweater for her snek gf
>not wanting the snek gf to slowly realize that the sweater is made of her gf's shed coat
>not wanting things to devolve as the doge gf's true yandere colors are revealed over the course of the story
leave here
I got 3
>HUMANS
Stock standard
>ANDROIDS/SYNTHETICS/ROBOTS
Whatever name fits, Similair to skeles in design maybe?
>INSECTOID
Ancient hive race
>Humans
Because you always need humans.
>Elves
Can't live without a race of beautiful women to degrade.
>Dwarves
Necessary for mining and sweatshops.
>Orcs
They won't be there for long, because civilization will come eventually.
>Giants
It's my fetish.
>Oni
For that exotic Eastern barbaric civilization of bloodthirsty warriors.
Lizardfolk
Bullywugs
Cynocephali
Ratfolk
Kenku
Snake men
>>47854008
Whats the difference between a robot, synthetic human and silicone being? Surely you could find a more accurate terms than those for the setting?
Humans, the creator race, and still the main species post-apocalypse.
Spirits, sentient magical AI that emerge from natural geomantic networks and the only non-human-created sapient race.
Dragons, living magical batteries with intelligence that gradually rises from bestial in youth and early adulthood to genius after a millennium of life.
Vampires, an attempt at creating democratic mass-produced (blood) magic that went horribly right. They rule a post-fall empire overseas and style themselves as the only truly civilized group thanks to unaging lifespans.
Demihumans, an assortment of human-derived soldier races, servant mutants, and laborers. Mostly died out and pushed to the edges of the civilization, they include catgirls, ogres, etc. The elvish tribes are the only group large enough to have any political relevance.
>>47850647
Because it's literally the most retarded thing ever to try and do it with collections of humanity.
let's say we have the "Steppe nomads" and the "Mountain dwellers"
What if a Mountain Dweller marries a Steppe Nomad, and learns to ride horses like them?
Does he suddenly stop being a Mountain Dweller human and lose all the stats of a Mountain Dweller human and turns into a Steppe Nomad?
Kendar
Doobies
Flumphs
Drow
Bullywugs (unless a more that guy race can be found)
Dwarves
Because being dorf is suffering.
>>47854310
>dwarf crusades setting
I'd play it
>>47854302
Well in isolated populations of people, you do get physical differences. So it could be an actual physical difference between them, not just social. So no, you'd keep the same stats
>>47854326
The problem is, if we use D&D as a base, the difference between +1 to a stat is more than "Oh they can run slightly better"
This is why "races are just sort of different humans" makes sense. Because it's humans exaggerated outside of the bands of normal humanity.
I mean Elves just don't fucking sleep, they just go intro a trace.
You're gonna tell me you'd just latch "Oh and this group of humans just don't sleep" onto them and suddenly they're not human anymore, they're elves.
>>47854366
(I'm not the original guy suggesting this btw)
If I ran something like that, I'd probably reduce the variation between the different races of humans because, as you said, it's kinda retarded otherwise
>>47853794
I'd go with varying the goblins. Orcs have more specific implications
>>47854422
There's not much variation between them as is. You could get away with leaving them intact and just adding the label "human subtype"
>>47854072
No snek, no ever. Now touch the fluffy tail
>>47849120
>Human
The brutes/physically strongest of the sapient races.
>Blue skinned Elves
Frail scholars and the spell-casters of the universe
>Undead
universally depressed because they can't feel shit anymore, undead in this universe are truly unkillable, rather they just eventually reach such a state of not giving a shit, that they stop moving.
>Bug-people
This universes dwarves, but with a hive structure and reversed gender roles thrown into the mix. Most technologically advanced
>Fish-people
the most maritime of the races, their boats are more like small floating cities, so that when they migrate around, they can bring all their stuff along.
>Demons
less balrogs and more imps and trickster spirits, think evil fairies
>>47853810
>having both wolf girl, fox girl and dog girl
It's been a while since I saw such a supreme lack of creativity.
All you need are mushroom men.
>>47854795
It could be worse.
It could be 40k.
humans
fairy
halfling
centaur
goblin
orc
>>47849120
Am I allowed to have subraces/variations on the same race? Will each variation count against the total?
More mushrooms
>>47854016
The point is that there's no functional difference between these species and humans, yet Mieville gets up his own ass -and his fans get up his ass- about how "unique" they are. They aren't. You got your ladies with bugs for heads, for instance, who have some weird mating rituals, but aside from that they're functionally human. It doesn't even get as interesting as your bog-standard Elves and Dwarves, who at the very fucking least conjure up discussion about things like longevity, or even gender issues, if your dwarven ladies have beards. Mieville introduces a character from a species WITH NO SENTIENT MALES as the main character's boyfriend. And then quickly whisks her away to turn her into a damsel in distress, which I would groan at if it were a normal writer, let alone the avowed fucking communist.
I get the impression that the city is supposed to be some sort of dark Ahnk-Morpork. Except Pratchett actually spent time on exploring the nature of the city's inhabitants, which includes said bog-standard Dwarves.
There are a few times PSS is in danger of actually engaging with its own setting, but Mieville quickly puts a stop to that. He's only there to give lurif descriptions of things observed in passing, before moving on to yet more superficial crap with absolutely no point or exploration. I mean what I said. Everything in PSS is weird for being weird's sake, and the closest it ever comes to making a point out of its different, weird races, is when the flying guy flies a little. And I might just be imagining that.
The point isn't that they're culturally distinct. The cactus people seem to still live in their own culture (not explored, of course, wouldn't want the story to become interesting). The point is that they're all just human beings with a thin coat of paint, yet it's all trotted out like the most creative thing ever.
The entire book is Mieville beating a thesaurus like a cheap whore with one hand, while stroking his dick with the other.
>>47853810
>girl
fucking plebtier
>>47849522
this guy knows what's up
>>47849120
> Dwarves
> Goblins
> Kobolds
> Ratfolks
> Myconids
> Not-Nerubians
You guess it, were going deep this time.
>>47855724
In hindsight that should have been Orcs or Trolls.
>>47849120
Having more than six is a mess anyways- at least if we're talking races playable as PCs. I've got 4 real "races," each with a few subtypes. Some subtypes are eligable for use as pc races, some are not. For example, my "elves" are broken into biological castes, with the highest caste being pretty much etherial beings that don't really interact with the material world and thus wouldn't make good PCs.
1. Gothic Human
2. Sangish Human
3. Sharacen Human
4. Dwarven
5. Gnomen
6. Hobbiten
>elves are long extinct
>there are some one-off cursed humans with demonic features
>there are also fae creatures
>Humans
>Crab People
Done.
>>47849120
Humans
Dolphins
Crows
Blacks
Pigs
Cats
Aboleths
Mindflayers
Ethergaunts
Clockwork-Horrors
Rakshasas
Humans
>>47853901
>he doesn't touch fluffy tail
>>47849120
>Human
>Neanderthal
>Blue Humanoid
>Awakened Ape
>Grey
>Reptilian descendant
We are now playing a sword and sorcery game about ancient aliens and the dawn of man. Earth is ruled by the distant and enigmatic God Kings. They have adapted life to suit their strange purposes first with the Apes, then the Thals then the Humans and Blue-Humanoids.
The Greys where created separately from the left over genes of the others. They are empty, warped, scorned by their makers and driven to the edges of the earth.
The Reptoids are descendants of the traitor humans who trusted the Reptilians, spirits from the 9th dimension who spread nihilistic chaos and dark knowledge, enemies of man and god alike.
>>47849120
Elves, 6 shades of brown
Thorolund Cleric
Astora Noble
Dubious Carim
Jubilant Catarina
Eerie Great Swamp
Far East Traveler
Classic Zena
Commoner
Dragon Scholar
Delta Farmer
>>47849120
What do you mean 'only' six? Four is already a lot for me.
Humans only. People have no idea how to play demihumans and turn them into ridiculous fetishes and caricatures of themselves. Don't patronize me by pretending to be a fan of rich halfling culture because you want a free armor class bonus. You want special aptitudes, I'll slide them in as a natural talent. If you want to regenerate or whatever, get magic, that's what that's for. Demihumans, bah.
>>47856665
>he doesn't play a Jubliant Cararina
>>47849120
White, Black, Native American, Mexican, Chinese/Asian, and Canadian.
I'm making an old west setting.
>>47857249
>Canadian is separate
Good taste anon, for a Western setting.
Might play in a game that has:
Humans
Satyrs
Harpies
Merfolk (Including whales/selkies/DEEPONES)
Almost Lycanthropes
and Dwarfmade robot men that outlived their creators.
>>47849848
This is where id switch it up for just a touch of different flavour, instead of it just being a "here be mountains" setting.
I'd have humans that are hardy and strong of the mountain, but id make them an exception, farming in the mountains is tough.
>>47851065
>10/10
They're just different not-human ethnic groups.
Nothing special
>>47849120
Humans of a variety of ethnicities and cultures. I don't need the other races.
Everything else i might need is of animal or primate intellect anyway (dragons and giants for example).
>>47849120
Half-elves and half-orcs, but each called something different. They'll fill the role of humans as a more standard diplomatic race that lives in the more temperattemperate and the more barbaric tribes, with some overlap and mixing. Basically just Humans twice with some minor physical differences to fill in for different cultures.
Merfolk, or something similar, to live in the oceans, rivers, and lakes. They'll fill in for elves by being magically attuned and rather alien and isolated, but lack the same massive lifespans that cause issues.
Kobolds or some similar underground reptilian race. Similar function to dwarves, but sidesteps the typical dwarven stereotypes and can allow for an actual culture.
Dragons, of many varieties. None playable, but I like big monsters that can actually think.
Demons, so I can have something reliably and universally evil. Might make them mostly impish goblins or something similar so I can have designated evil hordes.
So basically 4 playable races, and two antagonistic ones. Kobolds can show up as dragon minions, or demonic hordes can arrive, and players have a good variety of race options.
1.) Mushroom men that live as nomadic big weed hunters. Feared by undead, loved by farmers, chased by alchemists. They defend themselves with spears, slams, and slings.
2.) Pic related, fist-walking dwarves that live in extensive cave systems. Guarded by living cave paintings and lit by sulfur lamps, those caves erupt with activity every spring as the dwarf clans wage war and settle yearly disputes. Their heroes are gigantic and capable of leveling entire war bands with one swing of their mere clubs.
3.) Humans. Somewhat nomadic, they switch up between garden-villages and herding pigs. Chiefdoms have emerged on the islands and a potential state may arise there. Fond of knives, bows, spears, and sticks.
4.) Elves. Supposedly they came from the stars, but their small size and thumb claws have made approaching them about the subject risky at best. Their life cycle is much like frogs, with their children dwelling in water before emerging into adulthood. Pear-shaped, they prefer using their claws if they can't get their hands on a glaive or a sling.
>>47849120
Humans - for pcs
Goblins - clever vermin threat
Orcs - stronk aggressive threat
Dragons - big fantastic threat
Demons - properly evil fantastic threat
Lizardmen - excuse for ancient ruins
>>47856350
I absolutely love this kind of setting.
>>47855570
>The entire book is Mieville beating a thesaurus like a cheap whore with one hand, while stroking his dick with the other.
Mieville's a left-socialist. Cosmetic diversity, intellectual/cultural homogeneity is their hat.
>>47849120
Humans are a given
Then I'd choose Driders, Lamia, Centaurs, Dragons, and Harpys
>>47851669
>Medusa
Gorgon. You mean Gorgon.
Medusa was a Gorgon.
In my setting there are various races, but humans are the only sapient race in pure reality.
Succubi/Inccubi
Tentacle Monsters
Mindflayers
Slimes
Minotaurs
Dryads/Nymphs
All human tribes.
>>47849120
I'm most comfortable with five sapient races.
Northern Humans
Southern Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Trolls
Orcs
Orcs are the usually unplayable monster mook race.
> Humans
For people to relate to.
> Medusae
Because nautolans, also Thane from Mass Effect. Also, I like medusae from Eberron.
> Goblins
Because Of Orcs and Men, Styx: MoS, Eberron novels.
> Gnolls
Because they're awesome and savage, yet noble.
> Changelings
Because they're mysterious.
> Something like Khajiits
Because I need someone to live in the desert.
I usually use either rats or bunnies because they are fun and trigger neckbeards.
What would you put in humans' place if you don't want humans as we know exist in your setting?
>>47849120
Humans
Elves
Orcs
Gnomes
Robot
Troll/Giant
Short humans, tall humans, fat humans, thin humans, dumb humans, smart humans
>>47859808
Humes
Humans for the base race to compare to, good at most things but the worst at magic.
Abhumans: freakish looking, the result of too much magic around humans when they are young, trade in their averageness for being amazing at one aspect but mediocre at others.
The fae: classic dicks who are the best at magic whilst being physically weaker than other races, if anything happens it can most likely be blamed on them.
Merpeople: barely sapient fishlike creatures who mostly get work as pirates or too guard naval cargo against said pirates, can survive out of water but are more agile in water.
Dragons: giant evil gold hoarding lizards with incredible power and inteligence but are often too paranoid to consider helping each other out. Only care about their horde.
and Nature spirits: living embodiments of nature formed through large amounts of magic and all powerful in their domains (mountain spirit in mountain etc.) often get god complexes from this though and demand to be worshipped by the 'lesser races'.
>>47850524
My nigga.
Constructs ah la warforged only nerf batted down to player level race. Need rest cycle and fuel, need to "breath" to stoke the inturnal fires but immune to poison.
As of yet unnamed oddbal race.
Four limbed with a sleek low profile and small heads. Elephant like trunk for fine manipulation but work in pairs for most projects. Have hard oily spurs on the inside of each leg that they use to grip seeds from a certain tree, seed shaped like ball with to concave divots on top and bottom. The hard shell of the seed lets it act like a wheel until it wears down and cracks, they then plant seeds to ensure more wheels in the future. Peaceful and clever if primative.
Catch all furry race created when humans opened a portal to the world from their own. The magical background radiation slowly warped them like shadowruns SURGE but they share common culture due to shared hardships and conflict with other races. Militaristic, industrius, and just a tad xenophobic.
Ent-like race of tree people who grow more sedintary as they age. Saplings spread far and wide, finding their place in the world before settling down after a century or so. Players would be younglings.
Tyranid like in appearance insectile race. Come in three forms;
workers, lightly armored but with four grasping hands under two scything forlimbs. Searve as the colonys hands, shleping and building.
Soldiers, larger and more imposing with four scythe arms and two crude grasping limbs tucked away. Roll self explanatory.
Royals. Frail by comparison with six small arms suited to the finest tasks. They are the thinkers and phelosophers of the race. Not to say other forms are stupid just more focused on problem solving or battle tactics than abstract and creative thought.
The race as a whole are supprisingly outgoing, seeking trade with other races for resorces or more importantly knowlage. Hord both like dragons and seek to understand everything they can.
Elves, xenophobic, warlike, hated
>>47849120
Human
Roach
Squat
Poo
Rice
Monkey
>>47849886
salamanders also?
1-Human
2-Frog inspired Humanoid
3-Bird Inspired humanoid
4-Crocodile Inspired Humanoid
>>47849886
How about communist mole people?
>>47860967
I See what you did there
>>47851365
Sounds more interesting then 95% in this thread. Keep working on it
>>47849120
Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Orcs
Birdfolk
Merfolk
That covers all the bases.
>All these people that are implying only humans could have variable cultures
>>47861180
No-one is implying that, dickface.
>>47861201
Yes, some people are
>>47849120
already did that
Humans
Germanic Elves/Dwarves (They are the same)
Lizard Ayy Lmaos from dinosaur times
Birds
Dutch people aka Fishmen
Trolls.
Its good.
>>47850320
So?
I always find it patheitc when people act as if human only fatnasy settings are superior.
They are not.
Mono Culture races are shit but guess what plenty of human only settings are that too.
You are complaining about the wrong thing.
Its the same with sci fi, there somehow cant be any aliens anymore because its not believeable enaugh or some shit.
And if they exist they need to be starfish cthulhus.
Disregarding the fact that humans look the way humans do because it is a very efficient form for a sapient beeing that can manipulate tools.
>>47861201
That's been heavily implied in the running argument for a good chunk of the thread.
Everyone is human, but there are different races and cultures of humans. Just like real life.
>>47851874
Actually played a game like this. Elfler and the mad scientist Elfele attacked the Empire of Man, which had a revolution and became the People's Republic of Man. They also nearly exterminated the halflings as they were unterelfs, the survivors founded a nation of pirates on some islands next to Fake China.
>>47853949
Sounds cute.
>>47861201
There's been a long string of arguments criticizing non-human races as being poor replacements for varied human culture. The argument that you must have one or the other implies that including multiple races inherently excludes multiple cultures within a single race.
>>47861180
Never expected to see anything from Oban on /tg/
>>47861935
>>47861854
Its like children pretending to be grown ups
Its like you are immune to aesthetics.
If your reason to have elves is "because i want pointy eared people" then thats a good enaugh reason.
Aesthetics matter, they might not matter in the same way to everyone but i find the notion that adding races to a fantasy setting somehow must be an intellectual thing to be hillarious.
Because ultimatley almost everything in fantasy is window dressing.
Yes you could use fantasy to explore things that cannot happen in real life but for the most part they boil down to things like "but what if there was a huge flying reptile that breathes fire" and the answer to the "why" is primarily because its great.
its kind of like when people over explain the magic in their system till there is very little magic about it left.
Sometimes i feel childrens books can be the best inspiration you can get.
Why does a giant remove its own head? How is there a huge tornado that never stops? Why is there a huge network of dungeons that is actually just a huge library? How does this form of rock think? Why is it insane?
Some german anon will probably understand all that.
the point is, sometimes things can just exist because they are cool, because they create a cool story or because they create a nice backdrop to one.
There is no need of a deeper meaning to all of this.
That doesnt mean that a setting should just include shallow fluff but fluff doesnt hurt.
Beeing "believeable" is not exactly a desireble trait in fantasy.
To get back to the actual topic:
Has anyone of you tried to have different races be part of the same culture? Try not to define races as simmilar bodies with different mindsets, try simmilar mindsets but very different bodies.
ive seen some nice artwork for example of multi layered doors so they can be used by both an ogre and a gnome.
>>47860479
>oddball race
>that I ripped from The Amber Spyglass
>>47849120
ChingChongs
Niggers
Kikes
Aryans
Towelheads
Wetbacks
>>47849120
Humans, Mutant Humans, Rat-People (They aren't mutant Humans, they're mutant Rats).
>>47862223
i basically keep parroting this in all of the /tg/ threads where people ask "how do i justify X in my setting"
you don't need a reason, it's just cool
>Has anyone of you tried to have different races be part of the same culture? Try not to define races as simmilar bodies with different mindsets, try simmilar mindsets but very different bodies.
i have capital cities in my settings that have stood for hundreds of years so for the most part everyone that lives there is part of the same "culture" with racial identity holding very little sway
i think that's (probably) the most elegant way to do it
>>47862296
So this is the movie RATS Night of Terror as a ttrpg?
>>47849926
Oh, in that case, I change my mind. Humans, Rats, Crows, The Fae, Gods, and the weird things that live under the earth.
>>47853810
you'd need twelve races instead desu desu
>>47862308
Thats not realy what im talking about tho, thats a melting pot.
Im talking about a bunch of races that have formed the same culture all at the same time because they coexist but cant interbreed.
>>47849120
>>47862223
I can have pointy eared humans (be they genetic constructs, product of evolution or just culture who cut their ears that way), so why would I have elves? Besides what's wrong with liking your fantasies to be bit more grounded in "reality" (which doesn't mean that I don't enjoy outlandish and bizarre things, quite the opposite) than standard D&D fare. I'm not against high fantasy, but I personally prefer lower scale fantasy and my favorite is science fantasies like Dune.
>>47862400
Races that can't interbeed would be different species rather races.
>>47849353
can we do it like this?
1. white human with blonde hair
2. yellow human with brown hair
3. brown human with black hair
4. black human with red hair
5. green human with black little to no hair and tusks
6. blue human with green hair that somehow can breathe underwater (the human not the hair)
>>47862726
>No red human
Hyah Hyah Hyah
>>47862223
>Has anyone of you tried to have different races be part of the same culture?
Well, I have the concept of a "monstertown" or something similar, where the different races essentially function as castes and perform tasks they're suited to. It would essentially be a city state ruled by representatives of the different groups. These rulers and their groups would be vying among each other, of course, but are united towards outward threats.
>>47849120
Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs, Lizardpeople, Worms-That-Walk
Humans, for familiarity
Undead, for both funny antics and serious enemies
Demons, for high enemies
Angels, for high allies
Frogmen, for fun
Giants, for a neutral third partyand my magical realm
>>47862620
>what's wrong with liking your fantasies to be bit more grounded in "reality"
Nothing. What's wrong is implying that "realistic" equals "better". To attach some sort of elitism to it.
And modern Elves essentially ARE humans with pointy ears. The name just implies a few base traits. If you give them the same traits, but don't call them Elves, you're just failing at trying to be smart. You either have Elves, or you don't.
Humans
Pseudo-Roman Empire, ton of "barbarians". Pretty new race
Elves
Vikings, assholes. Good at illusions and air/weather magic. Got cursed by dwarves to be allergic to iron. Name comes from dwarven "Alfar" ("betrayers")
Duergar (dwarves)
Can't reproduce anymore thanks to elves invading their realms and killing all their queens/broodmothers. Want revenge, some transform themselves into rock/metal bodies to avoid death from old age. Good at illusions, curses, fire magic, crafting artifacts
Dragons
7 sins incarnate. Their huge (mountain-sized) ancestors destroyed by alliance of elves and dwarves before elves turned on dwarves out of greed for their treasures. Not much of them left, still very powerful
Jotun (giants)
Want to wake their dormant (mountain-sized) frost giant ancestors to extinguish the sun and cover the world in ice. Strong, but not very smart. Absolutely hate fire and anything warm-blooded
Spirits
OK, this is kinda cheating, because there's a ton of different "races" under one label, from tree/spring/mountain etc. spirits (fae and elementals) through demons (immortal, magical assholes from different planes) to horrors (insane abominations from deep Void (Astral-ish plane)). Common signs: immortal, not really native to material world, mentally limited in some ways (they have hard time understanding concepts outside their nature), some some are absolutely inhuman
>>47862983
It's not stupid because naming them elves carries lots of historical baggage that might not be appropriate to setting. In other cases (like D&D) that baggage might be good thing.
>>47862223
I was actually arguing for your point, not against it.
Most cultures are shared between races, just as they often are in the real world; especially since there isn't a lot in the way of major natural barriers to create sharp divides. Races with outstandingly different biologies of course fill certain inches a bit differently, but otherwise yes. There are few cultures that are monopolized by a single race, which is almost exclusively the result of physical barriers to entry: cultures that exist underwater, in unfathomably cold conditions, inhospitably steep mountains, and unbreathably hot and ashy volcanic air.
