Keeping things fresh

[Dannyalcatraz]

I like to introduce new twists to freshen up old RPG races, classes and whatnot in order to keep things interesting. Some may have seen me post about alien Greys as the source of legends of Elves, Warforged as FRPG Daleks/Cybermen, reskinning Dwarves as anthropomorphic Alligator Snapping Tutles, plantlike Elves and a Plains Indian-like tribe of humans who have domesticated Moas instead of horses, to name a few.

I had another insight this Tuesday as I was playing my 4Ed Dwarven Starlock. Of course, to maximize his benefit from the Shadow Walk class ability, Magnus Skyhammer is in virtually constant motion. One of my compadres, noting the intricate paths Magnus was sometimes forced to take to trigger SW, said it was if he were a Brazilian martial artist.

"A capoirist?", I asked.

"Yeah, you're playing a dwarf capoirist!"

...Which set my mind in motion. So many players (IME) default to a quasi-Scottish or Germanic vibe for their dwarves.

But comments about my "capoirist" dwarf (who, for the record, doesn't have any kind of unarmed combat skill) opened a door to a different kind of dwarves culture.

Their giant-fighting techniques could indeed be fluid and flowing like capoira.

Steel drums, for instance, would be an IDEAL instrument for dwarves: a percussion instrument made of metal, and a bit more mobile than gongs or bells.

Their beards and hair? Beaded, knotted and even dreadlocked.

And what exactly are they smoking in their pipes?

...Which is all I have at the moment.

But I know I'm not the only one screwing with preconceptions- what would you add to the above? What have you done in your own campaigns to keep things fresh?

 

[Asmor]

I did a similar reimagining of dwarves... Dwarves who didn't have a mountain, so they built one: the kamit live in a massive pyramid in the desert, 3 miles to a side.

Encounter-a-Day » Archive » Races with Flavor: The Kamit

 

[Umbran]

When I first saw the thread title, my brain immediately went from "Keeping things fresh" to a refrigerator crisper drawer.

Now, I'm thinking of awesome dreadlock-wearing capoira dwarves... in a crisper drawer.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Now, I'm thinking of awesome dreadlock-wearing capoira dwarves... in a crisper drawer.

Cool!

(Failed my resist cheap pun roll.)

"Hey, mon. You say you wan' a bridge ovah dis 'ere oondagroun' chasm? No worries...if you got de gold. But first, we smoke to seal the deal."

Now I'm wondering if I can reskin the dwarves pantheon to have a more Voudoun feel... Maybe have a more shamanistic, zombie-making culture.

Hmmmm...if dwarves made zombies, it would make some sense as to how a race of smallish but sturdy beings- with a low-birth rate- built such massive and intricate physical constructions: an easily replaced workforce that can go 24/7 and you don't care much about workplace safety on the building site.

All of which puts a different spin on "Moradin, Soul-Forger," and provides another reason for friction between the dwarves and those nature-loving elves on the surface.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Actually, the pantheon/religious question is giving me fits. Voodoo is a very animist/spiritualistic faith: load are not gods so much as spiritual intermediaries. And D&D doesn't really handle spirits well, especially powerful ones.

To compound the issue, the voodoo priests are like a combo of the OA Shaman and the ToM Binder. Or the Sha'ir. Possibly even something from MoI. As a result, I may have to HR a class up for the religious leaders in this oddball take on dwarves.

 

[Redcrow]

Years ago I came to the conclusion that certain aspects of the classical fantasy dwarf simply didn't make good sense. Living underground in sometimes cramped conditions it makes little sense to have long hair and a beard down to your knees that would just invite all manner of pests 'n parasites. So I envisioned most dwarfs as clean shaven, likely from head to toe. Perhaps only the nobility would have hair/beards, but even then it would be neatly trimmed rather than cultivated into some big bushy mess. Next, it doesn't seem logical for dwarfs to use weapons like hammers and axes when fighting in tunnels as with these (swinging) weapons you are more likely to hit your buddy standing next to you than the enemy. Instead a good shield wall with long spears would be much more effective for the environment.

Essentially I created a race of dwarfs based on ancient roman society complete with a coliseum where they hold gladiator events to test their prowess in battle against whatever nasty beasties they capture in the depths of their strongholds.

YMMV.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That's got some cool to it!

While I agree somewhat about spears, I think I grasp why they favor picks, hammers and axes: they mine their way through the earth just like any other humanoid race...but they do it all day, every day from childhood on, and those weapons are just militarized versions of the tools with which they'd be so intimately familiar.

Swing a pick for 30+ years and you get pretty good at it. Swing it for another hundred and you're not likely to overswing.

 

[Wik]

Dwarves in and old campaign of mine use hammers, picks, and axes for a different reason: they have warred against the orcs for centuries, if not millennia, and it is said that at one point during the war, they became just as violent, murderous, and deadly as the orcs they were fighting.

They negelected their pursuits of crafting, mining, brewing - all in favour of weaponsmithing and genoicide. When the war had abated, with the dwarves destroying an orc kingdom, salting the earth, and killing the children, they took a long look at themselves and what they had become.

After which they decided to never use any weapon that can not also be put to a nonviolent use. Hammers can be used for crafting, picks for mining, and axes for forestry. Puritan dwarves, in fact, refuse to use militarized versions of any weapon, for this reason - the use of militarized weapons reinforces the idea that violence and murder is the preferable solution. The dwarves like to say they are great peacekeepers - but really, it's because they've spent centuries building up their defences and nobody wants to start a fight with them.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Good, good flavor!

 

[Mercurius]

I was expecting sexual tips about enlivening one's marriage.