D&D General trying to make an alien-themed race but they keep turning into elves, help.

[LordEntrails]

How about a generationally young silica based life form? (i.e. not carbon based or old like elves).
They came to the world/realm in a cataclysmic meteor strike a thousand years past and their is little reason to believe they existent as a life form form before that event. (this could be represented in numerous variations of myths)
You can even go non-biped so they are farther from elves.
They love abstract art built from crystals (particularly metallic crystals) but have a distaste for organic growth because it is so... disorderly.
They are not proficient with psionics or magic, but are good with building, tinkering, and devices.
They have a child-like joy of domesticated animals.
Racial traits might be be things like alchemy & investigation.
You could even go so far as to make them resistant to healing magic (perhaps they are not yet fully integrated int the Weave yet).

 

[Scribe]

I have never found anything in my entire life that I liked all of, I am trying to make something out of bits I enjoy but it keeps morphing into a suspiciously elven culture, and I hate elves.

I'm sorry, but clearly you don't, at least not everything about them.

It's an archetype that likely will always exist, in some capacity, as it's just an extrapolation of themes and tropes that are deeply part of our story and myth making.

I'd pull out the parts you like, and what you don't like, and see what those lists look like.

 

[Yaarel]

I'm sorry, but clearly you don't, at least not everything about them.

It's an archetype that likely will always exist, in some capacity, as it's just an extrapolation of themes and tropes that are deeply part of our story and myth making.

I'd pull out the parts you like, and what you don't like, and see what those lists look like.

Your suggestion is good.

Literally, write two lists, one for likes and one for dislikes.

See, what the like-list looks like. That is your race. Who cares how elvish or nonelvish it is?

 

[Seramus]

You can use the Aven and base them off the Alkari from Masters of Orion. Give them Expertise whenever they pilot a vehicle.

Alkari

Alkari are one of the major civilizations in Master of Orion. They are one of the first ten original races that was introduced within Master of Orion in 1993. While Alkari underwent several changes to their physical appearance with each sequel, their core identity as an Avian warrior race and...

masteroforion.fandom.com

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

It is gratifying, indeed, to see that @Mind of tempest has learned the lesson that so many of us have already learned.

Elves, like cockroaches, serve no function but to breed and survive. They have occupied that special part of every gamer's brain ... the part that says, "What if me, but better ... more agile, more smart, more magical, more awesome?"

That's right. It doesn't matter if you're talking about Legolas, or Space Legolas, Elves are a pernicious rot that isn't about the actualization of racial differences but about the actualization of HOW AWESOME SOMEONE IS.

Do not subscribe to their newsletter. Better to be a realized Horta than some sort of space elf that is simply the fantasy of what you imagine how awesome you could be.

 

[Steampunkette]

So a Mystical and Non-Hostile alien race that isn't elven in it's stylings and outlook.

So the first thing I'd do is take a look online for something "Out There" as an alien species styling, and I found this beautiful piece of art:

The original artist created five different alien species, here... But what if that were -one- species with five different genders, or castes, or body structures designed for different roles in society? Or perhaps four genders, and the bottom left corner is an alien mercenary species that is paid to protect these non-combatant peoples?

What sort of society would form around these four or five people? Are some a ruling caste while others are laborers? What sort of divisions of social roles and obligations do they have? Does color represent anything? Do the castes quarrel amongst themselves and have issues maintaining cohesion, leading to a society that is often on the edge of breaking apart?

Is their cadence of speech stoccatto and swift, slow and drawling, or somehow both, with slow and deliberate speech that is spoken sharpy with brief pauses between words that slows to a Shatnerian Crawl?

How did they evolve to have such violently different appearances? How do they conduct themselves?

What if, unlike elves, these guys weren't detached or capricious, but -were- lascivious? A whole species of aliens who are enlightened and delicate and gentle and randy or raunchy in their humor? I mean, like, even in court people make fart jokes while on the witness stand levels of raunchy playfulness. What if Puns are considered the most noble form of comedy and employed -constantly-?

What if they've got a half-orc lifespan (60-70 years. tops) but a -killer- education system that teaches them everything they need to know really fast?

 

[Mind of tempest]

I'm sorry, but clearly you don't, at least not everything about them.

It's an archetype that likely will always exist, in some capacity, as it's just an extrapolation of themes and tropes that are deeply part of our story and myth making.

I'd pull out the parts you like, and what you don't like, and see what those lists look like.

it keeps ending up like diet elves and I need something to make them clearly not the case?

Your suggestion is good.

Literally, write two lists, one for likes and one for dislikes.

See, what the like-list looks like. That is your race. Who cares how elvish or nonelvish it is?

imagine you are trying to make something original but you stumble into the same old worked ground endlessly you want something sufficiently different to see how things could be, it is the horror of trying to reinvent the wheel?

How about a generationally young silica based life form? (i.e. not carbon based or old like elves).
They came to the world/realm in a cataclysmic meteor strike a thousand years past and their is little reason to believe they existent as a life form form before that event. (this could be represented in numerous variations of myths)
You can even go non-biped so they are farther from elves.
They love abstract art built from crystals (particularly metallic crystals) but have a distaste for organic growth because it is so... disorderly.
They are not proficient with psionics or magic, but are good with building, tinkering, and devices.
They have a child-like joy of domesticated animals.
Racial traits might be be things like alchemy & investigation.
You could even go so far as to make them resistant to healing magic (perhaps they are not yet fully integrated int the Weave yet).

I swear I have seen gnomes done as something like that similar before?

 

[Mind of tempest]

It is gratifying, indeed, to see that @Mind of tempest has learned the lesson that so many of us have already learned.

Elves, like cockroaches, serve no function but to breed and survive. They have occupied that special part of every gamer's brain ... the part that says, "What if me, but better ... more agile, more smart, more magical, more awesome?"

That's right. It doesn't matter if you're talking about Legolas, or Space Legolas, Elves are a pernicious rot that isn't about the actualization of racial differences but about the actualization of HOW AWESOME SOMEONE IS.

Do not subscribe to their newsletter. Better to be a realized Horta than some sort of space elf that is simply the fantasy of what you imagine how awesome you could be.

you are describing of a symptom of something far worse, they have eaten our ability to conceive of something else, I have only ever heard of one other thing doing this Imago.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Some of what you're running into is that...elves, in their archetypal form, were made to be alien. So if you're shooting for something being alien, you're probably gonna have some similarities to "elf" no matter what.

But if you'd like pointers on what to avoid to prevent an "alien" race from being too elf-like:

1. Elves have an emphasis on grace and magic. If your aliens are "ugly" or "brutish," and don't really do magic much, that will help.
2. Elves, despite being pulled out of their Tolkien context, still have shades of "relic of a better time" or "proud representatives of a lost/fallen world that was more magical and beautiful." So, having your new creation be either at the height of their power or still developing (that is, they aren't "fallen," they haven't climbed high enough to fall yet), that's a useful distinction.
3. Elves have a thing for physically beautiful things. Crystal spires, swooping lines, natural tree-homes, etc. Give your aliens an industrialized, scientific look, with concrete and steel, hard lines and right angles, etc. Make them look like the only people allowed to be architects are dispassionate engineers.
4. Realistically, Vulcans SHOULD look like Elves--but they don't. And the main reason, despite having the pointy ears, long lifespans, great strength, superior knowledge, etc. is that Vulcans are so big on logic, logic, logic. It distances them from the implicit hedonism (of high-elf-type elves) or primal-traditionalism (of wood-elf-type elves) that elves usually carry. Try to do something similar--making them hardcore militarists could help.
5. Finally...elves look like humans. They have humanoid body plans, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two arms, etc. etc. Break that mold. Give your race extra eyes or fewer eyes, a flat face with nasal slits (like how the gith look), multiple mouths/voices or no mouth at all, tentacles or different numbers of limbs, etc. etc. The classic sci-fi way of making an alien look, y'know, alien.

As a sort of sub-point to the previous: elves are mammals. Making a reptile or insect would instantly push you away from feeling like an "elf" even if culturally the creatures behave a lot like elves, because humans are visual creatures and our judgments of other beings are often based on what they look like.

 

[LordEntrails]

imagine you are trying to make something original but you stumble into the same old worked ground endlessly you want something sufficiently different to see how things could be, it is the horror of trying to reinvent the wheel?

There is nothing new under the sun. But their are ways to put together the same old ingredients to make things feel fresh. It's not that any chef creates some new type of food or burrito, but just something an eater either hasn't tried before or hasn't had in a long time.
Don't get hung up on being new and original. Because someone will always think that at least parts of what you create are derived from something else (even if such was not the inspiration).
Who cares if the chicken burrito is original, as long as it is good!

I swear I have seen gnomes done as something like that similar before?

Proves my point, you see this as gnomes, but I certainly wasn't thinking of them as such when I created them. Some folks are going to see similarities no matter what. Just make sure you are comfortable that the design space or niche you fill doesn't take away from other races you allow and it will all be good.