Same Species, Different System: How do different games treat typical fantasy races?

[BiggusGeekus]

Orkworld put a big twist on the Tolkienesque races, but the elves are really more like psionic vampires. The Dwarves are obsessed with perfection. Orks are nomadic bronze-age tribesmen.

Soverign Stone has magic-free elves and horse riding dwarves. They tried a little too hard here, if you ask me ... which no one really is.



The problem, to my mind, is that once you get very far from the Tolkien archetypes the races cease to become what they are. I've often kicked around the thought of making elves true nature lovers and have them be like jungle-dweling Aztecs, but then would they really be elves? Would I be better off by simply researching Aztec mythology and coming up with a new race and then dropping elves altogether? Maybe so.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Thanks for the replies! Keep `em coming!

It seems to me that, more often than not, a lot of the use &/or appearance of the classic demi-human races often falls back to a Tolkienian/D&Dish variety. For example:

• The Palladium Fantasy RPG (1st ed.) didn't have halflings or any sort of half-&-half races (half-elves, half-orcs, etc.), but it held onto a generally typical depiction of elves, dwarves, & orcs; gnomes seem to be a mix between gnomes, halflings, & the more larger fae folk (or more akin to a garden gnome). IIRC, Palladium Elves are closer to Tolkien's (taller) version physically.
• The Ultima CRPG series started off with Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Bobbits for PCs, and Orcs as enemies. Ultima 4 dropped all of the demihuman PC races, but orcs were still around as foes. (IIRC, it wasn't until Ultima 6 that orcs were dropped & trolls took their place).
• The early Might & Magic CRPGs used Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Half-Orcs, & Gnomes.
• The Bard's Tale CRPGs used the standard AD&D races: human, elf, dwarf, gnome, hobbit, half-elf, and half-orc.
• The Wizardry series of games had Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, & Hobbits.
• GURPS' Yrth initially had Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs, plus would up importing Humans, Halflings, Goblins & other folk.
• Warhammer Fantasy has Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and hobbit-like Halflings; though it doesn't use the D&Dish appearances, Warhammer basically has similar groups/factions as in older versions of D&D: High/Wood/Dark Elves, (good) Dwarves/(evil) Chaos Dwarves, Orks & Goblins, etc.
• Warcraft has the standard groups: Humans (with elf & dwarf allies), Orcs (more WH-like in appearance), Night Elves (sorta pseudo-drow other-elves, though far from the deep-dwellin' spider-lovin' baddies of D&D).

More often than not, the races in these games kinda default to the variety found in D&D: gnomes & dwarves were basically the same, though dwarves were more warrior-oriented & gnomes were more magic-oriented. Elves are slender, roughly human-sized beings with pointy ears. Orcs are big brutish tough guys, often with growly, grumbly voices. Halflings either resemble their hobbit ancestors (with the typical 3 subgroups generally like Fallohides, Stoors, and Harfoots), or mirror the Kender in an effort to distance themselves from Hobbits.

However, it does seem that Warhammer Orks have reached a relatively high level of use/recognition in fantasy as well: big, green, tough, & armed with big weapons & bad grammar.

Of course, there are games out there that do try to stray away from these stereotypical depictions, but to a degree, they don't seem to be as common as these D&Dish varieties. Along similar lines, the classic four classes of fighter, cleric, mage, and thief generally appear in a lot of classed-based/using games as well (of the 4, it seems that cleric/priests are dropped or merged with the mage in some instances).

I'm a bit surprised that I don't see other varieties of these races: short (i.e., dwarf/halfling/fairy-height) elves ala Elfquest; highly magical, non-warrior, non-techie/craftsmen dwarves (not linked to some pseudo-Nordic rune magic, but magical overall); goblins that aren't green &/or hideous; etc. In a way, it seems that Tolkien, D&D, & to a degree Warhammer, have pretty much defined what is "typical" fantasy. At the least, these races generally maintain the same appearance, if not a generally similar backstory.

I'm not complaining about this (not in the least); I'm just surprised about how little divergence there is from this overall.

 

[Dogbrain]

RuneQuest has been mentioned before, and I'll elaborate.

Campaigns wherein Mostali ("Dwarves") were played pretty much like generic fantasy Dwarves were campaigns wherein Mostali were very badly handled. Mostali are inhuman. They do not age and cannot die unless broken. They do not have independent thoughts unless broken. They do not go out and "adventure" unless broken. They do not act as individuals unless broken. They have only one function: Repair the World Machine. Ultimately, this will mean the extinction of all or nearly all sapient beings. This is how it should be. If a Mostali colony runs out of proper food, random items are stuffed into a bag to be eaten. Mostali do not make beer. As far as the Mostali are concerned, Individualism (that a Mostali has any individual value) is a gross error. Openhandism (that non-Mostali have a purpose other than simply being raw materials) is a gross error. Greg Stafford's most in-depth article on Mostali "culture" was titled "Why I hate Mostali."

 

[Dark Jezter]

Warcraft - Orcs here have the Horde mentallity, and some of them are definatly stupid (peons), but they have Heroes and can (while chaotic) serve Good. They have shrugged off Demonic influance and are trying to find/recreate the Shamanistic traditions of the world they orginally came from.

Considering how honor-bound and devoted to serving the Horde many orcs are, I'd say many of them are lawful rather than chaotic.

In fact, when asked why the favored class of orcs in the Warcraft RPG is fighter rather than barbarian, a Blizzard employee stated that orc warriors rely on discipline and training rather than fury and instinct (although orcs do have an innate racial ability to fly into a barbarian-like rage).

 

[Saeviomagy]

Many systems treat Orcs better than D&D does, for example:

Earthdawn - in that setting they can be Heroes same as every one else, as can the systems version of Trolls and lizard men (T'skrang). There are few restrictions on what they can be/do and they even have their own civilized nation.

In terms of stereotypes in earthdawn:
Dwarves are the most populous race. Their nation is interested in expanding, but they tend to do it via negotiation rather than war. They do have a big underground city, but EVERY race except the elves has an underground city or two.

Elves are all a bit warped and twisted - half of them are a sort of pseudo roman empire (ie - they conquer others, own slaves and generally treat other civilisations badly) and the other half are forest-loving hippies who're being twisted because they fed their forest blood and pain.

Trolls have a sky-pirate empire, raiding anyone who's too close to their home base.

Orcs have a sort of barbaric state.

Humans don't seem to have much of a prominent status at all...

Regardless: All the races get along in general, and are more or less all the same. It's just the NATIONS that seem to be in constant strife.

 

[Ogrebear]

I have often wondered about this myself - Orcs for example- if you make them a Roman-style expansionist Empire with all the advances/civilization/tech of Rome are they still Orcs?

What if you lob in the blood sports/Arena and all the associated hunting/slavery etc that went with it. Are they now Orcs?

How far can you bend a racial sterotype before they stop being what players expect? Should you bend the racial preconseptions? Is it simply easier to create a new race rather than make players streach what they expect a race to be?

 

[Ogrebear]

Regardless: All the races get along in general, and are more or less all the same. It's just the NATIONS that seem to be in constant strife.

A fantastic and very accurate summery of Earthdawn - unlike many other settings the races are not at war with each other eg. Orks are not killed on sight like in FR.

Orks from Urpa and Elves from Bartertown can get on fine- however Orks, Humans etc from the great slaving Empire of Thera will be considered enermies.

Dwarves are very interesting they initally ran Barsavie (where the game takes place) but rebelled and now try to unite the other races against Thera but not rule them, sorta making the Dwarves a bit like the U.S. *grin* It's a responsilbilty they take seriously, and itmakes the Dwarves more like Ambassadors and traders rather than stay at home dour miners.

The Elves are split and very differant from D&D in many ways. The Blood Elves as you mentioned are very twisted, very dark. The other Elves strike me as more dynamic than std Elves, they seem younger, less stand-offish than 'normal'.

Trolls are about as far from D&D Trolls as Runequest ones are. Yes they are are massive 9' heavy set beings but unlike D&D Trolls Earthdawn Trolls have normal flesh and dont regenerate. They are fantasticlly strong and hardy but also intelligent (if perhaps a little slow compared to Humans). They have a complex honour system that raises them from simply being the system's Ogres.

Ts'krang are simply fun. They have some similarily to D&D lizard men (eggs, river living etc) however they are very differant in outlook. A tipical Ts'krang is a very Errol Flynn action filled figure- always ready for adventure. No wonder they are the system premier pirates!

Despite the changes to the races the game is actualy all about Adventuring and the movements of Nations- and that why Earthdawn is such a good game.

 

[Incenjucar]

The trick is that many fantasy writers are seemingly afraid to actually create racial differences WITHIN a species.

Even in D&D, when they DO dare to be different, has to make a sub-race out of everything (Gray orcs, the thirteen flavors of elf, etc.)

The stereotypes seem to hold on too dearly, and, at the same time, people are afraid to have real world style within-species racism, and trade it for, what seems to be more acceptable, specism.

Myself, I like having fantasy races with as much variety in culture as any human, and human races that actually acknowledge a difference between each other.

For instance, I have a plains-dwelling group of humans that are fairly comparable to the real world's African peoples as far as genetic physical features go, and I even took the real world's voodan stereotype and made it interesting, with the twist that the goodly tribes cannibalize to prevent the use of corpses for magic, have pet ghouls and carrion crow swarms, etc. They also have mythology devoted to explaining why they have dark skin and the other humans they have dealt with have lighter skin; basically the richness and strength that is found in dark, rich soil, was given to them for their bodies, while the rest of the humans had pale, weak soil for their composition. You have no idea how much I've sweated over the idea of offending someone by making skin color such a big deal as to have myth behind it.

People just hold too fast to stereotypes, yet fear them mightily when you can point to someone who falls under it.

Just like many people think that the drow are a sign of Gygax having a fear for strong women of African ancestry.

 

[Thanee]

In Midgard, elves are completely noble and honorable. They never lie or cheat, they are not even allowed to use skills like open lock, pick pocket, or assassinate (only to subdue, not to kill), they never use black magic. Unlike D&D, they are actually immortal (as Tolkien).

Dwarves are pretty much the usual stunty, beardy, greedy, ale-drinking stereotypical norse-style warriors. They even live in the norse-mythology-based-on region of the world. There are even rules about their lust for gold, since they need to treasure large amounts of gold to be able to level up.

Bye
Thanee