Settings where humans not dominant

[jdrakeh]

Anybody know if ElfQuest would count?

I think it would In that same vein, I think Lejentia would, as well (Elves being the most prevalent race therein).

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

There are a few where humanity isn't the dominant race of the setting but they're rare and usually an OOP setting or system. Mostly what you'll find are homebrews, personally I'm tired of humanity I've got to deal with it every day. I'd rather focus my gaming around something that doesn't irritate me.

 

[BendBars/LiftGates]

I think you could consider Planescape non-human dominated. It's basically dominated by anyone but humans. Inside of Sigil, there are plenty of humans, but they certainly don't rule it. When you leave Sigil, your best hope is to be sure you know which non-human power player is in charge wherever you're going. On the planes, the strongest figures around might be the forces of good, a tribe of dwarf petitioners, a city of illithids, fiends, modrons, the physical presence of a god. Hell, the ruler of the city could be something like the metaphysical concept of wanting. Or the concept of purple.

Love it or hate it.

 

[Voadam]

Oathbound Wildwood by Bastion Press.

A wilderness dominated continent where the most prevalent and dominant race are dover, a type of dog men. Elves are second most prevalent. Humans are present, but far down the list. It is like Ravenloft in that it can draw in characters from across the multiverse.

I run a pbp game set in the setting and like it a lot. See my sig for details.

 

[Voadam]

I modified the Planescape Gate city of Rigus in Lord of the Iron Fortress to be non-human. It borders the gate to Acheron and is a planar mercenary hub located in the Outlands. I wanted a planar city to have an exotic otherworldly feel and chose to do this through predominant nonhuman populations.

I populated it with lower class devil blooded tieflings, secretive bladelings, duergar, azer, fire giants, hobgoblins, and asherake (from complete minions) as the dominant races, with a few zenrythi planetouched, faust goblinoid (complete minions), rakshasa, efreeti, drow, illithids, obscure giants, naga, aboleth, etc. sprikled in.

I also camped an army of a half million orcs outside its gates and had them invade when the party was mostly through conducting its murder mystery investigation.

The closest the party saw to humans were the tieflings.

 

[Starman]

It has been a long time since I read Midnight- are orcs more dominate than humans?

You could definitely make the case that Midnight is not dominated by humans. All of the human lands have been subjugated by Izrador and his followers and their populations are in decline due to starvation and war. The dwarves and elves aren't much better off, but at least they have not yet been conquered.

 

[moritheil]

In that case, Earth. Clearly, bacteria are the dominant race.

Yeah, I think to be meaningful in-game, "dominion" implies some degree of control. I mean, if I have a mindflayer civilization where mind-controlled human thralls with no initiative or sense of identity are the most numerous, does that somehow make them "dominant"? Clearly the mindflayers are calling the shots and the humans are essentially nonpersons in that setting, making them completely unviable as character choices . . .

 

[Andor]

The Lands of the Diamond Throne setting for Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved is, for me, the quintessential non-human-dominated setting. The Diamond Throne itself is ruled by a benevolent race of civilized giants who liberated the continent from the thousand-year rule of the dramojh, hideous abominations that combined the worst aspects of demon, dragon, and spider. The only significant challenge to the giants' hegemony comes from the dragons, who claim the entire continent as their homeland, and likewise rule over the humans within their territory. Although one small, isolationist human empire and a smattering of independent city-states exist to the far south of the setting proper, no human nation in the history of Serran has lasted for more than 200 years before being conquered by non-humanoids, so it seems only a matter of time before they too, collapse. Although humans breed fast and are thus the most common of the half-dozen races of the setting, they hold almost no political power in the major nations, while three of the PC races (Giants, Verrik and Faen) rule their own nations in addition to intermingling freely with human cultures, and another maintains semi-independent tribal rule (the Litorians).

Robert "Giants Rule: Because Humans Have Already Proven Their Incompetence" Ranting

Actually from what I can tell Devannia lasted somewhere between 2 and 4 thousand years according to the timeline in Arcana Evolved. But yeah, most of humanity spent a thousand years as the slaves/food/playthings of the Dramojh and were freed by the Giants about 500 years ago. They certainly are not the dominient race in the game. OTOH the lands of the Diamond Throne are pretty cosmopolitan and few but the most isolated and provinicial of villages would blink at almost any humanoid race walking their streets. (Racial emnities like the Littoran and the Rodim aside.)

Although my favorite racial note in the game is about "The short but stout Thorek Glitterhammer is displaced from his homeworld and seeks to get back. He claims to be a "dwarf." Apparently this term means something to him other than "short human."

 

[Silvercat Moonpaw]

Well the OP said he meant more prevalence than political power. Probably we should shift the discussion to not mean dominance but how common they are.

 

[Andor]

Well in Barsive, the setting of Earthdawn numerically and politically Dwarves are the dominant race in the setting, with the Theran Elven empire their main rivals.