Using races differently from stereotypes

[Ringan]

I was wondering how people used different races in their campaigns in unusual roles, unlike their stereotypes.

For example, in my campaign goblins tend to be neutral, civilized and master watercrafters. Dragons may or may not be born sentient, otherwise they are stupid brutes. Giants tend to be cultured but a bit shy of medium-sized civilization. As another example, I thought Athas' cannibal halfings and roguish, speedy elves were also an interesting idea.

I'd be interested to hear what changes to canon are made for races in others' campaigns.

 

[Storm Raven]

For example, in my campaign goblins tend to be neutral, civilized and master watercrafters. Dragons may or may not be born sentient, otherwise they are stupid brutes. Giants tend to be cultured but a bit shy of medium-sized civilization. As another example, I thought Athas' cannibal halfings and roguish, speedy elves were also an interesting idea.

Most elves are not nature loving forest dwellers. Instead, they are a highly-civilized urban culture that is focused on running mercantile operations, scholarly pursuits, and ruling others. Oh, and they regard themselves as a master race born to rule over their inferiors.

Dwarven cities resemble the arcology described in Oath of Fealty, and are centers of commerce and industry that outsiders visit often to get access to the dwarven goods.

 

[DMH]

I tried that here: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=161806

And the reactions were interesting (though the dwarves won't do that got a bit tiring).

 

[painandgreed]

My elves and fey are lawful, even hyper-lawful. The elven culture is governed completly by the laws as given to them by the gods and as further written by the groups of elves empowered by the gods to do so. The most dangerous elf one can have as an enemy is an elven lawyer, because if you're found guilty and sentenced to a punishement in an elven court of law, it typically carries weight with the entire elven people no matter of the deatails of the case. The original split between the Drow and the other elves came from the Drow gods wanting to return to a more neutral state. They were found guilty of offending the law and the Drow races sentenced to death. Fey are move governed by unwritten rules and traditions. If a person knows of the rules when dealing with the fey, all is usually good. To those who don't, they can seem very chaotic when their attitude towards somebody turns from friendly to murderous in a just a few seconds, because they made the mistake of commiting some unintuitive insult such as offering food to the fey with the left hand on a Tuesday. All of these race's cultures are primarily fixated on law versus chaos in struggle and usually ingnore good versus evil as they see such as merely a personal choice.

 

[Kestrel]

I've always wanted to run a campaign that included the insectile elves that were featured in Savage Species. Something about the idea and picture always appealed to me.

 

[blargney the second]

I threw one of my players for a loop with a tea-drinking dwarf.

 

[Set]

I had one game world where elves were an NPC race of fey. Ageless and alternately whimsical and cruel, the players referred to them as sharks. They'd be smiling and laughing along with you, and then they'd try to kill you, still smiling. Two minutes later, they'd have forgotten the entire thing, and be your best friend again... Intensely chaotic, and intensely passionate, the Elves didn't believe in lying, or holding *anything* back. If they had an urge, they'd go with it. Forever's too long a time to sit around and think about whether or not something is a good idea. The ultimate extreme action junkies, Elves are all about filling their tedious (and potentially endless, in the vanishingly rare cases where they don't get themselves killed young) lives with moments of excitement, whether that excitement be joy or pleasure or sheer terror or mindless fury, it's all good to the Elf. And if a few mortals get killed in the process? Whatever. They'll just make more...

The Orcs of that setting were more like 3.5 interpretations of Hobgoblins. I noted that they were Lawful, and made them so. Harshly organized and obsessed with personal honor, they ruled grim cities of stone that seemed to just spring up suddenly in lands they conquered, slave-miners, laborers and craftsmen working 24/7 to maintain the Orc war machine. After meeting some, one of the players snarked, 'Wow, Klingon Orcs.' and I snarked back, 'Wait till you meet the Romulan Dark Elves...'

Before the forest gnomes of Termana were added to the Scarred Lands setting, I made up my own Gnomes, the nomadic 'Rus,' who traveled in brightly painted wagons and basically served as the Gypsies of the setting, being tinkers, entertainers, fortune-tellers and self-proclaimed keepers of secret lore. They specialized in illusion magic, to enhance their performances and augment their reputation for having 'tricks' up their sleeves to protect them from abuse at the hands of those larger and more powerful than themselves. They claimed to have a hidden kingdom, that only they could find, and even claimed to have an invisible college of magic, where their greatest secrets could be found by none but themselves. Their more powerful spellcasters tapped into the Plane of Shadow to bring some reality to their fictions, and indeed, there *was* an 'invisible college' of sorts...

 

[Drawmack]

Dragons were very rare, so rare in fact that most places they were considered a myth. The lived only along the mountain range known as the spine which bisected the continent and had a single pass through it. Think of Europe and Asia seperated by the Himilayan (sp?) mountains.

Being so rare many of the demihuman races worshiped them like gods. This was loosly based on Greek mythology with Mt. Olympus. The greatest Dragon Priests were the kobolds, who were very powerful. Many high level paladins, monks, and clerics could be found among even small kobold societies.

Being so powerful the kobolds rules over the gobliniods.

Boy was this a fun scene when some very experienced role players were walking through abandonded dwarven mines and saw three kobolds floating, cross-legged a couple feet off the ground holding whips and commanding bugbears and hobgoblins.

hehehehehehehe

 

[Ibram]

Elves are control freaks, they see themselves as the natural rulers of all existance. Magic is their means to an end (which once nearly destroyed the world).

Hobgoblins are 'Mongol raiders' who were taught horsemanship by an elf who needed calvary... they share a common ancestory with goblins (the Hobgoblins were nobility, goblins were the worker class) and do not get along well with their former servants. They hate Orcs because when Orcs arrived they destroyed the Hobgoblins country (Goblins have a deep honor debt to Orcs for the same reason)

Goblins come in three flavors: Under-Goblins, xenophobic creatures who spend much of their time underground. Forest-Goblins, tree dwellers who use stone weapons and generaly attack everything they can. Hill-Goblins, 'respectable' if not trustworhty creatures who are generaly able to get along with others.

Orcs: Not evil by nature, they are barbians who came from across the sea to forge their own kingdom. Focusing on elemental magic they worship Dragons and Giants.

Ogres: Generaly more intelligent then usualy portrayed, they are millitant but ultimately savage. Ogres are also quite long lived, and their spell casters are well versed in the dark arts.

Giants: Posessing great magical powers in addition to their physical powers Giants are seen as gods by many (both Dwarves and Orcs). Many can change shape, and often walk among the 'mortal races'. Most giants are neutral with regards to good and evil.

Dragons: more a force of nature then a monster, Dragons are gods in their own right. Though they can often appear evil they are not bound by the morals of mortals.

 

[arscott]

Elves are usually portrayed as a nature-centric race. Oftentimes, we see examples of elves joining in the city life, but that is typically a transformation from forest-born mystics to cosmopolitan elites.

I've always wanted to look at that from a different angle. What if elves, rather than staying close to nature or migrating to the city by choice, were displaced or taken by force?

The resulting elves would be very urban (their connection with nature surpressed by those who forced theml to the city). They would be impoverished, not aristocratic. And they would be very angry.

I'm dying to use elves like that somewhere.