How much is too much (Race Bloat)

[Glade Riven]

One the one hand, a players like options. On the other hand, trying to justify (when it comes to world building, at least) a bunch of different races in one fantasy world can get tricky. Not only that, but not everyone likes too much variety for races (a few even prefer single-race only, like human). Plus, too many races can get confusing.

The simple solution - Keep it Core. Yet that simplicity can be unsatisfying. Personally, I prefer the case-by-case basis - somebody really wants to play a drow in a world with few or no drow, I can find a way to make it work. Someone wants to play a half-dragon werebear lich, though..can't say I'd allow that, although it may make an interesting villain.

One thing I'm looking at with Phaetos (for those who remember me posting on it a while back, I'm still working on it; while the setting is Pathfinder, this thread talks about general game design theory rather than Pathfinder specifics), each major region has a core selection of races. Orcs don't exist on Phaetos (and therefore, half-orcs), but can be added back in easily enough (notes will be added on how that works) as their role is being represented by a new race. Dromites replaces gnomes and halflings, but they are found in other regions and will return in those volumes. An appendix has a number of additional races which can be playable with GM permission, since the goal of the appendix is for a GM to create npcs and villains.

I guess I would rather have options avalable for a game/dungeon master to say "No" to than to not have options at all.

 

[fireinthedust]

Sounds fairly straightforward.

You need to decide what races to make available. Fine.

Really you're deciding a) what powers your players can choose, and b) what different groups you want in the setting.

a: you don't like darkvision, don't allow dwarves, or nerf them.

b: you pick the ones that will come into play or have a special use in-game. I mean, will the dwarves of Mountain X be the ones in control of the magical armor trade? Or the Elves of Forest Y have a fantastic Wizard school?


My issue with lots of races is that they tend to get random and single-use. That and there's never the right emphasis on them: giant blue Ogre never makes an eye blink. And, of course, the really cheesey ones, like the half-dragon Werebear Bullywug.

So yeah, I tend to like humans.

 

[LurkAway]

I haven't thought them all through, but is there any race that can't be reskinned as a human "subrace"/ethnic group or a cursed or mutated human tribe or a unique individual?

 

[Niccodaemus]

I haven't thought them all through, but is there any race that can't be reskinned as a human "subrace"/ethnic group or a cursed or mutated human tribe or a unique individual?

Great point. I think creating human cultures that mirror the mechanical benefits of demi-humans is a great solution to "all human" campaigns.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I haven't thought them all through, but is there any race that can't be reskinned as a human "subrace"/ethnic group or a cursed or mutated human tribe or a unique individual?

If you try hard enough, you can reskin anything back to human...but if you do, certain ones will strain credulity.

 

[gamerprinter]

I don't mind the creation of new player character races, but I'd never allow all of them, just a select few that best fit a particular campaign. I can see having some great urban center with a multitude of the worlds races that might create some GM headache, but that goes with the territory of urban campaigns.

For instance since I design Kaidan (feudal Japan/Asian horror) setting, I include tengu, kappa and hengeyokai as available races, though I may yet add korobukuru. I wouldn't expect to see a kappa outside of a Japan-esque setting, but they fit Kaidan.

I've even played urban campaigns that include a 'china town'/'little tokyo' precinct where such races and oriental PCs can co-exist in non-Eastern game settings. So it depends on the needs of your setting.

 

[LurkAway]

If you try hard enough, you can reskin anything back to human...but if you do, certain ones will strain credulity.

The pixie-as-a-human comes to mind in terms of straining credulity. For whatever reason, the pixie (whatever one thinks of the race in gameplay) doesn't contribute to "race bloat" IMO. I think the reason is that a) I'm used to thinking of humans and fey (ie., real-life Europe and fairy superstitions) and b) the pixie coexists but mostly out of sight, flitting between the cracks of the real world, and not crowding out the humans.

 

[Glade Riven]

And the twenty+ subspecies of Forgotten Realms can be annoying. One thing about any of the races that I put in, they have a specific role in society. Jotun (reflavored Trollkin, really) replace the role of the orc/half orc, with a long history of being enslaved and emancipated. Dromites replacing halfings and gnomes narrows things further, but I understand that there are a lot of people who like gnomes and/or halflings, so I want to leave an out for them to be included (at least in future releases)


With a bit of dipping into the rulez I'm using, Pathfinder has optional alternative racial traits, which are great for adding minor flavor changes for ethnicities - and are optionally optional. Another addition to Phaetos are bloodline feats, in which grant a special ability (and often a weakness) associated with ancestry; they can only be taken at first level, and only one is allowed. But that's getting technical in a general thread.


I'd rather leave random/single-use stuff for GM use only, and not for PCs. Write it off as an experiment of the local BBEG Wizard the PCs are trying to take down, or the occassional iconic villain.

Reskinning is especialy great for monster/villain design, but yeah - some skinning may need mechanical tweaks to work out.

 

[Dausuul]

And the twenty+ subspecies of Forgotten Realms can be annoying.

Actually, I'm starting to think that sub-races are a good thing. They satisfy the player's desire to be a special snowflake (and/or have the perfect mechanical modifiers), without requiring the DM to place an entire new race in the campaign world. I would rather have five flavors of elf than have elves, dragonborn, gnomes, warforged, and wilden.

 

[LurkAway]

I'd rather leave random/single-use stuff for GM use only, and not for PCs.

Although it does have its drawbacks in an RPG, unique individuals (or unique tribes or bloodlines) for PCs is probably the most basic solution to race bloat.

For example, in Wizard of Oz, you have some races like the winged monkeys and the Munchkins. But if Wizard of Oz was D&D, you'd also have Tinmen and Living Scarecrows as races, Cowardly Lions would be a subrace of Lions, and Witch of the North would be a class.

What contributes to race bloat isn't the diversity of non-human concepts per se, it's the desire to convert every such concept into a self-breeding race.