RPG Evolution: The Trouble with Halflings

Over the decades I've developed my campaign world to match the archetypes my players wanted to play. In all those years, nobody's ever played a halfling.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

So What's the Problem?​

Halflings, derived from hobbits, have been a curious nod to Tolkien's influence on fantasy. While dwarves and elves have deep mythological roots, hobbits are more modern inventions. And their inclusion was very much a response to the adventurous life that the agrarian homebodies considered an aberration. In short, most hobbits didn't want to be adventurers, and Bilbo, Frodo, and the others were forever changed by their experiences, such that it was difficult for them to reintegrate when they returned home. You don't hear much about elves and dwarves having difficulty returning home after being adventurers, and for good reason. Tolkien was making a point about the human condition and the nature of war by using hobbits as proxies.

As a literary construct, hobbits serve a specific purpose. In The Hobbit, they are proxies for children. In The Lord of the Rings, they are proxies for farmers and other folk who were thrust into the industrialized nightmare of mass warfare. In both cases, hobbits were a positioned in contrast to the violent lifestyle of adventurers who live and die by the sword.

Which is at least in part why they're challenging to integrate into a campaign world. And yet, we have strong hobbit archetypes in Dungeons & Dragons, thanks to Dragonlance.

Kender. Kender Are the Problem​

I did know one player who loved to play kender. We never played together in a campaign, at least in part because kender are an integral part of the Dragonlance setting and we weren't playing in Dragonlance. But he would play a kender in every game he played, including in massive multiplayers like Ultima Online. And he was eye-rollingly aggravating, as he loved "borrowing" things from everyone (a trait established by Tasselhoff Burrfoot).

Part of the issue with kender is that they aren't thieves, per se, but have a child-like curiosity that causes them to "borrow" things without understanding that borrowing said things without permission is tantamount to stealing in most cultures. In essence, it results in a character who steals but doesn't admit to stealing, which can be problematic for inter-party harmony. Worse, kender have a very broad idea of what to "borrow" (which is not limited to just valuables) and have always been positioned as being offended by accusations of thievery. It sets up a scenario where either the party is very tolerant of the kender or conflict ensues. This aspect of kender has been significantly minimized in the latest draft for Unearthed Arcana.

Big Heads, Little Bodies​

The latest incarnation of halflings brings them back to the fun-loving roots. Their appearance is decidedly not "little children" or "overweight short people." Rather, they appear more like political cartoons of eras past, where exaggerated features were used as caricatures, adding further to their comical qualities. But this doesn't solve the outstanding problem that, for a game that is often about conflict, the original prototypes for halflings avoided it. They were heroes precisely because they were thrust into difficult situations and had to rise to the challenge. That requires significant work in a campaign to encourage a player to play a halfling character who would rather just stay home.

There's also the simple matter of integrating halflings into societies where they aren't necessarily living apart. Presumably, most human campaigns have farmers; dwarves and elves occupy less civilized niches, where halflings are a working class who lives right alongside the rest of humanity in plain sight. Figuring out how to accommodate them matters a lot. Do humans just treat them like children? Would halflings want to be anywhere near a larger humanoids' dwellings as a result? Or are halflings given mythical status like fey? Or are they more like inveterate pranksters and tricksters, treating them more like gnomes? And if halflings are more like gnomes, then why have gnomes?

There are opportunities to integrate halflings into a world, but they aren't quite so easy to plop down into a setting as dwarves and elves. I still haven't quite figured out how to make them work in my campaign that doesn't feel like a one-off rather than a separate species. But I did finally find a space for gnomes, which I'll discuss in another article.

Your Turn: How have you integrated halflings into your campaign world?

 

[Mind of tempest]

I take your point, but the thrust of the idea is that space is limited. It is a resource that is expended.

I have no problem with the idea of a troupe of merry dwarven actors putting on the battle of the four armies (or whatever) on in their taverns.

My argument is that the races/cultures that value theatre (or magic, or welfare, or information) more would devote comparatively more resources and thereby be better at those things.

your not wrong in the general sense but you are assuming a far more entropic universe than even our own thus your math is flawed.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I can't believe how difficult it has been to get folks to agree that you have to make choices and those choices have consequences.

Theater or mine.. hah jokes on you, all my mines are theaters.

Acting or mining..hah jokes on you, all miners are also actors and the whole time they are mining, they are also acting and enjoying the other miner/actors' performances.

Work or hobby or charity..hah jokes on you..everyone who works, works at a charity which is also their hobby..

Is this the moment I come over to the pro-simulation crowd?

you are thinking like a person, not a group.
cites have the ability to do things at once, the guy who owns the mines might use them to pay for the theatre's construction.

yes choices matter but you have over simplified to insanity for your point to truly work ,cultures and civilisations are complex

 

[Gammadoodler]

your not wrong in the general sense but you are assuming a far more entropic universe than even our own thus your math is flawed.

Nah I'm just holding all outside variables beyond 'racial preference' equal to illustrate the general impact of those racial preferences.

Because that is how you make fair comparisons.

 

[Gammadoodler]

you are thinking like a person, not a group.
cites have the ability to do things at once, the guy who owns the mines might use them to pay for the theatre's construction.

yes choices matter but you have over simplified to insanity for your point to truly work ,cultures and civilisations are complex

Do cities get to spend the burn the same lump of coal twice? Can they spend the same hour twice? Is 100% of the workforce of a city able to mine and play the banjo at the same time?

Insofar as things get done at once, it is also a resource allocation.. its just a distribution of the total expendable effort used for getting things done.

70% mining, 30% theater is different from
60% mining 40% theater is different from
30% mining 70% theater.

Unless you are saying that cities get to spend more than 100% of their resources by virtue of "complexity", then the point remains.

Resource scarcity is equally applicable at the city level.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Sauron had trouble with halflings. He didn't know what to make of them so he tried to pretend they didn't exist. Look where that got him.

 

[Chaosmancer]

1. You absolutely are saying that your Dwarves get to do everything at maximum quality with zero sacrifices. Your Dwarves get a mining tradition, a theatrical tradition, a crafting tradition, a martial tradition. You know, they live a long time, they probably have a magical tradition, a gardening tradition, and a culinary tradition too. They get to do everything. Your Dwarves have zero flaws (and halflings are Mary Sues..the hypocrisy is strong with this one)

Okay, here's a fun challenge. Go to ancient Greece, heck, we'll say go to Athens in Ancient Greece.

Do they have a mining tradition? The Mines of Laurion say yes, Athenians had a mining operation. They weren't in an ore-rich area, but they had it.

Do they have a Theatrical Tradition? Obviously yes. Athenian plays and play wrights are literally world famous

Do they have a crafting tradition? Considering we have statuary, pots, and more from Athens, yes, they did have a crafting tradition.

Do they have a Martial Tradition? Athens had armies, so not an unfair assessment. Now, they weren't like the Spartans for sure, but they did defeat the Spartans, so... that has to count for something, right?

Did they have culinary traditions? Considering that they have a "national food" I'd say that's a yes.

Gardening Tradition? Athens had gardens as depicited in many artworks. Oh right, they had an art tradition as well.

And philosophy, religion, maritime trade, ship building...

Now, if a single human city-state can have all that... why can't Dwarves? Now, maybe when you say "tradition" you mean something far more intense and time consuming than the thing existing. But your posts keep acting like dwarves don't have theaters at all, like them building one is somehow a shocking break in character. Dwarves have an entire society, complete with all the bells and whistles.

2. We do have an economy, and you know what the biggest point of conflict has always been, resource allocation. This is true at both the macro and micro levels. How much money goes to NASA vs. how much goes to the Department of Education vs. How much goes to the Department of Health and Human Services. In our homes, how much do we spend on housing vs. food vs. video games vs the charities we support.

You have a household budget, right? And a job, some hobbies? Have you noticed that you can't buy everything you want? Or that when you're working at your job, you aren't participating in your hobbies? Have you ever noticed that someone who spends less time at work can spend more time on their hobbies/family? Or that people who spend less on video games can spend more on miniatures (holding income equal)?

So do not have NASA and a Department of Education and a Department of Health and Human Services?

Again, if you mean "this is the greatest achievement of this people known world-wide" then sure, the dwarves aren't known world-wide for their amazing playwrights. But they do have playwrights, they do have theaters, they do have bakeries. Because they are a functioning society, not a partial society.

I like that you brought up the Greeks. You know that there are some very different resource allocation choices made between city states..see Sparta vs. Athens. They were known for different things as a result. Athens had marginally more boats and theater, Sparta had more elite warriors. I wonder I there could be any parallels we could learn from here?

That having slaves do all your work allows for dedicating training for warriors? But that still doesn't make you the best, since Athen's armies defeated and subjugated Sparta while the slave revolts finished the job?

"Resource Allocation" aren't magic words that make sections of society vanish because funds are limited. Especially since dwarves not only have a lot of time (and therefore more resources) but also because they are rich, with that whole schtick of them pulling wealth from the earth. Which is still more resources. And they work together, you know, clans?

And then there's the rest of your post...you know..the part where you spill so much digital ink putting words in my mouth and misinterpreting them.

Let's be clear, in the same way that say Canadians as a nationality are seen as nicer without every individual being an angel, Halflings as a race/culture can be nicer/kinder without every individual being an angel. Maybe, like Canada, they might invest more resources, as a culture in programs or institutions that benefit their people than some of the other races/culture.

Anything about Mary Sue-ism is just nonsense. Your problem with halflings is bias. You are willing to extend unlimited benefits and extrapolation to other races that you are not willing to extend to halflings. And you are willing to spill thousands of words to justify this behavior(inadequately). You just don't like them.

And instead of trying to disprove my claims or rebut them, you get offended, claim I just have a bias and hate halflings, and leave the conversation.

You know, shockingly, I've found that "You are wrong, you just hate them, I'm done talking" has never once made me rethink my position. What with the whole, giving me absolutely no reason to question my assertions and logic. I just don't wake up and go "Wait! What if I was wrong about the thing I came to a conclusion on?" Usually you need some sort of... counter-evidence.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Do cities get to spend the burn the same lump of coal twice? Can they spend the same hour twice? Is 100% of the workforce of a city able to mine and play the banjo at the same time?

Insofar as things get done at once, it is also a resource allocation.. its just a distribution of the total expendable effort used for getting things done.

70% mining, 30% theater is different from
60% mining 40% theater is different from
30% mining 70% theater.

Unless you are saying that cities get to spend more than 100% of their resources by virtue of "complexity", then the point remains.

Resource scarcity is equally applicable at the city level.

Let's try a different tack. Since you want to make this about resource allocation.

The Law of Diminishing Returns.

If I run a business, and I have 1 employee, my workforce is X. If I hire a second employee, I have increased my workforce by 100% and doubled my productivity. If I hire a third employee, I have only increased my work force by 50% and only increased my productivity by 50%. You can't just add more people and increase things infinitely.

So, yes, in theory 70% mining 30% theater is different from 30% mining 70% theater, but how many people can you fit in the mine? The mine shaft and the ore in it is a finite resource, and at a certain point you are just being ineffiencent by having more people trying to mine the same ore. So those people go to do other jobs. And sure, maybe only 30% of those jobs are theater, but that's still 30% of the entire population doing theater.


And you asked a question that I think has a different answer than you meant. Can a city spend the same hour twice? Well... kind of yes. Because if one person can spend one hour doing one thing, then a city with 10 thousand people can do ten thousand things in a single hour. And do to the law of diminishing returns, not all those work hours can be put towards the same thing, in fact, they often get allocated to other things. And dwarves would value things like theaters, because they value history and the stories of their clans, which are ripe material for playwrights. Historical accounts produced as plays is an entire genre!


If your entire point is that halflings put on better plays than Dwarves.... maybe they put on plays other people like more. But dwarves have plays, and they build better theaters than halflings, because dwarves are the best at building things. And are halflings the best at plays? I'd say no, that's probably elves, because elves have a focus on art, and theater is about art, not community. But, I'd also say, dwarves probably hate Elvish plays, because they don't have the same values as elves, and dwarves would say that dwarvish plays are the absolute best plays, because they are dwarvish. And since art is entirely subjective... they'd be right to say so.

And there are so many dwarven working hours that they are still going to have all of the fundamental parts of society, because they are a functioning society. Whether or not they are "the best in the world" at it is a completely different question.

 

[Faolyn]

I take your point, but the thrust of the idea is that space is limited. It is a resource that is expended.

I have no problem with the idea of a troupe of merry dwarven actors putting on the battle of the four armies (or whatever) on in their taverns.

My argument is that the races/cultures that value theatre (or magic, or welfare, or information) more would devote comparatively more resources and thereby be better at those things.

Also, theaters and other sources of entertainment are good for morale, and dwarfs with low morale don't mine as well and are likely to be taken by a fey mood. So entertainment would be important for dwarfs.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Okay, here's a fun challenge. Go to ancient Greece, heck, we'll say go to Athens in Ancient Greece.

Do they have a mining tradition? The Mines of Laurion say yes, Athenians had a mining operation. They weren't in an ore-rich area, but they had it.

Do they have a Theatrical Tradition? Obviously yes. Athenian plays and play wrights are literally world famous

Do they have a crafting tradition? Considering we have statuary, pots, and more from Athens, yes, they did have a crafting tradition.

Do they have a Martial Tradition? Athens had armies, so not an unfair assessment. Now, they weren't like the Spartans for sure, but they did defeat the Spartans, so... that has to count for something, right?

Did they have culinary traditions? Considering that they have a "national food" I'd say that's a yes.

Gardening Tradition? Athens had gardens as depicited in many artworks. Oh right, they had an art tradition as well.

And philosophy, religion, maritime trade, ship building...

Now, if a single human city-state can have all that... why can't Dwarves? Now, maybe when you say "tradition" you mean something far more intense and time consuming than the thing existing. But your posts keep acting like dwarves don't have theaters at all, like them building one is somehow a shocking break in character. Dwarves have an entire society, complete with all the bells and whistles.



So do not have NASA and a Department of Education and a Department of Health and Human Services?

Again, if you mean "this is the greatest achievement of this people known world-wide" then sure, the dwarves aren't known world-wide for their amazing playwrights. But they do have playwrights, they do have theaters, they do have bakeries. Because they are a functioning society, not a partial society.



That having slaves do all your work allows for dedicating training for warriors? But that still doesn't make you the best, since Athen's armies defeated and subjugated Sparta while the slave revolts finished the job?

"Resource Allocation" aren't magic words that make sections of society vanish because funds are limited. Especially since dwarves not only have a lot of time (and therefore more resources) but also because they are rich, with that whole schtick of them pulling wealth from the earth. Which is still more resources. And they work together, you know, clans?



And instead of trying to disprove my claims or rebut them, you get offended, claim I just have a bias and hate halflings, and leave the conversation.

You know, shockingly, I've found that "You are wrong, you just hate them, I'm done talking" has never once made me rethink my position. What with the whole, giving me absolutely no reason to question my assertions and logic. I just don't wake up and go "Wait! What if I was wrong about the thing I came to a conclusion on?" Usually you need some sort of... counter-evidence.

Fortunately I can respond to this one without a lot of effort.

It is silly to present counter-evidence when someone isn't actually reading what you write.

Incrementally here is meant to express that they invest some amount more in time and energy investing in people than other races do.

It does not mean that halflings are the only ones doing so. It's the same way dwarves being Incrementally better crafters reflects that they have invested more time and energy getting better at crafting than other races have while acknowledging that other races do craft stuff.

Time and energy are finite resources. Investments in one area mean sacrifices in another. Halflings are not the best crafters, or empire builders, or mages. Their time and energy is spent elsewhere.

From a worldbuilding perspective, which was where this all started, all that is required is to plot out the incrementally different results of their incremental time and energy expenditure, the same way you would with every other race.

I haven't once said that Dwarves would lack theaters. I have said...over..and over..and over..and over again that the races (e.g. halflings or elves or basically anyone perhaps) who invest more resources in it, would have more and/or be better at it. And that this would apply to any other field a race devotes more resources to than other races.

Since you've acknowledged that your dwarven playwrights probably aren't the best, I think we're in agreement. Hooray!

 

[Mind of tempest]

Fortunately I can respond to this one without a lot of effort.

It is silly to present counter-evidence when someone isn't actually reading what you write.

I haven't once said that Dwarves would lack theaters. I have said...over..and over..and over..and over again that the races (e.g. halflings or elves or basically anyone perhaps) who invest more resources in it, would have more and/or be better at it. And that this would apply to any other field a race devotes more resources to than other races.

Since you've acknowledged that your dwarven playwrights probably aren't the best, I think we're in agreement. Hooray!

given dwarven pride in their crafts, I suspect they would make very good plays by their own standards.