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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cthulhudrew" data-source="post: 2046043" data-attributes="member: 4090">Native Americans= Elves. You can have them be "primitive", "back to nature" types, or you can have them be as the standard elves, but faced with the encroaching humans and similar RW dilemmas.Humans= Settlers in the "New World" of the elves. These are the pilgrims, the cattle-rustlers, the peasants, the outlaws, etc. Fill their "traditional" role as the newcomers to the lands.Dwarves, gnomes, halflings- don't really know where to put these offhand. Perhaps they are slave races or indentured servants from the "Old World"- like the Africans or Chinese in RW US history? Dwarves could be put to work building the railroads and other labors. Alternatively, working off of some standard fantasy cliches, the gnomes could be the big bankers behind the settlement of the New World (and thus be in a rather unique position of power from their traditional roles- here they're the movers and shakers), the dwarves could be the craftsmen and engineers (designing the cities and things), and the humans could be the slave race from the Old World.Barbarians and Sorcerers would be the "primitive" classes of the elvish natives. Sorcerer would be the likely favored class of the elves (as, IMO, it always should have been). Probably a lot of druids (shamans) as well, and Rangers. Rangers would also be suitable bounty hunters in the "lawless" territory- as well as good classes for "Gaucho/Cowboy" type characters.Clerics would be the theologists of the human societies. Seeking to either spread their faith through missionism (by the book or by the sword), or else simply through philosophy (native cultures picking and adopting those elements that best suit them. Like how Hinduism and Buddhism spread throughout SE Asia). Paladins would fill their traditional roles as strong arms of the church, or just the general "good sheriff" type role. For a good example of a paladin in a western-era setting, check out Robert E. Howard's "Solomon Kane" stories. (Yes, he's not in the old west, but it's a similar era and similar sensibilities- people on the fringes of "civilized" society.)Fighters and Rogues fill their traditional niches. Bards would be somewhat different, IMO. Not the "song and dance" types, but their means of performance would be more literary- stories, poems, ballads- they'd fill the "newsman" and "pulp" writer roles. I might be inclined to alter their magical powers, possibly.Wizards would represent the scholastic ways of "civilization." Their powers come from cataloguing and codifying the ways of magic, as opposed the the sorcerous "natural" way. They could either be viewed as threats by the clergy, or work in conjunction with them, bringing the light of education to the masses.Monks... well, they can fit in a lot of ways. In the thematic "asian" sense, they could be found among indentured laborers brought to the "New World" (like the chinese who worked on the railroads). They could also simply represent monastic traditions of the clergy, if you want to get away from the stereotypical asian feel. Caine from "Kung Fu" would be a good example of a monk character in a western setting.I think reduction of metal armors would probably make classes that don't rely on armor much (wizards, sorcerers, rogues, bards, etc.) more "powerful" at lower levels, certainly. When fighters and others are just as likely to get hit as the wizards, they have lost one of their most valuable assets. I don't really know how it could work out from a playtest standpoint, but if it seemed to be too disadvantageous, I would probably implement some kind of Armor Bonus by class type, such as in Unearthed Arcana.As for the gold thing, one of the "features" of the Wild West genre is the search/quest for gold- ie, everyone has a hope/dream of finding something valuable that will make their fortune and ease the poverty they suffer. It's one of the main things that drew the Old Worlders to the New World. I'd be inclined to go from a copper or silver based system, and make gold and platinum quite rare. Otherwise, you should come up with a suitable alternative for people to strive to acquire- some rare mineral found in the New World, or something. For an example of a "fantasy equivalent", the original Savage Coast materials by Bruce Heard (in the pages of Dragon magazine #171-172) would be a good inspiration. The Savage Coast (pre-Red Steel boxed set) had a poison in the soil that made the people that lived there gradually more deficient mentally, and reduced their lifespan (kind of like lead poisoning, almost). There was a rare magical ore, cinnabryl, that was found in areas of the Savage Coast, and in its "undepleted" form, when touched to the skin, it countered the effects of the poison. It would gradually deplete from contact with living tissue, however, so a constant supply was needed to stave off the ill effects. As a result, the people of the Savage Coast were more brutal, warlike, and territorial than elsewhere, and cinnabryl was more valuable than gold.I've toyed with implementing this under 3rd Edition rules, but haven't quite hit on a really good method yet. Something sort of like the Taint rules (from Oriental Adventures or Unearthed Arcana) would be a good start.This really depends on what sort of level of magic you want in your campaign. If you assume the "typical" level of magic in standard D&D fantasy, then you would have quite a different sort of campaign than you would have if you want a more traditional western feel.I wouldn't see too many dungeons in this sort of setting, if you try to model a "Real World" feel". The native americans didn't really build any sort of large buildings and cities that would have a lot of dungeon crawls. The only things I can think of offhand would be places like Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly that were sort of large city type dwellings. Chaco was abandoned long before the arrival of the Europeans for reasons that are still very mysterious (though there are numerous theories). As for dragons- the "new world" might be their last refuge, like the elves. They may exist in large numbers- perhaps living and working with the elves, worshipped by the elves- or they may be very rare.</blockquote>

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