Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Dwarven Sourcebooks: Best source for society descriptions?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Azgulor" data-source="post: 1801569" data-attributes="member: 14291"><p>I disagree. All of the "major" racial books on the market today are not setting specific (<em>Burok Torn </em> is the exception, not the rule here). If you're publishing a book about an "iconic" race, generalizations are not the issue. You can go all the way back to the <insert name of race> Point of View articles from the old Dragon mags to the more current issue I referenced in my earlier post.</p><p></p><p>I think the problem lies in that market expectation is that ANY d20 book will be rife with feats, prestige classes, and the other trappings of d20 RULES. There isn't anything intrinsicly wrong with that approach, it just shocks me that everyone follows the same damn formula. It's probably a riskier financial proposition, but hardly a 100% certainty for failure. For example, <em>A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe</em> is, as far as I can tell, a financial and critical success. It has rules in addition to flavor text/fluff, but the mechanics fill a void of information that the D&D rulebooks lack. If a similar model were applied to racial cultures I think they could become the definitive benchmark for racial books. Imagine:</p><p>Dwarven Culture/Society: The cultural, societal, and economic aspects of an underground society. With rules to support it, generate demographics and economics.</p><p>Elven Culture/Society: Reconciling the sylvan existence with extremely long lifespans and what is typically the oldest civilization of a fantasy world. Again, with rules to aid the weary DM in generating the finer points of the culture.</p><p>Orcs/Goblinoids Culture/Society: Could be applied to broader spectrum of tribal existence for other barbarians as well.</p><p></p><p>Even if I was running my campaign under some version of the d20 rules, I really have all the feats, pretige classes, sub races, and spells that I need. Scratch that, I have more than I'll ever need or could possibly use.</p><p></p><p>Ah well...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Azgulor, post: 1801569, member: 14291"] I disagree. All of the "major" racial books on the market today are not setting specific ([I]Burok Torn [/I] is the exception, not the rule here). If you're publishing a book about an "iconic" race, generalizations are not the issue. You can go all the way back to the <insert name of race> Point of View articles from the old Dragon mags to the more current issue I referenced in my earlier post. I think the problem lies in that market expectation is that ANY d20 book will be rife with feats, prestige classes, and the other trappings of d20 RULES. There isn't anything intrinsicly wrong with that approach, it just shocks me that everyone follows the same damn formula. It's probably a riskier financial proposition, but hardly a 100% certainty for failure. For example, [I]A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe[/I] is, as far as I can tell, a financial and critical success. It has rules in addition to flavor text/fluff, but the mechanics fill a void of information that the D&D rulebooks lack. If a similar model were applied to racial cultures I think they could become the definitive benchmark for racial books. Imagine: Dwarven Culture/Society: The cultural, societal, and economic aspects of an underground society. With rules to support it, generate demographics and economics. Elven Culture/Society: Reconciling the sylvan existence with extremely long lifespans and what is typically the oldest civilization of a fantasy world. Again, with rules to aid the weary DM in generating the finer points of the culture. Orcs/Goblinoids Culture/Society: Could be applied to broader spectrum of tribal existence for other barbarians as well. Even if I was running my campaign under some version of the d20 rules, I really have all the feats, pretige classes, sub races, and spells that I need. Scratch that, I have more than I'll ever need or could possibly use. Ah well... [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Dwarven Sourcebooks: Best source for society descriptions?
Top
