Glade Riven
Adventurer
So while I'm trying to figure out just why people would want to adventure in various nations of Phaetos (Tidally lock planet campaign setting) without sounding like a sociology textbook, I've shifted gears to figuring out the roles of various monstrous humanoids. Here's a quick outline:
Goblins - Cannon fodder, near feral jackholes that players don't have to feel remorse about killing.
Half Goblins - Spawn of a Goblin and a Halfling. Kinda the small version of a half orc, commonly bred by jerkwad wizards because they make good assistants.
Hobgoblins - huns/vandels of Phaetos. They intentionally upkeep a super evil scary visage to make raiding easier. Some are just mercs, others are raiding barbarian hoards who live in yurts on the backs of Huge or larger tortoises.
Bugbears - Bred for gladiator games (slavory is a hot-button issue on Phaetos)
Jotun - swiped the OGL stats of IK's trollkin, refluffed as a race created to be slaves. Some are free, some are still slaves, some are wild. Replaces the orc
Orc - replaced by Jotun. Use Jotun fluff for orcs or orc/half orc stats for jotun if you like them that much
Kobolds/Lizardfolk - kobolds are retooled as Lizardfolk young. Lizardfolk abandon nests in seculded areas that hatch into kobolds, who more or less go Lord of the Flies and invent their own wacky society. At about 20 to 25 years of age Kobolds have a rapid growth spurt into lizardfolk. This relationship between the two "races" may not be common knowledge.
Kroxian - Gator men. They actually raise their young. Very Aztec/Mayan
Razormane - Boar men. Kinda sorta zulu/bantu/native american-ish. Lives on wide open plains, has to deal with hobs.
Ursor - Bear people; size large. They live in temperate/cold climates (edge of the light/dark side). They're Loners and very small tribes.
Garuda - Hawk/eagle/Bird of prey headed race. Loosely based off hindi Garuda as well as other bird-headed myths (Horus, etc). The "noble savage" that has had poor dealings with civilized races (AKA Core Handbook races) and is therefore hostile (but not necessarally evil)
Thuchulc - tentacled lovecraftian horror designed to replace illithids. Larva form is a jumping squid that likes to hug faces, then replace it with it's own body.
Each listing I'm working on goes into about a page of ecology, life cycle, etc. Including As Characters traits for Game Master and the occasional player that talks his GM into letting him play a monster race. Looking at having an encounter or two set up (with maps!) for game masters to have something that can be thrown together quickly for play, or monsters at the ready for custom encounters. Probably add some racial options or alternative racial traits to allow for more flavorful fun, but not an overwhelming amount.
Still in the brainstorming phase, but it's quite a storm. Not everything need be allowed (and some things may be dropped), and it's really more of a GM book than something for the players. Fluff doesn't rely on Phaetos's tidally locked nature, so it can be easily 'ported to other settings or homebrew.
Goblins - Cannon fodder, near feral jackholes that players don't have to feel remorse about killing.
Half Goblins - Spawn of a Goblin and a Halfling. Kinda the small version of a half orc, commonly bred by jerkwad wizards because they make good assistants.
Hobgoblins - huns/vandels of Phaetos. They intentionally upkeep a super evil scary visage to make raiding easier. Some are just mercs, others are raiding barbarian hoards who live in yurts on the backs of Huge or larger tortoises.
Bugbears - Bred for gladiator games (slavory is a hot-button issue on Phaetos)
Jotun - swiped the OGL stats of IK's trollkin, refluffed as a race created to be slaves. Some are free, some are still slaves, some are wild. Replaces the orc
Orc - replaced by Jotun. Use Jotun fluff for orcs or orc/half orc stats for jotun if you like them that much
Kobolds/Lizardfolk - kobolds are retooled as Lizardfolk young. Lizardfolk abandon nests in seculded areas that hatch into kobolds, who more or less go Lord of the Flies and invent their own wacky society. At about 20 to 25 years of age Kobolds have a rapid growth spurt into lizardfolk. This relationship between the two "races" may not be common knowledge.
Kroxian - Gator men. They actually raise their young. Very Aztec/Mayan
Razormane - Boar men. Kinda sorta zulu/bantu/native american-ish. Lives on wide open plains, has to deal with hobs.
Ursor - Bear people; size large. They live in temperate/cold climates (edge of the light/dark side). They're Loners and very small tribes.
Garuda - Hawk/eagle/Bird of prey headed race. Loosely based off hindi Garuda as well as other bird-headed myths (Horus, etc). The "noble savage" that has had poor dealings with civilized races (AKA Core Handbook races) and is therefore hostile (but not necessarally evil)
Thuchulc - tentacled lovecraftian horror designed to replace illithids. Larva form is a jumping squid that likes to hug faces, then replace it with it's own body.
Each listing I'm working on goes into about a page of ecology, life cycle, etc. Including As Characters traits for Game Master and the occasional player that talks his GM into letting him play a monster race. Looking at having an encounter or two set up (with maps!) for game masters to have something that can be thrown together quickly for play, or monsters at the ready for custom encounters. Probably add some racial options or alternative racial traits to allow for more flavorful fun, but not an overwhelming amount.
Still in the brainstorming phase, but it's quite a storm. Not everything need be allowed (and some things may be dropped), and it's really more of a GM book than something for the players. Fluff doesn't rely on Phaetos's tidally locked nature, so it can be easily 'ported to other settings or homebrew.
