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half-orcs and bad Charisma
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<blockquote data-quote="DammitVictor" data-source="post: 9021391" data-attributes="member: 6750908"><p>There are at least a few rock-solid fantasy RPGs that don't have "fantasy races" at all, where all of the PCs are either human or variations on humanity. I'm not even <em>advocating</em> for that, so much as reminding people that it's possible and viable to have a fantasy game/setting that doesn't have the "standard" fantasy races. There are point-buy games where there's neither "class" nor "race"... <em>just points</em>... and your character is whoever your points say they are.</p><p></p><p>There are very good D&D settings that deliberately omit some of those standard races, in favor of wild reimaginings of the ones left, and the introduction of newer, stranger races with less established lore. Those newer, stranger races... have settled, with some resistance, into being the "standard fantasy races" of newer editions of D&D.</p><p></p><p>"Why have them at all?"</p><p></p><p>I don't understand why anyone would want <em>all of the baggage</em> that comes with a world populated by dozens of different kinds of sentient peoples... all of the traditional baggage and the stereotypical baggage and the <em>mechanical baggage</em>... if they're not going to make use of those things. If being a "dwarf" or an "elf" is just a laundry list of stereotypes that aren't true of <em>the only dwarves and elves in the game</em>, why are those labels even included? Why are they <em>necessary</em>?</p><p></p><p>I use these things in my games, in a combination of "traditional" tropes and my own unique spin on them and... you know... <em>blank spaces</em> for my players-- or <em>your players</em>-- to fill. But I'm moving steadily in the opposite direction of where Official D&D (and/or mainstream fantasy) game design is going, going back to <em>hard limits</em> and even race-as-class.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I just struggle to understand how that's <em>undesirable</em>, how that isn't part-- the majority of-- <em>the appeal</em> to having these non-human beings in your game and playing as one of them.</p><p></p><p>No need to apologize... I agree with your assessment and <em>I get it</em>. One of the advantages of being an apostate is that I can dislike the direction Official D&D and Mainstream D&D are going, and just keep on going the direction I was going in anyway.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DammitVictor, post: 9021391, member: 6750908"] There are at least a few rock-solid fantasy RPGs that don't have "fantasy races" at all, where all of the PCs are either human or variations on humanity. I'm not even [I]advocating[/I] for that, so much as reminding people that it's possible and viable to have a fantasy game/setting that doesn't have the "standard" fantasy races. There are point-buy games where there's neither "class" nor "race"... [I]just points[/I]... and your character is whoever your points say they are. There are very good D&D settings that deliberately omit some of those standard races, in favor of wild reimaginings of the ones left, and the introduction of newer, stranger races with less established lore. Those newer, stranger races... have settled, with some resistance, into being the "standard fantasy races" of newer editions of D&D. "Why have them at all?" I don't understand why anyone would want [I]all of the baggage[/I] that comes with a world populated by dozens of different kinds of sentient peoples... all of the traditional baggage and the stereotypical baggage and the [I]mechanical baggage[/I]... if they're not going to make use of those things. If being a "dwarf" or an "elf" is just a laundry list of stereotypes that aren't true of [I]the only dwarves and elves in the game[/I], why are those labels even included? Why are they [I]necessary[/I]? I use these things in my games, in a combination of "traditional" tropes and my own unique spin on them and... you know... [I]blank spaces[/I] for my players-- or [I]your players[/I]-- to fill. But I'm moving steadily in the opposite direction of where Official D&D (and/or mainstream fantasy) game design is going, going back to [I]hard limits[/I] and even race-as-class. I just struggle to understand how that's [I]undesirable[/I], how that isn't part-- the majority of-- [I]the appeal[/I] to having these non-human beings in your game and playing as one of them. No need to apologize... I agree with your assessment and [I]I get it[/I]. One of the advantages of being an apostate is that I can dislike the direction Official D&D and Mainstream D&D are going, and just keep on going the direction I was going in anyway. [/QUOTE]
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