"Half-" races

[Darth Shoju]

Actually, I believe Elrond himself is referred to as "Half-Elven".

And there's definitely reference to Half-Orcs in Tolkien's work, too.

He is, although he chose to be Elven while his brother chose to be Human; they are, for all intents and purposes, fully of those respective races.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

He is, although he chose to be Elven while his brother chose to be Human; they are, for all intents and purposes, fully of those respective races.

True, but the idea is that humans and elves can interbreed in Tolkien's world. Same with the Half-Orcs, which are only vaguely mentioned from what I remember.

Either way, I expect that's one of the main reasons we have both Half races consistently popping up in D&D editions.

 

[JVisgaitis]

True, but the idea is that humans and elves can interbreed in Tolkien's world. Same with the Half-Orcs, which are only vaguely mentioned from what I remember.

Orcs are elves aren't they? At least the Uruks were unless I'm smoking something.

 

[Darth Shoju]

Either way, I expect that's one of the main reasons we have both Half races consistently popping up in D&D editions.

Yup, and from what I recall there are a few examples of this in the Silmarillion.

 

[The Souljourner]

We have an opportunity to change other people's real-life attitudes by our behavior at the gaming table.

Ah ha ha ha ha.

Ahem.

Sorry. But, seriously.. no.

I have two half japanese friends and one half hispanic friend. They don't care that they're called "half something" where the other half is implied to be white. They really don't care that there are half orcs and half elves and halflings in D&D nor that the D&D races could be called half breeds. Come to think of it, I have a half italian/half irish friend and a half italian/half polish friend, who also do not care.


-Nate

 

[Teflon Billy]

What I would like to see is for the "half-X" concept (where X = any humanoid race that can breed with other humanoid races, the traditional ones being elf and orc) become a template. But I can see why the game might be better off avoiding that level of complexity in what amounts to a core race.

Yeah, that could get crunchy.

And one could argue that something about humans makes them able to interbreed with species that cannot breed with each other. It would fit with the whole notion of humans as the "jack of all trades" race.

Nice.

I dunno. I can see a number of ways to handle the topic, and none of them would satisfy everyone. The easiest would certainly be to either drop the halves entirely, or to stick with what the game's done from 1E and just keep half-elf and half-orc as the only viable "half races." But I'm not sure either of those is most satisfying.

I liked what they did in the original Star Trek RPG: If you were a half-blooded anything, you chose which of your parents you took after most.

Spock, for instance, was a damnsight more Vulcan than Human.

 

[Nifft]

And one could argue that something about humans makes them able to interbreed with species that cannot breed with each other. It would fit with the whole notion of humans as the "jack of all trades" race.

It's because Humans are really half-dragon.

- - -

My favored solution would be:
- Eliminate the gutter races; and
- Give more transformation options -- let race be a CHOICE for most oddballs, like the Mojh in MC's Arcana Evolved.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Driddle]

Ah ha ha ha ha.

Ahem.

Sorry. But, seriously.. no.

I have two half japanese friends and one half hispanic friend. They don't care that they're called "half something" where the other half is implied to be white. They really don't care that there are half orcs and half elves and halflings in D&D nor that the D&D races could be called half breeds. Come to think of it, I have a half italian/half irish friend and a half italian/half polish friend, who also do not care.


-Nate

Ah ha heh whatever.

I'm glad you actually went to the trouble to ask them about the "half-breed" reference. ... You did, didn't you? Since I started posting this thread, you sought out those people to talk about the issue and listened to their personal perspectives, right? Share with us some of their comments about playing "half-breed" characters, please. It was probably a very insightful conversation.

And of course we can assume those friends of yours probably represent the whole of humanity, whatever their personal cultural backgrounds are. So it's OK for you to laugh and ridicule an effort for positive change that, at the very least, you could have simply ignored.

Ehhh, nevermind. I'll just tell my wife -- what with her Japanese mother and white American father -- that she and all her hapa friends are being silly and that there's nothing wrong with being identified as half a person within a culture. She's being overly sensitive, even at the gaming table. (And while I'm at it, I'll give a call to another former family member as well, a woman whose mother is Kiowa Indian. The conversations we used to have about growing up with discrimination in a white-majority society? Baloney!)

Thanks for the helpful feedback. Keep up the good works, folks. The world will definitely be a better place by your counter-efforts here.

 

[Eridanis]

This thread has wandered too far into (admittedly substantive) real-life issues that don't have a place on these particular boards. I will close this thread; perhaps it can be taken up elsewhere, such as circvsmaximvs.