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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4675273" data-attributes="member: 2067">Halflings in my world are distinctly urban.This is linked to their fairly recent history: Halflings were the victims of a massive genocide, the creatures being "kill on sight," even worse than goblins and the like. They were pushed into ghettoes in more "accepting" towns, where they lived a kind of third-world existence of poverty and violence, glorifying cults of the gods of death and wealth (think Pluto in his role as a god of gold and metal as well as the Underworld). Though the outright genocide has stopped, they have a legacy not only of being persecuted, but also having a violent, intimidating reaction to that persecution (halfling organizations that wind through the ghettoes, killing people in their sleep). Halflings IMC are wicked little critters: assassins, thieves, thugs, the embodiment of the underworld. Violence is how they communicate -- murders and mobs. Their pursuit of wealth is legendary and gaudy: halflings spend ludicrously on opulent luxuries that fill their dirty inner-city hovels. Some try to be "classy and smooth," some try to be "brutal and intimidating," and everywhere they are met with thinly-veiled persecution ("I thought we got rid of your type, little thing.")I use a lot of rap and old "outlaw country" music as inspiration, as well as images of shanty-towns in places like India (Slumdog Millionaire, fer instance). My halflings are something of a mix between Ol' Dirty Bastard, Johnny Cash, and the cult of Kali (or how the Romans thought of early Christians). Sometimes they might have a little bit of Sean Combs or Mafia in them: something smooth and clever as a shell concealing a predatory mind beneath.I completely abandoned the "hobbit" image, and just threw them full force into the cultural and social idea of what the archetypal "thief" character is. They cheat, steal, and kill, and they do it as much because it became a way of life for their ancestors, and is now tradition. They're dangerous.FWIW, I think D&D has kind of had an uphill battle with halflings. 3e and 4e have both tried to reform them, but there's a strong pull with old ideas of Tolkeinish homebodies that is difficult to go against too drastically.I figured....screw it...I want halflings to be scary.</blockquote>

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