How important are fantasy races to you?

[ProfessorCirno]

Depends on the setting, but not too much.

My one caveat is "no Tolkien-esque." I am so utterly bored to tears of "enlightened" elves who have magic and live in the forests, and dour sour dwarves who have no real identity behind "Grumpy beards that drink"

 

[Smoss]

Definitely depends on the setting. I know when I created my own setting, it involved lopping off a lot of races, and most of what is left is dying off.

Nothing like dealing with the last of a monster or such. A bit of conflict there at times.

The failing races I tried to work on to make them less human. Of course, there is a limit to this as we have little experience with truly alien races.

Smoss

 

[greatamericanfolkher]

We were having a discussion the other day about shadowrun and how most of us felt that they totally screwed up by shoehorning in all the fantasy races. However, a friend of mine made a point that customers play fantasy games expect those races in an RPG, and leaving them out would have decreased shadowrun's marketability.

What do you think? How important are fantasy races to an RPG? Do they influence your decision to play a game or not?

To me Shadowrun just wouldn't be the same without trolls. Nothing like the 8ft tall troll hauling around a mini gun "ain't got time to bleed" style.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

I think races such as elves and dwarves are so preset in fantasy settings. I agree that tolkien-elves are very generic and an elven archer is the same as a dwarven figher is the same as a halfling rogue is the same as a dragon to be slain, its all part of the genre and i think that starting players and "not one of us" (meaning those who havnt actually played through multiple games and realized the ups and downs of archetypical races) game creators need these things to build off of.

they don't know any better, but we do, so I want an elven barbaian who uses and ax, drinks when hes not on an adventure and really really likes fire...I also want a halfling paladin, that we will leave as a mystery...and a dwarven rogue, granted its a great idea and i don't get why more people don't play them...

but here is a real kicker for you for races

a gnome monk.

just sayin I want to do it

 

[pawsplay]

I think races such as elves and dwarves are so preset in fantasy settings. I agree that tolkien-elves are very generic and an elven archer is the same as a dwarven figher

Of course, in LOTR, Legolas is a fighter and Gimli uses a bow, as well. Also, Tolkien's dwarves were wizards and toy-makers, and rather diminuitive. And Tolkien's orcs were skilled craftsmen in ironworking, and most of his half-orcs were Saruman's agents, and quite cunning.

 

[Jhaelen]

As for Shadowrun, I disagree that the races were shoehorned in. The setting material and the ebb and flow of magic as it works across Earthdawn and Shadowrun is very interesting to me and the re-emergence of the races when magic began to wax again is key to making Shadowrun something more than "Cyberpunk 2020 with spells."

Exactly.

In a way, the whole reason for the existence of the Shadowrun RPG are the fantasy races. It's what sets it apart from other Cyberpunk settings. Consequently, they would be completely out of place in a 'real' Cyberpunk setting.

 

[The Shaman]

Fantasy races, particularly as player characters, add very little to the game, the setting, or the genre for me.

I find humans, in all their variety, endlessly fascinating.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I would VERY strongly prefer not to have the "traditional D&D fantasy races," since the types of fantasy I enjoy (Sword and Sorcery and JRPG-style fantasy, and Urban Fantasy to a much lesser extent) either always or usually exclude them.

I'm amenable to non-human PCs, provided they are in-genre for the genres I enjoy, but given the choice between that and an all-human game, I'd probably gravitate toward the all-human game.

 

[Aeolius]

I explained my preferences over here . In short, core races simply don't work in my current campaign.

 

[Glade Riven]

Well, I have to say that working on my own campaign setting (Ironbound: Chains of Phaetos), the dychonomy has shifted quite a bit. Originally, it was largly human dominiated, but as I've gotten into refining the setting a number of other races have come to the forefront. Elves have their empire, the dwarves have theirs, a lot of humans have freed themselves from dwarven rule. Drow are not from the underdark, but rather from the dark side of the planet (Phaetos is tidally locked).

I've really been trying to work out how these races are culturally different. For instance, elvin culture borrows heavily from Chinese and Japanese culture and history. Dwarves are Roman with a viking base instead of a greek base. Gnomes no longer have their empire, but their culture is a blend of Aztec and Egyptian. Humans have a tendency to show up everywhere, and often adopt the cultures of the other races when they are in the minority. The other races have more than one ethnicity, too - same stats, but for instance, the elves have an ethnicity that is lawfully aligned and another that is chaotically align.

As a Pathfinder-compatable setting, there are a lot of racial options between core and the two bestiaries. How many of these options will be defined as playable...I'm still trying to decide on where to draw the line, or if I really should not draw a line and let the Game Master decide what races are valid for player characters or not. Not every race is going to have their own Empire, but I want Phaetos to be a setting that is as expansive or as narrow depending on the needs of an individual game.