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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5743270" data-attributes="member: 59082">Kamikaze Midget, I'm not sure that those tropes fit racial archetypes. I mean, the general idea works but the Five-Man Band characteristics don't really apply to fantasy races.In many ways modern fantasy/RPG races are rooted in Tolkien, who in turn drew from European mythology. In Tolkien, you happen to have five or so races: humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and orcs; with ents, dragons, giant eagles, and such fitting more into the "monster" category. Only humans and elves are "true" races in that they were created by Iluvatar the One; dwarves were a lesser creation by a lesser deity; halfings were seemingly a de-evolution from humans; and orcs were akin to a genetic manipulation of elves by Morgoth, the adversarial god.BTW, the term "gnome" actually existed in Tolkien's design work; it was a word that he used for the Noldor race of elves that were the great craftsmen and warriors of the elves; I'm not sure why he dropped it (but I'm glad he did).  You could also look at the three basic archetypes that you see in Star Trek, with Kirk, Spock, and Bones. Kirk is the "hero"--the man who balances his passions with intellect, but whose courage and resourcefulness is ultimately his greatest strength; Bones, on the other hand, is all passion and emotion, and Spock is all intellect--so the two exist as polarities on either side of Kirk. To some degree this is true of dwarves (Bones) and elves (Spock), although they could be used in different ways.I do think that the three main archetypal fantasy races are humans, elves, and dwarves. All other races are "lesser" in that they can be seen to come from those three lineages. You have dwarves as truly earthly, elves as heavenly or "super-earthly", and humans in the middle.</blockquote>

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