How to avoid Furry Fandom?

[Mark CMG]

My worry is that the players might think it too close to 'furry fandom' and therefore too weird.

Don't make them humanoid. Just have intelligent animal races.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

You might be able to get over any sort of RPGer's initial mockery would be to go old school.

Dig into The Known World/Mystara. The savage coast region especially has all these...

Lupins (dogs)
Rakastas (cats)
Phanatons (sort of racoon/gliding squirrel/lemur)
Tortles (duh)
Enduks (winged bull-men)
Wallara (chameleons)
Aranea (spiders)
Goatmen (duh)
Cayma (caymans)
Gurrash (alligators)
Neshezu (orangutan with goblin)

But some even appears in the original Isle of Dread!

 

[eyebeams]

C. S. Lewis begs to differ.

C S Lewis was dead before there was a furry subculture of any kind, so I doubt he had anything to say or is relevant. The OP's desired setup is part and parcel of what you see in lots of furry fic and RPGs.

If you're concerned about the erotic sub-subculture and wacky alter egos and such, there's still plenty of stuff in that community (which, incidentally, I'm not a part of) that matches. Sanguine Productions (http://www.sanguine.com/index.shtml) specializes in just this sort of thing with their RPGs. I've heard that Ironclaw and Jadeclaw have had good reviews from people with nothing to do with furry/anthrodom, and Albedo is a cool game -- a gritty, military hard SF game that happens to use uplifted animals as protagonists, without any wacky elements in sight. Ironclaw might be of interest since it has to do with multiple animal-people types in a medieval fantas setting.

 

[BOZ]

You might be able to get over any sort of RPGer's initial mockery would be to go old school.

Dig into The Known World/Mystara. The savage coast region especially has all these...

Lupins (dogs)
Rakastas (cats)
Phanatons (sort of racoon/gliding squirrel/lemur)
Tortles (duh)
Enduks (winged bull-men)
Wallara (chameleons)
Aranea (spiders)
Goatmen (duh)
Cayma (caymans)
Gurrash (alligators)
Neshezu (orangutan with goblin)

But some even appears in the original Isle of Dread!

you really want to go anthro-crazy with OD&D/Mystara, try AC9 Creature Catalog:

cay-man, cryion, gator man, hutaakan, kna, lupin, pachydermion, phanaton, rakasta, snapper, tortle.

 

[Anti-Sean]

Avoid making anthropomorphic animals, make them anthropomorphic plants instead. You are far less likely to encounter someone who thinks they're a pine tree. If this does spawn a group called "Barkies" or something, you're on your own.

Just make sure that you give the anthro-plants balanced attack and defense stats; you don't want your players to find out that their bark is worse than their bite.

 

[BroccoliRage]

Just make sure that you give the anthro-plants balanced attack and defense stats; you don't want your players to find out that their bark is worse than their bite.

Ha-cha-cha cha-cha! Baaaa-zing!

 

[Kesh]

You might be able to get over any sort of RPGer's initial mockery would be to go old school.

Dig into The Known World/Mystara. The savage coast region especially has all these...

Lupins (dogs)
Rakastas (cats)
Phanatons (sort of racoon/gliding squirrel/lemur)
Tortles (duh)
Enduks (winged bull-men)
Wallara (chameleons)
Aranea (spiders)
Goatmen (duh)
Cayma (caymans)
Gurrash (alligators)
Neshezu (orangutan with goblin)

But some even appears in the original Isle of Dread!

Cite this, along with other 'furry' races already in the main books (gnolls, for example). Also, as others have pointed out, Ironclaw/Jadeclaw, Albedo and Furry Pirates are all very well-written and serious RPGs that have anthropomorphic characters as the main feature.

Honestly? Let them make their jokes, then point out: they are the ones playing the characters. If they're afraid of over-sexualizing the characters or playing them slapstick, it's their choice to play that way. Or not. Forget the baggage that can come with the fandom, and just play it straight.

We're playing D&D right now with furry characters (homebrewed), and aside from one player, it's not 'typical' fandom at all. And the one player is actually doing the character's personality well, not just as a cliche. If he weren't furry, he'd be your typical suave "con man" persona.