I don't get the arguments for bioessentialism

[MGibster]

I feel D&D increasingly made creatures similar to each other, to the point that it's now "heroic inspiration once per long rest vs darkvision and a cantrip?". They didn't really went toward more distinctiveness over time.

I feel the same way to the point where I really don't care what species the players choose for their characters. I don't even bother with lighting most of the time because either the PC has darkvision or someone has the Light cantrip.

But, that doesn't really work when one of the PCs is the non-human, and reasonably expects to be as much the center as the humans.

Why would we expect completely alien non-humans to be the center of attention? Insofar as RPGs are a way to tell stories, just like the writers of Star Trek, we're telling human stories, so it necessitates the player characters are ultimately human, even if they're cyborgs, elves, Vulcans, or even Wookies.

1) Even if we are telling stories, maybe claiming to be akin to be comparable to some of the most prominent examples of genre stories may be... a little lofty?

Aim high and hope for the best.

2) As above, Tolkien and Trek are fully authored fiction, without a player at the table who has a right to be as important as anyone else.

I think there might be some misunderstanding here. I'm not arguing that some player characters should be more important than others, I'm arguing they'll all really human to begin with. i.e. They're not really, truly alien and I don't see that as a bad thing.

 

[BrokenTwin]

I never saw the Tau as good guys. They utilize mind control and other indoctrination techniques to control conquered peoples. They just don't focus primarily on violent solutions, and they have a better PR department than the other factions.

That's what I'm talking about though. Correct me if I'm wrong (most of my 40k knowledge is secondhand), but the mind control wasn't there in the original lore for them, it was added in later.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's what I'm talking about though. Correct me if I'm wrong (most of my 40k knowledge is secondhand), but the mind control wasn't there in the original lore for them, it was added in later.

I'm not sure. I stopped keeping up after 5th, and I remember it being there. And it always made more sense to me that way.

 

[Scribe]

That's what I'm talking about though. Correct me if I'm wrong (most of my 40k knowledge is secondhand), but the mind control wasn't there in the original lore for them, it was added in later.

I dont believe it was in the original release (3rd?) but came in later with expanded lore.

 

[Corinnguard]

I think part of it is not just whether a game designer can create a fantasy species that is suitably alien to not simply be a human with pointy ears, but it also must be a species that people are interested in playing. I suspect the farther you get away from what people know, the harder it is for them to engage with it.

What helps is when the game designer not only creates a fantasy species but also creates their lore as well. 2e had their Complete Book of X while 3e had their Races of X books. A species with a good amount of lore behind them is going to make people interested enough in playing them.

I thought what 4th Edition D&D did by having Tieflings all be descendants of Humans from the empire of Bael Turath who made a deal with Asmodeus was interesting.

It meant every Tiefling had a common national origin at some point in their family trees.

I liked this particular bit of Tiefling Lore from 4e. It's much better than the lore that's currently out there for the 2024 Tiefling.

 

[billd91]

I liked this particular bit of Tiefling Lore from 4e. It's much better than the lore that's currently out there for the 2024 Tiefling.

That's the challenge of writing a bunch of lore - it can be polarizing. I found 4e's treatment of tieflings limiting, not least because they had all become infernal rather than descendent of any lower planes inhabitant as they had been before, and are again much to my preference.

 

[Corinnguard]

That's the challenge of writing a bunch of lore - it can be polarizing. I found 4e's treatment of tieflings limiting, not least because they had all become infernal rather than descendent of any lower planes inhabitant as they had been before, and are again much to my preference.

Chalk it up to WoTC wanting to streamline the species when it came to their appearance and abilities. 5e has quite a number of fiends out there, both official and 3pp.