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<blockquote data-quote="Geoffrey" data-source="post: 391057" data-attributes="member: 764">I prefer FRPG settings at either of these two extremes:1. Only humans as PCs. Any non-human race is simply too, um, non-human, to interact well with a party of adventurers.2. A truly exotic and imaginative world such as Talislanta or Tekumel. Talislanta is full to the brim with outlandish races, while Tekumel is a unique fantasy creation second only to Tolkien's Middle-earth.IMO, the standard &quot;dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings&quot; falls into the mushy middle and is by now a bit of a yawner. Only Tolkien does these races well (gnomes, as others have said, being the exception--though these seem uncomfortably like short, jolly dwarves to me).I can understand why the campaign worlds that have their origins in the 1970s or before (such as Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Judges' Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy) have dwarves, etc. in them. When these worlds were created, the demi-humans weren't trite yet. After all, only Tolkien had them. The Conan books, the Lankhmar books, the Dying Earth Books, the Elric books, the Cthulhu Mythos books, and all the other books that helped inspire D&amp;D don't have the by-now &quot;standard&quot; races.But worlds created after about 1980 really should, I think, try to do something unique. Each world should have its own central vision, and I simply can't believe that demi-humans are essential to all these worlds. Take the Scarred Lands, for example. I own the gazetteer for this imaginative world which has a very strong flavor to it. Then the publishers had to go and make sure halflings and all the rest are running around in it! They just don't fit, and neither do dwarves and elves.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Geoffrey, post: 391057, member: 764"] I prefer FRPG settings at either of these two extremes: 1. Only humans as PCs. Any non-human race is simply too, um, non-human, to interact well with a party of adventurers. 2. A truly exotic and imaginative world such as Talislanta or Tekumel. Talislanta is full to the brim with outlandish races, while Tekumel is a unique fantasy creation second only to Tolkien's Middle-earth. IMO, the standard "dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings" falls into the mushy middle and is by now a bit of a yawner. Only Tolkien does these races well (gnomes, as others have said, being the exception--though these seem uncomfortably like short, jolly dwarves to me). I can understand why the campaign worlds that have their origins in the 1970s or before (such as Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, and Judges' Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy) have dwarves, etc. in them. When these worlds were created, the demi-humans weren't trite yet. After all, only Tolkien had them. The Conan books, the Lankhmar books, the Dying Earth Books, the Elric books, the Cthulhu Mythos books, and all the other books that helped inspire D&D don't have the by-now "standard" races. But worlds created after about 1980 really should, I think, try to do something unique. Each world should have its own central vision, and I simply can't believe that demi-humans are essential to all these worlds. Take the Scarred Lands, for example. I own the gazetteer for this imaginative world which has a very strong flavor to it. Then the publishers had to go and make sure halflings and all the rest are running around in it! They just don't fit, and neither do dwarves and elves. [/QUOTE]

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