Interesting, well-crafted animal-people?

[XCorvis]

So, in this thread, a lot of folks expressed their displeasure with animal-people/furry races. The impression I got was that while people thought that animal races were not inherantly lame, they usually turned out that way.

Woodelf said it best:

My problem is with 2-D races that are (1) unoriginal, (2) shallow, and (3) bland. So, while the litorians and sibeccai of Arcana Unearthed disappointed me on the 1st point (the lion-people are nomadic individualistic warriors; the dog-people are doting servitors and highly urban/social), they defied flaws 2 and 3, being much more than that basic summary might imply.

My question to you is, given a boring old race of cat-people, or dog-people or insert-animal-name-here-people, what would you do to make them (1) original, (2) well-developed, and (3) interesting?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Palladium's Wolven were some of the first animal people I remember getting a loto f treatment and the old Wolven Empire book by them made them into a civlized Roman emperor style that would be a perfect foil for say, fighting the Minotaurs from the Dragonlance setting.

Good stuff there.

 

[Desdichado]

Same thing can be said of the skaven from the Warhammer fantasy setting; they aren't that original (although I don't know if ratmen had been done prior to that, they are still pretty stereotypicall rats), but they have tons of depth and detail, and are interesting. In some sense, it's just the depth and breadth of information available on them, their internal politics and strifes, the cool short-story legend of their origin, and the little details that make them interesting.

The ratmen/slitheren from Scarred Lands are obviously meant to be a d20 conversion of skaven with the trademarks filed off, so they're pretty cool for a lot of the same reasons. The Nezumi of Rokugan, on the other hand, go a very different direction with their ratmen, and although they look like rats, they're not nearly so "ratlike." Of course, they also come from native Japanese mythology as well, so they're more than just "fantasy anthroporphic animal x."

 

[Crothian]

I find it odd that people complain about the two dimensional animal people but have no problem with the 2-D dwarves, elves, and all the other races that really need fleshing out as well.

The Wolfen, Coyle, and Kankerian (sp??) from Palladium Fantasy where very well done. I use races based on them myself.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Varrgr

No one's done it right since the Varrgr (did I spell that right?) in Traveller.

My problem is more one with race plethora in general rather than the idea of anthromorphic races in particular. Also, I don't like 'cute'. So ratmen in my campaign are OK, but cat people are right out.

D&D doesn't need more new races. We are getting them because the market dynamics of D&D dictate that new material will be produced when it could go into a book which would be bought by players (rather than just the GM), instead of producing material that is actually good for the game. That's why we already have N revisions of umpteen players books, but we still don't have a source book for Waterdeep or the City of Greyhawk.

Ken

 

[Darrin Drader]

Oh come on, hoops rule!

 

[JustKim]

It doesn't matter to me how much back story goes into a furry race. I don't like furry races at all and a rich personality sometimes makes them worse by screaming "but wait, it's not an ordinary furry race," as Monte Cook's races definitely do.

Anthromorphic animals look ridiculous, and often make no sense. I make exceptions for established monsters, rakshasa, lupin, baku, those will fly if only because fantasy becomes too thinned out if you indiscriminately remove humanoids with animal traits. Everyone creates a cat race in 6th grade, however, and I think they drain the quality of the game as quickly as ninja cyborgs.

 

[Ferret]

No way! Ninja Cyborgs Rulez!!11

The main problem with animal races is that they are animal races. They are animals. First thing is not to call them Catpeople or felinus or what ever, that already gives you a false image. Rakasha, aren't tiger people, even to me that sounds silly. Hound archons aren't hound people. They are celestials with some dog features.

It's the same pitfill if you call a new race elf-like, the mind imediately starts adding the races features to elves, rather then starting fresh.

 

[Testament]

Same thing can be said of the skaven from the Warhammer fantasy setting; they aren't that original (although I don't know if ratmen had been done prior to that, they are still pretty stereotypicall rats), but they have tons of depth and detail, and are interesting. In some sense, it's just the depth and breadth of information available on them, their internal politics and strifes, the cool short-story legend of their origin, and the little details that make them interesting.

I think he's nailed it here. The Skaven are very well developed, and they've taken the stereotype of the plague spreading rat to it's conclusion: these psycho-rats use biological warfare. The old Warhammer Armies: Skaven book (5th Ed Warhammer) was loaded with info on them, the 6th Ed book isn't quite as good. Of course, I liked the humour in it, which made me laugh out loud WITHOUT turning the Skaven into a joke. While they mess up regularly, owing to their obsession with power, station, and making sure the OTHER guy doesn't get it, it made it clear that if they ever stopped squabbling, they could take over the Old World in a heartbeat.

Anyway, how can you not love drug-addled, techno-magic wielding, biowarfare religious zealot Ninja rats?

The Nezumi of Rokugan, on the other hand, go a very different direction with their ratmen, and although they look like rats, they're not nearly so "ratlike." Of course, they also come from native Japanese mythology as well, so they're more than just "fantasy anthroporphic animal x."

True, but they've taken the Nezumi slightly to the left of the legends, AFAIK. Still, like the Skaven, they've developed them heavily, there's heaps of background on the Nezumi. And I love their name for when Fu Leng fell.

 

[punkorange]

Anyway, how can you not love drug-addled, techno-magic wielding, biowarfare religious zealot Ninja rats?

lol. I played skaven in mordheim, which gave my individuals more depth than skaven infantryman X. I loved them. That's exactly what they were: drug-addled, techn-magic wielding, bioware religious zealot ninja rats, and I love em