Interesting, well-crafted animal-people?

[Lord Pendragon]

My sentiments are similar, but rather than focusing on different cultures, which are by nature more fluid, I'd rather the creators of different races (anthropomorphic or not) spend time developing the nature of a creature. It's a small distinction, but an important one. Culture covers things like language, history, customs, social structure, and mythology. While that's interesting and can give a lot of insight into the nature of various creatures, it can sometimes conceal the essential qualities of a creature too. If you develop a creature's nature, you figure out the most significant aspects of the creature and determine how that affects its psychology and culture.

I'd love to see this as well, and as you note it isn't something that need be restricted to anthropomorphic animal races. Indeed, developing the natures of the traditional fantasy races would go a long way toward making them distinct races in the alien sense, rather than in the ethnic sense that the various D&D races often seem now.

 

[Afrodyte]

I'd love to see this as well, and as you note it isn't something that need be restricted to anthropomorphic animal races. Indeed, developing the natures of the traditional fantasy races would go a long way toward making them distinct races in the alien sense, rather than in the ethnic sense that the various D&D races often seem now.

Sorry if this goes on a tangent.

I think you got it just right there. D&D (and most fantasy RPGs for that matter) make non-human races that have the feel of just another human ethnic group. I firmly believe that the core races would have been interesting if there was more written about their natures. Strangely enough, I believe that a firm grasp on the nature of a creature helps to add variety to their portrayals as opposed to the way things are usually done. Consider elves, for instance. If you only define elves through the chaotic good alignment, dwelling in trees, being good with bows, and having wizard as a favored class, then it's understandable that people feel the need to create different subraces each time they change something. However, if you define elves through their connection to magic and their rather detached relationship with time, you don't really need to make a different subrace for every type of environment or cultural tidbit. You can create different permutations of that central idea without changing anything. If you're interested, I have something along these lines written for all the core races.

 

[XCorvis]

Sorry if this goes on a tangent.
...
If you're interested, I have something along these lines written for all the core races.

I'd love to see that, but maybe in its own thread.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Skaven are very well done but WFRP was good that way, the Slaan (is that right) were also very good.

I also like the bird race from the first edition Fiend Follio that started with an AA...(can't spell it), they did not come across as humans with wings. White Dwarf from way back had the Brood; a beastman goat headed race for 1st edition rules.

 

[Odhanan]

I like the furry races.

Me too, I like furry races, when their presence within a setting is not overwhelming. Let's just say I like them in homeopathic doses.

On a roleplaying standpoint, playing a sentient but somehow feral individual is something appealing to my imagination. It is much like playing out some of the best moments of Conan. It is hard to bring to the table correctly, though (because from experience, it involves a lot of introverted RP, which is a bit of an oxymoron at the game table. For your roleplaying to generate pleasure around the table, it has to be voiced out somehow).

Now, some here talk about Litorians and Sibbecai of MCAE. I think that the Litorian is not original. But I love it anyway, because that's what I want a classic furry sentient to look like. It's like a non original ideal to me. Now for the Sibbecai, however, the background is a bit more original. Their relationship with the Hu Charad, the giants, is unique, and allows roleplaying opportunities different from a Litorian/classic furry guy. It can be that a sibbecai admires giants, or despises them, or feels annoyingly inferior to them, or superior to everyone else because he has been "built" and not "spontaneously created" like other species. It can really be lots of things, depending on the player's imagination.