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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Helpful NPC Thom" data-source="post: 8375698" data-attributes="member: 7031378">yeschad.memeI dislike kitchen sink settings because they're disjointed, like a meandering stroll through an amusement park of gonzo. Step right up and see yer elven cowboys! Experience the thrill of halfling dinosaur riders! Dare you to gaze upon the cybernetic dwarf stronghold?This is largely unavoidable with the Tolkien races as a whole because they are written to be analogues of humans. Burning Wheel does a fair job of portraying them with its emotional attributes, as does Torchbearer's Nature. If I wanted to impress upon the players the importance of their differing psychologies, I would use a simplified version of Pendragon's virtues and flaws system.Each race gets one cultural virtue and one cultural flaw. Both are opposed and in tension with one another. Stereotypically, elves might have Haughtiness and Benevolence. These are expressed as a number from 1-20, so for instance, a Haughtiness/Benevolence might be 9 to begin. In dramatic situations, the player must roll 1d20. If he rolls under or equal to the score, he acts in accordance with his flaw; if he rolls above it, he acts in accordance with his virtue. In this example, let us say the elf player comes across a filthy human beggar asking for bread. If he rolls his Haughtiness, he will act arrogant, cruel, contemptuous, sneering at the beggar and maybe even kicking or shoving him aside. If he rolls his Benevolence, he is moved by a compassionate impulse to comfort the short-lived wretch before him.These scores would change over the course of the game representing shifts in personality and perspective.</blockquote>

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