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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5074786" data-attributes="member: 177">Good heavens, no, they aren't required.&nbsp; They can be very helpful in accomplishing certain things you want to do with your setting, but they are by no means required.Here's a thing some folks miss - while cliche is bad, archetypes and tropes are good.Unless you're a full-time author, you won't ever be able to portray the depth of culture and interaction in your fantasy as well as people grasp those same sorts of details and interactions in the real world.&nbsp; You just don't have time to get that sort of information across.Thus - completely new and different races (and their cultures) tend to come out a little flat, they tend to lack the richness you see in previously existing stuff.&nbsp; If you use an existing race, you get to use the player's understanding of the archetypes in your favor.&nbsp; You can usually get a whole lot of mileage out of taking an existing archetype or trope, and changing it slightly, than you do out of putting in the effort of creating something really new from whole cloth.It's a little like poetry, really.&nbsp; If you write really free verse, it can take a lot of effort or explanation before the reader really gets what you're trying to show them.&nbsp; But they grasp a variation on a limerick right off the bat.Also, there are reasons the elves and dwarves and other races already exist as tropes, while any number of thoroughly original creations have not caught on beyond their original works.&nbsp; It's a sort of &quot;throw them at the wall and see what sticks&quot; operation - some things just fit into our fiction better than others.&nbsp; None of which is to say that you can't make up your own races.&nbsp; I just suggest you consider tweaking the existing ones first.&nbsp; If you can't get something that seems cool to you that way, then go ahead and make your own.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 5074786, member: 177"] Good heavens, no, they aren't [I]required[/I]. They can be very helpful in accomplishing certain things you want to do with your setting, but they are by no means required. Here's a thing some folks miss - while cliche is bad, archetypes and tropes are good. Unless you're a full-time author, you won't ever be able to portray the depth of culture and interaction in your fantasy as well as people grasp those same sorts of details and interactions in the real world. You just don't have time to get that sort of information across. Thus - completely new and different races (and their cultures) tend to come out a little flat, they tend to lack the richness you see in previously existing stuff. If you use an existing race, you get to use the player's understanding of the archetypes in your favor. You can usually get a whole lot of mileage out of taking an existing archetype or trope, and changing it slightly, than you do out of putting in the effort of creating something really new from whole cloth. It's a little like poetry, really. If you write really free verse, it can take a lot of effort or explanation before the reader really gets what you're trying to show them. But they grasp a variation on a limerick right off the bat. Also, there are reasons the elves and dwarves and other races already exist as tropes, while any number of thoroughly original creations have not caught on beyond their original works. It's a sort of "throw them at the wall and see what sticks" operation - some things just fit into our fiction better than others. None of which is to say that you can't make up your own races. I just suggest you consider tweaking the existing ones first. If you can't get something that seems cool to you that way, then go ahead and make your own. [/QUOTE]

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