Races have become too cliche?
- Thread starter BRP2
- Start date
Robert Ranting
First Post
I've always thought it more interesting to see these stereotypes turned on their head as a story progresses, rather than being different from the get-go. The World of WarCraft (which incidentally, does have a d20 version in print in addition to the PC version) has actively transformed standard races into something new through the development of the storyline. For example:
Humans originally had six powerful kingdoms, and were the most numerous and influential race in the known world. Due to battles with the Orcs, Undead, and Demons, however, only one of these Kingdoms still stands today. Said kingdom is currently experiencing a widespread rebellion lead by the very people who helped to rebuild the kingdom the last time it fell. To make things worse, the king has been kidnapped, and the current regent is in fact an evil Black Dragon. Rather that large and impressive cities, Human towns largely consist of wilderness forts and refugee camps scattered throughout contested territories.
Dwarves are the only kingdom to have never fallen to any foreign invasion. While their lands have been occupied, their capitol city has never been successfully assaulted. After the wars which devastated the nations of the Humans, Elves, and Gnomes, the Dwarves remain a major world power. Far from unimaginative traditionalists, the Dwarves have pooled their resources with the refugee Gnomes who share their lands to push forward science and engineering, fielding tanks, helicopters, and other wonders against their foes. Moreover, the Dwarves' recent discovery of their divine origins has begun a renaissance for archaeological research and foreign exploration, as they attempt to find more clues about their history and the world's creators. As the dwarves leave their mountain homes in search of their origins, they take their technology and their craft with them, spreading their influence through trade and military support of their failing allies.
The so called "High" Elves, once ruled a kingdom literally saturated with powerful magic by ancient artifacts of their own design. With the destruction of those artifacts during the last war the flow of magic has run out, and the Elves, even those who never practiced magic in their lives, find themselves now wracked with the pain of arcane withdrawal. In an effort to forestall it's effects, they have found ways of feeding upon the arcane energies of other creatures, devouring the essences of magical beasts and even demons to alleviate their hunger. Thoroughly corrupt, the divine casters of their race have likewise bound Celestial beings to sap power from, allowing them to retain their priest and paladin abilities despite their unworthy nature. Utterly depraved, they are no longer welcome among the Humans and Dwarves, and have allied themselves with the Orcs, Trolls, and Undead, the very races they fought the last several wars against.
Orcs are not from this particular prime material plane. In fact, they hail from another planet, having arrived on this one through a dimensional portal less than thirty years ago. Originally a peaceful culture of hunters and shamans living in tune with nature, they were corrupted by demonic forces and sent to destroy mankind. Since then, they have been thoroughly defeated, their homeworld shattered and cast into the astral plane, and the demonic powers that fueled them withdrawn. Far from being destroyed however, the Orcs have rallied around a new leader, a noble warrior raised by humans and trained by shamans who escaped the demon's corruptive influence. Under his leadership, they have crossed the ocean to a new continent, forged alliances with other "monstrous" races, built a great city, and defended their fledgling empire from Human incursions. While still burdened by their past mistakes, the Orcs look forward to a brighter future.
Undead are split between three categories. The first are mindless animated corpses under the command of individual necromancers. The second are victims of a magical plague, controlled by the psionic emanations of the Lich King (a combined being, the spirit of an Orc Shaman fused with the body and mind of a fallen Human Paladin). The third are those plague-victims which have become free of the Lich King's influence. Independent of thought, and essentially the same people they were in life, these "Forsaken" have seized control of many of the human lands which fell during the third war. Lead by the former Ranger General of the High Elves, they first allied themselves with the Orcs, and later championed the entrance of the Elves into their faction, despite objections and distrust on all sides.
Robert "Move From the Familiar to the Unexpected" Ranting
Humans originally had six powerful kingdoms, and were the most numerous and influential race in the known world. Due to battles with the Orcs, Undead, and Demons, however, only one of these Kingdoms still stands today. Said kingdom is currently experiencing a widespread rebellion lead by the very people who helped to rebuild the kingdom the last time it fell. To make things worse, the king has been kidnapped, and the current regent is in fact an evil Black Dragon. Rather that large and impressive cities, Human towns largely consist of wilderness forts and refugee camps scattered throughout contested territories.
Dwarves are the only kingdom to have never fallen to any foreign invasion. While their lands have been occupied, their capitol city has never been successfully assaulted. After the wars which devastated the nations of the Humans, Elves, and Gnomes, the Dwarves remain a major world power. Far from unimaginative traditionalists, the Dwarves have pooled their resources with the refugee Gnomes who share their lands to push forward science and engineering, fielding tanks, helicopters, and other wonders against their foes. Moreover, the Dwarves' recent discovery of their divine origins has begun a renaissance for archaeological research and foreign exploration, as they attempt to find more clues about their history and the world's creators. As the dwarves leave their mountain homes in search of their origins, they take their technology and their craft with them, spreading their influence through trade and military support of their failing allies.
The so called "High" Elves, once ruled a kingdom literally saturated with powerful magic by ancient artifacts of their own design. With the destruction of those artifacts during the last war the flow of magic has run out, and the Elves, even those who never practiced magic in their lives, find themselves now wracked with the pain of arcane withdrawal. In an effort to forestall it's effects, they have found ways of feeding upon the arcane energies of other creatures, devouring the essences of magical beasts and even demons to alleviate their hunger. Thoroughly corrupt, the divine casters of their race have likewise bound Celestial beings to sap power from, allowing them to retain their priest and paladin abilities despite their unworthy nature. Utterly depraved, they are no longer welcome among the Humans and Dwarves, and have allied themselves with the Orcs, Trolls, and Undead, the very races they fought the last several wars against.
Orcs are not from this particular prime material plane. In fact, they hail from another planet, having arrived on this one through a dimensional portal less than thirty years ago. Originally a peaceful culture of hunters and shamans living in tune with nature, they were corrupted by demonic forces and sent to destroy mankind. Since then, they have been thoroughly defeated, their homeworld shattered and cast into the astral plane, and the demonic powers that fueled them withdrawn. Far from being destroyed however, the Orcs have rallied around a new leader, a noble warrior raised by humans and trained by shamans who escaped the demon's corruptive influence. Under his leadership, they have crossed the ocean to a new continent, forged alliances with other "monstrous" races, built a great city, and defended their fledgling empire from Human incursions. While still burdened by their past mistakes, the Orcs look forward to a brighter future.
Undead are split between three categories. The first are mindless animated corpses under the command of individual necromancers. The second are victims of a magical plague, controlled by the psionic emanations of the Lich King (a combined being, the spirit of an Orc Shaman fused with the body and mind of a fallen Human Paladin). The third are those plague-victims which have become free of the Lich King's influence. Independent of thought, and essentially the same people they were in life, these "Forsaken" have seized control of many of the human lands which fell during the third war. Lead by the former Ranger General of the High Elves, they first allied themselves with the Orcs, and later championed the entrance of the Elves into their faction, despite objections and distrust on all sides.
Robert "Move From the Familiar to the Unexpected" Ranting
BRP2 said:
This should not be surprising. Take a look at the history of the genre: The fiction, legend, and mythologies tend to follow this pattern as well. Possibly for good reason - how our legends and fictions form is probably related ot human psychology. The tropes may be repeated because they cover themes of common interest to us.
I wouldn't worry so much about the broad strokes, so much as the quality of the execution in a particular basis. Norse mythology, Tolkien and Williams have done this well. Others have done less well.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
This basically seems to be an "other people I don't play with are doing things I don't like" non-problem.
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