Racial Tensions (FANTASY -not real)

[Tonguez]

A standard of the Genre is that Elfs and Dwarfs don't get along, their is long standing racial animosity which pretty much colours all dwarf-elf interactions.

Same with a variety of other relationships - gnomes and gobs, half-elfs and elfs, orcs and evrybody etc etc etc

Questions
A. How do you play these racial tensions out ic (both players re PCs and DMs re NPCs)?

B. Does anyone create a different set of tensions from the standard (say Dwarfs vs Humans whereas Dwarfs and Elfs get on fine)

C. Have you ever use this Racial Tension as the main hook of a campaign? (say like Elf Puritans forcing Half-elfs into exile)

 

[Crothian]

A) It depends on the culture. Some times prices are higher for the disliked races, they are treated bad, vegitables are thrown at them, or lynch parties.

B) In my world the High Elves are looked upon is disdain by a lot of the races because there rules used to be an evil Necromancer who tried to destroy the world. He's completely reformed, but many people don't believe that. For the most part the Dwarves and elves get along. The gnomes are looked down upon as frivilous and silly, the dwarves and humans are having border disputes so that isn't helping them, the Sylvan elves are Xenophopic and kill most invaders in their land on site.

C) I've never used it as the main storyline but it has been there as parts of minor stories and plots.

 

[demiurge1138]

My entire campaign is currently about racial tensions. It's set in a prehistoric, Land of the Lost-style setting where the main species are the violently xenophobic kobolds. They particularly hate the troglodytes, whom they view as destructive, land grubbing zealots of a false god. Of course, the trogs view the kobolds as stuffy, short nuisances.
The party is being sent on a diplomatic mission to diffuse the situation before it erupts into another war.

Demiurge out.

 

[Gez]

My hate of elevs knows no limit

Racial tensions are high.

We have an evil elven empire (EEE, or E3) that may be considered as being the lawful evil loser archetype of elves, except that they are still powerful politically... for now. They are the self-styled High Elves. They despise the two other elven subraces, the Grey Elves (who are nicer, and certainly not the haughty and aloof creature they are in GH -- IMO, racism do not goes with Int bonus) and even more the barbaric wild elves. In a way, there are decadent, civilized, and primitive elves.

The E3 rule over humans and hins with an iron fist. A spiked iron fist. Somewhat rusted, though. There's no love lost between them, and the other elves (grey and wood) suffer from this, as they are easily hated for the crimes of their "high" cousins. This is a source of violence for the wood elves, and disappointment for the grey ones.

The dwarven confederation is the second political power. There's much tension as well, mainly because, despite their alliance, the DC don't trust the E3 to respect the political boundaries of their territory, and the E3 are overtly despising the EC as a bunch of greedy brutal idiots. Inside the EC, the hill and mountain dwarves are wary of the golden dwarves, who are seen as hypocritical crooks.

Halflings are scorned about everywhere, seen as scavengers and bandits. The medieval bias against gypsies and jews are combined for them.

Gnomes are usually confused with halfling by the taller folks. Dwarves are usually friendly to gnomes, but humans and elves just despise them as "thieving midgets, just like hins". Being Neutral Good, that is, truly good, gnomes have the less racial bias ever.

Goblinoids, orcs, kobolds, giants, etc. are of course treated as unredeemable scum by nearly everyone. Of all of them, the goblins are those that get the broader acceptance, they control most of the shady underworld.