Racial variety

[Tonguez]

Also, their is an inconsistancy between how the races are described and how they appear; with the exception of half-orcs, almost all non-human characters are pictured as having caucasion (sp?) features.

Caucasian maybe but after having another look I wouldn't say they were necessarily European (definately not North European anyway). I'd estimate the human characters (like the pic I posted earlier) was maybe from the 'Levant' (ie Southern Europe across to the Middle East) possibly even Central Asia

A couple of them have the complexions of people in my own family (Polynesian) and Ember means at least one 'african like' character is portrayed

 

[Emiricol]

Its not quite that simple. The images in the books define how people imagine their characters. Also, their is an inconsistancy between how the races are described and how they appear; with the exception of half-orcs, almost all non-human characters are pictured as having caucasion (sp?) features.

I disagree. I went through them one by one, and only one or two are clearly caucasian. See below.

 

[kirinke]

*sighs mightily

color and facial features in the real world are based on where your ancestors evolved (bad phrasing, i can't come up with any better, sorry)

people whose anscestors lived near the equator developed darker skin for protection against uv radiation. People who live near the poles developed a layer of fat, which gives the skin a slightly 'yellow' tinge to it. that fat helps them survive in a place most people can't, at least not without help.

Also, lower light levels means paler skin. That's also why people whose anscestors lived far from the equator have pale skin etc. i could go into more detail, but my lack of biology prevents me

there is absolutely no reason why humans in fantasy-type settings shouldn't evolve in similar ways. and in fact, every reason why they should.

as far as non-human, intelligent species is concerned, it depends completely on what they evolved from. A character with dragon blood in them is unlikely to conform to your pre-concieved notions on color (heck, they'll probably have black scales or gold or whatever instead of humanish skin.)

and as far as depictions go, artists are going to draw whatever they want. be it white, brown, black or polka-dot pink.

 

[Malk]

i would like to thank this thread though, i am in the process of fleshing out my setting and im sitting there looking at the map tonight, and im thinking why did draw in so many human nations? So i start writing national histories, I know the basic histories of the two largest nations. One is basicaly "good" one is basicaly "evil" and i was thinking about this thread, and wondering how these two different nations would treat the ethnicities within their borders. The good nation encorporated these smaller groups into its overall culture, and occasionaly the "native" peoples began to fear the loss of their own cultures. Through various processes these peoples gained their own nations. The evil nation subjugates its ethnic peoples, slavery and genocide is not unknown, and revolts lead to individual kingdoms. Hehe i should really work on organizing my thoughts before typing them...ah well. My big challenge now is to creat ethnicaly diverse cultures that seem independent of real life cultures.

 

[nHammer]

Its not quite that simple. The images in the books define how people imagine their characters. Also, their is an inconsistancy between how the races are described and how they appear; with the exception of half-orcs, almost all non-human characters are pictured as having caucasion (sp?) features.

So what? They're just pictures. If you read the text (which is they whole point of buying the book) you will find that the races have different skin colors. No problem...And if people base their characters appearence on what somebody else thinks a race should look like and not what the book says they usually look like, then that's their problem(or stupidity).

 

[Ron]

What you're talking about is a setting-specific piece of information.

If you read the Race section of the SRD, you'll find no reference whatsoever to the skin colour of an elf or a dwarf.

The Player's Handbook, on the other hand, is nominally related to the Greyhawk setting. Again, you won't find Heironeous and Obad-Hai in the SRD - the SRD is settingless. But these Greyhawk deities appear in the PHB.

If the PHB used Rokugan as the nominal setting, then things would generally have a more Rokuganish feel to them. If it used Nyambe, they'd have a Nyambic feel. As it stands, they have a Greyhawkian feel.

If you're not playing in Greyhawk, then look at the SRD. No flavour information about the races. Use the flavour of the setting you're using.

If the setting you're using has dark-skinned elves, where's the problem?

Greyhawk is just a sample of what you can do.

They had to use something, and Greyhawk is a long-established D&D setting familiar to a lot of the readership.

But it's just an example.

-Hyp.

But then, most Greyhawkian major human races are not white. The sole exception are the Suel, which are usually portraited as racial supremacist villains. The Blakunish are arabic, the Flan are a mix of amerindians with celts and the Oeridians, which conquered most of the continent while mixing with the Flan and the Suel, have a great spectrum of skin colour that could easily accomodate some dark coloured characters.

Still, that's not the impression someone gets by browsing the pictures at the Player's Handbook. I never thought about it, but I think that gin might have a point.

 

[Hypersmurf]

... and the Oeridians, which conquered most of the continent while mixing with the Flan and the Suel, have a great spectrum of skin colour that could easily accomodate some dark coloured characters.

Like, say, Ember and Alhandra?

-Hyp.

 

[nHammer]

The pictures in the PHB in the Race section are NON-COLORED pencil drawings!

I'd bet money that the reason the pics were chosen for the Class section were because they best portrayed the CLASS!!

 

[WayneLigon]

I think the current PHB illustrations and most of the recent material is more inclusive than any other edition I've seen. On the other hand, I've been gaming 25 years in a Southern city of 200,000 people that's 42% black and I've laid eyes on three black gamers in that time (the third just this past week), and two of Asiatic-Indian extraction. Never seen an Asian gamer here. I've seen some non-white gamers cons, but never very many. I don't think that Dragon*Con or GenCon or Origins take in racial data; it would be interesting to see those stats.

 

[LGodamus]

Youre right, because I am an experienced player and am comfortable changing the game to fit my needs. What about those newbies, who may even be children who arent as comfortable. When I first started playing Dungeons and Dragons, at age 9, I didn't understand the rules that well. But I knew what an elf looked like and it wasn't like me.

honestly I have never seen a white person that looked like an elf either , so dont feel kicked ...they are a different species... check out some of the subraces in forgotten realms though..many are of colors other than caucasian.