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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8703914" data-attributes="member: 29398">In the game I play in we're regularly dealing with just this, in that much of the world's history comes from ancient Hobgoblins and their doings; and those guys had six-fingered hands.  Which means, every now and then we find ourselves having to decipher base-6 or base-12 numbers.  It also means I've seen firsthand in play what differences using a non-base-10 number system can make to a fantasy society; and yes, it's quite interesting (if at times also bloody frustrating!). <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Thanks, but I put a bit more thought into my world-building than that. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />In my current setting, among the kindred species Humans are pretty dominant while Dwarves, Elves*, and Hobbits have small often-isolated countries or city-states, and Gnomes don't even have that: the entire species are scattered wanderers as their one big homeland was wiped out several centuries back.  That said, by overall area there's more wild land than there is settled so it can be argued nobody really has all that much.* - Elves, however, are expanding rapidly and aggressively and pushing all before them.  It's a long story, still being told. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I think some people in this thread have tried doing exactly this.  Example: the idea of using them as underdogs, as the "little guys", as someone to cheer for when they make good - but this gets rejected on the claim underdogs are boring.  No.  They're only boring if-when they stay underdogs and can't rise above that; but adventuring Hobbits potentially can and do rise above that, against the odds, and that's what makes them fun: seeing if that potential can be made real.A Dwarf or an Elf becoming a big-shot adventurer is kind of so-what  Those guys live long enough they could each have ten adventuring careers in their lives - ho hum, I've made 10th-level for the fifth century in a row.A Human becoming a big-shot adventurer is noteworthy, but Humans have various cultural advantages to get them started - they're good at almost everything, they fight each other a lot thus many of them become warriors, etc.But a Hobbit becoming a big-shot adventurer?  That's worth celebrating.  Their culture fights aginst it, their stature fights against it, often their ethos and outlook fight against it - the odds are against them and yet some make it to the top anyway.  Bravo! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  This is what I mean by their being underdogs.And that's just one idea on how to use/view them.</blockquote>

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