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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8706587" data-attributes="member: 6801228">No. I'm not saying that. Like, in any way shape or form.Funny thing about economies, we have one. And interestingly, since about the dawn of writing, it has been able to support industry AND circuses. I mean, I'm not exactly an expert, but I'm pretty sure the greeks had metallurgy, theater, writing, farming and construction. They must have had unlimited time, resources and attention!Or... they didn't have unlimited resources, and had to allocate them. See, dwarves dig a new mine and start mining ore. That takes time, yes, but the dwarves who built the tunnel aren't mining the ore. They need to do something else, like maybe take that stone and build houses. And dwarves build houses, while building mines and dwarven construction lasts. You don't have to rebuild very often, so after you've spent a few decades building everything else... you build a theater. Now, maybe it wasn't the first thing they built, but kind of funny thing, dwarves live a long time. Like, a couple hundred years minimum. And they build to last, so every building they build, unless damaged by outside forces lasts... a couple hundred years. That is, to put it mildly, a lot of time. And, with that time not building buildings that have already been built, those dwarven engineers have the attention to put on other buildings. Honestly, you act like dwarves make helmets and hammers that they need to replace every month. And that they are so busy making mines that they never use all that stone they quarried to make buildings. Why do you think Dwarve's get Masonry tools except to indicate that they use masonry to make buildings out of stone? And all a theater is, is a building. And since dwarves are not only incredibly tied to their clans, but to their history, just like the Greeks and shakespeare, they'd have oral poetry and plays tying to that history. Which would need a theater. This isn't 3-D chess with the economy, it the basics.Just make it a cultural traits that all halflings share, regardless of where they live. How is that any different?And, real quick, I want to bring up something that I often see in these discussions. There is a difference between IRL Stereotypes and this sort of presentation in game texts. See, IRL, being Southern/Midwestern US is stereotypically associated with being polite and nice to people. Same with being Canadian. But, I have met utter naughty words (and am related to more than one) because as we all know, stereotypes aren't all true. But, see, when a game text says something like "halflings are all X" then we generally accept it as a true fact. Because the game is a simplified version of reality, and the nuance isn't present. But also, these aren't humans, so we are forced to confront the fact that all of them being X could very well be true. And that is what is significantly different. And actually, hmm, let me break this off. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Thinking about our discussion, I think I do have to thank you [USER=6914290]@Gammadoodler[/USER] , because you've really highlighted my biggest problem with halflings. Something I don't know if I fully realized, but which perfectly explains why so much of this bothers me. Halflings are Mary Sues. Every single trait they have, every single "flaw" they have, is built around them being idealized. The issue isn't really that they are just short humans, because they are idealized humans. Think about it. Halflings are short because they are the underdog, that way their inevitable victory is more rewarding because they had to overcome a challenge. But they are incredibly good at fighting because they are always underestimated and they are incredibly brave. Oh, you're brave? Well, the halfling is braver than you. And they are lucky too, so everything just tends to go their way, and they are just the nicest and kindest people you've ever met. Very caring and humble. See, they don't have that greed and ambition that the other races have, they are just simple, good folk who care about other folk and build their communities. Oh, you are a kind good person too? Well, halflings are just kinder and more better than you. Really, that's their biggest flaw, they just care too much about other people, and so they don't look at the big picture. Their hearts are just too big for those little bodies. They are like every single hallmark small town ever written. And no, before I get accused of it, I don't have some deep-seated hatred of nice people, or want my world super grim-dark where kindness doesn't exist. That's not the point. The point is when you take an entire race of people and just make them better than everyone else, it is boring and it irritates people because we know that this idea of being innately better than others just isn't true. This was the problem with the elves for the longest time. They were the race of "I'm just better than you". They were stronger than you, prettier than you, wiser than you, smarter than you. That's where elven arrogance comes from, from the audience basically going "yeah, elves think that, but they aren't right". And sure, maybe halflings aren't the prettiest or the most intelligent, but they are that idyllic pastoral, hallmark fantasy perfection. And that means it is far too easy for the message to come across as "Humans are adaptable and ambitious, dwarves are gruff and focused on craftsmanship, elves are ethereal and magical, and halflings are just better people than you are." And that is a problem. And before you end up declaring me wrong, what was the first flaw you came up with for halflings in this discussion? Your first response to me saying they were too good and too caring and too kind? That they simply care too much for other people. That classic "non-flaw" from every job interview, "I think my biggest weakness is that I simply care too much."</blockquote>

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