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RPG Evolution: The Trouble with Halflings
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<blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8819811" data-attributes="member: 6915329"><p>Or, no, you've made humans that live underground (dwarfs don't see through stone--even with tremorsense). Humans who live underground are going to be different than dwarfs who live underground. Different cultures, different religions, different goals, different lifespans, different family structures, different dietary needs and preferences, different everything. When you get down to it, the only things humans and dwarfs should really have in common is that they're post sentient mammals who like beer.</p><p></p><p>A human who can remember past lives is still going to be different than an elf who can remember past lives for those exact same reasons.</p><p></p><p></p><p>That's not the game's fault, though--that's <em>your </em>fault for not giving them a distinct culture in your setting.</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Except... </em>In Dark Sun (cannibal halflings), the elves and dwarfs are also very different, what with elves being short-lived thieves and desert-runners and dwarfs being obsessive about crafts to the point of undeath if they fail to complete their goal. In Eberron (dino-riding halflings... plus hospitality halflings plus medical halflings plus mafia halflings), the elves and dwarfs are also very different, with elves worshiping undeath and dwarfs being in league with Lovecraftian entities--plus, of course, the Dragonmarks.</p><p></p><p>So the only holdout is Dragonlance, which only turned halflings into kender because their original game had a halfling with a <em>ring of invisibility</em>, and they felt it was too close to Tolkien--because apparently if one halfling has a <em>ring of invisibility</em>, the entire race is affected?--and so changed them. <em>Then </em>they were supposed to be feral streetwise hunters, but Roger Moore created Tasslehoff for a story and everyone decided that all kender were like that. </p><p></p><p>I don't know what the river trader halflings are from, which suggests Nentir Vale because I don't know anything about that setting. Although I have them as river traders in my game, so clearly it's a fairly common idea.</p><p></p><p>So clearly, "many settings" don't leave elves and dwarfs alone.</p><p></p><p></p><p>That may be because elves and dwarfs are "sexier" than halflings are. That's not the fault of the halflings; that's the fault of the writers who think sexy = interesting.</p><p></p><p></p><p>See above, although "save the halfling town" has been a plot in <em>my </em>game--where halflings are also a dominant race, and one of only two races to have anything approaching industry and mint coins (the other race being dwarfs). Everyone else, including humans and elves, lives in tiny villages or wilderness tribes.</p><p></p><p>If you don't make halflings important in your game, then that's <em>your </em>fault, not the fault of the game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Faolyn, post: 8819811, member: 6915329"] Or, no, you've made humans that live underground (dwarfs don't see through stone--even with tremorsense). Humans who live underground are going to be different than dwarfs who live underground. Different cultures, different religions, different goals, different lifespans, different family structures, different dietary needs and preferences, different everything. When you get down to it, the only things humans and dwarfs should really have in common is that they're post sentient mammals who like beer. A human who can remember past lives is still going to be different than an elf who can remember past lives for those exact same reasons. That's not the game's fault, though--that's [I]your [/I]fault for not giving them a distinct culture in your setting. [I]Except... [/I]In Dark Sun (cannibal halflings), the elves and dwarfs are also very different, what with elves being short-lived thieves and desert-runners and dwarfs being obsessive about crafts to the point of undeath if they fail to complete their goal. In Eberron (dino-riding halflings... plus hospitality halflings plus medical halflings plus mafia halflings), the elves and dwarfs are also very different, with elves worshiping undeath and dwarfs being in league with Lovecraftian entities--plus, of course, the Dragonmarks. So the only holdout is Dragonlance, which only turned halflings into kender because their original game had a halfling with a [I]ring of invisibility[/I], and they felt it was too close to Tolkien--because apparently if one halfling has a [I]ring of invisibility[/I], the entire race is affected?--and so changed them. [I]Then [/I]they were supposed to be feral streetwise hunters, but Roger Moore created Tasslehoff for a story and everyone decided that all kender were like that. I don't know what the river trader halflings are from, which suggests Nentir Vale because I don't know anything about that setting. Although I have them as river traders in my game, so clearly it's a fairly common idea. So clearly, "many settings" don't leave elves and dwarfs alone. That may be because elves and dwarfs are "sexier" than halflings are. That's not the fault of the halflings; that's the fault of the writers who think sexy = interesting. See above, although "save the halfling town" has been a plot in [I]my [/I]game--where halflings are also a dominant race, and one of only two races to have anything approaching industry and mint coins (the other race being dwarfs). Everyone else, including humans and elves, lives in tiny villages or wilderness tribes. If you don't make halflings important in your game, then that's [I]your [/I]fault, not the fault of the game. [/QUOTE]
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