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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AFGNCAAP" data-source="post: 1643752" data-attributes="member: 871">Thanks for the replies!  Keep `em coming!It seems to me that, more often than not, a lot of the use &/or appearance of the classic demi-human races often falls back to a Tolkienian/D&Dish variety.  For example:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Palladium Fantasy RPG (1st ed.) didn't have halflings or any sort of half-&-half races (half-elves, half-orcs, etc.), but it held onto a generally typical depiction of elves, dwarves, & orcs; gnomes seem to be a mix between gnomes, halflings, & the more larger fae folk (or more akin to a garden gnome).  IIRC, Palladium Elves are closer to Tolkien's (taller) version physically.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Ultima CRPG series started off with Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Bobbits for PCs, and Orcs as enemies.  Ultima 4 dropped all of the demihuman PC races, but orcs were still around as foes.  (IIRC, it wasn't until Ultima 6 that orcs were dropped & trolls took their place).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The early Might & Magic CRPGs used Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Half-Orcs, & Gnomes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Bard's Tale CRPGs used the standard AD&D races: human, elf, dwarf, gnome, hobbit, half-elf, and half-orc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Wizardry series of games had Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, & Hobbits.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">GURPS' Yrth initially had Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs, plus would up importing Humans, Halflings, Goblins & other folk.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Warhammer Fantasy has Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and hobbit-like Halflings; though it doesn't use the D&Dish appearances, Warhammer basically has similar groups/factions as in older versions of D&D: High/Wood/Dark Elves, (good) Dwarves/(evil) Chaos Dwarves, Orks & Goblins, etc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Warcraft has the standard groups: Humans (with elf & dwarf allies), Orcs (more WH-like in appearance), Night Elves (sorta pseudo-drow other-elves, though far from the deep-dwellin' spider-lovin' baddies of D&D).</li> </ul>More often than not, the races in these games kinda default to the variety found in D&D: gnomes & dwarves were basically the same, though dwarves were more warrior-oriented & gnomes were more magic-oriented.  Elves are slender, roughly human-sized beings with pointy ears.  Orcs are big brutish tough guys, often with growly, grumbly voices.  Halflings either resemble their hobbit ancestors (with the typical 3 subgroups generally like Fallohides, Stoors, and Harfoots), or mirror the Kender in an effort to distance themselves from Hobbits.However, it does seem that Warhammer Orks have reached a relatively high level of use/recognition in fantasy as well: big, green, tough, & armed with big weapons & bad grammar.Of course, there are games out there that do try to stray away from these stereotypical depictions, but to a degree, they don't seem to be as common as these D&Dish varieties.  Along similar lines, the classic four classes of fighter, cleric, mage, and thief generally appear in a lot of classed-based/using games as well (of the 4, it seems that cleric/priests are dropped or merged with the mage in some instances).I'm a bit surprised that I don't see other varieties of these races: short (i.e., dwarf/halfling/fairy-height) elves ala Elfquest; highly magical, non-warrior, non-techie/craftsmen dwarves (not linked to some pseudo-Nordic rune magic, but magical overall); goblins that aren't green &/or hideous; etc.  In a way, it seems that Tolkien, D&D, & to a degree Warhammer, have pretty much defined what is "typical" fantasy.  At the least, these races generally maintain the same appearance, if not a generally similar backstory.I'm not complaining about this (not in the least); I'm just surprised about how little divergence there is from this overall.</blockquote>

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