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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Willie the Duck" data-source="post: 9847406" data-attributes="member: 6799660">You're correct that there's no telling what longevity will do to motivations. Excepting, at least, that anything that (successfully) lives for hundreds of years cannot be too impulsive or risk-seeking. But yes, they could endlessly spin their wheels, do things we can't conceptualize as progress, or make the most ridiculous 'long-term-thinking' endeavors ever on a regular basis. It is all going to depend on their psychology (which will be influenced by their longevity, but still could have nigh infinite variation).I just looked at my copies of oD&D, AD&D, and BX, and I have to say that D&D elves were pretty 'human in costume'-y back in the day as well. I'm sure 2e's Complete Book of Elves went overboard in making them absolutely all things mysterious and special (that was kind of its thing), but otherwise I don't think there was a time when D&D elves were all that inhuman.Of course, and I hate to say it, that's kind of elves thing too. Both the Norse Eddas and Sagas and the works of Tolkien get (deserved) praise for their poetry and evocative imagery in the description of their elves (among other things). However, in both we're told much more often than shown how unearthly and inhuman their respective elves actually are. When we get actual stories of individual elves (such as Völund/Weyland the smith), they are often magically powerful but very human in their behavior. The Seelie faeries, more than elves, really have more depictions as alien mindsets, and even then it's often their moral framing (good? bad? just don't accept food in their home. etc.) that is depicted as alien more than their overall psychology.I agree though, that it would be interesting to see an RPG creature type with truly orthogonal thinking, and not in some trivial 'their maps aren't North-East-South-West, but instead 3-way-split' or 'they don't think in terms of good and evil, so much as what would make the best story' kind of way. I just don't know how to do it in a way that any two gamers would agree is both interesting and fun to explore. Particularly not one to ground an entire published game system (coming up with something for an individual campaign is probably doable).</blockquote>

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