What are dwarves like in your campaign?

[Tauric]

IMC, the Dwarven Imperium fills the roll of the Roman Empire. They are road builders and architects extraordinaire. They had, at one point, covered most of the northern portion of the continent, but have since retreated into their ancestral lands.

As for elves, they are (like others have done) seafarers. I have modeled their culture on a mish-mash of Chinese and Japanese elements (mainly Japanese social structure and Chinese weapons. No katanas in my world.)

 

[DonTadow]

How about after the Dwarves defeated and enslaved the elves centuries ago, they began finding the benefits of lumber. Now the dwarves are the mofia of lumber in the land and they patrol the forests dilligently assuring that no magic is used in their forests. They've abandoned their former cave homes hundreds of years ago.

As for your elves, well their no longer on their high horse. They are slaves whose magic is very restricted and used only for the benefit of mining and lumbering.

 

[Clavis]

Most Dwarves are employees of one of the great Dwarven Companies, vast commercial enterprises headed by one or more noblemen. Some companies specialize in one type of product or business, while the largest are very diversified. Everything is Dwarven society is owned by someone. There is no such thing as public space. A Dwarf pays a small fee to enter certain areas of a city, draw water, or do many other things that members of other aces might take for granted. Even Dwarven names are owned – Dwarven parents must buy names from the Companies that own them, and a Dwarf that wants to take a new name must likewise purchase it. Dwarven government exists to protect property rights, and everything it does is performed with that object in mind. The King heads the largest and most powerful company, which has some interest in almost every commercial enterprise of the Dwarves, but whose specialty is defense. Rivaling the Royal Company, however, is the vast Church of Ta, which sells religious services to the famously pious Dwarves.

As for Elves, I chose to give them a vaguely Japanese aesthetic to their weapons, art, and clothing (when they wear any clothing), but otherwise play up their traditional fae characteristics. Essentially, I play them as amoral teenagers.

The use of drugs and intoxicants is ubiquitous in Elven society. Refusing to take drugs when they are offered is considered an insult.

Casual sex is another constant feature of Elven society, and is considered a fine way to pass the time. The Elves play many games with cards and dice that involve the losers providing various sexual services to the winners. Bisexuality is considered the norm. Marraiges can be with any number of partners, and either gender. Fatherhood as an institution is unknown to Elves. It is unlikely that any Elven mother could successfully pin down a single male as the father of any of her children. Elves quickly learn to regard their whole community as their parents.

The reason Orcs hate elves is that Wild elves (who I made very Amerindian) consider Orcs food. The big secret of Elven society, however, is their practice of infanticide. That's why nobody ever meets a stupid, ugly, or deformed elf.

 

[sjmiller]

In my campaign the dwarves are a bit, umm, different. They are xenophobic, monotheistic, and are ruled by a theocracy. They live in an isolated mountainous country with heavy border security. Non-dwarves, referred to by the dwarves as "The Tainted," are confined to border trading towns or, in very limited numbers, they are allowed in a special section of one main city. They tend to be a bit zealous in keeping their nature pure and untainted.

 

[der_kluge]

This thread might be of value:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=104858

 

[Agamon]

In my campaign the dwarves are a bit, umm, different. They are xenophobic, monotheistic, and are ruled by a theocracy. They live in an isolated mountainous country with heavy border security. Non-dwarves, referred to by the dwarves as "The Tainted," are confined to border trading towns or, in very limited numbers, they are allowed in a special section of one main city. They tend to be a bit zealous in keeping their nature pure and untainted.

Huh, that's kinda sorta how I went. My dwarves are certainly xenophobic, but they're also more elemental, similar to stonechildren. They live deep within large mountain ranges in relatively small communites with as little interaction with the outside world as possible. The use of arcane magic is taboo and therefore relatively unknown by most of the race. They are highly religious, venerating Chule, the god of Earth, from whom they believe they are directly desended (though most human sages would laugh at the thought of an mortal being decendant from any god).

So not too different, but different enough to not be cliché.

 

[arscott]

From a previous thread:

"A dwarf? No, I've never seen a dwarf. Nobody around here has. They stay up there, in the hills, waiting for those foolish enough to seek them out. The locals aren't that stupid. Only folks like you are that 'heroic'.

Look like? Boy, I told you, I've never seen one. Nobody has. All I know is what I've heard in the legends: Half the size of a man, but with fingers twice as long. Old as the hills. Wirey, gray men with wirey gray beards, and not a strand of hair upon their heads.

You need a weapon that will peirce dragonhide? Aye, I suppose they'll be able to help you with that. They've built a ladder that reaches the stars, and a castle that can fold up in the palm of your hand. They'll have little trouble with a sturdy Axe.

But they'll charge a high price, not gold or jewels, but something even more precious. and you best be paying it too. If they built a thing, they can lay a curse upon it, and everything that's ever seen it. Their curses have destroyed dynasties, and brought down kingdoms.

Thats why nobody sees a dwarf. They demand fair dealin' and they demand respect. Your lot's short on both. So go ahead and seek them out. Ignore my warning. But if you do find the dwarves and their misfortune, don't be coming back here."

 

[Ace]

My Dwarves come in several varieties --

Tolkienish ones complete with Scots Accents

Narnia like ones that are rather religous culturally they follow the faith of the Lawbringer -- are gernerally Lawful Neutral (think something like Orthodox Jews for a feel)

City Dwarves ala Arcanum

Woods Dwarves -- think Hugi from 3 Hearts and 3 Lions

and Mountain Dwarves which are gamerized Norse Dwarves with Germanic accents

Dwarves fill all the usual gaming nitches and the Tinker one as well (no tinker gnomes thank you very much) They also have an interesting social role in that are the "people" non humans. Most non human races get a lot of flack IMC -- people are wary of them and may consider them threats. Dwarves OTOH are treated as "just folks" this isn't always good but at least they don't start at any disadvantage

 

[Plane Sailing]

In my old campaign Dwarves were, essentially, Klingons. Full of honour and anger, quick to take offence. Their favoured class was barbarian because they were particularly good at Raging. They also considered females (of any species) no more than chattel.

My current campaign is Eberron, and the dwarves are the worlds merchant bankers.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Nearly extinct.

Outsiders from the Elemental Plane of Metal, they were jealous of the precious metals in the Material Cosmos, and thus attempted to invade in order to steal all gold, silver, copper, platinum and so on so no one but the dwarves had it. The invasion was repelled and then the Empire hunted down and slew almost all dwarves to prevent it from happening again.