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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DreadPirateMurphy" data-source="post: 4767660" data-attributes="member: 20715">Here is what I can think of in terms of "traditional fantasy" archetypes:Anthropomorphic Animals:  Includes all of the furry races, including lycans/shifters, and the various insect/lizard versions who nevertheless seem to have prominent mammal-type breasts.  (I imagine that in an RPG created by bugs, all of the mammal-based fantasy races would have some very sexy pheromones.)Humans with Rubber Foreheads:  Take a human and add pointy ears or glowy eyes.  Optionally, pick a human trait (intelligence, violence, magic, whimsy, or arrogance) and crank the dial to eleven.  Many fantasy campaigns have turned scary mythological races into these.  Useful for budgetary reasons on popular Sci-Fi shows.The Created:  Golems, clones, androids, Cylons (tm), robots, clockwork creatures, etc.  Bonus points if you avoid a trite Aesop about human technological hubris.The Dead:  As a player race, usually of the cosmopolitan and controlled type, or less palatably of the teenage angst/abusive relationship metaphor type.  Could be vampires, ghosts, intelligent zombies, space skeletons, or some version of "only mostly dead," like Eberron's death fetish religion among the elves.Personifications of Nature:  These are the original, scary versions of elves and dwarves, now portrayed mostly by NPC races like dryads, pixies, nixies, Dixies (known for Southern Pride), sylphs, etc.  Elementals count.  Things called derros, kobolds, goblins, brownies, etc., in various cultures, represented the relatively uncaring and hostile natural world back when medicine involved leeches and sewage filled the streets of towns.Half-breeds:  Minotaurs, centaurs, harpies, etc., are all basically bash-kits of the gods.  Most of them represent monsters, as they did in much classical mythology.  These can be taken to ridiculous extremes, and usually are in fantasy games.  "You round the corner and encounter a SPARROW-SPANIEL!"Things Man Was Not Meant to Know:  Lovecraft personifies the author focused on things most notable for causing insanity and ick, but he's certainly not alone.  Squid-thingies, colors from space, amorphous blobs, and other weirdos populate this realm.  Some of them, like the Star Frontiers Dralasites, have been made family-friendly.  All of these creepies follow the somewhat limited philosophy of "aliens = gross."The Hidden:  Shapeshifters, They Live! Aliens, Bodysnatchers, Puppet-Masters, and relatively benign creatures like Kalashtar.  Originally embodied by myths about changelings and such.  These guys are "not what they seem," but not necessarily in a Lovecraftian insanity-causing way.Group Consciousness:  Usually either insect-based, Gaea-theory-based, or technology-based (Resistance is Futile!).  The 3.5 Dragon Compendium has a twins-based version that probably was both interesting and awkward in actual play.Personifications of Morality/Ethics:  Angels, devas, demons, devils, tieflings/aasimar, etcetera, etcetera.  This is typically a reflection of the switch to dualistic faiths and the fading of gods seen as "big, petty people who throw lightning bolts."  In a sense, this is a slightly different take on Personifications of Nature.  Mortal races like the drow can count as this, but are typically demon-inspired as a rationale lest one draw unfortunate conclusions based solely on surface physical characteristics.I'm struggling to come up with anything that doesn't fit into one (or at most two or three) of these tropes.  Are there any possible protagonist race types that I've missed?</blockquote>

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