Argyle King
Legend
So, there I was, trying to build a campaign setting. I had most of the base details about what the map looked like, and I had a general idea about what would be going on, but I hadn't decided upon what races were going to be in my setting. Sometimes it can be a tough choice; too few can feel limiting, and too many can start to make what feels like a 'kitchen sink' setting.
I figured the classics should be there - some sort of dwarf and some sort of elf; those tend to be popular choices, and they are two which players can easily relate to. Humans were another obvious choice. Then I came to deciding upon what would be the token small folk race for my setting. I wasn't sure what I wanted, so I started to brainstorm.
I wanted to do something different than halflings, and I wasn't a big fan of gnomes. I briefly considered frog-folk similar to Grippli because I knew it would appeal to one of the players. Going through my notes I had seen that I also briefly considered replacing elves with catfolk, and I came up with the idea to have catfolk, but base them upon house cats instead of tigers, lions, and etc. I fleshed (or furred I guess you could say) out the idea, and eventually I had a race which fit the niche I wanted, seemed interesting, and offered a choice different than what was typically expected. I then had the problem of coming up with a racial name.
Coming up with a name was something I agonized over. 'Catfolk' is surely what others would call them, but what would they call themselves? I tried all manner of complex combinations of words, and even words from various languages, but nothing seemed to sound right. Just as a placeholder name so I would have something to refer to them as while writing my notes, and as something of a joke, I called the race "Woem" which is 'meow' spelled backwards. I wrote up details on woemish culture, woemish language, and woemish mannerisms, and eventually I decided I'd just stick with the name because I didn't have anything else.
I was a little worried that maybe the players would recognize what the name was and maybe poke fun at it, but, to my surprise, they didn't notice at all. I actually had one player ask me how I came up with the name for them because he thought I did a really good job of writing up their description and background. Something as simple as just writing a word backwards -which I thought would be silly and unimaginative- was something which was highly enjoyed by the players, and they were none the wiser as far as the origins of the name. They probably would have never known at all had I not eventually told the one player who asked about it. Today I had the same player ask me if I would include them as an option in an upcoming game I will be running because he wanted to play one as a character, and it made me smile a little.
At times, I feel that I out-think myself. I put so much effort into something that I don't see the simple solutions. Sometimes the simplest solutions work the best; at the end of the day, the Mona Lisa is just a girl having her portrait taken, but it's considered a masterpiece. This is a good thing to remember when GMing. I like complexity and a well made masterpiece is something to admire, but sometimes -much like with the Mona Lisa- you only need a few colors and a smile to bring your vision to life. In my case, 'meow' became 'Woem,' and the players loved it.
I figured the classics should be there - some sort of dwarf and some sort of elf; those tend to be popular choices, and they are two which players can easily relate to. Humans were another obvious choice. Then I came to deciding upon what would be the token small folk race for my setting. I wasn't sure what I wanted, so I started to brainstorm.
I wanted to do something different than halflings, and I wasn't a big fan of gnomes. I briefly considered frog-folk similar to Grippli because I knew it would appeal to one of the players. Going through my notes I had seen that I also briefly considered replacing elves with catfolk, and I came up with the idea to have catfolk, but base them upon house cats instead of tigers, lions, and etc. I fleshed (or furred I guess you could say) out the idea, and eventually I had a race which fit the niche I wanted, seemed interesting, and offered a choice different than what was typically expected. I then had the problem of coming up with a racial name.
Coming up with a name was something I agonized over. 'Catfolk' is surely what others would call them, but what would they call themselves? I tried all manner of complex combinations of words, and even words from various languages, but nothing seemed to sound right. Just as a placeholder name so I would have something to refer to them as while writing my notes, and as something of a joke, I called the race "Woem" which is 'meow' spelled backwards. I wrote up details on woemish culture, woemish language, and woemish mannerisms, and eventually I decided I'd just stick with the name because I didn't have anything else.
I was a little worried that maybe the players would recognize what the name was and maybe poke fun at it, but, to my surprise, they didn't notice at all. I actually had one player ask me how I came up with the name for them because he thought I did a really good job of writing up their description and background. Something as simple as just writing a word backwards -which I thought would be silly and unimaginative- was something which was highly enjoyed by the players, and they were none the wiser as far as the origins of the name. They probably would have never known at all had I not eventually told the one player who asked about it. Today I had the same player ask me if I would include them as an option in an upcoming game I will be running because he wanted to play one as a character, and it made me smile a little.
At times, I feel that I out-think myself. I put so much effort into something that I don't see the simple solutions. Sometimes the simplest solutions work the best; at the end of the day, the Mona Lisa is just a girl having her portrait taken, but it's considered a masterpiece. This is a good thing to remember when GMing. I like complexity and a well made masterpiece is something to admire, but sometimes -much like with the Mona Lisa- you only need a few colors and a smile to bring your vision to life. In my case, 'meow' became 'Woem,' and the players loved it.
