Why does D&D have bears?

[Mark]

Why does D&D have bears?

Do *you* want to tell them they didn't make the cut?

 

[Umbran]

Why are imaginary worlds millions of miles removed from Earth populated with creatures native to our planet?

As if the distance can be measured in normal miles?

Why is a Star Trek crew populated by critters with 5-fingered hands, with bodies that all fit into Star Fleet regulation boots and pants? And can interbreed? A human is genetically closer to a radish than a Romulan...

The answer (well, one answer) is that familiar things make fiction accessible. The audience has to be able to relate to enough of the setting to highlight the alien parts in proper contrast for them to have impact.

 

[Merkuri]

Why are imaginary worlds millions of miles removed from Earth populated with creatures native to our planet?

The way I like to think of D&D settings is that there is no Earth. Faerun, Eberron, and other fantasy worlds are not planets far away in the cosmos. They're in completely different realities. Not even a different plane, but a whole different multiverse.

Heck, even saying "a different multiverse" seems to imply that there may be a way to move between multiverses. There just is no Earth from the D&D setting's point of view. It's just not there. Period.

In this case, it doesn't matter if they have the same horses, bears, cows, and porcupines as Earth because there is no Earth to compare it to.

Of course, you're free to make up your own alien or fantastic creatures to populate the world with. One of the things I liked the computer game Morrowind was that it was full of new and interesting alien creatures. For example, a good way to move between cities was the Silt Strider, which was a gigantic insect with a hollow carved out of its carapice for people to sit in. The driver made the thing move by directly manipulating its exposed organs. But it never bothered me that they had rats.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Ah, and there's another sticky point in a fantasy world. Magic. Why wouldn't you just use magic to purify aluminum? Napoleon didn't have access to magic. Displays of wealth in a fantasy world are likely quite different that those in the real world.

I suppose you could. And it would probably be just as expensive, or more, than purifying it the mundane way. It's still likely that nobody would have any, because it's unfit for making into weapons or armour, and would exist only as a "precious" metal.

 

[Drowbane]

...why does D&D have bears...

... or humans, wood, metal, or anything else recognizable as "earthly"?

 

[GreatLemur]

Hm. Not to really support either opinion, here, but would anybody say that Star Wars was hurt by having banthas and taun-tauns and big lizard things instead of horses? How many people would say that Star Wars wasn't fantasy? Or, hey, how about Dark Crystal? That one even left out the humans (technically).

Another thing to mention, of dubious relevence: I swear I read some comic (Japanese, probably) where the characters rode big, flightless birds (yeah, not incredibly unique) that they called horses. Because these folks had not actual horses, and the birds filled the same niche in their society, so it made sense to just have they say "horses" when referring to the creatures. Similarly, there a great scf-fi novel, A Fire Upon the Deep, which called some alien predator species "wolves". These things were actually more like carnivorous gerbils linked through sound in a kind of vague hive mind, but since (to the local intelligents) they filled the same kind of annoyance-and-possible-danger-for-unarmed-travellers-in-the-woods role, why not call them wolves? It's translation, after all, since the aliens sure ain't speaking English.

 

[Merkuri]

Why wouldn't you just use magic to purify aluminum?

It's still likely that nobody would have any, because it's unfit for making into weapons or armour, and would exist only as a "precious" metal.

I've heard some people say that mithril is another name for aluminum.

 

[gizmo33]

Because it is ridiculously difficult to purify aluminum. It is only relatively recently that a process for catalyzing the reduction of aluminum from aluminum-containing compounds has been developed.

Yea, I guess things are expensive in a world without an Elemental Plane of Fire.

 

[Flynn]

I've been running a Sword & Planet game for the last 17 months, set on a planet in the distant future, where none of the standard animals exist, save dinosaurs and a few dire examples of Earth creatures, and the rest is populated by unusual beasts typically of a six-legged variety.

The players had some adjustments in the beginning, but consistent use over the campaign has really allowed them to integrate themselves into the setting and actually gave the campaign a vibrancy that the genre calls for.

However, for standard fantasy, I'm all for mixing earth animals with alternate ones. I think it helps establish a feel for the world that makes it different and unique. It takes a little work and preplanning, but it is worth it.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[tomBitonti]

Great thread

Great thread!

Nabbed! I though this would be a great basis for a short scenario:

Humanoids in D&D were balanced against their world seemingly with the consideration that for the most part they won't face any magical beasts except as an extreme rarity. If all Rats could fly and had a venomous bite, cities would have to spend huge amounts in pest control. If there were fish with razor blades for fins, fishermen wouldn't be able to use nets to catch anything.

Venomous flying rats and razorfish anyone? Sounds like a great terror to be almost unleashed from the wizard's lab, except for the intervention of our daring band of heroes. Can you see the red faced mayor, "I've had it with you adventurers! If even one of those rats gets into the warehouses the town will starve!"

Carry on!