D&D General Words which replaced "race" in fantasy games

[Clint_L]

I can't say that I have a super strong preference one way or another. If it's species, cool. I get why "race" had to go, and should have gone long ago. But replacing it with species vs. lineage vs. ancestry vs. whatever is not a thing that affects my feelings about the game, or how I play it. Once upon a time, a few of us suggested they just make up a word for it. That would be fine, too.

 

[Maggan]

Like kin. One letter less that race. Of course you folk don't like kin we can go with bob. Of course all the real world bobs will have to change their names. But not my problem.

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I'm not following you. Is it a refutal of my post? Or did you quote the wrong post?

 

[jasper]

?

I'm not following you. Is it a refutal of my post? Or did you quote the wrong post?

I am poking fun at all the different versions and different reasons to replace the jargon "Races" in a fantasy game.

 

[Dalamar]

It's incredible and incredibly disappointing how the human mind has such difficulty accepting the continuum of nature, which always leaves something possible between any two, and pretends to fit everything into category boxes. And when their categorisation fails, they say it's because nature made a "mistake".

I think it's because we have an inclination to think that something that seems to fit must be absolute and true. And since many of these categories have been specifically made to fit most definitions (or known definitions at the time of being created), they feel right.

A friend of mine made a good point related to this a couple of years back. We humans are very good at fitting things into categories, no matter how arbitrary. To illustrate, he started to categorize random things between "ice cream" and "witch".

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Hmm, I think Shadowrun always used metahuman for its "races", so I guess that doesn't count.
Shadowrun is also "special" in that regard as they originally really all were normal humans until magic returned and the meta-human genetic differences expressed themselves. IIRC, people could change to Orc or Troll during their lifetime, while Elves and Dwarves were only ever born as such, but still from "normal" human parents.

 

[Xeviat]

More and more, I think I really don't like "species". Tieflings aren't a different species, they can be born from humans. Species feels too scientific. There are 4 that I like way more than species:

1) Lineage, like Level Up
2) Ancestry, because ABC is neat (Ancestry, Background, Class, and Ancestry, Bonus, Culture)
3) People and Peoples, because People vs Monsters is a solid distinction
4) Folk, because it's folksy and inclusive

 

[Corinnguard]

2) Ancestry, because ABC is neat (Ancestry, Background, Class, and Ancestry, Bonus, Culture)

If Level Up had used Ancestry instead of Heritage, the players definitely would be learning their ABCD's when designing their character origins. Ancestry, Background, Culture and Destiny.

 

[CreamCloud0]

If Level Up had used Ancestry instead of Heritage, the players definitely would be learning their ABCD's when designing their character origins. Ancestry, Background, Culture and Destiny.

even if i don't prefer the terminology of ancestry and destiny, this set of four build options definitely appeals to me for character creation, your Species, Background, Culture and Class being your biology, your general life skills and experience, the influence of what kind of society you were raised in and your adventurer's skillset.

 

[Corinnguard]

even if i don't prefer the terminology of ancestry and destiny, this set of four build options definitely appeals to me for character creation, your Species, Background, Culture and Class being your biology, your general life skills and experience, the influence of what kind of society you were raised in and your adventurer's skillset.

Destiny in Level Up IMO is a backstory element in that it helps the player figure out what motivated their character to adventure in the first place. Did your character venture forth for fame, fortune, revenge, etc.? The narrator then gets to weave the character's destiny into whatever adventure they have the PCs in. Whether the character meets their destiny or not is up to the player.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Destiny in Level Up IMO is a backstory element in that it helps the player figure out what motivated their character to adventure in the first place. Did your character venture forth for fame, fortune, revenge, etc.? The narrator then gets to weave the character's destiny into whatever adventure they have the PCs in. Whether the character meets their destiny or not is up to the player.

ah, i didn't realise, it just sounded like their proxy term for class to me, does it include or influence any mechanics or is it more nebulous?