tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693727510617938398.post9006925587251101038..comments2024-03-22T17:20:40.789+00:00Comments on Trollish Delver: An argument for cultures instead of race in roleplayingScott Malthousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12028866803584444828noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693727510617938398.post-13788439453544645722019-02-15T02:39:16.368+00:002019-02-15T02:39:16.368+00:00Race is an artifact of the racism baked into Tolki...Race is an artifact of the racism baked into Tolkien, which was the source material for OD&D. Making a crunchier system for cultural bonuses instead of racial ones would be a nice alternative. <br /><br />I like the idea of a character slowly transforming into a race that fits their core personality. The world would seem more magical that way. <br /><br />Want to start as a human who hugs trees, you slowly level up into a wood elf or dryad and age slowly as the forest ages, getting thin and lithe with an affinity for the environment. Like to play a hearth and home loving Hill Dwarf, who enjoys cooking and drinking and smoking... your character slowly becomes a Hobbit. Etc.<br /><br />Casmariushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14199504639246237699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693727510617938398.post-35909871423952988112019-02-13T18:47:49.575+00:002019-02-13T18:47:49.575+00:00The point is that player character identity ought ...The point is that player character identity ought always be a choice, regardless of race or culture. I have no problem with non-players shaped to fit either race or culture, but that should have nothing at all to do with a particular player's choice about that player's character. 5e clearly implies otherwise.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693727510617938398.post-25945374931616529952019-02-11T14:04:39.200+00:002019-02-11T14:04:39.200+00:00I tend to give my non-human races very non-human q...I tend to give my non-human races very non-human qualities. My dwarves are constructs of stone given life. My elves are exiled creatures of fae, etc. <br /><br />Have you ever dread Das Schwarze Auge/The Dark Eye? It definitely has an interesting take on culture, even different cultures for dwarves, elves, etc. <br /><br />The computer game Arcanum also has some neat ideas for elves and dwarves who have integrated into the big steampunk cities of humans. An elf in a human city is a very different person than an elf who lives in the sylvan forests. Gnomes have integrated entirely into human society but have an insular sub-culture of their own. <br /><br />Cool stuff. DMWieghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03682249561077936507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693727510617938398.post-56070663781713174922019-02-11T02:34:03.428+00:002019-02-11T02:34:03.428+00:00Race is not an issue in the least, save for with t...Race is not an issue in the least, save for with the super sensitive for whom nearly everything is an issue. Bookoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07601615671461737311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-693727510617938398.post-57194251050553564412019-02-10T22:54:07.784+00:002019-02-10T22:54:07.784+00:00I never get this. In my mind, these are much more ...I never get this. In my mind, these are much more than "races", and hence is part of the problem. This is no just a "difference of culture" problem, and simply an unfortunate choice of words by Gygax that sounds out of place 40 years later.<br /><br />Example: An elf is not just a thin, long-living feminine human who likes nature. They are an entirely different species of creature, which is supposed to be alien to human ways of thinking. This distinction gets lost in modern mass-market fantasy novels. Read The King of Elflands Daughter, and then tell me an Elf is anything like anything from an RA Salvatore book.<br /><br />I wonder if the main influence for non-human "races" is mostly due to Lord of the Rings (which is included in Appendix N BTW). But, even the elves in Tolkien's works are tremendously more interesting than "just a tree hugging waif" with some extra stat buffs. Tolkien's stories, and his prose, were so dang good that a lot of those tropes simply stick with us.<br /><br />Last comment: these are parts of my reasoning why I prefer "race as class" (as in original D&D, D&D basic, DCC RPG, etc.), but I promise I'm not trying to start an argument about that :)<br /><br />/steps off soapbox lolThe Swartzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13595743896849198208noreply@blogger.com