Which of these non-human opponents does your group find itself using/encountering more often? Why? How do you feel about that?

Note that multiple choice is possible if you really have a tie. Also note that I deliberately didn't put more monster flavors on the poll because I want to see how these compare.

Definitely more on the humanoid side, both savage and decadent. Why? Mainly because I like to use them and I generally run the games.

Orcs and Zombies.  And Skeletons.

When I'm running a game, you can bet there'll be skeletons of various types and power levels. Another guy in our group is a master of Shadows, wights, and other non-corporeal undead (which is why the first money our group ever picks up goes immediately to ghost-touched armor/weapons).

In the recent Pathfinder game I played in the majority of fights were basic humanoids and some random critters, giant spiders and the like. The GM often used random tables from one of the books to generate encounters.

I just started a Runequest 6 game and it will most likely be reliant on humans and animals although I'm open to throwing almost anything at the PCs.

Liches, Ghouls, Ghasts, Shadows, Goblins, Death Knights...

None of the above.

Humans are the most common foes for my PCs.

Quote from: Elfdart;875804None of the above.

Humans are the most common foes for my PCs.

So you never use any of the list, ever?  Wow.

Last time I played, it was TPK to a group of goblins at 1st level.  Them little buggers were too damn tough for us, no way we could have handled anything more formidable.  

Freaky mutant and aberrations. Why? Because everything else is played out and mundane at this point.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;875806So you never use any of the list, ever?  Wow.

How do you read "most common foes" and come to that conclusion?

In my last campaign of RuneQuest 6 we were playing Monster Island, and most foes were Swords & Sorcery giant animals, dinosaurs, with some island tribesmen, decadent races in the form of Serpent Men, ghouls, and spirits thrown in.

For the new campaign most foes will be human, though with recurrent Chaos-tainted hybrids (Beastmen), and Cthulhu-esque demons, aberrations, mutants, and decadent marsh dwelling Deep One-style tribes. A lot of the humans are Chaos Mother cultists, so as they progress up the ranks they become less and less human.

We're going to be playing Book of Quests, in a remixed version that puts more emphasis on the political situation in the setting and on the witch-hunting Inquisition of the dominant religion.

What do I vote if the answer is "depends on setting"?

Quote from: AsenRG;875853What do I vote if the answer is "depends on setting"?

Even if you subdivide in that way, there is probably a setting you've played slightly more, hence a type you've used more.

Quote from: everlossFreaky mutant and aberrations. Why? Because everything else is played out and mundane at this point.

Though I tend to agree with you, I'll play devil's advocate based on commentary I got the last time I complained a lot of things in fantasy were cliche: Don't you think the familiarity of the 'mundane' stuff is actually an asset when it comes to players grasping the world, visualizing the scene, and interpreting the cultures?

By that I mean most modern players instantly know how to interpret and interact with 'goblins' while they would struggle and possibly lose engagement when dealing with 'odopi' or something.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;875856Even if you subdivide in that way, there is probably a setting you've played slightly more, hence a type you've used more.

I change settings and systems for each campaign, with only five settings repeating themselves more often. And they cover your list almost exactly in equal proportions:).

QuoteThough I tend to agree with you, I'll play devil's advocate based on commentary I got the last time I complained a lot of things in fantasy were cliche: Don't you think the familiarity of the 'mundane' stuff is actually an asset when it comes to players grasping the world, visualizing the scene, and interpreting the cultures?

Though it's not a question to me, I find said familiarity to be a liability, as it leads them to assume things that usually aren't true in my settings;).