Always thought Dwarves were top of the food chain in Earthdawn.

Quote from: sureshot;1047301Humans because they are usually presented in the most boring way possible in too many rpgs especially fantasy rpg. Are written as being better than other races for no good in game reason simply for being "human". At least Earthdawn gave humans imo a good reason for being the top of the food chain. In other rpgs it's mostly "reasons and feels" on behalf of the rpg designers imo.

That's not a problem with the race, but either the presentation, and/or the way you're reading the explanation:).

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1047368Always thought Dwarves were top of the food chain in Earthdawn.

They are, in the version I've played, at least.
But the explanation mostly amounts to "reasons and feels", and some boring setting history stuff;)!

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1047368Always thought Dwarves were top of the food chain in Earthdawn.

They are in the province of Barsaive, which is the core setting, but beyond there humans are more numerous and elves are often more influential.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1047374They are in the province of Barsaive, which is the core setting, but beyond there humans are more numerous and elves are often more influential.

Well, obviously we're talking about the core setting.
And why are there such differences? Weren't Horrors a world-wide event, thus having the best cairns would have equal impact everywhere?

Quote from: AsenRG;1047380Well, obviously we're talking about the core setting.
And why are there such differences? Weren't Horrors a world-wide event, thus having the best cairns would have equal impact everywhere?

The dwarfs didn't necessarily have the best kaers. The 'best' kaers were those built with Theran help but that indebted the people to the Therans. IIRC, Throal cheated the Therans and used what they learned to make their kaer. This is part of why the Therans want to put down the upstart kingdom of Throal.

I think dwarves are my least favorite standard race. With elves they at least made an effort to make them different in most settings. Dwarves are pretty much identical wherever you go.

Quote from: Longshadow;1047431I think dwarves are my least favorite standard race. With elves they at least made an effort to make them different in most settings. Dwarves are pretty much identical wherever you go.

Eberron Dwarves are basically Renaissance bankers with short trimmed beards. Piss one of and instead of a axe in the face, you'll likely get jumped in an alley later.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1047394The dwarfs didn't necessarily have the best kaers. The 'best' kaers were those built with Theran help but that indebted the people to the Therans. IIRC, Throal cheated the Therans and used what they learned to make their kaer. This is part of why the Therans want to put down the upstart kingdom of Throal.

Thank you for reminding me of this setting detail:). Though I suspect the GM might have houseruled this part last time we played.

Dislike half races.  I ref it as, the character may be an orc in Greyhawk, for example.  The character doesn't have to be a half whatever to be able to be a player character, if it is a legit type in the campaign world and ref approved.

There was a ref that always proclaimed, when the topic of dragons was brought, that the dragon illustrations in the AD&D Monster Manual were all males and female dragons had breast, which any one with logic could deduce were at least as prominent as those of gynosphinx.  So, when I saw dragonborn, it made me think he had his vindication. However, he really wanted busty standard dragons Wizards! D&D and its half measures!

I think dragon boobs are silly fetish material and wrote them out of my setting. It's a running joke that mammals automatically assume female dragonborn are male because they lack boobs.

Ah...but what of the story of the people of Draco Tittius Maximus.  They must be told!

In the end, I just let them be as written.  The one campaign I used that assortment of races was rather short anyway.  Kind of fun fire breath bonus attack, though.

As a rule I can't stand any sort of humanoid animal race for players, with the exception of course that it's done really well, typically it strikes me as anime style bullshit. Any sort of dog folk, cat folk, lion folk, etc is an automatic no from me.

I really hate the whole tiefling thing as well, another hard pass from me.

I'm also not generally a fan of halflings. They seem to specific to Tolkien's work for me, I just can't divorce them from Middle Earth in my head.

I've never been mad on half races myself. I know its a fantasy game! But I always felt that the races would not genetically 'fit'. Like humans trying to mate with chimps or something.

That's my own low fantasy preferences I guess.

Quote from: Arkansan;1047519As a rule I can't stand any sort of humanoid animal race for players, with the exception of course that it's done really well, typically it strikes me as anime style bullshit. Any sort of dog folk, cat folk, lion folk, etc is an automatic no from me.

I watched Thundercats, Swat Kats, Road Rovers, etc as a kid so it does not alienate me as it would if I was only familiar through terrible anime. Making the beastfolk stand out as something other than funny looking humans is something I struggle with.

Quote from: Arkansan;1047519I really hate the whole tiefling thing as well, another hard pass from me.

I did not mind tieflings, since I was introduced to them through Planescape: Torment before the 4e debacle. My conception of them is a lot broader as well, including basically any mortal race tied to the lower planes (or chaotic planes, for those using a simplified Moorcockian alignment system) whether that be through a demon/devil ancestor, pacts with demons/devils, or being a race native to the lower planes.

Quote from: Arkansan;1047519I'm also not generally a fan of halflings. They seem to specific to Tolkien's work for me, I just can't divorce them from Middle Earth in my head.

Halflings are specific to Tolkien's work. D&D actually faced legal threats for copying them. Speaking of which, the traditional D&D PC races are mostly ripped straight from Tolkien with the exception of gnomes and half-orcs. Half-orcs have barely any foundation in Tolkien's work. Gnomes are just straight-up garden gnomes and their origin in the writings of Paracelsus (where they are earth elementals) is completely ignored.

There is a lot you could do to re-imagine the traditional fantasy races simply by going back to the original myths. Dwarves in mythology and elves in mythology are very different from D&D or even Tolkien.

Quote from: Arkansan;1047519As a rule I can't stand any sort of humanoid animal race for players, with the exception of course that it's done really well, typically it strikes me as anime style bullshit. Any sort of dog folk, cat folk, lion folk, etc is an automatic no from me.

Yeah, it's the biggest issue that I have with the Traveller Imperium: Aslan and Vargr kinda get on my nerves. I know the whole rationale/origin stuff but still. It's almost annoying as the two-dimensional star maps.

Traveller 2300 was way more original when it comes to races. And had 3d star maps with a proper XY and Z on their star maps.

Anyway, I feel okay about saying that since the original CT had no implied setting. Imperium Shmerium