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Author Topic: Race Mixing In The Campaign!  (Read 2679 times)

ForgottenF

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #15 on: August 07, 2022, 03:03:23 PM »
I know some people get all squicky about having dreaded backgrounds that are fucking detailed, but to my mind, the depth, the details, and the fun make it worthwhile for a good campaign.

Fantasy campaigns of course not only have human groups, but also humanoid and crazy animal races. The variety is endless, and the different cultures that can be created and developed can be very interesting.

I highly recommend embracing such ideas for a great campaign!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Yep, nothing wrong at all with having a detailed background especially if you're expecting to be playing a longer campaign. And mixing things up as you say provides a great source of inspiration and also adds lots for the GM to get hold of. That's one of the reasons I really like Hyperborea.

I actually find its the other way around. Detailed backstories can be an asset in a shorter campaign, where there isn't time to flesh out the characters in game. In a longer game, the written backstories should get superseded by the history the characters build through actual play.

I think the hatred a lot of DMs have for detailed backstories comes down to personal experience of one of two things.

1. It can be a way of putting pressure on the DM to run a particular type of campaign, which the DM might not to. If one of my players turns up with a backstory all about their mysterious older brother, that creates an expectation that that character will have an important role in the campaign. I'm currently running a campaign where I told my players up front it would be concentrated on a group of five different countries on an island, and one of my players has a backstory entirely built around political conflict on a different continent. I could completely ignore that, but the player is going to be disappointed if it doesn't come up at some point down the road.

2. Players failing to exercise discipline in writing their backstories. I once ran a Cyberpunk game and had a player show up with her starting level character, but with a backstory of how she was a beautiful hacking prodigy from a wealthy family (none of which was reflected on her character sheet), with an established romance with a character she made up and added into the campaign world. She was clearly more invested in her elaborate head-canon about the character than she was in anything going on in the game. Later I played in a Faerun game with the same group, and another one of the players came in with a character that was Khelben Blackstaff's niece and a senior Moonstar at the beginning of the campaign. As a player, that's a non-issue, but as a DM it would have annoyed me.

BoxCrayonTales

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #16 on: August 07, 2022, 03:32:01 PM »
In Eberron the half-orcs and half-elves have become self-sustaining populations.

Ruprecht

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #17 on: August 11, 2022, 05:46:07 PM »
I've always had no-interspecies breeding. Half Elves are Elves that have assimilated into human culture, the term is a bit of a slur from other elves. Half Orcs are Orcs that have assimilated into human culture. The term is a compliment from well-meaning humans suggesting they aren't so bad as those other Orcs. Different diets and such account for the mechanical differences with the rest of their race.
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ShieldWife

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #18 on: August 11, 2022, 09:49:48 PM »
I’ve long thought that magical lineages were cool. Basically, some kind of supernatural creature reproduced with humans in the point in the past and now there are hybrid races or families that combine human and supernatural characteristics.

Elves are a mixture between humans and faeries of the forest. Dwarves are descended from faeries of the earth. Orcs are a mixture between humans and evil monster ours fae like the Fomori. In other settings, these hybrids aren’t races but families who have great powers and/or influence based on supernatural abilities inherited from magical ancestors, sometimes these powers are preserved through inbreeding to maintain purity.

Thorn Drumheller

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #19 on: August 11, 2022, 09:55:50 PM »
I’ve long thought that magical lineages were cool. Basically, some kind of supernatural creature reproduced with humans in the point in the past and now there are hybrid races or families that combine human and supernatural characteristics.

Elves are a mixture between humans and faeries of the forest. Dwarves are descended from faeries of the earth. Orcs are a mixture between humans and evil monster ours fae like the Fomori. In other settings, these hybrids aren’t races but families who have great powers and/or influence based on supernatural abilities inherited from magical ancestors, sometimes these powers are preserved through inbreeding to maintain purity.

That's a freakin fascinating take. I like it. Thanks for the idea.
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Thorn Drumheller

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #20 on: August 11, 2022, 09:57:01 PM »
I've always had no-interspecies breeding. Half Elves are Elves that have assimilated into human culture, the term is a bit of a slur from other elves. Half Orcs are Orcs that have assimilated into human culture. The term is a compliment from well-meaning humans suggesting they aren't so bad as those other Orcs. Different diets and such account for the mechanical differences with the rest of their race.

Another excellent idea. That's one of the things I love about this forum. The brilliance of ideas.
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SHARK

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #21 on: August 11, 2022, 11:41:56 PM »
I know some people get all squicky about having dreaded backgrounds that are fucking detailed, but to my mind, the depth, the details, and the fun make it worthwhile for a good campaign.

Fantasy campaigns of course not only have human groups, but also humanoid and crazy animal races. The variety is endless, and the different cultures that can be created and developed can be very interesting.

I highly recommend embracing such ideas for a great campaign!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Yep, nothing wrong at all with having a detailed background especially if you're expecting to be playing a longer campaign. And mixing things up as you say provides a great source of inspiration and also adds lots for the GM to get hold of. That's one of the reasons I really like Hyperborea.

I actually find its the other way around. Detailed backstories can be an asset in a shorter campaign, where there isn't time to flesh out the characters in game. In a longer game, the written backstories should get superseded by the history the characters build through actual play.

I think the hatred a lot of DMs have for detailed backstories comes down to personal experience of one of two things.

1. It can be a way of putting pressure on the DM to run a particular type of campaign, which the DM might not to. If one of my players turns up with a backstory all about their mysterious older brother, that creates an expectation that that character will have an important role in the campaign. I'm currently running a campaign where I told my players up front it would be concentrated on a group of five different countries on an island, and one of my players has a backstory entirely built around political conflict on a different continent. I could completely ignore that, but the player is going to be disappointed if it doesn't come up at some point down the road.

2. Players failing to exercise discipline in writing their backstories. I once ran a Cyberpunk game and had a player show up with her starting level character, but with a backstory of how she was a beautiful hacking prodigy from a wealthy family (none of which was reflected on her character sheet), with an established romance with a character she made up and added into the campaign world. She was clearly more invested in her elaborate head-canon about the character than she was in anything going on in the game. Later I played in a Faerun game with the same group, and another one of the players came in with a character that was Khelben Blackstaff's niece and a senior Moonstar at the beginning of the campaign. As a player, that's a non-issue, but as a DM it would have annoyed me.

Greetings!

Good points, ForgottenF! Yeah, I can see how those two problem would be frustrating.

I suppose I am spoiled. My players in my home games are all mature folks, and they abide by my instructions, guidelines, and parameters for character creation and development.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
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SHARK

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #22 on: August 12, 2022, 12:05:56 AM »
Greetings!

In my Thandor campaign, I wanted to establish where Humans were ascending somewhat to a dominant position--but only in ome regions of the world. There are many areas under the control of monsters. I also have reptilian humanoids that are fiercely seeking to maintain their power--and also to expand their dominion. I have several different races of reptilian humanoids, which they themselves live in different regions for the most part, with only some degree of overlap.

Mainly speaking, I have divided them into four major races;

(A): This group is a quasi-primitive, barbarian tribal culture, very widespread, that proliferate throughout jungles, swamps, and marshlands.

(B): The second major group are highly civilized and embrace a sophisticated culture that loosely resembles a Classical Roman Empire.

(C): The third group are brightly-coloured reptilian humanoids that live in both jungle environments, as well as desert environments. While adaptable, the race has two main cultural elements--one is a savage, barbarian tribal culture, while the other culture group is a civilized culture, typically living in decadent ruins and urban city-states, seeking to rebuild their lost, ancient glory.

(D): The fourth racial group are related to the others--being reptilian--but their ancestry is much more rooted within Dinosaur heritage, as most have tyrannosaurus heads. The fourth racial group of reptilians are somewhat of a long-recovering remnant from an ancient, global empire that possessed superior technology and vast magical abilities. These occasionally live amongst other reptilian races, while others remain exclusively in isolated fortress cities, hidden away from much of the world.

I often like mixing different races and cultural templates. It creates many adventure and story opportunities!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
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FingerRod

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #23 on: August 12, 2022, 07:19:42 AM »
Sounds like a fun set of campaigns/worlds there SHARK.

I’ve never done a lot outside the boring half-elf. 2e was probably my primary influence, next to Basic, so not a lot of half-orcs either. I guess the closest would be dwarven clans mixing, which was fairly interesting.

wmarshal

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #24 on: August 12, 2022, 08:08:01 AM »
In the Dark Sun setting, there were Half-dwarves, they were called Muls (Mules) and they were infertile.  That is the only time I have ever seen an dwarf-mix.

Aren't Derro a dwarf-human crossbreed?
That was true at least in 1st edition.

In my game they were essentially ageless after reaching the effective age of 30. That’s why some have the abilities of sages as those are the ones that are really old (older than any living elf) and just remember a lot. Their numbers were limited by always being born male (they weren’t given any demographics for female and young members), and they could only reproduce by mating with a human female, though that may have been a whacked idea coming from overthinking why the numbers of an ageless population would find a limit when just trying to survive in the Underdark could be the limiting factor. They would have had a hand in the Twin Cataclysms by giving deliberately self-destructive advice to the Suel, and helping to develop the Invoked Devastation.

SHARK

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #25 on: August 14, 2022, 12:19:15 PM »
Greetings!

Different species *can* interbreed with each other. The article discusses how the evidence emerged of Neanderthals mating with Denisovans, and producing offspring. Neanderthals and Denisovans are two distinctly different species of humans.

Interesting!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

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Wrath of God

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #26 on: September 22, 2022, 08:12:36 PM »
Quote
Different species *can* interbreed with each other. The article discusses how the evidence emerged of Neanderthals mating with Denisovans, and producing offspring. Neanderthals and Denisovans are two distinctly different species of humans.

Yes, but classification of Neanderthal and Denisovian as separate species and not subspecies of Homo sapiens is dubious.
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Kyle Aaron

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #27 on: September 22, 2022, 08:32:10 PM »
There is no race-mixing in my campaigns: there are only humans, and monsters.

Of course, humans fight amongst themselves. But so do orcs, goblins, dragons and so on. You don't need them to be different races to fight, even Cain and Abel fought and they were actually brothers.
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Osman Gazi

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #28 on: September 22, 2022, 08:38:41 PM »
Quote
Different species *can* interbreed with each other. The article discusses how the evidence emerged of Neanderthals mating with Denisovans, and producing offspring. Neanderthals and Denisovans are two distinctly different species of humans.

Yes, but classification of Neanderthal and Denisovian as separate species and not subspecies of Homo sapiens is dubious.

Taxonomic distinctions are of course always debatable, but there are reasons for considering various human populations--Homo Sapiens, Neanderthal, Denisovan, Homo Erectus, Homo floresiensis (all of which co-existed on the earth for several thousand years long ago)--as separate species.

Here's a pretty good layman's account of species: https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelmarshalleurope/2018/08/28/a-long-busted-myth-its-not-true-that-animals-belonging-to-different-species-can-never-interbreed/?sh=6e43e2283e65

The Spaniard

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Re: Race Mixing In The Campaign!
« Reply #29 on: September 23, 2022, 05:50:54 PM »
I only allow 1/2 Elves and 1/2 Orcs in my campaign.  Others are not interesting and/or don't make any sense.  Many of the human cultures in the world are influenced by others though.  This naturally happens through trade, invasion, etc.