Quote from: The Ent;721583Talislanta is your friend.

Talislanta is my friend. I was just verbally fellating the rules in another thread - the setting is awesome as well.

Quote from: Gizmoduck5000;721614Talislanta is my friend. I was just verbally fellating the rules in another thread - the setting is awesome as well.

I like Talislanta myself - got the big blue book (4e?). Fantastic setting.

Quote from: Gizmoduck5000;721614Talislanta is my friend. I was just verbally fellating the rules in another thread - the setting is awesome as well.

I'm... not sure I want to be your friend.

Talislanta is one of these awesome games it seems I'll never get around to running.

Quote from: The Ent;721616I like Talislanta myself - got the big blue book (4e?). Fantastic setting.

Indeed. I adore it--but I like Elves and Dwarves TOO sometimes. (I'd love to play a Mystic Warrior secretly sabotaging the Kang/Quan) with his allies..

Quote from: The Butcher;721619I'm... not sure I want to be your friend.

Talislanta is one of these awesome games it seems I'll never get around to running.

I only got to run a one shot a few years ago with an old group.

I did get to run a short Hellas game with my current group, the rules of which are based around Talislanta 4E I believe.

The current group isn't as married to D&D tropes as the old group was, so I will get my chance soon!

Quote from: Spinachcat;720846I have been running a humanocentric OD&D game for some time, but I have recently learned that several potential players haven't joined my game because they "only play elves" or "only play dwarves".

I personally don't get that, but I have met really good gamers who will only play Character XYZ and for them, having fun playing D&D means playing their favorite race and/or class.

I have to respect that.

I don't. Those people are dull as dirt.

Quote from: Spinachcat;720846I just feel a bit odd having to make every OD&D setting into something where Bilbo, Gimli and Legolas somehow make sense as PCs.

If I choose to run 'a fantasy game,' then I'm much more likely to make it humanocentric. If I run D&D, then I'm much more likely to at least accommodate the races of elf, dwarf, halfling, and gnome because, y'know, it's D&D and there are certain expectations attached to that game.

I always have Humans as a playable race in my D&D and OSR games, but recently I've been experimenting with dropping Elves, Dwarves, and the like from the list of playable races and making them NPC-only, such as in my upcoming OD&D/Sonic The Hedgehog AU crossover campaign, having the non-human "traditional" PC races be either rare NPC's or more likely, NPC monsters. You can play as a Human or a typical animal-based Sonic OC but the likes of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, and the like are off-limits for PC's. Most of the time, they are either part of monster encounters similar to Orcs or Goblins, or they can become part of your army when you reach a high enough level to build a stronghold in the wilderness.

I get that Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings as PC's are a traditional part of D&D since the very beginning, but I've got no qualms about experimenting with the formula and trying new things. Although I do believe Human PC's are a very important core component of my games and no matter what, humans will always be playable and widespread. Even in my Sonic OC campaign I am currently writing, humans are the dominant race and are playable.

Funny enough the only Elves and Dwarves that I'm interested in are Tolkien's. Everywhere else (and I mean everywhere) they feel like boring, pale copies. Sacrilege, I know.

Talislanta is the one where elves are actually sentient plants, right? But they still look like elves and behave like elves, right? Frankly I don't care if a fantasy author's version of elves have an origin in Dragon Shit, they're still elves. Meh.

Quote from: Gizmoduck5000;721660I did get to run a short Hellas game with my current group, the rules of which are based around Talislanta 4E I believe.

Right. Hellas's rules are called he Omega System. They are very slightly modified versions of 4e. They're both compatible.

Quote from: Gizmoduck5000;721660The current group isn't as married to D&D tropes as the old group was, so I will get my chance soon!

That first time with a new group to Talislanta is always exciting for me. I had to do the hard-sell to my group too for the same reasons. But once I ran it - it went well. The new version of Talislanta is about to drop, so that might of interest.

I'll be honest, I never even considered fantasy RPG's until I saw that No Elves! ad in Dragon waaaaay back in the day. Sure other games existed, but I was totally into D&D. But the moment I cracked open Talislanta and I fell in love with it. It changed how I looked at fantasy RPG's forever. Sure some of the races in there are "kinda elf-like" as analogs, the conceits of the game are entirely different than standard D&D.

I'm not married to elves and dwarves etc. I try to either play them straight-up but with a more Tolkien bent, than the D&D-style. Anything I design myself I avoid them. I'd rather just use humans with deep cultures.

Quote from: Necrozius;952900Talislanta is the one where elves are actually sentient plants, right?

Quote from: Necrozius;952900Funny enough the only Elves and Dwarves that I'm interested in are Tolkien's. Everywhere else (and I mean everywhere) they feel like boring, pale copies. Sacrilege, I know.

Talislanta is the one where elves are actually sentient plants, right? But they still look like elves and behave like elves, right? Frankly I don't care if a fantasy author's version of elves have an origin in Dragon Shit, they're still elves. Meh.

Nope. There are races that are sentient plants, but they're not the closest analog's to Elves. I'd say the closest are the Ariane - but their culture is only similar to elves in D&D on the surface. Also in context with the setting, they're different, since Talislanta has a lot of post-apocalyptic elements. They look like "drow" - but are nothing like drow. They're probably closer to the Tolkien-style of elves. They're otherworldly, transcendent. Not frolicky and shit.

That said, they have very little big impact on the world. They're one of the old races that survived the last apocalypse and are fairly rare. So you don't really get the whole "ancient elvish empire" thing. Those things never existed.

Quote from: tenbones;952907Nope. There are races that are sentient plants, but they're not the closest analog's to Elves. I'd say the closest are the Ariane - but their culture is only similar to elves in D&D on the surface. Also in context with the setting, they're different, since Talislanta has a lot of post-apocalyptic elements. They look like "drow" - but are nothing like drow. They're probably closer to the Tolkien-style of elves. They're otherworldly, transcendent. Not frolicky and shit.

That said, they have very little big impact on the world. They're one of the old races that survived the last apocalypse and are fairly rare. So you don't really get the whole "ancient elvish empire" thing. Those things never existed.

Obviously I need to read up more on the setting. Sounds interesting.

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;952904

My awe overcomes my ignorance. I will investigate.

Quote from: Necrozius;952900Talislanta is the one where elves are actually sentient plants, right?

   I think that's Glorantha.

I've been lucky to get players who will play whatever the setting allows.

Though when we were playtesting Albedo way back in the 90s I ran into one player who kept wanting to play a human. In a setting technically with none. Then a reptile, of which there arent any. And so on. If it wasnt allowable they wanted it. In the end I got the impression they just wanted to be special and stand out. Sorry. No. Play within the damn setting and its limitations.

As for elves and dwarves and whatever. Ive never seen them being preferred over other races. Its just that some players have a race they like and they play it regularly if they can.

For example alot of my characters are human. And that goes way back to BX and Gamma World. But I've played lots of other things over the years. A Vrusk in Star Frontiers and a Minotaur in Shadowrun for example.