{Worst} Fantasy Race?

brettmb2 · December 10, 2007, 12:40:23 AM

Quote from: pspahnI don't play any MMORPGs, but damned if I haven't had the urge to play a Night Elf Mohawk lately.

That condescending director!

Zachary The First · December 10, 2007, 12:43:28 AM

Quote from: brettmbThat condescending director!

He just goes and arrognatly assumes Mr. T has no hacking skills.

On the other hand, I would not assume Mr. T lacked the skill to do anything until it was explicity demonstrated as such. That's what being Mr. T should automatically get you. :mad:

Bradford C. Walker · December 10, 2007, 01:47:39 AM

Quote from: Zachary The FirstHe just goes and arrognatly assumes Mr. T has no hacking skills.

On the other hand, I would not assume Mr. T lacked the skill to do anything until it was explicity demonstrated as such. That's what being Mr. T should automatically get you. :mad:

You should see the Van Damne ad he did for the Francophone market (Troll Mage) and what Willy Toledo did for the Hispanophone market (Human Paladin); both as good, if not better, than the Anglophone ads.

Dirk Remmecke · December 10, 2007, 05:40:58 AM

Quote from: Bradford C. WalkerYou should see the Van Damne ad he did for the Francophone market (Troll Mage) and what Willy Toledo did for the Hispanophone market (Human Paladin); both as good, if not better, than the Anglophone ads.

I didn't know that there are different ads. The one they show over here in Germany is Shatner's Shaman.

(And just yesterday evening we wondered who they target with that ad. German kids don't know Cpt. Kirk, or TJ Hooker, and they surely don't watch Boston Legal.)

(Now back to the thread.)

jeff37923 · December 10, 2007, 07:14:06 AM

Quote from: Consonant DudeBut please, tell me of these Malkavians, Jeff! I'm unfamiliar with that (I suppose it's WoD?). I need a tiny bit of context and of course, I could use some examples of hellish sessions

All my Malkavian stories deal with players deciding that since Malkavians are supposed to be "crazy" that it means they should be played as a character from a Looney Tunes cartoon. That problem of the "FishMalk" character that has been bemoaned often.

To be fair, it is only partially a problem with a character race and mostly a problem with a type of player who deliberately wants to disrupt the game or gets their fun off of pissing everyone off during the game. The player is the actual problem, the character race is just the vehicle used to allow the person to be an asshat.

Zachary The First · December 10, 2007, 09:02:05 AM

Quote from: Dirk RemmeckeI didn't know that there are different ads. The one they show over here in Germany is Shatner's Shaman.

(And just yesterday evening we wondered who they target with that ad. German kids don't know Cpt. Kirk, or TJ Hooker, and they surely don't watch Boston Legal.)

(Now back to the thread.)

Shouldn't it have been Hasslehoff instead of the Shat? :confused:

Bradford C. Walker · December 10, 2007, 10:39:21 AM

Quote from: Zachary The FirstShouldn't it have been Hasslehoff instead of the Shat? :confused:

Allegedly, the celebrities involved actually play World of Warcraft; maybe The Hoff doesn't know the glory of sitting in Shattrath City, ignoring the damn Looking For Group tool, spamming Trade looking for a group to run some instance or another, and not being either a tank or a healer.

Dr Rotwang! · December 10, 2007, 10:42:21 AM

If FRPG had an ass, then Kender would be the talking dingleberry that won't keep its hands off your stuff.

Zachary The First · December 10, 2007, 10:56:18 AM

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!If FRPG had an ass, then Kender would be the talking dingleberry that won't keep its hands off your stuff.

Yes.

One Horse Town · December 10, 2007, 11:03:34 AM

Well, the good news for Kender fans then is that the write up for halflings in the Races & Classes book for 4e states that they acquire things without really knowing how. Sounds like Kender to me...

Spike · December 10, 2007, 11:33:03 AM

Quote from: Consonant DudeTieflings are not human and demonic offspring, but are the true-breeding descendants of an ancient empire that made dark and terrible pacts with the Nine Hells. Their fiendish visage is actually a manifestation of a curse, due to their progenitors' crimes. They're more closely tried to devils than demons.

QUOTE]

I see a weird sort of drift here.

When Tieflings were introduced, at least as far as I am concerned (Forgotten realms) they were described as mostly human looking with a non-specific 'demonic trait' the player could define (up to an including a 'somethin' just ain't right about that boy' aura).

Thus the idea of playing someone who was, by birth, half demonic, but could chose their own path (follow their heritage or fight against it) seemed pretty cool.

Of course, all the artwork (up to and including character models in Neverwinter Nights 2....) included very visible horns. D20 modern actually has their 'iconic tiefling' stand 6'6" with hairy arms and cloven feet (I think...), and red skin... on top of huge fucking horns. Though, again, the text is copy and paste 'pick your own demonic trait' from FR.

I figured lazy fucking artists, and a reason you don't see many Aasimar drawings outside the 'this is an aasimar'... they look too much like ordinary humans to stand out in artwork.

Now this: Wow. Tieflings stay, I assume Aasimar are out (no place for them if Tieflings are actually decendents of an ancient empire), and the entire host of interesting character concepts revolving around divine/profane heritage out the fucking window. (D20 Modern did it first with mandatory alignments for them...), AND Teiflings have to look positively beastial. Which means now you have to ignore the fact that in a remotely rational world, visibly half demonic assholes from some ancient decadent empire would probably have been hunted to extinction eons ago... its not like they blend.

Ah well. I therefore nominate the new, dull, tieflings.

beeber · December 10, 2007, 12:12:16 PM

Quote from: ColonelHardissonAs for the race I think is worst, I'll toss in my vote for kender, as well. This is particularly true now that 4e is modeling halflings after them. It surprises me to think there are that many fans of them out there that they would end up influencing halfings even more than they did in 3e.

bingo, although they're tied w/ drow in my book.

Zachary The First · December 10, 2007, 12:36:12 PM

Quote from: beeberbingo, although they're tied w/ drow in my book.

I don't perhaps hate drow from the get-go, but I think it's just the fact that certain writers have infected so many gaming groups with "against-the-grain" emo Chaotic Good drow (perhaps even wielding dual scimitars). The fiction written about the dark elves has been as ghastly as anything we've seen from D&D fiction, much like the way the kender are written about in Dragonlance makes me genuinely root for a Kender Holocaust.

Now, another thing with drow is you have people in flamewars on this subject bring up "dark elves are racist, because you're saying dark skin=EVIL". Which is irritating enough to warranting a little more dislike for the drow, even if it isn't their fault.

Blackleaf · December 10, 2007, 12:41:46 PM

Kender are garbage. Any race that encourages people to be disruptive at the table would be best left out of a game. I'm really not a fan of the "crazy-infantile" character that appears in various incarnations across RPG groups -- the less done to encourage that, the better.

I hadn't heard 4th edition was further changing halflings from Hobbit >> Kender. Sadly, I'm not surprised.

Zachary The First · December 10, 2007, 12:48:49 PM

Quote from: StuartKender are garbage. Any race that encourages people to be disruptive at the table would be best left out of a game. I'm really not a fan of the "crazy-infantile" character that appears in various incarnations across RPG groups -- the less done to encourage that, the better.

I hadn't heard 4th edition was further changing halflings from Hobbit >> Kender. Sadly, I'm not surprised.

On the Hobbit-Kender scale, I'd definitely like a move back towards the left, or at least center.

A good point about Kender characters at the table. They are one of those races that seem to attract that breed of player that thinks, "hey, this race will give me carte blanche to act like a total crazy asshole and I'll just claim it was all in character"! Not that a GM can't prevent that from even starting, or can't nip it in the bud, but that doesn't mean it isn't an annoyance.