Name your favorite humanoid race, and why.
RPGPundit
Dwarves!
Short answer: they're cool!
I like their nobility, stoicism, loyalty in the face of a low-birth rate and possible extinction. Personally, I find easier for me to identify with the general characteristics of the Dwarven culture, personality, and philosophies. Also, that in the Tolkien mythology they were truly the first created race.
Humans, well more accurately Humans Plus. Humans are like play-do, once you can get their basic shape... you can do anything to them. Thus we get Humans plus something - Human+wolf, Human+demon, Human+angel, Human+tech, Human+magic, Human+fey, and so on.
If Humans count, then Humans. I like the diversity, the real depth, the many psychological possibilities. All fictional humanoid races are in many ways two-dimensional humans, and that makes them de facto inferior in my eyes.
If Humans don't count, then Dwarves.
Hobgoblins, especially the Kingdoms of Kalamar take on hobgoblins. They're still lawful evil, but they respect personal honor as well as strength, so if you're strong enough you can sometimes deal with them.
So I guess the one step back from the "auto-attack" standard of evil humanoid races is part of what makes them interesting to me.
Dwarves. Tough, determined, hard-working, and they tend to make huge underground dwellings out of solid rock. There also tends to be an air of mystery to them in most sources, from Norse mythology to Tolkien to modern fantasy. This mystery ranges from their language, which is often unknown to any other race, to their ability to forge enchanted items, to the fact that their civilization is so rarely seen except in ruin.
Humans.
Goblinoids.
They make versatile encounters: at low levels, goblins with a hobgoblin leader make a good challenge, and at higher levels hobgoblins with goblin skirmishers and bugbear shock troops enter the picture.
And I like to join them with ogre magi, for some magical firepower.
Kalamaran Hobgoblins.
I also like the Golarian drow (though I seriously wished they fully revamped thier mythos and tossed out the matriarchical bent as well).
MegaTraveller Aslan. Not the excrement MGP produced.
Vadhagh. I just like Corum a lot, much more than Elric. Otherwise I would've said Melnibonéans.
For some reason, I've always enjoyed halflings. 3e-style halflings, not the stupid hobbit-clones of 2e and earlier.
Though that may be due to having turned them into chocobo-riding nomadic gunslingers.
Quote from: GnomeWorks;315497For some reason, I've always enjoyed halflings. 3e-style halflings, not the stupid hobbit-clones of 2e and earlier.
Though that may be due to having turned them into chocobo-riding nomadic gunslingers.
I definitely like Dark Sun's take on halflings.
Humans.
If not applicable:
Amphibian, fishy, scaly type humanoids.
I hadn't really been thinking of humans as being on the list, but I guess its as valid a choice as any.
RPGPundit
Quote from: Claudius;315494Vadhagh. I just like Corum a lot, much more than Elric. Otherwise I would've said Melnibonéans.
That's an interesting choice. The Vadhagh (and can anyone tell how to properly pronounce that?) are underrated, just like the Corum books in general.
Quote from: Drohem;315498I definitely like Dark Sun's take on halflings.
Aren't they cannibals, or something?
Quote from: GnomeWorks;315581Aren't they cannibals, or something?
Yup, they're pretty much feral.
Bugbears. Huge, sadistic, stealthy goblinoids. Weak enough to include in low-level adventures as the bullies of other humanoids. Tough enough in numbers to give mid-level parties a run for their money.
My favorite I use is my Bugbears, who call themselves the Gartier.
The Gartier question is a very complicated one. Of all the Ogrillite families, the Gartier are the most difficult to grasp and the most tortured. When created in the beginning of the Age of Heroes by Anthraxus, they were bred to lead. For thousands of years, almost every humanoid tribal band has been either led by a bugbear or bugbears, or they were the brains behind it. When asked about their near worship of irony and sarcasm, they often reply with a variation of, "You spend hundreds of generations trying to tell every bloody goblin and gnoll which hand is for eating and which is for ass-wiping, and unsuccessfully mind you, you'd be a little jaded too." Strong, smart, and hardy, they were the perfect captains and generals for the other ogrillites... except they were too smart, and too clever, and for generations they looked in at the civilized world, and hated it for not being able to be part of it. Every Gartier for thousands of years has, internally and mainly subconsiously, despised themselves for being a barbarian and being outside civilization. The Gartier hatred of culture and civilization was not the Orcash or Ograk mindless hatred whipped by priests and zealots, it was the deeper mirror of hating what they could not have but knew they were worthy of.
So, to understand the civilized Gartier, on the surface all self-reliant and sarcastic, you have to take into account what has been passed on from parent to child for years. They have a mantra about how soft and unworthy the civilization of towns and cities is and also which they have preached to their near-idiot followers. Given that lengthy history and a scant 75 years, just over one lifetime, of being allowed to partake in this civilization, and stir in the very-prevalent racism and prejudice of beings generally weaker and stupider than yourselves and you can start to see their situation. Then add in all the tribal (uncivilized) Gartier sneering at you for 'going soft' and 'being a Hobyt-lover'...now maybe you can understand a tiny bit of the Gartier mentality. On a good day, they hate the rest of the world more than they hate themselves.
To circle back to the question about their mercenary appearance, I think it is that very solitary nature you are seeing. Julian, the Horn-minister in Waiting in Igbar, has actually taken it under advisement secretly to create a situation that would speed the acceptance of the Gartier, due to the possible benefit and also to prevent any possible backlash.
Neanderthals.
Quote from: Aos;315633Neanderthals.
3e GURPS
Ice Age (http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/iceage/) does it right!
That does look interesting. I did think it is funny, though, that it "gives you a full background for a realistic or a romantic campaign." Depending on who you speak to/read, one researcher's romantic is another realistic- and visa versa. I'd get it if I played gurps- but the lack of stats for a game I can use makes it more or less useless to me :(.
and, holy cow, that is some asstastic cover art.
Quote from: Aos;315636That does look interesting. I did think it is funny, though, that it "gives you a full background for a realistic or a romantic campaign." Depending on who you speak to/read, one researcher's romantic is another realistic- and visa versa. I'd get it if I played gurps- but the lack of stats for a game I can use makes it more or less useless to me :(.
It's full of great information for the layman, but I know this is your bag man so you'd probably tear it a new asshole. ;) Although, the 1st edition was written in 1989 so I'm sure there have been a bunch of changes in the field since then.
Still, though, a great idea. Like you say, though, everything has changed- more than once.
Beyond that, if I used it, I'd be wasting all the money other people spent on my (otherwise useless) education!
I like Elves, mysterious and enigmatic sorts who are more dreamlike than real.
I like Kobolds--silly doglike lizard men. Who mostly want sandwhich and donut breaks and aren't too much a threat, more a comedic interlude to a threat, but can be dangerous if you work hard on provoking them. At least if you take away their donuts. (See: Donut War of 1342 Namorra, SMITE! Rulebook :D)
I like the Aslan in concept but never gotten to play one in game (everytime I've made a nonhuman PC for a Traveller game its failed.)
I'm also rather fond of Dragon and Bats from Providence. (Humanoid winged species, no actual relation to the species of the same names.)
my favorites were always Gloranthan trolls, a.k.a. Uz or Darkmen
Quote from: ColonelHardisson;315562That's an interesting choice. The Vadhagh (and can anyone tell how to properly pronounce that?) are underrated, just like the Corum books in general.
Elric books are a mixed bag, but all the Corum books I've read have been decent enough. I like how Moorcock created his own non-human races (Melnibonéans, Dharzi, Vadhagh, Nhadrag, etc) instead of using elves and dwarves.
Quote from: Claudius;315782Elric books are a mixed bag, but all the Corum books I've read have been decent enough. I like how Moorcock created his own non-human races (Melnibonéans, Dharzi, Vadhagh, Nhadrag, etc) instead of using elves and dwarves.
See I think that's cool--except someone will come along and point out how similar to Elves many of those races are. Which of course, they are--that is a given there are only so many variants of "human but.." you can do without running into those aspects that some people attributes to Elves or Dwarves. (The race Erekose saved when he damned the human race to extinction, I remember as being pretty much "Elf" in description, and the Melniboneans are an obvious source for some peoples ideas of Dark Elves, not necessary Lolth based ones--just evil elves. If only Dark Elves WERE that interesting, but I digress.)
The Gith
Ogres
Because a GM had one chasing two boars as an encounter. When the two boars split up at the crossroads of a trail, the Ogre stood there in frustration trying to figure out which boar he wanted to spear.
He ended up kicking our asses instead. :D
Orcs!
Because someone has to keep the pretty peoples of the world in their place.
...and by 'in their place' I mean keeping company amidst well seasoned vegetables.
Quote from: Drohem;315625Yup, they're pretty much feral.
And they excel at the use of biotech.
I like humans for their versatility. But for flavor I like dwarves. Tough, stocky and skilled at crafts.
Nagpa.
they were a player race/class in Top Balista for BD&D.
an intelligent, scheming vulture-headed humanoid with minor magical abilities and Nazi sensibilities.
great stuff! really chew the scenery as a player with these things!
David
I like the good old-fashioned goblin. The smart ones, mind you, not stupid goblins. Crafty ones.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;316155I like the good old-fashioned goblin. The smart ones, mind you, not stupid goblins. Crafty ones.
RPGPundit
I've had an idea floating around I've never yet implemented for neutral or chaotic goblins living on the fringes of human cities, getting by on scavenging and petty theft, but not automatically hostile. But I haven't pinned it down yet. I don't quite want a gully dwarf feel to them.
Quote from: Saladman;316270I've had an idea floating around I've never yet implemented for neutral or chaotic goblins living on the fringes of human cities, getting by on scavenging and petty theft, but not automatically hostile.
Iron Gauntlets has goblin PCs and they're pretty much portrayed that way.
I like Gnolls. Have you ever looked into the eyes of a real hyena? Very unsettling.
Bugbears, by far. No idea why, really. I guess I do like the 3.X bugbear aesthetic a great deal, and I used them often in my last 3.X campaign. Maybe it's the "I'll sneak up behind your ass and then hand it to you" aspect.
Quote from: RPGPundit;316155I like the good old-fashioned goblin. The smart ones, mind you, not stupid goblins. Crafty ones.
RPGPundit
Warcraft has the best Goblins ever. A touch of Ferengi crossed with a touch of Brooklyn, and without being as annoying as that sounds, but with much more cleverness of their own instead of leeching off everyone else's technology.
I'm also fond of their Orcs, I just like the aesthetic there, and the mroe sympathetic presentation. I like Orcs in general though. They rock.
WoW has a lot of great races really. I'd love to actually do some PnP in the universe one of these days, with a system that actually feels right. Tuskarr, vrykul, murlocs, goblins, tauren, and on and on. I even sort of like their elves. The Forsaken are an awesome undead race, more vengeance, less angst. They even have a race of sentient owlbears.
I have had a lot of fun running goblins. I like the fact that a clever tribe of goblins can defeat a team of 8th or 9th level characters. Of course this can be overused and players don't like to be outsmarted by the DM too often. But once or twice it is fun.
The killer touch is size. Goblins are about 3 feet tall and typically pretty hunched up so no reason why goblin warrens need to be more than 3 feet high. An armoured human warrior in his plate mail weilding a 4 foot bastard sword is pretty amusing crawling along on his hands and knees. Add murder holes in the ceiling where unseen goblins stick poison spears, boiling oil and such nasties as flesh eating maggots or fire ants. Then there are doors a cleverly hinged 3 foot high steel door either with a central pivot (making each side 18 inches wide) or turnstile on a ratchet means you have mighty warriors removing their +3 plate to face their diminutive foes at AC 10 (no dex bonus on your hands and knees in a corridor)... ah such fun.
If you want to get nasty you can introduse a bit of Grimtoothology and have some clever traps The simplest are false floors that won't break when a 50 pound goblins run over them but collapse into 20 foot deep crevases filled with incendiaries when big guys move through them.
Oh and chuck in a few golbin wizards but rather then use fireballs etc (the actually volume of 3foot square tunnels consumed by a fireball is phenomenal) use swarm, or enlarge, or grease, or well all the annoying low level MQ spells (I am a 2e guy so you will need to excuse any archaic terminology).
I like the Minotaurs of Taladas (Krynn).
Oh shit, yes. Those were awesome Minotaurs.
RPGPundit
Quote from: J Arcane;316320Warcraft has the best Goblins ever. A touch of Ferengi crossed with a touch of Brooklyn, and without being as annoying as that sounds, but with much more cleverness of their own instead of leeching off everyone else's technology.
I'm also fond of their Orcs, I just like the aesthetic there, and the mroe sympathetic presentation. I like Orcs in general though. They rock.
WoW has a lot of great races really. I'd love to actually do some PnP in the universe one of these days, with a system that actually feels right. Tuskarr, vrykul, murlocs, goblins, tauren, and on and on. I even sort of like their elves. The Forsaken are an awesome undead race, more vengeance, less angst. They even have a race of sentient owlbears.
I agree as well. I really like the diversity of intelligent races in the game. I really dig the orcs' story line too.
Sam Raimi is going to direct a World of Warcraft movie (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006299.html?categoryid=13&cs=1). Although, rumor has it that the protagonists will be the humans and not orcs. I think that Thrall and his story would be great for a movie.
Quote from: PaladinCA;316482I like the Minotaurs of Taladas (Krynn).
Quote from: RPGPundit;316564Oh shit, yes. Those were awesome Minotaurs.
RPGPundit
Ditto!
Quote from: Drohem;316657I agree as well. I really like the diversity of intelligent races in the game. I really dig the orcs' story line too.
Sam Raimi is going to direct a World of Warcraft movie (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006299.html?categoryid=13&cs=1). Although, rumor has it that the protagonists will be the humans and not orcs. I think that Thrall and his story would be great for a movie.
I'm so conflicted on that news. On the one hand, I think Sam Raimi's potentially perfect for that mix of serious and comical that Warcraft does so well, but on the other, word from the original scriptwriter is that Raimi tossed out that script on joining the project because "he had his own vision", which is red flag city right there.
Quote from: Saladman;316270I've had an idea floating around I've never yet implemented for neutral or chaotic goblins living on the fringes of human cities, getting by on scavenging and petty theft, but not automatically hostile. But I haven't pinned it down yet. I don't quite want a gully dwarf feel to them.
Sounds the Goblin Reservation in the City State of the Invincible Overlord.
Quote from: pspahn;316273I like Gnolls. Have you ever looked into the eyes of a real hyena? Very unsettling.
After watching a documentary on hyenas, I came to believe that maybe there is such a thing as evil in nature. It sure made me think about hyenas (and gnolls) differently.