rogueboy
2009-05-03, 12:06 AM
I'm working on reflavoring some of the current 3.x races and creating a couple new races to fill the holes left by removing the half-breed races. I'm pretty happy with the default flavor on Dwarves (without the whole subterranean thing), and with Elves if we take away the arcane (putting their focus more wholly on nature). For Halflings, I've become pretty happy with reflavoring them to by traveling merchants (caravans, since my setting is basically just one continent).
For the rest of the races, however, I'm not entirely happy with what I've come up with so far. For each of these, I'm looking for any ideas you may have on what the race's civilization might look like, or additional points of inspiration to look at for their civilizations. For the last 2, I'm looking for a bit more, but I'll explain that in their entries.
*Humans: Starting with their main city (I have 1 of those for each race) being in a plains/desert, I became inspired to base their civilization on something akin to the Persian Empire - what this says, to me, is that they ride camels (friend mentioned that these didn't seem noble enough, so horses aren't off the table), using scimitars and composite bows as their primary weapons. My initial thoughts had left them semi-nomadic, but I'm not sure how well that would play into this idea.
*Gnomes: I wasn't very happy with the Gnomes in 3.x, so I started looking for inspiration before I remembered that the Giant had done something with Gnomes - so I looked at that, and really liked it. If you haven't read it and have any interest in world building (it's under Gaming, in "The New World" series), I highly recommend reading the whole series. In particular, the Giant rewrites the Gnomes to be the loremasters of the world. Taking this to heart, I have decided that Gnomes should be the arcanists (filling the whole left by moving Elves to nature and not the arcane) and loremasters of the world. What this means for their society, however, I'm not sure. I'm not a fan of making them advisors to another race, as that would put them, almost by definition, in an inferior position to another race, which I'd like to avoid.
*For the last 2 races, I was at a bit of a loss for a while until I looked at what 'roles' my other races filled (basically, what stats did they focus on) - this left Strength and Charisma as the uncovered stats. Looking at various races in 3.x and 4e, I like a few concepts: for the strong race, having an ancient tradition based on honor, service, and loyalty, with a societal emphasis on strength and pride, being decisive and courageous, and having a solid creed (taken from 4e dragonborn). This leaves the charismatic race, which suggests either half-elves (3.x) or tieflings (4e) in my mind - I don't like having the race be a half-breed (half-elves) or designing a core race around a concept that will leave them as outcasts (tieflings). After trying to figure something out to flesh out either of these races, I realized that the flavor for the strong race reminded me a lot of a classic portrayal of a military force. I had a background that connected the two races (I had started with dragonborn and tieflings, with a dragon/devil conflict dominating the majority of the last many thousand years), so I came to a realization: in many fictional militaries (and fictionalizations of modern militaries), there is a conflict between the enlisted men (who are typically stronger and more disciplined than the population) and the officers (who are typically counted on to inspire and motivate the enlisted men) - this lent itself beautifully to what I've been working on so far: a strong race (the 'enlisted' ranks) in conflict (not necessarily violent, but uncomfortable when both are present) with a charismatic race (the 'officers').
If you have ideas for a good focus or details for any of these races (or ideas for the ones I'm happy with, if they tie into what I have so far), please let me know. Also, if something doesn't make any sense to you, ask away and I'll do my best to answer.
For the rest of the races, however, I'm not entirely happy with what I've come up with so far. For each of these, I'm looking for any ideas you may have on what the race's civilization might look like, or additional points of inspiration to look at for their civilizations. For the last 2, I'm looking for a bit more, but I'll explain that in their entries.
*Humans: Starting with their main city (I have 1 of those for each race) being in a plains/desert, I became inspired to base their civilization on something akin to the Persian Empire - what this says, to me, is that they ride camels (friend mentioned that these didn't seem noble enough, so horses aren't off the table), using scimitars and composite bows as their primary weapons. My initial thoughts had left them semi-nomadic, but I'm not sure how well that would play into this idea.
*Gnomes: I wasn't very happy with the Gnomes in 3.x, so I started looking for inspiration before I remembered that the Giant had done something with Gnomes - so I looked at that, and really liked it. If you haven't read it and have any interest in world building (it's under Gaming, in "The New World" series), I highly recommend reading the whole series. In particular, the Giant rewrites the Gnomes to be the loremasters of the world. Taking this to heart, I have decided that Gnomes should be the arcanists (filling the whole left by moving Elves to nature and not the arcane) and loremasters of the world. What this means for their society, however, I'm not sure. I'm not a fan of making them advisors to another race, as that would put them, almost by definition, in an inferior position to another race, which I'd like to avoid.
*For the last 2 races, I was at a bit of a loss for a while until I looked at what 'roles' my other races filled (basically, what stats did they focus on) - this left Strength and Charisma as the uncovered stats. Looking at various races in 3.x and 4e, I like a few concepts: for the strong race, having an ancient tradition based on honor, service, and loyalty, with a societal emphasis on strength and pride, being decisive and courageous, and having a solid creed (taken from 4e dragonborn). This leaves the charismatic race, which suggests either half-elves (3.x) or tieflings (4e) in my mind - I don't like having the race be a half-breed (half-elves) or designing a core race around a concept that will leave them as outcasts (tieflings). After trying to figure something out to flesh out either of these races, I realized that the flavor for the strong race reminded me a lot of a classic portrayal of a military force. I had a background that connected the two races (I had started with dragonborn and tieflings, with a dragon/devil conflict dominating the majority of the last many thousand years), so I came to a realization: in many fictional militaries (and fictionalizations of modern militaries), there is a conflict between the enlisted men (who are typically stronger and more disciplined than the population) and the officers (who are typically counted on to inspire and motivate the enlisted men) - this lent itself beautifully to what I've been working on so far: a strong race (the 'enlisted' ranks) in conflict (not necessarily violent, but uncomfortable when both are present) with a charismatic race (the 'officers').
If you have ideas for a good focus or details for any of these races (or ideas for the ones I'm happy with, if they tie into what I have so far), please let me know. Also, if something doesn't make any sense to you, ask away and I'll do my best to answer.