Races in the dark ages

[liquidformat]

Hi so I was thinking of doing a game in the early dark ages and wanted to have full on dnd races and was hoping to get some good ideas of what areas of the world should different races be primarily found.

I was thinking for Dwarves Russia, Mongolia and the himalayas. Himalayas just because they are massive mountains. Mongolia I was thinking of making Genghis Khan (if I put the setting that far) as a dwarf change the mounts to dire boar, also mongolian throat singing seems very dwarven to me. Russia just seems to fit dwarves in my head.

For Thri-Kreen I was thinking primarily the Sahara desert and Gnolls through out Africa.

Thoughts for other species?

[Maat Mons]

I'd start by picking a bunch of D&D races that you think are cool and would like to include. Then I'd just assign each one to whichever region has the sort of climate and geographical features you think are fitting.

[Dimers]

elves in France
dwarves in Germany
hobgoblins as the central-Asia hordes
gnomes in the Middle East (and in Switzerland of course)
shifters in England
Turkish goblins
two different types of halflings in India and Egypt
anthropomorphic elephants in eastern Africa

I'd want to really throw a wrench into the works and make self-replicating warforged the sole race in the southern Himalayas. And they'd be a problem waiting to explode upon the world in an inferno of anti-meatbag slaughter.

[Aniikinis]

If I were gonna do this, I'd personally leave humans out of it because it'd just make it seem a bit like favoritism to give whichever culture/area/whatever the "protagonist" race. I know they're not supposed to, but given that they're basically the best core race and are the baseline others are brought against, along with being what most of the people on this site and playing the game are, it'd seem like it.

But anyways, I definitely agree with Maat and Dimers here. Pick some races you'd like to use and fit them with the terrain, climate, geography, etc. unless you really have a good idea for it.

Some examples being:
Elves of all types as the Franks (Same as Dimers)
Mix of Bugbears and Hobgoblins for the Germanic states (Industry, Ordered Military, and Raw Strength to keep themselves warring with each other until some Goblin Lord pops up and forces them all into One Unified Statetm)
Fauns and Satyrs for the southern Italians (Depending on how far back, the renaissance might be a twinkle in the back of someone's mind)
Goliaths and/or other giantkin for the Norse (Based on mythology)
Gnolls, Thri-kreen, Serpentfolk, Leonin, Myrmidons, etc. for various African states/tribes/warbands/etc. (Generic reasoning based on wildlife)
Lots and lots of fey creatures in Ireland (all of the Sidhe, all of them)
Orcs in scotland (pale skin and red hair optional; based mostly on their warrior culture)

[Elves]

"Fantasy species as real world national/ethnic caricatures" is the most insanely boring way to do fantasy. Instead, if you want a period game, either take inspiration from the folklore of the time for how the fantasy creatures should behave, or if you want to use the creatures in their typical modern forms, think about how they would realistically behave in that time period instead of slotting them into national stereotypes. Probably make up some new creatures too.

[reddir]

I think Centaurs on the steppes might work. They might not be a horde, but they could fit the horsemen side of the mongols.