How do you decide not only what race to include or not in your setting but how common each race is in a given region ?
>>92665022Arbitrarily based on my own preferences. Such as, I don't like dwarves, so I don't include them, and I made elves humans+, so they aren't playable.
>>92665138/thread
>>92665022I roll dice for the climate and general land type and then I roll dice for dominate races/monsters. If a certain race doesn't fit or isn't something I'd like to use often, it becomes a historically dominate race that was either wiped out or reduced to savagery. Seriously, when inspiration is nowhere to be found, just roll dice and challenge yourself to make sense of whatever bullshit it gives you.
I let the players tell me what races they want to play, then populate the world accordingly with the assumption that those races are common or at least well known and represented within the wider societies of the setting.
>>92665022Easy, I do humans only.
>>92665022If I make a new race, it had better offer something reasonably different from the other options, and something that the technique classes and weapon classes don't offer.For one example, there's a cat-person race that gets a set of unarmed skills based on claw strikes, which have a chance to repeat in addition to allowing follow-ups, but without the typical zoning properties of base unarmed skills.Then there's a ram-like race whose unarmed strikes have a stronger chance to zone, and they have a set of powerful headbutt skills that enable reactive movement and are stronger when used in pursuit of foes who were moved or launched by zoning effects.Or a snakewoman race with lower body attacks that have a chance to restrict and nail jabs that can deliver different venoms.And for a final example, there's a race that appears to be human and only has weakened unarmed strikes, but these attacks build special energy more quickly, and this race uses special energy to temporarily transform into a larger-sized animal form, with increased powers on a timer. These transformations can compete with larger opposition more directly, without having to be too tactical about it like the smaller races have to.In a nutshell, if the race doesn't have its own identity in combat, I don't include it.
I think about what I find cool, then think of how many individual situations I could imagine with said race, and if there's enough instances of it I'd include them, otherwise they are unplayable or isolated to a few instances.
>>92665022I'm sorry, I didn't understand the prompt, can you please try using alternative language?
Any race that can be construed as furry is banned and will not appear in the campaign.
>>926650223 of these are NOT like the others and do NOT belong.
>>92665022Simple, humans are the most common, orcs don't exist and are replaced entirely by goblins, all other races are extremely rare
>>92665022Depends on which land they're native from and how likely it is for them to be somewhere elseSo for example in my setting>Elves came from the Feywild so they're a Core Race over there but they're plentiful enough that they're considered a Core Race in some other patches of land in other Planes of existence>Harengons are a Core Race of the Feywild but there's a subrace in the Arctic (Hyperborea) called Harenips that are all white and a subrace called Lagofiends in the more European places>Dragonborn are a Core race in their own Plane of Existence but are considered a Core Race in some parts of the main setting and different types of Dragonborn like Red, Black, Gold are usually found in different environments that would have suited their ancestors>>not in your setting I typically include a good chunk of Races so my Players have options and aren't screwed out of an idea they wanted to try out but Sea Elves are gay so they don't exist and if they did I'd make them a complete joke race like the Giths
>>92665022If I would play it, slay it or lay it, it's there.
>>92665022>How do you decide not only what race to include or not in your settingWhether I like them or not, mainly. Whether or not they "fit" thematically or lore-wise factors in as well (for example, I originally wanted a race of super-elves like the Eldar/Warhammer Elves, especially in the scifi version of the setting, but I couldn't really make up a good way to include them and tie them in to the lore.)>how common each race is in a given regionSimple, I usually don't, except for important locations or locations I make up and end up liking enough to keep, most stuff like that is on-the-fly.
>>92665022I just do what my instincts tell me. Experience has shown anything else results in an over-analysis spiral.
>>92665138>Arbitrarily based on my own preferences.based
>>92665022I made up all the races and they live where the backstory says there are. I wrote the backstory. Simple
>>92665896This, although I haven't invented whole ranges of special abilities for mine. Instead, I try to make each race unique in how it interacts with the world.>Race that moves by jumping, enabling 3-dimensional movement, but causing additional damage and inconvenience if it's forced to land on suboptimal terrain.>Race that is blind and only "sees" through smell and tremorsense, giving it advanced tracking abilities but making flying and distant enemies more or less invisible.>Race with four legs that can move very quickly on open ground, but struggles to manipulate items and is even more hindered than normal by difficult terrain.That sort of thing.
>>92665138Basically this.Tough I love dwarfs (there are 8 macro-cultures of them basically, including the gnomes of petty dwarfs), I also use the Elfs are Humans + and tend to live in they own micro-worlds under the earth etc
>>92665022I first figure out the geography, and the motif behind the races, and then they are just naturally where they are of course.
>>92665022Depending on where their mythological originals originated. No dwarves in Asia-inspired settings and no wendigo's in Europe-inspired settings. For that matter, my orcs have been predominantly Turks and they're *the* elf hate race.
>>92665138>I don't like dwarvesToo masculine for you eh? Don't worry about it laddie, there's plenty of more feminine races to choose from.
>>92674448>dwarves>masculineYou what? I know I model my elves on Catholic manliness and that's not politically correct, but you have to admit dwarves of /tg/ are everything but masculine.
>>92668818What are the races you created then?
>>92665138>I don't like X, so I don't include X.Based worldbuilder.>I made elves non-playable because they are humans+Cringe balancefag.>>92665022I create what races I want and I put them wherever I please in a way that makes sense to me. It is not a difficult process, but an intuitive one.
>>92665022Pick a few races to be common in the region where the adventures happen, decide which races are common in neighboring lands and if/when they pass through, that's it. Any other race that a player wants to use can be a weird foreigner and the player can make up the details.
>>92665820Came to post thisJustifying the players freakshit gives me a good running start to building a unique region/world for them to play in
>>92665022>>92665820Came here to say this as well - even if a player wants to be something that does mesh well, they can be special/rare. They're my friends and sometimes its fun to be the special freak.
>>92665138This is the objectively correct answer
>>92674676Not that guy, but dwarves have beards and are stocky and muscular, what are you talking about that they aren’t masculine?
>>92681199Masculinity is as much character as it is body. You can't tell me the genocide denier in pic related is manly. By collecting everything /tg/ has to say about about dwarves you get the impression they're prideful, genocidal, and infantile.
>>92665022What are the major dos and don’ts for creating races, like avoiding making races all a stereotype with maybe one or two exceptions, or making sure that none of the races are too overpowered compared to the others, unless it’s on purpose to depict them as the setting’s dominant power of course.
>>92674448Dwarves are just too human-like to feel like a distinct race.
>>92665022Many different races but only like 6 categories all those races can each fall under so… makes it little easier, but this is for a multiple world game. On a one world planet you shouldn’t go crazy with the races…
>>92666953The three on the right?
There are only 4 races.>humans>dwarves>orks>[SPOILER]bunny[/spoiler]
Depends on the region
>>92683895Not OP, but why say that?
>>92684645bnuuy!
>>92665022Depends on the message I want to convey with the campaign. Different fantasy races work as great shorthands for different issues, so I pick based on what I want to teach to my players.
>>92692155>2nd ed. Monstrous Manual, 2nd ed.Monstrous Manual, 2nd ed. Monstrous Manual...>3x digital art bullshitYes, the three on the right.
>>92692211Okay, so what races correspond to what issues?
>>92665022Per continent I tend to do under 10 with 2-5 making up the majority. I separate my setting vastly by continent for lore reasons. (The continents used to be 15 worlds but formed into 1 planet after a cosmic calamity.) So the tone of each continent is tonally different and the races are used to broadly to reflect the historical cultures I want to take inspiration from. Races are added and removed as needed by players and my own interest. commonality will change with continent. The dark continent of Grotrux is a continent inspired by eastern Europe and central Asia. Humans make up the vast swarths of Eastern European cultures, the troglodytes make up mountainous creatures that are broadly based around central Asian mountain warriors, Centaurs have heavy inspiration from the Mongols. That continent while there are like 8 races humans are basically the only group to be played there. Another continent called Anglea is based around the Mediterranean and middle east. The Elves are a polytheist group whose culture is based on the ancient Greece, Coltra (bug people) have cultures based on the turks of the middle ages, Lamia of the deserts take more after pre Abrahamic Arabs. This continent is far more diverse in the playable races. I generally try to add as few races as possible and across the 5 continents that have had games run on the amount of races are about 25ish or so. Luckily my setting is more industrial with an age of exploration allowing for reuse of more races and some to be outcompeted over time.
>>92692155They aren't art from the AD&D 2e Monster Manual like the other ones.
>>92698872Where IS the art from then?
>>92665022anything cool is in, anything lame and or gay is out
>>92681448don't know what that picture of a cockroach has to do with anything, but if you're judging dwarves just from what tg says about them then you're definitely viewing them through a warped lens
>>92665022Genasi are a race that’s really could get used more, how can we make that happen, and how would you include them in your own settings? I was thinking that the Elemental Chaos could have started leaking into the mortal plane through a faulty wizard portal, for one.
>>92703026I have had a working idea for implementing them into my setting. >>92697870 More or less while I don't abide by much forgotten realms stuff I would want to implement something like them. First order would probably give them variants. How I imagine it is that there is something like "Pure Genasi" that would look far more distinct. Like fire Genasi are born of primordial volcanos and take the form of living fire spirits. Water Genasi born of the abyssal depths of the ocean. For all of them is the idea is that their form and power is primordial their true forms distinctly non human. Mostly because of personal taste, like mechanically they get a few things but aesthetically they just look like oddly colored humans. For those who want play with the powers I imagine something like a primordial inscription, a carving in a humanoid the Genasi takes over to do bidding of the overworld. The true form a transformation ability that grows in tandem with abilities gotten in their regular form.
>>92665022For my OC World every race has it's own planet where they're the majority, and each planet has a city/spaceport where all the different races intermingle.>HumansTypical fantasy humans. Can be born with some innate magic or skill aptitude, or have a random beneficial mutation that makes them slightly superhuman.>ElvesNature loving tribals. Split between winged elves who live in the sky, water breathing elves who live under the sea, and magically gifted surface/subterranean dwelling elves.>Sapient ConstructsGolems and other such creatures who gained free-will.>DemihumansAnything someone want's to play that's not one of the options above. Dragonkin, beastfolk, dwarves, goblin, halflings, genasi, tieflings, etc.
>>92683796So what, they’re mutant humans? A sub-race?
>>92665022One race I was planning to include in my setting is essentially a less powerful version of Homunculus from FMA, that escaped their creators and started reproducing on their own. How does this race concept rate?
>>92665022I don't decide anything until right before it matters to the players in-game then go with whatever whim I have at that moment.
>>92710692How do you make sure you don’t contradict yourself then?
>>92665022I choose humans and five races at random, then I make them the only friendly races. Everything else is monsters and bad guys.
>>92665022In my current setting, I decided to make it so that every fantasy race represents a different aspect of an element. For example, both Elves and Dwarves are tied to the element of Earth, but show it in different ways. Dwarves represent the metals and potential hidden within and show it by shaping said metals into new and wonderful forms and by being tough and durable. In the case of Elves they represent the greatest of trees with their longevity (they can live several centuries on average) and the wisdom that comes with it, but can also fall into rigid patterns of thinking and have trouble adapting quickly. I'm trying to come up with elements and aspects for the other races as well, like Goblins for Fire, Sirens for Water, and Tengu for Wind, what do you think, and do you have any advice on other races I can choose and elements and aspects I can choose for them? I was thinking that Kitsunes and Oni might be Fire-aligned, and sapient Slimefolk for a Water-aligned race, are there any major issues with this concept?
>>92712953>five races at randomWhat's your selection like?
>>92665022Migration patterns
>>92665022What do you guys think of all or mostly female humanoid races, like Amazons or the Gerudo from the Legend of Zelda, what’s the best way to incorporate them into a setting organically?
>>92712661I have the memory capacity of a normal human being so I just remember everything and don't contradict anything that's already been established. I choose to not allow it to happen.
>>92665022Warforged in Eberron are based, we need more artificial races like them. Maybe ones living in the remains of the factory cities that birthed them.
>>92718383They make zero sense unless they are vastly more inhuman.
>>92720249The Robot Prince of Auchtertool approves this post
>>92718383I like them, same with all-male.Just be careful to not make it too fetishy or political.
>>92720446Exactly how inhuman are we talking here?>>92720682And how does one avoid doing that?
>>92709105>>92710614>>92712661>>92713740>>92716203>>92718383>>92720249>>92723162Are you having fun?
>>92716280Why would a sapient race migrate? Sure, you’ve got your occasional merchant troupe, but why an entire race?
>>92665022By winging it all up during the game, and only bothering with doing so when it plays any sort of importance in the scenario.But it's not like you play or run games, so the answer doesn't matter one fucking bit
Plant races could get used more often.
