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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Mar 29, 2022 21:56:45 GMT -5
What are things you do to make your non-humans really seem non-human?
For instance, do you take animals, reptiles or insects that you know a lot about and give a monster a lot of those traits in their behavior?
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 1, 2022 20:58:52 GMT -5
Cool thread idea. I just brainstorm ideas and look for inspiration from books, movies, video games, and whatever else I might find of interest. One example from my old Toldara campaign is the origin of Half-Orcs. I've never liked the implied origin, so I came up with something drastically different and it goes like this. In the history of the world there was a great war that took place with even the gods themselves getting involved. With all the destruction taking place, a nation of Humans and a nation of Orcs decided to sit this out so they could survive and not throw away the lives of their respective peoples. As a result, the gods cursed them by "joining" them so both peoples were transformed into a combination of the two species and any new births would be a combination of Human and Orc as well.
I always dug the Minotaurs of Krynn (Dragonlance) because they weren't mindless beasts that attack everyone. They are portrayed somewhat like the Klingons from Star Trek by having a brutal society that is tough but also has a code of honor.
The Elves of RuneQuest are not just nature dwellers but "still tied to the forest in ways incomprehensible to other races. It is possible that certain trees must live for the elves to live. It is also possible that they are the mobile guardians and gardeners for the mysterious forest deities.". As you can see, much different from the typical Elves depicted in most games.
This isn't quite what you were looking for, but it might help somebody with inspiration.
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 1, 2022 22:30:06 GMT -5
Cool thread idea. I just brainstorm ideas and look for inspiration from books, movies, video games, and whatever else I might find of interest. One example from my old Toldara campaign is the origin of Half-Orcs. I've never liked the implied origin, so I came up with something drastically different and it goes like this. In the history of the world there was a great war that took place with even the gods themselves getting involved. With all the destruction taking place, a nation of Humans and a nation of Orcs decided to sit this out so they could survive and not throw away the lives of their respective peoples. As a result, the gods cursed them by "joining" them so both peoples were transformed into a combination of the two species and any new births would be a combination of Human and Orc as well. I always dug the Minotaurs of Krynn (Dragonlance) because they weren't mindless beasts that attack everyone. They are portrayed somewhat like the Klingons from Star Trek by having a brutal society that is tough but also has a code of honor. The Elves of RuneQuest are not just nature dwellers but "still tied to the forest in ways incomprehensible to other races. It is possible that certain trees must live for the elves to live. It is also possible that they are the mobile guardians and gardeners for the mysterious forest deities.". As you can see, much different from the typical Elves depicted in most games. This isn't quite what you were looking for, but it might help somebody with inspiration. I like this post, a lot, have an Exalt! |
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Post by hengest on Apr 1, 2022 22:45:40 GMT -5
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 2, 2022 6:27:17 GMT -5
Cool thread idea. I just brainstorm ideas and look for inspiration from books, movies, video games, and whatever else I might find of interest. One example from my old Toldara campaign is the origin of Half-Orcs. I've never liked the implied origin, so I came up with something drastically different and it goes like this. In the history of the world there was a great war that took place with even the gods themselves getting involved. With all the destruction taking place, a nation of Humans and a nation of Orcs decided to sit this out so they could survive and not throw away the lives of their respective peoples. As a result, the gods cursed them by "joining" them so both peoples were transformed into a combination of the two species and any new births would be a combination of Human and Orc as well. I always dug the Minotaurs of Krynn (Dragonlance) because they weren't mindless beasts that attack everyone. They are portrayed somewhat like the Klingons from Star Trek by having a brutal society that is tough but also has a code of honor. The Elves of RuneQuest are not just nature dwellers but "still tied to the forest in ways incomprehensible to other races. It is possible that certain trees must live for the elves to live. It is also possible that they are the mobile guardians and gardeners for the mysterious forest deities.". As you can see, much different from the typical Elves depicted in most games. This isn't quite what you were looking for, but it might help somebody with inspiration. I like this post, a lot, have an Exalt! Thanks, The Perilous Dreamer! |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 2, 2022 6:28:12 GMT -5
Thanks, hengest! I'm on a roll tonight.  |
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Post by hengest on Apr 2, 2022 23:01:27 GMT -5
What are things you do to make your non-humans really seem non-human? For instance, do you take animals, reptiles or insects that you know a lot about and give a monster a lot of those traits in their behavior? Did you mean elves and dwarves and other humanoids? Or more like lizard-people and all those guys? In dealing with people, I notice that one of the most disorienting things that can happen is when you think someone is signaling to you (eyebrow flash, speech, whatever) and they aren't. They didn't even know you were there, or care. You weren't part of what was happening. I guess this is because we expect to be involved, always at the center of our own stories. To be jolted out of that really alienates you from the other party for a second. So while I don't expect to be designing interesting races anytime soon, one way to make NPCs feel a little alien is to give them a field of vision in which the PCs don't have a role and are not especially likely to be able to make one. Simple, pointless example: In the cultural desert between two medieval-tech kingdoms, there is the sole survivor of a stone-age culture, destroyed by an unknown terrible force. A man, battle-scarred, who is still hale but beginning to lose his strength. In the shallows of the River, he seeks the Sun Buffalo that knows how to restore his people.Now, that sounds like an okay little fleck for a post, but think of how he plays if a lost PC observes him: he speaks to no one, he keeps catching fish with his hands and letting them go, never eating them despite his obvious skill. He fishes in the hottest part of the day and is burnt black. There is no way to hear his story or even learn his language. He will seem to be "at right angles" to nearly anything the PCs do. Even if he is killed in a military conflict, it is unlikely anyone will ever know what he was doing, and his eyes will always seem to have been looking at something quite outside of the PCs' space. He seems human, but with an alien flavor. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 3, 2022 8:11:25 GMT -5
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 3, 2022 11:59:57 GMT -5
What are things you do to make your non-humans really seem non-human? For instance, do you take animals, reptiles or insects that you know a lot about and give a monster a lot of those traits in their behavior? Did you mean elves and dwarves and other humanoids? Or more like lizard-people and all those guys? Yes!  Yes, all of the above.  |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 3, 2022 12:04:31 GMT -5
In dealing with people, I notice that one of the most disorienting things that can happen is when you think someone is signaling to you (eyebrow flash, speech, whatever) and they aren't. They didn't even know you were there, or care. You weren't part of what was happening. I guess this is because we expect to be involved, always at the center of our own stories. To be jolted out of that really alienates you from the other party for a second. So while I don't expect to be designing interesting races anytime soon, one way to make NPCs feel a little alien is to give them a field of vision in which the PCs don't have a role and are not especially likely to be able to make one. Excellent observation! |
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Post by hengest on Apr 3, 2022 13:49:55 GMT -5
In dealing with people, I notice that one of the most disorienting things that can happen is when you think someone is signaling to you (eyebrow flash, speech, whatever) and they aren't. They didn't even know you were there, or care. You weren't part of what was happening. I guess this is because we expect to be involved, always at the center of our own stories. To be jolted out of that really alienates you from the other party for a second. So while I don't expect to be designing interesting races anytime soon, one way to make NPCs feel a little alien is to give them a field of vision in which the PCs don't have a role and are not especially likely to be able to make one. Excellent observation! I guess my example wasn't perfect, but I think it could easily be applied to nonhumans. The trouble is that if you're going to have a nonhuman as a PC, you can bet the player is going to be a human. And naturally human concerns are going to dominate. This always bothers me in fiction, when the aliens just act like humans with a little makeup on. For me personally, I'd rather have any PCs at least assumed to be somewhat humanlike, enough to be playable. That's going to be different for each ref and each player, I guess. NPCs / ref characters -- the sky's the limit! I tried to do this a while ago with my attempts at dragon design. I feel like there was a thread about this a while ago...or it came up in a post or two. Humans are generally interested in survival, reproduction (not only biological, but also promoting their own hobbies and interests, languages and cultures), safety. What if there were a race that didn't have its own culture, whose members moved, more or less easily, through other cultures, learning extremely quickly (like children), but not intermarrying with the locals and not taking on their appearance? What if refugees of this race were scattered throughout the remains of an empire and a year later were well-integrated (but not yet perfectly) into the local farming communities and the merchants and even the nobles in the capital? If they retained the ability to talk to each other while also mastering the languages and ways of their "hosts" very quickly? A kind of permanent but nearly invisible immigrant...maybe this line could be productive after a little work. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Apr 3, 2022 15:26:13 GMT -5
I guess my example wasn't perfect, but I think it could easily be applied to nonhumans. The trouble is that if you're going to have a nonhuman as a PC, you can bet the player is going to be a human. And naturally human concerns are going to dominate. This always bothers me in fiction, when the aliens just act like humans with a little makeup on. For me personally, I'd rather have any PCs at least assumed to be somewhat humanlike, enough to be playable. That's going to be different for each ref and each player, I guess. NPCs / ref characters -- the sky's the limit! I tried to do this a while ago with my attempts at dragon design. I feel like there was a thread about this a while ago...or it came up in a post or two. Humans are generally interested in survival, reproduction (not only biological, but also promoting their own hobbies and interests, languages and cultures), safety. What if there were a race that didn't have its own culture, whose members moved, more or less easily, through other cultures, learning extremely quickly (like children), but not intermarrying with the locals and not taking on their appearance? What if refugees of this race were scattered throughout the remains of an empire and a year later were well-integrated (but not yet perfectly) into the local farming communities and the merchants and even the nobles in the capital? If they retained the ability to talk to each other while also mastering the languages and ways of their "hosts" very quickly? A kind of permanent but nearly invisible immigrant...maybe this line could be productive after a little work.A race of shape shifters, hidden among us for thousands of years. Low fertility, so there numbers grow really slowly. |
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Yes, all of the above. 