I usually play human, with a smattering of dwarf, elf and hobbit. I really like the Warhammer dwarves (thanks Gotrek).

Beyond that I like ducks, vargr, newtlings and lizardmen.

But mostly I play human.

Couldn't quite get from the OP whether this is just PC races or races overall.  I'm a huge fan of Githyanki (obviously, from the profile pic), but only as NPCs and usually antagonists.  I use the 1e Fiend Folio lore (screw the modern WotC stuff).

I like Aarakocra as PC races.  A lot of DMs don't allow them (the issues with flight early in a campaign), but I enjoy the flavor and flexibility.

Quote from: SHARK on January 13, 2024, 10:30:23 PM
Greetings!

Well, some of my favourite races--beyond the usual--are probably as follows:

(1) Elephant Humanoids
In my world of Thandor, I have developed the Elephant-Humanoid race into two main branches--a primitive, tribal-based branch that live across the savannahs and forests of the southern continent of Arthanda, and a civilized branch that lives in the sub-continent of Sindhu. The Sindhu Elephant people live in highly organized tribes, though they are more urbanized and advanced than the Arthanda Elephant people. Both groups of Elephant people are renowned as warriors, but also possessing great magical abilities. The Sindhu Elephant people are skilled engineers and crafters, as well as being talented in Cleric and Wizard magic. The Arthanda Elephant people are more nature focused, and have Shamans, as well as Bards. The Arthanda Elephant culture is generally inspired by East African cultures, such as Numidia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Massai. The Sindhu Elephant people are inspired primarily by the Mauryian and Gupta Empires of ancient India.

(2) Wolf Humanoids
In Thandor, I have Wolf Humanoids. Again, there are two primary branches--though they are based differently than say, the Elephant people. The Wolf people have their primary culture, which is primitive and tribal, and which is focused on living throughout the northern forests and up in the snow-covered mountains. They are inspired chiefly by the Germanic, Slavic, and Norse cultures. The second branch, infamous for their dark grey or black fur, are a group of Wolf people tribes that have broken off from the main tribal culture. The second culture has willingly mixed and interbred themselves with demons, and are thoroughly devoted to darkness, and serving the Dark Gods. They live in scattered tribes across the far north, and have also mastered ship-building, sailing, and sea travel. They are feared sea-raiders and marauders. The more normal cultural group are devoted to nature deities, and are generally benevolent. The primary culture often allies with various Elf kingdoms and human tribes, though occasionally also embraces war amongst their neighbors, whether they are Elves, Humans, or whatever else. The Wolf people are proud, warlike, territorial, and possessive, so conflict can easily develop amongst their neighbors. The primary culture, however, is intensely loyal, noble, valiant, and honour-driven--so they are often sought as allies and friends by others.

(3) Lion Humanoids
In Thandor, the Lion people are divided into two primary cultures--an urban, civilized culture, and a primitive, tribal culture. The urban, civilized culture generally dwell amongst sophisticated, urban city-states. When such individuals are not living amongst their own city-states, they congregate in neighborhoods amongst foreign peoples and communities, such as Humans. The urban Lion people are renowned for their skills as warriors. They are also well-known for Wizards and Clerics. Urban Lion people are inspired by the cultures of Rome, Carthage, and the Arabs. Tribal Lion people live in the wilderness, the savannah, and jungles. The tribal Lion people are fierce warriors, as well as rugged Rangers. They have Bards, Shamans, and Witches. Tribal Lion people are loosely inspired by the East African Massai tribal culture, and the African tribal cultures of central and southern Africa, such as the Nigerians and the Zulu.

(5) Chaanda
In the world of Thandor, the Chaanda are a race of beautiful humanoids, roughly 6 to 7 feet in height, that are very urban, sophisticated, and advanced. The Chaanda live in large, fortified towns and cities. The Chaanda have bright, lemon-yellow coloured skin, black hair, and various colours of eyes. The Chaanda have pointed ears, long limbs, and are graceful and athletic. The Chaanda are highly skilled at virtually any profession, though they are most famous for their Wizards, Clerics, and Witches. They are highly skilled in craftsmanship, and mercantile endeavors. The Chaanda live in the deserts, mountains, and coastlands of Madera. The Chaanda culture is inspired primarily by the ancient Persian culture, as well as Pontic Greek culture, nomadic Turks, and the hybrid-culture of the Kushan Empire.

(6) Chebari
In the world of Thandor, the Chebari are a race of lavender-coloured Humanoids, generally appearing much like humans, though with a set of curving ram-horns on their heads, and goat-like eyes. The lavender-coloured Chebari are also a race of Hermaphrodites. The race, as a primary culture, is sophisticated and urban, being centered on wealthy city-states and small kingdoms. When not living independently, groups of Chebari live in Chebari neighborhoods amongst humans and other races. The Chebari are highly skilled in magic, music, and art. They have many Clerics, Wizards, Bards, and Witches. The race is infamous for embracing a culture that is depraved and decadent. The Chebari have very high fertility rates, and eagerly supplement this natural attribute with drugs, herbs, magic, as well as eagerly embracing the institution of slavery. The Chebari maintain enormous populations of slaves, often raised from birth in multi-generations of servitude. The Chebari culture is inspired by a hybrid-culture of Sumerian and Babylonian cultures, as well as some ancient Egyptian and ancient Pheonician influences.

So, there we go! Some of my favourite races that are more or less beyond the norm. I have designed them each to have a more or less "stereotypical" culture that can be referenced, though also some dramatic, as well as subtle differences amongst the sub-cultures. Such dynamics are informed by economics, geography, technology, as well as climate, environment, politics, religion and spirituality.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Lavender hermaphrodites?  Self-insertion there, Shark?

Quote from: Grognard GM on January 13, 2024, 10:20:31 PM
Call me boring,

Ok... Boring 

One of my friends plays half-orcs alot. Usually half-orc Rangers. Fighters with bows otherwise. Bemusingly in Star Frontiers she played a human.
 
Another friend never played an elf till 5e.

I also mostly play human, but I like to play humans from outsider cultures. I had a lot of fun playing a Bretonnian in WFRP and an Ixian in Hyperborea. Culture is generally what's going to attract me to a player option. It's one of the positive points of Hyperborea that it presents its human cultures in such a way that they're more interesting than the fantasy races in a lot of other settings. I'll play a dwarf or hobbit if it's Middle Earth, just because I really like Tolkien's versions of those races. Can't remember the last time I even considered playing an elf, unless I was doing it for min-maxing reasons in a CRPG.

The non-standard races I like tend to be ones that are cast firmly in the NPC or villain categories, but they could work as PCs in a game like Carcosa:

Standard animal-hybrid races tend to leave me cold, but I do like Beastmen. By that I mean humans that have been warped by some kind of influence into a more atavistic or bestial form. Warhammer's Beastmen are probably my original inspiration, but their lore is kind of underwhelming. In one of my settings, Beastmen are the product of a rogue demon who decided to find a stable midpoint between human and demon, so they have a little demon in them, but are more resistant to demonic corruption than normal humans. I made them a pastoral society, and they're kind of an antihero faction. They still maraud and do the occasional bit of Sabine Women style wife-snatching, but they're the bitterest enemies of the cosmic horror entities that are the setting's biggest bad.

I also really like intelligent undead. Not so much vampires or liches, they're overplayed. Mummies can be more fun, but I prefer the more Lovecraftian types like ghouls or night-gaunts. The fact that they're intelligent social creatures with their own hierarchies and goals gives them huge potential for character and world building. I would totally play a ghoul PC in a Carcosa game. That'd be awesome.

An idea I love well enough to have stolen it for multiple homebrew settings is the Fanito from Dark Souls 2. They appear to be human, but are actually creations of the setting's God of Death, created to protect graveyards and preserve the peace of the dead. In my own settings, I also made them an order of fanatical necromancer hunters. I figure that if there was an intelligent personification of Death in the universe, he would fucking hate people going around undoing his work by raising the dead.

Some years ago I cooked up a race of plant people that were a bit of a mix of the Asari from Mass Effect and whatever Zhaan is in Farscape. The idea was that they were children of a race of hyper-intelligent trees, who were afraid of animal life wiping them out, and so made them to be perfect ambassadors to the other intelligent races. So they're uniformly beautiful, with a big charisma bonus, but also get all the benefits of being plants like photosynthesis etc.

Quote from: Persimmon on January 14, 2024, 07:51:23 PM

Quote from: SHARK on January 13, 2024, 10:30:23 PM
Greetings!

Well, some of my favourite races--beyond the usual--are probably as follows:

(1) Elephant Humanoids
In my world of Thandor, I have developed the Elephant-Humanoid race into two main branches--a primitive, tribal-based branch that live across the savannahs and forests of the southern continent of Arthanda, and a civilized branch that lives in the sub-continent of Sindhu. The Sindhu Elephant people live in highly organized tribes, though they are more urbanized and advanced than the Arthanda Elephant people. Both groups of Elephant people are renowned as warriors, but also possessing great magical abilities. The Sindhu Elephant people are skilled engineers and crafters, as well as being talented in Cleric and Wizard magic. The Arthanda Elephant people are more nature focused, and have Shamans, as well as Bards. The Arthanda Elephant culture is generally inspired by East African cultures, such as Numidia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Massai. The Sindhu Elephant people are inspired primarily by the Mauryian and Gupta Empires of ancient India.

(2) Wolf Humanoids
In Thandor, I have Wolf Humanoids. Again, there are two primary branches--though they are based differently than say, the Elephant people. The Wolf people have their primary culture, which is primitive and tribal, and which is focused on living throughout the northern forests and up in the snow-covered mountains. They are inspired chiefly by the Germanic, Slavic, and Norse cultures. The second branch, infamous for their dark grey or black fur, are a group of Wolf people tribes that have broken off from the main tribal culture. The second culture has willingly mixed and interbred themselves with demons, and are thoroughly devoted to darkness, and serving the Dark Gods. They live in scattered tribes across the far north, and have also mastered ship-building, sailing, and sea travel. They are feared sea-raiders and marauders. The more normal cultural group are devoted to nature deities, and are generally benevolent. The primary culture often allies with various Elf kingdoms and human tribes, though occasionally also embraces war amongst their neighbors, whether they are Elves, Humans, or whatever else. The Wolf people are proud, warlike, territorial, and possessive, so conflict can easily develop amongst their neighbors. The primary culture, however, is intensely loyal, noble, valiant, and honour-driven--so they are often sought as allies and friends by others.

(3) Lion Humanoids
In Thandor, the Lion people are divided into two primary cultures--an urban, civilized culture, and a primitive, tribal culture. The urban, civilized culture generally dwell amongst sophisticated, urban city-states. When such individuals are not living amongst their own city-states, they congregate in neighborhoods amongst foreign peoples and communities, such as Humans. The urban Lion people are renowned for their skills as warriors. They are also well-known for Wizards and Clerics. Urban Lion people are inspired by the cultures of Rome, Carthage, and the Arabs. Tribal Lion people live in the wilderness, the savannah, and jungles. The tribal Lion people are fierce warriors, as well as rugged Rangers. They have Bards, Shamans, and Witches. Tribal Lion people are loosely inspired by the East African Massai tribal culture, and the African tribal cultures of central and southern Africa, such as the Nigerians and the Zulu.

(5) Chaanda
In the world of Thandor, the Chaanda are a race of beautiful humanoids, roughly 6 to 7 feet in height, that are very urban, sophisticated, and advanced. The Chaanda live in large, fortified towns and cities. The Chaanda have bright, lemon-yellow coloured skin, black hair, and various colours of eyes. The Chaanda have pointed ears, long limbs, and are graceful and athletic. The Chaanda are highly skilled at virtually any profession, though they are most famous for their Wizards, Clerics, and Witches. They are highly skilled in craftsmanship, and mercantile endeavors. The Chaanda live in the deserts, mountains, and coastlands of Madera. The Chaanda culture is inspired primarily by the ancient Persian culture, as well as Pontic Greek culture, nomadic Turks, and the hybrid-culture of the Kushan Empire.

(6) Chebari
In the world of Thandor, the Chebari are a race of lavender-coloured Humanoids, generally appearing much like humans, though with a set of curving ram-horns on their heads, and goat-like eyes. The lavender-coloured Chebari are also a race of Hermaphrodites. The race, as a primary culture, is sophisticated and urban, being centered on wealthy city-states and small kingdoms. When not living independently, groups of Chebari live in Chebari neighborhoods amongst humans and other races. The Chebari are highly skilled in magic, music, and art. They have many Clerics, Wizards, Bards, and Witches. The race is infamous for embracing a culture that is depraved and decadent. The Chebari have very high fertility rates, and eagerly supplement this natural attribute with drugs, herbs, magic, as well as eagerly embracing the institution of slavery. The Chebari maintain enormous populations of slaves, often raised from birth in multi-generations of servitude. The Chebari culture is inspired by a hybrid-culture of Sumerian and Babylonian cultures, as well as some ancient Egyptian and ancient Pheonician influences.

So, there we go! Some of my favourite races that are more or less beyond the norm. I have designed them each to have a more or less "stereotypical" culture that can be referenced, though also some dramatic, as well as subtle differences amongst the sub-cultures. Such dynamics are informed by economics, geography, technology, as well as climate, environment, politics, religion and spirituality.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Lavender hermaphrodites?  Self-insertion there, Shark?

Greetings!

*Laughing* Hah! I use them as a favourite NPC race for villains. Depraved, effeminate, wicked, and decadent. Sophisticated and civilized, sort of, as a counter-villain group such as Orcs or Beastmen. I also make them frequently allies of Khammbar, which are a Thandor-version of Teiflings.

"Chebarite" being a popular slang term for them. Most communities oppress and persecute Chabarites as disgusting and gross animals, filthy, depraved, and wicked. They are often seen as troublemakers and villainous in general, so within foreign urban communities, they are often the first suspects that authorities look at for crimes. Rural communities typically don't bother with legal niceties, and eagerly burn them at the fucking stake, much like how Tieflings are treated.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Since it's not exactly sporting, I won't pick humans even though they are typically my default pick.

And while I love actual Tolkien Elves, the truly immortal kind, strangers to mortal lands, detached from the passing of things, and which get reborn in their homeland. not so much aloof with the world as they are tired and wary of the ages. I do not let my players play elves for this very reason, as in my setting the elves are leaving, they are not interested in staying.

Dwarves: Lightly against the rules, but I've had and played a couple of dwarves who were a hoot, and they are still present in my setting.

Lupines: semi-nomadic canine/wolf people from Mystera, I straight up steal them for the alpine regions of my setting.

avalonites/Sodorians: Basically the only half elves in my setting, humans and elves on an island a very long time ago interbred, resulting in longer lived fairer humans, though in appearance and traits they're just humans. I haven't decided on a name yet. I have yet to decide if they come from the Island of Avalon, or Sodor.

I happen to like the Wretch from the book Bastards & Bloodlines for 3.5 D&D.  The Wretch is an ugly hag/orc crossbreed.

I'm honestly pretty partial to my elves of every variety. High elves, wood elves, snow elves, deep elves, whatever you got.

That said, I like the Qunari from Dragon Age. They're a race of large bipedal humanoids (some have horns) and they menace just about everyone else in Thedas. They worship the Qun, which is equal parts religion and philosophy and each fanatically follows their role in Qunari society. Even their outcasts, the tal-vashoth, understand and respect their role as outcasts and don't stray too far from that position. Their names are literally the rank and role they have, so a qunari named Sten is a platoon leader, but Sten literally means squad leader. Very original and interesting race.

What's even more interesting is that the Qun (the religion) will accept anyone into it, so you've got elves, dwarves, and humans that are themselves technically "Qunari" and are referred to as such. The original Qunari (the large horned bipeds) don't even really have a name of their own, and the original race that taught them of the Qun religion are these mysterious otherworldly beings.

I like the Ogier from Wheel of Time. Ogres in size and strength, but intelligent, peaceful and psychologically incapable of hasty action. In an rpg would make an interesting choice between upsides and downsides as a PC, rather than just "here's your pluses for being ogre-sized."

In Traveller I'd like to do more with heavy-worlders, just humans modified for life on heavy planets, but they've gone a little bit... strange. Which I originally encountered pre-roleplaying, in Anne McCaffrey's Dinosaur Planet books. But they've got a little danger of "here's your pluses." And for some players now they overlap a little with squats/dwarves from Warhammer, which is not how I think of them.

I also like the original take on the Tabaxi. Not just a buff furry who can wear armor, but taking the first descriptions and illustrations literally, a small cat-person that could in no way be mistaken for just a human in cat ears and tail.



Sadly, furries ruined it for the rest of us. Now I keep a strict no furries rule, just to screen out the furries, if you follow me.

Quote from: 1stLevelWizard on January 16, 2024, 07:17:25 PM
I'm honestly pretty partial to my elves of every variety. High elves, wood elves, snow elves, deep elves, whatever you got.

...Shady elves, lofty elves, woodsy elves, eager elves, superfluous elves...

I wish Erfworld had had a longer run, or at least a better end. The creator really hit on something, even if his reach sometimes exceeded his grasp (which showed mainly on release schedules).

Quote from: Dave 2 on January 16, 2024, 09:33:47 PM

Quote from: 1stLevelWizard on January 16, 2024, 07:17:25 PMI'm honestly pretty partial to my elves of every variety. High elves, wood elves, snow elves, deep elves, whatever you got.

You forgot Keebler Elves, and Santa's Elves.

Quote from: Grognard GM on January 16, 2024, 09:47:18 PM
You forgot Keebler Elves, and Santa's Elves.

Detect secret cookies with a 1 in 6 chance xD

I mostly play Human.

If there's an option to play a fully aware or partially aware robot, I'll roll that.

I really like the reptilian humanoids, such as lizardmen or dragonborn.

I also like insectiod or arachnid species that I can play completely alien in terms of usual human social conventions.

Reptile Men.  Jus something about them makes them seem warlike but misunderstood.

The race of duck-type creatures in RuneQuest, too.  They seemed like they had to prove themselves because they were duck-men.

Strange elves are nice too... Blue elves, aquatic elves, underground elves, etc.