Quote from: Bren;1009275Now I'm curious. Why are their robes orange?

Because green robes would make no sense.

Yeah, I generally try to have less variety of monsters, and make that smaller list have more variations, cultures, etc.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1009084I think a lot of gamers put too much emphasis on having a ton of different monsters (or the notion that every monster must be unique), rather than making races actually interesting.

I agree monsters are overrated:).
But then I also think a lot of gamers put too much emphasis on a ton of different races, instead of making the actual cultures and the NPCs genuinely interesting;).

Quote from: AsenRG;1010064I agree monsters are overrated:).
But then I also think a lot of gamers put too much emphasis on a ton of different races, instead of making the actual cultures and the NPCs genuinely interesting;).

That's exactly what I meant by 'making them interesting'.

Quote from: AsenRG;1010064I agree monsters are overrated:).
But then I also think a lot of gamers put too much emphasis on a ton of different races, instead of making the actual cultures and the NPCs genuinely interesting;).

JBR has an entire page dedicated to pointing out that all races in science fiction (and probably fantasy) fall into one or more of just fifty archetypes. For example, both the aliens from the Alien movies and the sandworms from the Dune novels fall into the "enigmoids" archetype.

I am unfamiliar with this JBR person. Is there any reason why I should become familiar with him?

I've never had much of an issue with too many or too similar monsters. I see that as stuff I can add in to the campaign however I want, so if I have 8 varieties of goblin to choose from, that means I can pick the best fit for what I need, and I can throw in some variety if I want. With PC races, I do think it gets more thorny. But it really depends on the game in question. That kind of stuff can definitely change the tone and feel of a world. Generally this hasn't been a problem for me. But when games change edition and add in new stuff, or get rid of old things, that can create problems if you have an ongoing campaign.

One-Note doesn't bother me, since it is an easy starting point to work with. You can easily build off that. In a way, I think that can be more manageable than races front-loaded with cultural complexity. Just from a practical standpoint of deploying the material in play. Not that I mind things being more complex, but I will tend to take that stuff more a la carte, because I will tend to forget things if they are buried in a race description. So the memorable stuff will tend to float to the surface.

Quote from: Bren;1011277I am unfamiliar with this JBR person. Is there any reason why I should become familiar with him?

Not that I know of. I just think the alien archetypes page is quite enlightening. I find it quite helpful for world building.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1010585That's exactly what I meant by 'making them interesting'.

But cultures don't map exactly to races, as Frost Dwarves might well have two or more different cultures:).
Heresy, I know.

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1011238JBR has an entire page dedicated to pointing out that all races in science fiction (and probably fantasy) fall into one or more of just fifty archetypes. For example, both the aliens from the Alien movies and the sandworms from the Dune novels fall into the "enigmoids" archetype.

Shrug.
Depending on how general you make your classification, you can fit everything in 50 archetypes, in just 5, or in 100 or more. If that classification works for you, that's great, but my point is that I find races more boring than cultures and individuals;)!

Quote from: AsenRG;1011567But cultures don't map exactly to races, as Frost Dwarves might well have two or more different cultures:).
Heresy, I know.


Shrug.
Depending on how general you make your classification, you can fit everything in 50 archetypes, in just 5, or in 100 or more. If that classification works for you, that's great, but my point is that I find races more boring than cultures and individuals;)!

What about Arctic Elves that ride flying reindeer?

Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1011580What about Arctic Elves that ride flying reindeer?

They're still elves, and thus were exterminated before the campaign ever begun;)!

Quote from: AsenRG;1011567But cultures don't map exactly to races, as Frost Dwarves might well have two or more different cultures:).
Heresy, I know.

Well, I absolutely agree, and that's something I try to do as well. Two tribes of orcs, especially if separated by distance, should not be indistinguishable apart from just some different warpaint or something.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1012615Well, I absolutely agree, and that's something I try to do as well. Two tribes of orcs, especially if separated by distance, should not be indistinguishable apart from just some different warpaint or something.

Pillars of Eternity does this kinda well, one of the Dwarven cultures is strongly Inuit inspired as example.

Quote from: joriandrake;1012626Pillars of Eternity does this kinda well, one of the Dwarven cultures is strongly Inuit inspired as example.

cool.

Conversely, I always thought there were too many kinds of elves. Having many cultures is fine, but every kind of elf basically falls into one of three archetypes: urbane high elves, hippie wood elves and edgy dark elves. Outside of D&D, their skin tone and morality varies immensely: Magic: The Gathering has nazi wood elves, among other things; Warcraft has dark skinned nocturnal wood elves, psychotic high elves, psychotic sea elves, desperate morally ambiguous dark spider elves, and even blue skinned space alien elves; Warhammer and Lineage 2 have light skinned dark elves who are still really edgy; etc.