Post by David on Sept 25, 2006 19:14:16 GMT -5
Another issue that’s come up many times over the years is players role-playing non-humans like funny-looking humans.
Quite honestly, elves are NOT just thin, long-lived humans with pointy-ears. Nor are they vulcans that do spells! They should have very distinct and unique attitudes and outlooks on the cosmos! Read about elves in Tolkein, Celtic folklore, fairytales, etc, and they’re DIFFERENT than we are. Hell, just having a century-long childhood and then nearly millennium-long life-span will give you a different view of things. Modern ethnologists talk about the “long-view” taken by many far-Eastern cultures (and we’re the same race!), well, think how elves look at life…!?! Let’s not even talk about elves’ focus on the natural world, their love for magic and living things, their curiosity, their frivolity and joy-seeking, feeling of stewardships (as the oldest sentient race), etc… Playing an elf as "just another human-like guy" is a TOTAL cop-out; these guys really should be a little alien in their thought process ("Pay you back now? Well, I figured I'd get to in a couple of years..." or "Why would I want risk the next several centuries of my life on your HUMAN plan?").
This same is also true for dwarves (they’re more than short, surly, bearded fighters), hobbits (who should almost universally have the sensibilities of conservative English peasants), naamar (I’m sick of crats being played as furry humans with tails!!!), etc. If culture is such a divider among humans, then beings of a totally different history and physiology should be far more different! No more Star Trek, "they're just like us but with special powers", wanna-be-alien non-humans in Dnd!
Today, in 2006, in (post-)modern, Western, industrialized nations you’ll find populations without large immigrant communities to commonly hold that “foreigners” are inherently “such and such”. Don’t buy it? Well, talk to the French, Germans, Belgians, Italians, Japanese, etc of today (I’ll give you Americans, Canadians, Australians, and [strangely] Brits do not generally fall into this) for some validation.
What is the point? Well, if you’re playing a non-human, you need to hold to certain racial attitudes and viewpoints. Period. Even more than humans, non-humans do NOT deviate from cultural traditions (this is one of the very traits that make humans different!). That's what makes elves, dwarves, hobbits, etc distinct from humans too...!
So, I’m NEVER going to be okay with hobbits with mohawks, elves who are into serious body-modification, dwarves with shaven beards, centaurs who are okay with being ridden, vegetarian lizard men, al karak elam who turn on their fellows, serious gnomes, naamar/crats who eat the flesh of sentients, mermen with anything but loathing for sahuaghin, etc. Characters playing non-humans do NOT have the right to play them how ever they like; they MUST obey certain racial traits. Period.
Similarly, most non-humans do NOT interact with humans from other cultures. Elves are known ONLY to Oerdian (European) cultures, while jinn are known ONLY to Zakharan (Arabian) cultures, and spirit folk are known ONLY to Kara-Turan (Asian) cultures. I have once in a RARE while allows players to deviate from this (such as Milos – half-elf with one Hepmonalander/Black parent, and Ziyi – half elf with one Shou-Lung/Chinese parent) but such characters should be EXTREMELY rare. By in large, however, I hate post-modern, mix-and-match PCs and will not allow them. Once I allow an elven samurai then the whole campaign flavor just dissolves from there (at least a dwarven druid is reasonable, since dwarves interact with humans and elves who have druids in their cultures!).
“But it’s my character and I’ll play him how I want,” you might say. Nope. You want the “goodies” of playing another race, well, this is one of the draw-backs! They’re more than “humans with funny looks and special powers.” They're a unique package; take it or leave it. That’s that, I hope!
Quite honestly, elves are NOT just thin, long-lived humans with pointy-ears. Nor are they vulcans that do spells! They should have very distinct and unique attitudes and outlooks on the cosmos! Read about elves in Tolkein, Celtic folklore, fairytales, etc, and they’re DIFFERENT than we are. Hell, just having a century-long childhood and then nearly millennium-long life-span will give you a different view of things. Modern ethnologists talk about the “long-view” taken by many far-Eastern cultures (and we’re the same race!), well, think how elves look at life…!?! Let’s not even talk about elves’ focus on the natural world, their love for magic and living things, their curiosity, their frivolity and joy-seeking, feeling of stewardships (as the oldest sentient race), etc… Playing an elf as "just another human-like guy" is a TOTAL cop-out; these guys really should be a little alien in their thought process ("Pay you back now? Well, I figured I'd get to in a couple of years..." or "Why would I want risk the next several centuries of my life on your HUMAN plan?").
This same is also true for dwarves (they’re more than short, surly, bearded fighters), hobbits (who should almost universally have the sensibilities of conservative English peasants), naamar (I’m sick of crats being played as furry humans with tails!!!), etc. If culture is such a divider among humans, then beings of a totally different history and physiology should be far more different! No more Star Trek, "they're just like us but with special powers", wanna-be-alien non-humans in Dnd!
Today, in 2006, in (post-)modern, Western, industrialized nations you’ll find populations without large immigrant communities to commonly hold that “foreigners” are inherently “such and such”. Don’t buy it? Well, talk to the French, Germans, Belgians, Italians, Japanese, etc of today (I’ll give you Americans, Canadians, Australians, and [strangely] Brits do not generally fall into this) for some validation.
What is the point? Well, if you’re playing a non-human, you need to hold to certain racial attitudes and viewpoints. Period. Even more than humans, non-humans do NOT deviate from cultural traditions (this is one of the very traits that make humans different!). That's what makes elves, dwarves, hobbits, etc distinct from humans too...!
So, I’m NEVER going to be okay with hobbits with mohawks, elves who are into serious body-modification, dwarves with shaven beards, centaurs who are okay with being ridden, vegetarian lizard men, al karak elam who turn on their fellows, serious gnomes, naamar/crats who eat the flesh of sentients, mermen with anything but loathing for sahuaghin, etc. Characters playing non-humans do NOT have the right to play them how ever they like; they MUST obey certain racial traits. Period.
Similarly, most non-humans do NOT interact with humans from other cultures. Elves are known ONLY to Oerdian (European) cultures, while jinn are known ONLY to Zakharan (Arabian) cultures, and spirit folk are known ONLY to Kara-Turan (Asian) cultures. I have once in a RARE while allows players to deviate from this (such as Milos – half-elf with one Hepmonalander/Black parent, and Ziyi – half elf with one Shou-Lung/Chinese parent) but such characters should be EXTREMELY rare. By in large, however, I hate post-modern, mix-and-match PCs and will not allow them. Once I allow an elven samurai then the whole campaign flavor just dissolves from there (at least a dwarven druid is reasonable, since dwarves interact with humans and elves who have druids in their cultures!).
“But it’s my character and I’ll play him how I want,” you might say. Nope. You want the “goodies” of playing another race, well, this is one of the draw-backs! They’re more than “humans with funny looks and special powers.” They're a unique package; take it or leave it. That’s that, I hope!
