Unfortunately, Mr Kajganikh meant those who would watch whether or not it had monsters. Now if a player could portray a truly alien mindset then I'd be intrigued to see them explore that, but it would have to be a lot more out there than the likes of Worf or Spock.ĭavid Kajganikh, creator of The Terror, said he wanted to appeal to the viewers “who would watch the show if it didn’t have monsters”. Then the game almost becomes an allegory with characters standing for Aggressiveness, Greed, Pedantry, etc. The reason for that is they always end up bring played as stereotypes, extreme versions of human types. I also discourage players in my Tekumel games from taking nonhumans, even though those are simply alien species and not mythical beings. But as for those dolls being nonhuman, there were plenty of halfling thieves scampering about in D&D games back in the ‘70s, so maybe the trend was set by Tolkien rather than by World of Warcraft. Roleplaying has become the middle-aged man's version of playing with dolls. I notice that players very often refer to their characters in third person these days, as though they were avatars that the player controlled rather than personas that they put on. Avatars (and an avatar is clearly not the player think Gordon Freeman or Geralt) must have influenced players’ choice of character types over the last few decades. One of my gaming friends likened it to picking avatars in computer games. But if they are simply manifestations of how we conceive these debased and residual spirits called faerie folk, then no. They do then get tied in terrible knots over issues like “Drow - oh dear, are they racist?” Well, maybe, if you're interpreting them as another Homo racial line, ie a sort of mutant humankind. There's nothing about them that's human except in the glamour that clothes them in a form we can perceive.īut lots of people like playing exotic aliens and races, and if that's the style of fantasy they enjoy then why not. Elves don't have souls, nor goals that we could ever relate to. So it makes no sense in a Legend game to have player-character elves or whatever. They are the very embodiment of the Other. For me, those elves and dwarves and trolls aren't “races” in the D&D sense. Naturally, like for anything else in roleplaying, everyone's mileage is different. They say “mortal”, stressing their own point of superiority but perhaps also betraying their envy of the part they don’t share, the immortal soul. It's a very millennial thing, perhaps? How does everyone feel about playing nonhumans? Does it appeal? What's the appeal? Does it repel? Could there be a race that would be enticing to play? What would that be like?”īy the way, the faerie folk in Legend never say “human” or “nonhuman”. “What's your take on the tendency to play 'furries'? I include the Dragonborn (half man, half dragon playable creatures in D&D) and the Tieflings (humans tainted by demonic heritage in D&D) in this. He asked the other players in his campaign: “The point is: you don’t need player-character elves or dwarves.” Ghouls have red fingernails and regenerate.” Something like that, anyway.) It would make no sense in Legend, the setting of the Dragon Warriors and Jewelspider RPGs, where the peasant warning you about that damned thing out on the moors might call it an imp, pixie, sprite, goblin, redcap or elf all in the same breath.Īnother gamer I know, after reading the blog post in which I elaborate on that theme, singled out this line: (“It’s a ghoul.” “No it’s not it’s a shade. It’s the sort of distinction that probably makes sense in a D&D campaign, where the Monster Manual is treated as a diegetic text. I recently quoted that (a line from the elf’s story in Heroquest book one, The Fellowship of Four) when somebody was telling me about their game: "The other players assume my character's an imp, which is funny because actually I'm playing a sprite." “I take you to be one of the Grey Elves,” he says with a sidelong glance, provoking in me a short laugh, since such categories have meaning only to mortals. “My name is Eildonas of Hulda Hoo,” I tell him as we walk.
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