Familiar but often overlooked fantasy races

[RyanW]

I was thinking of ways to break up the monotony of your typical D&D style fantasy setting, and realized you could get a lot of mileage out of downplaying the stereotypical fantasy races (elf, dwarf, halfling, orc) and instead focus on other, still quite familiar races that just don't get a lot of love. Centaurs were the first to pop into my mind. Beastfolk races would also work. What other races could use more center stage appearance for a setting of that style?

[Varyon]

Lizardfolk don't get much love, but could be interesting (Overlord has a decent part of the second season revolving around some lizardfolk preparing for and trying to fight off armies of the undead). Harpies/hawkmen could be useful as well. I suppose both of those sort of fall under the umbrella of "beastfolk," but honestly a lot of fantasy races are people with various animal characteristics. Merfolk and lamias/nagas can also be worthwhile.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I was thinking of ways to break up the monotony of your typical D&D style fantasy setting, and realized you could get a lot of mileage out of downplaying the stereotypical fantasy races (elf, dwarf, halfling, orc) and instead focus on other, still quite familiar races that just don't get a lot of love. Centaurs were the first to pop into my mind. Beastfolk races would also work. What other races could use more center stage appearance for a setting of that style?

I think that the farther from the human(oid) norm you get, the more the races are going to take center stage instead of flowing into the background. The more careful you are about selecting (dare I say, curating) your collection of races, the richer your setting is going to be. (Or you could go the Star Wars cantina route, throw everything in, and give the impression of a huge and varied world...) I like to focus campaign and party creation on a few races, even if there are more available - my current game I restricted to dwarf, halfling, gnome, and troll for player races, as the inhabitants of a sheltered retreat.

Anyway, here's a list of things I wouldn't mind centering a campaign on:

• Plant folk like Groot, Gloranthan elves, ents, dryads, and so on
• Fungus people - myconids from D&D, etc.
• Cthulhu mythos races: having ghouls, Deep Ones, Mi-Go, Tcho-Tcho, Serpent Men and so on as the player races for a fantasy set up would be a lot of fun, I think.
• Gnomes - the classic red pointy hat garden gnome. (probably a little silly, but maybe not as much as you think.) Wee folk and fae in general as a wainscot fantasy setting could be a fun change of pace.
• Spiders - The Burning Wheel had a great version of sapient spiders in one of its supplements (they also did a neat version of Great Wolves)
• Human/myth hybrids - specifically half-divine, half-infernal, half-elemental types. Great for a planescape style game.
• Robots - golems, warforged, clockwork constructs, etc.
• The Undead
• Gith - if you're going classic D&D, the githzerai and githyanki lend themselves to whole campaigns and single-race parties.
• Underdark alliance - ditto mind flayers, drow, duergar, and such. A weird beholder can fit for the player who's just got to be different.
• Trolls - I have a soft spot for various sorts of trolls, from the classic Scandinavian varieties to the D&D greenies, to Myth: The Fallen Lords' trow.
• Giants - go big or go home. Could play a group of titanic sorts in a fun mythic "Against the gods" campaign.

[RyanW]

Maybe instead of human, elf, dwarf, halfling, orc, you go with human, centaur, harpy, spider... and I'm just making Monster Musume, aren't I?

I like keeping the human as the baseline, but I really like the other races being more than "what skills do I get a bonus to?"

[Anthony]

I think the key thing is deciding what purpose the fantasy races serve in your setting to start with. Also, does "familiar" mean "D&D-ish"? The other model is to just pick a mythology and grab everything from it.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I think the key thing is deciding what purpose the fantasy races serve in your setting to start with. Also, does "familiar" mean "D&D-ish"? The other model is to just pick a mythology and grab everything from it.

I was thinking familiar as being something that most people have at least a good basis for a mental image. Being straightforward in description (a spider, but sentient) has the same basic effect. Rather than going the route of some fantasy settings that achieve a similar effect by making up completely original races, which can be trickier for someone just starting with that setting.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

I ran a DFish GURPS game in which everybody played a 2'-tall Leprechaun (except the colossal 3'-tall Leprechaun Barbarian), defending Mythic Ireland from marauding 6'-tall giants. Ridiculous Luck, short tempers, and atrocious brogues were standard.

[jason taylor]

Fair Folk. That is fairies as mysterious spirits as opposed to really cool humans. These can be good or bad but unpredictability is probably best.

Sirens. Fantasy Femme Fatalles.

Jotun. We haven't clarified that other than that they are at war with the gods. They are usually called giants but not exactly such.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Maybe instead of human, elf, dwarf, halfling, orc, you go with human, centaur, harpy, spider... and I'm just making Monster Musume, aren't I?

Eh, nothing wrong with that.

Originally Posted by RyanW

I like keeping the human as the baseline, but I really like the other races being more than "what skills do I get a bonus to?"

Agreed, although for my Oubliette setting I've cut humans out of the picture (but use the word "human" as a catch-all for the six non-monster races).

I think the thread has covered most of the familiar-but-overlooked races. Beyond that, there's always the option of using races that certainly aren't overlooked, but tend not to be the PC's, such as goblins.

[dcarson]

A world where the mermaids rule the sea and shipping moves at their sufferance with taxes or risks being sunk.