Stretching the bounds of typical fantasy races -OR- What makes an elf?

[evileeyore]

The 'farthest afield' I've gone is with Dwarves making them a Hive mind that is more intelligent the more members it has (but even when operating at 'human' intelligence is still a bit alien and strange), dwells almost exclusively underground, can sense air currents, are largely naked and bearded (occasionally wearing only one odd article of clothing, like one sock and one glove or some such), and are fond of byzantine/Goldbergian death traps for defense.

AKA Dwarf Fortress dwarves...

[Bruno]

I had a campaign that petered out where the standard fantasy races were present but all based on primates - the "demi-humans" being apes and the "humanoids" being any dang primate.

Humans being humans, but elves being gibbons (agile, tree dwelling, singing with beautiful voices, and suspected by humans of being the souls of the dead), dwarves being chimps (short, hairy, strong, loud and boystrous), halflings being bonobos (shorty, hairy, and peaceful pastoralists), and orcs being baboons (plains dwelling ominvores that hunt, gather, and chase every food opportunity... just like humans, which is why they don't get along with humans at all).

[David Johnston2]

I made elves...well I called them "sylvans" but a lot of the humans called them elves who had Plant Permeation and Plant Empathy. They were reeeeeally effective combatants in dense forest.

Then there was the Old Race...who were also called "elves" but were actually a human ethnic group who just all had magic aptitude.

And there were the Pale Folk, huge-eyed albinos who lived underground, and only came to the surface at night unless they absolutely had to put on hooded cloaks and veils to operate in the day.

And of course the Fair Folk, a race of iron-averse shapeshifters.

Then there were the Oceanborn...who had no particular relationship to any of the others but were still called "Sea Elves" by some.

"Elf" was kind of a generic term for any humanoid nonhuman or supernatural that wasn't ugly.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Humans being humans, but elves being gibbons (agile, tree dwelling, singing with beautiful voices, and suspected by humans of being the souls of the dead), dwarves being chimps (short, hairy, strong, loud and boystrous), halflings being bonobos (shorty, hairy, and peaceful pastoralists), and orcs being baboons (plains dwelling ominvores that hunt, gather, and chase every food opportunity... just like humans, which is why they don't get along with humans at all).

I had this:

Dwarves: ST -5, Basic Move -2, Arm ST +1 (Two arms), Extended Lifespan 1, High Manual Dexterity +1, Night Vision 4, Sensitive Touch

Elves: DX +1, IQ +1, Will -1, Acute Vision 1, Attractive, Extended Lifespan 2, Extra Arms (Two; Foot Manipulators, -30%; Short, -50%), Longevity, Perfect Balance, Super Climbing 1, Androgynous, Sanitized Metabolism

Ghouls: ST -3, IQ -1, Per +1, Basic Move -1, Combat Reflexes, Fearlessness 2, Nictitating Membrane 1, Night Vision 3, Parabolic Hearing 1, Reduced Consumption 2 (Cast-Iron Stomach, -50%), Sharp Teeth, Silence 2, Temperature Tolerance 1 (Hotter), Musk, Reproductive Control (Reabsorption), Unattractive, Alcohol Intolerance

Men: Attribute Modifiers: ST +1 (male)/-1 (female)

Nixies: ST -3 , Amphibious, Breath-Holding 1, Nictitating Membrane 1, Temperature Tolerance 2 (colder), Basic Move -1

Selkies: ST +1 (male)/-1 (female), Amphibious, Breath-Holding 2 (male)/1 (female), Nictitating Membrane 1, Resistant to Decompression Sickness +3, Slippery 1, Temperature Tolerance 2 (colder)], Voice, Fur, Penetrating Voice, Overweight, Alcohol Intolerance

Trolls: ST +4,; IQ -1 (male)/+1 (female), Damage Resistance 2 (Tough Skin, -40%), Extended Lifespan 1, Fearlessness 1, Longevity, Metabolism Control 2 (Hibernation, -60%), Protected Vision, Temperature Tolerance 2 (colder), Overweight

[Johnny1A.2]

My world contains a race that I freely copied from D^D 'elves', but they are a genetically-engineered cousin race of humans, they average shorter than humans (average height about 5 feet for both sexes), have a range of psionic powers, and a slightly skewed psychology (they were genegineered as a servant race, which worked...but with odd quirks).

There are also races more nearly akin to the Elves of medieval legend, and they aren't always nice, but none of them are technically supernatural.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by starslayer

You can get a lot of milage out of 'elf' but at some point it just starts getting weird if there is nothing 'familiar' to it and your players start questioning why you bothered to call them 'elves'.

Exactly this. One thing that nobody is doing is defining what an elf is that they need to look a certain way. We have a stereotypical image of an elf in our minds thanks in large part to Dungeons & Dragons, which lifted its version mostly from Tolkien. What Tolkien was doing was explaining how the folkloric concept of elves is a debased understanding of what elves really were: the firstborn race of the world.

Traditionally, an elf is "one of a class of preternatural beings, especially from mountainous regions, with magical powers, given to capricious and often mischievous interference in human affairs, and usually imagined to be a diminutive being in human form; sprite; fairy." (dictionary.com) There are no hard and fast rules as to what the differences between elves, sprites and fairies may be, let along dwarves, trolls, gnomes, goblins, and so on. Games like D&D love to categorize these things into neat taxonomic categories, but they weren't so carefully delineated in folklore.

To stretch the concept of an elf without making it no longer be an elf, forget the gaming stereotypes of pointed ears and forest bowmen. Look instead to folklore, in which you have much wiggle room. Try not to populate your game with sharp lines between supernatural races, or make those lines something other than "race." For instance, in his earlier writing Tolkien's elves included "gnomes," who were the most knowledgeable and skilled at making of all the elves.

You can also find some use from the idea that the typical fairy stereotypes are labels given by humans to groups of creatures they don't know much about. There may not be all that much difference between "elves," "dwarfs," and "goblins," say, but humans call the short ones dwarfs, the beautiful ones elves, and the mischievous ones goblins. The ones who live under bridges are trolls, the ones who live in the land of light are fairies, etc., etc. But the creatures themselves may not recognize these groupings.

[Maz]

The times I have experienced this as a problem, is when people stretch a concept into another concept.

For instance in a game I was a player in. There was a pointy-eared, skinny and very agile race. Able to see in the dark. But they also had claws and sharp teeth and would eat other humanoids. In the setting they where called elves. but us players kept thinking and referring to them as ghouls as that was pretty much what they where.
They where a cool opponent and I know what the GM was going for, but he had just stretched the elf concept into another core archetype.


A couple of other examples I have noticed in various MMORPG's with East-Asian origin. Where one thing is named "gnome" or "goblin" or "demon" but looks more like other achetypical races as we know them from typical western games.

[GodBeastX]

I think Dwarves just have to be shorter, Elves have to have pointy ears, and trolls have to be ugly. If you follow those minimal ideals, you can deviate pretty far!

I mean, look at Warhammer 40K =)

[Stormcrow]

I don't even think elves have to have pointed ears. In fact, if I were designing a new type of elf, that would be the first thing to go.

But dwarfs do need to be short to... uh... live up to their name. I don't think trolls necessarily have to be ugly; living under something or in isolation seems to be more important.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

I think Dwarves just have to be shorter...

And beardy and traditionalist. Otherwise they could be Hobbits, goblins, elves, leprechauns, etc...

Elves have to have pointy ears...

I like to make them good looking and graceful. That seems to be true across all myths of elvish types, whether or not they have pointy ears.

trolls have to be ugly...

Trolls can be beautiful. Trolls are extremely widely different by 'species' even in a singular cultural mythology (I'm looking at you Scandinavia).

However, in the 'D&D' genre, they tend to be ugly, brutish, and territorial. That last bit is one I carry over across all trolls I create for games I run or play in.