[DF] PC Races Preferred Habitat

[Greg 1]

Of the PC races in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, what sort of habitat do you think they would prefer to setting in?

So, for instance, Dwarves tend to prefer mountains, while reptiles likely prefer hot environments and dislike cold ones.

As a follow up question, what places on Earth do you think would best suit the various races? Don't worry about the effect of real historical civilizations - just consider the Earth as an empty map to populate.

[Phantasm]

Elves: British Isles, Low Countries, northern France, Germany's Black Forest. Places with heavy forest and some mystique behind it.

Dwarves: southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scotland, Bohemia, the Balkans. Tall hills to mountains with rich mineral veins, though I don't think they'd live *in* the mines. Grimm gave them cottages long before Tolkien gave them Moria and the Lonely Mountain.

Orcs: Someplace harsh and unforgiving. I'd think Norway and Iceland.

Halflings: Greece, Italy, French Riviera, ... the Mediterranean coast, basically, maybe up into the Black Sea coast.

Can't think of others.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Elves: British Isles, Low Countries, northern France, Germany's Black Forest. Places with heavy forest and some mystique behind it.

Dwarves: southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scotland, Bohemia, the Balkans. Tall hills to mountains with rich mineral veins, though I don't think they'd live *in* the mines. Grimm gave them cottages long before Tolkien gave them Moria and the Lonely Mountain.

And from what we know of the Nordic mythology (most of our data come through a handful of sources), the Norse Dwarves lived underground. But I have no doubt some Dwarves would prefer upper-world life.

Orcs: Someplace harsh and unforgiving. I'd think Norway and Iceland.

If they are more or less like JRRT's orcs, they'll live where the other races can't expel them. The Orcs didn't live in the Misty Mountains because they loved it there, they lived there because the civilized races would drive them out of better lands. If they could have overrun, looted, and settled the Shire and Dale and Gondor, they would have.

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[Bruno]

As they're all intelligent tool users, they're all going to be able to live in almost any environment. Moreover, sample any random population and they'll tell you they're quite happy where they are thank-you-very-much. Once you live in a place for a few generations, you start thinking of it as "normal".

Elves might be the biggest exception.

Elves have an advantage of producing subtypes that can settle even more extreme regions - Snow Elves might hang out in Antarctica happily, Sea Elves can literally live underwater and there are probably Lake Elves to match them, Winged Elves' requirement for living space doesn't even include "accessible by foot" - just "doesn't obstruct wingspan". If they can build a platform on it or hang a platform off it and it's not too overgrown, they can live there.

On the other tentacle, elves are more specialized to their environment, and combined with their Sense Of Duty: Nature, out-of-environment elf subtypes might be painfully aware they're an invasive species.


FYI: I can totally see fauns in rocky hills (take a close look at Greece some day - goats have done a number on the vegetation in most places). Coleopterans have so many arms that seeing them in tree-fort villages or cliff climbing seems natural as well.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Elves might be the biggest exception.

That depends on whether elvish subtypes are actually distinct races, or just some form of weird non-genetic adaptive behavior (if you kidnap some desert elves and ship them to the arctic, will their children be ice elves?)

[Flyndaran]

That makes them sound like charismatic versions of the Goblins from that particular Gurps supplement.

[TGLS]

Cat-Folk: Egypt, surrounding deserts
Coleopteran (Beetles): Australia (for the eusocial ambrosia beetle)
Corpse-Eaters: Leeching on other civilizations
Dark One (Elder Things): New England
Dwarves: Alps, Caucasus, Carpathians, Urals
Elves: Brazil should fit all varieties
Faerie: Near Mana (On the Med?)
Gargoyle: ?
Gnome: Rome (built on seven hills), Afghanistan, Appalachia
Goblin Kin: Central Asia, Mongolia
Halfling: England, centered on Oxford
Half-Spirits: As parent species.
Humans: Along major rivers (Euphrates, Yangtze, etc.)
Minotaur: India
Ogre: ?
Reptilians: South East Asia
Trolls: Under Bridges, Sewers
Wildman: Ethiopia (Cradle of mankind), alternatively Pacific Northwest (Bigfoot)

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Elves: British Isles, Low Countries, northern France, Germany's Black Forest. Places with heavy forest and some mystique behind it.

Dwarves: southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Scotland, Bohemia, the Balkans. Tall hills to mountains with rich mineral veins, though I don't think they'd live *in* the mines. Grimm gave them cottages long before Tolkien gave them Moria and the Lonely Mountain.

Orcs: Someplace harsh and unforgiving. I'd think Norway and Iceland.

Halflings: Greece, Italy, French Riviera, ... the Mediterranean coast, basically, maybe up into the Black Sea coast.

Can't think of others.

Halflings like cozy places. Oregon, Washington, some parts of California. Vermont, parts of Britain. Definitely Oregon: they would love apple farming.

[Flyndaran]

Eastern Oregon is a desert with some relatively extreme seasonal temperatures and oh so many rattlesnakes.
The middle Willamette valley is very wet and pleasant.
Of course, the western coastal zone is classic coastal but a bit chilly.

[Black Leviathan]

Halflings prefer swamps where the alligator hunting is easy and tallies don't stick their noses into First-People's business because they don't want to be fed to swamp creatures.