theme for a fantasy campaign

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Bengt

One thought about Arctic/Polar regions is to put an amphibian race there since beyond a certain latitude all the solar converting organisms are water based.

Having an amphibian race would feel more like science fiction than fantasy to me, if you mean that they breathe both air and water. I expect that arctic trolls can go into the water, just as polar bears can. There will also be selkies as an island/beach race.

What stopping them from burning down forests with regular technology? I mean if there is a war and humans make inroads into the forest, they can cut down trees with regular axes before the inevitable counter attack. It will take much longer for trees to grow back mundanely than it took to cut them down mundanely. The elves would have to spend supernatural resources to keep up. This asymmetry could be significant over longer times.

It could be more balanced if there is a spiritual inertia that only lets land grow what is "right" on it until a long time has passed. To speed up the spiritual change could require 37 übermages in a complicated ceremony while singing elf-children is enough to make trees grow a bit faster on forestland.

Certainly that's possible, and in fact is one of the specifically human threats, along the lines of a Mongol invasion. But the trees will be more able to fight back, partly because they support comparatively dense elven populations that can fight to preserve their forests, and partly because each terrain has its spirit guardians and each race has its magical powers. But I'll need to work out the details.

At this point my notion of races is dwarves underground, elves in forest and jungle, ghouls in the desert, halflings on rivers and lakes and in swamps, men on grasslands, selkies on islands and beaches and in lagoons, and trolls in the arctic and in the mountains. Though I need a better name than "halflings." I kind of like the sound of "hulder" but it get the impression it means something not much like hobbits.

Bill Stoddard

[Bengt]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Having an amphibian race would feel more like science fiction than fantasy to me, if you mean that they breathe both air and water. I expect that arctic trolls can go into the water, just as polar bears can. There will also be selkies as an island/beach race.

I was thinking more like an otter or seal. Closable nostrils, able to hold their breath for fairly long, nictitating membranes, webbed fingers.

Remove their skin selkies?

I kind of like the sound of "hulder" but it get the impression it means something not much like hobbits.

Bill Stoddard

Hulder (Norwegian), Huldra (Swedish) is a kind of mountainous fairy/troll/goblin. They are mostly antagonistic towards humans.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Bengt

I was thinking more like an otter or seal. Closable nostrils, able to hold their breath for fairly long, nictitating membranes, webbed fingers.

Remove their skin selkies?

Not as a natural ability, no. But several races will have a spectrum of magical abilities that includes shapeshifting of some sort. Elves turn into trees, men turn into wolves or big cats, selkies turn into seals. At least that's how I'm envisioning it.

Bill Stoddard

[shawnhcorey]

Originally Posted by whswhs

But the trees will be more able to fight back...

Like the trees have a tendency to fall on the lumberjacks when cutted?

Originally Posted by whswhs

Though I need a better name than "halflings."

Gnomes.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by shawnhcorey

Gnomes.

I associate that with earth elementals, though. I thought of it, but it wouldn't be my top choice. Any other ideas?

Bill Stoddard

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I associate that with earth elementals, though. I thought of it, but it wouldn't be my top choice. Any other ideas?

Peewee, pygmy, bantam, manikin.


Hans

[Joe]

This is a fun idea.

Thinking it through, the first thing I wonder is: are the characters going to be a 'party' in more or less the traditional sense, and if so, will they be of multiple races?

Races-in-their-places works really well when you're world-building; but it occurs to me that when you're campaign-building it poses a different set of problems. And opportunities, of course.

[shawnhcorey]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I associate that with earth elementals, though. I thought of it, but it wouldn't be my top choice. Any other ideas?

Vertically-challenged hominids.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by whswhs

... Any other ideas?
Bill Stoddard

Ha'men, morphing to Hammen.

[Anthony]

You might want to consider whether there actually are multiple species involved. If you have spirit guardians and the like, it's quite possible that you've actually only got one species, and the physical distinctions are a function of interactions with the environment (magical or mundane). If a family from the plains moves into the forest, in a few generations they might be elves.

You could also have cultural multiple races, either deliberately, or through action by the gods of the culture, but that's probably less stable long-term.