Idea for the origin of elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls etc. in Dungeon Fantasy

[b-dog]

Originally Posted by trooper6

And what motivates them to leave their natural habitat to join a mercenary group that delves into dungeons to kill things and get loot? Or meddle with the affairs of men? Or whathaveyou.

For dwarves and gnomes that would be easy, they are greedy and love treasure. For elves, it may be that they have a spirit of adventure or maybe they want to find magic or artifacts of nature that were stolen. These were created or descended from faeries but they are mortal and also individuals so they have personal reasons for adventuring.

Goblin-kin would adventure mainly because they love conflict and brutality. Goblins and kobolds would be on the trickery end while hobgoblins would be on the brute violence end. Goblins would be curious about magic as well as they seem to learn some spells in myths. Orcs being derived from Tolkien are more interested in war and violence but they also think very highly of themselves and will attempt to delve into dungeons to gain wealth and power. The same can be said of hobgoblins.

Ogres would venture into dungeons to not only steal treasure but also to east the inhabitants of the dungeon to sate their endless hunger. Trolls being somewhat magically gifted would also be interested in magic that could be found there. At least the troll wives would.

Halflings would be the least likely to enter dungeons because they tend to enjoy staying in the home and in domestic environments. Some few would enjoy adventuring though.