[DF] Why not have some pure "bad guy" races in DF?

sieurin · 02-28-2010, 01:16 AM

I dont see the problem either. You have the orcoid races, you have dark elves, heavens to murgatroid, you have people who are the spawn of unmentionable abominations. Just say "You cant play these guys in my campaign, they are just monsters". Then play them as monsters.

Trolls were actually complicated in Scandinavian folklore; they were a bit more complicated than "likes to eat people".

"Troll" in folklore here (me = Swedish) is very much a word that tends to mean "humanoid supernatural being". If you ran a DF campaign based on actual Scandinavian folklore and some guy tells my adventurer to go and slay "trolls", I would groan, facepalm and tell him to be more specific.

Furthermore, when we played oldschool dungeon crawls, we didnt need the opposition to be evil. Face it, we were mercenaries in it for the dough and excitement, specialists in killing stuff; we generally just needed a clear enemy. "These guys are raiding farmers"; "these guys are sacrificing people to their deity"; "these guys have been at war with my people for generations" are all perfectly good reasons for there being an enemy that people either dont mind if you kill (and take their stuff) or even pay you to kill and take their stuff. Morals never entered into it. Thats for those high-falutin' "high fantasy" types that go on quests and stuff.

Erik

02-28-2010, 01:16 AM	#29
sieurin Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: The armpit of the Icegiant, Sweden	Re: [DF] Why not have some pure "bad guy" races in DF? I dont see the problem either. You have the orcoid races, you have dark elves, heavens to murgatroid, you have people who are the spawn of unmentionable abominations. Just say "You cant play these guys in my campaign, they are just monsters". Then play them as monsters. Trolls were actually complicated in Scandinavian folklore; they were a bit more complicated than "likes to eat people". "Troll" in folklore here (me = Swedish) is very much a word that tends to mean "humanoid supernatural being". If you ran a DF campaign based on actual Scandinavian folklore and some guy tells my adventurer to go and slay "trolls", I would groan, facepalm and tell him to be more specific. Furthermore, when we played oldschool dungeon crawls, we didnt need the opposition to be evil. Face it, we were mercenaries in it for the dough and excitement, specialists in killing stuff; we generally just needed a clear enemy. "These guys are raiding farmers"; "these guys are sacrificing people to their deity"; "these guys have been at war with my people for generations" are all perfectly good reasons for there being an enemy that people either dont mind if you kill (and take their stuff) or even pay you to kill and take their stuff. Morals never entered into it. Thats for those high-falutin' "high fantasy" types that go on quests and stuff. Erik