10-20-2015, 03:38 AM | #21 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
What about the old Runequest Mostali - filled the dwarf slot but were actually machines, possibly the reliquae of a long dead biological civilisation.
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10-20-2015, 04:02 AM | #22 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
Quote:
Fantasy equivalents might be living elementals. Many years ago, I tried to make magical races with stronger influences from their origins. Dwarves from stone, elves from trees, humans from corn, etc.
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10-20-2015, 06:59 AM | #23 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
How about making the samurai dwarfs, with a strong sense of honor, a code that demands obedience until death and a feudal system in which a mine lord gives his retinue the right to all the profit from a shaft or a vein of ore.
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10-20-2015, 11:30 AM | #24 | |
Join Date: Apr 2015
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
Quote:
The dwarves have accumuated massive stores of knowledge on every topic under (far under) the sun. They are zenophobic, because outsiders almost always look like barbarians, but they are curious enough to send out expeditions to explore the world. If ever mobilized for war, the dwarven factories could output a tremendous amount of weapons and armour, but a dwarvish war policy is far more likely to turn towards isolation than backing one or another waring nation. In appearance, the race is short but well muscled. Facial hair, with the exception of an occasional well trimmed and waxed moustach, is unknown. Many of them are bald entirely. Dress is flamboyant, making use of any colour that isn't rocky in tone(they have enough rock as it is!). Clothing is usually impractical, and changes often to keep up with current trends. Jewlery is (at least currently) in fassion, and the amount of gold, silver, and gems you can fit on your body acts as a status symbol. The actual value of the items, however, is irrelivant. In a few years the trend might reverse, and minimalism may into fashion.
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10-20-2015, 11:59 AM | #25 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
You could also add dwarven automata to replace the slaves that supported RL ancient Greeks in their leisure. And maybe in place of their warriors as well - horror stories of the steel men who have destroyed previous expeditions keep raiders well away ... and these could even be warrior automata that most people never see because they are normally walled up somewhere as uncouth and prone to ruin the décor.
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10-20-2015, 12:16 PM | #26 |
Join Date: May 2011
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
The reliance on their environment as defense brings to mind Switerland. These not-dwarves could have a wonderful chocolate tradition to complement their facility with clockwork.
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10-20-2015, 01:22 PM | #27 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
Quote:
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10-20-2015, 01:48 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
You want to shatter the stereotype that Dwarves hate Elves then have the first "Dwarf" they meet a "Dwelf" a half-Dwarf / half-Elf mixture. Or even a village of them with considerable Dwarf / Elf residents to show their friendship.
Have several Dwarfs in the home base town show up in non-stereotypical occupations as they travel through similar to what was suggested earlier. Another idea, use the "gutter dwarves" (I forget what they are called) from D&D and then expand the available selection of sub-types in other ways as the group gets more information.
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10-20-2015, 05:47 PM | #29 |
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
Go the Falkenstein route. Dwarves are all males, and make the Elves all the females* of the species.
* Not exactly the Falkenstein route, Dwarven women look like human women in Falkenstein. |
10-20-2015, 06:43 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Feb 2011
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Re: A dwarf by any other name...
Stoneworkers. They are tall and quite strong, and have an intuitive grasp of stoneworking that exceeds humans'. Sunlight sickens them and will, eventually, kill them. On the rare occasions they go above ground, they wear thick cloaks and fogged goggles, which are (barely) sufficient. No settlement exists without at least two underground exits to other settlements, so they cannot be sieged unless you can seal them off.
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Tags |
brekhan, design, dwarf, elf, race |
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