Some races just don't get a lot of play in my games. Here are a few.
Cat-Folk - I just don't love cat people. I like actual cats, but I don't really like cat races. Some of it is the actual racial designs, a much of it is not wanting players do all sorts of cat-themed roleplaying.
Most animal-men fall in the same disused category. The occasionally bear-man doesn't bother me too much, though.
Centaurs - I'm not a horse person, either - although I am a basashi fan. I really actually like the idea of centaurs, but they come with just so many issues - the whole horse body thing makes for a lot of issues. Can't go upstair in the inn. Can't fit in the carriage. Can't climb up the rigging on the pirate adventure. Can't, can't, can't. And what they can do isn't terribly better than what human-like beings on horses can do.
Variant centaurs have much of the same issue - wemics, for example, or any other quadruped-with-a-human-body types. Vrusk were exceptionally cool but came with issues in Star Frontiers in a way none of the other races were.
Pixies - and sprites, brownies, and other tiny flying races. Generally the issues is the annoyance of scale. I find them difficult to play as a GM without them being annoying instead of fun. As a GM, I tend to nix them from the list faster than you can say, "Hey, everything in the game has a penalty to hit me, right?"
What races don't really see much use in your games?
No one ever chooses Gnomes it seems... Or at least until my gf created her very first D&D character and chose a Gnome. And btw, does that mean you don't like Puck from Berserk??? ;p
ReplyDeleteI had to look up with Puck from Berserk, so I don't even have an opinion. I really watch very, very little anime and consume almost no manga. My connection to Japan is familial and martial arts related.
DeleteBecause gnomes are... Eh...
DeleteI tried to figure out how to run them, and all I could come up with regarding normal dnd gnomes was less bearded dwarfs, or less jolly hobbits.
I think the best way to run them would be to make them into proper garden gnomes and run with all the connected tropes.
No way! I love gnomes. They havae that mage/tinker/inventor vibe going on.
Delete"Pixies - I find them difficult to play as a GM without them being annoying instead of fun."
ReplyDeleteHEY LISTEN!
I think pixies could work if you give enemies a damage multiplier as big as the to hit penalty. Just to make sure that yes, that ogre can barely hit you, but if he does you are a stain on the wall.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I never even thought about using pixies before.
Full up ogres. There are usually way to many strong but dumb races, so Im happy to keep them as just monsters. I rather like the beastmen and fairies though, but no one was even a little interested in playing a 1 HP character...
ReplyDeleteDF wise, Dwarves are over represented by a huge amount simply because they have so many advantages designed for dungeon crawls. Halflings and Gnomes are almost non-existent because of it.
Goblin-Kin are interesting in theory but cause issues of "why are we killing these guys out of hand?" if they are PC races... I generally ban all but Half-Orc (and maybe goblin, but Im not a fan of goblins.)
all sentient characters have slowly become a problem for me. Sure, Goblins are disgusting little creeps, but should they be killed outright? Now if they are looting and pillaging that's another thing, but if they are just living more or less peacefully, why would someone just kill them?
DeleteI think I am overthinking this though.
You can't have murder-hobos without murder.
DeleteI find the Murder Hobo genre to be easier on the verisimilitude on that score. Kicking in doors and murdering other sapients? Murder Hobos don't care. A group of Humans will happily cut-down other humans in the dungeon if said other humans are between them and that shiny loot. Elfs will flutter their hands uselessly at other Elfs, Gnomes will trap Gnomes, Dwarves will pick the brains of other Dwarves, etc. Murder Hobos just don't care.
DeleteWe've not seen a gnome in play at DoA yet. They seem tailor made for thief but Thieves seem to need to spend discretionary points mainly on combat prowess and the Gnome racial isn't that.
ReplyDeleteWhy do thieves have to spend their points on combat? They still won't be that good at it. Why not be better in their own niche?
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