General Thoughts on Fantasy Races

[Darth_Biomech]

Why can't there be more nuisance in Fantasy Races? Isn't that more interesting than what has previously been done? And why can't we diversify past Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, Halflings, and Humans? There are other fantasy races.

Fantasy, despite it's name, is one of the most formulaic genres out there. Weird, huh? There's long list of "shoulds" for fantasy settings. So the answer is "there can be, but nobody cares enough to strife from the cookie-cuter Tolkien-DnD regurgitated copypasta"

[DukeOfOool]

The DnD-LOTR-copypasta genre, also known standart Isekai setting, is mostly boring, but can be cool and interesting if executed well. But as most athors use them in order to NOT do worldbuilding it get's boring real fast. If executed well these standart races are unique enough. It's mostly a worldbuilding problem.

For example dwarfes: Even if they're your standart mountain digging, beer drinking, stronghold building, armor smithing dwofs, giving them a unique pantheon of gods and believes/ unique architecture/ distinct look and funny little details can bring them to live.

The reason most of these races feel slapped on is because the author did indeed just slap then onto the story without any thought. I don't think something can be truly overdone, as the art of reimagination and redrawing is to change, but always come back to it's roots. Giving life to the story through detail.

I know I mostly ranted about storytelling not races, but I think nothing can be really wrong with simple ideas like those stereotypes( of fantasy races). It's how the author uses them.

[Legendofgenii]

I think this with computer games too. I don't like it when they stereotype the races - so an Orc would be a heavy, an Elf an archer or a dwarf wielding an axe - and usually a skinny pale character as a mage. Lol!

In my comic I am trying to use (not really new) different races. The main character is a Siren (Half human/Half bird) and I also have Aamami (Half Human/Half Rabbit) and the Gorn (Humanoid Gorillas). I don't think I'll feature elves, dwarves or Orcs, but there will be humans.

[GesuGesu]

Kobolds.

[abcde]

I think you meant 'nuance'?

IIRC, Tolkien struggled with the concepts of Orcs being inherently evil as that raises a lot of questions especially about nature vs nurture. If an orc is born evil, would they change if they're brought up in a kind environment? If they are incapable of being good, wouldn't that mean their villainy should be forgiven since they literally cannot go against their nature?

Easiest answer would be that creativity takes a lot of effort. When people realize how daunting the undertaking is, they default back to Tolkien's established template. Easy peasy! Sad but that's how it is.

[Snickerdoodles]

That's some really nice art. Where is it from?

[Zaboem]

I think my favorite fantasy race is the Shidhe from the Senzar roleplaying game. Shidhe are a fae species (as the name implies) which are descended from nature spirits. The neat aspect of the Shidhe is how their bodies are individualistic. A specific character might be six inches tall with fairy wings or be a seven foot tall scarecrow. The player chooses the Shidhe's shape. The Shidhe have infiltrated most of the other races to the extent that they have no culture of their own.

P.S.: I just realized that this discussion is basically Interspecies Reviewer: The Thread.

[liamhernandezlucas]

Oh, another fun example of someone using alternate races is @Hexigate's Aegis!
The other races start out as catlike people and lizardlike people, but at some point the author decides to give them a big overhaul with new designs, and they end up looking really cool. Especially the cat people, who changed into these oddly alien looking creatures with vertical mouths and long antennas.They stray away from hats too. Each member feels like a person, but they do have cultural differences. It just seems a bit more region bound than race bound, from what I can tell.

Aegis | Tapas

[aqua03]

What even is Kobold, anyway? I mean, it seems that the East and West have two entirely different versions of said species. Like, the Japanese and Asians have the dog-type Kobold, whereas we seem to have the Lizard-type Kobolds. Any reason why that is?

[NickRowler]

I don’t have an issue with people who want to use fantasy races, however I just wish people would write them in more interesting ways instead of reinforcing weird tropes. I am a bit sick and tired of skinny pale elves being framed as smart, civil, and the ultimate beauty while other creatures, mostly trolls, who are not the standards of beauty are framed as uncivilized and stupid.

[DukeOfOool]

From what I've seen Kobolds are always outsiders, each culture gives them some inhuman aspect just to drive home that they're not like us. They're some weirdo/outcast living away or hidden from their civilisation. This was done in order to portray other cultures/strangers.
Also I believe the lizard-type kobolds are a DnD creation in order to tie them to dragons. Wester Kobolds are also dogpeople: For example the germanic kobolds are spirits that could materialize into child sized animal-people, mostly with dog-like attributes.

In fantasy I mostly assume that Kobold is a human word used to describe these animal-people, ignoring the difference between them. Similar to saying all asians are chinese.

[aqua03]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for explaining that to me.

[DukeOfOool]

The worst thing about elves is that their power and beauty is never something their race worked for. It's just inherent to them.
It would be way easier to their snobbish and arrogant behavior if they acctually worked for it. For example one idea for "elves" in my story is that they're basically the offspring of a supremacist group, that geneticaly enhanced and breed themself and succeeded in becoming actually superior. But because their constant racism they started many wars and lost. Driving them to near extinction. The surviving elves now have to learn not to be nazis and share their science with other races.

For trolls I have to say as long they're not used as charcters, but monsters, their stereotype is okay. If the author uses them as person the chaos ensues. The author has to create an actually working society for the trolls.
Again in my setting trolls, would be described as big reptilian-mamal hybrids (think of a furless gorilla), which live in caves and inside mountains, because they fear the cold. In their homeworld/land trolls quiet civilized and similar to dwarfs genious architect and miners, but outside of these protected bubbles their culture deteriorated though constant wars. Most trolls seen have been hunted for their entire life, thus never learnt anything beyond how to kill those pesky humans that keep showing up.

[Berserker]

The "High Elves" in the Elder Scrolls series are like that. They've been using magic for millennia to try to give themselves eternal life. I tend to like all the Mer types in the Elder scrolls. And I like their take on the orcs too, loners, but with ties to the empire as well-respected legionaries and smiths.

[GesuGesu]

Dungeon Meshi! It's a manga.

[GesuGesu]

I'm actually not too sure. The only kobolds I've ever seen were dog-types like the ones from Ragnarok Online.

Dogs are cuter in my opinion. The lizard-type tends to sometimes get their own species names like Lizardmen, Salamanders, Dragonnewts, Drsgonblood, etc. I'm not super into specific fantasy naming tropes and I'm happy to consume anything.

[GesuGesu]

Ah yes, Intrrspecies Reviewers. You are a person of culture.

[aqua03]

I honestly like both designs, to be honest. I love dog,s and i love reptiles. Best of both worlds!

[nathanKmcwilliams]

In D&D the Kobolds are draconic little dudes. Basically Dragon hobbits.

[aqua03]

Dragon hobbits.

I love that description of them for some reason and i have no idea why... XD