tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post7644484943902257945..comments2024-03-29T03:53:01.413-07:00Comments on B/X BLACKRAZOR: Trying For Dwarves-SakeJBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-79013013695692397172015-04-11T21:38:35.999-07:002015-04-11T21:38:35.999-07:00@ GusL:
Your ideas are great (as usual). What'...@ GusL:<br /><br />Your ideas are great (as usual). What's a Finch module?JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-85628102736029476662015-04-11T03:03:42.047-07:002015-04-11T03:03:42.047-07:00I really don't care for the "racist alcoh...I really don't care for the "racist alcoholic scottish viking-miners" myself. They are just all exactly the same and nobody really has any ideas how to do anything remotely new with them.<br />I always go with gnomes instead, who really just need the Kender-sillyness purged from them and then you got a much more interesting kind race that fills the same role as dwarves.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-72447621660748287682015-04-10T09:26:47.423-07:002015-04-10T09:26:47.423-07:00I don't use dwarves, or any of the demihuman r...I don't use dwarves, or any of the demihuman races as written, in my HMS Apollyon games, but have replaced dwarves with melee monsters (albino fire worshipping 8' giants) - and yet no players have bothered to look for them to 'unlock' the race for play.<br /><br />That aside, your analysis of the D&D dwarf is interesting in that it points to the larger shift of D&D into a more combat oriented game. The other influences in the past 10-15 years is undoubtedly video games and Warhammer, both of which emphosize dwarves as warrior types.<br /><br />My personal impulse if say running a 5e fantasy game would be to house rule in race as class, get rid of the name 'dwarf' to allow players to characterize their short tough guys without beerbeardscot baggae and just go with the rules. Maybe the bsstards are "hole-people", "earth sprites" or "hill trolls". Interesting to see where a player goes with something like that. Let the player decide if their dewd has a mole face, is made of stone etc.<br /><br />I played a dwarf in a campaign that was lightly reskinned Finch modues with a sort of Warring States gloss - he was a redcap made of gnarled root and dirt, whose main goal was keeping his cap red and burying gold in the ground. Starting from a 'basic fantasy village' this gave the world the presence of 1HD nature spirits roaming about. Gus Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14872819206286105195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-43391683527566925522015-04-09T07:14:02.389-07:002015-04-09T07:14:02.389-07:00@ TImothy:
Indeed I do.
: )@ TImothy:<br /><br />Indeed I do.<br />: )JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-54397886991190634382015-04-09T07:03:02.836-07:002015-04-09T07:03:02.836-07:00Tolkien's dwarves certainly evolved. Remember...Tolkien's dwarves certainly evolved. Remember that they cast spells to guard the troll's treasure in the Hobbit.Darnizhaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12067874224412746414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-8113082275122838522015-04-09T06:33:23.142-07:002015-04-09T06:33:23.142-07:00@ MIchael:
Ha! That IS an interesting take on the...@ MIchael:<br /><br />Ha! That IS an interesting take on the species...sort of a combination of the Norse dokkalfar and svartalfar into a single species. <br /><br />Still doesn't make for a great adventurer-type, though.JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-11717520224081041192015-04-09T05:23:59.896-07:002015-04-09T05:23:59.896-07:00You might like what has been done with "Dwarv...You might like what has been done with "Dwarves" (better known as Dwemer) in The Elder Scrolls series, if you haven't given it a look.<br /><br />http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Dwemer (as a starting point)<br /><br />I've used a similar approach to my dwarves in my AD&D game. Rather than make them (or any of the races) a standard trope, I've tried to turn them on their ears. Michael S/Chgowizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052820400496340137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-499645220147366652015-04-09T05:08:29.732-07:002015-04-09T05:08:29.732-07:00@ Dan:
Oooo...sorry if I wasn't clear. I cert...@ Dan:<br /><br />Oooo...sorry if I wasn't clear. I certainly don't HATE Tolkien dwarves. I hate what has been done with them (their evolution/development over the years) especially in gaming.<br /><br />Back when I was doing my Goblin Wars campaign I used a "fairy folk" basis for ALL the demihumans, and it worked rather well (and I'd probably use something similar again)...but "fairy tale D&D" is not exactly my interest at the moment.<br /><br />I agree with your assessment of gnomes (and the two species are near interchangeable in Chainmail, save that the gnomish antipathy is for kobolds rather than goblins). However, gnomes have some negative connotation/stigma associated with 'em in American culture.JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-79350083485671250292015-04-09T01:29:23.383-07:002015-04-09T01:29:23.383-07:00Oh one thing I forgot - in D20 the faery-tale dwar...Oh one thing I forgot - in D20 the faery-tale dwarf archetype seems to have been filled by the gnome race. But the tone is just way off for me. If I were to take a stronger approach I might remove the dwarf rules and reskin gnomes as their replacement.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06011974487836242987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4143435314932633148.post-6235590637566948392015-04-09T01:24:49.089-07:002015-04-09T01:24:49.089-07:00I also like the faery-tale or folklore dwarf. The ...I also like the faery-tale or folklore dwarf. The kind who try to trick travellers into walking off cliffs, the kind who turn into toads or turn to stone in daylight. Mean, magical dwarfs with backwards-facing feet or other deformities.<br /><br />I don;t hate the tolkien/warhammer dwarf as much you, sometimes I like them and players using them often bring a lot of fun to a game... but I would like to see the folkloric dwarf more. <br /><br />I folklore as the basis of the dwarf culture in my homebrew campaign. Besides the traits I decribed above I also made them fey, made them more inclined to magic than to melee and I made them loners (in British Isles folklore they are in the class of 'solitary' faeries rather then 'trooping faeries') - one thing that does bug me about now-standard dwarf is their hive-like social structure (the game Dwarf Fortress seems almost like satire ion this regard, playing up their similarity to eusocial insects).Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06011974487836242987noreply@blogger.com