Continuing from Part Six...
The Lord of the Rings and other Eurofantasy provided an extensive foundation upon which to build a setting. I was going in different directions for my own world, and it was important that my players were on board for the adventure. Toward that end, I would listen to their questions and concerns as they made and ran player characters.
Q. Why were Humans the pinnacle of the adventuring community? Why could they advance in every class without limit?
A. Because humans invented and established adventuring as a career and lifestyle. Non-human races had only recently expressed any interest or inclination in risking their lives in the occasional pursuit of riches or glory.
Q. Why were there no non-human clerics?
A. Because there were no non-human gods. Humanity brought its deities with them to this new world. Non-human races did not worship gods.
Q. Why were humans essentially in charge when they had shorter lifespans and no natural advantages to compete with non-human races?
A. In Avremier - they aren't. Humans simply have more need for secure settlements and extensive civilizations.
And so-on...
Answers like these helped shape the setting. Humans were aliens. Dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings were native races with most of their roots in the Faerie realm. Some of them adapted in part to human culture in an effort to better interact and coexist with their new neighbors. The setting was still humanocentric in that humans were the ones dedicated to adventuring - but not so much that other races were reduced to second-class citizens or convenient caricatures.
With the end of the Wars of the Harrowing, humanity was limited in part to extensive "reservations" of land. The surrounding wilderness was ancient and inimical to humankind. Other races had their own settlements, but set pretty far from those of humans - and often in climes that humans found difficult to endure. Thus, did the realm take shape - with humans in the relatively safe spaces, and the other races in their outside places.
Not that some of those other races didn't mingle a little. Halflings, especially, seemed to enjoy dabbling in human culture. Dwarves were pretty friendly and accepting. Even most of the elves stopped killing humans on sight after a few decades of uneasy peace. I wanted the non-human races to FEEL non-human. Players could run their characters however they wished, but the dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings of Avremier were certainly not just selected human attributes taken to extremes. For humans, there has yet to be a true Industrial Age - their civilization seems firmly set in the Adventuring Age.
After this, so many other aspects and details of the setting seemed to fall into place.
The Lord of the Rings and other Eurofantasy provided an extensive foundation upon which to build a setting. I was going in different directions for my own world, and it was important that my players were on board for the adventure. Toward that end, I would listen to their questions and concerns as they made and ran player characters.
Q. Why were Humans the pinnacle of the adventuring community? Why could they advance in every class without limit?
A. Because humans invented and established adventuring as a career and lifestyle. Non-human races had only recently expressed any interest or inclination in risking their lives in the occasional pursuit of riches or glory.
 |
| 1974 - When EVERYone wore a beard. |
Q. Why were there no non-human clerics?
A. Because there were no non-human gods. Humanity brought its deities with them to this new world. Non-human races did not worship gods.
Q. Why were humans essentially in charge when they had shorter lifespans and no natural advantages to compete with non-human races?
A. In Avremier - they aren't. Humans simply have more need for secure settlements and extensive civilizations.
 |
| Even then, the races of Avremier looked nothing like this. |
Answers like these helped shape the setting. Humans were aliens. Dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings were native races with most of their roots in the Faerie realm. Some of them adapted in part to human culture in an effort to better interact and coexist with their new neighbors. The setting was still humanocentric in that humans were the ones dedicated to adventuring - but not so much that other races were reduced to second-class citizens or convenient caricatures.
With the end of the Wars of the Harrowing, humanity was limited in part to extensive "reservations" of land. The surrounding wilderness was ancient and inimical to humankind. Other races had their own settlements, but set pretty far from those of humans - and often in climes that humans found difficult to endure. Thus, did the realm take shape - with humans in the relatively safe spaces, and the other races in their outside places.
Not that some of those other races didn't mingle a little. Halflings, especially, seemed to enjoy dabbling in human culture. Dwarves were pretty friendly and accepting. Even most of the elves stopped killing humans on sight after a few decades of uneasy peace. I wanted the non-human races to FEEL non-human. Players could run their characters however they wished, but the dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings of Avremier were certainly not just selected human attributes taken to extremes. For humans, there has yet to be a true Industrial Age - their civilization seems firmly set in the Adventuring Age.
After this, so many other aspects and details of the setting seemed to fall into place.
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