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Thread: Chap 1 Races

  1. #1
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    All right, I'm going to try something here in regards to Chap 1. I'm going to try to break it into sections that we can sanction as sections.

    I believe based on the comments (and polls on human subraces) that this is the version that people like for the races portion of Chap 1.

    I'll put this up for discussion for about a week or so and see who bites. Please give positive feedback also. In this case "I like it" or "me too" posts are actually are useful.

    Here is the pdf version:
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    Duane Eggert

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    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    Here is the word version:
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    Duane Eggert

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    Senior Member RaspK_FOG's Avatar
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    Me likes; me approves; me sanctions! :lol:

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    I'll approve it with one caveat, which might prove useful for newer players, or DMs wanting to enhance the setting. We include a paragraph for each of the following races, describing their real-world linguistic counterpart for purposes of naming and language use.

    Brecht: Germanic
    Khinasi: Arabic
    Rjurik: Norse
    Vos: Russian
    Sidhe: Gaelic

    This will assist DMs name NPCs and players name PCs, in addition to giving them a good push in the right direction for pronounciations. (I would also find this useful as a DM who uses accents when an NPC is speaking to players.)
    "It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion -- and usually easier."

    - R. A. Heinlien, from The Collected works of Lazarus Long

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    I would have prefered the humans to have to take a regional feat.

    Why do you have the brechts as spanish they were based on the hensiatic league and therefore germany and I would say they have a lot more similaritys to there than spain.

    I still think that the elves look a little weak maybe a +2 to int would help to balance the positive and negative stats as in third ed str and con are worth more.

    Those are my points I don't know weather anyone will agree with me but there you go.
    MORNINGSTAR

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    Graham, I agree with you re: the Brecht's culture.

    The problem is that someone her on the board is so firmly entrenched in their take on History (having done research in University), and will pull up reams of not generally known research on the rising merchant class of 1300s Spain. I don't think that they had a huge sea-based power block of squabbling city-states kept in line by merchant-princes, but I could be completely wrong here.

    What they fail to realize that if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's not a chicken.

    For exactly the same reason, I have given up on pushing the Vos as being analogous to the Rus, and the Khinasi similar to the Caliphates of the Ottoman Empire during the Crusades.

    At least they got the Rjurik correct.
    "It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion -- and usually easier."

    - R. A. Heinlien, from The Collected works of Lazarus Long

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    Another quick point... pronounciation.

    Brecht (BREH-kt)
    Basarji (bah-SAR-zhee)
    Rjurik (ree-YOU-rik)

    And a note that the Dwarves call themselves the Karamhul (KARA-mool)
    "It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion -- and usually easier."

    - R. A. Heinlien, from The Collected works of Lazarus Long

  8. #8
    First off, Let me say that the Infamous Reputation thing for Elves and Half-elves rocks! Finally, something that I can point to for my players and say "Play an elf if you like, but people will not be nice to you." I found it curious that elves have an ability score bonus for an ability, while they have major penalties applied to skills that rely on the ability, but I think I can rationalize it as being more Sorceror than personable-related.

    I also like the skills and saving throws assigned to each culture. However, I'm not sure that elite characters (read PCs) should be forced to take skills in the cultural region. 3.x seems to be about giving options, and limiting options seems counter to that (it will also stir the resentment of Players, so I ask also in the interests of my physical well-being ).

    The cultural thing also bothers me, and probably a lot of people (specifically with regards to the Brecht and the Khinasi). Regardless of how many reams of paper support the ideas, the issue at hand is that we're dealing with stereotypes if we're going to reduce cultural comparisons to one sentence. The number of trading consulates maintained by Aragon in the Rennaissance is not generally well known, thanks to games like Civilzation and countless others you say Dutch, they think seafaring traders. Similarly, you say Spain and people think of Cortez, or El Cid, or Galleons (which Anuire has, not the Brecht), or the inquisition. If you say Ancient Egyptian people think of bare-chested Pharaohs with linen-skirts and a very tall headdress/crown (and an ankh). If you say Arabs, or Arabian Nights on the other hand, people will bring the mental imagery that is supported by the artwork in Cities of the Sun and elsewhere.

    For people who don't have the time to do intensive comparitive historical research, the one sentence approach needs to be used. After all, thats how the Campaign was designed. Have a look at Rich Baker's original forward in the original Atlas of Cerilia. Second paragraph. Second sentence. As soon as you read that sentence you should know exactly what two human groups he's refering to. Our cultural equivalents need to be the same way: as soon as you read it you need to know what we're talking about.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Osprey's Avatar
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    Overall, I like this part of Chapter 1. While I would still love to see elves more developed as a race of true immortals, I'll accept this version and work it from there (knowing that my own ideas are simply too radicala departure from the 2e versions in BR ).

    One thing remains to be clarfied, and I think it needs to be in this section: aging. Are we to assume that the age categories for the various raves are identical tot he PHB ones? Do elves become adults the same as PHB elves? What about half-elves?

    My suggestion is this:
    1. Keep humans, halflings, and dwarves the same as their PHB counterparts.
    2. Give half-elves (having an immortal parent) the aging of PHB elves, except that they hit young adulthood (equivalent to an 18-year old human) around age 30-40, rather than the ridiculous 100 years of childhood. OK, maybe growing up in the elven realms entirely this would be true, but I expect most half-elves with some exposure to human parentage would mature much more quickly.

    Otherwise, I think the races are great! They've definitely been hammered, tempered, and reforged at this point, and I believe are mostly ready for publication. Thanks for keeping this rolling, Irdeggman!

    Osprey

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    Osprey: I agree with needing the aging/age categories/lifespan data as a table, just like in the PHB. In no other setting are Elves immortal, so this is a radical departure from the typical.

    Were we going to include information about using the three Goblin races as PCs? Even a footnote? If so, we'll need to add that data into the racial age limits table.
    "It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion -- and usually easier."

    - R. A. Heinlien, from The Collected works of Lazarus Long

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