tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post5966013235727274824..comments2024-03-29T04:24:58.321+08:00Comments on Monsters and Manuals: Messing With CulturesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-57631144311433712872008-10-01T05:55:00.000+08:002008-10-01T05:55:00.000+08:00"Halfling-hobgoblin-sylvan mix? I don't think it's...<I>"Halfling-hobgoblin-sylvan mix? I don't think it's ever been done before... ;)"</I><BR/><BR/>So... they're short, flighty, green, and related to hobgoblins.<BR/><BR/>Hmm.<BR/><BR/>Where have I come across a race like that before?Inyssiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12247882160934482179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-71986668309066361652008-08-10T08:14:00.000+08:002008-08-10T08:14:00.000+08:00Nick: You're right, of course, about monocultures,...<B>Nick</B>: You're right, of course, about monocultures, but the problems remain that a) most players seem to view "All halflings are Thai" as meaning "All halflings are the same" and that b) it doesn't seem realistic that halflings in Thailand and halflings in Chad should have the same language and culture.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-7136141875813225002008-08-10T04:55:00.000+08:002008-08-10T04:55:00.000+08:00Monoculture is a matter of scale.The families in a...Monoculture is a matter of scale.<BR/><BR/>The families in a small town easily distinguish between themselves and the McCoys down the street. But everyone in <EM>these</EM> parts agrees that folks from Shelbyville are all noisy hooligans. And everyone knows what they say about the next county over, or the next state, or the next country, even when their populations are not linguistically or ethnically distinct.<BR/><BR/>As long as you think of them as people with homes, thoughts, families, fears, hopes and prejudices of their own, a principle like "All Hobbits are Thai" is no more of a straightjacket than saying "All Humans are from Earth." People are distinct from the cultures they participate in (I'm loath to say "belong to"), no matter their racial abilities and attribute adjustments.Nick Novitskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08863651199447917923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-48856753871021735362008-08-05T07:52:00.000+08:002008-08-05T07:52:00.000+08:00Whoa! Next time I visit Extremadura, I'll be think...Whoa! Next time I visit Extremadura, I'll be thinking of hobgoblins! Great post, there's some nice posibilities for the idea.José Viruetehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05025986947484424808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-1353057881200996322008-08-02T17:08:00.000+08:002008-08-02T17:08:00.000+08:00Max: That is a cool combination. Jason: No, but I ...<B>Max</B>: That is a cool combination. <BR/><BR/><B>Jason</B>: No, but I can see I'm going to have to check it out...noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-49774277862560981232008-08-02T16:15:00.000+08:002008-08-02T16:15:00.000+08:00Are you familiar with Flintloque (http://en.wikipe...Are you familiar with Flintloque (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintloque)... a game of fantasy Napoleonics, where the English are Orcs and the French elves. Welsh hobgoblins and Scottish ratmen round things out.Jason Langloishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02507550527211520786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-46218486732751099582008-08-02T09:20:00.000+08:002008-08-02T09:20:00.000+08:00Cultural sensitivities be damned! It's not as if a...Cultural sensitivities be damned! It's not as if any of your choices is meant to be a deep and meaningful parallel to its real-world analog.<BR/><BR/>I've never done this on such a scale but I like it very much. The closest I've come is drawing on real world culture for character background and flavor. In particular a Tuvan inspired half-orc bard -- throat singing seemed just the thing for that race and class combination.Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07615194097431562045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-17312681096964783182008-08-02T09:11:00.000+08:002008-08-02T09:11:00.000+08:00Halfling-hobgoblin-sylvan mix? I don't think it's ...Halfling-hobgoblin-sylvan mix? I don't think it's ever been done before... ;)<BR/><BR/>The question is what sylvan race. For some reason I want a race of Celtic satyrs.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-74503611345854620722008-08-02T08:22:00.000+08:002008-08-02T08:22:00.000+08:00See, now you've got me thinking about the hobgobli...See, now you've got me thinking about the hobgoblins as the Romans. And it fits perfectly, doesn't it?<BR/><BR/>I guess the way to go with "English" is break it down to its historical roots. So the Germanic side is Dwarf-related (could still be Halflings, I reckon...not much of a stretch to imagine them as distant cousins of Gnomes), the Celtic/Welsh side is some sort of sylvan race (natch), and the French side is the good ol' hob-gobbies. Quite a little stew mixed together there, hm?David Larkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04133630988557116729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-19132433459416074802008-08-02T08:11:00.000+08:002008-08-02T08:11:00.000+08:00Odyssey: I quite like the idea of hobgoblins calle...<B>Odyssey</B>: I quite like the idea of hobgoblins called Ludovic and Pierre.<BR/><BR/><B>Kelvingreen</B>: I think I'll have to check out Red Box Hack. <BR/><BR/><B>Edsan</B>: Eh, the Portuguese were the least bad colonial power. Perhaps after the French. Sure they were slavers. But so was everybody else in the 15th century. <BR/><BR/><B>Sirlarkins</B>: That's probably a more sensible way of doing it, rather than the ad hoc mix and match approach I was taking. Definitely hobgoblins would be the Romance language cultures in my world. Of course English is a West Germanic language, so I suppose by that logic they should be some relative of the dwarves and gnomes if the latter are Germans and Dutch.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-43247475082860300902008-08-02T02:55:00.000+08:002008-08-02T02:55:00.000+08:00I too have played around with cultures as races. A...I too have played around with cultures as races. And you're absolutely right--it's a horrible, very un-PC thing to do. But it's oh so much fun too!<BR/><BR/>My approach was to look at language families and assign broad races based on that, then sub-races based on particular languages.<BR/><BR/>I don't have my notes with me, but I remember I made Slavic equal goblinoids, Finno-Ugric equal Elves (so you had "winter elves" as Finns in the north and "wild elves" as horse nomad Hungarians in the south), Germanic was Dwarvish (Dwarves and Gnomes were German and Dutch, respectively) and so forth.<BR/><BR/>I was never quite sure what to do with the Romance languages or English. I think I got caught up in the history of how the languages evolved and tried to read too much into that. I think I had halflings be English, but you make a powerful argument for Orcs. I was thinking along the same lines as edsan and made them Russian. I know that the miniatures game <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintloque" REL="nofollow">Flintloque</A> went the same direction, although I don't know much about the setting beyond that.David Larkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04133630988557116729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-88329441977074716592008-08-02T01:45:00.000+08:002008-08-02T01:45:00.000+08:00Correction: there's 2 of them now.Correction: there's 2 of them now.Edsanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11619248696115787815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-11671617004684751772008-08-02T00:17:00.000+08:002008-08-02T00:17:00.000+08:00Noisms, you give my people more credit than we're ...Noisms, you give my people more credit than we're due on the wrong areas.<BR/><BR/>Portuguese halflings would not be wide-eyed curious explorers braving the 7 Seas, but vicious little piratical bastards intent on plundering tribal civilisations for bling and slaves and converting the poor sods into their religion.<BR/><BR/>Yeah, the Spanish beat us to destroy the Aztecs and their ilk and you guys and the Dutch kicked our collective arses out of most of Asia in time. But we where the first to endeavour down the African coasts in an odyssey of greed-fuelled, blood-soaked genocide.<BR/><BR/>Credit where it is due, please. :)<BR/><BR/>And from my POV the English are a remarkably civilised people. They just aren't shy about having fun. The Orcs should be Russians, they are Imperialistic AND tend to destroy everything they touch. I think Drow might be a much more appropriate fantasy race for Britons. <BR/><BR/>And BTW check my blog, there’s a Motivational Poster there just for you. ;-)Edsanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11619248696115787815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-57559296153931144552008-08-02T00:13:00.000+08:002008-08-02T00:13:00.000+08:00Regarding animal races and D&D, Red Box Hack d...Regarding animal races and <B>D&D</B>, <A HREF="http://redboxhack.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">Red Box Hack</A> does almost exactly that, swapping the Red Box dwarves, elves and halflings for bears, snakes and foxes, respectively. And it's not Furry in the slightest, thank the gods.<BR/><BR/>As for the English Orcs, I think Games Workshop had that idea years ago. ;) One of the old <B>40K</B> books had an Orkish war chant in it, which was a thinly-veiled football terrace song.<BR/><BR/>I like the idea of imperialist orcs with monocles and big moustaches though. Perhaps there's an upper class of orc and then the (literal) grunt who does all the killin'.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-79040957040778638012008-08-02T00:08:00.000+08:002008-08-02T00:08:00.000+08:00My first reaction is that I should steal more from...My first reaction is that I should steal more from real-world cultures for my games. It's a resource I've never properly used, and even if I don't end up doing a one-to-one correspondence like this, pulling more from history would make my game better.<BR/><BR/>My second is -- "Hobgoblins with bad French accents! Sweet!"Nataliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15528192783751011497noreply@blogger.com