Minor Races

[Osvir]

Beastial, humanoid, insectoid whatevs, from another country far far away, and only a few of them in this nick of the woods. Merchants, travelers, immigrates and so on and so forth.

 

Stretching it: Perhaps even a race from another nation flees from their country because of some catastrophic event (and it's headed your way) causing lots of immigration and degeneration.

 

Saw this picture and thought it could be cool, a wandering swordsman from an exotic country far far away, realms away even?:

Edited November 17, 2012 by Osvir

[NerdBoner]

that asian themed elephant samurai is giving seizures to at least 10 realism aspies at this very moment...now if you wanna make it really inflammatory put it in a chainmail bikini and say it's romanceable.

[Agelastos]

that asian themed elephant samurai is giving seizures to at least 10 realism aspies at this very moment...now if you wanna make it really inflammatory put it in a chainmail bikini and say it's romanceable.

 

Why is it inflammatory? I'm not a fan of anthropomorphic animals. I prefer my playable fantasy races to be demi-human.

BUT I could envision a demon or other humanoid monster looking like that, if you removed the samurai outfit. Kind of reminds me of Yag-kosha from Robert E. Howard's The Tower of the Elephant.

Compared to a lot of the demons described in ancient and medieval works on demonology, it looks downright normal. Take Pazuzu, for instance: a Mesopotamian wind demon who is usually depicted as having the body of a man, the head of a lion or dog, taloned feet like an eagle, two pairs of wings, a scorpion's tail, and a serpentine ****. He must have been quite a hit with the ladies, huh?

 

Edit: Really? I can't write ****? It's the medical term, damnit! What am I supposed to write? Ding-dong?

Edited November 17, 2012 by Agelastos

[gglorious]

I don't have a problem with minor non-playable races. I mean, there's a ton of different excuses to put them in there somehow.(Race is largely local to another area of the world. Race is largely extinct. Race has low birthrate. Race is artificial and only a limited amount were created. Race is from another plane. Etc) I think the driving issue for other races would be world-building. So, if the world is made richer by another race, then go for it. Otherwise, don't.

[jezz555]

I think it's pretty clear we differ on this, but I'm not to crazy about anime-styled stuff like this or whatever you want to call it. It's just too common these days

[JOG]

Maybe remove the hair and ears and add an extra trunk or three, and instead of a warrior make it a cipher... Oh wait...

 

Seriously though, a single character of a vastly different race is a waste of resources, and for a whole race I'd hope for something more inventive than a human with an animal head, IMO, even a quadruple-wielding mantis-man (yes, Thri-Kreen) would be more interesting than a Samuphant.

 

BTW: do we even know how the Orlans and Aumauna look like?

Edited November 17, 2012 by JOG

[Jojobobo]

I'd like a minor non-playable race in the main game to become playable in the expansion.

[Pipyui]

I loved Beyond Good and Evil, but I'm not sure how I feel about an elephant-man in my western RPG (ambivalent maybe).

To the (real) topic at hand, I'm with gglorious on this. A few scattered or localized non-playable races from other lands would be neat, so long as they "fit" in the PE world. Ultimately it's a world-building decision - if they don't enhance the world, history, and lore; don't add them.

[rjshae]

It takes work to develop a culture for each of these races. Do you just want to see a lot of weird-looking, westernized humanoids, or would you prefer fewer, distinctive, better developed racial cultures? Personally I'd prefer the latter.

[Brother Pain]

The advantage to using creatures with the same number of arms and legs as humans is that you don't need to make a completely new set of animations for it.

 

As for the idea of having one or a few people of a weird race from far away, I'm all for it. Odd culture (whether inspired by Asia the west or something wholly original) is cool too. Elephant-man there doubly so.

[Osvir]

It takes work to develop a culture for each of these races. Do you just want to see a lot of weird-looking, westernized humanoids, or would you prefer fewer, distinctive, better developed racial cultures? Personally I'd prefer the latter.

 

Agreed. Unless.. nah. Agreed

[rjshae]

The advantage to using creatures with the same number of arms and legs as humans is that you don't need to make a completely new set of animations for it.

 

As for the idea of having one or a few people of a weird race from far away, I'm all for it. Odd culture (whether inspired by Asia the west or something wholly original) is cool too. Elephant-man there doubly so.

The problem comes in when the developers need to make conversation branches for the different races. A unique elephant man should attract a lot of attention and unusual responses. That translates in a potentially enormous number of conversation forks. It simply doesn't scale well and requires a significant trade-off against other features. I don't think this makes economic sense. The only way to make it work is for the weird to be an every-day occurrence, which would completely change the setting.

[Osvir]

^The Elephant man is an example. Just wanted to clear that out. I could've made the post with just this:

Beastial, humanoid, insectoid whatevs, from another country far far away, and only a few of them in this nick of the woods. Merchants, travelers, immigrates and so on and so forth.

 

But people seem to be picky and they read way too much into the picture than the actual wording. The Elephant Man could be a [insert creature] who is a descendant or an ancestor from the Aumaua, their appearance different (but similar) but sharing the same cultural belief's (with a slight twist coming from another region of the world).

 

Specifically looking for the "Merchant from an Exotic Country" (not necessarily Asian, but perhaps an African heritage, or Native American Heritage. Australian Heritage, Middle-Eastern etc. etc). A Blacksmith that appears randomly throughout the story Once or Twice (not magically appearing, but you'd find him in a city at one point, and the next point he's gone) and if you don't talk to him he will continue his nomadic journey and you'll miss him if you don't make use of him right away. Someone who is passing through the country from another country to another country.

 

Why? Because it makes the world feel bigger than it actually is.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Osvir

[Wulfic]

Instead of Minor races I rather see cultures from faaaar away. Imagine a caravan with camels and men in shemags talking to each other in an exotic and foreign language. That kind of thing is alway BADASS.

[Pipyui]

Instead of Minor races I rather see cultures from faaaar away. Imagine a caravan with camels and men in shemags talking to each other in an exotic and foreign language. That kind of thing is alway BADASS.

 

Indeed. A little mixing in of foreign cultures and events can suggest a world much more vast than the player can explore. Perhaps these men are renegades of a great war being held elsewhere, and the world of PE is like the Shire of LOTR - isolated and oblivious to the world at large.

[Osvir]

Bandits from another country without any cultural ties, Barbarians, Vikings or Pirates making landfall on your shores only to loot and plunder.

 

Wizards of a far far away Realm.

 

Demons from another Realm.

 

Vagabonds and Nomads traveling the land from another country.

 

Merchants with Exotic Equipment that you can only get from them.

 

Think outside the box. What exists to the East, beyond the border of the world map picture of P:E?

We could go on forever I am sure on what exists beyond the Right Edge of the picture, and this shouldn't be a big focus. Just like the title, a Minor thing that appears in the game from outside the screenshot.

 

Another way to solve the cultural bit is just having the [example] Elephant Man not being interested in talking about his Culture, maybe he has a hard past and you can't touch it and the only thing you can touch is his Equipment that he is selling, or the Quest that he provides to you. Who is to say that this guy couldn't be secretive and elusive? <- Bam, no need for a History Lesson of his Culture, instead the Player gets to think/speculate for him-/herself.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Osvir

[Pipyui]

Hrrm. Well, taking a look at the map blows my "isolated" idea out of the water. Despite the mountains blocking the east, the plethora of coastal cities concludes that trade isn't new to the folks of PE (on these coasts, at least). Of course, this means that we may see a whole lot of foreign influences in these locations, from people to cultures and architectures. Ghettos (in the traditional sense) might not be uncommon here.

Further inland seems to be these uninhabited Ruins of Eir Glanfath, so likely only small towns around here near the rivers. Probably not much foreign influence in these parts, though the inhabitants might be a little "unusual" themselves.

 

So my guess is that we might see a different mixing of peoples and cultures depending on our latitude along the coastal regions. Anything to add or rectify?

[Osvir]

New Heomer and Defiance Bay are definitely port towns, as well. Brass Crown Tower could be an Outpost as well. Strategically speaking.

 

New Heomer covers the North Coast from enemies, Geiran's Grasp and the small island (the small island north of "Road's End" definitely being an Outpost for the Military).

 

Defiance Bay would be the Main Port town, where most refugees and Multi-Culture would take place.

 

The picture and the black rings just an indication to what kind of strategic positions these have for a Military Faction.

 

Could Big City number 2 be across the Ocean to the West?

 

EDIT: The Mountain to the East provides with much defense, and similarly there is only 1 Village/Town there (Named Stalwart something) meaning that that should be the easiest route in-and-out, from the East. Hard position to hit for an enemy coming from the East most definitely.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Osvir

[Few]

Adding races such as "samurai elephants" would just be a terrible idea. Im sorry but it really would. Any fantasy universe with elves and dwarves etc is based on european folklore and mythology and that is why it feels familiar and "realistic". Putting extra crazy races into such a universe starts to make things feel cartoony and demeans the lore.

[Osvir]

^This is what I'm talking about about reading posts. See my other, other, post about it.

 

EDIT: Resolved on the next page. misunderstanding.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Osvir

[Few]

^This is what I'm talking about about reading posts. See my other, other, post about it.

 

Yep all posts read, but when your original post features a picture of a samurai elephant and you say it would be cool, well I felt like I needed to respond to that viewpoint and idea, not your ideas in other posts. Nothing personal.

[Osvir]

Alright mate, but it does seem like you haven't read any of it when you put it like that. Just saying. The Elephant man is an example, it could be an Orlan from another country far far away, but I've already covered this in another post.

[Pipyui]

Elephants, it seems, ruin everything from video games to forum threads.

[Osvir]

Is this better?

[Agelastos]

Weirdly enough, everyone seems to be talking about the elephant in the room.