Creating new player races for Legend.

[Koleso]

Hello,

I'm new to Legend and I notice the core rules only really cover player characters who are human. There do not seem to be any suppliments which cover creating additional player races for character creation selection.

I also have not found any discussions on the subject in the forums - if I overlooked those threads, could someone point me toward them?

Otherwise, does anyone have any idea how to go about it? I don't want to start slapdashing options together while I only have a limited understanding of the system.

To be specific, I am creating a setting where the party is a bunch of dragon knights. Two players are the knights, the other two are small dragons.

Thanks.

 

[Boneguard]

It is my understanding that Legend is the spiritual heir to RuneQuest. and in the RuneQuest universe, elves, dwarves, trolls, etc. are not meant to be PCs due to their nature. In the case of Elves and dwarves they are things of legends: Rarely seen and when you do they are as likely to kill you then to ignore you.

Normally every character is a human (usually of the same culture too)...although IIRC there were supplement that gave the possibility of having those race as PCs, but that is extrememly rare.

Nothing prevents you to create new PC race though.

 

[Carew]

It is my understanding that Legend is the spiritual heir to RuneQuest. and in the RuneQuest universe, elves, dwarves, trolls, etc. are not meant to be PCs due to their nature. In the case of Elves and dwarves they are things of legends: Rarely seen and when you do they are as likely to kill you then to ignore you.

Not true. In all the Runequest rules I've seen your encouraged to be a different species and the rules for making a character of a troll or broo or elf are same as for human, so I don't know what you mean by this 'RuneQuest Universe' because its not one I recognize.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

It is my understanding that Legend is the spiritual heir to RuneQuest. and in the RuneQuest universe, elves, dwarves, trolls, etc. are not meant to be PCs due to their nature. In the case of Elves and dwarves they are things of legends: Rarely seen and when you do they are as likely to kill you then to ignore you.

Normally every character is a human (usually of the same culture too)...although IIRC there were supplement that gave the possibility of having those race as PCs, but that is extrememly rare.

Errr... this is really wrong. 'RuneQuest' (depending on setting, but Glorantha was the main background for early editions) made no distinction between races rules-wise (stats excluded, however culturally and politically they were largely treated separately). There was discrimination and apathy in large doses to be sure, but one could play any race... with enough justification and GM approval. There were rules and guidance to help a player do so throughout the various books and editions.

Nothing prevents you to create new PC race though.

Exactly... do what 'RuneQuest' has always done!

 

[Boneguard]

Not true. In all the Runequest rules I've seen your encouraged to be a different species and the rules for making a character of a troll or broo or elf are same as for human, so I don't know what you mean by this 'RuneQuest Universe' because its not one I recognize.

Errr... this is really wrong. 'RuneQuest' (depending on setting, but Glorantha was the main background for early editions) made no distinction between races rules-wise (stats excluded, however culturally and politically they were largely treated separately). There was discrimination and apathy in large doses to be sure, but one could play any race... with enough justification and GM approval. There were rules and guidance to help a player do so throughout the various books and editions.

Looking over at my Chaosium 1980 RuneQuest 2nd Edition rulebook. Character creation on page 8 is for human and page 73 -although not explicitely forbidding them, discourage the use of non human character. The way the system is written and with all the backstory, it's meant to be human PC only.

 

[soltakss]

I'm new to Legend and I notice the core rules only really cover player characters who are human. There do not seem to be any suppliments which cover creating additional player races for character creation selection.

I also have not found any discussions on the subject in the forums - if I overlooked those threads, could someone point me toward them?

Otherwise, does anyone have any idea how to go about it? I don't want to start slapdashing options together while I only have a limited understanding of the system.

To be specific, I am creating a setting where the party is a bunch of dragon knights. Two players are the knights, the other two are small dragons.

One thing that Legend, like RQ beforehand, is good at is having non-human PCs.

Have a look at http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=55319 for some ideas on using non-humans as PCs.

 

[soltakss]

RuneQuest has always allowed and promoted the use of non-humans as PCs, it has been one of its many strengths over the years. Legend has continued this fine tradition, albeit not as explicitly.

Looking over at my Chaosium 1980 RuneQuest 2nd Edition rulebook. Character creation on page 8 is for human and page 73 -although not explicitely forbidding them, discourage the use of non human character. The way the system is written and with all the backstory, it's meant to be human PC only.

Looking at my RQ2 Rulebook, under Advanturer Creation, it says "To create a human Adventurer, the player rolls 3D6 for each of the following characteristics. This provides a range of from 3 (low) to 18 (high) for each characteristic and this range gives the basic parameters of human development. Other races such as elves, dwarves, and dragonewts may have different ranges for many characteristics. These differences are dealt with in the section on monsters, Chapter VIII".

So, the first paragraph of RQ2 Adventurer Creation tells you how things are different for non-human species, implying that they can be used.

On Page 73, it says "Yet, during the time of the Hero Wars, there were still many strange intelligent beings on Glorantha. For convenience, they have all been lumped together in this chapter. Many of them can be played as player characters."

The last sentence says what is says.

So, I'm afraid, your interpretation of RQ2 in terms of only human PCs is incorrect.

RQ2 also brought out TrollPack, which laid out in glowing terms how to generate and play troll PCs.

 

[Olaus Petrus]

Hello,

I'm new to Legend and I notice the core rules only really cover player characters who are human. There do not seem to be any suppliments which cover creating additional player races for character creation selection.

I also have not found any discussions on the subject in the forums - if I overlooked those threads, could someone point me toward them?

Otherwise, does anyone have any idea how to go about it? I don't want to start slapdashing options together while I only have a limited understanding of the system.

To be specific, I am creating a setting where the party is a bunch of dragon knights. Two players are the knights, the other two are small dragons.

Thanks.

Monsters of Legend gives stats for most common fantasy races. Character creation is otherwise similar as with humans, but you just throw different dices for non-human characters. There's also stats for dragons.

PS: Regarding the discussion if you can play as non-human or not in RQ. My most recent RQ character is a duck trickster, who is driving Orlanthi characters crazy.

 

[Carew]

Character creation on page 8 is for human and page 73 -although not explicitely forbidding them, discourage the use of non human character. The way the system is written and with all the backstory, it's meant to be human PC only.

So why does the back of my Runequest box say "Humans and non human characters play side by side. You can play as an elf, dwarf, minotaur or other humanoid. If you prefer something more exotic you can even be a griffin or a unicorn!"?

 

[DamonJynx]

ALL creatures that are sentient, i.e. have a variable INT characteristic can be used as player characters, though obviously not all of them are suitable.

In addition to Monsters of Legend 1 & 2 you can also check out, if you can obtain a copy, MRQ2 Wraith Recon which has additional player races and Historia Rodentia. Earlier versions of Runequest (MRQ2 and backward) have Dragonnewts which may assist with the type of campaign you're running. They may need a little work (depending on which version you get your source material from) to be compatible with Legend.

All in all, the beauty of this family of games (BRP, Legend, Openquest, RQ6 - which by the way has a nice little bit on designing your own creatures, Renaissance and so on) is that creatures are all built in the same way. Some creatures, undead for example, may not have a particular characteristic and others have different die rolls for their values but the same core rules apply which makes creating your own fairly easy.

 

[JRoss]

I'm about to release a book entitled Species & Societies. It's a sequel of sorts to Character Webs, and will feature a system for creating Legend species from scratch.