What races do you let your players be

[duncan_disorderly]

I haven't yet drawn up Iron Kingdoms races in terms of Runequest stats. Perhaps what I can do is adjust skill points for nonhumans, so an ogrun or trollkin will be tougher than a human in brute force combat

I wouldn't expect many Trollkin to be tougher than humans in Brute force combat...

 

[duncan_disorderly]

The only races I would not include would probably be ... great trolls (if this was an option nobody would pick a snow troll or dark troll)...

Not necessarily. I mean Great Trolls are big and strong, but they are not all that bright, their magic is limited and the majority of them are slaves.
They are also quite rare (being, IIRC sterile, or largely so, and only conceived when a Dark Troll mother goes on a special heroquest to mate with Darkness demons) so justifying lots of them running around might be tricky...

I would only let players be a dragonewt if they can acquire a dragonewt rune and can succesfully integrate it. After that I am easy about it, but I fel some of the players would just not be abel to play some of the races right,

Dragonnewts are wierd mystics who generally try and avoid getting involved in the affairs of others as it gives them some kind of "Karmic Debt" that needs to be paid off before they can advance through the next cycle of their life. With the right player this might be fun, but there is the danger of the character being virtually unplayable as they have little or no reason or desire to interact with the rest of the characters.

I wonder how they would not be driven out of the village if they looked too weird (I do not think a tusk rider or troll would be welcome). Then again, it may freak out villagers just as easily if a waertagi, wind child and Slarge strolled in as cool as a breeze.

Depending on where and when your game is set, this is always the biggest drawback to playing non-humans - they are generally either hated and/or feared by most humans if they are (or look) threatening and despised if they don't, and distrusted in any cas . It's not universally true, of course - Intelligent races can always come to a compromise and, given a common goal, learn to live together. The Rules in general, obviously will allow PC's from just about any race, and in particular the Players Guide to Glorantha contains several backgrounds and professions for some of the more common races - but you should consider the background and setting of your campaign carefully before deciding what races to allow - and you may also need to discuss things with your players as some races and/or cultures may well not mix well with others

 

[Mage]

I suppose. As it stands, I know one or two players who would do great slarge/dwarf/troll/orc/tusk rider, but not much good at anything else, while one in particular likes to play evil/selfish chacters.
Just getting people to decide and working from there would be the best optoin I suppose.

 

[gamesmeister]

It's not just non-humans that suffer prejudice in Glorantha - even humans from other cultures can expect distrust and/or fear in varying degrees.

A western sorceror (probably a God Learner in the 2nd age) arriving in a barbarian town will be feared and shunned as some kind of soul stealer come devil worshipper, and quite possibly run out of town if he or she gives even the slightest reason for doing so, and if the locals can overcome their fear of him or her.

 

[Mage]

Sounds much like the way Europe was over the last 70+ years. I will keep that in mind though.

Certain Professions + Ignorance of NPC community = mob with pitchforks

 

[Utgardloki]

By Trollkin, I was referring to the Iron Kingdoms Trollkin, who are pretty tough. They may very well be a lot tougher than Gloranthan Trollkin.

As for the "nonhumans get run out of town" aspect, I find a few big problems with considering this a balancing aspect:

* In not all settings will nonhumans automatically get run out of town. Maybe that town is used to seeing lizardmen or trollkin or even walktapi hanging around. In the Atomic Kingdoms setting I am planning, Ogrun and Trollkin both have positive regard among the majority human populations.

It depends on what makes sense to the setting, and I don't want to suddenly have the townpeople decide they hate lizardmen just because a player wants to play one as a PC.

(OTOH, because of the way a certain player played his lizardman PC, the next lizardman who comes around will have the local watch on his back like glue.)

* Many players do not care what the townspeople think of their PCs. Expecially the munchkins and power gamers, they think having the townspeople fear them is a good thing.

I decided to let the player who played the lizardman PC mentioned above play a Thra Kaan for his next character -- like a Thri Kreen but different because I could not justify a Thri Kreen this far north. My intention was that the player would have to earn people's trust. It was not long before he was charged with murdering a dryad and exiled from the kingdom. Sigh.

* If a PC is going to be run out of town, this may put a serious problem with keeping a storyline on track. What if the PCs need information from the local merchants, but they won't talk to walktapi? My policy is to discourage PC of races or cultures or cults that are likely not to fit in the adventure, such as a Gnoll PC in my homebrew Audor campaign (the one with the lizardman and thra kaan PCs mentioned above).

 

[juhanfg]

I think for me one of the key things is that the races must be of similar intelligence to humans. a bit above, a bit below but overall human intelligence. This is just due to the fact that a character that has low intelligence is not going to come up with the things his player might, and someone with intelligence too high will probably see more things than the player might and then as GM you might need to feed him more information and you end up almost playing for him.

With respect to which race in particular, as most people is just trying to fit the character and the stories. But if there is a good explanation for why the character is there and the player is willing to put up with prejudices, etc. I don't put too many restrains.

 

[Mage]

I'm not deliberately going to put in restraints.

@Utgardloki
Soudns like you have been through this a lot with your players. I will take all that into account when I am going through character creation with my players.

 

[soltakss]

Centaurs are tough, but quite unplayable.

Actually, my wife has been playing a Zebraur for quite a while in my Glorantha game and has dealt with it quite well. She does alot of "I'll guard outside" and "can we go around instead of through?", but it is the price for being an absolute tank in combat.

Yep, that's the thing with centaurs. You trade off having to take a block and tackle underground with having a charging killing machine when you need it.

I played a centaur for years and he had to be lifted up and down slopes, squeezed into tunnels and so on. Fortunately, he adventured with Morokanth, Minotaur and some trolls, so the SIZ wasn't a problem, just the awkwardness.

Someone else played a minotaur, but the problem with those is that they would go into Battle Rage if they specialled (Criticals now, I think), so they quite often killed the last opponent with a good low roll, then proceeded to kill the rest of the party. We have a tale of the minotaur who killed the party in exactly that fashion, then when they were resurrected, they crossed a river, the minotaur went under and they started to pull him out, then they realised that he had been injured as he started to drown and was in Battle Rage, so they left him underwater for an hour or so, pulled the body out and looted it.

So, Minotaurs are harder to play than centaurs. Tusk Riders are just too violent for a normal game. Satyrs are too horny, Fawns are OK, I suppose. Werefolk are good for a laugh, until they have to change form and that puts a bummer on things, but they can be devastating in combat. Of the major races, I'd happily allow all of them, but UzUz are difficult to justify and nymphs are very limited in how far rhey can move. Dragonewts are iffy, except in the Second Age when they could be EWF agents. Dwarfs are fine, but incredibly boring, unless they are renegades, in which case they have other problems. Ducks are good for a while, newtlings get their tails eaten too often and tend to dry out when away from water and baboons give people fleas.

So, although I'd allow anything, trolls, elfs, dwarfs, humans, ducks, baboons and perhaps morokanth are fairly normal. Centaurs and other Beastmen are probably second choice on playability but first choice on fun. Dragonewts and other dragonkind are third choice for playability.

 

[Loz]

For a long time I wouldn't allow people to play Melniboneans in my Elric camapigns on the grounds that a) they appeal to mini-maxers, powergamers and control freaks; and b) their psyche is so warped we, as mere humans, cannot understand it and represent properly. But mostly a).

I've done a complete u-turn on that one. These days I like seeing how people deal with other races. The can give such a special insight into them that leads to some quite brilliant campaign development. One of my players in my Gwenthia campaign played an Iqari (eagle/man hybrid killing machine

http://www.gwenthia.org/ftp/Iqari/The%20Book%20of%20the%20Iqari.pdf)*

and that led to gaining a whole new understanding of what these creatures are about. Truly inspiring stuff. And yes, Stormwing did massacre by the bucketful with beak and claw, but he also composed the most beautiful, moving death songs, got frantically claustrophobic in enclosed places, and made all that carnage worthwhile.

*Take a look at this pdf. There's even stats at the back so you too can play a winged harbinger of death. A new, MRQ version will be forthcoming...

 

[Mage]

Whoa. Cool. Sounds like a killing machine.

Playing them aside, how common would a melnibonean be just wandering around the world of Elric outside of Immryr or Melnibone? FRom what I gather they are hated/feared/insular.

 

[Mongoose Pete]

Playing them aside, how common would a melnibonean be just wandering around the world of Elric outside of Immryr or Melnibone? FRom what I gather they are hated/feared/insular.

They are also arrogant, domineering and have the power to back up their whims. The reputation of Melniboneans is so awful, that few would dare to act against one. It wouldn't occur to a traveling Melnibonean that they wouldn't be treated with the respect and deference which is their due.

Up until the last century or so, before the sack of Immryr, some Melniboneans still lived in their foreign estates and few remaining colonies outside of the Dragon Isle. After the fall of the city, many of them wander the Young Kingdoms as survivors or mercenaries.

 

[Mage]

Well being able to back up your smack talk is a good thing. Well, I feel better knowing there could be a Melnibonean somewhere in my neighbourhood...

 

[elgrin]

Ducks are good for a while, newtlings get their tails eaten too often and tend to dry out when away from water and baboons give people fleas.

Soltakss - Thank you for that inspiration, my beginning players are just winding up Gringle's Pawnshop, hence Baboons, and now as a special benefit FLEAS. Although I don't believe a Troll would suffer, with the others the hairier they are, the bigger problem to rid themselves of the biters. Can't see Brewster letting them put up at the Tin Inn for the foreseeable future.

elgrin