This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Part of a series on |
Role-playing games |
---|
Types |
Movements & Traditions |
Parts of Games |
Participants |
Lists |
WikiProject |
Character race is a descriptor used to describe the various sapient species and beings that make up the setting in modern fantasy and science fiction. In many tabletop role-playing games and video games, players may choose to be one of these creatures when creating their player character (PC) or encounter them as a non-player character (NPC). "People" is to be taken in the broader sense, and may encompass ethnic groups, species, nationality [lower-alpha 1] or social groups. [lower-alpha 2]
In this fantasy world, the word "race" means the same as and replaces "species".
Many fantasy stories and worlds refer to their main sapient humanoid creatures as races, rather than species in order to distinguish them from non-sapient creatures. [2] J. R. R. Tolkien popularized the usage of the term in this context in his legendarium (particularly The Lord of the Rings ), and the use of races in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games further spread the name. [3] Character race can refer to a fictitious species from a fictional universe, or a real people, especially in case of a history-based universe (even if it has a given level of fantasy [lower-alpha 3] ). The term "race" is even broader than the usual meaning, as it also includes creatures such as extraterrestrial beings, vegetal beings, [lower-alpha 4] and robots. [lower-alpha 5] [ original research? ]
This notion began in fantasy or science-fiction works: novels, comics, video games (especially role-playing video game), board games, LARP, etc. The transmediality is obvious in case of consistent universes, e.g. the Middle Earth or the Star Wars universe.[ citation needed ]
Not all works use the term "race": in Tunnels and Trolls 7th ed. (2005), [10] Ken St. Andre uses the term "kinship"; the term Spezies (species) is used in Das Schwarze Auge , [11] and éthnie (ethnicity) is used in EW-System 2.0. [12]
In the heroic fantasy games, in addition to humans, races are often humanoid and fey creatures of myth; such as elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, immaterial being (spirits, ghosts), etc. Some fantasy or steampunk games also involve "artificial creatures" (alchemical homunculus, golems and mechanical creatures).[ citation needed ] In science-fiction games, especially space opera and cyberpunk, the races are humans, extraterrestrials, mutants, cyborgs, transhumans, robots, and artificial intelligences (AI).[ citation needed ]
In some universes, it is possible to have hybrid characters which inherit traits from both parents. For example, in Dungeons & Dragons, it is possible to play a half-elf (hybrid of a human and an elf) or a half-orc (hybrid of a human and an orc).[ citation needed ]
The book Fundamentals of Game Design (2013) states: "in RPGs, race refers to groups of real and fantasy humanoids such as humans, dwarves, elves, giants, and so on. A better term would be species, but race is the term established by convention". [13] According to Coralie David, [14] in role-playing games, the characters are defined by "bricks"; they are in fact "syntagms of fictional paradigms". [lower-alpha 6] This makes the immersion of the player easier, as anyone can build their own character in a way that is consistent with the fictional universe. [15]
[As they describe various archetypes,] the authors of Dungeons & Dragons draw paradigms, the gears and bricks that compose them. It is possible to play Hobbits, Elves, Humans [… The players] will use bricks to build their own characters. The characters will be in fact structured like a set of gears that are both fictional and ludic.
— Coralie David, Role-playing game and fictional writing [15]
Thus, the race is one of these bricks, as it provides a set of predefined parameters (diegetic paradigms) and of characteristics—in the broad sense: physical characteristics, cultural background, moral values and social relationships. The fictional world is built as a consistent system made of "exposed" bricks [16] that can be easily identified, and this promotes creativity and sharing; it also promotes the imaginary creation by the player (or reader). [15] The race itself can be made of "sub-bricks" the player can choose, e.g. in After the Bomb 2nd ed. (2001), [17] the player can build his own race by a combination of a basic animal race and mutations.[ citation needed ] Academic Kimberly Young highlighted the virtual societies of role-playing video games where character design choices can immerse players. Young wrote that "the player must decide a character's race, its species, history, heritage, and philosophy. The genres and themes vary depending on the game. [...] Studies show that a character's identity seeps into the player—that is, as players spend hours living as this 'other person,' they begin to identify with the character that feels more real and less fictional the longer they play". [18]
Williams et al. (2018), in the book Role-Playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations, highlighted that in many role-playing games character races "are typically depicted and rule-modelled as biologically distinct species with different inherited traits [...]. These biological differences go hand in hand with different ethnic backgrounds like language, culture, history, or geographic origin, and even moral character and cosmic destiny. In a sense, the races in RPGs embody outmoded racial thought of the 19th century and earlier that assumes 'race' as a biologically or even cosmically determined unity of physiological species, ethnic culture, and geographic place". [19] Linda Codega, for Gizmodo in 2022, commented that "there are some critical points of game design that would help remove inherent bioessentialism and move away from racial coding; the removal of prescriptive skill packages, the decoupling of traits from race, the elimination of bloodlines and blood quantum mechanics, better mixed-race mechanics, and elimination of racialized language". [20]
The first role-playing game, "original" Dungeons & Dragons (1974), [21] stems from the wargame Chainmail (1971). [22] Chainmail was especially designed to include fantasy races.[ citation needed ] Aaron Trammell, in the essay Representation and Discrimination in Role-Playing Games, wrote "that races are then modeled as fixed statistical differences is arguably due to the game mechanics TRPGs inherited from wargames". [23] The races in Dungeons & Dragons are strongly inspired by the fantasy literature of the 1930s-1960s. [24] It thus includes the Tolkienian archetypes, but the game makes a difference between the races that can be played as player characters [lower-alpha 7] and the "monsters", [lower-alpha 8] which can only be non-player characters, and which are by name opposed to the player characters.[ citation needed ] Trammell highlighted that Dungeons & Dragons game rules up through the 5th Edition (2014) "model race as a fixed biological species with fundamental bodily differences – some races are inherently stronger, smarter, more charming, etc. than others. This reproduces an essentialist understanding of race found in eugenics (Fisher 1918), which sought statistical evidence for inherited traits linked to race in humans. Although long disproven by research, this biologistic concept of human race is the primary way in which race has been modelled in TRPG rules, from D&D to many other influential and current games, such as Empire of the Petal Throne , GURPS , or Pathfinder ". [23]
In the first science-fiction role-playing game, Metamorphosis Alpha (1976), [25] it is possible to play humans and mutated creatures.[ citation needed ]
In 1975, Tunnels & Trolls [26] allows for the first time to play "monsters", i.e. a player character can be any race, including possibly a "monster", but the races are not described in this game; in the 1979 solo adventure Goblin Lake , [27] the player character is a goblin. The 1983 game Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game [28] also allows "monsters" as PCs (e.g. goblin or a kobold), and these races are described in the same way as the "non-monster" races.[ citation needed ]
The first fantasy game that breaks with the D&D conventions is RuneQuest : [7] the "elves" (Aldryami) are vegetal beings, it is possible to play a duck [ sic ], but the game also takes into account the cult (pantheon and system of beliefs such as animism) and the cultural background of the character's people: primitive, barbarian, nomadic or civilized. As opposed to Dungeons & Dragons, the character is not totally defined by race and class, but by a list of skills (what the character can do); the cultural background defines the basic value of the skills, and the cult the access to magic. The race is thus less important in a functional point of view (how the character can interact with the fictional world), but more important in a mimetic point of view (roleplay).[ citation needed ]
The second edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, released in 2019, moved away from the "race" terminology for characters and instead replaced it with a character's "heritage" and "ancestry". [29] CBR highlighted that these new terms "invoke a sense of history and cultural importance that accompanies many player's choices behind their character design" and "help offer explanations for why those predispositions exist that do not imply disturbing real-world parallels, simultaneously offering more freedom in the variations from that norm players will necessarily make in creating their own characters". [29] In 2022, the Dungeons & Dragons One D&D playtest also changed the terminology from "race" to "species", as the game moves away from racial stereotypes associated with older fantasy settings. [30] In 2023, Wizards of the Coast clarified that the playtest will include updated rules for characters with mixed heritage. [31]
The "original" Dungeons & Dragons(OD&D), and the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons manuals (AD&D), do not describe any particular universe. The universe is only described through the game rules (magic, gods, fantasy races), and it outlines a generic universe inspired by popular fantasy novels of the 1930s-1960s. [24] The race is essentially a list of capabilities—functional part—and a rather thin description that is often limited to the visual appearance, with an illustration, and some elements of customs.[ citation needed ] The way the race takes place in the fictional universe is described in optional books, the "campaign settings" or "world books". The race is thus mainly a "functional tool", a set of functions that the player can implement in the adventure: the elves can see in the dark, and in OD&D hobbits can only be fighting men. [32] The Player's Handbook (1978) [33] also provide a table of "Racial preferences" and racial restrictions to the alignment.
TSR Hobbies assumed anyone buying D&D knew what Hobbits are, there was no real description and the only reason they seemed to have been included was to reinforce the game's connection with Tolkien's stories.
— Ronald Mark Pehr, A Change of Hobbit [32]
The player thus has to pick from their own knowledge of other works, particularly in what is now called the "geek culture"; according to Isabelle Périer, PhD in comparative literature: [34]
[this intertextuality] is a concision tool—it allows to quickly get into the middle of the action—and an opening towards variations—you can then play with the stereotypes.
— Isabelle Périer, Role-playing games: another form of youth literature? [35]
In 1989, Jean-Luc Bizien creates Hurlements [lower-alpha 9] in which players characters are "errants", "wanderers", i.e. were-animals that form a caravan. The race of were-animals, and their relationship with the humans, become the main subject of the adventures, and not only a functional element or a flavor to the universe. Other games were then published where the race of the player characters is itself the main topic of the adventures,[ citation needed ] such as Vampire: The Masquerade (1991) [36] and Nephilim (1992). [37]
As aforementioned, some campaign settings are based on real world events, and thus depict real peoples. The way the people are described can be problematic and may sometimes be considered as offending.[ citation needed ] For example, French articles [38] [39] criticized the way the Soviets were depicted in The Price of Freedom (1986). [40]
Williams et al. (2018), in the book Role-Playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations, commented that many tabletop role-playing games "essentialize race" and that "game rules regularly claim that there are objective, immutable, and strong differences between races. [...] While RPG player demographics appear to move towards an equitable, post-racialized, post-gendered vision of 21st century pluralist societies, the fictional worlds of RPGs are still often highly stratified". [19]
The system of race in Dungeons & Dragons has been thrust further into the spotlight in recent years. Similar to the ways certain nationalities were depicted, some consider the races in Dungeons & Dragons particularly problematic, as it is believed that they stem from stereotypes surrounding real-world races. [41] [42] [43] Gizmodo highlighted that "racial bioessentialism is a core design crutch for Dungeons & Dragons". [20] In July 2020, Wizards of the Coast released a statement – titled Diversity and Dungeons & Dragons – where they address these issues, saying "some of the peoples in the game—orcs and drow being two of the prime examples—have been characterized as monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated. That's just not right, and it's not something we believe in". [44] In December 2022, Wizards of the Coast announced that the word "race" would no longer be used to refer to a character's biological traits and instead would be replaced with the word "species"; this change went into effect with the December One D&D playtest release. [30] [45] [46] The press release stated that "'race' is a problematic term that has had prejudiced links between real world people and the fantasy peoples of D&D worlds" and that terminology change was made with the consultation of "multiple outside cultural consultants". [47]
Warhammer Fantasy is a fictional fantasy universe created by Games Workshop and used in many of its games, including the table top wargame Warhammer, the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP) pen-and-paper role-playing game, and a number of video games: the MMORPG Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the strategy games Total War: Warhammer, Total War: Warhammer II and Total War: Warhammer III and the two first-person shooter games in the Warhammer Vermintide series, Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide and Warhammer: Vermintide 2, among many others.
Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy works. They tend to be depicted as physically similar to humans, except about half as tall and not as stocky as the similarly sized dwarves. Halflings are often depicted as having slightly pointed ears along with leathery-soled feet which are covered with curly hair. They tend to be portrayed as stealthy and lucky. The term is derived for the word used in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Northern England for a child who is not yet fully grown. Halflings are found in many fantasy novels and games, including as an alternative term for hobbits in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and as playable humanoid races in Dungeons & Dragons.
A campaign setting is a setting for a tabletop role-playing game or wargame campaign. Most campaign settings are fictional worlds; however, some are historical or contemporary real-world locations. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place. A campaign setting is typically designed for a specific game or a specific genre of game, though some come from existing media. There are numerous campaign settings available for purchase both in print and online. In addition, many game masters create their own, which are often called "homebrew" settings.
A fantasy trope is a specific type of literary trope that occurs in fantasy fiction. Worldbuilding, plot, and characterization have many common conventions, many of them having ultimately originated in myth and folklore. J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium for example, was inspired from a variety of different sources including Germanic, Finnish, Greek, Celtic and Slavic myths. Literary fantasy works operate using these tropes, while others use them in a revisionist manner, making the tropes over for various reasons such as for comic effect, and to create something fresh.
Birthright is a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting that was first released by TSR in 1995. It is based on the continent of Cerilia on the world of Aebrynis, in which the players take on the role of the divinely-empowered rulers, with emphasis on the political rulership level of gameplay. The setting revolves around the concept of bloodlines: divine power gained by heroes and passed on to their descendants. Characters with a bloodline create an aura of command known as Regency, which is measured in the game using regency points or RP. Using regency, characters acquire a domain composed of provinces and holdings. The development of these domains is as much a part of the game as development of the characters. The game uses three-month domain turns to model actions of rulers over nations in much the same way as Dungeons & Dragons uses combat rounds to simulate time to model the characters' actions in battle. In 1996, Birthright won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1995.
Al-Qadim is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game which was developed by Jeff Grubb with Andria Hayday for TSR, Inc., and was first released in 1992. Al-Qadim uses One Thousand and One Nights as a theme and is set in the land of Zakhara, called the Land of Fate. Thematically, the land of Zakhara is a blend of the historical Muslim Caliphates, the stories of legend, and a wealth of Hollywood cinematic history. Zakhara is a peninsula on the continent of Faerûn in the world of Toril, the locale of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, although Al-Qadim is designed to stand on its own or be added to any existing campaign setting. The basic campaign setting was divided between two game products: Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures, a sourcebook describing character creation rules, equipment, and spells unique to the setting, and Al-Qadim: Land of Fate, a boxed set describing the land of Zakhara, with separate sourcebooks for the players and the Dungeon Master.
In many works of modern fantasy, elves are depicted as a race or species of pointy-eared humanoid beings. These depictions arise from the álfar of Norse mythology influencing elves in fantasy as being semi-divine and of human stature, whose key traits are being friendly with nature and animals. However, this differs from Norse and the traditional elves found in Middle Ages folklore and Victorian era literature.
A dwarf, in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game, is a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for player characters. The idea for the D&D dwarf comes from the dwarves of European mythologies and J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955), and has been used in D&D and its predecessor Chainmail since the early 1970s. Variations from the standard dwarf archetype of a short and stout demihuman are commonly called subraces, of which there are more than a dozen across many different rule sets and campaign settings.
The elf is a humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, one of the primary races available for player characters, and play a central role in the narratives of many setting worlds of the game. Elves are described as renowned for their grace and mastery of magic and weapons such as the bow and sword. Becoming physically mature by the age of 25 and emotionally mature at around 125, they are also famously long-lived, capable of living more than half a millennium and remaining physically youthful. Possessed of innate beauty and easy gracefulness, they are viewed as both wondrous and haughty by other races in-universe; however, their natural detachment is seen by some as introversion or xenophobia. They were usually portrayed as antagonistic towards dwarves.
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, orcs are a primitive race of savage, bestial, barbaric humanoid.
Kobolds are a fictional race of humanoid creatures featured in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game and other fantasy media. They are often depicted as small reptilian humanoids with long tails, distantly related to dragons.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, goblins are a common and fairly weak race of evil humanoid monsters. Goblins are non-human monsters that low-level player characters often face in combat.
Midnight is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, released under the Open Gaming License. It was published by Fantasy Flight Games from 2003 to 2009.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the centaur is a large monstrous humanoid. Based upon the centaurs of Greek myth, a centaur in the game resembles a human with the lower body of a horse.
The role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), which receives significant attention in the media and in popular culture, has been the subject of numerous controversies. The game sometimes received unfavorable coverage, especially during its early years in the early 1980s. Because the term D&D may be mistakenly used to refer to all types of role-playing games, some controversies regarding D&D mistakenly pertain to role-playing games in general, or to the literary genre of fantasy. Some controversies concern the game and its alleged impact on those who play it, while others concern business issues at the game's original publisher, TSR. The game is now owned by Wizards of the Coast.
Monster Mythology, published by TSR in 1992, is a sourcebook about non-human deities that can be used in fantasy role-playing games using the second edition rules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D).
The half-elf is a humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, one of the primary races available for player characters, and play a central role in the narratives of many setting worlds of the game. As the offspring of humans and elves they are known as "half-elves" among humans and in sourcebooks, and as "half-humans" among elves.
An orc, in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy fiction, is a race of humanoid monsters, which he also calls "goblin".
The Orcs of Thar is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, written by Bruce Heard and published by TSR in 1988.
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Corellon Larethian is the leader of the elven pantheon, and the deity of Magic, Music, Arts, Crafts, Poetry, and Warfare. Corellon is also considered a member of the default D&D pantheon. Corellon is the creator and preserver of the elven race, and governs those things held in the highest esteem among elves. Corellon's symbol was originally a crescent moon; in the 4th edition Corellon's symbol is a silver star on a blue field.
French: [En décrivant différents archétypes,] les auteurs de 'Donjons & Dragons' dégagent des paradigmes, les rouages et les briques qui les composent. Il est possible d'y incarner des hobbits, des elfes, des humains [… Les joueurs] vont utiliser des briques pour construire leurs propres personnages, qui vont être en fait structurés comme un ensemble de pièces d'engrenage qui sont à la fois fictionnelles et ludiques.[ whose translation? ]
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)[Cette intertextualité] est un outil de concision — ça permet d'aller au cœur de l'action très vite —, et une ouverture vers la variation — après on peut jouer avec les stéréotypes.[ whose translation? ]