Earthdawn is a fantasy role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993. In 1999 it was licensed to Living Room Games, which produced the Second Edition. It was licensed to RedBrick in 2003, who released the Classic Edition in 2005 and the game's Third Edition in 2009. The license is now held by FASA Games, Inc., who have released the Fourth Edition, with updated mechanics and an advanced metaplot timeline. Vagrant Workshop released the Age of Legend edition in 2016 using alternative rules-lite mechanics.
The drow or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to the subterranean Underdark in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil spider goddess Lolth. However, later editions of Dungeons & Dragons have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth.
Elfquest is a comic book property created by Wendy and Richard Pini in 1978. It is a fantasy story about a community of elves and other fictional species who struggle to survive and coexist on a primitive Earth-like planet with two moons. Several published volumes of prose fiction also share the same setting. Elfquest was one of the first comic book series to have a planned conclusion. Over the years Elfquest has been self-published by the Pinis through their own company Warp Graphics, then Marvel Comics, then the Pinis again, more recently DC Comics, and, since 2013, Dark Horse Comics. All issues of Elfquest published prior to 2014 are available online for free.
A haltija (haltia) is a spirit, gnome, or elf-like creature in Finnish mythology that guards, helps, or protects something or somebody. The word is possibly derived from the Gothic haltijar, which referred to the original settler of a homestead—although this is not the only possible etymology. It can also be derived from the Finnish verb hallita, which means 'to rule', 'to command', 'to master'.
A Fantasy trope is a specific type of literary tropes 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.
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 fictional races and peoples that appear in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth include the seven listed in Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, Ents, Orcs and Trolls, as well as spirits such as the Valar and Maiar. Other beings of Middle-earth are of unclear nature such as Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry.
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.
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.
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 Sundering is a series of two fantasy novels by Jacqueline Carey made up of Banewreaker, and Godslayer. The books portray a conflict between light and dark, with many of the common conventions of fantasy fiction. The world and many of the characters of the novels are similar to those found in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, as Carey presents a similar story as a tragedy told from the "dark" side's perspective. Though one side can be considered light, consisting of Elf-like creatures, Men, and Dwarves, and the other dark, with an army of Trolls, neither can be considered solely "good" or "evil".
Iron Kingdoms is a fantasy role-playing game, originally published by Privateer Press on July 1, 2004, for the d20 System, with several supplemental books released in following years. In 2012, Iron Kingdoms was newly released under a unique d6 rules system closely based on the rules for the miniature war games Warmachine and Hordes from which the Iron Kingdoms RPG is derived. The setting combines high fantasy and steampunk genres into what Privateer Press describes as "Full Metal Fantasy". Recently Privateer Press successfully kickstarted a new version based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
Castlemourn is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by Ed Greenwood, published by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. The world of Castlemourn lost its past during a cataclysm, and now various races try to find their history.
The half-elf is a player character race featured in Dungeons & Dragons and related material.
A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on the story and country of origin, ranging from mischievous household spirits to malicious, bestial thieves. They often have magical abilities similar to a fairy or demon, such as the ability to shapeshift.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, Elves are the first fictional race to appear in Middle-earth. Unlike Men and Dwarves, Elves are immortal, though they can be killed in battle. If so, their souls go to the Halls of Mandos in Aman. After a long life in Middle-earth, Elves yearn for the Earthly Paradise of Valinor, and can sail there from the Grey Havens. They feature in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Their history is described in detail in The Silmarillion.
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard is a trilogy of fantasy novels based on Norse mythology written by American author Rick Riordan and published by Disney-Hyperion. It is set in the same universe as the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles and The Kane Chronicles series. The first book, The Sword of Summer, was released on October 6, 2015. The second book, The Hammer of Thor, was released on October 4, 2016. The Ship of the Dead, the third book, was released on October 3, 2017.
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 or social groups.
