The Campaign Builder's Guild

I have a dilemma. When I originally conceived my campaign world I wanted a humano-centric one. I wanted something like David Gemmel/Robert E. Howard/Samuel Delaney; in other words a world where magic did exist but sparsely and in which strange races were mostly confined to isolated strange places.

However, as I've been fleshing out the New Edomite republic and as I am very much enjoying the idea of using the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and related adventures I've found that I am adding a number of nonhuman races as neighbors of the small country. To wit: Dwarves, Gnomes, Wood Elves as the first, and then I had planned originally to have hobgoblins and goblins as hostile neighbors to the east.

However with those modules tacked on I have also inadvertently added aquatic elves, koalinth, sahuaghin, lizard folk, and locathah. While of course the above are almost entirely water creatures, I had a thought I'm exploring.

Would it be more interesting to add nonhumans to other areas of the world or rather to make the corner that the New Edomite Republic exists in rather like Narnia, a place very much associated with peculiar magic and legends? I'm very much liking the possibility of that idea, since it has interesting implications that could be explored, I think.

That would be interesting. Humans would just be discovering that other races exist. You may run into language barriers, but eh that is what spells are for.

Quote from: PoseidonYou may run into language barriers, but eh that is what spells are for.

Whatever, man. Trying to puzzle out communication without an interpreter is half the fun. :cloud9:

Heh, I'm tempted to say "Whatever meshes best with your theme and vision." :)

Heavily consider the implications of having humanoid races everywhere. Is this what you want? If you are interested in the idea of having a less human centric setting, go for it. Otherwise keep it isolated or better yet, see if you can transform some of the non-human races from various modules into humans with traits mimicing the original race.

In "Danger at Dunwater" there are a couple of the lizard folk and some of the other races who speak the common human language. But yes, the culture and language barriers will I think make the game more interesting.

I agree language barriers are fun, but spells (Comprehend Languages) that allow PC's to get past those barriers without problems.

Raelifin's setting has an interesting take on languages and so far trying to figure out what little cannablistic shipping people are saying is fun (though never ask what's in the soup).

BTW, the idea of changing the races in some modules is brilliant, I hadn't thought of that but it makes a lot of sense.

For the most part I don't want (much as I enjoyed it) the Greyhawk/typical TSR idea of the 'friendly' nonhumans--I don't want people meeting elves that have bait shops and things like that. I want to capture the sense at the very least that nonhuman races are exotic and interesting, not mundane. I like the idea that my players' actions may cause further exoticism, like the idea of merfolk or locathah showing up on the wharves of Harbourtown to trade pearls for crafted items for instance.

Tybalt, the best way to make the other races different is think long and hard on their personalities and socieities. For instance, to explain the slow development of elves, my elves have an odd learning deficiency when they're young: they have to see or experience everything for themselves; if you tell an elf not to put a fork in an electric socket, you've probably signed his death warrent. To make matters worse, adult elves do not raise their children ... the teenagers do. Adults also don't understand the differences between the human words "lust" and "love"; elven relationships (which are generally bisexual in my world) are all about passion and attraction, and usually only last a couple of decades (so humans may see the relationship as normal, but may also see elves dumping lovers and picking up a new one a day later. I also play up elves chaotic capriciousness.

So, to make a long story short, my point is to detail them and make them different enough from the human norm. Orcs could be violently canibalistic, and not for religious reasons; they just eat things they kill. Dwarves can be stoic and all but emotionless. Just take the stereotypical character and exemplify it, and you'll probably be fine.

Thank you very much for your advice.

What I'm thinking is this: that the more free-ranging nonhumans will be the aquatic ones, while the land based ones will be geographically based. I've decided that nonhumans of a friendly or neutral nature in a human nation are visitors, traders, adventurers, mercenaries, etc, but not normally residents.