Are you bored of human-skinned races?

[Steerpike]

The rule of thumb is 'the rule of three.' Thing is, more than three 'central' races can be a pain to keep track of.

Don't read the Malazan books

 

[elemtilas]

Don't read the Malazan books

Or Tolkien for that matter!

By the way, Malazan looks interesting! I might have to look into that further! Any particular recommendation as a place to start?

 

[Steerpike]

Or Tolkien for that matter!

By the way, Malazan looks interesting! I might have to look into that further! Any particular recommendation as a place to start?

Gardens of the Moon is the first one, and should give you a pretty good idea of whether you're going to like it before you get into the next nine tomes of the original series

 

[ThinkerX]

Don't read the Malazan books

Too late. I read almost the whole series - something like fifteen books by now. (or was it sixteen?)

It owed a lot to AD&D (could almost hear the dice rolling in places) and I recognized a lot of material drawn from the various rule books (assassins). And, arguably, a fair bit was drawn from Tolkien (immortal elf-like species). That said, many of the races were actually crossbreeds. I also point out that was a massively long series.

And yes, 'Gardens of the Moon' is the first book.

 

[Steerpike]

Too late. I read almost the whole series - something like fifteen books by now. (or was it sixteen?)

It owed a lot to AD&D (could almost hear the dice rolling in places) and I recognized a lot of material drawn from the various rule books (assassins). And, arguably, a fair bit was drawn from Tolkien (immortal elf-like species). That said, many of the races were actually crossbreeds. I also point out that was a massively long series.

And yes, 'Gardens of the Moon' is the first book.

Wasnt it originally an AD&D and then GURPS setting that Erickson and Esselmont created?

 

[ThinkerX]

Wasnt it originally an AD&D and then GURPS setting that Erickson and Esselmont created?

Pretty much. I gather some of their campaigns were later transcribed to form various sections of the books. They do read almost like a game module or campaign book in places.

But more relevantly, unless you aim to drop the reader straight into a sea of confusion, limiting the number of races down to a mere few is probably a good idea. Hence, my earlier suggestions:

the OP might consider making one or more of his races all but extinct, the great builders and magicians of legend; and

having two or more races share the same roots.

For trolls...

...the OP describes these as savage hunters with at least some members possessing arcane abilities. My suggestion: trolls were once human barbarians who managed the near impossible feat of slaying a god or demon. They dined upon its flesh, and were transformed. Their innate magic stems from this long ago feast. Now, they see themselves as lords of the wilderness.

 

[Holman]

...the OP describes these as savage hunters with at least some members possessing arcane abilities. My suggestion: trolls were once human barbarians who managed the near impossible feat of slaying a god or demon. They dined upon its flesh, and were transformed. Their innate magic stems from this long ago feast. Now, they see themselves as lords of the wilderness.

Oooh this has just reminded me of an old idea I had written down in my little red book - "What if magic could only be passed on by eating the body of the magician?" I hadn't decided how it had all started, but magic was more diluted than it had once been - some dying without being eaten etc - If it started with the fall of the gods that would set up a whole school of magic of different sorts - depending on the god that had been eaten. Thank you very much for that idea!

 

[D. Gray Warrior]

One of my worlds essentially has two races: humans and gryphons. The gryphons are sentient and have their own civilization, but their concept of civilization is vastly different from that of humans.

 

[Simpson17866]

One of my worlds essentially has two races: humans and gryphons. The gryphons are sentient and have their own civilization, but their concept of civilization is vastly different from that of humans.

I like

 

[ApaCisare]

I actually really like the sound of your Neanderthal trolls. I've considered doing something along the lines of a pre historic earth like fantasy with multiple human species in the past. Maybe I'll revisit that someday.
As far as my world is concerned, I decided to go with unnatural skin and hair colour for some of my fantasy 'races.' This was mainly inspired by Bethesda's take on Orcs and Dark Elves in Skyrim, a style I think is unique without being too inhuman.
But just go with what you're most comfortable with. Having something that just isn't quite right nagging in the back of your head is never good for progressing with the story or world building in my experience.

 

[Maribel]

I wouldn't say that I'm bored of any particular race or type of race. Done well, I think that any race, even a more common one such as elves, can really enhance and elevate a story.

That said, I do find stories with sightly less common races to be somewhat more interesting. For example, D. Gray Warrior's premise of a society involving intelligent gryphons is pretty intriguing to me. But, personally, I enjoy building worlds with races that have inhuman anatomy... so maybe I'm biased. Still, I like seeing any non-human race, human-skinned or not. It keeps things interesting.

 

[Vadosity]

I dunno... I think that I am not bored with the common fantasy races rather I am bored with their interpretations. As far as I see there are two main camps when it comes to your Fantasy Races.

Camp One - No magic and or Evil Variations: This is where the magical races are simply portrayed as the opposite of what they are classically shown as. This is in and of itself not soooo bad but... not really wonderful either as I feel it is sometimes done as a bit of a middle finger to the history behind the fantasy genre.

Camp Two - The Lets Not Change Anything: These are to me more bearable than the above, boring, but bearable. The issue is though that in honouring the traditional roles they can go far too far and become almost a parody rather than something new.

Although I will say that there are still plenty that are using the Fantasy races well and in new ways.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Write a good story and the skins don't matter to me. Whatever works, works.

 

[Russ]

I wonder if there is need for a fictional race at all.

It's your story. You get to decide that.

Do extra races serve your story or not?

Their skin appearance is actually pretty irrelevant to the analysis.

The other thing, that you seem to want to ignore, about other races is that they have very different cultures than human cultures. Thus a dwarf may be a far better blacksmith than a human because his culture emphasizes and really values this skill and thus develops it (and this has nothing to do with magic).

The whole point of these other races, which I think many people miss on a superficial analysis, is to teach us something about humanity, because that is what good literature does. Another race can be used as a comparison to humans, or a mirror for our virtues or flaws. They can represent an ideal, or an aspect of humanity.

Just looking at them in some bizarre abstract way and trying to figure out whether or not you "need" them outside the context of either your story or their literary or thematic value seems a bizarre and fruitless exercise.