Orcs in Sombreros

~~~~Races~~~~

I want the multiple races is that I want them to both reflect their origin from high fantasy and gain a unique interesting take on these classic ideals.

Human: Humans always seem the hardest for me to write for as I want them to be unique but in the end I feel a lot of people are attracted to playing humans for their neutrality and flexibility.

Elf: I do not like a lot of the idea of elves being an immortal beautiful "perfect" race. Its just when other races have such obvious flaws as dwarven stubbornness, gnomish curiosity (in the "killed the cat" sense), and orcish aggression the elves "problem" was that they were "too perfect" and were vain about it. However one of my favorite versions of elves were the "Wild elves" or "painted elves" from 3.5. a Group of elves which never advanced past a sort of tribal state, from this idea I decided to make my elves in the role of the American Indian, mostly based on Sioux culture. The elves have been pushed back by the expansionism of several nations within the campaign setting and have resorted to raiding and other tactics to preserve their way of life from the encroaching "civilization".

Dwarf: Keeping in the mirror of the old west, a war over slavery has just ended. Instead of having the slavery based on skin color I decided it would be species based. I decided dwarves were prized slaves for their constitution and ability to work long times without rest and thus a market for dwarven slaves was perpetuated within several communities. Dwarves at this time have only recently gained a sort of equality to the other races after almost a millennia of forced servitude. They face hatred from their former owners and other injustices in the world due to their race.

Halfling: I cannot get the image of a halfling who looks like colonel sanders out of my head. with this in mind I have decided halflings would be the primary race that enslaved the dwarves. Since halflings would probably have trouble physically enslaving any race, I decided for them to take the role of overseer or plantation owner and have human employees as the overseers and taskmasters. Having recently lost a war to keep what they view as their "property" the halflings are facing troubled times as they lose not only their wealth but even the ability to feed their families as their slave based economy crumbles.

Gnome: gnomes are naturally bright and inquisitive minds, and I plan to keep them that way. However as opposed to being tough tricksters I decided to make them more intellectual individuals taking the place of doctors, shopowners, and traveling salesmen. They don't have their own individual culture or civilizations but tend to integrate into other communities very well bringing their unique interests and flavor to those groups lucky enough to have them.

Goblinoids: Goblins also don't have their own culture, but where gnomes are considered a boon to a town goblinoids are considered a plague. They usually end up killing livestock, robbing and forming gangs. Goblins are considered a nuisance at best and a danger when they form larger warbands and gangs.

Orc: The Orcs come from a mostly desert land where it is a struggle to survive, it is no wonder many turn to gangs and raiders when their homeland is so harsh and unforgiving. However not all resort to violence and many have started forming farmsteads and ranches to break the cycle of violence and war. Orcs are proud and hard workers, my original idea was for them to be similar to the stereotypical mexican bandito, but they now encompass more of mexican culture than just their criminals.

Kobold: I decided to make the kobold culture interesting and different from the others as the only race that is not a mammal. Doing this while keeping with the theme of "Old west" would be a challenge but in the end I decided on them being the equivalent of the chinese immigrants from western lore. Since they would be a generic culture instead of literally china I decided that their favorite classes would be samurai, monk and ninja.

Half-Elf & Half-Orc: after deliberation I decided to cut both of the "Half" races as they both detract from the base races of Elves, Orcs and Humans, and they always feel tacked on anyways.