Players: We surround the orc and
demand his surrender! We have two
crossbows and four swords aimed at him.
GM: Hmmm. He thinks for a second and then drops his sword.
Players: We tie him up and question him about the location of his village.
GM. Location of his village?
Player. Yeah, and my bard character wants to learn more about orc culture. I question him about their culture.
GM. Culture? Village? Hmmm. He spits on you and calls the paladin a bunch of names, then he bangs his head on a rock and dies.
This may be an extreme example, but you've probably played in a role-playing game where you felt that the inhabitants were all two-dimensional. The orcs seemed to appear from nowhere, and you'd never seen an orc village), they were all personality clones; and villages were all, amazingly enough, populated by the same people, regardless of race, culture, or nationality.
There are a few ways to avoid this pitfall; the GM or game group can buy an off- theshelf campaign world with detailed races and cultures for use in gaming, the GM can use historical references as a cultural sourcebook (though this wouldn't work many non-human races), or the GM can design his/her own races and cultures. The last option requires a lot more work but it allows the GM to create a gaming environment that is uniquely his or hers.
Developing your own race or culture requires a lot of imagination and detail work. From simple things, such as descriptions, to difficult things, like social structure and religion, creating your own races and cultures will stretch your imagination to the knits.
One of my favorite tasks as a GM is the creation of detailed NPC races. Not just a description, a set of statistics, and a few notes, but an in-depth study of the race, its customs, religion, and purposes. When a player group stumbles on, or is guided to, an encounter with such a race they are inevitably impressed by the time invested by the GM and the depth of the word.
If you're working on a whole new campaign world, designing the NPC races also helps with other things, like the climate and terrain for an area of the map, trade routes for the region they will occupy, and a pantheon if you are creating your own. In fact, I prefer to develop the NPC races indigenous to an area of my world before I do any other work on that area, for the reasons just mentioned. If the players happen to travel that way before I have time to thoroughly flesh the area out, they can still meet an NPC race and begin to learn about its perceptions and goals. I may even personalize the standard races, such as Elves and Dwarves, before the players meet them.
NPC races also add to the unique flavor of a campaign - no one else has your race or will create a race exactly like it. Your players will also be more interested by encounters with a new race because they know little or nothing about them. It allows the players to discover and experience a whole new culture. And be sure not to drop it all in the players' lap at once; make them dig to discover the workings of this new culture. Knowledge that they have to work for is always more highly valued. It can also lead to situations where a player character gets in a little bit of trouble for some innocent social faux pas, which can be a lot of fun.
Why develop an NPC race for your world? Yes, there are the old standbys that everyone uses, i.e. Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits (excuse me, halflings), so why make your own? For the same reason that Tolkien did - because they were necessary to fill out his world and make it work the way he wanted it to - to provide balance and character. Often I'll create a race to fill a void in a particular area of my world, or to replace another race which I won't be using. Sometimes I create a race just for the enrichment of my campaign world.
You wouldn't expect a GM to say, "Hinnim. I've got a couple of free minutes, maybe I'll design a new race but to be honest, it does happen and more's the pity. Often these thrown-together races do more harm than good to a campaign. A new race should be well thought out and have a place in the world.
An early step in the development should be to define a characteristic or purpose for the new race. Characteristics are the most distinguishable elements of the race. Is it curious? Warlike? Xenophobic? A race of explorers or traders? What drives the race and makes it tick?
A purpose can distinguish what role it will play in the game world. Is it supposed to be an obstacle for the expansion of humankind, or a benevolent race that will extend offers of political ties, or an innocent, innocuous culture existing at the .fringes of the greater civilizations?
Having decided on the characteristic or purpose, figure out a way to work it into the culture or society of the race, so it isn't painfully obvious the first time the players encounter the race. That is, of course, unless you WANT it to be painfully obvious.
Once you know the main characteristics or purpose of the race, you'll need to decide on the form. Is it humanoid? Is it mammalian? Is it nocturnal? Does it live above ground or below? The form should support the chosen characteristic(s) or purpose. For example, if the race is to be a malevolent culture bent on the destruction of all humans, you might want to give them a fierce, even scary, appearance for the additional psychological impact. Or you may want to make it LOOK benevolent so that its evil is more insidious. Answering the questions that come up at this point will help decide cultural and social questions that you will encounter later.
Culture and social structure are two of the most important areas of your new race. If you are going to all the trouble of creating a new race, don't accept an off-the-shelf culture for it. Be creative. Use your imagination to design a culture that is in keeping with the race's purpose. You and your players will both have more fun with the race if there is some culture shock and an interesting, atypical social structure. Who wants to travel halfway across the continent to run into a band of skunk-people living in a medieval village of thatch huts with a 15th century European social structure? Wow, now there's something you don't see every day...
GM: You cross the narrow valley, passing quickly through the green, kneehigh grass and rolling terrain. You cross a few ankle-deep creeks, drawing nearer to the forest at the edge of the valley. Suddenly two large forms rise, seemingly out of the earth, only thirty feet distant. They appear to be some sort of humanoid reptilian. Each is between six and seven feet tall and has leathery-looking, scaled flesh that bears interesting patterns in varying shades of green and brown.
The one closest to you holds a metal disk at waist height. The disk appears to be of quality steel and the edge has been serrated. It's obviously some type Of throwing weapon. He wears two crossed belts at his chest, one of which holds two more of the disks; the other belt bears a large sword, slung across his back.
The second creature holds an atlatl at his shoulder, with a short javelin laid in and ready to cast. He is partially covered in leather and a dull, bronze skull cap. He also bears a quarrel of short javelins and two disks similar to those being used by the other creature.
Neither makes a move toward you, but seem to be taking your measure with their cold, emotionless stare.
Player. We don't move toward our weapons. I - my character - will slowly spread his arms and hands.
We'll wait a few moments, giving them time to finish their investigation of us; then, if they don't make any offensive move toward us, I'll ask if they speak our language.
GM. As you wait for them to check you out, another appears behind you, rising right out of the tall grass. When you speak to the closest one, indicating no aggressive intentions and offering to talk, he turns to leave, motioning for you to follow him.
Players: We'll follow, but keep an eye on the other ones. We don't want to be caught with our tunics down.
GM. OK. As You fall in step behind the first creature, the others follow just behind and to either side of your group, They lead you to the edge of the forest, where another band of these creatures meets you. The creature leading your group speaks with a creature from the other group. After a brief discussion in a strange language, the other creature comes to your group and speaks in your tongue (or close enough to your tongue that you can understand). "We are Sasti. We will take you to the Gather and you can explain your trespass to the Comiss."
He doesn't sound angry or offended. He just speaks in a matter of fact, toneless voice. His accent is unlike any you've heard before. Having heard a little of their language, which seems to be largely strong, soft sounds (s, 'th') and harsh consonants ('k 'g, 'ch), you can, however, understand that many parts of your language may be foreign to them and, therefore, difficult to pronounce.
The following is a sample race with a highly developed culture/society. Because this race is from my own role-playing campaigns, there are a few references that are specific to my world. Though it isn't necessary to have this level of detail for every race you create, doing so is not a waste of effort. Whether or not players ever explore the nature of the race in question, they will enjoy its mysteries.
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