I agree that we should not change the existing races. But the idea that races should allow more players to be all they can't be, which is what I got from the OP, still seems worth considering in the future.
Why Are Ogres Yellow
- Thread starter Undrask
- Start date
jpariury
Duke
Given that we're playing a game in a made-up world, it is possible for every race to have no makeup requirements. Dark elves? Maybe that refers to their souls, rather than their skin. Sarr? Once you start wearing clothes, fur becomes less necessary. It's easy enough to simply do away with base-coats for all races by simply deciding that's what they look like.
And that's kind of the point. Orcs are green not because we think that their racial attributes warrant a green tone, but because the designers want orcs to be green.
The proposal that other races should be more skin toned is a case made from a mechanical perspective. It generally places value of the mechanics of the race over the aesthetic of the story.
I would suggest that the design flows from the other end:
"Hey, we should have orcs. They could be, like, this massive warrior race."
"Sounds cool. What do they look like?"
"Klingons."
"Dude... be serious."
"Okay, uh, green."
"Alright, that's cool... but man, wearing green all weekend is going to make it only attractive to the 'I love makeup crowd'."
"Yeah, but we could have really awesome stories about orcs. People love awesome stories, they'll do it for the awesome stories!"
"Hmmm, sure, and that will work here. But we're a single chapter among a dozen or so. Why would someone want to wear makeup in our Poughkipsee chapter?"
"Enh, I dunno..."
"Well, we said they were a warrior race. How about they swing for massive innately?"
"Are you nuts? We'll have entire chapters of green people! Ain't nobody got time for that!"
"Alright, alright, alright.... maybe they just get a prof for cheap?"
"Cool."
This isn't to suggest that there can't be or aren't cool games out there with little to no makeup requirements. I just don't know that this should be the game for that.
I would like to go on record for entirely selfless reasons and in the name of fairness and general game balance as being for the "Orcs Swing Massive Innately" initiative. Please forward to owner's committee with all due haste.
