Wylderkin: How do you treat them?

nothingtoseehere

nothingtoseehere

Apprentice
Races are supposed to be instantly recognizable, but what dictates how a character should act to them?

To clarify: An Elf has seen many, many wylderkin in her time, but is also... idk... terrified of sharks. If she were to meet a shark-kin, would she be able to mistrust it, or even draw a sword on it at first? Out of shock?

All races should be recognizable as sentient beings, but if a character is a wylderkin that is typically associated with monsters, can they be mistaken for a monster at first?

I ask this question, because it was brought up at the day event where I first played my tarantula-kin. My costume is very... monstrous (6 shiny black eyes do not read 'friendly' right off) but at the same time, she is obviously a wylderkin. Some players played drawing swords when they spotted her, some just shrank back, and some played 'Eh, it's another wylderkin.'

-isn't quite sure how to put what shes going for-
Is it 'allowed' to roleplay mistaking a wylderkin for a monster, or should they be instantly recognizable as a 'kin'?
 
Well, the book description makes them sound like they are a rarity.
So I think someone faced with a phobia will generally react in line with that, someone that lived a sheltered life may never heard of kin, and someone that has fought a lot of lycanthropes may mistake them for such.
 
nothingtoseehere said:
All races should be recognizable as sentient beings, but if a character is a wylderkin that is typically associated with monsters, can they be mistaken for a monster at first?
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In-game, Sentient Beings are a thing defined by law, not a class of creature. Be careful what you decide is 'Just a monster' and beat down for loot, it may be resurrecting and bringing you to trial tomorrow.
 
That said, you're allowed to roleplay responses to other characters' looks and culture however you want. There's nothing in the rules that says you have to treat other races with respect.
 
elliotbay said:
That said, you're allowed to roleplay responses to other characters' looks and culture however you want. There's nothing in the rules that says you have to treat other races with respect.
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+1

You can play a character that hates humans. Or Dark Elves. Or Hoblings. Or Barbarians. Or Mystic Wood Folk/Elves. Or even certain types of Wilderkin. Being a member of the 15 sentient races does not mean a character isn't dangerous. Also, some chapters may have other races be part of the sentient citizens. Goblins were citizens for awhile in Seattle. All hail the mighty and powerful King Zot! :D
 
Frankly, IG, my character can't tell the difference between an Ettercap and a Spiderkin. One is a talking humanoid spider thing..the other is a talking humanoid spider thing. One of the two is a "monster".

I treat them both like Kin. It's worked out for me......So far. It'll hurt someday I'm certain.
 
as one of the players whom surged off her kin rather jumping to attack it even though it was a bug and the land i come from is swarmed with bugs that kill people everyday.... my healer shrugged off her as a kin because my healer hangs out with a group of wilder kin all most daily to weekly as they are in abundance in that same bug infested land, she loves wilder kin and has on several time taken precaution rather then actions asking monsters if they are kin before attacking them, so just playing to where as my PC was coming from, on the other hand if i was say playing my alt that event whom hates fire and spiders your alt would of had about 8 arrows in it before making it to the table i was sitting at.
 
Generally?

Prey.
 
You know, I think the best thing to do is educate the people on which kin resemble certain monsters. Like how naked mole rat-kin could resemble goblins, or how hyena-kin could resemble gnolls. These are important things that people need to know. But, in general, if something is trying to kill you, kill it. Otherwise, whatever, let it mind it's own business.
 
Like people/adventurers/etc. Because they are people and adventurers. *steps on soap box*

While some players portray Wylderkin like they have an IQ of 60, or are the human equivalent of neanderthals (Yet they can swing weapons, read/write, perform strategy, do math, yadda), such happens in every race. I like to say there seems to be just as much idiots in other races, just the Wylderkin ones tend to be more accepted as being idiots, the other races not as much. Essentially, racism.

While Racism makes for good RP - because ignorance makes for something to talk about/work with/RP over - sometimes it's held onto (both sides) at a no longer believable or reasonable level. Comparing to racism outside larp, the similarities that happen inside larp (Wylderkin, Gypsies, Barbarians, Orcs, Ogres, even gender) is really congruent in some ways. Personally I think its good RP as long as its not exaggerated. To me, the hypocrisy is fine. It's amusing to have a Chivalrous or "Good" aligned character commit to gross racism IG and think that's totally okay. I think it only really gets silly when "Good" aligned people or intelligent people hold onto it in the face of overwhelming opposing evidence. While some of us are playing a medieval themed game, many cultural norms are eschewed - gender, sexual preference, and so forth - anything different than the "norm." But racism, totally a thing. At times I have a hard time accepting it as an IG cultural norm when I'm like "You all accept/wouldn't eat/wouldn't attack XYZ, why these?" Rationalism goes right out the window with some of it, but prejudices and racism usually aren't rational, so I can most of the time live with that. Maybe it's the "Fantasy Game" excuse. Whatever floats your RP.

They're PCs and people that look different. They all fight, bleed, think (hopefully), and are part of the culture and economy.
 
We have a red fox kyn who takes pains to differentiate himself from kobolds, because at a glance, a red fox humanoid and a red dog faced humanoid look pretty similar...

I'd love to see a hyena kyn interacting with some gnolls.

At this past event we had naga, and we have a snake kyn PC - there was some interesting discussion IG about the difference between the two, if any.
 
Sure its allowed, theres no reason a person on the world can always know what they are looking at at all times. Mistakes happen, gaps in information happen, and anyone/anything could want to do you harm so a healthy dose of paranoia= survival.

In particular, yeah, giant spider people (bug people in general too given thats a big monster issue locally...). Thematically? makes sense. Just roll with it.
 
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Not to mention that, from a psychological perspective, when adrenaline hits, you'll see all SORTS of things that aren't reality. A stick is a snake and you freak out and act on what you see before your forebrain catches up with your hindbrain and you realize it's just a stick. Or: try to get an accurate description of something from eyewitnesses of an accident or crime, and you'll get wildly different stories from all the witnesses.

Your brain is a filthy liar and projects what it thinks SHOULD be there rather than what is actually there. ;) And it's REALLY GOOD at making associations. So of course someone on high alert might mistake a kyn for a monster. Or be freaked out by a spider kyn.
 
Mistakes can happen in all the normal ways they can happen between any two races.

If I see a guy in fur with face paint in the dark and don't notice his elf ears, I will probably think of him as a barbarian, rather than a wild elf.
If I see a dark black face out of the corner of my eye and don't notice the tail and cat ears, I will think dark elf instead of sarr.
If a gypsy resurrects (remember you resurrect naked) and doesn't speak, I will think the person human.

This isn't isolated to wilderkyn, either. High ogres and high orcs can easily be mistaken for their monstrous kinfolk.

-MS
 
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