Character race


In tabletop role-playing games, the character race represents the people to which a player character or a non-player character belongs. "People" is to be taken in the broader sense, and may encompass ethnic groups, species, nationality or social groups.
It can be a fictitious species from a fictional universe, or a real people, especially in case of a :Category:Historical role-playing games|history-based universe, e.g. Call of Cthulhu, Boot Hill or Bushido. The term “race” is even broader than the usual meaning, as it also includes extraterrestrial beings; vegetal beings, e.g. the Aldryami in Glorantha, or the Sylvanians in Fantasy Craft ; and robots, e.g. Artificials in Fantasy Craft or the Forgeborn/Dwarf-forged optional race in 13th Age.
This notion is also present in most fantasy or science-fiction works: novels, comics, video games, board games, LARP, etc. The transmediality is obvious in case of consistent universes, e.g. the Middle Earth or the Star Wars universe.
Not all works use the term "race": in Tunnels and Trolls 7th ed., Ken St. Andre uses the term "kinship"; the term Spezies is used in Das Schwarze Auge, and éthnie is used in EW-System 2.0.
In the heroic fantasy games, the races are usually humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, immaterial being, etc. The main influence is the work of J. R. R. Tolkien. Some fantasy or steampunk games also involve "artificial creatures".
In science-fiction games, especially space opera and cyberpunk, the races are humans, extraterrestrials, mutants, cyborgs, transhumans, robots, and artificial intelligences.
In some universes, it is possible to have hybrid characters. For example, in Dungeons & Dragons, it is possible to play a half-elf or a half-orc.

History

The first role-playing game, “original” Dungeons & Dragons, stems from the wargame Chainmail. Chainmail was especially designed to include fantasy races. The race is therefore a core notion present at the very beginning of the role-playing games.
The races in Dungeons & Dragons are strongly inspired by the fantasy literature of the 1930s-1960s. It thus includes the Tolkienian archetypes, but the game makes a difference between:
In the first science-fiction role-playing game, Metamorphosis Alpha, it is possible to play humans and mutated creatures.
In 1975, Tunnels & Trolls allows for the first time to play “monsters”, i.e. a player character can be any race, including possibly a “monster”, but the races are not described in this game; in the 1979 solo adventure Goblin Lake, the player character is a goblin. The 1983 game Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game also allows "monsters" as PCs, and these races are described in the same way as the “non-monster” races.
The first fantasy game that breaks with the D&D conventions is RuneQuest: the “elves” are vegetal beings, it is possible to play a, but the game also takes into account the cult and the cultural background of the character's people: primitive, barbarian, nomadic or civilized. As opposed to Dungeons & Dragons, the character is not totally defined by race and class, but by a list of skills ; the cultural background defines the basic value of the skills, and the cult the access to magic. The race is thus less important in a functional point of view, but more important in a mimetic point of view. The “basic bricks” of the character are more flexible.

Generic races

The “original” Dungeons & Dragons ', and the first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons manuals ', do not describe any particular universe. The universe is only described through the game rules, and it outlines a generic universe inspired by popular fantasy novels of the 1930s-1960s. The race is essentially a list of capabilities—functional part—and a rather thin description that is often limited to the visual appearance, with an illustration, and some elements of moeurs—mimetic part. The way the race takes place in the fictional universe is described in optional books, the “campaign settings” or “world books”. The race is thus mainly a “functional tool”, a set of functions that the player can implement in the adventure: the elves can see in the dark, and in OD&D hobbits can only be fighting men. The Player's Handbook also provide a table of “Racial preferences” and racial restrictions to the alignment, i.e. some races are intended to behave in a given moral way.
The player thus has to pick from his own knowledge of other works, particularly in what is now called the “geek culture”; according to Isabelle Périer, PhD in comparative literature:

Race-driven campaign

In 1989, creates ' in which players characters are “errants”, “wanderers”, i.e. were-animals that form a caravan. The race of were-animals, and their relationship with the humans, become the main subject of the adventures, and not only a functional element or a flavour to the universe. Other games are then published, where the race of the player characters is itself the main topic of the adventures, especially ' and Nephilim

Depiction of real peoples

As aforementioned, some campaign settings are based on real world events, and thus depict real peoples. The way the people are described can be problematic and may sometimes be considered as offending. For example, French articles criticised the way the Soviets were depicted in The Price of Freedom.

Game design

According to Coralie David, in role-playing games, the characters are defined by “bricks”; they are in fact “syntagms of fictional paradigms”. This makes the immersion of the player easier, as anyone can build his own character in a way that is consistent with the fictional universe.
Thus, the race is one of these bricks, as it provides a set of predefined parameters and of characteristics—in the broad sense: physical characteristics, cultural background, moral values and social relationships. The fictional world is built as a consistent system made of “exposed” bricks that can be easily identified, and this promotes creativity and sharing; it also promotes the imaginary creation by the player.
The race itself can be made of “sub-bricks” the player can choose, e.g. in After the Bomb 2nd ed., the player can build his own race by a combination of a basic animal race and mutations.

Function, mimesis and roleplay

As aforementioned, a character is mainly defined by two things:
The functionalities are often a set capabilities and impairments which the game designer try to keep balanced. In some games, the choice of a given race has a cost in generation points, to reflect the advantages a race can give.
In race-driven campaigns, the functionalities can play a central role. For example, in Cats ! , the PCs are cats, with the following consequences:
This influences the decisions of the player, i.e. the roleplay. In some games, the race has an influence on the choices made by the player. The influence can be prescribed by descriptions of the cultural background: the “Racial preferences” in AD&D impels the character to behave in a given way with other characters, and each cult and culture in RuneQuest Glorantha describe the way the character sees the world. In some other games, the influence on choices is impelled, and sometimes enforced, by the rules.
Some game designers consider that creating a rule to induce a role-playing choice is suitable:
Some other consider that such rules limit the freedom of choice of the player and impedes the immersion:
For example, in many role-playing games based on medieval Japan, the notion of honour is specific to the Japanese people ; it is handled in different ways: