Fire has fascinated mankind throughout the ages. From the time it was discovered, our minds focused on using fire in a number of ways. Beyond the apparent applications of cooking our food and keeping warm at night, fire has captured our imaginations. We have applied fire, and heat by extension, to the display of strong emotions with descriptions like “hot-headed”, “hot under the collar”, being in a “heated argument”, and “getting steamed”. It became incorporated into our stories and legends with monstrous creatures like fire-breathing dragons who horde vast amounts of treasured goods and threaten our very survival, demons who reside in a flaming underworld, bent on causing the downfall of even the most saintly of people, and gods who control such powerful elements of nature that they can cause even the most dormant of volcanoes to erupt and rain lava down upon us.

With the idea of fire having such a huge impact on our lives, transporting it into a roleplaying game is a natural step. Many of the monsters from our myths and legends have a logical place in a fantasy setting, fueling the very adventures that our heroes undertake on a regular basis. Additionally, it is not uncommon for fantasy settings to incorporate an entire separate plane of existence filled with pure fire, which hosts a myriad of creatures that live and thrive in this most hostile of environments. Fire can be conjured, shaped, and wielded by heroes and villains alike, with wizards, sorcerers, and druids summoning fire to vanquish their enemies. Blacksmiths use large amounts of heat to forge the very weapons and armor that many of our heroes use to fight and rid the lands of evil.

As a small offer in that regard, The Genius Guide to Races of Fire and Fury presents a trio of new fantasy races—the rakonar, sila, and votanan—suitable for use as player characters or NPCs. These races share a common trait of having some association with fire and heat. They all come from remote—some might even say exotic—locales, making the possibility of encountering them a rarity in almost any world (and making them easier to incorporate into existing campaigns).

Of course, it takes more than just a few cosmetic peculiarities to make a creature feel truly fantastic. Like elves, dwarves, and the other classic character races, each of the new races comes from a culture with its own unique perspective on life and their place in the world—a set of cultural norms that GMs and players can use to understand how the group would fit into a campaign and build characters that fit within (or purposely stretch themselves beyond) those expectations.

Like any good rules expansion, The Genius Guide to Races of Fire and Fury is meant to introduce new possibilities to your campaign and give everyone at the table a chance to expand the horizons of the game and create adventures that are truly fantastic.