|
So from the talk of the "GM's don't run" its come up that many people are tiered with the protrayal of the "drunken scotish" dwarf. So this will be the communities effort to make dwarfs "playable" again, a fresh new look for dwarfs.
Personally I've never really seen dwarfs as "scotish" or "drunks". More like master craftsmen, kinda nordic, who can take their ale so well the never get drunk.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Personally, I always thought that people playing dwarves like Scottish drunken fools did so in order to move away from Tolkien's dwarves, until Peter Jackson had Gimli played like a drunken Scottish fool that is... Damn you Peter Jackson!
There's nothing new with norse craftsmen dwarves, but I agree that the drunken Scot stereotype is getting old...
I kind of liked the Persian feel of Warhammer RPG's old chaos dwarves: dark haired with curly square beards and pointy Persian helms. I could see a Japanese/samurai/bushido dwarven society as well, living on concept of honour above personal importance.
|
In my homebrew CS, dwarves are the ancient offspring of stone giants and gnomes, and possess none of the good traits of either race. They're generally mean, tactless, humorless, and have a monotheistic, theocratic monarchy society devoted to their goddess of Artifice and Destruction. They're also very racist, restrict their continent wide country to only dwarves and visitors of other races only under royal invite, and revel in war. They also are very not scottish.
In my homebrew, dwarves are expansionist craftsmen and warriors. Their delving too deep/too far horizontally has led to a violent war with the duergar, which is indirectly causing almost every other bad thing currently plaguing the kingdom.
Oh, and the dwarves also razed the land above their underground kingdom to the ground, destroying all life, to ensure that nothing could cause them trouble up there without them knowing about it. Unfortunately, this has led to an angry druid's ghost and a whole lot of other undead waging a second war on them. Plus, dwarves who become druids deal with a lot of hatred from their colleagues.
Otherwise, though, I'm going with the Pathfinder version. It's pretty decent.
Communist industrialized dwarves.
Wicked fantasy factories lithovore asexual dwarves
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If you are interested in an older form of Dwarf I suggest delving into the linguistic history.
Dweorg-Dwerg&Twerg
Dwerg-Dwarf
Twerg-Troll
So Twer- means to grasp/to take
and Dwei- means dire/ to fear
So a Dwerg is a Dire Dwarf. So add a Dire Template to Dwarf and you get:
Dwerg, Dire Dwarf
AC:3
HD: 3d8(l)
MV: 30'(10')
AT: 1Wpn
DA: As Large Wpn
NA: 0 (4d6)
SA: F3
ML: 10
TT: (q+s) G
INT: 12
AL: Neutral
XP: 35
Description: The Dire Dwarf is 8' Tall, and despite the fact the savage buggers enjoy the taste of raw meat - preferably human - they have a love of technology that makes them far more advanced than any other Dwarf.
Hmm banker dwarves that manage trading and are kind of mean that could work since they are greedy. I now want to put a dwarf in charge of the mint.
.
There may only be one solution to this problem.
|
I have a country of magic using dwarves in a desert that retain the dwarven penchant for craftsmanship. They also tend towards arcane magic.
They did invent banking along with the gnomes. The banks are interconnected and it makes things interesting as I now have players investing money for retirement of their characters presuming they live that long.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
We don't need a makeover. We're beautiful, just the way we are.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In all seriousness, while I love the typical dwarf fighter or cleric, my own personal reimagining of a dwarf (via my PFS character) is that of a somewhat odd dwarf monk (think Oogway, but not as badass yet, from Kung Fu Panda) - spouting words of wisdom and jokes, but also just kind of going with the flow of the universe.
Dwarves, Humans, and Halflings were the first races in my homebrew world - unlike the Elves (who were expelled from the realm of FaeReie as their "Third Court" was cast down, and degraded into semi-mortality), the Kobolds (who "bled up" from Gaia's wounds and forged themselves bodies of earth and gems), the Naga (whose origins lie shrouded in secret to all but their most revered elders), or the Lupin (who like the first Worgs were once mere wolves, until they drank drops from the Well of Mimir) they were forged by the gods, attempting to emulate the Titans that came before them in making a lesser servitor populace to worship and attend them. When the Fates intervened and declared the Gods must withdraw their direct actions upon the mortal planes, their creations went their own way, and in time three distinct peoples arose.
The Halflings, at first, remained on the continent of origin, claiming the mountains and jungles as their own. The Humans claimed the plains beyond. And the Dwarves, with naught left, were drawn to the coast of the origin land's north and west. It is there they discovered that which would be tied to Dwarven culture forever: the ocean. In a short time they had mastered the working of wood, and only a few generations passed until working ships had been made. Poseidon became their foremost patron, and the dwarven fondness for long, thick, intricately braided beards on the men and equally long, thick, braided hair for their women came from depictions of him and his consort Amphitrite. From there, there was no looking back.
Dwarves became the foremost explorers, travelers, and traders, quickly claiming the sea as their birthright and leaving the solid ground for their cousins and the other races that would come in time. It is through dwarven ships, for centuries upon centuries, that the other races would reach distant lands to spread and conquer, and no kingdom has to this day forged a navy without dwarven leadership, shipcraft, and advice. Piracy was soon to follow, and rare there was to find a non-dwarven pirate of any more than local renown. With the aid of Kobold and, later, human metalworkers, ironclad ships eventually replaced wooden ones, but ever were the dwarves at the forefront of sea travel, exploration, trade, crime, and conquest.
A DWARF!
IS A MAN!
OF THE SEA!
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I reimagine dwarves as having a unique economic system based on their idea of property rights.
As master craftsmen, they believe that a craftsman invests a part of himself in each thing he makes. Because of this, whoever creates an item is the one who owns it, forever. That's why each dwarf always puts a maker's mark on everything he creates. They can loan out property to whoever they like at whatever terms, but it's impossible to actually sell ownership rights. No matter who is in possession of an item, its creator always holds the ultimate right to it. You can never buy something from a dwarf, you can only rent it.
When a dwarf dies, all of his created posessions pass to either his physical heir or someone whom he's designated. They live for 400 to 500 years, though, so it doesn't come up all that often. The one exception to this law is dwarven kings. Anything they make is considered the common property of the entire kingdom and is marked with an official symbol.
This is one of the reasons why dwarves are insular and slightly xenophobic, since they don't trust outsiders to understand or respect their laws. It's also one reason why they're not as widespread and successful as humans, since their economy is just fundamentally not as efficient at the human system.
This gives dwarves a special hatred for thieves. It also means that dwarves have a special relationship to found treasure. If they find an item with a dwarven mark on it, a good dwarf will do whatever they can to return it to its rightful owner (though they might use it in the meantime).
Dwarves are capable of being interesting all on their own.
For a home brew setting, I've been entertaining the idea of dwarves as a slave race. Their stoutness and endurance being acquired traits after millennia of servitude, being forced to build fortresses and mine materials for their masters. No one remembers what they were like before slavery, since their masters have destroyed all records of their history.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Just because they like to drink doesn't make them bafoons.
I think Elder Scrolls has gotten them right...
I think Elder Scrolls has gotten them right...
What, extinct?
Dwarf Fortress creates a rich culture for Dwarves. Read the Let's Play, "Boatmurdered" for inspiration.
|
I think Elder Scrolls has gotten them right...What, extinct?
I think more elf-like in appearance (Instead of being short, bearded folk they were normal height and ashen skinned, but a but burlier) and engineering geniuses.
I actually really like the Dwemer and will probably re-skin dwarves to be something similar in my homebrew.
Do the dwarves want more power.
|
Do the dwarves want more power.
You just want to see how many you can stuff in a CeeApostropheDee. You do realize that dwarves built the Reliant Robin, don't you?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hill dwarves in my homebrew are typically bandits who are more likely to snipe at you from behind low stone walls than they are to offer you ale. They're a bit like feuding mafioso clans back in Sicily, in that respect.
I think dwarves should be more like Eeyore. I mean, they live underground with no sunlight; that's got to be depressing.
Constant escape from the wretched ball of bright, scorching fire in the sky? Depressing?
Do the dwarves want more power.
Haven't you got some racist or misogynist things to do or maybe you can go park your Range Rover on a poor person.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Personally, I always thought that people playing dwarves like Scottish drunken fools did so in order to move away from Tolkien's dwarves, until Peter Jackson had Gimli played like a drunken Scottish fool that is... Damn you Peter Jackson!Well, drunken Welshman, but you get the picture...
err, meant no disrespect for Welchmen... or Scots... or dwarves really.
I've been re-reading The Hobbit for the kids at bedtime lately. We haven't reached the Lonely Mountain yet, but so far there aren't many mentioning of axes and armours and crossbows. It's all swords and bows and hooded cloaks!
My Thunder Rift game borrows some elements from the ancient Hebrews for the dwarves. They are a pastoral race, with many young dwarves guarding the flocks from orcs, goblins, and wolves. They worship at a holy mountain. The dwarf priests wear jeweled breastplates. Dwarves sometimes have Hebrew inspired names like Zadok, Isak, Aksel, and so on.
Of course, a lot of the cultural particulars are quite different.
For example, the dwarves practice a form of ancestor worship in conjunction with their faith in 'the Maker.'
I may have another set of dwarves with some cultural elements based loosely on Appalachian mountaineers/hillfolk. Yes, they'll have fiddles and moonshine.