[quote=@Vordak]

Exactly. While, i, personally, have nothing against non-standart human species, they need to be well thought-through before they make their arrivance. They should have their separate character sheets, really.

Things like drinking salt water could be balanced out by having the filtered salt build up within one's body, causing eventual poisoning - tinkering with such things is not necessarily going to take away the grit and realism. Magic and alternate humanoid species can be done well within such a setting, and i'm certain each of us has seen multiple examples of that being done.

Also, how about something completely different? Say, a nomadic tribe that travels the world, interacts with various different settlements and crosses a multitude of biomes - this could serve as a sort of exploration device, to help actually map out the world we're working in. I'm not opposed to having an already established settlement, but how does this sound as an idea?


[/quote]

As to the first point, I do agree that any strange and unusual abilities that are created must have an underlying (and well thought) explanation. There has been a lot of debate in the past day about realism-vs-creative license. I guess the limitations depend on whether we are building an alternate Earth or a unique world. 

The second point is a very clever idea. I like it. Using one tribe as our perspective to travel and discover the world around them. It establishes a point of view from which to begin.