Raxacoricofallapatorius

How do you feel about the level of character diversity you’ve experienced?

Oh I just thought of something else: almost all characters I’ve seen are classically handsome/beautiful. It makes me wanna create more unconventional looking characters, even straight up ugly characters.

How do you feel about the level of character diversity you’ve experienced?

To further expand on the assumption that the species are individual species: in a setting where there is the possibility of half-breed characters to occur, those half-breeds would likely be treated very badly (for semi-viable reasons) by their respective societies, even though being a half breed is of course not their fault. It kinda brings a new weight to the trope of half-breeds being taboo but not otherwise suffering any actual genetic disadvantage.

How do you feel about the level of character diversity you’ve experienced?

@Idea

Though, I suppose they might not be species, considering in most settings there are half-elves, half-orcs, etc. That means that they can reproduce and stuff, which fills the species definition.

@stone

Technically if you wanna get scientific about it, if Elves, Orcs, and Humans etc. are all separate species, if they were to interbreed their offspring should be sterile, unable to reproduce, like mules for example. Assuming this is the case, given that there are some fairly dramatic physical differences between, say, Orcs and Humans, the chances of an Orc-Human hybrid having actual physical deformities, or developmental differences are extremely high and their lifespans will most likely be shorter on average.

BUT assuming any/all humanoid species can produce offspring that share their parents’ traits but are otherwise physically sound, would mean that technically they all exist within the same species, and their genetic differences are simply the result of some groups developing different genetic traits over time that eventually become the standard for that group. Think Great Danes vs. Shitzus, if we didn’t know all dog breeds are descended from a common ancestor we would probably think those two dogs are entirely different species. Technically a Great Dane and a Shitzu can reproduce viable offspring, making them the same species.

How do you feel about the level of character diversity you’ve experienced?

<Snipped quote by Raxacoricofallapatorius>

I know I'm deviating a bit, but it's pretty funny how they call elves, orcs, etc. "races" instead of, you know, "species".

@stone

I prefer to use race in fantasy because while species is also accurate, I feel that race implies different intelligent people-groups, and species can also mean to include animals. I only have a problem when “race” is used to describe different ethnic groups of humans because the human race is one race, one species, with ethnic and cultural diversity. Species can be used to classify an intelligent being or an animal, whereas race limits that category to intelligent species. And by intelligent I mean a species with culture and language.

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How do you feel about the level of character diversity you’ve experienced?

@OdinI tend to decide what gender I’ll play as based on the existing characters, as you said you do. But that extends further than gender, if I see there are certain character types/classes already in existence I’ll do my best to make my character markedly different from the other archetypes.

I’ve never been asked to play a specific ethnicity, but when I do play a character ethnically different from me stereotypes weren’t really an issue since the character’s origin is almost always culturally familiar (American Midwest for example). Country and region of origin play a bigger part of defining a character as opposed to their skin color. If I was to play as someone from another cultural background I’d stick with what I’m most familiar with: English-American, Spanish-Mexican, Japanese, and Korean culture. I feel if I wanted to make a character who was, say, a Mexican migrant, I could accurately represent someone like that without risking perpetuating harmful stereotypes. On the flip side, and what I’d more likely go for, would be playing a black/Asian/latinx character who’s cultural origin was simply American, or English, and who didn’t have strong ties to their ethnic heritage as being a major part of their identity. Totally great if you wanna make characters like that, it’s just my preference. Being ethnically different doesn’t have to be a big deal.

Fantasy settings make ethnic diversity easier in a way because in a world where racial tension is more like “human vs elf vs orc” ethnic variation in human characters suddenly doesn’t matter at all culturally, for the most part, but fantasy RPs are where I happen to notice the least ethnic diversity in human characters.

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How do you feel about the level of character diversity you’ve experienced?

I suppose my end conclusion is that the setting itself is often what fosters character diversity. If the GM makes a world where there's options, the players will take those options.

@stone

I agree, sometimes the setting inspires more creativity in the players allowing for greater character diversity.

I'd like to see more ethnic variation, more background variation, and less edgy protagonist backstories.

@Odin

This is what I was initially thinking when I started this thread. I rarely ever see non-white characters or characters that challenge gender norms. One of my favorite RPs was a “Small town punk band tries to make it big” and the ethnic diversity of the characters was amazing compared to other RPs I’ve GMed or been involved in. I’m not sure what prompted it but I was extremely happy about the turnout.

One of my other prompts for posting this was that I happened to be searching shutterstock images for character inspiration and came across one that made me want to write up a transgender character, because I’d never seen a trans character in RP and the model inspired me to consider the possibility and it seemed like it could be a fun new challenge. I’ve branched out quite a bit since I started RPing, I used to play exclusively male characters who were always in/near my own age range. Now I find myself creating characters in the 30-50s age range, both male and female, and I find it’s more fun to create depth in characters that have actually lived long enough to accrue a greater measure of life experience.

I dont know that anyone would find folks willing to do this, but it would be fun to get together with folks, have them create character sheets and then roll for who plays who. Like everyone makes 2 characters up, make sure there are enough characters dissimilar enough to each other to have the right number of real options, then have folks vote on what the Party is composed of, then roll for who plays what. So 5 participants = 10 character options, voted down to the 5 characters to actually be played, and then you roll for who plays which of the 5.

@BangoSkank

This could be a fun, experimental exercise. If you ever decide to give it a try I’d be interested in participating.

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Also as several of you mentioned, creating intentional weakness and character limitations. And I mean specifically physical weakness, not just mental/emotional. And I mean obvious weaknesses, real thought out character flaws instead of an afterthought addition. When I see stuff like a powerful pyromancer battle mage who’s only “weakness” is that they’re afraid of spiders or something, that’s lazy.

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