So Josh and other's are poking me to do more art, and I'm working on stuff. I don't however want to be "that girl that draws pixies all the time." So I figured I'd get people to tell me what their favorite race(s) are and give me their point of view on them, and then see if I can't draw something that will match your description.
Example, Jaramar I'm sure will say Gnomes, I rather adore gnomes myself. I'd want his idea on what they should look like physcially. Links to other people's art work are acceptable. His views on their society, culture, inventions... but I don't really have to ask him for that since he's got a thread for gnomes already <3... well maybe get him to define the physcial descriptors alittle more. And if there's something you're strongly aginst your race having, like peircings or tatoo's tell me why.
Physical discriptions should include not just height, hair colors, eye colors, skin colors, ect. But traditional clothing styles and hair styles, accessories like pouches, books, quills, tools, ect. Weapons and armor are acceptable only if you have a good reason for why your race would always and forever be wearing armor and toteing a weapon around. Most people, even in the good eld days gone yore didn't walk around in armor all the time. It's hot and heavy and frequently itchy.
I promise you won't poor me. Just try to use good sentence and paragraph spacing. Big blocks of text, while irritating for other people are acctually very difficult for me to read. I am dyslexic and after a certain point everything kinda goes wonky. Spaceing helps keep everything deciphrable. Ok, now wow me <3
Goblins! Of course! . Har, har, har!
Very cool, I like the idea & hope you get lots of input. And, I know you dig all kinds of mythology, -don't deny it!
I've always enjoyed goblins, -they are the Id. Of what you should not do, goblins do. I think they are in almost every culture in one form or another. They can mean, 'break wind' to minor devil. To me they mean, free spirit. And, in-games, they are always the underdog -unless they unite and go hordy/zergy nuts. A balance to the hobbits, dwarves, and gnomes (which I LUV), I imagine goblins appearing in many, many forms.
My personal goblin, Gassy, is more of a gnome trapped inside a goblin's IQ and Id like drive. Or pixie maybe ( I do DIG pixies too! ). A stinky, dirty, rotten goblin, who really is of no threat & absolutely loves to join in on anything, -Kermit the Frog gone wrong. Well, more like Kermit the bipedal pig (2' tall).
Here's Gassy's page; http://www.dudesbyjosh.com/characters.htm , but Gassy is a dynamic character and goes through changes all the time. Like, he's fatter, shorter, and purple now. And... he has a different mount .
The goblins from the film Labyrinth are fun, here's a pick from one of my ALL TIME FAV artists, and great gobbies ( I think Labyrinth based their gobbies on this artist);
Well Gnomes of-
How about myconids? Mushroom people.
I've always been a big fan of the more surreal fantasy races. There's a lot of play in the design of a myconid. Being plant based, anatomy can be more abstract than your standard humanoid. The mushroom cap is an obvious feature, but extraneous limbs and rearranged facial features are other possible deviations. Here's a concept me and an artist friend of mine came up with a while back.
I don't imagine myconids to be a particularly statuesque race. A short, even hunched posture hardly reaching 3-4 feet seems most fitting. This would play into their role as underdogs of society, a title earned by their unerving physiology and foreign demeanor. Other races would probably fear or even loathe them, and likewise, they would cultivate a very isolationist culture. Xenophobic even.
Socially speaking, they would probably master sedentary agriculture but not develop a particularly advanced civilization. Simple buildings, small homesteads, root crops, possibly ruled over by a chief or elder. Very utilitarian. I doubt they would have as many physical, emotional, or psychological demands as the average human.
Oh, and I can't imagine them wearing excessive clothing. Being fungal, they wouldn't have a lot to hide.
Excellent Radiostorm ! Yup, I like the Myconids, cool pics too!
Minotaurs:
Nice shots! I really like this one:
I like the Minotaurs idea and the Gnome idea (gnome ball will live!) Myconids would be a very unique playable race.
I ran across this pic of a Rentars on some human genome web page. Proportionally I would think the Rat body would be smaller and curve into the human back more "gracefully" if it where implemented.
Rentars, I made this up because its the first time I've seen it, name suggestions are apretiated.
So far I have: Rentars, Ratars (means something in Japanese translation to come when I figure it out), Ratturas, Onezumihito (Rat Person, Japanese), Shuren (Rat Person, Chinese)
I'll ask people who speak Japanese and Chinese how to really say it. I'm leaning towards Shuren or Ratturas myself.
Right On Honis! Ratturas sound good . Great idea, how big do think a Ratturas would be?
I posted a while back for a race of dragon-kin similar to those that were to be in WISH.
Agreed, that would be cool .
I am working on fan art for the more serious propositions here. But Radiostorm brought up Viking Myconids in the IRC and I just couldn't resist.
That picture brings a tear to my eye. The viking mushrooms shall inherit the earth.
Yuan-ti
Mix of humans and snakes. I'll go on the easy way and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan-ti
Pureblood (probably) and abomination:
Abomination:
Halfblood:
[img]http://www.legendgames.co.uk/acatalog/332%5B1%5D.jpg[/img]
Pureblood:
Yay for Forgotten Realms!
Oh, and they prefer swampy, warm climat.
Yeah, graceful, graceful, graceful... Everywhere I go, I see slender, elven featured creatures, or large, massively muscled, low-body fat freaks...
Why can't we have a creature that is fat? Not grotesque, or obviously obese, but by human standards, well, 'big boned.'
The race should be well muscled, but not ripped in any sense of the word. All of the muscles should be hidden in a liberal layer of fat. The skin, however, is smooth and soft to the touch. A person pressing against one of these creatures should feel large, rippling muscles close under the fat, but wouldn't be able to see the muscle definition at all.
Here's a sample descriptions of how a typical human adventurer would tell the tale over a few pints. "'E 'ad arms th' size o' a tree limb and legs that, I swear, would've been of better use as roots if I 'adn't seen 'em walk. The only neck 'e 'ad was a crease between the barrel o' 'is chest and 'is round chin. I'd swear I walk't inna emporer's kitchen full o' fat 'n lazy eunichs, 'cept they ran as fast as I could when I'm sober, and I saw one lift a barrel o' wine twice th' size o' th' innkeep's barrel over there as though 'twer empty. I 'ad to go look for meself, and it was filled to th' top, it was."
Despite their great weight, which they easilly manage, these creatures are not very physical, but preffer technical and spiritual endeavors. They very rarely develop weapons for themselves, so the vast majority of what they do make are clumsy imitations of weapons created by other races, and they do not spend their time practicing their skills in melee combat. An exception is their skill with spears, since it is almost impossible for them to sneak up on prey. They are very adept at creating very ballanced throwing spears (even though the spear is twice the size of a human's typical throwing spear), and are able to throw these spears with great accuracy twice the distance as humans.
Their climate of choice is frozen tundra (which explains the layer of fat). Because of this, they avoid metal armor, which could cause frost bite. They typically dress in well tailored hides. On the few occasions when they do wear armor, they preffer a very thick banded leather with softer hides on the inside and white fur on the outside (camoflage in the frozen tundra). The women do NOT run around in skimpy shirts showing their cleavage, and a loin cloth is entirely unheard of. Picture eskimos with twice to four times the girth and much larger limbs.
Technologically, they are at the same level as other humans at the time, and their favorite building material is ice. Because their game tends to travel around a lot, there are very few permanent structures made by this race, the rest being ice carved from nearby rivers into one-story buildings. Large furs are draped along the walls and floors inside the buildings to provide privacy and added insulation against the cold. (This would be a good transparency effect to test in Ogre...) The few permanent buildings are the fire holding structures, such as a blacksmith and a central fire house that holds fire year-round with a slow-burning fuel, also the center of the clan's spiritual life.
A typical clan will have four settlements, populating each one for three months before following the game to their next settlement. When empty, the only sign of life is the heavilly warded fire house holding the fire for when the settlement is filled again, and an empty blacksmith's building, as well as large amounts of shattered ice where the temporary buildings stood. Only the clan knows how to disarm the wards around the fire house, which causes damage, as well as pushes intruders away (like swimming against the current of a river).
The flame inside the fire house is a sacred relic, technically the same flame that these creatures had at the dawn of their civilization. The source of the flame is unknown, but if all four of a clan's sacred fires were to go out, they would be unable to use their shamanistic powers until they were relit from a fire originating from another clan's sacred flame. When traveling, a clan will carry part of the sacred flame with them on a well protected torch in case the flame at their destination was extinguished, thus it is not possible to extinguish all flames by waiting until the clan is traveling... at least one has to be extinguished using brute force. (And I really don't want players to be able to extinguish the flames at all...)
The story team can take things up with the sacred flame's origins... Perhaps it is as old as the planet itself, and all flames originating from it have a measure of sentience?
Is that enough detail to work with? Ask any questions, and I can fill in details...
Oh, their usual decorations are simple patterns and totems... It's a *very* shamanistic society.
And I don't have a name for them... Anyone have ideas?
Oh yeah, some physical attributes: Height: 5'2". Weight: 320lbs (mostly muscle... looks like 250lbs fat humans, since muscle weighs more than fat.) No neck, round jaw, arms average 30 inches in diameter, waist = 50+ inches, generally a short ogre, except that they are fair skinned. Men are bearded, but they keep their beards no longer than two inches, so that ice doesn't get trapped in them. They are a very social, "neutral-good" society, where they don't care if you break the rules, so long as you're breaking them to help society out.
Cool description ghedipunk! Very enjoyable read.
Posible name for Ghedi's new race. Adip'laci
Why are you never on IRC Josh?
Adip'Laci would have same rules as Yuan-ti and being a racial name would be more like Human than nationality like American.
You you could:
a Human, an Adip'Laci, a Yuan-ti
some Humans, some Adip'laci, some Yaun-ti
Thats the great thing about -i, easer to remember.
Some norwegian words that could be used to describe the horizontally challenged eskimos:
Nordboer - 'someone who lives in the north' (plural Nordboere)
Islending - Icelander (plural Islendinger)
Isboer - 'someone who lives in the ice' (plural isboere)
Fettkladd - 'lump of fat' (derogatory, plural Fettkladder)
Fettberg - 'mountain of fat' (derogatory, plural Fettberg)
I think they'd find it rather entertaining, an easter egg kinda. There are numerous examples of similar things in other games.
Like Filipinos will like some of the names of things, since I suggest a lot of Tagalog words as names. A lot of the names in the current lore come from suggestions I made using Tagalog, Ilocano and Pangasinan, maybe even some Zambal (the latter 3 are dialects, while Tagalog is the national language).
Very awesome
I myself have a thing for playing a bald female ogre. Something about playing a really tall, and intimidating looking female wielding a huge two handed axe is fun.
Gnomes, all, the, way. Gnomes, Gnomes, Gnomes, Gnomes. Seriously, Gnomes.
The problem with Gnomes is that they are defined and described so many, many difference ways. For instance, you have the "Roaming Gnome" Gnome. This is not the kind of Gnome I speak of. Not all Gnomes are garden Gnomes.
Then you have the EQ style of Gnome, where all of them have wrinkly skin and look like they are 105. Again, not quite the kind of Gnome I am going for.
Thirdly, you have the Dragonlance/D&D/WarCraft style Gnome. Ahhh, here's the sweet spot. Short, cute, stout of heart, scary intelligent, unafraid to try anything for their next "gadget". Your average Gnome should be three to four feet in height, be a tad overwieght (generally with a bit of a beer belly, you would be surprised how much Gnomes love their ale) and have large, bright eyes, full of intelligence. They should almost seem like a know it all, but not in a condescending or conceited manner (mostly because, in respect to their times, they really DO know it all). Their clothing would be a mix between Dwarven and Human, mostly in the latest styles. Obviously females would be slighter in stature than males.
I will try and think of more details later, but yes, Gnomes please
Hmm,
I love the whisps. Full of confidence, yet you can still only see them from the corner of your eye. When you turn full, they are gone.
Sometimes, under summer's full moon, you will catch site of them, dancing around a circle of white stones, with low growing fragrant moss in the center of the stones.
You can watch them elegantly lift from this earth and float, spin, and swoop through the tree branches as they celebrate life then disappear into the night sky on their journey towards the .....
specters, ghosts, phantoms, ethereal type of stuff that float and look cool
i've always wanted to see a type of ghost phantom thing floating around with an axe and in battle armor
http://www.projectwish.com/index.php?showtopic=2465
Here is a good Idea of what Honis thinks of ghosts. I think it is a very good Idea. Take a gander out it if you get the time.
I read this thread and the one regarding playable races and I've only one point to expose, too much.
Too much races mean:
You're not offending, and you can quit worrying. These are not the development threads. The general public doesn't get to see those and yes the team is well aware of the difficulties of creating one race let alone several. The purpose of this thread is to get people talking in detail about what 1 race they really like.
It gives the developers an idea of what their community is interested in, it gives folks a chance to exercise their creative muscles, and it might just generate something worth while for development. Though the original purpose was just to give me something to draw.
Unfortunately I lost a lot of work when my computer literally blew up on me last year. I had backed up, or so I thought, but when I tried to use my back-up disks it told me the data was corrupted and couldn't be recovered. I'm still hoping to eventually get some free time and get drawing again, 'specially on Ghedi's idea since I still find it very intriguing.
Ok now I understand the target of this thread.
I'm sorry for your data lost, if near I was glad to do a try to help you recover that that (I worked as technician for years too) but I'm sure that by the time you will make new and more improved draws.
Some years ago I lost some backups due a fallout of a hd and when I finished to remade all the works lost most of them was improved a lot than original ones.
Windragon
I might eventually get to redo some of the work that was lost. I'm not gonna hold my breath though. Right now I have to finish school before I can even thing about being able to afford the materials and equipment I'll need to pursue my art hobbies. But even with that major disappointment, this thread did provide some useful information for me and hopefully the developers who are still able to work on the project.
t_t I miss having free time and hobbies.
What is everyone's opinion to using "classical" race types as defined by current and past literature? My feeling is that where we probably want to create a new slough of monsters and foes to serve our purposes, I would really like to keep MANY of the classical elf, human, dwarf, orc, etc. creature types... as long as they have normal-sized ears.
Part of this question is to determine if the community wants artistically "stylized" graphics. By that I mean the 3-foot ears of the elves of WoW, versus the (what I consider) normal-shaped trees/monsters of UO.
-Rico
We've already decided on a "realistic" style. That part is set in stone . Oh, and don't worry about those ears. They won't ever get big as long as I am around.
Thank you, I'm rather unfond of rabbitish floppy, or semi erect ears that manage to convey a weird sense of phallic compensation in the designers.
Was that a hidden WoW designers insult?
I wouldn't mind seeing some pretty far out monsters or races. Even Earth has creatures that have people scratch there heads.
I'm still gunning for an undead type playable race (spirits) but will settle for a seemingly zombie like race. (The butler in Horror movies style not a dark elf!)
MMkay, leme get in on this action.
Whenever I play Ultima Online, I have my regular dwarf, and his name is Dokyooda Who.
Dokyodoa is my Master Craftmen reguarly , ( though he has been known to pick up an axe and fight when it is needed)rather than a fighting dwarf. Usualy Dok ( As some who cannot seem to pronounce Dokyooda call im ) will wear a studed, scorched leather armor ( which is nothing more than smoking/buring the hide after it is tanned and swen together ). In the middle of the leather armor is his family seal, which is a simple, and crude, design of a green shield, with a yellow stripe running from the left corner, to the bottem right side.
He normaly wears field green shirt and pants which seem to always have suit and dirt on it from the forge or fields where he gathers and works his crafts.
Traditionaly, Dok is a hairless dwarf except for maybe the eye brows which are a light brown color with some sun-streak highlights.
He normaly stands under 4'5", seems to have a slight beer gut, but still manages to keep his arms n legs fairly sculpted. His skin is sun-kissed an fair, tho his work keeps him in a regular farmers tan.
Whenever Dok is needed for fighting, he had a large silvered great axe that resignates with the feint glow is his fallen enemies. His armor is plate and made of a hardened iron, on the plate is a blackened and soddered metal outline of a black dragon.
This symbol represents his status umong the dragons. "Dokyooda Who, Blight of Fredrigore "
Dokyooda is a skilled smith, carpenter, alchemist, scribe, cartographer, tinker-er and chef.
Helf hears long short or whatever are good if the graphical idea is the same for all players and mobs in a virtual world.
So I don't care to see ears as I want due we suppose to play in a brand new world with different rules than other then all is acceptable 20 feet ears or no ears at all.
Windragon