Race and Class

[Nexrus]

Hello all! I’m Nexrus and I’m in the process of making my own online rpg. At the moment I’m torn between what races and classes to include – I’m sure you guys will help me out *smile*   

As of now, the races that I have are Human, Dwarf, Elf, Orc, Undead, and Drow…. Although I don’t have all the lore just yet I want to try to incorporate 3 evil and 3 good races. I thought about going with the theme that all races were once good and then some turned evil…. The undead being the evil version of the Human, and the Drow being the evil elf. However, that leaves me with two more races to add… the problem is I’m not sure if an evil version of a dwarf or gnome exist – I’m defiantly not creative enough to make my own. Someone mentioned Duergar as an evil dwarf but I can’t find any information on it, so I’m not sure. Basically what I’m asking is for your help in deciding the remaining two races.

The two classes in particular that I’m vexed about are the Warrior and the Cleric. The warrior will play the role as the main tanking classes in the game were as the Cleric will be the main healer. The setback that I have is that the classes seem to generic – Is there another name the describe them? Or maybe you guys could conjure up one. Thanks in advance.

[Pariah]

All right, you could go with the DnD standard races, and yes, there's an evil race for ever "good" one.  Or you guys could be special and try to create your own races playing a mix and match game.  You take the one thing that a species is respected for, and corrupt it until it's almost unreconizable.

Humans (Adaptability) -> Crazy Mutant Things.  (Chaos) [refered to as CMT]
Elves (Aestetics/Beauty) -> Drow (Racial Purity)
Dwarves (Utilitarian) -> Orc-Like Things (Expedient) [refered to as OLT]

The CMT are a race that, having embraced the natural chaos that mankind normally takes advantage of, was corrupted by it.  Their are all sorts of physical deformities found among their populace, from the advantagous to the crippling, though many of the latter die a quick death, because the society has no place in its structure to support those who can't support themselves.  Some CMT appear normal enough to sneak their way into human society, subverting the common good whenever possible, while others are fit only to attack the "weakbloods" directly.  There is almost no society, with "tribes" forming for a specific purpose, and often disbanding afterwards.  Most CMT live a short life, even for humans, but they also seem to sprout out of the ground like rabbits and other vermin.

Nothing really coming to mind right now, just think genocide though and you'd have it.

The OLT are a race that, though very mindful of their own laws, would rather pillage what they need from another city/town/tribe/nation than make it themselves.  They are excellent warriors, with superhuman knowledge of how to quickly kill of their enemies that one can only gain from an excedingly long lifespan.  No matter how well off they have it right now, if they need something, and can't easily hire someone to make it or get it for them, they will either kidnap someone or take the thing itself.
2.   conducive to advantage or interest, as opposed to right.
5.   a means devised or employed in an exigency; resource; shift: Use any expedients you think necessary to get over the obstacles in your way.

That's all I can think of right now.  As for the class names, there's really not much I can think of to help you there.

[MoonHunter]

Before we can really help you, we need some things defined.

You need to think a bit harder about the game.  Unless you are creatining infinite code that allows you to do anything that others are building mods for, you need to come up with some thematic elements so we know where to go.

1) What sort of "feel" do you want for the game?  Is this game going to be Feudal European (Castles and Knights), Middle Eastern (Flying Carpets and Sand), African, Roman, Feudal Japan (Castles and Samurai), or something?

2) What gimmick do you want for the world. What idea or quest or item do you want to center the world around?  Are we repelling a Dark Lord or a horde of Sky Monsters (aliens landing)?  Are all the items based on magic gems that you can trade around with and make your great better? Are all the characters related to the same religion or guild or city, fighting others of an opposing religion, guild, or city?)

3) Do you want magic here?  Maybe only alchemists who make potions? Why have spell casters?
Or you can turn it around and have everyone be spell casters, with a couple of shield grogs standing in the way as ablative armor for the mages.

4) What are characters doing here?  Are they questing in the dungeon? Travelling across the land? Involved in Battles?  What?

Do these questions and we can throw out some ideas on "races" and "classes".


If you want to show that you are actually serious about this, read this:
http://www.strolen.com/content.php?node=1148
And do a worksheet for the world. 

[Nexrus]

Incredible! I’ve posted this same topic on about 5 different forums and all the replies don’t even come close to the great responses here – I was just flamed on most of them, actually….so just before I start giving some info I want to thank you guys.


1) What sort of "feel" do you want for the game? 
The feel is defiantly going to be that of a medieval fantasy game. I also want to incorporate some heavy roleplaying into the fraction. The original Ultima Online is probably my favorite game of all time and I’d like to model a great deal after it – hopefully that gives you some idea of what I’m going for.

2) What gimmick do you want for the world? What idea or quest or item do you want to center the world around? 
As for the story/lore - I’m still uncertain about that.

3) Do you want magic here? 
I defiantly plan to have magic in the game. Basically I’ve decided to go with around 6 classes that can solo decently as well as be desired in a group. As of now, the lineup is as follows; Rogue (Mostly a pure damage class – very limited magic, if any) Hunter (Self explanatory) Bard (Primary buff class – very magic oriented) Templar (The prime healer – very magic oriented) Warrior (Main tank/melee class – little to no magic) and the Mage (that one should be self explanatory)

4) What are characters doing here?  Are they questing in the dungeon? Travelling across the land? Involved in Battles?
Basically I’d like to have an open word were players can either hunt freely and gain experience or obtain and complete quest from npcs - some of which are related to the story and others not. 

[valadaar]

I'd be careful about using the term Drow.  I'm not sure, but I think it _may_ be a TSR (Wizards of the Coast now) copyright.

As for evil dwarves or gnomes, there was a recent sub that was very good on this subject http://www.strolen.com/content.php?node=1884&from=2046#2002t

Acutally, the  http://www.strolen.com/content.php?node=1884 codex is a gold mine of good ideas.

[manfred]

Let me throw both links in your direction:
New Looks and Takes and Makeovers
Minor Races

The lesson from both Codices is what Pariah said - take the well-known races, and make them your own, twist them and expand until you get something recognizable for your mainstream players, and still unique for your game.

[Nexrus]

Thanks for the heads up on the Drow, Valadaar.... and thank all of you for the links - they were great!

[LordCoreon]

I have a sugestion for your Fighter/Cleric stuff. If your lookin for a way to add flavor to your RPG and avoid the generic, you can always name your clerics based upon race and religion. A couple examples of the top of my head  would be calling a cleric of  law god an Arbiter, A god of death (not neccisarily an evil one) a Channeler and a god of... well you get the Idea. you can do the same with fighters. (Palidin, Hussar, hoplite.. and so on)

[valadaar]

I think this is a good suggestion!

[dark_dragon]

Ditto that!

For the 'anti-gnomes' small goblinoids are good, and that fits in with the orcs. Perhaps this is too Warhammer sounding.

Another idea with the names is to create a pantheon of gods and then attribute each one of them a fighting/ ability class. eg: 'Regicis, God of magics' would have 'Regician disciples' instead of the generic mage, and so on for the other gods...(this is basically the same as what Lord Coreon said, just slightly different).

Another take on the fighter might be to give him a fighting style (eg footman: sword and shield, knight: mounted combat and claymore, Ranger: bow and one handed sword, etc... ) and name him after that.

Just off the top of my head