From the article archive
Writing Practice, 01/14/2002
Welcome
Writing Practice is back. Hence forward I'll be writing a number of columns ahead of time for posting later. Unless something comes up I think needs to be dealt with that day. Today's WP is about pets and other threats to life and limb. Without further ado.
Pets et. al.
We are in the habit of making a pet out of just about anything, even rocks. If we can persuade ourselves that it looks cute in some manner, or we become fascinated by it, it could become a pet of some sort.
Yet in RPGs this nearly universal human tendency goes out the window. DnDhas familiars, Mythushas mascots, but beyond that there really isn't anything regarding pets. At least in those RPGs I have any experience with.
Why is this? Consider how ubiquitous pets are in real life. It is a rare culture that doesn't have pets of one sort or another. Those with an aversion to small animals are considered odd in the extreme, even pathological where the aversion is carried to an extreme. (An extreme extreme?) Even the homeless will sometimes have an animal companion, and some folks take pet keeping to an extreme.
What of the people of your campaign? What sort of animals do they keep as pets? Cats and dogs one would expect, but what of the other species? For that matter, what of the fantasy beasts?
I once saw a bit about a pet bison. House trained and everything. Pot bellied pigs are popular pets in certain circles. Exotic cats in others. Is there a culture in your game that keeps pet pseudo dragons? How about a pet bulette? (No? Don't blame you.)
In a series of Ecology ofarticles in Dragonone character had a pet osguip. Pet blink dogs sound like fun, if you don't mind Bowser 'blinking' into the bedroom when you're with the misses. What might the non-humans have as pets?
Elves I can see going with long lived animals. Since whales and elephants tend to be a bit too large for the typical elven home, the fay would be more likely to keep birds. Especially parrots and the like. A cockatoo would be perfect, since they've been known to live for a century or more. While much smaller than an elephant, a giant tortoise would not make for a good pet thanks to it's size. In addition, they are not the most lively of creatures.
Gnomes and the pecwae of Loerem (Sovereign Stonewould tend to keep small woodland animals. Badgers for protection, chipmunks and squirrels. Songbirds for their music. But would usually not keep them penned up, unless there was need.
Dwarfs and large, ferocious dogs sounds about right. Loyal beasts ready and willing to give their lives for their homes. Determined beasts who won't give up regardless of cost. Cats? No, too undependable. Flighty beasts who demand everything and return nothing.
Where the goblinoids are concerned, fierce animals such as badgers, ratels, and wolverines. The timber wolf would be perfect for the orc. Rigid hierarchy strictly enforced. Everybody keeps to their place. Those who show weakness are either driven to a lower position, killed, or driven out. As long as the leader shows no weakness the underlings do not challenge. Now if you could teach that to your orc followers life would be much simpler.
Storm giants. definitely not a remorhaz. The remorhaz is too foul tempered and capricious to make for a good pet. Elephants and mammoths are possibilities, but not in the same home thanks to the climate each prefers. A white dragon has much the same problem as a remorhaz, but might be more trainable
What sort of pets would your favorite race keep? Why? What role do pets play in daily life? What role in religion, history, and folklore? How wide spread is pet keeping? Is it restricted to a certain class in society? Are certain classes restricted to certain pets? Are there different breeds? What was the animal bred to do? Is the pet a companion animal? What kinds of animals work best as adventuring pets?
Animals in General
All this leads us to animals as a part of the gaming world. By animals I'm including the beasts and magical beasts of DnD.These being animals that either never lived contemporaneously with Humanity, and/or have some sort of magickal talent.
For simplicity's sake RPGs tend to "stat up" a generic animal of a certain type, then treat it as the sole representative in the game's setting. Same thing applies to beasts, magical beasts, and monsters. Yet the real world often has many species of a type of animals. For example, among rodents there are some twenty different species of vole, including eight species of lemming. All are much of a sameness, admittedly, but they do have (slightly) different habitats. Mice are another matter. While they pretty much look alike, most species are solitary, and while the vast majority preferentially eat grain, the kangaroo mouse of the U. S. Southwest is a carnivore.
What of the animals etc. on your world? How many species of blink dog are there? Are there different sub-species of white dragon? How about a species of mouse that can 'phase' through walls to get at the grain in a bin or silo? How about a species of basilisk that can control its petrification ability, and is kept as a pet and guard animal?
Expanding the number of species of a type of animal can add to your game. Bring an air of mystery to it. Is that a black rat, or a goblin rat (so called since it is sometimes kept as a pet by goblins)? Black rats are very social animals, shy, and live along side humanity in the hidden places of Man's world. The goblin rat is provisionally social, prefering to live in small groups instead of the huge congregations of the black rat, tends to be more agressive, and avoids humans whenever possible. Black rats are found most often in the habitations of Man, goblin rats are found most often in the deep forest and in the habitations of goblins.
How many more species of rat does your world hold? How many species of rodent, dog, cat, primate, etc.?
This all comes under the heading of fleshing out the world. Making it more 'real' in a sense. Not for everybody, but some of you may find it useful. Give it a shot and see how it works.
"That, my ill educated friend, is a ghost rat. Solitary, prefers brush and field over any other. Called the ghost rat because it can take on an insubstantial form. This allows it to get into things most other rats cannot and take the things it is fascinated by. Such as sparklies.
"What's a 'sparkly' you ask? A sparkly is something that sparklies. Such as gold, gems, bright, shiny things. It keeps its sparklies safe in its nest, which is usually deep underground and very hard to reach, unless you are able to both assume the size and the incorporeal form of a ghost rat.
"Fortunately ghost rats can't travel to other planes, so our stash should be safe. But, they are also fond of the smell of dwarfs, so you may find yourself with a sleeping partner later tonight.
"No, the plane I'm caching our treasure in cannot support life."
*****
Coming up: Tomorrow, why letting the players win is a bad idea. Later on, Family in RPGs and other subjects, whatever comes to mind. If you have a suggestion, feel free to email it to me.
On Wednesday part two of Tales of the Wolf Folk Sea.A somewhat meatier installment at that.
See you later.
Alan
Writing Practice is back. Hence forward I'll be writing a number of columns ahead of time for posting later. Unless something comes up I think needs to be dealt with that day. Today's WP is about pets and other threats to life and limb. Without further ado.
Pets et. al.
We are in the habit of making a pet out of just about anything, even rocks. If we can persuade ourselves that it looks cute in some manner, or we become fascinated by it, it could become a pet of some sort.
Yet in RPGs this nearly universal human tendency goes out the window. DnDhas familiars, Mythushas mascots, but beyond that there really isn't anything regarding pets. At least in those RPGs I have any experience with.
Why is this? Consider how ubiquitous pets are in real life. It is a rare culture that doesn't have pets of one sort or another. Those with an aversion to small animals are considered odd in the extreme, even pathological where the aversion is carried to an extreme. (An extreme extreme?) Even the homeless will sometimes have an animal companion, and some folks take pet keeping to an extreme.
What of the people of your campaign? What sort of animals do they keep as pets? Cats and dogs one would expect, but what of the other species? For that matter, what of the fantasy beasts?
I once saw a bit about a pet bison. House trained and everything. Pot bellied pigs are popular pets in certain circles. Exotic cats in others. Is there a culture in your game that keeps pet pseudo dragons? How about a pet bulette? (No? Don't blame you.)
In a series of Ecology ofarticles in Dragonone character had a pet osguip. Pet blink dogs sound like fun, if you don't mind Bowser 'blinking' into the bedroom when you're with the misses. What might the non-humans have as pets?
Elves I can see going with long lived animals. Since whales and elephants tend to be a bit too large for the typical elven home, the fay would be more likely to keep birds. Especially parrots and the like. A cockatoo would be perfect, since they've been known to live for a century or more. While much smaller than an elephant, a giant tortoise would not make for a good pet thanks to it's size. In addition, they are not the most lively of creatures.
Gnomes and the pecwae of Loerem (Sovereign Stonewould tend to keep small woodland animals. Badgers for protection, chipmunks and squirrels. Songbirds for their music. But would usually not keep them penned up, unless there was need.
Dwarfs and large, ferocious dogs sounds about right. Loyal beasts ready and willing to give their lives for their homes. Determined beasts who won't give up regardless of cost. Cats? No, too undependable. Flighty beasts who demand everything and return nothing.
Where the goblinoids are concerned, fierce animals such as badgers, ratels, and wolverines. The timber wolf would be perfect for the orc. Rigid hierarchy strictly enforced. Everybody keeps to their place. Those who show weakness are either driven to a lower position, killed, or driven out. As long as the leader shows no weakness the underlings do not challenge. Now if you could teach that to your orc followers life would be much simpler.
Storm giants. definitely not a remorhaz. The remorhaz is too foul tempered and capricious to make for a good pet. Elephants and mammoths are possibilities, but not in the same home thanks to the climate each prefers. A white dragon has much the same problem as a remorhaz, but might be more trainable
What sort of pets would your favorite race keep? Why? What role do pets play in daily life? What role in religion, history, and folklore? How wide spread is pet keeping? Is it restricted to a certain class in society? Are certain classes restricted to certain pets? Are there different breeds? What was the animal bred to do? Is the pet a companion animal? What kinds of animals work best as adventuring pets?
Animals in General
All this leads us to animals as a part of the gaming world. By animals I'm including the beasts and magical beasts of DnD.These being animals that either never lived contemporaneously with Humanity, and/or have some sort of magickal talent.
For simplicity's sake RPGs tend to "stat up" a generic animal of a certain type, then treat it as the sole representative in the game's setting. Same thing applies to beasts, magical beasts, and monsters. Yet the real world often has many species of a type of animals. For example, among rodents there are some twenty different species of vole, including eight species of lemming. All are much of a sameness, admittedly, but they do have (slightly) different habitats. Mice are another matter. While they pretty much look alike, most species are solitary, and while the vast majority preferentially eat grain, the kangaroo mouse of the U. S. Southwest is a carnivore.
What of the animals etc. on your world? How many species of blink dog are there? Are there different sub-species of white dragon? How about a species of mouse that can 'phase' through walls to get at the grain in a bin or silo? How about a species of basilisk that can control its petrification ability, and is kept as a pet and guard animal?
Expanding the number of species of a type of animal can add to your game. Bring an air of mystery to it. Is that a black rat, or a goblin rat (so called since it is sometimes kept as a pet by goblins)? Black rats are very social animals, shy, and live along side humanity in the hidden places of Man's world. The goblin rat is provisionally social, prefering to live in small groups instead of the huge congregations of the black rat, tends to be more agressive, and avoids humans whenever possible. Black rats are found most often in the habitations of Man, goblin rats are found most often in the deep forest and in the habitations of goblins.
How many more species of rat does your world hold? How many species of rodent, dog, cat, primate, etc.?
This all comes under the heading of fleshing out the world. Making it more 'real' in a sense. Not for everybody, but some of you may find it useful. Give it a shot and see how it works.
"That, my ill educated friend, is a ghost rat. Solitary, prefers brush and field over any other. Called the ghost rat because it can take on an insubstantial form. This allows it to get into things most other rats cannot and take the things it is fascinated by. Such as sparklies.
"What's a 'sparkly' you ask? A sparkly is something that sparklies. Such as gold, gems, bright, shiny things. It keeps its sparklies safe in its nest, which is usually deep underground and very hard to reach, unless you are able to both assume the size and the incorporeal form of a ghost rat.
"Fortunately ghost rats can't travel to other planes, so our stash should be safe. But, they are also fond of the smell of dwarfs, so you may find yourself with a sleeping partner later tonight.
"No, the plane I'm caching our treasure in cannot support life."
*****
Coming up: Tomorrow, why letting the players win is a bad idea. Later on, Family in RPGs and other subjects, whatever comes to mind. If you have a suggestion, feel free to email it to me.
On Wednesday part two of Tales of the Wolf Folk Sea.A somewhat meatier installment at that.
See you later.
Alan
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