You could subvert their expectations by giving the humans a lewd and vulgar culture.įor people who need a safe space to experiment with their gender, sexuality, or even just their hair colour, playing a human will feel more like its them who is making the change, not just some fictional character. Take the medieval attire example maybe the player assumes, because of their clothes, these characters will be snobbish and uptight. Or, you could even take it a step further by subverting a player's expectations about humanity. From a game design standpoint, this can even be used as a shorthand for helping a player understand the game's world and story.Īre humans oppressed? That'll stir up negative emotions in the player towards humanity's oppressors.ĭo the humans have any cultural markings we recognize, like medieval clothes? Many players will quickly gather an expectation about those humans' traits and values. Everything else, from the environment to the social roles to the magic, could be totally foreign, but we would still be able to see ourselves in the game through humanity. Having a race of humans provides a grounding in something familiar. Women have been pushing for more female representation, people of colour for more people of colour, trans people for more trans people, in our media for years because exposure breeds understanding. There's a reason we resonate so heavily with characters we can identify with, though. Of course, you might say that all of this is possible even if you play as a dwarf, a gnome, an alien, or some other fantastical creature. Those who question their sexuality can try romancing a member of the same gender to see how it feels. People who are reconsidering their gender identity can experiment with new pronouns or an unfamiliar gender. The changes might seem minuscule or unimportant to some people, but they can make all the difference. It's especially true in tabletop RPGs, when players must fully embody their character as they play. There are no rules about who or what you can be, where you can go, or how you can get there. These are the kinds of people that long to be free. Others are trapped in a location, with or without bars. Some people are trapped by religion or cultural traditions. Others are trapped by social norms or the opinions of their friends or family members. Some people are trapped by their own gender.
In the real world, plenty of people are trapped in some way or another. And thank god that they do, because it's providing something critical to gamers that you might not have thought of: a way to experiment with their own identity. The undeniable truth is that, no matter what we think, the people who write and design this content are choosing to include humans. So, in your own escapist dream, why choose to be the thing that you have to be every day? Fiction is meant to bring us out of our day-to-day life, and the fantasy and sci-fi genres are particularly apt at that because of how unfamiliar the worlds are, how different they are from our own. We've all heard the complaints: why should a player choose to be a human when they could be something as fantastical and extraordinary as a magical elf or a dragonborn? This critique and others like it are not unfounded. RELATED: Dragon Age: Origins And Neverwinter Nights' Lead Designer On A Life Lived Through Dungeons & Dragons Would you put your team's valuable time and energy towards developing a playable human race? This is the question that has been playing on my mind for months.
Or perhaps you're designing a new tabletop roleplaying game, so the monster list needs to be expansive and the classes and encounters need to be balanced. They pour thousands of hours into this project, ensuring that every animation is smooth, the story is interesting, and the environments feel real. Imagine you're leading a team of game designers working on a roleplaying game.