How do you play a Dwarf?

[Tonguez]

So one thing I’ve never got my head around is what makes Dwarf-ness unique?
I know theres the stereotypes of Grumpy, Gold-hungry, Drunken Scottish Vikings but I’ve never found that particularly appealing and more parody than personality.
Its one reason I drop Dwarfs out of any non-vanilla settings I use They just dont seem interesting enough.

So How do you portray a culture that is uniquely and identifiably Dwarf in your games? Are there any interesting published versions of Dwarf cultures?

 

[Hriston]

I've never played a dwarf, but I always loved this book: The Kingdom of the Dwarfs by David Wenzel, Robb Walsh: 9781684053230 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books.

 

[MarkB]

Somehow dwarves always seem to default back to stereotype. Even Eberron, which did a good job providing new takes on many races, defaulted to them being mostly-subterranean mountain dwellers who mine and work metal, crave gold and have feuds with orcs.

 

[Hriston]

Oh, I forgot. I once had a dwarf NPC that I played in a solo game I was running for my son. I just played him as a gruff bearded dude. He didn't do anything particularly dwarfy, except fight hobgoblins.

 

[Blue]

I tend to play dwarves as insular, finding beauty in creation, resilient, outwardly stoic yet joyful, long-lived planners, fixated, perfectionists.

Insular - they prefer the company of other dwarves, and are slow to warm to others. As a norm they don't form families with other races, and tend to communities that are primary or exclusively dwarven. Depending on the setting they may also feel persecuted by outsiders.

Finding beauty in creation - a typical dwarven culture to me finds creation of something worth sublime. Skilled craftsmen are honored. A beautifully made piece of jewelry could make a dwarf weep.

Resilient - dwarves know how to live through bad times and disaster. They pick themselves up and keep moving forward, be it physical, financial, or emotional devastation. Combine this with ...

Outwardly stoic... - it takes an extrodinary circumstance or level of trust for a dwarf to show fear or defeat.

...yet joyful - a dwarf will take the chance to sing a song, enjoy a good ale, bask in good fortune, or otherwise celebrate when things are going right. In some settings I've seen them get the same enjoyment from a good fight.

Long-lived planners - they can plan a suit of magical armor that can only be worked on the new moon and will take them 12 years to finish. They plan cities for generations, and dwarven generations are long. They aren't daunted by time.

Fixated - few dwarves are dilitantes, instead they generally find something they enjoy and they dive deep, deep, deep into it.

Perfectionists - done right is how they want it. A dwarf will spend 50% more for something 10% better, because the better one is done best.

But again, this is just my "generic" dwarf. Settings will really define them unless it's a generic kitchen sink of a world. Eberron has multiple dwarven cultures to chose from, for example.

 

[Mezuka]

I once played a dwarf who didn't like to get dirty and wore bright red clothes with a black cape. He sported a short goatee, and wore a large brim red hat with a black feather. He fancied himself a swashbuckler. It totally irked the DM, which of course I liked a lot.

 

[GMMichael]

I tend to play dwarves as insular, finding beauty in creation, resilient, outwardly stoic yet joyful, long-lived planners, fixated, perfectionists.

Thanks, but I prefer to be called "evolved human" over "dwarf."

So How do you portray a culture that is uniquely and identifiably Dwarf in your games? Are there any interesting published versions of Dwarf cultures?

Dwarves (the mountain-dwelling variety) enjoy things that other cultures don't, like wife-bowling and bow-snapping. They're only called "grumpy" by humans, and you'd have a chip on your shoulder too if you had to hang out around another culture that forced you off your farmland and pushed your people back into the cramped, rocky mountains. But then you'd find and adopt the things that made the other culture grumpy, like necromancy...

 

[Zardnaar]

Generally you tie them to a large board and run some strings from their head to feet.

Then you pluck them like a guitar. Not the best sounding but music is subjective.

They tend to get a bit angry but less than using them as bongo drums.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Over my years in the RPG hobby, I’ve played a bunch of dwarves, both stereotypical and out-of-the-box. One thing that’s a bit of a distant is resolute focus. Whatever the dwarf’s path is, single classed, multiclassed or something else, the character always has a singular unifying thing that drives them.

The last one I ran was a 4Ed Starlock, multiclassed into Shaper Psion. (Possibly some other stuff I don’t recall at the mo.) The unifying thing: his clan hunted aberrations, and everything he did revolved around getting better at doing that. Even his paradoxical starting class- he was fighting fire with fire, as was the Skyhammer Clan tradition.

And he was a bit of an odd duck, again, in part because of his clan. They were VERY into steel drums and musical forms akin to jungle and other Afro-Carribean styles. Because of that, his Shadow Walk class feature was considered his clan’s Dwarven warlock “capoeira“ by the group.

 

[nevin]

Like a Scotsman out of Braveheart ah Course.......