Fantasy Races in the Real World

[LoneWolf23]

Ok, been curious about something: Assuming one would create a "D&D in
the Real World" style campaign which adds working high-powered magic
and magical creatures, how would one handle the inclusing of fantasy
races like Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, etc? And I'd like to avoid the
cliched "Elves are French, Dwarves are German, etc" notion I've seen
before. Assume that all of this Earth's nations have the same human
tribes as on ours, but share the world with other humanoid races like
the Elves, Dwarves and the like, who've also divided into tribes based
on geography and philosophy like humanity has.

 

[Gez]

Well, gnomes and halflings could be either pygmies, or midgets.

 

[Bastoche]

Well, late 4th age middle earth is today's earth. Just have the dwarves comming out if their holes and the elves returning from their mystal land (forgot the name, sorry) or have some of them never leaving in the first place. No gnomes though... And halfings would be mainly in england

 

[reanjr]

Ok, been curious about something: Assuming one would create a "D&D in
the Real World" style campaign which adds working high-powered magic
and magical creatures, how would one handle the inclusing of fantasy
races like Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, etc? And I'd like to avoid the
cliched "Elves are French, Dwarves are German, etc" notion I've seen
before. Assume that all of this Earth's nations have the same human
tribes as on ours, but share the world with other humanoid races like
the Elves, Dwarves and the like, who've also divided into tribes based
on geography and philosophy like humanity has.

I really can't figure out why, but halflings have always screamed out to me to be primitive. (Dark Sun and Eberron [to a certain extent] agree). I guess it would depend on WHEN you want the setting, but Africa or South America both seem like good choices to me.

Alternatively, the standard halfling probably fits best as an Eastern European nomad, like gypsies.

Elves are Scandinavian as far as I can tell. They could either replace the Norse (keep them as vikings or change the way Norse/Elves were traditionally viewed by the rest of Europe) or they could live along side them, acting as sages who live in isolated gleaming winter forests. They can be the source of magic to a magic-fearing race.

Dwarves I see as the Rus. They could live under the Urals and manage most of the long distance trade. They're viewed as a little backwards or barbaric by most races but generally well accepted as they tend to keep to themselves and bring exotic goods from the far east.

Gnomes I would treat as Fey folk living in Albion (England) and toying with their human neighbors. [edit] If you like comedy, they turn to stone outside of their forests in the sunlight, so you will sometimes find statues of them. Humans take these and decorate their lawns to keep away evil spirits who fear the fey creatures.

Orcs are the Mongols or even better the Huns.

 

[reanjr]

Even better than integrating these races all across Europe or the world:

The D&D races are taken from Tolkien. Tolkien in turn took from English fairy lore. English fairy lore in turn took from Scandinavian and German myth. Keep those races in those realms and use other races for other areas, drawing from African and Chinese myth.

 

[Stormborn]

Ok, been curious about something: Assuming one would create a "D&D in
the Real World" style campaign which adds working high-powered magic
and magical creatures, how would one handle the inclusing of fantasy
races like Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, etc? And I'd like to avoid the
cliched "Elves are French, Dwarves are German, etc" notion I've seen
before. Assume that all of this Earth's nations have the same human
tribes as on ours, but share the world with other humanoid races like
the Elves, Dwarves and the like, who've also divided into tribes based
on geography and philosophy like humanity has.

Well, I think to be viable you would have to say that these races have been removed from contact with the vast majority of humanity for a significant portion of human history, that they have always been few in number since prehistoric times, and that they are or were essentially issolationist in nature. The way I would handle this is to say that the various fantasy races retreated to the New World around the time of the expansion of the Roman Empire, and had previously dwelt in small communities in the north, away from the history writers of the temperate and equitorial climates. Some few may have remained in Europe and Asia and central Africa for several hundred more years, and contact with them has given rise to various legends and legendary figures. Halfings and Gnomes would have found it easier to dwell in human lands, and become the "little people" of legend.

Meanwhile in North America the Dwarves are hollowing out the Appalachians and the Elves are fortifing the forests and making allianaces with the native peoples.

Come the 20th Century: The human presence in the Americas, although more likely to be known by an Elven name, is minimal. In North America European expansion is limited to the coasts of the Atlantic, the Islands of the Carribean, and a few settlements in the Gulf of Mexicoe. Central America is more likely dominated by Europeans, since they came in and defeated the human empires that existed there previously.
The Appalchians are full of dwarven strongholds and tribes of half-elven aboriginal peoples, a half elf/half Iriquoi confederation of cities. The central plains are home to nomadic halfling and human tirbes, largely undistrubed due to the protection of the dwarf and elven lands toward either coast. In fact, other than problems with humans to the south they live as they always have. The Rockies belong the the Dwarves and no one goes there in force without permission from the King Under the Mountain, which he never gives. The Pacific Northwest is a stronghold of the most isolationist elves, having fled from European encroachment in the East.
California might be a battle ground or the one place every race is welcome, a small republic full of forward thinking elves and dwarves, and adventurous humans.

In Europe almost all the nonhumans are gone, hunted to extinction in the dark ages, with some ancestial homelands being reclaimed with more open policies currently in place. Elves still cling to a small nation inthe heart of the Black Forest and Dwarves live in the Alps, but they are tiny places and the inhabitants have changed, almost unrecognizable to their lost American Cousins. Northern Asia is still mostly forested and held by elves, as is Central Africa.

The human situation is liklely to be much more conservative politically speaking, with the older empries holding sway due to the changes in colonial policy neccesitated by contact with the fantasy races.

An interesting world, but one whose history changed radically from our own somewhere in the 1500s.

 

[LoneWolf23]

I really can't figure out why, but halflings have always screamed out to me to be primitive. (Dark Sun and Eberron [to a certain extent] agree). I guess it would depend on WHEN you want the setting, but Africa or South America both seem like good choices to me.

Alternatively, the standard halfling probably fits best as an Eastern European nomad, like gypsies.

Elves are Scandinavian as far as I can tell. They could either replace the Norse (keep them as vikings or change the way Norse/Elves were traditionally viewed by the rest of Europe) or they could live along side them, acting as sages who live in isolated gleaming winter forests. They can be the source of magic to a magic-fearing race.

Dwarves I see as the Rus. They could live under the Urals and manage most of the long distance trade. They're viewed as a little backwards or barbaric by most races but generally well accepted as they tend to keep to themselves and bring exotic goods from the far east.

Gnomes I would treat as Fey folk living in Albion (England) and toying with their human neighbors. [edit] If you like comedy, they turn to stone outside of their forests in the sunlight, so you will sometimes find statues of them. Humans take these and decorate their lawns to keep away evil spirits who fear the fey creatures.

Orcs are the Mongols or even better the Huns.

Uh, allow me to clarify: When I said I didn't want Elves as Frenchmen, etc, I meant to say I didn't just want to have the nonhuman races replace existing historical cultures. So while I could have scandinavian elves, they won't replace the Viking. They may be found amongst the viking, but they won't replace them.

Now, some of those ideas work quite well, mind you. I like the idea of the Orcs being amongst the Mongols and Huns. Even moreso if we have them as some of the Mongol tribes, with others being made of Humans, with the intermingling amongst them creating Half-Orcs. This makes the Mongols both more human as well as more vicious, as you can't just dismiss them as Inhuman monsters..

 

[LoneWolf23]

Well, I think to be viable you would have to say that these races have been removed from contact with the vast majority of humanity for a significant portion of human history, that they have always been few in number since prehistoric times, and that they are or were essentially issolationist in nature. The way I would handle this is to say that the various fantasy races retreated to the New World around the time of the expansion of the Roman Empire, and had previously dwelt in small communities in the north, away from the history writers of the temperate and equitorial climates. Some few may have remained in Europe and Asia and central Africa for several hundred more years, and contact with them has given rise to various legends and legendary figures. Halfings and Gnomes would have found it easier to dwell in human lands, and become the "little people" of legend.

Meanwhile in North America the Dwarves are hollowing out the Appalachians and the Elves are fortifing the forests and making allianaces with the native peoples.

Come the 20th Century: The human presence in the Americas, although more likely to be known by an Elven name, is minimal. In North America European expansion is limited to the coasts of the Atlantic, the Islands of the Carribean, and a few settlements in the Gulf of Mexicoe. Central America is more likely dominated by Europeans, since they came in and defeated the human empires that existed there previously.
The Appalchians are full of dwarven strongholds and tribes of half-elven aboriginal peoples, a half elf/half Iriquoi confederation of cities. The central plains are home to nomadic halfling and human tirbes, largely undistrubed due to the protection of the dwarf and elven lands toward either coast. In fact, other than problems with humans to the south they live as they always have. The Rockies belong the the Dwarves and no one goes there in force without permission from the King Under the Mountain, which he never gives. The Pacific Northwest is a stronghold of the most isolationist elves, having fled from European encroachment in the East.
California might be a battle ground or the one place every race is welcome, a small republic full of forward thinking elves and dwarves, and adventurous humans.

In Europe almost all the nonhumans are gone, hunted to extinction in the dark ages, with some ancestial homelands being reclaimed with more open policies currently in place. Elves still cling to a small nation inthe heart of the Black Forest and Dwarves live in the Alps, but they are tiny places and the inhabitants have changed, almost unrecognizable to their lost American Cousins. Northern Asia is still mostly forested and held by elves, as is Central Africa.

The human situation is liklely to be much more conservative politically speaking, with the older empries holding sway due to the changes in colonial policy neccesitated by contact with the fantasy races.

An interesting world, but one whose history changed radically from our own somewhere in the 1500s.

Uh, I'd rather avoid making such radical changes to this Earth's history. The basic idea is "Like our Earth, but with Magic and Fantasy Creatures". Basically, "What if all those fantastic tales where true?"

 

[Willowhaunt]

Evolution

There's always the possibility that most or all of the fantasy races are just humans who evolved under different circumstances. If magic existed that early in the timeline, it would make such an idea even more viable.

Of course, the problem there is that instead of each race being assigned a country, it might end up as the equally cliched "each race corresponds to a real-world 'race' such as Elves replace Aisans, etc." I dunno, it seems that if you add magic and Tolkienesque fantasy races, it would indeed change world history, unless they just popped in from another plane recently, in which case, the era in question would be one of panic and change.

 

[Afrodyte]

Ok, been curious about something: Assuming one would create a "D&D in the Real World" style campaign which adds working high-powered magic and magical creatures, how would one handle the inclusing of fantasy races like Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, etc? And I'd like to avoid the cliched "Elves are French, Dwarves are German, etc" notion I've seen before. Assume that all of this Earth's nations have the same human tribes as on ours, but share the world with other humanoid races like the Elves, Dwarves and the like, who've also divided into tribes based on geography and philosophy like humanity has.

I saw your question on the WotC boards, and I posted a bit of a response there, but seeing as how this forum tends to generate better discussion without derailing too much, I'm going to respond here.

If you really think about it, things would not change too much, especially if you are talking about the world before the Age of Reason (as they like to call it). The same sorts of things would happen, but the explanations would differ. Folklore would be science and history rather than myth. I really encourage you to check out Carol Rose's Sprites, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins: an encyclopedia. There are hundreds of descriptions of various creatures in many cultures. It wouldn't be too difficult to use those descriptions to get a picture of the relationships that these beings had with human beings as well as their general activities and functions.

In my research, though, the general trend I've noticed is that the more powerful a fantastic creature is, the more directly it can interact with human society. They do not have the vulnerabilities that the less powerful creatures have and/or are more able to hide their true natures. Of course, how they do this depends upon their intents and temperaments. In D&D terms, the average low-level PHB races will not interact with humans unless duty or necessity makes them. Of course, what constitutes duty and necessity varies from culture to culture.

Let me show you an example:

In the British Isles, the Fair Folk and the Little People have for centuries co-existed with the humans who settled there long ago. Their influence on Celtic cultures cannot be overestimated. Many of the traditions of humans living in the British Isles have their roots in the early interactions between these two peoples. Through the centuries, a great deal of cultural exchange has taken place. The Little People have adopted so much of the language and culture of the humans in the British Isles that aside from their appearance and magical abilities, they are essentially the same people. One could even argue that they epitomize the cultural values of the British even moreso than the British themselves. The Fair Folk have maintained more of their native traditions and customs, but this is due more to their extensive lifespans and slowness to change than any deliberate measures on their part.

Today, their position as the guides and helpers of the Celtic peoples has been threatened by the spread of Christianity in Britain. The reclusiveness of the Fair Folk and the Little People is not by choice. Ancient treaties prevent them from taking direct action against humans on human lands as long as humans uphold their promise to stay out of areas designated to faeries, especially during particular times (such as during the full moon or on holidays like Samhain and Beltaine). In the areas that still keep the old ways, the faeries continue to fulfill their ancient duties as protectors and benefactors of those who hold their favor. Leprechauns (gnomes) still play their pranks, some good-natured and some vicious or even lethal. Mannikins (halflings) still perform household chores in exchange for treats from the kitchen. The Fair Folk (elves) still use their powers to protect humans from supernatural threats. In those places where people have forgotten the old ways or no longer believe them, the consequences for transgressing the treaties between humans and fairies tend to be a great deal more severe, even fatal, for they take human forgetfulness as a personal insult.

And this is just taking into account the more familiar cultures to most D&D players. I'll think about this some more and see what I can come up with for more unconventional cultures.