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Posted by: hermit Apr 15 2015, 11:39 AM

Ethnicity and race is a touchy topic, I know that. With this poll, I want to try and find out how Player Characters are distributed ethnically and by metatype (for Variants, homebrew variants such as Hobbits are admissable). What I do not aim for is turn this into some flaming 'more diversity in Player Characters' argument; it's up to individual groups and players to decide what they want in their games. I'm just interested about who and what other groups and players play.

Comments specifying your characters, and additional feedback, is of course, very welcome!

Posted by: hermit Apr 15 2015, 12:02 PM

My characters:

- Rigger, German/Irish
- Street Samurai, Anglo
- Thief, South Asian
- Black Mage, German/American
- combat Mage, Arabic
- Ex-Cop, African American (deceased)
- Mercenary, Anglo (deceased)
- Rigger, Native American (deceased)

Posted by: Blade Apr 15 2015, 12:14 PM

Most of my Seattle characters are Anglos, with a few exceptions:
- A Ndebele elf girl (created for a South African campaign)
- A Scandinavian human (to fit the "tall blond-haired/blue-eyed" archetype of the character)
- A Americano-Japanese human (who speaks English like an American imitating a Japanese speaking English and Japanese like a Japanese imitating an American speaking Japanese)

Then there's one of my character who's ethnicity is hard to tell (and she doesn't know herself)

Posted by: Tymeaus Jalynsfein Apr 15 2015, 01:58 PM

My characters run a fairly large range of Ethnicity and metatype. Of the about 60+ characters I made for 4th Edition, I noticed a distinct lack of Dwarves, however. Not sure what that says about me, but it is very Interesting, since my last DnD character was a Dwarf. Hmmm....

I do tend to have more Humans in the Mix than other metatypes, though. Next most common is Ork (or their variants). A Few Elves and Trolls in the mix.

Posted by: Draco18s Apr 15 2015, 03:00 PM

Side note:
The second section that is "continued" requires at least one checkbox (I put "other" as I've not played any in that group). Might want to add a "none here, I did one above" and move one of the top section to the second section and add a "none here, I did one below."

I have played a very minority slice of ethnicities. I play what I know...
(And I'm a white American of Northern European / Scandinavian decent).

Posted by: hermit Apr 15 2015, 03:04 PM

Done.

Posted by: Fatum Apr 15 2015, 04:40 PM

My first character was a strong independent AI who ain't need no man!

Posted by: bannockburn Apr 15 2015, 05:28 PM

My current characters are

Elf, Anglo
Elf, Anglo-Hispanic
Norm, Japanese
Norm (Changeling), Hispanic-Korean
2 x Norm, Anglo (1 Irish)
1 Ork, African-American


Earlier characters were

Norm, Slavic (Russian)
Norm, Native American
Norm, Japanese
Norm, West European
5 x Norm, Anglo (1 Irish)
Dwarf, Anglo (Scottish)
Ork, African-American
Ork, African-American (Carribean)
2 x Troll, Anglo (One of those Irish)
Elf, East Asian-Anglo
Elf, Slavic (Russian)


So, I'm counting 13 Norms, 4 Elves, 3 Orks, 2 Trolls, 1 Dwarf
No South Americans, no Polynesians, but otherwise quite mixed in their ethnicities

Posted by: adamu Apr 15 2015, 09:10 PM

Hmmm, were we supposed to sort of check "all that apply"?

I just did it for my current main character.

He is a white human from Arkansas.

In the past I have only really been serious about two others.

One was a white troll.

The other was an ork of mixed/indeterminate heritage.

Posted by: hermit Apr 15 2015, 09:17 PM

It'S kinda Check all that apply, yes.

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 15 2015, 09:41 PM

I only have ONE elven character and one Human Character.
Just to prove to my GMs and co-players, that i can actually build and play them.
Otherwise it's usually Trolls, then Dorfs and then Orkz.
95% of them are american as well, because we are usually playing in the seattle/NA setting.
The rest is basically usually just one off japanese, native, german or whatever.

Posted by: Umidori Apr 15 2015, 11:36 PM

Dangit! I forgot my Satyr when voting. Can we add a vote to Southern Europe?

I already knew I don't play Elves, but this revealed to me I also don't play Trolls.

~Umi

Posted by: Voran Apr 16 2015, 01:04 AM

If I'm going "Blandness" I go for a mixed plate of facial characteristics that can be easily plausible in multiple locations. Like a basic Pardo/Latino, with asian features. Then with a little skin tone change it can suit different regions. It also allows a 'white' enough appearance to be caucasian partial, or not depending on perspective. Also, you can even go 'generic good looking' with blandness. Think 'manufactured pop band' look where your facial features are designed for broad appeal, but not so much that they stand out, and in company of more attractive types (those with the appropriate Positive Quality) they simply fade back into the crowd.

Posted by: Iduno Apr 16 2015, 01:49 PM

I haven't ever been in a long-lasting game, but I also don't know that anyone has ever said what ethnicity their character is. It may depend on how much importance is put on knowing a variety of languages and the availability of linguasofts. The metatype is important, though.

Do people normally specify anything if they aren't involved with the Vory, Mafia, Triads, Rings, Yakuza, or similar groups?

Posted by: Stahlseele Apr 16 2015, 02:22 PM

Only if i want to fuck with people:
GM:"Introduction Time!"
"Yes, i am, for a change, playing a human italian from chicago. He is NOT invovled with the Mafia at all!"
*list of 10 connections to organized crime*

Posted by: bannockburn Apr 16 2015, 02:42 PM

Of course I specify ethnicity (at least vaguely like "he looks southern European") when describing my character. It's after all something most people immediately notice about other people when meeting them. Even when they're 3m tall humongous dudes with horns and warts.

Posted by: Tymeaus Jalynsfein Apr 16 2015, 03:09 PM

I always do...
Unless it is a dark secret for some reason (Like my Undercover Knight Errant Investigator compiling dossiers on the Shadow Community but infiltrating them). Kind of Counterproductive to mention that to the others, generally.

Posted by: Draco18s Apr 16 2015, 05:16 PM

Tee hee.

GM: "[PC #1] is your daughter."
Me: "I'd kind of been wondering. He was pretty much treating [PC #1] like that anyway. 's cool."

*Much later, after planning some things with the GM*

I make an off-hand comment about another player that effectively said, "[PC #2] is your father."
Player #1: "What? Huh? Wait. How does..? I'm confused..."
Me: "[My character] is your character's mother."

Broke his god damned mind. It was glorious.

Posted by: SpellBinder Apr 16 2015, 06:19 PM

Character types I've made for gameplay:
Caucasian human, Caucasian elf, Caucasian human changeling

Character types I've made for fiction have run a wider gambit, but have also been lacking a little in dwarves (and non-variants), and tend more to be of European & Anglo than anything else. Have had a few African American characters, but I've tended to avoid the Amerindian and most Asian types. Character concepts (made but never used), however, have been a little more diverse; more trolls, pixies, & nagas.

Posted by: Megu Apr 18 2015, 01:14 PM

Last 3 characters were:

Redeye, rigger, UCAS white male dwarf in his forties, former commercial pilot for Aeromexico (Aztechnology/UCAS dual citizen)
Sharp, shaman, Hmong male ork in his late twenties, former wagemage for Land o' Lakes (UCAS citizen)
Tracer, investigator, Polish female dwarf in her early twenties, razorgirl gang background (no SIN)

Posted by: toturi Apr 24 2015, 08:31 AM

Most of my characters fit into the categories you have. One did not because of ethnicity - he is Gurkhali.

Posted by: hermit Apr 24 2015, 08:45 AM

Yeah, that's "Other (please specify)" all right.

Posted by: PraetorGradivus Apr 28 2015, 02:27 PM

Last time I checked Nepal is in South Asia

Posted by: Wothanoz May 6 2015, 07:13 AM

I can't get the poll to work right. But basically: Ork. I love to play Orks. Most of my characters vary in ethnicity: I've played a Hmong/Black ork, A blonde-blue-eyed Ork, a Chicano Ork, A Black Ork, even a Russian Ork. Ork.

If I'm not an Ork, I'm a human, or occasionally a Dwarf. I'm no longer allowed to play elven magicians, so... yeah. Actually... I'm banned from playing any magic uses other than physical adepts.

Posted by: Tymeaus Jalynsfein May 6 2015, 03:49 PM

Why? There has to be a story in that somewhere.

Posted by: Draco18s May 6 2015, 05:28 PM

Wait, they haven't banned you for making a orc physical adept yet?

Posted by: Wothanoz May 6 2015, 06:24 PM

I can make a scarier Ork with Cyberware...

Posted by: Wothanoz May 6 2015, 07:12 PM

Well, nothing really over-the-top. But little stuff, like me playing a mage who could summon a damn platoon of elementals eventually fed up multiple GMs. Sicne we tend to cycle our GMs, they just all eventually started making me not be the magician, because I kept making their time a nightmare. It understand.

Posted by: DamHawke May 22 2015, 07:16 PM

A bit late to the party (sorry if I'm doing a necropost, I haven't been in internetland much)

So far I have three humans, one elf and a troll. I rike humes. Extra edge is delicious.

Human Social adept - German/American
Human Streetsam - Irish/American
Another Human Streetsam - Japanese/Russian
Elf sniper - Anglo, was Irish I think (dead)
Troll shaman - Oceanian (essentially a Kosi native to you )

Hope this helps. The poll isn't working for me either.

Posted by: toturi May 25 2015, 02:08 AM

Last time I checked the option for South Asian was taken to mean Indian, Bengali, Pakistani, Kashmiri, Iranian, Kurdish for the purposes of this poll.

Posted by: Wothanoz May 25 2015, 03:19 AM

That's a terrible division. Punjabs and Pashtu are pretty close, but the rest of the indian subcontinent is pretty distinct, ethnically and genetically from the northern regions. More indo, less euro.

And why Kurds are lumped in with them. Well, boggles the mind. The Kurds are more closely related to Iranians than Punjabs. Especially historically.

Posted by: Draco18s May 25 2015, 04:26 AM

I can't answer, but I think this sums it up.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/South_Asia_%28ed%29update.PNG

Posted by: hermit May 25 2015, 09:28 AM

Because they're a Persian people and I lumped in Iran because of the historical, cultural and genealogical ties of Persian culture to India that go back thousands of years.

Why can't you vote? What's the problem?

Posted by: Wothanoz May 25 2015, 10:17 PM

Not sure why I can't vote. Each time, it tells me I don't have permission.

I know that Bengalis, Punjabs, and Pashtus are all an Indo-Aryan people, linguistically and culturally, and as such, are related to the Iranian peoples. So it's not a completely wrong division. Which ain't bad. But then the southern part of india(not the most popular part, the northern ganges-indus plain being where the majority of the people live on the sub continent) is dravidan, which is non indo-european. Also, the Pakistani and Bengali are not very friendly.

Meh, it's not too bad, I guess. I'll shut up.

Though I would prefer if you referred to them as ethnic groups, rather than nationalities.