What's your favourite race?, And why? Options

[last_of_the_grea...]

As we all should know by now, I love orks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ork.gif) While they have certain physical advantages they somehow remain underdogs in society. I have always had a soft spot for the underdogs (my favourite hockey team is the Canucks, who's been underdogs since their existance began). Gary Cline of Horizon and Yuri whatsisname from Evo are heroes!

[JeffSz]

Trolls are -my- favorite. I like to give these hulking powerhouses of muscle a little bit of a sense of humor.

In one of my games a troll named Gridlock armed himself with a giant iron cross to fight vampires. When a vampire declared "You idiot, crosses don't work!" and charged at him, he swung the cross and sent her promptly through the apartment's wall, shrugged, and stated, "Works fine."

W00t!

[last_of_the_grea...]

Trolls are -my- favorite. I like to give these hulking powerhouses of muscle a little bit of a sense of humor.

In one of my games a troll named Gridlock armed himself with a giant iron cross to fight vampires. When a vampire declared "You idiot, crosses don't work!" and charged at him, he swung the cross and sent her promptly through the apartment's wall, shrugged, and stated, "Works fine."

W00t!

Heh!

[Heath Robinson]

I like humans. Whilst I have no problems with Shadowruns fanasy influences, I am in it for the cyberpunk and transhumanism.

Humans are also really flexible, with that free point of edge and no variation in their maximums.

[Fortune]

Elf Elf Baby! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Herald of Verjig...]

Other. Depending on the whim, 'Other' may be metavariant, SURGE, or extremely other. (I have speculated at the entertainment value of a wolf-shifter who SURGEd some spikes and a trollification. Big pointy dog with regeneration. Possibly also a pacifist vegitarian or something, depending on the crowd and game.)

[Muspellsheimr]

Human. The only other race I will play is Elf, and that rarely. This is in any game with races other than human. I have a single character concept that I am tempted to go Ork with Human Looking, for the attributes, but...

On a side note, I do not consider "vampire" and similar as a race, but as a template added to a race. Not that I would play as any template other than vampire anyways.

[PlatonicPimp]

The tour de france. It's the only race I can really get into. I love bikes, you see, and the idea of combining the fitness of man with the engineering of machine in one single perfect expression of motion....

Oh. OH. Yeah, well, we call those metatypes, not races. Races has.... implications that are both inaccurate and inappropriate.

And Orks, of course.

[Muspellsheimr]

Although "Race" is technically incorrect, as it is a variation within a species, not a seperate species, it can be and often is used interchangeably with "Species" in common usage. As such, in Shadowrun it can and is used interchangeably with Metatype. In fact, Race is probably closer to Metatype than it is to Species, as the various metatypes are still technically human.

And the context determines the definition being used. So your little thing about the Tour de France is both inaccurate & inappropriate.

[PlatonicPimp]

Although "Race" is technically incorrect, as it is a variation within a species, not a seperate species, it can be and often is used interchangeably with "Species" in common usage. As such, in Shadowrun it can and is used interchangeably with Metatype. In fact, Race is probably closer to Metatype than it is to Species, as the various metatypes are still technically human.

And the context determines the definition being used. So your little thing about the Tour de France is both inaccurate & inappropriate.

Bah. I didn't say the usage was inappropriate, I said the implications were. Specifially, I meant it sounded all DnD-ish.

What, you didn't think I was offended because of some Pollitically correct bull-drek, did you? I only get offended by MY PCs.

[FrankTrollman]

I get annoyed when people talk about races of humans, because there really aren't any. It's like a talking about races of Rottweiler. But the way Orks and Elves have children which are either Ork or Elf and not a blend between makes referring to the difference as "racial" actually fairly appropriate.

-Frank

[CircuitBoyBlue]

Specifially, I meant it sounded all DnD-ish.

Just calling them "elves" and "orks" sounds D&D-ish. You just have to fix that by giving them a cyberarm and a BTL addiction. It was called "Race" in the old Priority System (and everywhere else in the rules, I think). I think it's a valid term.

[WearzManySkins]

I voted for Orks in part to my focus on the Ork Underground, and yes the racial advantages are good also.

If a second vote/choice I would have also voted SURGED.

WMS

[Stahlseele]

Trolls . . the bigger, the better . . the meaner the . . badder i think *g*
someone has to be the power-house . . and i like playing cyber/bio-combat-monsters ^^
i like to give them int 4+ and play them as if they were int 1 to the other players . .
big dumb good natured troggy on the front . . and on the back machiavellian intelligence mixed with a sadistic sense of humor and an ego and sarcasm that fit to the body too . .
close second: dwarves . . they ain't small, they are compact!
compact little party machines *g*
third places goes to orks, because i like me some waaaaaaagh!
4th place is humans . . kinda squishy, but OK people mostly . .
and elves are last . . don't get me wrong, i don't have anything against elves . . i think there should be one hung on every tree out there . . there's many elves in my life . . and i only have an Savalette Guardian! *g*

[last_of_the_grea...]

Aaaand Orks and Humans are neck and neck with Trolls trailing on the outside, followed by Dwarves and trailing the pack from far, far away are the lowly elves. Notice that there is no capitol E for the lowly elves. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ork.gif)

[Sir_Psycho]

I like them all. Although I've never had much of an urge to play a troll, or even an ork, as of yet. It's not that I don't like orks and trolls, I think they're great, but I've never played a combat-focused character, and the penalties can be pretty prohibitive.

[Wesley Street]

I don't dislike metahumans but trying to role-play one in a way that I felt was appropriate and multi-layered has always been difficult for me (as is attempting to appropriately role-play a character of the opposite gender). So I usually play a human male by default.

[Sir_Psycho]

I used to do that. I modelled my first character upon myself as a thin and sarcastic extrovert. So I was a male elf.

But I got over that, currently I'm playing something I resemble in no way; a vegan virgin czech corporate researcher turned hacker and street doc. Did I mention that she is a dwarf?

[CanRay]

I can't really say which I like the most, save that they all have their place, and some that love to break it.

But, I gotta go with Orks. At the very least, you know you have a big family to support you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[nezumi]

Where's the option for drop bear???

[Wesley Street]

But I got over that, currently I'm playing something I resemble in no way; a vegan virgin czech corporate researcher turned hacker and street doc. Did I mention that she is a dwarf?

This may not be something you can answer but how does one role-play/act as a character of the opposite gender and not fall into the trap of either a) playing a woman who is a male in all definitions except biologically or b) playing a gender stereotype? I ask because this is something I struggle with myself. I also GM for a group that is 60% female and I try really hard to avoid offending when role-playing female NPCs.

Man, this is too deep for Monday morning.

[paws2sky]

For me, it depends what edition we're talking.

1st edition, I was all about playing humans because they didn't get gimped by requiring Priority A for Race and those potentially crippling (and mandatory) allergies.

2nd edition, I was still mostly a human player, though I tinkered a bit with ork street samurai and dwarf mages.

3rd edition seemed like trolls were the thing to be unless you wanted to play a gun bunny, face, or astral asskicker, in which case you took elf.

And now in 4th edition, I'm on the fence.

• Orks are damn cheap and really, really hard to pass up for all the bonuses they get.
• I'm loving trolls again because they don't have to pay out extra for mental attributes and they get fantastic starting Body and Strength.
• Elves are kind of bleh. Great if you want to kick ass on the astral (without casting spells), play a Cha-based tradition, or just want to exceed the BP cap for attributes.
• I don't care for dwarves in this edition because they're carrying over the tech orientation stereotype from 3rd. I don't mind that they happen to be good at tech stuff, but I really preferred dwarf mages.
• Humans are a good go-to metatype if you figure you'll be short on points.

All that said, I voted for trolls because my long-time desire to play a Troll Face is finally within reach! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

-paws

[CanRay]

All that said, I voted for trolls because my long-time desire to play a Troll Face is finally within reach! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

-paws

Very true!

[cryptoknight]

I like humans. Whilst I have no problems with Shadowruns fanasy influences, I am in it for the cyberpunk and transhumanism.

Humans are also really flexible, with that free point of edge and no variation in their maximums.

/yes

exactly my feeling... While I have no qualms about others playing elves, dwarves, orks and trolls... in my 19 years of Shadowrun, I have only and always made humans

[Kyoto Kid]

...Humans. It's all about the BPs baby (I like lots o' skills), and that extra point of Edge. Oh, and yes, Humans are still the largest percentage of the population unless you are in one of those pixie enclaves like the old TT or the Nog.