[X] My Assistant

[ShadowJackal]

Damn straight! Less scrawny elves, more good looking Dwarves, Orks, and Trolls!

This is like the conversation Ravensmuse and I were having before bed. Elves are far too trite. I far prefer Orks and Trolls. Even Dwarves are too classically "Pretty" for me.

[ElFenrir]

See, I *like* pretty but badass dudes. I mean, I designed a cyberdemon(non-shadowrun) to look good but be an enormous asskicking machine. I'm the person who wants a troll who kicks ass and looks damn good doing it. I don't mind playing a more monstery looking guy, but I actually wish sometimes I could get a ''Big Guy'' race who also is quite a looker as well. It's rare though, since for some reason designers don't equate being strong with being a charismatic looker(not that charisma and looks are connected, they aren't.) I dunno, I knew some real life dudes who were strong as hell and still good looking.

I like a lot of different kinds of races-elves, dwarves, orks, trolls, and the like-but I wish there were more art of ALL of them portraying them in non stereotypical ways. Like, why NOT have a pic of an elf who isn't pretty? Like a dude whose actually kinda grizzled, has a beard(elves CAN grow them), maybe scarred up, or whatnot. And why not a pic of a troll whose just a bigass MF who the ladies and gents who see him in a club actually say ''wow, he's hot.''

(Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That grizzled ass elf I mentioned may well attract people who like a grizzled tough guy of course! But I'm more speaking having some art that goes against the ''stereotypes'' of appearances.)

[HunterHerne]

See, I *like* pretty but badass dudes. I mean, I designed a cyberdemon(non-shadowrun) to look good but be an enormous asskicking machine. I'm the person who wants a troll who kicks ass and looks damn good doing it. I don't mind playing a more monstery looking guy, but I actually wish sometimes I could get a ''Big Guy'' race who also is quite a looker as well. It's rare though, since for some reason designers don't equate being strong with being a charismatic looker(not that charisma and looks are connected, they aren't.) I dunno, I knew some real life dudes who were strong as hell and still good looking.

I like a lot of different kinds of races-elves, dwarves, orks, trolls, and the like-but I wish there were more art of ALL of them portraying them in non stereotypical ways. Like, why NOT have a pic of an elf who isn't pretty? Like a dude whose actually kinda grizzled, has a beard(elves CAN grow them), maybe scarred up, or whatnot. And why not a pic of a troll whose just a bigass MF who the ladies and gents who see him in a club actually say ''wow, he's hot.''

(Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That grizzled ass elf I mentioned may well attract people who like a grizzled tough guy of course! But I'm more speaking having some art that goes against the ''stereotypes'' of appearances.)

Agreed. But when people start gaming the system to care more about power then an interesting, realistic character, then stereotypes are kind of played out. Trolls become insecure brutes. Elves become more about the litheness and force of personality.

And on charisma not being dependant on appearance, it is also true that tht chrisma influences how you look.

[CanRay]

I just want a good pic of Nas. Everyone makes him too damned skinny.

[Seriously Mike]

Even Dwarves are too classically "Pretty" for me.

Remember that dwarf on the cover of SR4? I want to kill that thing with fire. That's nowhere near "pretty".
However, the idea of orks having African features flies with me. Lessee, ork looking like Michael Jai White? Pretty fine. There's this character idea I have, an ork cop who understands how orks are seen by the society and wants to give them a second chance. Detective Ghazmar Walker, a good name for starters.

On second thought... Gary Cline looking like Obama? Just got that one idea, right now.

[Wakshaani]

As an aside, there's a pic in ... SOTA '63 I think? About the Tir's ongoing revolution, wher eyou see a tubby homeless Elf guy in a wifebeater. I LOVE that art.

Similarly, in one of the OLD modules, there's ... I want to say she's a Yakuza gal, but there's an Ork in a dress that just looks great.

I need to go see which adventure that is.

I'm also a sucker for the female Tir cop with magic hands facing off with a tusker in the Tir handbook.

[CanRay]

As an aside, there's a pic in ... SOTA '63 I think? About the Tir's ongoing revolution, wher eyou see a tubby homeless Elf guy in a wifebeater. I LOVE that art.

White Trash Elves? You mean I didn't make the first one?

...

Well... Damn.

[HunterHerne]

White Trash Elves? You mean I didn't make the first one?

...

Well... Damn.

I think there are actually a lot of white trash Elves in Tir Taingire. After all, it was originally designed as an appointed Monarchy, in which most people were about as well off as the Seattle inahbitants, but mostly Elves.

[Paul]

4e has intentionally gutted the Earthdawn elements of the game, including trying to make Elves less "Glamorous." I don't really like it, but luckily I can just plain ignore it. I like my elves to be plotting on all of us.

[CanRay]

Who says they stopped?

[HunterHerne]

I thought the "de-glaming" started in 3rd ed (Admittedly never played), and even so, Canray's right. The elves are doing a lot of Great Dragon-like scenarios in 4th, plotting and scheming, and who knows what else.

[Mongoose]

Other than the nearly unnoticable "tusks," which are anything but, I don't see anything about her in the picture that indicates that's supposed to be an ork.

Man hands. Muscles. Kneecaps that could puncture steel plate. Neck like a linebacker. Face and boobs aside, she's a pretty muscular looking dude.
I could totally see a female orc who goes for cosmetic surgery (mostly on the face, with a bit of body sculpting, say to narrow the shoulders a bit) looking like that. Its certainly not human...

[Miri]

Man hands. Muscles. Kneecaps that could puncture steel plate. Neck like a linebacker. Face and boobs aside, she's a pretty muscular looking dude.
I could totally see a female orc who goes for cosmetic surgery (mostly on the face, with a bit of body sculpting, say to narrow the shoulders a bit) looking like that. Its certainly not human...

I went back and checked out the image again when you said all that.. and just noticed the bloodsplatter on the toes of her boots..

[CanRay]

I went back and checked out the image again when you said all that.. and just noticed the bloodsplatter on the toes of her boots..

Her boots are guud stompaz!

[Glyph]

I like the way elves have been portrayed in Shadowrun - the glamorous aspect is there, but it is a stereotype that is treated like a stereotype, like Asians all knowing martial arts and being good at using computers. There are elves who look like supermodels, but there are also elves living in the slums, overweight elves, asskicking biker elves, and so on.

HunterHerne mentions SR3. One of the part of that book that I really liked was the Metahumanity section, where they had an essay under each metatype, by someone of that metatype, addressing both the traits and the stereotypes.

[ElFenrir]

I like the way elves have been portrayed in Shadowrun - the glamorous aspect is there, but it is a stereotype that is treated like a stereotype, like Asians all knowing martial arts and being good at using computers. There are elves who look like supermodels, but there are also elves living in the slums, overweight elves, asskicking biker elves, and so on.

HunterHerne mentions SR3. One of the part of that book that I really liked was the Metahumanity section, where they had an essay under each metatype, by someone of that metatype, addressing both the traits and the stereotypes.

This is a character of mine, Samael. He's a sorta-VERY prime more story-type character than an in-game character due to his sorta OP power level and extremely mohawky look. I kept some of the ''looks'' elves get but generally speaking he's not you're typical elf:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/TheC...OC---Samael.jpg


and no, I did not draw this-I wish. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) But I admit this is the sorta elves i like. Well, this guy is about eight feet tall fully stretched out(he's tall for an elf to begin with and those enormous legs add a lot of height.) I wouldn't expect to see this guy in mirrorshades. He's also stronger than he is agile; in his 'canon' he can stomp about anything flat. (And yeah-I admit I'm more highly influenced by over the top type mohawk stories. I just have more fun writing them.) I basically just tried to take most of the elven stereotypes(he's good looking but not 'glamorous', he's pure raw cybertroll level strength and brutality, etc, and not afraid to get blood all over the place. And his merc boyfriend wouldn't have it any other way.)

[pbangarth]

As a matter of interest, how does he get his pants on and off?

[ElFenrir]

As a matter of interest, how does he get his pants on and off?

Curls the claws in and tucks the big nasty one in the back down. They're actually fairly maneuverable. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Seriously Mike]

I basically just tried to take most of the elven stereotypes((...)And his merc boyfriend wouldn't have it any other way.)

Missed an obvious one, any dwarf would point it to you. (ah, the old elf/dwarf conflict in pretty much any fantasy system. And in RPG magazines, especially the mail slot column)

[Daylen]

... And his merc boyfriend wouldn't have it any other way.)

Gimli?

[ElFenrir]

Missed an obvious one, any dwarf would point it to you. (ah, the old elf/dwarf conflict in pretty much any fantasy system. And in RPG magazines, especially the mail slot column)

Heh. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/spin.gif) Actually, he's a human.

Well, when I try to make a character-I try to take out a few stereotypes-but in the end, I like the character to be, well, a character. If, for example, I decide I want a dwarven mechanic just because I got a really fun idea for a dwarven mechanic, I'll totally run with it. I more or less wanted to build a huge, brutally strong and brutal-fighter of an elf guy whose general answer to lethal threats is to step on it a few dozen times until it stops being a threat, so I ran with it. (Then again he's actually been mutating lately into even a non-Shadowrun character in some of my stories the more I work with him.) He does still happen to look pretty good, but definitely does not act like a glamour-monkey or anything.

[Glyph]

Ah, the glamour-monkey. Haruman with glamour, kinesics, tailored pheromones, and a full-body perm. He uses strawberry-scented shampoo.

[Shortcake]

Ah, the glamour-monkey. Haruman with glamour, kinesics, tailored pheromones, and a full-body perm. He uses strawberry-scented shampoo.

He needs to stop stealing that from Shortcake. She's getting angry.

[CanRay]

He needs to stop stealing that from Shortcake. She's getting angry.

You wouldn't like her when she gets angry. She puts her heavy boots on then. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Charles Freck]

My eyes are bleeding...

why is it that there's so much of... this kind of material on that website? Like, weird to the point where I would otherwise think the creator was trolling their viewers if it wasn't for the amount of work put into some of the pieces.