Game News Broken Hourglass' races

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: The Broken Hourglass

<a href=http://www.planewalkergames.com>Planewalker Games</a> has posted the descriptions, strengths & weaknesses of The Broken Hourglass' <a href=http://www.planewalkergames.com/content/view/95/1/>various races</a>:
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<blockquote>Feyborn: The (oft-unappreciated) product of a human/elven mating—typically among humans and the Assimilated, although fruitful love affairs between humans and traveling Cella are not unheard of.
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Bonuses:
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Strength: Feyborn are, on average, naturally bigger and stronger than either of their parents.
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Toughness: Although shorter-lived than the other races of Rhyth, in their prime Feyborn are extremely hardy and durable.
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Mageborn-Fire (trait): All Feyborn have a touch of pyromancy in their blood, and as a result receive the Mageborn-Fire trait, granting them an initial bonus to Fire Magic. Note that this is subtly different than receiving a direct bonus to Fire Magic. Mageborn are found in each of the four major elemental varieties (a trait chosen upon creation only), but no one may be Mageborn in more than one element.
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Penalties:
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Judgment: Whether you believe that all Feyborn are truly touched by madness, or simply that they don't get the same opportunities afforded their human and assimilated elven peers, the fact remains that on paper and in practice, Feyborn start with limitations in the brainpan.
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Diplomacy: Quick to anger, slow to cool, the Feyborn are not natural born negotiators.
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Haggling: See Diplomacy. </blockquote><a href=http://www.planewalkergames.com/content/view/95/1/>Click here</a> to read the rest.

 

[Sovy Kurosei]

So it is basically:

Elves
Gypsie Elves
Super Elves
Half Elves
Humans with glowy skin colour.

Sounds about right.

 

[spacemoose]

out of all the indie rpgs getting coverage recently, I'm looking forward to this one the least. no interesting combat system, no apparent cnc, the story better be spectacular.

 

[Naked Ninja]

While I'm willing to give this one a try, I am sick to death of elves. In all their variations. How hard would it have been to make an advanced and agile ancient race with a different name?

 

[psycojester]

You could try Babylon 5, it has Space Elves with bones instead of hair

 

[Jasede]

Those races suck.

 

[Section8]

Broken Hourglass strikes me as being Baldur's Gate done right, so I'm not fazed by fairly generic races.

 

[Ladonna]

Yeah, with the current plight of the RPG scene, the last thing I will rap on about are the races involved. If these types of games were falling from the sky, I might join the bandwagon, until then....

 

[thesheeep]

Yup. I totally agree with Ladonna...

If the races fit to the setting, then, hell, why not?

And as long as the races really are unique (meaning not all races play exactly the same), I don't see a problem...

 

[denizsi]

no interesting combat system, no apparent cnc, the story better be spectacular.

What would be an example of an interesting combat system, among the upcoming indies?

 

[jcompton]

How hard would it have been to make an advanced and agile ancient race with a different name?

They do have a different name: "Ilvari." But we throw around the term "elves" because... well, that's the name people know. (and it would be an equally valid criticism if the world exclusively used "Ilvari" to say "well, they sound a lot like elves to me, why didn't they just call them 'elves' and be done with it?")

It's not dissimilar to world design questions like "why does/doesn't this alternate universe have a different calendar?" Is there more value in saying it's "Tallonsday the 6th of Greysky", or "Tuesday the 6th of February?" That's a question with no right answer.

 

[Naked Ninja]

I'm sorry man, I know that might have been a bit harsh but it's a pet hate of mine in RPGs. You can't swing a stick without hitting a bloody elf. It's a world of fantasy and magic, you can make up ANYTHING, but still we get the same tired Tolkien crap.


And I would have much prefered if you had called them Ilvari. Keep every property of elves that you like except the name and the pointed ears, give them some other minor distinguishing facial feature and bang, its enough of a difference not to bother me, ala Babylon 5. And I don't agree it is similar to the calendar thing. An alternate calendar gets confusing and isn't interesting enough to bother remembering. It's not the same with races or even with monsters. Even if people here hated Oblivion most of theml know what a Daedra is. Who can remember the calendar?

Sigh, but if it's a cool game I'll look past it. Ignore me I'm ranting. Or better yet, put in a "racial prejudice vs elves" trait.

 

[Texas Red]

I think its even more lame when you just randomly create a race with no basis in actual mythology. Im OK with elves and dwarves.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Why exactly does it have to be based in mythology now? It's only valid if it's derivative? Bull.

 

[Micmu]

I think its even more lame when you just randomly create a race with no basis in actual mythology.

That's why good games have a lot of background story and lore.

 

[sabishii]

Um... the human race has mythological basis how?

 

[JarlFrank]

I think its even more lame when you just randomly create a race with no basis in actual mythology. Im OK with elves and dwarves.

So you prefer the standard overused cliché high fantasy setting over such things as Morrowind's alien world or the more creative D&D settings like Planescape and Darksun?

 

[Amasius]

Um... the human race has mythological basis how?

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...

Greatest myth ever.

 

[Bradylama]

I always thought the Hyborean Age has been the best fantasy setting. If races were modeled on ethnicity and not species, that'd be a lot more interesting.

I'm not saying they need vast physical differences, but the sociological implications are vastly important.

 

[Human Shield]

My idea for races is just all modified humans based on ideologies that play differently. Other races are humanoid anyways why not have then descended from humans or let humans turn into them with whatever fantasy metaphysics you have.

Then you can hand out the cool architecture and themes and abilities. And you can have more variations in the groups, so all the tradional greenskined dudes are all the same race, the reptile race can have croc and snake dudes. And it lets you keep attractive humanoid members (which is what everyone tries to pull off anyways) as well as bigger monster-looking dudes.