The lure of the alien...

I'm having a yearning for running something not based in traditional fantasy tropes. No elves, dwarves, halflings. No strictly medieval European society. That sort of thing.

So strange of me, to have Gamer ADD, eh?

 

Hmmm, speaking of "no elves," that reminds me of Talislanta. A game I first encountered in the old days of the old Dragon Magazine, a game that I own and would dearly love to play. Ah, if you are like me, you remember those Talislanta ads as being exotic and mysterious! I mean, the ads in Dragon for ANY game that wasn't D&D were always intriguing to me when I was new to the hobby. But there was something alluringly alien about Talislanta. I had similar feelings for Skyrealms of Jorune...

 

These days, I'm also interested in Barbarians of Lemuria. Then there's Magnamund (the setting of the Lone Wolf gamebooks) and the Fabled Lands...though I suppose part of their appeal for me is that they originated "across the pond."

 

Then there's of course The Dying Earth (so far in the future that the earth itself becomes alien). And let's not forget Leiber's Nehwon. And I suppose Howard's Hyborea (so far in the past that the earth is alien) ...although these last three worlds are perhaps less alien when it comes to racial variety.

 

The upcoming Lords of Gossamer & Shadow RPG and the Amber RPG from which it draws inspiration also have something of the alien to them, of course. That reminds me, ugh...I need to really get on a retrospection of Amber and its monolothic place in my RPG career...

I even find myself thinking of Thundercats and Thundarr the Barbarian of late. Hmmm, cat people...

 

I suppose all this is connected to the sword & sorcery side of the genre. Ooh, and then there's sword & planet!

 

OK, I need to stop. Please, chime in and let me know your experiences, if any, with Talislanta or other RPGs that have a setting that could be considered more "alien" than the default medieval D&D world.

Let There Be NO Goblins!

Ok, here's a brainstorm I want to get out:

 

I hereby declare that there will be NO goblins in my future Labyrinth Lord campaign! Nor will there be hobgoblins. And there will be no orcs. There may be trolls, but even if there are, they will not be called trolls. In fact, I will probably be doing a lot of eliminating or "reskinning" of traditional D&D creatures.

 

Why would I do this to the poor goblins and other D&D staple monsters? Because I'm tired of them. Tired, tired, tired. I'm just bored of them. They're all over the damned place! Plus, I suspect that my players may be bored of them as well. And if they're not bored of them, my players know what to expect when I say "You encounter some goblins." They think "Oh, goblins, no need to worry! These guys are weak!"

 

Yes, yes, there's the old argument about "player versus character knowledge." But come on. Players can't be robots and shut down their preconceived notions entirely. At the very least, they're probably saying to themselves "Oh boy, here we go again."

 

And yes, I know that you can tweak the goblin's abilities to create "uber-goblins" with all sorts of insane hit points, powers, whatever. But it's still a friggin' goblin.

 

So, what will replace those ousted humanoids? I have some ideas. A race of beastmen that resemble sasquatch, or perhaps some neanderthals. Or perhaps both of these, and some other concoctions I'm considering.

 

But all of this is part of my growing excitement for my next campaign. Yes, getting rid of goblins has made me very very excited. I know, a nerdier statement was never uttered.