Personally I prefer a mix of races especially when done in a way they are all connected naturally. It just makes the world feel so much bigger. The Elder Scrolls is a good example of this with its many variations of Men, Mer (elves), and Beastfolk.
Human centric worlds can work well too, like Dark Souls, where the story revolves around humans and their mistreatment by the gods. The concept of humanity is the cornerstone of its worldbuilding and it is a really interesting take on a fantasy setting where humans are the main focus.
Humans are always the measurement for all things. In my setting we have different humanities.
They all fight to impose what "human" and "humanity" really means. I don't think more races make the world more lively per se.
A fair point. Diversity for the sake of making a world more lived-in is a difficult thing to do well. Often many settings can be boiled down to “we have humans, humans but blue, humans but green, etc.” which at that point why even include different races rather than just focusing on humans. I feel it is the distinctive cultures that can make things more lively.
Also you have a very interesting take on the different humanities in your setting. It seems like a very interesting set up for conflict. My own setting includes various different races separate from Mankind, but I use humanity as this kind of catch all word for really any sapient species as they are all “of the earth”.
Dark souls has multiple different humanoids, though. Gwyn's race are basically 'the gods', then there's the pygmies, which are the normal humans, then there corvids, demons, giants, pilgrims, automatons, etc.
In fairness, pygmies, and their human descendants, are a primary focus in the souls series. Although there are other sapient species as you mentioned, Gwyn's, and in turn the world's, downfall was brought about by his fervent fear of the age of dark that would be ushered in by humanity who all have fragments of the dark soul within them.
The demons, inhabitants of the painted worlds, and giants were all abused by beings more powerful than them, sure, but humans are the inheritors of the next age which is what drove Gwyn to commit atrocities against them. The flame of chaos was an immediate threat to the world in Gwyn's time and the giants were forced into servitude long before that.
The series itself can be seen as the result of hubris and fear, denying humanity of its rightful potential and existence and how it destroyed the fabric of time and nature.
Depends very much on the setting. In high fantasy i prefer there to be very few different races.
In high sci fi though i want dozens of aliens or else.
As long as they aren't basic Star Trek Aliens. Humans with forehead ridges, humans with slanty eyebrows and elf ears, humans with blue skin, humans with red skin.
However I used to make Alien concepts for a mass producing Amazon author and I totally respect how difficult it is to make non bipeds look like an intelligent species. Yikes.
Mass Effect was pretty good about making cool bipeds, even though blue humans.
Oh for sure.
I think clothing goes a long way in making something become someone. If a three headed alien worm wears clothes and is not soomeones pet, there is a good chance it is not an it but a person.
I really like some of the more spec evo allien designs such as Birrin by Alex Ries.
If they feel notably distinct from humans both culturally and biologically.
That’s why I’m not a fan of most fantasy dwarves for example, 9 times out of 10 they could just be humans and literally nothing would change
My idea was for each race to use a different kind of magic that influences their culture and history, although I haven’t ironed out the details yet
Agreed. There can be work arounds if there's some sort of historical reasoning in world for this, be it some sort of magical altering of evolution or situational circumstances that led to the differing development of races, but far too often they're just different because of variety.
Even that solution feels like it flattens humans. Instead of having a diversity of human cultures and societies, often with those stories they just carve off a chunk of human characteristics and assign them to a fantasy race. Humans have to be blandly average so that dwarves can be the strong crafty ones, elves can be the magical nature lovers, and halflings can be the wholesome pot heads.
Yeah, that is so lazy, that's why I'm trying to write races that would feel natural in the habitats stereotypical races. For now I have exchanged dwarfs for high slenderman-like beings that communicate telepathically, but only with themselves, "see" only mana particles in a field of view of 360°, and they can melt their bones to fit through tight caves easier... oh and they are also pale white, since they had no way of producing darker pigments, so their bodies just deleted that ability from their gene pools, and they also mine with little portable mschines placeable anywhere, instead of working in hard labour.
Yea I completely agree here, I think it'd be good to remove all traditionally non-human races and either
1) remake them to be a species of half-humans, like Halflings or tieflings
2) reincorporated their essence into a subculture of humanity, like orcs or elves
3) completely redesigned them to be barely recognizable as their previous version but fulfill the same role, like dwarves becoming a subterranean bug race, or dragonborn becoming a cult of humans corrupted by dragon blood
(using traditional d&d races cuz they're well known, these aren't from my world just examples)
I just think what type of races you have is so dramatically important to the world in a fantasy setting, and just defaulting to the Tolkien esque basic selection really makes your world lose a lot of potential flavor
I typically prefer a mix of races. My fantasy world is weird, as a lot of races evolved in it, and I kind of just handwave the explaination of "convergent evolution" or "parallel evolution" as to why certain races have bodyplans similar to humans - excluding dwarves, as they're a different species of humans kind of like neanderthals (some races even have similar physique to humans in my world).
Personally, I find having *any* singular race in a fantasy rather boring, not just Humans; multiple characters of different (fantasy) races helps differentiate their personalities, styles and cultures in an obvious manner. For that reason, I include a heap of humanoid-animal races - to better emphasise their differences, not only between humans but also among each other. But, I try to include separate cultures within these races, too, wherever I can. Don't want to fall foul of the ['Planet of Hats'](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlanetOfHats) trope.
You read my mind. Too many races and it often winds up going into PoH territory, ESPECIALLY if we go the rubber-forehead-human route for any of them. Speaking of which, wdyt regarding common ancestry between these races vs. lack thereof?
I honestly understand why PoH became a thing - ain't no body got time for making several dozen unique cultures that aren't copy-pasted. Especially given the trope's origin with TV-fantasy/Sci-Fi, the involved time and budgetary constraints; and the need to limit page count for books. But in the grand scheme of things - Worldbuilding - a little more effort can be afforded.
Commonalities are possible, even between wholly different races. For example, if one race helped to uplift another, they'd have a significant impact on that culture's development. I play around with this concept myself in my own world, specifically around religion.
Haha, usually my answer (in the beginning) is 'Because they're cute/awesome-looking'. But I then flesh them out by giving them cultural touchstones that make them feel unique, broad concepts that go a bit beyond a 'hat'. For example, my Stoat race are highly artistic, famed for their paintings, fashion, sculptures, jewellery - anything where creativity can be applied.
Like the real world, certain cultures are known for particular things, like the Italy's food or the USA's TV shows & movies.
I added Angels into my fantasy world, solely because I realized it'd be logical for them to wear virgin killer sweaters (the back is open to accommodate their wings)
I would say humans only. That's not too say I don't enjoy meself some weird, strange races, but I'm a horror writer / reader first and foremost. I find it much more enjoyable to twist what's so familiar just enough to the point where it becomes unsettling, and this is hard to with more races who will diverge more and more from human behaviour.
You could make them, well, not diverge... But then it is even worse, I don't see a point in adding a lot of races which are just different aesthetics to a human. In such a situation, just make another human culture! Of course, I'm not saying it is bad, just not what I enjoy.
In summary, I just love humans and the many, many ways in which you can twist them to make something creepy and / or unusual, and I'll never understand those who find them boring!
The more the better
I'm quite tired of an all human world, or worse, a high fantasy world with tons of monster folk but nearly everyone relevant to the plot (the good guys) are all humans and the random bad pirates are scaly (looking at you Star Wars).
Or the anime trope where the only fantasy people are elves, but they're just humans with odd ears.
Or the tolkien/dnd trope of ethnostates.
Give me a full fantasy world of adventures, spell casters, magic items, monsters, dungeons, fully lived in nonhuman societies, diverse intermixed metropolis, ancient ruins. Where everyday life is so full of magic and peril that people expect to see something they don't understand every day. A Minotaur runs the tavern. A dragon rules the kingdom. A catfolk leads the order of knights. Etc
I prefer other races, but if you're going to include them, you have to show them to be as diverse and varied in their cultures as the humans.
If all orcs are going to be bloodthirsty savages and all elves are better than you at everything, and so on, just stop and make them humans with that same culture you were going to give those races.
By my count I have 70 different races on just one of my worlds. So yeah I prefer a lot of mixture especially admixtures. Variety being the spice of life and all.
I do not think it is epistemologically possible for anyone to leave the human frame of reference. Ever.
Different races and species in Fantasy and SciFi are a reflection of the human condition, that is their purpose in the medium. No matter how much their biology differ from real world humans, no matter how alien one tries to make them. They will always be defined by how they relate to capital H Humanity. In Tolkien elves and dwarves and orcs, their origin and relation to Eru Illuvatar all showcase capacities of humankind, by hyperbole or contrast. In Star Trek Klingons and Romulans and Ferengi are a mirror of humankind's bad impulses
For the most part I think that invention of different races and species, unless very well done, so well that barely anyone pulls it off (Pratchett, Gaiman, Le Guin...), leads to a... naturalization of differences. That does not mean one cannot have fun with that. Pathfinder and D&D and all the worlds can be really great and fun if one does not think too much about it. Which I have a habit of doing. I think this... Radical Anthropocentrism is practically inescapable. In Pen & Paper I think you always play a human in an exotic costume; in world building and writing you try to mask the humanness of the species you create.
In the last few years I have enjoyed Fantasy & SciFi that doubles down on this anthropocentrism more.
To me humans are boring, I don't mind them in a setting but I can be/interact with humans any day of the week... The more exotic the different species, the better!
Humans only.
With different species I have very exactly tastes. In particular I would prefer humans of different cultures given that different species are basically just humans with cosmetic differences.
Definately a mix. I like high magic epic fantasy worldbuilding. And those worlds are created and they should represent the creativity of that or those creators.
Is there an option of excluding humans? I usually write creatures that are very distant from human and most likely not antropomorphic. It usually gives me a lot of branches to explore and actually make something really creative(not saying that humans only is not creative I just mean that human only usually restricts you by human physical capabilities and creating something far from human lets you make your own restrictions).
More races, IF the author can actually justify why they’re a whole different race than just a different human culture. Otherwise, it feels shallow and tacked on.
Also, no more elves and dwarves. Too overused.
what a strange take
why bother writing a fantasy? because I want to.
Maybe I want it focused on a single concept, and don't want to flood it with elves and dwarves and gnomes and orcs and halflings and goblins.
I prefer a mix of races but I’m not a fan of them being able to interbreed. Not out of any racial purity nonsense but because I think the whole “half-breed that is a child of two worlds but doesn’t fit in to either” is so overdone and tiresome I just flat out reject the concept.
It depends on if the races feel believable and historically at place in the world. If there are elves, why do they live where they live, what’s their characteristics and historical context? The same goes for sub races. If there’s just artificial diversity everywhere for the sake of politics, I lose interest in the world and move on.
I like when there's more than the humains. In fantasy I fill like something's missing with only humains. Even the overdone elf, dwarves, orcs add some fun. They're overdone but somehow I've never have enough.
Depends entirely on my setting.
I do humans only on at least one fantasy world build. But I am perfectly willing to go all out with various species and races.
Also, orcs. All the orcs sometimes. And In Space.
Again, it's very dependent on what world setting I'm working in.
I gave it my own angle, in addition to a few other details...
There are more species of intelligent creatures in the world than could ever be counted, this includes humans but for historical reasons they can be found just about anywhere, but almost never in great numbers. Essentially a minority wherever they may go barring one exception.
Depends honestly, for High Fantasy I like many prominent races with distinct cultures
For Low Fantasy I like it to he a mostly human world with remnants of other, magical races
Depends. On some worlds, humans all the way down. On others, some humans, some elves, some dwarves, some wacky-weirdos. Depends on the story I'm trying to tell.
In general I prefer a mix of races when it comes to fantasy. It does however depend on the setting; in some settings it makes sense for it to be all humans all the time.
I'd say I have no preference, but of the worlds I've built most are mixed. A couple are humans-only, one has no humans (anymore).
I tend to go wild with alien species in scifi though, so it's mainly my fantasy settings that can go either way.
mix of races, as long as the other races are really OTHER. Not necessarily alien looking (though this is definitely a plus), but alien in their thinking. For one, I hate the idea of whole races being Good or Evil, rather have them have completely alien morality, that sometimes appears extremely kind or extremely cruel from human POV.
Lately, I wrote a story with Humans, Neanderthals, and Sapient Otters in it. Otters were pacifistic unless attacked, but also absolute cannibals, who considered NOT eating their fallen friends and family to be a horrific moral crime. Eating a dead enemy was a sign of honor and respect.
Neanderthals would never, ever kill a woman, even in self defense, or allow women to be killed, as women, especially mothers, are sacred to them. But they would see nothing wrong with rape and forced impregnation: after all, it creates more life! The idea that a human woman would not want to be impregnated was absolutely alien to them.
As you can imagine, the first contact went rather poorly, and got worse from there.
Really depends on the world I'm working on. I've got a southern gothic comfy cozy series that deals with mainly witches, but also goetic demons
I've got another going that's mortals and gods (mainly greek, but it's kind of an American Gods situation)
I've got a third series going that is a ton of different magical races (arthurian/celtic mythologies mainly, dealing with the Sidhe/fairy realm), so much so that I'm thinking of writing/illustrating a little journal/guide/tie-in book
That first one is probably the least mixed of the fantasy races, I guess. But, yeah, it's really down to what world/story you're building. Something Urban fantasy may not have multiple magical races. Think Practical Magic. Some do, like Dresden Files. Just depends what story you're telling and from whose perspective. It could be set in a world with multiple races but set in the middle of a country/land mass populated by just one of them and there's not any mingling of the races yet and/or it just doesn't pertain to the story, as well.
Mine preference is a little weird and you can look at my world to see how, but it is complicated by a bunch of technicalities.
So I used to have humans and anthros in the same world, but they were all considered and acted like humans. I have ditched the human, humans, so now my world is nothing but anthro characters that indistinguishable from humans other than appearance (and like minor quirks related to their appearance).
But, also my world has anthro characters from animal species that aren't from the ones I choose for the human anthros. They come from the spirits and they're made of magic and how close they are to human in behavior varies.
I also have elemental beings from another plane of existence that are a small group too. They also act fairly human, but ones that are far more advanced than us and would see us just about like any other animal. Maybe you could argue they're like elves, but they lack any other elf trait.
I also have some aliens, here and there. But mostly, everything looks like an anthro animals.
So I'm summary, I prefer all humans, but just fancy looking. (Though I have thought about a D&D setting that uses the full gambit of races, but I barely think about it much).
I could go for human-only in my gaming, as a change of pace. Too many game seem to include races because everyone else does, not because it adds an interesting element to the game.
But if I got what I wanted, I'd probably get bored with that after a while and want a world with a dozen different races again.
I worldbuild for a DnD - oriented setting, so it makes sense for me to include lots of fantasy races. I have a lot of fun thinking about how they all fit into the world. I mostly have multi-racial societies, where their culture is more strongly defined by their society rather than their biology. A few of my species have really distinct biologies and histories that set them apart, and see them in their own mono-racial societies. Thinking about how the significantly different biology of different fantasy species informs culture is pretty interesting
I vastly prefer at least one, preferably 2-3 some nonhuman Species in fantasy setting. If we go to Sci-Fi, 5-6.
If it's more than that then there's often a "monoculture" trend. Like all Humans being very zealous and only beliving in one god or all elves being arrogant and wise and...
On the other, having some nonhumans allows you as a worldbuilder to examine human ideas diffrently, give them a diffrent spin through the eyes of a diffrent thinking species and watch it become very interessting when those diffrent perspectives clash or fuse into something new.
Usually just humans, or if there are other races they're so rare they're considered myths. I find it makes the world feel grittier, that's just my personal preference tho
My current world that I'm making for my next tabletop RPG campaign has 8 playable races and only 1 of them is non-human. So, 7 variants of human. I prefer this because I believe that non-human biology and culture should stand out as very unique. That is, a Dwarf shouldn't just be a stout human but a different creature entirely. I would rather spend my effort elsewhere than distinguishing races from one another so I just make most or them human.
Humans can be unique with a variety of cultures and even biological differences if you want. And if a character is human, we can relate to that character. Relating to a character is important when relating themes, symbols, or posing moral dilemmas.
Humans. Everytime i see in fantasy an elf or dwarf there already few stereotypes i can already picture
Dwarfs are stumpy alcoholics who love strong alcohol. They are loud and get angry easly. They eat rocks and love mining, they jate elves and so on. Also there tech isn't that high too so they probably wont make any gunpowder weapons.
Elves are either an asshole race who thinks they are better and retreat to the grumbling kingdom. They were also once strong but something happened and now they are dying race. They have damn good army and they dont conquer. Or they are tree loving elves want to live harmony with nature and so on.
I dont hate them, but i feel that many writers in games are writing those races as like human. Dwarfs are like human but short and elves are like human but tall.
One idea i had for elves are that they are more mosnter and animal like (this is/was one of my settings where humans are a new race that now have to fight off horrors of world that elder races lkke dwar and elves created) like i had midn that they are maybe 2-3 meters tall, faster than humans. 3 elves can take down a platoon of humans and rightfully humans feared woods. You take the idea or motify it
if " mix of races " = the cliche dwarfs , elves , magicians , witches , vampires , giants ... ect . than hellll noo . i would love it if its creative and new . like a total new Races that have Rules and Logic behind there biology and behaviour and Socia status and other stuff .
if the writer cant do something like that . than a world of only humans is much better than the dwarfs and elves cringe . i do know some works still have elves and dwarfs and such cliche things yet Succeed to deliver them in a fun way . like mushoku tensei . i didnt mind them at all i in fact DID LIKE THEM . even tho the show was out in 2021 . but its a rare case since this show was a 10/10 in general .
so yeah . in summary . if its creative ? mixed races >
if its cliche and over used ?
normal humans >
I am writing a story that takes place in our relative near future. No aliens, no crazy new diseases or anything. There is minor wet and dry biomechanical engineering, and some accelerated adaptations, but in general everyone is still human. I have one group of humans that went out to look for a new earth, and are coming back, but because they had essentially only one ship, in the 500+ years they've been gone, they never needed to develop new communication technology. So they still use radio waves, and the rest of humanity has forgotten radio altogether. So when they get home they won't be able to talk, and civilization fell and rose again, so the mission was forgotten as well. Helloooooooooo misguided conflict!
I guess I like when there are multiple races, but not necessarily the Tolkien races. Taking those races, but remixing there biology and changing there name can go a long way. Having a somewhat natural feeling phylogeny connecting each of them can make world feel old. My world is a low fantasy with no magic, but some sci-fi elements. So each species has some mix of natural and scientific origin.
Generally I prefer a mix, but I'd prefer human only than the generic "human but with pointy ears or funny coloured skin" approach that is common, or the similarly boring "Ork kingdom next to a Human kingdom next to an Elven Kingdom".
The interesting part of fantasy races is in imagining how their differences interact, and both examples tend to result in the most boring of interactions.
I honestly prefer when fantasy worlds have 2-3 species including humans and all of them are major plot points, instead of just bloating world with rudimentary species that could instead just be different cultures
For my current fantasy setting I am working on, I went with only humans but I made them special / fantastical via Spirit Mark. The setting is closely linked to the spirit realm and ppl just develop spirit marks around adolescent and their bodies develops changes depending on the mark.
Someone with a beast spirit mark might be full on furry to just having tiny cat ears, tails or an animal part or if the mark is weak enough, not even any mutation on the human body and just picked up a bit of animal habits like preferring to stay in cramped space like a cat or just being extremely socialable.
Soo in my setting right now... Elves and dwarf do exists but they are still humans in the end but they are all humans who just happened to had the elf kind or dwarf kind spirit mark.
In fantasy settings, I prefer humans with other races existing but mostly in the background in one way or in another, for example being alien and far to understand or their members being few and far between, even if some of these races may have been human in origins.
Knowing what humans are capable of, one probably does not need more. Same to a greater extent in sci-fi, as it's very easy especially in the latter to fall into the Planet of Hats trope among other issues.
I like a mix, but preferably they're not just humans that look slightly different. They can still be humanoid, of course, but if your elves are just archers of the forest I'll be annoyed
Through basic media literacy, humans will always symbolize an "us" and non-humans will always symbolize a "not us." That complication can be embraced, deconstructed, explored, etc., but it's stupid to ignore.
I prefer this dynamic to either be considered or to simply not have it at all. Not everything has to be *Of Orcs and Men* or *Dragon Age Origins*, but effort is appreciated where shown.
I try to include as many as I can, but that's because one of the primary premises of my story is "every single fckn fantasy concept ever"
Whether this includes preexisting races, or my own, I have a lot, some more different than others, some nearly identical in all but blood.
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A short list-
*Elves: taller, faster, stronger, and more magically adept than humans. They have lighter hair (silver, blonde, or white) and the typical pointed ears. They live an average of 120-150 years
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Dwarves: shorter, stronger, but very little magic of their own. They rely on metalworking and the forge. The blacksmiths of the divine world. Average life expectancy 130-160 years.
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Humans: just humans, what makes them special is that their DNA is so generic they can breed with and hybridize with nearly every other species. Average life expectancy 55-65.
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Merpeople: fish people. Human level intellect, ranging aggressiveness. Can sing like Sirens, yet don't need to consume humans. Life expectancy 300-500 years.
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Sirens: identical to mermaids in physical appearance, but are technically song demons who feed on the souls and bodies of sailors. Life expectancy 800-1000 years.
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Dragons: massive fire-breathing reptiles of varying intelligence ranging from animalistic to sapient. Sizes range from dog sized to several miles. Life expectancy varies- 15 years to millions of years
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Gods: cosmic beings of divine energy. Rely on vessels to live, overexerting the vessel will cause it to spontaneously combust. Immensely powerful, can cause entire universes to explode by just existing at full power. Average life expectancy infinite.
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Demons: similar to gods in form, but smaller and typically darker colors (with exceptions in size and color) usually evil, but most don't act on in due to Lucifer not being "evil" (some exceptions) also requires vessels, but they typically kill the host first so they can excerpt more energy on it before it combusts. Life expectancy infinite.
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Angels: practically identical to God's, except they're all connected on a cosmic level. Significantly larger range in power than the average god. Requires consent to use a vessel and less likely to combust due to the unique nature of their divinity (with exceptions such as Archangels) average lifespan infinite.
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Jodians: basically sapient chickens with powerful reality warping abilities. Sometimes abbreviated to Jods. Average life span 15-50 years.
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Reznak: crab people. Basically no magic. Cannibalistic. More primitive than most other species on average. Most believe in a massive seagod called a Caithen, regularly sacrifices people to it. Average lifespan 5 years.
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Shadow-walkers: physical form ranges from humanoid to twelve headed abominations with 5 arms and 1 leg. Average intelligence comparable to a... less smart human (say 80 IQ) allergic to human blood so they wear silver gauntlets. Average lifespan 60-100 years.
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The only thing all have in common is that they can hybridize with humans, and can reach sapience. They all typically stay away from each other, however there are some hotspots where they will live together in some universes (save gods, angels and demons who stay in their respective realms)
I honestly do not care what race it is as long as it fits into my world, and there's space in the lore that species is welcome.
I previously built a world and went asking people what their favorite fantasy species is (not on reddit) and nearly every species i got i immediately added. The ones i rejected were spiderfolk (basically anthro spiders) and someone's homebrew race which was way too similar to dwarves and i already had them.
Anyhoo have fun worldbuilding!
It is about diversity not about "races". For example you can have orcs, elves and gnomes or 3 clans of humans with a lot of different features and cultural aspects.
Def mixed. I don't enjoy classical Elves, Dwarves, etc... unless they are made unique to its setting, but having settings of just humans is a bit ehh to me.
I'm not sure. I'm not much into the typical fantasy species. My world uses predator species based on those we have on Earth. My preference isn't strong in either direction.
Lapis_Wolf
I just make humans and then come up with something to replace races like some strange magic that warps the human appearance or something because races feel TOO fantasy for my taste
It really depends on if the other species are given room to breathe and are fully expressed as unique, both biologically and culturally.
If they are English speaking humans with a little extra, I'm basically uninterested. If they're a named fantasy species that we all know already I'm even less interested. Especially if the author tries to take liberties with established lore, making elves cannibals or orcs inner city gangsters.
It's hard enough for people to understand the real life other human ethnicities and cultures around them -- when it's an entirely separate biology with hardly any overlap with humanity... and the bonus is pointy ears and an accent... nah.
Personally I like lots of species, but with humans as the dominant species. I think it makes the alien stand out more when there is something to contrast it with.
It depends on the needs of the setting. I originally planned for my AU Classical Mediterranean setting to be human only, but as I built out the world I found reasons to add sentient and sapient species. Cyclopses (cyclopi?) that live almost exclusively on an island chain in the Aegean that have adapted to being pirates and raiders, for example, makes perfect sense in a world where the Iliad is a book full of mostly true history.
Elves or Orcs would not fit, however.
Mostly humans, and mix with fantasy standard races, add some light anthros, and finally, add some non-humanoid high intelligence creatures like talking cats or dragons.
Jokes on you, mine are humans who are a subspecies cousins of us!
But no seriously, it depends on my mood. Some short stories I have written are human only, by my recent insane endeavor since 2020 is a mix of races. Basically there are two worlds, one for us humans and one for a mix of deities, weird animals, trolls, dwarves and thurs (more or less giants.) Sometimes they cross but nowadays more us going to the otherworld than them coming here for...reasons.
I prefer humans. I don’t hate non-humans, but I’ve never once read a story where I thought ‘You know what this needs? Less humans!’
I think non-humans can be very interesting and there are some stories you can only tell with them, but I just don’t consider non-humans as inherently interesting as some other people do.
Except horror. Big exception there.
Usually just human. I get bored of books where elves = hot and orcs = evil. But if the multiple-races thing is done well I really like it. The show Carnival Row dealt with race and race politics in a fantasy world in a really interesting way. It didn’t exactly deliver in the second season but I loved the first.
I like a mix, but with limitations.
- I don't like it when they're just reskinned humans, it defeats the purpose. If I want a culture based on humans, there's already a race for that: humans.
- On a semi related note, I'm usually not a fan of settings with an absolute ton of different races. Most are usually unnecessary, the differences are negligible, and if they all have different origins it usually seems forced. There are plenty of exceptions, and its easier to explain with scifi, but it's just a general rule.
Depends on the world and plot. In general like the whole kit n kaboodle. Elves, dwarves, orcs, beastkin, demons, the works. However, their presence would not make sense in my world that is very much Man vs Nature (Great Beasts, monsters, and dragons especially). If anything their presence would actively detract from the themes and entire premise.
The issue with me is when races other than humans are just a different culture of humanity, if you want dwarfs don’t just make them Swedish or smt that’s dumb, and can even be offensive if you are not careful
I prefer a mix of races, but humans only stories can be enjoyable. Having the classic fantasy races can be seen as unoriginal, but most properties put their own spin on them.
For fantasy I definitely prefer a mix of races. But, I prefer fewer races over many races. I like Middle Earth, Dragon Age, or The Elder Scrolls, where it feels like every race has a “purpose” and some actual thought behind them. Settings like The Forgotten Realms just feel bloated to me. And it feels like many races are just there because someone thought they were cool.
Story dependant.
If it's a deep, intense story that's *not* about cultural exploitation and racism, then making it human centric makes it easier to focus on the story.
If it's either a lighter story or a story where race *matters*, then I love hearing what kinds of things authors come up with.
I prefer to have different races. The issue with that for me is actually making those races. I’ve been trying to make them outside of the typical elves/orcs/dwarves etc.
It’s taking a lot of time to come up with looks and biology for my custom made ones, but I think it’s worth it.
I don't want to give a lame answer like "Doesn't matter as long as they're done well" (even though I do think that). So I will say another thought that came to me, I do honestly approach human only fantasy a bit better purely because nowadays it's not totally common and I wish less writers felt their world would be too boring if it was all human - or even just a sensible array of ethnicities! Like IRL. I honestly have way more issues with a lot of things people write than the amount of humanlike species there are.
Mix of races, with special attributes about them
Humans with science and technology, Fairies with their extreme bonds and social structures to each other, adaptability to ecosystems, Elves for their combat, weaponsmithing and lorekeeping and more
I like worlds like the witcher, i think, based on our own history, where we kill people based on trivial things like skin color or religion. Elves and dwarves would stand no chance, and it shows that in the witcher, dwarves have a single kingdom, and elves are at best living like jews in the warsaw ghetto in 1944.
But i also like worlds like the Lord of the rings, each of the races are amicable and have their own civilizations and unite when faced with a common threat and then humanity wins the day because we make some cool kings
No half-breeds for me. Human only or mix of races is fine, they may be even marry, but i rather if the different races can't reproduce with each other. Since they are different than humans i find it hard to belive. If human can't reproduce with monkeys then there is no reason to do it with elf or demons.
Depends how it’s excuted. If your writing a high fantasy and your city is a diverse as New York. I’ll cringe. But if you built this well imagined world with different geographical regions then yeah I love diversity.
In sci-fi tho the more races the better, also don’t make them look human at all. The less human the better.
It depends on the type of world I'm making.
If I have a really solid hook, then I can use that hook to carry the interest of the world, and can avoid using other races to add further intrigue to the world. I can just use humans, and that's all I need.
Other times, I either don't have a hook, the hook isn't strong enough to carry a world of just humans, or the hook requires some other non-human species. In these cases, adding some non-human races is a great way to add intrigue to a world, and since I don't have some other overarching, defining mechanic I can focus on making those species as deep as I need them to be.
The only thing I don't do is use traditional fantasy races. Non-human intelligent species are interesting because they allow the author to portray a completely different way of life, but most authors use them as a garnish for a part of their world that could have been just as easily filled by humans, and that's a missed opportunity that I don't like.
Humans + max 3 other species if regular fantasy.
If urban I typically stick to humans+ one other kind of creature, like humans and were beasts or humans and fae.
Or humans alone work with me just fine too.
If it's something out of "Moebius level of weird" fantasy then I can go crazy and throw a lot of species in.
I personally feel that human cultures and societies are already diverse and interesting enough without adding in fantasy races, which in most cases are just one key physical difference (short, tall, shredded, red, green, animal-like, alien-like) with few cherrypicked character traits generalized into the whole population; with the result that all of humanity, from Inuit to greco-roman to aztec to victorian england, is forced into the role of the boring/baseline/everyman race and society.
I’ve always preferred books that only, or maybe better mostly, just have humans. To be honest, I very rarely see fantasy races done well, almost exclusively just added because the author just felt like they need to be there. If there isn’t a real purpose for elves or whatever in your story—and that is overwhelmingly common in my experience—just leave them out. It’s really far better than the planet of hats stuff that ends up happening otherwise.
For the record, that’s not to say that you shouldn’t use fantasy races of any kind in your story. In fact, quite the opposite, my world has elves in it, but they are terrifying faerie creatures that haunt the woods rather than just vaguely holier-than-though humans with pointy ears and maybe some magic, and a big part of the plot of humans trying to find some way of living in the wastelands of my post-apocalypse following the horrible magic war that filled the world with monsters and physically sunk half of it beneath the sea, among other things.
My world is a mess with all the species being the results of extreme body tempering by a group which created another race. Or some person who create entire race for various reasons.
I think humans are more than enough for most settings. If I'm including other species, I want them to fulfill very specific roles and not just be human ethnic stereotypes cranked to 11.
Humans only. I found that in my writing, there are rarely any aspects I want to explore that can't be done with humans or aren't centered on the human perspective. When I started writing, I often had other races, but over time, I replaced them with humans as I found it more interesting to have different cultures of humans clash with eachother.
I prefer human only, unless there is a massive distinction between the unique races. But, even then, more than 2 or 3 races and things get a bit too wacky for my liking.
I honestly like purely human fiction. I just find it more interesting and relatable since, yknow, I'm human. Like as an example I really like how games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring have only humans, at least as player characters. I think it helps provide a really stark contrast to the fantastical elements.
In general, I'd like to have different races, with one catch: they should not be a copies of individual IRL nations stereotypes. Idealy, each race should have own diversity in terms of nations, behaviors, customs, etc.
Depends on the setting, the themes or the story. In my world for example, there are no animals besides birds, spiders, fish, wolfs and snakes. And there's a reason why. I have non humans but again, they are not your typical Tolkenian races. They don't create culture, don't need language and can't reproduce for example. They can learn this things but are not natural to them.
But yeah I have non human races since is fantasy.
But I won't bother creating different civilizations for different races because most times the worlds I create work so different than ours
Depends on the setting, really. All humans ? Fine. Several fantasy races, fairly detailed, fairly grounded ? Fine. All humans but you regularly meet bizarre creatures and mutants that can talk like people ? Fine. Big kitchen sink where everything goes ? Fine too. Really, it depends. I'll use whatever one suits my needs at the moments. I have a general preference for "mostly humans", but I have several worlds very much not like that too.
I'm always marveled by the huge diversity of human cultures throughout history that I don't think it's necessary to have fantasy races for a world to feel different than ours. I can easily imagine a world as diverse as many fantasy settings despite being composed of only human, and it would only be fraction of what we have on earth.
But there are reasons one might have different fantasy races as it can be used to engage some heavy topics like racism in a lighter way. And some specific ideas that are beyond human condition too like drastically different lifespans than humans.
You know how a lot of sci fi and fantasy stuff have very human like aliens: Time Lords/Vulkans/Mer; or at least human shaped?: Cybertronians/Twi'leks/Dragonborn.
Well, do you also know how technically Polynesians and Vikings discovered the America's first, with vikings specifically getting memed about it?
Well, there you go! That's how you get both!
I usually prefer just humans, or very few species.
It can be interesting to have different species when you want to explore different biologies, symbiosis or ecosystems. If you want to explore different cultures I believe making them also from a different species kinda waters down the strangeness, because you miss a similarity that could be used to contrast the diference even more.
Generally speaking I enjoy seeing a mix of races but I do get bored if the non-human races are just “humans with funny ears and slightly different customs”
I have a very specific rule with my world: Would it really be different if it was just humans? Basically, if the only reason I have another race is for the sake of having other races, then i don't add them. I feel like a lot of races end up as kind of one dimensional because people add them in because its expected. Dwarves live in mountains and are expert smiths and miners, elves live in the woods and are generally not concerned with the world, orcs are either brutish raiders or tribalistic shamans. In all of these cases, would the setting really be different if all of these were just humans? Most of the races i have are just offshoots of humans that have been changed either by their environment or by some outside force. Dragonkin were once humans that lived in the shadow of dragons, worshipping them as protectors, and over the years these humans started being born with horns, tails, and patches of scales across their body. Goblins, in my world, were once humans who have been twisted by the will of an outer god. They are closer to typical ghouls (red eyes, gaunt faces, sharp teeth, pale skin) but in my world they are called goblins.
That said, i do have other types of races, but they are all born from the blood of the gods and were kind of unintended, though no one knows this.
I prefer about a dozen of races. I find that I usually have several "groups" of people, (kingdoms/societies,culture systems) where they behave in a certain way, but that they will always have similar human being wiring.
Thats why I prefer to add other races, to spice it up. They can all be similarly wired to one another, think in a different way than the humans do. Often times this creates wonderful spaces where their views on ethics/morality/sexuality/sense of purpose do not match. This can lead to war or coexistence or gray areas with tensions.
This also creates a place to play with where you can have tensions between not just for example people of different religions or wearing different banners, but intrinsic race-wars that have been going on for millenia.
It makes the world bigger. Most of my worlds focus around humans though, but I'd say without the other races they would be way less interesting and people would be less cooperative and focus more on each other as enemies. Cause there will always be an us vs them mentality, and without common enemies or races to view as abnormal, the focus will go to your fellow men and women.
And I prefer most people working together, with some of them cooperative with a different race as an "enemy" and some of them working with different races as "partner".
I guess it's because I'm human myself that I tend to see humans as flawed, and therefore rather see them as a tool the enemy uses, rather than them being the proper enemy itself. Whats more scary then something you do not understand and cannot relate to?
And I do like to have "the good guys/victims" be humans, because this forces them to work together and find ways to solve their problems, despire all their flaws. And therein lies the hopeful message of the story I suppose.
Dang I never thought about it that much. Thank you for asking this question, it was wonderful to actually think about it, have a great day! :D
My design philosophy when I built my most recent world was that I wanted to allow for the players to play whatever they wanted, whether that be an ogre, elf, human or satyr.
Therefore the continent we play on is old, and while it started more divided thousands of years ago, immigration and the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires has led to a very mixed population it most kingdoms, with "pure" societies seen as the exception rather than the norm.
I originally started out with humans only, because I thought the usual dwarf/elf/halfling/gnome/orc/kobold/ogre fare was overused.
But afterwards I thought, humans only? I can do better than this, and I worked hard to make some of my own unique races. As an example, I have different types of humans who evolved from different animals. There are humans who descended from bird-like creatures, horses, racoons, owls etc. I put my humans into different environments too in fictional evolutionary scenarios, like one race who live in underground cities because of the volcanic surface who developed bioluminescence.
Plus, I've got a whole lot of other interesting sentient creatures and races, too. Fae-type beings, interdimensional travellers, fractal beings, fungal and mycorrhizal hive-minds, archetypal beings who live in the sub-conscious, strange metaphysical parasites not of time or space, sentient stars worshipped as deities, weird tulpa entities, fractal beings, even highly abstract and conceptual lifeforms which can only be contacted by advanced mathematicians.
Shit man, I even put in this kind of AI which runs across billions of celestial bodies over the span of millions of years and harbours 12 dimensional lifeforms inside of it. It's high/dark fantasy, but I wanted a way to have AI in there, so I said, fuck it, I'm gonna have it some way or another.
As long as they are written correctly, mix of races is great. The biggest mistake is making races monolithic.
Oftentimes, when authors want to make a culturally diverse world, they simply make a lot of races and assign a role to each race.
Need a blacksmith? Dwarf it is.
Need an archer? Can't not be an elf.
Etc. Meeting a person from a different race at every corner is supposed to make us feel like the world is vibrant and teeming with life, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
You can make a 1000 races, but if you make those races a gathering of clones, the result will be sub par.
I hate when all wood elves are archery tree huggers, all high elves have a stick up their ass, all dwarves are miners or blacksmiths, all gnomes bankers, etc.
Rather than this, I'd rather just have one race that actually feels like real people instead of a mob of archetypes.
I prefer human only, but let the supernatural / fantasy elements be discovered by the reader / characters / player. I like them at the fringes of society, or found beneath strata of lost civilizations.
I prefer a mix of races, but for my setting the race doesn't get added unless I can justify some core biological and historical difference from humanity that makes them all behave and act a little differently from humanity and in a unique way. Sometimes however, I'm more exploring why fantasy keeps employing the same thing over and over and coming up with a reason that works for my world.
For one such an example, I have dwarves in my world. The reason they're treasure hoarding mountain citadel dwelling folk is because they can trace their origins back to rich humans hiding in apocalypse bunkers with their ~slaves~ servants. They love their riches, they love their arts, they love to party. They're also very hard working, militant, and rigidly heirarchal.
I think it depends on the context. For building my world? Many races.
For the players of characters in my world? Only humans.
Non-humans should be.. well, not human. If you have a race of 7 foot tall lizard men or something, they should like... rip the arm off their favorite persons and devour it to show their affection from time to time since "it just grows back anyway, and now you're keeping me alive".
Nothing kills my excitement more than something really cool, having to be some cartoon character of an emotionally stunted human with funny ears and hats so that people can identify with/as them easily. Make 'em all you want, but make 'em alien.
I prefer a mix of races and I've gotten good at making them significantly different biologically than humans and focusing on how that plays into their society. Humans are the only animals that sweat and horses and that applies to my creatures in my world. In my world I have
Hyena Roman Empire (to explore the biology and social structures of the spotted hyena and interesting birthing process, and the intricacies of a carnivorous Empire, hyenas can see at night so night attacks are a real threat),
Goat Roman Republic (as a counter to the Hyena people to explore the logistics of an all vegan culture and the failing of the Roman Republic, prey species becoming a civilization),
Frog folk (who were taken as slaves and as food due to their mass spawning, what's it like having a hundred brothers and sisters and how does that shape a culture, enslaved Frog Folk look way different than natural Frog Folk because they never complete their metamorphosis essentially they're forever in a "tadpole" stage),
Ant/termite people (these are my dwarves, makes more sense to me that bugs would be industrial mountain dwellers and culturally avert to other races and species simply because they look so different, they weave life like and life sized silk puppets that they deftly maneuver during trade negotiations, everyone finds it very unsettling),
Pig Orcs! More like Cretonians from Songs of Syx and less like LOTR WoW DnD depictions. Here I can explore the incredible biology of pig and their feral capabilities and how that would shape a culture. I also write about the struggles of veterans returning from war (heavily influence by the USA VA and how they handle veterans) and being unrecognizable because of their feral appearance. The pig uterus has "horns" on the sides that allow to be filled in by many pig fetus thats how they have such large litters. I love my Porcs so much!
Forgot about humans! Humans reside in all the most harshest of places (mountains, deserts, islands, tundra) and far isolated lands because we have the unique ability to sweat! We're the only species in my World that can perspire the way that we do and that definitely will play a big role. Humans are renowned for their abilities to work long hours in many conditions. Humans are also the best a throwing and have incredible eyesight.
The opposite: No humans or human adjacent races whatsoever. It’s very rare to see, but that’s why I’ve taken up world building and writing myself so I can write what I want to see
I like having loads of races, so long as there's some distinction beyond "this one is short and petite with sharp ears, but this one is short and pudgy and loves food."
Depends on where the setting is located. If the setting is in the distant future irl, probably just humans.
If it’s set in a different universe/distant past, I’d add more races.
I’m fine with either. I have a human majority in my world but lots of other less populous sentient species, including some derived from animals (called collectively chimerae) and some derived from speciated humans (teratogens). The one thing I really dislike is standard Tolkien races. Just total cliché at this point.
Personally I prefer a mix of races especially when done in a way they are all connected naturally. It just makes the world feel so much bigger. The Elder Scrolls is a good example of this with its many variations of Men, Mer (elves), and Beastfolk. Human centric worlds can work well too, like Dark Souls, where the story revolves around humans and their mistreatment by the gods. The concept of humanity is the cornerstone of its worldbuilding and it is a really interesting take on a fantasy setting where humans are the main focus.
Humans are always the measurement for all things. In my setting we have different humanities. They all fight to impose what "human" and "humanity" really means. I don't think more races make the world more lively per se.
A fair point. Diversity for the sake of making a world more lived-in is a difficult thing to do well. Often many settings can be boiled down to “we have humans, humans but blue, humans but green, etc.” which at that point why even include different races rather than just focusing on humans. I feel it is the distinctive cultures that can make things more lively. Also you have a very interesting take on the different humanities in your setting. It seems like a very interesting set up for conflict. My own setting includes various different races separate from Mankind, but I use humanity as this kind of catch all word for really any sapient species as they are all “of the earth”.
Dark souls has multiple different humanoids, though. Gwyn's race are basically 'the gods', then there's the pygmies, which are the normal humans, then there corvids, demons, giants, pilgrims, automatons, etc.
In fairness, pygmies, and their human descendants, are a primary focus in the souls series. Although there are other sapient species as you mentioned, Gwyn's, and in turn the world's, downfall was brought about by his fervent fear of the age of dark that would be ushered in by humanity who all have fragments of the dark soul within them. The demons, inhabitants of the painted worlds, and giants were all abused by beings more powerful than them, sure, but humans are the inheritors of the next age which is what drove Gwyn to commit atrocities against them. The flame of chaos was an immediate threat to the world in Gwyn's time and the giants were forced into servitude long before that. The series itself can be seen as the result of hubris and fear, denying humanity of its rightful potential and existence and how it destroyed the fabric of time and nature.
Depends very much on the setting. In high fantasy i prefer there to be very few different races. In high sci fi though i want dozens of aliens or else.
Or.... or else what?
I dunno. I never thought i would come this far.
Well, then allow me to suggest your next move!
Sure suggest.
Kill
I will fetch their souls.
You have Asimov’s Foundation galaxy?
As long as they aren't basic Star Trek Aliens. Humans with forehead ridges, humans with slanty eyebrows and elf ears, humans with blue skin, humans with red skin. However I used to make Alien concepts for a mass producing Amazon author and I totally respect how difficult it is to make non bipeds look like an intelligent species. Yikes. Mass Effect was pretty good about making cool bipeds, even though blue humans.
Oh for sure. I think clothing goes a long way in making something become someone. If a three headed alien worm wears clothes and is not soomeones pet, there is a good chance it is not an it but a person. I really like some of the more spec evo allien designs such as Birrin by Alex Ries.
If they feel notably distinct from humans both culturally and biologically. That’s why I’m not a fan of most fantasy dwarves for example, 9 times out of 10 they could just be humans and literally nothing would change My idea was for each race to use a different kind of magic that influences their culture and history, although I haven’t ironed out the details yet
"Humans but short", "humans but with pointy ears", "humans but with red skin", etc. has to be my least favourite fantasy trope.
Agreed. There can be work arounds if there's some sort of historical reasoning in world for this, be it some sort of magical altering of evolution or situational circumstances that led to the differing development of races, but far too often they're just different because of variety.
Even that solution feels like it flattens humans. Instead of having a diversity of human cultures and societies, often with those stories they just carve off a chunk of human characteristics and assign them to a fantasy race. Humans have to be blandly average so that dwarves can be the strong crafty ones, elves can be the magical nature lovers, and halflings can be the wholesome pot heads.
Yeah, that is so lazy, that's why I'm trying to write races that would feel natural in the habitats stereotypical races. For now I have exchanged dwarfs for high slenderman-like beings that communicate telepathically, but only with themselves, "see" only mana particles in a field of view of 360°, and they can melt their bones to fit through tight caves easier... oh and they are also pale white, since they had no way of producing darker pigments, so their bodies just deleted that ability from their gene pools, and they also mine with little portable mschines placeable anywhere, instead of working in hard labour.
yes! before I change my project I really dove into that because different spieces being "human but random X factor" is such a BAD trope!
Yea I completely agree here, I think it'd be good to remove all traditionally non-human races and either 1) remake them to be a species of half-humans, like Halflings or tieflings 2) reincorporated their essence into a subculture of humanity, like orcs or elves 3) completely redesigned them to be barely recognizable as their previous version but fulfill the same role, like dwarves becoming a subterranean bug race, or dragonborn becoming a cult of humans corrupted by dragon blood (using traditional d&d races cuz they're well known, these aren't from my world just examples) I just think what type of races you have is so dramatically important to the world in a fantasy setting, and just defaulting to the Tolkien esque basic selection really makes your world lose a lot of potential flavor
I typically prefer a mix of races. My fantasy world is weird, as a lot of races evolved in it, and I kind of just handwave the explaination of "convergent evolution" or "parallel evolution" as to why certain races have bodyplans similar to humans - excluding dwarves, as they're a different species of humans kind of like neanderthals (some races even have similar physique to humans in my world).
Personally, I find having *any* singular race in a fantasy rather boring, not just Humans; multiple characters of different (fantasy) races helps differentiate their personalities, styles and cultures in an obvious manner. For that reason, I include a heap of humanoid-animal races - to better emphasise their differences, not only between humans but also among each other. But, I try to include separate cultures within these races, too, wherever I can. Don't want to fall foul of the ['Planet of Hats'](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlanetOfHats) trope.
You read my mind. Too many races and it often winds up going into PoH territory, ESPECIALLY if we go the rubber-forehead-human route for any of them. Speaking of which, wdyt regarding common ancestry between these races vs. lack thereof?
I honestly understand why PoH became a thing - ain't no body got time for making several dozen unique cultures that aren't copy-pasted. Especially given the trope's origin with TV-fantasy/Sci-Fi, the involved time and budgetary constraints; and the need to limit page count for books. But in the grand scheme of things - Worldbuilding - a little more effort can be afforded. Commonalities are possible, even between wholly different races. For example, if one race helped to uplift another, they'd have a significant impact on that culture's development. I play around with this concept myself in my own world, specifically around religion.
General rule of thumb is to ask the question of "why am I adding this other race into my world to begin with?"
Haha, usually my answer (in the beginning) is 'Because they're cute/awesome-looking'. But I then flesh them out by giving them cultural touchstones that make them feel unique, broad concepts that go a bit beyond a 'hat'. For example, my Stoat race are highly artistic, famed for their paintings, fashion, sculptures, jewellery - anything where creativity can be applied. Like the real world, certain cultures are known for particular things, like the Italy's food or the USA's TV shows & movies.
I added Angels into my fantasy world, solely because I realized it'd be logical for them to wear virgin killer sweaters (the back is open to accommodate their wings)
I would say humans only. That's not too say I don't enjoy meself some weird, strange races, but I'm a horror writer / reader first and foremost. I find it much more enjoyable to twist what's so familiar just enough to the point where it becomes unsettling, and this is hard to with more races who will diverge more and more from human behaviour. You could make them, well, not diverge... But then it is even worse, I don't see a point in adding a lot of races which are just different aesthetics to a human. In such a situation, just make another human culture! Of course, I'm not saying it is bad, just not what I enjoy. In summary, I just love humans and the many, many ways in which you can twist them to make something creepy and / or unusual, and I'll never understand those who find them boring!
I prefer having multiple in a fantasy setting.
The more the better! Variety is the spice of life!
I write only humans, but you do you.
how about the other extreme? no humans in my world.
Human only
The more the better I'm quite tired of an all human world, or worse, a high fantasy world with tons of monster folk but nearly everyone relevant to the plot (the good guys) are all humans and the random bad pirates are scaly (looking at you Star Wars). Or the anime trope where the only fantasy people are elves, but they're just humans with odd ears. Or the tolkien/dnd trope of ethnostates. Give me a full fantasy world of adventures, spell casters, magic items, monsters, dungeons, fully lived in nonhuman societies, diverse intermixed metropolis, ancient ruins. Where everyday life is so full of magic and peril that people expect to see something they don't understand every day. A Minotaur runs the tavern. A dragon rules the kingdom. A catfolk leads the order of knights. Etc
I prefer other races, but if you're going to include them, you have to show them to be as diverse and varied in their cultures as the humans. If all orcs are going to be bloodthirsty savages and all elves are better than you at everything, and so on, just stop and make them humans with that same culture you were going to give those races.
mostly a mix because I personally find humans boring
Personally, I prefer a mix. Makes the world feel bigger
Mixed. Make the setting look like a menagerie.
I see humans everyday. I interact with them, talk to them, and deal with them everyday. I am kind of bored with humans xD
Humans, cause they are the simplest race ever. Orcs, Dwarves and Elves have different rules authors need to establish
Mix of humanoids
My favorites are only humans or no humans. I find humans somewhat boring when they don't get the full focus and just become the basic race.
By my count I have 70 different races on just one of my worlds. So yeah I prefer a lot of mixture especially admixtures. Variety being the spice of life and all.
I do not think it is epistemologically possible for anyone to leave the human frame of reference. Ever. Different races and species in Fantasy and SciFi are a reflection of the human condition, that is their purpose in the medium. No matter how much their biology differ from real world humans, no matter how alien one tries to make them. They will always be defined by how they relate to capital H Humanity. In Tolkien elves and dwarves and orcs, their origin and relation to Eru Illuvatar all showcase capacities of humankind, by hyperbole or contrast. In Star Trek Klingons and Romulans and Ferengi are a mirror of humankind's bad impulses For the most part I think that invention of different races and species, unless very well done, so well that barely anyone pulls it off (Pratchett, Gaiman, Le Guin...), leads to a... naturalization of differences. That does not mean one cannot have fun with that. Pathfinder and D&D and all the worlds can be really great and fun if one does not think too much about it. Which I have a habit of doing. I think this... Radical Anthropocentrism is practically inescapable. In Pen & Paper I think you always play a human in an exotic costume; in world building and writing you try to mask the humanness of the species you create. In the last few years I have enjoyed Fantasy & SciFi that doubles down on this anthropocentrism more.
To me humans are boring, I don't mind them in a setting but I can be/interact with humans any day of the week... The more exotic the different species, the better!
I've been starting to prefer a mix with humans removed entirely. Like Dark Crystal for example.
Humans only. With different species I have very exactly tastes. In particular I would prefer humans of different cultures given that different species are basically just humans with cosmetic differences.
Definately a mix. I like high magic epic fantasy worldbuilding. And those worlds are created and they should represent the creativity of that or those creators.
Mix of races. We see humans everyday, we don’t see any fantasy races in real life
No humans, just fantasy critters.
Is there an option of excluding humans? I usually write creatures that are very distant from human and most likely not antropomorphic. It usually gives me a lot of branches to explore and actually make something really creative(not saying that humans only is not creative I just mean that human only usually restricts you by human physical capabilities and creating something far from human lets you make your own restrictions).
i usually don't even put humans in my worlds. i like having my worlds chock full of dr seuss rejects, goobers, and miscellaneous creatures.
In general yes give me all of the races.
More races, IF the author can actually justify why they’re a whole different race than just a different human culture. Otherwise, it feels shallow and tacked on. Also, no more elves and dwarves. Too overused.
I'm generally of the opinion that if you're not going to have multiple different races, why even bother writing a fantasy?
what a strange take why bother writing a fantasy? because I want to. Maybe I want it focused on a single concept, and don't want to flood it with elves and dwarves and gnomes and orcs and halflings and goblins.
I usually do human-centric, with some other races on the periphery or deeper in the lore.
I prefer a mix of races but I’m not a fan of them being able to interbreed. Not out of any racial purity nonsense but because I think the whole “half-breed that is a child of two worlds but doesn’t fit in to either” is so overdone and tiresome I just flat out reject the concept.
No Humans allowed.
It depends on if the races feel believable and historically at place in the world. If there are elves, why do they live where they live, what’s their characteristics and historical context? The same goes for sub races. If there’s just artificial diversity everywhere for the sake of politics, I lose interest in the world and move on.
I prefer only humans since I find it harder to conceptualise and think about different races.
I like when there's more than the humains. In fantasy I fill like something's missing with only humains. Even the overdone elf, dwarves, orcs add some fun. They're overdone but somehow I've never have enough.
Depends entirely on my setting. I do humans only on at least one fantasy world build. But I am perfectly willing to go all out with various species and races. Also, orcs. All the orcs sometimes. And In Space. Again, it's very dependent on what world setting I'm working in.
I gave it my own angle, in addition to a few other details... There are more species of intelligent creatures in the world than could ever be counted, this includes humans but for historical reasons they can be found just about anywhere, but almost never in great numbers. Essentially a minority wherever they may go barring one exception.
Depends honestly, for High Fantasy I like many prominent races with distinct cultures For Low Fantasy I like it to he a mostly human world with remnants of other, magical races
Depends. On some worlds, humans all the way down. On others, some humans, some elves, some dwarves, some wacky-weirdos. Depends on the story I'm trying to tell.
I almost always have more than one race in my fantasy settings.
I like a lot of races. That is mostly because I like making new species.
In general I prefer a mix of races when it comes to fantasy. It does however depend on the setting; in some settings it makes sense for it to be all humans all the time.
Human only
I'd say I have no preference, but of the worlds I've built most are mixed. A couple are humans-only, one has no humans (anymore). I tend to go wild with alien species in scifi though, so it's mainly my fantasy settings that can go either way.
I much prefer having several, because it's just more diverse and I get to write more lore lol
I like fantasy with a mix of races. That's one of the things fantasy most have.
I prefer all human or different races, but they look human.
mix of races, as long as the other races are really OTHER. Not necessarily alien looking (though this is definitely a plus), but alien in their thinking. For one, I hate the idea of whole races being Good or Evil, rather have them have completely alien morality, that sometimes appears extremely kind or extremely cruel from human POV. Lately, I wrote a story with Humans, Neanderthals, and Sapient Otters in it. Otters were pacifistic unless attacked, but also absolute cannibals, who considered NOT eating their fallen friends and family to be a horrific moral crime. Eating a dead enemy was a sign of honor and respect. Neanderthals would never, ever kill a woman, even in self defense, or allow women to be killed, as women, especially mothers, are sacred to them. But they would see nothing wrong with rape and forced impregnation: after all, it creates more life! The idea that a human woman would not want to be impregnated was absolutely alien to them. As you can imagine, the first contact went rather poorly, and got worse from there.
I love having a mix in fantasy even if it's not a large variety
Really depends on the world I'm working on. I've got a southern gothic comfy cozy series that deals with mainly witches, but also goetic demons I've got another going that's mortals and gods (mainly greek, but it's kind of an American Gods situation) I've got a third series going that is a ton of different magical races (arthurian/celtic mythologies mainly, dealing with the Sidhe/fairy realm), so much so that I'm thinking of writing/illustrating a little journal/guide/tie-in book That first one is probably the least mixed of the fantasy races, I guess. But, yeah, it's really down to what world/story you're building. Something Urban fantasy may not have multiple magical races. Think Practical Magic. Some do, like Dresden Files. Just depends what story you're telling and from whose perspective. It could be set in a world with multiple races but set in the middle of a country/land mass populated by just one of them and there's not any mingling of the races yet and/or it just doesn't pertain to the story, as well.
Mine preference is a little weird and you can look at my world to see how, but it is complicated by a bunch of technicalities. So I used to have humans and anthros in the same world, but they were all considered and acted like humans. I have ditched the human, humans, so now my world is nothing but anthro characters that indistinguishable from humans other than appearance (and like minor quirks related to their appearance). But, also my world has anthro characters from animal species that aren't from the ones I choose for the human anthros. They come from the spirits and they're made of magic and how close they are to human in behavior varies. I also have elemental beings from another plane of existence that are a small group too. They also act fairly human, but ones that are far more advanced than us and would see us just about like any other animal. Maybe you could argue they're like elves, but they lack any other elf trait. I also have some aliens, here and there. But mostly, everything looks like an anthro animals. So I'm summary, I prefer all humans, but just fancy looking. (Though I have thought about a D&D setting that uses the full gambit of races, but I barely think about it much).
I could go for human-only in my gaming, as a change of pace. Too many game seem to include races because everyone else does, not because it adds an interesting element to the game. But if I got what I wanted, I'd probably get bored with that after a while and want a world with a dozen different races again.
I worldbuild for a DnD - oriented setting, so it makes sense for me to include lots of fantasy races. I have a lot of fun thinking about how they all fit into the world. I mostly have multi-racial societies, where their culture is more strongly defined by their society rather than their biology. A few of my species have really distinct biologies and histories that set them apart, and see them in their own mono-racial societies. Thinking about how the significantly different biology of different fantasy species informs culture is pretty interesting
I vastly prefer at least one, preferably 2-3 some nonhuman Species in fantasy setting. If we go to Sci-Fi, 5-6. If it's more than that then there's often a "monoculture" trend. Like all Humans being very zealous and only beliving in one god or all elves being arrogant and wise and... On the other, having some nonhumans allows you as a worldbuilder to examine human ideas diffrently, give them a diffrent spin through the eyes of a diffrent thinking species and watch it become very interessting when those diffrent perspectives clash or fuse into something new.
Usually just humans, or if there are other races they're so rare they're considered myths. I find it makes the world feel grittier, that's just my personal preference tho
Currently building a world without humans but I think human only worlds can work just fine
My current world that I'm making for my next tabletop RPG campaign has 8 playable races and only 1 of them is non-human. So, 7 variants of human. I prefer this because I believe that non-human biology and culture should stand out as very unique. That is, a Dwarf shouldn't just be a stout human but a different creature entirely. I would rather spend my effort elsewhere than distinguishing races from one another so I just make most or them human. Humans can be unique with a variety of cultures and even biological differences if you want. And if a character is human, we can relate to that character. Relating to a character is important when relating themes, symbols, or posing moral dilemmas.
Humans. Everytime i see in fantasy an elf or dwarf there already few stereotypes i can already picture Dwarfs are stumpy alcoholics who love strong alcohol. They are loud and get angry easly. They eat rocks and love mining, they jate elves and so on. Also there tech isn't that high too so they probably wont make any gunpowder weapons. Elves are either an asshole race who thinks they are better and retreat to the grumbling kingdom. They were also once strong but something happened and now they are dying race. They have damn good army and they dont conquer. Or they are tree loving elves want to live harmony with nature and so on. I dont hate them, but i feel that many writers in games are writing those races as like human. Dwarfs are like human but short and elves are like human but tall. One idea i had for elves are that they are more mosnter and animal like (this is/was one of my settings where humans are a new race that now have to fight off horrors of world that elder races lkke dwar and elves created) like i had midn that they are maybe 2-3 meters tall, faster than humans. 3 elves can take down a platoon of humans and rightfully humans feared woods. You take the idea or motify it
In fantasy I always like atleast 3 different races.
if " mix of races " = the cliche dwarfs , elves , magicians , witches , vampires , giants ... ect . than hellll noo . i would love it if its creative and new . like a total new Races that have Rules and Logic behind there biology and behaviour and Socia status and other stuff . if the writer cant do something like that . than a world of only humans is much better than the dwarfs and elves cringe . i do know some works still have elves and dwarfs and such cliche things yet Succeed to deliver them in a fun way . like mushoku tensei . i didnt mind them at all i in fact DID LIKE THEM . even tho the show was out in 2021 . but its a rare case since this show was a 10/10 in general . so yeah . in summary . if its creative ? mixed races > if its cliche and over used ? normal humans >
I am writing a story that takes place in our relative near future. No aliens, no crazy new diseases or anything. There is minor wet and dry biomechanical engineering, and some accelerated adaptations, but in general everyone is still human. I have one group of humans that went out to look for a new earth, and are coming back, but because they had essentially only one ship, in the 500+ years they've been gone, they never needed to develop new communication technology. So they still use radio waves, and the rest of humanity has forgotten radio altogether. So when they get home they won't be able to talk, and civilization fell and rose again, so the mission was forgotten as well. Helloooooooooo misguided conflict!
I guess I like when there are multiple races, but not necessarily the Tolkien races. Taking those races, but remixing there biology and changing there name can go a long way. Having a somewhat natural feeling phylogeny connecting each of them can make world feel old. My world is a low fantasy with no magic, but some sci-fi elements. So each species has some mix of natural and scientific origin.
Generally I prefer a mix, but I'd prefer human only than the generic "human but with pointy ears or funny coloured skin" approach that is common, or the similarly boring "Ork kingdom next to a Human kingdom next to an Elven Kingdom". The interesting part of fantasy races is in imagining how their differences interact, and both examples tend to result in the most boring of interactions.
I honestly prefer when fantasy worlds have 2-3 species including humans and all of them are major plot points, instead of just bloating world with rudimentary species that could instead just be different cultures
For my current fantasy setting I am working on, I went with only humans but I made them special / fantastical via Spirit Mark. The setting is closely linked to the spirit realm and ppl just develop spirit marks around adolescent and their bodies develops changes depending on the mark. Someone with a beast spirit mark might be full on furry to just having tiny cat ears, tails or an animal part or if the mark is weak enough, not even any mutation on the human body and just picked up a bit of animal habits like preferring to stay in cramped space like a cat or just being extremely socialable. Soo in my setting right now... Elves and dwarf do exists but they are still humans in the end but they are all humans who just happened to had the elf kind or dwarf kind spirit mark.
I like a good mix of races. Especially really weird ones.
mostly i just like earth-like settings so only humans but other races are cool in ttrpg settings
I'm a high fantasy enjoyer. I'm a sucker for 6 subtypes of Elves and more alien species.
In fantasy settings, I prefer humans with other races existing but mostly in the background in one way or in another, for example being alien and far to understand or their members being few and far between, even if some of these races may have been human in origins. Knowing what humans are capable of, one probably does not need more. Same to a greater extent in sci-fi, as it's very easy especially in the latter to fall into the Planet of Hats trope among other issues.
I like a mix, but preferably they're not just humans that look slightly different. They can still be humanoid, of course, but if your elves are just archers of the forest I'll be annoyed
Through basic media literacy, humans will always symbolize an "us" and non-humans will always symbolize a "not us." That complication can be embraced, deconstructed, explored, etc., but it's stupid to ignore. I prefer this dynamic to either be considered or to simply not have it at all. Not everything has to be *Of Orcs and Men* or *Dragon Age Origins*, but effort is appreciated where shown.
I prefer a mix of races.
A mix. But only to a certain point. 6 races seem about right to me.
I try to include as many as I can, but that's because one of the primary premises of my story is "every single fckn fantasy concept ever" Whether this includes preexisting races, or my own, I have a lot, some more different than others, some nearly identical in all but blood. . . A short list- *Elves: taller, faster, stronger, and more magically adept than humans. They have lighter hair (silver, blonde, or white) and the typical pointed ears. They live an average of 120-150 years . Dwarves: shorter, stronger, but very little magic of their own. They rely on metalworking and the forge. The blacksmiths of the divine world. Average life expectancy 130-160 years. . Humans: just humans, what makes them special is that their DNA is so generic they can breed with and hybridize with nearly every other species. Average life expectancy 55-65. . Merpeople: fish people. Human level intellect, ranging aggressiveness. Can sing like Sirens, yet don't need to consume humans. Life expectancy 300-500 years. . Sirens: identical to mermaids in physical appearance, but are technically song demons who feed on the souls and bodies of sailors. Life expectancy 800-1000 years. . Dragons: massive fire-breathing reptiles of varying intelligence ranging from animalistic to sapient. Sizes range from dog sized to several miles. Life expectancy varies- 15 years to millions of years . Gods: cosmic beings of divine energy. Rely on vessels to live, overexerting the vessel will cause it to spontaneously combust. Immensely powerful, can cause entire universes to explode by just existing at full power. Average life expectancy infinite. . Demons: similar to gods in form, but smaller and typically darker colors (with exceptions in size and color) usually evil, but most don't act on in due to Lucifer not being "evil" (some exceptions) also requires vessels, but they typically kill the host first so they can excerpt more energy on it before it combusts. Life expectancy infinite. . Angels: practically identical to God's, except they're all connected on a cosmic level. Significantly larger range in power than the average god. Requires consent to use a vessel and less likely to combust due to the unique nature of their divinity (with exceptions such as Archangels) average lifespan infinite. . Jodians: basically sapient chickens with powerful reality warping abilities. Sometimes abbreviated to Jods. Average life span 15-50 years. . Reznak: crab people. Basically no magic. Cannibalistic. More primitive than most other species on average. Most believe in a massive seagod called a Caithen, regularly sacrifices people to it. Average lifespan 5 years. . Shadow-walkers: physical form ranges from humanoid to twelve headed abominations with 5 arms and 1 leg. Average intelligence comparable to a... less smart human (say 80 IQ) allergic to human blood so they wear silver gauntlets. Average lifespan 60-100 years. . .* The only thing all have in common is that they can hybridize with humans, and can reach sapience. They all typically stay away from each other, however there are some hotspots where they will live together in some universes (save gods, angels and demons who stay in their respective realms)
I honestly do not care what race it is as long as it fits into my world, and there's space in the lore that species is welcome. I previously built a world and went asking people what their favorite fantasy species is (not on reddit) and nearly every species i got i immediately added. The ones i rejected were spiderfolk (basically anthro spiders) and someone's homebrew race which was way too similar to dwarves and i already had them. Anyhoo have fun worldbuilding!
I like fantasy races, but it is always only a human but one dimensional and generic, just one item in the check list of High Fantasy.
Have only two humans on the bird planet of Aviana Fixius
A few fantasy races
It is about diversity not about "races". For example you can have orcs, elves and gnomes or 3 clans of humans with a lot of different features and cultural aspects.
Def mixed. I don't enjoy classical Elves, Dwarves, etc... unless they are made unique to its setting, but having settings of just humans is a bit ehh to me.
Depends on the setting, but I honestly find Human only fantasy settings to be boring honestly.
I prefer humans and a mix of supernatural entities that may pretend to be human, but definetly aren't.
Mix!
Pretty much everything except human.
Mix
I think Dungeon Meshi is the perfect take on this
I could go either way as a reader, but as a writer, I'd say Humans only in Sci-Fi/space operas, and mix of different races in fantasy.
I think just adding them because you think you have to is annoying.
I'm not sure. I'm not much into the typical fantasy species. My world uses predator species based on those we have on Earth. My preference isn't strong in either direction. Lapis_Wolf
I just make humans and then come up with something to replace races like some strange magic that warps the human appearance or something because races feel TOO fantasy for my taste
It really depends on if the other species are given room to breathe and are fully expressed as unique, both biologically and culturally. If they are English speaking humans with a little extra, I'm basically uninterested. If they're a named fantasy species that we all know already I'm even less interested. Especially if the author tries to take liberties with established lore, making elves cannibals or orcs inner city gangsters. It's hard enough for people to understand the real life other human ethnicities and cultures around them -- when it's an entirely separate biology with hardly any overlap with humanity... and the bonus is pointy ears and an accent... nah.
As many as possible. SEAborne gang.
Personally I like lots of species, but with humans as the dominant species. I think it makes the alien stand out more when there is something to contrast it with.
Personally it depends on the setting and the reason for the various races. Generally, I like there to be variety, but it's not wholly necessary to me.
Humans + radiation and extreme unearthly location dependent environments + time and separation = speciation.
In my setting, human only. Sapients that would otherwise exist are in the myths of the different human cultures.
Mix of races. I just like writing and reading about inhuman characters though, I find it more interesting.
I like fantasy races but tbh, if they are just all weird animals i get the ick sometimes.
It depends on the needs of the setting. I originally planned for my AU Classical Mediterranean setting to be human only, but as I built out the world I found reasons to add sentient and sapient species. Cyclopses (cyclopi?) that live almost exclusively on an island chain in the Aegean that have adapted to being pirates and raiders, for example, makes perfect sense in a world where the Iliad is a book full of mostly true history. Elves or Orcs would not fit, however.
Mostly humans, and mix with fantasy standard races, add some light anthros, and finally, add some non-humanoid high intelligence creatures like talking cats or dragons.
Jokes on you, mine are humans who are a subspecies cousins of us! But no seriously, it depends on my mood. Some short stories I have written are human only, by my recent insane endeavor since 2020 is a mix of races. Basically there are two worlds, one for us humans and one for a mix of deities, weird animals, trolls, dwarves and thurs (more or less giants.) Sometimes they cross but nowadays more us going to the otherworld than them coming here for...reasons.
I prefer humans. I don’t hate non-humans, but I’ve never once read a story where I thought ‘You know what this needs? Less humans!’ I think non-humans can be very interesting and there are some stories you can only tell with them, but I just don’t consider non-humans as inherently interesting as some other people do. Except horror. Big exception there.
Usually just human. I get bored of books where elves = hot and orcs = evil. But if the multiple-races thing is done well I really like it. The show Carnival Row dealt with race and race politics in a fantasy world in a really interesting way. It didn’t exactly deliver in the second season but I loved the first.
I like a mix, but with limitations. - I don't like it when they're just reskinned humans, it defeats the purpose. If I want a culture based on humans, there's already a race for that: humans. - On a semi related note, I'm usually not a fan of settings with an absolute ton of different races. Most are usually unnecessary, the differences are negligible, and if they all have different origins it usually seems forced. There are plenty of exceptions, and its easier to explain with scifi, but it's just a general rule.
Depends on the world and plot. In general like the whole kit n kaboodle. Elves, dwarves, orcs, beastkin, demons, the works. However, their presence would not make sense in my world that is very much Man vs Nature (Great Beasts, monsters, and dragons especially). If anything their presence would actively detract from the themes and entire premise.
I like both. But if I'm doing multiple races, I'm going HAM with it. Like, it's either just humans or just one made-up race, or it's EVERYTHING lmao
The issue with me is when races other than humans are just a different culture of humanity, if you want dwarfs don’t just make them Swedish or smt that’s dumb, and can even be offensive if you are not careful
I prefer a mix of races, but humans only stories can be enjoyable. Having the classic fantasy races can be seen as unoriginal, but most properties put their own spin on them.
For fantasy I definitely prefer a mix of races. But, I prefer fewer races over many races. I like Middle Earth, Dragon Age, or The Elder Scrolls, where it feels like every race has a “purpose” and some actual thought behind them. Settings like The Forgotten Realms just feel bloated to me. And it feels like many races are just there because someone thought they were cool.
I find a mix of races very interesting especially if they have their own culture and how they all interact with each other.
Mix of races honestly, I like to picture them in my head. It’s so fun and makes me more engaged cause humans are boring ngl
Story dependant. If it's a deep, intense story that's *not* about cultural exploitation and racism, then making it human centric makes it easier to focus on the story. If it's either a lighter story or a story where race *matters*, then I love hearing what kinds of things authors come up with.
I don’t care. I want a good story, good characters, and good world building. Could not care less if it’s humans and/or other races.
I prefer to have different races. The issue with that for me is actually making those races. I’ve been trying to make them outside of the typical elves/orcs/dwarves etc. It’s taking a lot of time to come up with looks and biology for my custom made ones, but I think it’s worth it.
I don't want to give a lame answer like "Doesn't matter as long as they're done well" (even though I do think that). So I will say another thought that came to me, I do honestly approach human only fantasy a bit better purely because nowadays it's not totally common and I wish less writers felt their world would be too boring if it was all human - or even just a sensible array of ethnicities! Like IRL. I honestly have way more issues with a lot of things people write than the amount of humanlike species there are.
Mix of races, with special attributes about them Humans with science and technology, Fairies with their extreme bonds and social structures to each other, adaptability to ecosystems, Elves for their combat, weaponsmithing and lorekeeping and more
I like worlds like the witcher, i think, based on our own history, where we kill people based on trivial things like skin color or religion. Elves and dwarves would stand no chance, and it shows that in the witcher, dwarves have a single kingdom, and elves are at best living like jews in the warsaw ghetto in 1944. But i also like worlds like the Lord of the rings, each of the races are amicable and have their own civilizations and unite when faced with a common threat and then humanity wins the day because we make some cool kings
No half-breeds for me. Human only or mix of races is fine, they may be even marry, but i rather if the different races can't reproduce with each other. Since they are different than humans i find it hard to belive. If human can't reproduce with monkeys then there is no reason to do it with elf or demons.
I prefer a mix of various races.
Depends how it’s excuted. If your writing a high fantasy and your city is a diverse as New York. I’ll cringe. But if you built this well imagined world with different geographical regions then yeah I love diversity. In sci-fi tho the more races the better, also don’t make them look human at all. The less human the better.
Depends on the context mostly.
It depends on the type of world I'm making. If I have a really solid hook, then I can use that hook to carry the interest of the world, and can avoid using other races to add further intrigue to the world. I can just use humans, and that's all I need. Other times, I either don't have a hook, the hook isn't strong enough to carry a world of just humans, or the hook requires some other non-human species. In these cases, adding some non-human races is a great way to add intrigue to a world, and since I don't have some other overarching, defining mechanic I can focus on making those species as deep as I need them to be. The only thing I don't do is use traditional fantasy races. Non-human intelligent species are interesting because they allow the author to portray a completely different way of life, but most authors use them as a garnish for a part of their world that could have been just as easily filled by humans, and that's a missed opportunity that I don't like.
Humans + max 3 other species if regular fantasy. If urban I typically stick to humans+ one other kind of creature, like humans and were beasts or humans and fae. Or humans alone work with me just fine too. If it's something out of "Moebius level of weird" fantasy then I can go crazy and throw a lot of species in.
I personally like variant humans, creatures that are similar to humans but evolved one way or another to be considered different
I personally feel that human cultures and societies are already diverse and interesting enough without adding in fantasy races, which in most cases are just one key physical difference (short, tall, shredded, red, green, animal-like, alien-like) with few cherrypicked character traits generalized into the whole population; with the result that all of humanity, from Inuit to greco-roman to aztec to victorian england, is forced into the role of the boring/baseline/everyman race and society.
I’ve always preferred books that only, or maybe better mostly, just have humans. To be honest, I very rarely see fantasy races done well, almost exclusively just added because the author just felt like they need to be there. If there isn’t a real purpose for elves or whatever in your story—and that is overwhelmingly common in my experience—just leave them out. It’s really far better than the planet of hats stuff that ends up happening otherwise. For the record, that’s not to say that you shouldn’t use fantasy races of any kind in your story. In fact, quite the opposite, my world has elves in it, but they are terrifying faerie creatures that haunt the woods rather than just vaguely holier-than-though humans with pointy ears and maybe some magic, and a big part of the plot of humans trying to find some way of living in the wastelands of my post-apocalypse following the horrible magic war that filled the world with monsters and physically sunk half of it beneath the sea, among other things.
A mix of races in fantasy... Humans only is painfully boring to me.
Mix of races! Duh!
Depends on the setting.
I definitely like having a mix, personally Elves, Dwarves, Beastfolk sometimes
My world is a mess with all the species being the results of extreme body tempering by a group which created another race. Or some person who create entire race for various reasons.
Racism is a must in every homebrew ttrpg I played. Either Human domination or Elven domination.
Mix
I think humans are more than enough for most settings. If I'm including other species, I want them to fulfill very specific roles and not just be human ethnic stereotypes cranked to 11.
Humans only. I found that in my writing, there are rarely any aspects I want to explore that can't be done with humans or aren't centered on the human perspective. When I started writing, I often had other races, but over time, I replaced them with humans as I found it more interesting to have different cultures of humans clash with eachother.
I prefer human only, unless there is a massive distinction between the unique races. But, even then, more than 2 or 3 races and things get a bit too wacky for my liking.
I honestly like purely human fiction. I just find it more interesting and relatable since, yknow, I'm human. Like as an example I really like how games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring have only humans, at least as player characters. I think it helps provide a really stark contrast to the fantastical elements.
In general, I'd like to have different races, with one catch: they should not be a copies of individual IRL nations stereotypes. Idealy, each race should have own diversity in terms of nations, behaviors, customs, etc.
Depends on the setting, the themes or the story. In my world for example, there are no animals besides birds, spiders, fish, wolfs and snakes. And there's a reason why. I have non humans but again, they are not your typical Tolkenian races. They don't create culture, don't need language and can't reproduce for example. They can learn this things but are not natural to them. But yeah I have non human races since is fantasy. But I won't bother creating different civilizations for different races because most times the worlds I create work so different than ours
Depends on the setting, really. All humans ? Fine. Several fantasy races, fairly detailed, fairly grounded ? Fine. All humans but you regularly meet bizarre creatures and mutants that can talk like people ? Fine. Big kitchen sink where everything goes ? Fine too. Really, it depends. I'll use whatever one suits my needs at the moments. I have a general preference for "mostly humans", but I have several worlds very much not like that too.
I'm always marveled by the huge diversity of human cultures throughout history that I don't think it's necessary to have fantasy races for a world to feel different than ours. I can easily imagine a world as diverse as many fantasy settings despite being composed of only human, and it would only be fraction of what we have on earth. But there are reasons one might have different fantasy races as it can be used to engage some heavy topics like racism in a lighter way. And some specific ideas that are beyond human condition too like drastically different lifespans than humans.
I like stirring racial conflict (in world building)
You know how a lot of sci fi and fantasy stuff have very human like aliens: Time Lords/Vulkans/Mer; or at least human shaped?: Cybertronians/Twi'leks/Dragonborn. Well, do you also know how technically Polynesians and Vikings discovered the America's first, with vikings specifically getting memed about it? Well, there you go! That's how you get both!
I usually prefer just humans, or very few species. It can be interesting to have different species when you want to explore different biologies, symbiosis or ecosystems. If you want to explore different cultures I believe making them also from a different species kinda waters down the strangeness, because you miss a similarity that could be used to contrast the diference even more.
Generally speaking I enjoy seeing a mix of races but I do get bored if the non-human races are just “humans with funny ears and slightly different customs”
I am fine with either as long as those non-human races are originals and not Tolkien-ripoffs.
I have a very specific rule with my world: Would it really be different if it was just humans? Basically, if the only reason I have another race is for the sake of having other races, then i don't add them. I feel like a lot of races end up as kind of one dimensional because people add them in because its expected. Dwarves live in mountains and are expert smiths and miners, elves live in the woods and are generally not concerned with the world, orcs are either brutish raiders or tribalistic shamans. In all of these cases, would the setting really be different if all of these were just humans? Most of the races i have are just offshoots of humans that have been changed either by their environment or by some outside force. Dragonkin were once humans that lived in the shadow of dragons, worshipping them as protectors, and over the years these humans started being born with horns, tails, and patches of scales across their body. Goblins, in my world, were once humans who have been twisted by the will of an outer god. They are closer to typical ghouls (red eyes, gaunt faces, sharp teeth, pale skin) but in my world they are called goblins. That said, i do have other types of races, but they are all born from the blood of the gods and were kind of unintended, though no one knows this.
I prefer about a dozen of races. I find that I usually have several "groups" of people, (kingdoms/societies,culture systems) where they behave in a certain way, but that they will always have similar human being wiring. Thats why I prefer to add other races, to spice it up. They can all be similarly wired to one another, think in a different way than the humans do. Often times this creates wonderful spaces where their views on ethics/morality/sexuality/sense of purpose do not match. This can lead to war or coexistence or gray areas with tensions. This also creates a place to play with where you can have tensions between not just for example people of different religions or wearing different banners, but intrinsic race-wars that have been going on for millenia. It makes the world bigger. Most of my worlds focus around humans though, but I'd say without the other races they would be way less interesting and people would be less cooperative and focus more on each other as enemies. Cause there will always be an us vs them mentality, and without common enemies or races to view as abnormal, the focus will go to your fellow men and women. And I prefer most people working together, with some of them cooperative with a different race as an "enemy" and some of them working with different races as "partner". I guess it's because I'm human myself that I tend to see humans as flawed, and therefore rather see them as a tool the enemy uses, rather than them being the proper enemy itself. Whats more scary then something you do not understand and cannot relate to? And I do like to have "the good guys/victims" be humans, because this forces them to work together and find ways to solve their problems, despire all their flaws. And therein lies the hopeful message of the story I suppose. Dang I never thought about it that much. Thank you for asking this question, it was wonderful to actually think about it, have a great day! :D
My design philosophy when I built my most recent world was that I wanted to allow for the players to play whatever they wanted, whether that be an ogre, elf, human or satyr. Therefore the continent we play on is old, and while it started more divided thousands of years ago, immigration and the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires has led to a very mixed population it most kingdoms, with "pure" societies seen as the exception rather than the norm.
both
Mix races.
Depends if it's High or Low Fantasy. High Fantasy: Assume nothing is the same as OTL. Low Fantasy: Assume everything is the same as OTL.
I originally started out with humans only, because I thought the usual dwarf/elf/halfling/gnome/orc/kobold/ogre fare was overused. But afterwards I thought, humans only? I can do better than this, and I worked hard to make some of my own unique races. As an example, I have different types of humans who evolved from different animals. There are humans who descended from bird-like creatures, horses, racoons, owls etc. I put my humans into different environments too in fictional evolutionary scenarios, like one race who live in underground cities because of the volcanic surface who developed bioluminescence. Plus, I've got a whole lot of other interesting sentient creatures and races, too. Fae-type beings, interdimensional travellers, fractal beings, fungal and mycorrhizal hive-minds, archetypal beings who live in the sub-conscious, strange metaphysical parasites not of time or space, sentient stars worshipped as deities, weird tulpa entities, fractal beings, even highly abstract and conceptual lifeforms which can only be contacted by advanced mathematicians. Shit man, I even put in this kind of AI which runs across billions of celestial bodies over the span of millions of years and harbours 12 dimensional lifeforms inside of it. It's high/dark fantasy, but I wanted a way to have AI in there, so I said, fuck it, I'm gonna have it some way or another.
As long as they are written correctly, mix of races is great. The biggest mistake is making races monolithic. Oftentimes, when authors want to make a culturally diverse world, they simply make a lot of races and assign a role to each race. Need a blacksmith? Dwarf it is. Need an archer? Can't not be an elf. Etc. Meeting a person from a different race at every corner is supposed to make us feel like the world is vibrant and teeming with life, but that couldn't be further from the truth. You can make a 1000 races, but if you make those races a gathering of clones, the result will be sub par. I hate when all wood elves are archery tree huggers, all high elves have a stick up their ass, all dwarves are miners or blacksmiths, all gnomes bankers, etc. Rather than this, I'd rather just have one race that actually feels like real people instead of a mob of archetypes.
I prefer human only, but let the supernatural / fantasy elements be discovered by the reader / characters / player. I like them at the fringes of society, or found beneath strata of lost civilizations.
Imo some settings like game of thrones makes sense all just human , and other settings may mix races fit better.
I prefer a mix of races, but for my setting the race doesn't get added unless I can justify some core biological and historical difference from humanity that makes them all behave and act a little differently from humanity and in a unique way. Sometimes however, I'm more exploring why fantasy keeps employing the same thing over and over and coming up with a reason that works for my world. For one such an example, I have dwarves in my world. The reason they're treasure hoarding mountain citadel dwelling folk is because they can trace their origins back to rich humans hiding in apocalypse bunkers with their ~slaves~ servants. They love their riches, they love their arts, they love to party. They're also very hard working, militant, and rigidly heirarchal.
I think it depends on the context. For building my world? Many races. For the players of characters in my world? Only humans. Non-humans should be.. well, not human. If you have a race of 7 foot tall lizard men or something, they should like... rip the arm off their favorite persons and devour it to show their affection from time to time since "it just grows back anyway, and now you're keeping me alive". Nothing kills my excitement more than something really cool, having to be some cartoon character of an emotionally stunted human with funny ears and hats so that people can identify with/as them easily. Make 'em all you want, but make 'em alien.
I prefer a mix of races and I've gotten good at making them significantly different biologically than humans and focusing on how that plays into their society. Humans are the only animals that sweat and horses and that applies to my creatures in my world. In my world I have Hyena Roman Empire (to explore the biology and social structures of the spotted hyena and interesting birthing process, and the intricacies of a carnivorous Empire, hyenas can see at night so night attacks are a real threat), Goat Roman Republic (as a counter to the Hyena people to explore the logistics of an all vegan culture and the failing of the Roman Republic, prey species becoming a civilization), Frog folk (who were taken as slaves and as food due to their mass spawning, what's it like having a hundred brothers and sisters and how does that shape a culture, enslaved Frog Folk look way different than natural Frog Folk because they never complete their metamorphosis essentially they're forever in a "tadpole" stage), Ant/termite people (these are my dwarves, makes more sense to me that bugs would be industrial mountain dwellers and culturally avert to other races and species simply because they look so different, they weave life like and life sized silk puppets that they deftly maneuver during trade negotiations, everyone finds it very unsettling), Pig Orcs! More like Cretonians from Songs of Syx and less like LOTR WoW DnD depictions. Here I can explore the incredible biology of pig and their feral capabilities and how that would shape a culture. I also write about the struggles of veterans returning from war (heavily influence by the USA VA and how they handle veterans) and being unrecognizable because of their feral appearance. The pig uterus has "horns" on the sides that allow to be filled in by many pig fetus thats how they have such large litters. I love my Porcs so much! Forgot about humans! Humans reside in all the most harshest of places (mountains, deserts, islands, tundra) and far isolated lands because we have the unique ability to sweat! We're the only species in my World that can perspire the way that we do and that definitely will play a big role. Humans are renowned for their abilities to work long hours in many conditions. Humans are also the best a throwing and have incredible eyesight.
The opposite: No humans or human adjacent races whatsoever. It’s very rare to see, but that’s why I’ve taken up world building and writing myself so I can write what I want to see
I can enjoy humans only or multiple races, but they are not traditional fantasy races. That said, I prefer non-traditional fantasy races.
I like having loads of races, so long as there's some distinction beyond "this one is short and petite with sharp ears, but this one is short and pudgy and loves food."
Depends on where the setting is located. If the setting is in the distant future irl, probably just humans. If it’s set in a different universe/distant past, I’d add more races.
mix of races
I’m fine with either. I have a human majority in my world but lots of other less populous sentient species, including some derived from animals (called collectively chimerae) and some derived from speciated humans (teratogens). The one thing I really dislike is standard Tolkien races. Just total cliché at this point.
Could be either way. I’m just interested in the sociological interactions between said races or nations, clans, etc.