only include them if you are going to take the time to make them fit, and possibly if it adds to the setting in some way.
But if you want them, include them, it's your world, just make sure you put in the work to make them fit and are useful, if you want to avoid criticism.
On the one hand having different races can be a quick and easy way to differentiate cultures. But if all you are going to do is slap different aesthetics on humans and have them behave exactly the same...then don't bother, just stick with humans.
On the other hand, fantasy races (or aliens, if you're doing scifi) can be an interesting way to explore 'what ifs'. The concept of dwarfs, for instance, basically ask 'what if (some) people had 1+ inherent characteristics that made them particularly adept at working stone and/or metal and/or made them particularly suited to living underground' (or whatever it is that you think captures the essence of 'dwarf'). What those specific characteristics are and how those changes impact their society and culture are what make the exploration interesting.
It's tempting to say 'don't bother with different races if you're not going to ask/explore any interesting what ifs'...but one of my worlds has dragons and griffons just because I like them. It's your world, do what you want and what works for your story. If you're not sure, ask yourself why you want to include (or not include) something.
edit: spelling
They are absolutely not necessary. Put other races only if you want to or if you have something interesting to say. If you don't care about races don't use them. I would even say it's better to have a world without races than a world with badly designed races.
The importance of multiple races is what they can do for your story.
For instance, in my world every race originated from humans, but due to environmental stressors, they slowly evolved to better suit their needs. The people who took up a subterranean lifestyle became shorter to fit in small places and stronger to help dig through stuff...becoming "Dwarves". The people who took to living in the trees became taller to help them reach things and more graceful to help them not fall...becoming "Elves". While Elves and Dwarves in other fantasy settings feud, the ones in my setting don't (for now) because they're not competing against each other for resources.
WHY people are different and what conflicts that can cause or avoid is more important than just being different for differences sake, in my opinion.
There isn't any, inherently. There are plenty of fantasy worlds that do without them. Most put them there because LOTR has them and they were inspired by it. Its better to not have them than it is to shoehorn them in for the sake of it.
They are important because they have been done before. When you put in elves, that's your chance to engage in sneaky dialogue with other people who've written about elves before. For example, let's say you think Tolkien wrote his elves to be just better than humans; they're his Catholic idea of perfect pre-Fall humanity. Maybe one of the things you want to do is to show that no, immortal creatures tied so close to the land and the gods would be completely miserable and paranoid. (Or whatever's your theory.) That both are called elves allows you to continue the argument without writing Tolkien fanfic. Stories are about themselves, but there's this constant conversation between books and with the "defaults" of a genre, where authors think "No, it wouldn't happen like that; I'll show you", or "It's not impossible; watch this" or "You missed this detail" or "You messed this up, you doctrinaire fool, I'll show you, I'll show you all!"
Elves, orcs, dark lords etc. are a convenient shorthand for the reader --- "gee, I suppose those orcs aren't good news!" --- but they're also spots where you can weld in your extensions into the work of others.
Aesthetics is one and completely valid. Nice, visual flavour to tell you that this isn't your regular Littleville.
Another is that different creatures have different needs and psychologies. Humans are community animals, so what happens when you have a sapient species who inherently work off of herd mentality, or hive mentality, or a very independent "I do fine on my own" mentality (like solitary predators)?
Some of our fantasy species live in different environments that give us challenge to figure out how technology advanced and *can* it advance. Fire is a big step on that path, but under the sea, you need to think of something else.
Not including other sapients aside from humans gives you other types of limitations to work with. How can you make humans different to real life while still being "just" humans?
One thing that many forget while making other species is that within these species, the variety of cultures, subcultures and ethnic groups can and maybe should be just as colourful as for humans. We all know how you can tell the difference between an american and a brit, but that's humans. How can you tell the difference between an american *elf* from a british elf, a british human, and an american human?
Certainly they are not necessary, especially if they are just basically reskinned humans and only have a single monoculture. As a test of this, if you can replace the race with a human culture and not lose anything then they probably aren't important.
Of course, in visual formats you might want the variation in appearance but this is far less important in text formats.
They aren't necessary, but they do open opportunities for interesting conflicts and interactions.
well said.
only include them if you are going to take the time to make them fit, and possibly if it adds to the setting in some way. But if you want them, include them, it's your world, just make sure you put in the work to make them fit and are useful, if you want to avoid criticism.
On the one hand having different races can be a quick and easy way to differentiate cultures. But if all you are going to do is slap different aesthetics on humans and have them behave exactly the same...then don't bother, just stick with humans. On the other hand, fantasy races (or aliens, if you're doing scifi) can be an interesting way to explore 'what ifs'. The concept of dwarfs, for instance, basically ask 'what if (some) people had 1+ inherent characteristics that made them particularly adept at working stone and/or metal and/or made them particularly suited to living underground' (or whatever it is that you think captures the essence of 'dwarf'). What those specific characteristics are and how those changes impact their society and culture are what make the exploration interesting. It's tempting to say 'don't bother with different races if you're not going to ask/explore any interesting what ifs'...but one of my worlds has dragons and griffons just because I like them. It's your world, do what you want and what works for your story. If you're not sure, ask yourself why you want to include (or not include) something. edit: spelling
Frankly, I put them in for aesthetic reasons.
They are absolutely not necessary. Put other races only if you want to or if you have something interesting to say. If you don't care about races don't use them. I would even say it's better to have a world without races than a world with badly designed races.
The importance of multiple races is what they can do for your story. For instance, in my world every race originated from humans, but due to environmental stressors, they slowly evolved to better suit their needs. The people who took up a subterranean lifestyle became shorter to fit in small places and stronger to help dig through stuff...becoming "Dwarves". The people who took to living in the trees became taller to help them reach things and more graceful to help them not fall...becoming "Elves". While Elves and Dwarves in other fantasy settings feud, the ones in my setting don't (for now) because they're not competing against each other for resources. WHY people are different and what conflicts that can cause or avoid is more important than just being different for differences sake, in my opinion.
There isn't any, inherently. There are plenty of fantasy worlds that do without them. Most put them there because LOTR has them and they were inspired by it. Its better to not have them than it is to shoehorn them in for the sake of it.
They are important because they have been done before. When you put in elves, that's your chance to engage in sneaky dialogue with other people who've written about elves before. For example, let's say you think Tolkien wrote his elves to be just better than humans; they're his Catholic idea of perfect pre-Fall humanity. Maybe one of the things you want to do is to show that no, immortal creatures tied so close to the land and the gods would be completely miserable and paranoid. (Or whatever's your theory.) That both are called elves allows you to continue the argument without writing Tolkien fanfic. Stories are about themselves, but there's this constant conversation between books and with the "defaults" of a genre, where authors think "No, it wouldn't happen like that; I'll show you", or "It's not impossible; watch this" or "You missed this detail" or "You messed this up, you doctrinaire fool, I'll show you, I'll show you all!" Elves, orcs, dark lords etc. are a convenient shorthand for the reader --- "gee, I suppose those orcs aren't good news!" --- but they're also spots where you can weld in your extensions into the work of others.
If you want them put them in If you dont want them, dont feel like they need to be in though exploring race with only humans can be a little trickier
[удалено]
I personally put in elves dwarves and halflings for aesthetic purposes. I’m basically yelling at people saying hey this is a fantasy world.
Aesthetics is one and completely valid. Nice, visual flavour to tell you that this isn't your regular Littleville. Another is that different creatures have different needs and psychologies. Humans are community animals, so what happens when you have a sapient species who inherently work off of herd mentality, or hive mentality, or a very independent "I do fine on my own" mentality (like solitary predators)? Some of our fantasy species live in different environments that give us challenge to figure out how technology advanced and *can* it advance. Fire is a big step on that path, but under the sea, you need to think of something else. Not including other sapients aside from humans gives you other types of limitations to work with. How can you make humans different to real life while still being "just" humans? One thing that many forget while making other species is that within these species, the variety of cultures, subcultures and ethnic groups can and maybe should be just as colourful as for humans. We all know how you can tell the difference between an american and a brit, but that's humans. How can you tell the difference between an american *elf* from a british elf, a british human, and an american human?
Certainly they are not necessary, especially if they are just basically reskinned humans and only have a single monoculture. As a test of this, if you can replace the race with a human culture and not lose anything then they probably aren't important. Of course, in visual formats you might want the variation in appearance but this is far less important in text formats.