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Fantasy Race Critique - The Draugrm AKA Not!Dwarves

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JBC31187 Since: Jan, 2015
#1: Jan 17th 2020 at 8:18:34 PM

Hi, this is my first thread here and my attempt to avert Our Dwarves Are All the Same, or at least give alternate reasons for the typical Dwarvish traits.

Name: The Draugrm, AKA the Drachrm, AKA the Drakkar, AKA some already taken and copyrighted D-names.

Physical Description: The Draugrm are medium-sized humanoids, ranging from four to five and a half feet, with some as tall as seven. They tend to be broader and thicker than humans, making them look squat. They have thick, leathery skin with some scaly growths, in dull hues (tan, olive, red, gray, etc.). Their facial features tend to the broad and square. They have fangs and thick claws, but these are too blunt to make effective natural weapons, being used to grind up tough fibrous meals and dig through earth.

Draugrm lay eggs like dinosaurs, so Draugrm women don't have Non-Mammal Mammaries (though they are warm blooded). This feeds the usual Dwarvish jokes about the men and the women looking the same, although the women tend to have wider hips. Draugrm do have epidermal growths similar to hair, but more akin to feathers or soft quills. Males can grow beards as a sort of display, and their "hair" is usually brighter-colored than females. Some Draugrm have fleshy growths like whiskers or barbs, a holdover from living in the dark.

Draugrm are naturally long-lived, averaging 150-200 years. They're slow to breed and can't match human reproduction numbers, but they mature quickly and don't decay until the last quarter of their lives. Draugrm have a reputation for hardiness and are resistant to poison, being able to eat most things in the underground. They have decent low-light vision and some variants can see in the dark, although these have trouble in the light.

Culture: While Draugrm societies are as varied as human societies, they have their stereotypes. Draugrm tend to stick together in clan-like structures. The specifics vary- some are blood related and traced through the generations, while others are formed and dispersed like military companies. While bloodlines aren't unknown, many Draugrm focus less on specific heritage and more on big picture "It takes a village", with every Draugrm child being a child of the clan. The eggs are placed together in the rookery and the children are raised together. Certain Draugrm societies will exchange clan eggs instead of intermarrying to forge social ties. Others have an open-door policy, where impressive or useful individuals (not always Draugrm!) are invited to join the clan.

Draugrm clans tend to focus on several specific trades (blacksmithing, farming, textiles, etc.) with a smattering of other skills as needed. Depending on the size of the clan, they could have all the facilities and training of a small village, or be a single farming family. Draugrm dwellings vary from fortified compounds to clan keeps to small villages in their own right, and when living among other races Draugrm tend to pack themselves together. Draugrm clans have communal hordes, but these tend to be less shiny things (although those are nice) and more warehouses of necessary goods- iron and copper are often preferred over silver and gold. Clan hordes are treasure troves of clan-crafted items, from the sentimental to the very potent and magical, which are parceled out as needed. So, a Draugrm adventurer in good standing is likely to have some neat toys from the folks back home.

Draugrm societies tend to focus more on the community over the individual, and are slow to change. The clan elders are often as strong as they were in their youth and can hold their own, meaning they can enforce their rules, violently or otherwise. Assuming societies progress with every funeral, Draugrm are less "innovative" than humans, but have much longer to pick a trade or three and master them- so Draugrm society is less likely to build newfangled magical analytical engines, but their weapons and armor are among the finest in the world. While there may be a single leader on the local level, larger Draugrm societies tend towards councils and group rule to make sure clans are happy or at least unlikely to rebel- oligarchy over monarchy, congress over president.

Some examples of Draugrm civilization include Venetian Republic-style merchant clans and aristocrats, Spartan-esque fascists with an emphasis on individual toughness and duty to the volk, communist workers' paradises both real and fake, and hippy farming communes.

JBC31187 Since: Jan, 2015
#2: Jan 17th 2020 at 8:25:53 PM

Some notes:

From an RPG standpoint, Draugrm are medium creatures with limited Darkvision. They have a bonus to Constitution, and resistance to poisons, like the classic dorf. Variants get an armor bonus or enhanced Darkvision.

They like axes because axes are great for chopping through other Draugrm, but they also like halberds and pollaxes with spear tips for tunnel fighting. Some like to use entrenching tools and sharpened shovels instead of regular axes.

Instead of using apostrophes like the elves, Draugrm drop a vowel or two to sound more fantasy-like.

Influences include Gargoyles, Scarrans, Enutrofs and of course the Dwarves and Dragonborn of D&D.

Edited by JBC31187 on Jan 17th 2020 at 8:33:29 AM

devak They call me.... Prophet Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
They call me.... Prophet
#3: Jan 22nd 2020 at 2:02:17 AM

The thing that somewhat confuses me is that they still are very much dwarfs, with many easily recognisable dwarf traits. So maybe I misunderstood the trope you try to avoid, but it seems to me you aren't really avoiding it?

JBC31187 Since: Jan, 2015
#4: Jan 24th 2020 at 7:27:57 PM

I think it was a mistake to make them short, for sure. That's too on the nose, but then I started thinking about life underground.

As for the rest, I wanted something that resembled dwarves, but had valid reasons for the resemblance. And I wanted something that would be familiar as the party travelled across the world, but not necessarily the same. I feel like if you're traveling from fantasy Scandinavia to fantasy Italy to fantasy Sudan, if you see dwarves, they're gonna be underground or in the mountains, and they're gonna be miners or tradesdwarves or manufacturers. With the draugrm, I wanted something that was long-lived, tough, and community focused, but these traits manifest in different ways.

So, in fantasy Greece, you have Athenian-style democracy, where only the draugrm clan elders get a vote, and the rest of the polis has to live with it. And next door are the draugrm Spartans, who are nominally all equals, but have a large, non-draugrm slave population that they terrorize.

devak They call me.... Prophet Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
They call me.... Prophet
#5: Jan 26th 2020 at 2:40:10 PM

Shortness isn't really the thing i wonder about. Fairies are often short too, and there can be other short beings without immediately going "Dwarves!".

It's more that they hit all the other dwarven achetypes (e.g underground miners and craftsmen) pretty unchanged. But judging by your post, that's intentional.

JBC31187 Since: Jan, 2015
#6: Feb 23rd 2020 at 10:41:29 AM

I've been thinking about what you've said, and I got way, way too cute with the dwarf connections. So, in-between jobs I've been trying to re-do them.

Physically, they're pretty much the same- leathery, lizardy dudes, human-sized, with minimal hair and high resistance to status effects-slash-environment. Culturally, they've got some points in common among each Draugrm society. They're communal, don't focus too much on blood ties, and are naturally longer lived than most species, so they're slow to change and are a storehouse for knowledge and gear. Depending on where they live, they may live underground, and they're good at mining and blacksmithing due to their resistance to toxic fumes, but aside from that resistance there's no natural proficiency or blessing from the gods to masonry or crafting- it all comes down to training and experience.

I tend to think in RPG terms when world-building. So, as far as main characters go, they're constitution-focused and kind of tanky, but no drawbacks to casting, and they get a boost to a skill of their choice.

NP Cs are more varied. To use the Five Races grid, Draugrm are supposed to vary depending on where they live. Draugrm that live among other peoples are supposed to fill the Stout or High Man role, with their physical toughness and collective experience. But I picture isolationist Draugrm as more Fairy-types, fey craftsmen who live decades or centuries with just each other, who may not be evil but have their own priorities. Enemy Draugrm are either Humanoid hobgoblin types with heavy industry and fascist overtones, or mysterious Fallen who've gone a bit unwell from their long years apart, and remember strange gods and magitec.

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