Tell me Veeky Forums, how divergent should Dwarves/Dwarfs be? Should they be all axe-wielding, drunken...

Considering how so many are manchildren, maybe making models, it's a surprise they don't self insert into younger characters more often. Must be the stigma against a "weak" character.

People have a more rigid idea of what defines a dwarf, is all.

What the bloody hell is with all this bullshit? All i see is a bunch of fucks and cunts saying they don't like beer and fun. If you all wana be edge Lords and change the realm of fantasy just go full blown retard and make there be no races and throw in a redeemed succubus queen with no dice rolling and only elven buildings and players and lots of animé and child porn.
Dwarfs are a great and simple race of hard working people who have a great culture. You don't need to change it to anything just for yourself. Your all terrible at creating anything other then autistic Veeky Forums posts and shit characters.
Just stick to being elves and stay away from anything else.
(Human fan here)

I do not understand why their definitions can be so selectively rigid. The original Norse ones were magical metalworkers of sort, Tolkien had ones wield all sorts of weapons & use magic, Warhammer had guns, runes & grudges, & Warcraft ended up having an enormous amount of Dwarf archaeologists after their connection with the Titans were discovered. This isn't even counting the numerous subraces from D&D & others.

Actually, it's more about if they should be written differently considering how so many other races have hardly any standards.

I have commie robo dwarfs is that different enough?

gotta give them robot arms

It's like no one even remembers Dark Sun anymore, which was full of win and awesome, and Half-Dorf Slaves and Klingon Dwarfs, both of which are Taller than average. I'm working on a 5e Dark Sun pdf, anyone interested?

I decided to make a bunch of different dwarf clans, and make it so that pretty much every version of dwarf in popular fiction (stoic warriors, brilliant smiths, unreliable drunks, etc.) exist as a stereotype for one of the clans. Within those clans, there are dwarves that fit the mould and don't, just like within human cultures.

Warcraft beat you to it. Sorry user.

Goddamnit

I like variations. Mainly underground miners and craftsmen, with a few who farm and herd in the valleys without leaving the mountain's general vicinity, hunters and trappers in the same area, and a few traders who trade the excess for goods that are scarce in mountain areas, as well as act as diplomats and cartographers.

The major difference is that half of what makes dwarves dwarves is their culture; or rather, how they handle being part of a specific culture. It's why the tall-dwarves of the Elder Scrolls still work, because even if they aren't actually short people, they still have what one would identify as "Dwarven" culture.

You can sooner make a dwarf tall then take away his beard.

I have Incan terrace-farming ayahuasca-sippin' highland dwarves with a prodigious amount of dwarf sacrifice in my setting, is that different enough?
Still beards (altitude), still alcohol, still riding not-horses, still mining, still trading like there's no tomorrow.

Dark sun dwarves are underrated man.Hell, dark sun in general is underrated.
I still dont like that they added dragonborn and goliaths though, they make the setting feel a bit less unique, but whatever

I remember reading in one of the Slayer books -back in the day of warhammer fantasy- that the main character contemplates how everyone is always thinking about craftsmen, and miners, when they talk about dwarves. Nobody is mentioning the simple shepherds, carpenters, and fisherman.

They are a civilization, a culture. Unless an entire race can live up on getting drunk, wielding axes, and monopolizing mining, then no.

That's a cool contemplation.

>Different kinds of dwarves.

Like these?

Make them all capable of turning into Otters, Fish and Dragons at will.

How much shopping around do you think the one on the left did before he found a loin cloth that perfectly matched his hair color?
Something like "This one is good, but will it make people think I'm naked and extremely hairy in in the crotch region from a distance?"

Dwarves are supposed to be stoic. They hold on their traditions and culture and see chance as a bad thing.

The closest thing are the Duegar from d&d.

none

But even Duegar are still Miners and Smiths. With a evil alignment.

the accepted definition of a dwarf is far more detailed than the accepted definition of an elf.

That's to say they can't be interesting, you just have to make them interesting in ways other than the predefined aspects.

See:Trudvang

>How long would it take an Arctic dwarf to find white fur?
Polar bears. Not long.

>Polar bears
Or Reindeer/Arctic foxes/Seals/anything else that changes fur colour depending on the season.

I quite like the Goblin Punch dwarves.
They have basically no sexual dimorphism and consequently their perception of gender is more along professional lines. You're either a craftsdwarf or a mining dwarf, and they have a hard time understanding the genders of more dimorphic races.
This can lead to awkwardness, like in the case of a dwarf asking his human travelling companion if he is going to become a woman because he mended a saddle.

They're also completely incapable of creative thinking to the extent that humans are, to the point of using a kidnapped human as their monarch.
The exception is when they get drunk (which is rarely) they are much more capable of original thought and become more traditional Scots/Irish Gimlis

So when do we start derailing with pics of Ymir from Queen's Blade?

I'm taking Dwarves back to their mythological/folklore origin, where it's assumed that dwarves and dark elves are somewhat identical, so I'm picking up all that shit and make them physicall DnD drow, but with beards and metallic eye- and haircolour.

Their culture pretty much is an amalgam of Warhams Effbee dorfs and elder scrolls Dwemer, with grudges and individual holds relying on the "mountain king" trope as their central political structure and each hold potentially becoming its own independent state underground. Dwemer basically just deliver mesopotamian aesthetics, but also a capacity to live in the plains as opposed to mountains, where they will pile up a hold somewhere in the middle of nowhere until it looks like an artificial hill in its own right and lots of hobbitholes springing up around it.

Veeky Forums will rant and smug and wax and tell you lies about how they do it in "their game" about how elves, dragons, vampires and demons need to be original and different, but if you disturb a hair of the stereotypical dwarf's Gimli beard they will REEEEE to high heavens.

>48384837
What are you so upset about user? No one liked your shitty version of dwarfs?

>48384837
I never got this meme. Is clicking > twice so hard?

Once you attain a certain level of obesity, yes. Poor user must've slumped backwards into diabetic convulsions second after finishing typing.

Unfortunate. Maybe he grew so big that he dwarfed the keyboard.

Don't bother Dwarves if you want change. That is basically their entire thing.

>48386186
It's a "don't provide (You)s to trolls while still replying to them" meme.

And it looks like he's annoyed so I like to think I accomplished what I wanted to do.

It's a "don't provide (You)s to trolls while still replying to them" meme.

And it looks like he's annoyed so I like to think I accomplished what I wanted to do.

In my written setting, dwarves are almost exclusively subterranean, and therefore have extremely poor vision, but great hearing and smell. They have pale grey skin, long arms and slow metabolisms, but a strong culture of technological advancement. Quiet, slow moving and thoightful, they are slow to trust and will fight only on the defensive, preferring to avoid conflict where possible.

They have many cultures within that, but those are the broad strokes. Since they still tend to mine a lot and live underground, and even have some steampunk tech they are definitely dwarves, but I think they are divergent enough to be interesting.

I prefer my dwarves Roman, desu

Who looks annoyed?

Not sure Gimli ever worked a forge.

RPG spec dwarves would make great mariners. Merchant ships wouldn't need as much lower deck space for crew and warships wouldn't need to be as large. They're also natural jockeys.

>They're also natural jockeys.
Wouldn't that be hobbits and such since the whole point is to be lighter? As long as they can hold.

I'd figure they'd make good farmers as well, being closer to the ground and quite strong and sturdy.

Sure. All the stereotypes about dwarves are a little odd. They're good at things they physically shouldn't be (crafting, charging, wielding huge weapons, climbing around on mountains, drinking) And things they would physically be good at, they shun (horses, farming, ships, public speaking, magic.) Just think of the things short people can and can't do in the real world, it makes no sense.

>which was full of win

Is it 2006 again?

I'm not sure public speaking would count, but everything else I'm stealing for my next game.

I really liked the way Dwarves were shown in the Markus Heitz novels - you had the usual stereotypes, but then there were scholars, traders, farmers, backstabbing fuckwits who wanted to murder all the other dwarves - they really covered all the bases.

Even albino dwarves, which was a bit fucky, honestly, but hey, they dug too deep, it's their own damn fault.

and crafting things that don't involve heavy things they probably would be great at. Short people in general have more manual dexterity - same number of nerve endings in a smaller surface area on hands/feet = +sensitivity etc.

Imagine if they all over-compensate and try their hardest to be good smiths even if they're naturally disadvantaged?

Reminding y'all that dwarfs back in actual, Norse mythology were often depicted as scheming, greedy little fucks without a shred of honor, courage or combat ability, physically feeble but shapeshifters and magicians. Just about the only traits they share with today's race of Gimlis is beards and living underground.

And Gimli isn't even the prototypical Middle Earth dwarf. Of the 14 dwarfs we ever get detailed descriptions of in the books, he's the EXCEPTION. All the others are idealized depictions of brave diaspora Jews.

Dwarves in fantasy represent a certain, very specific concept. The drunk, stoic, bearded miner-craftsman-warrior, living underground with some bizarre amalgamation of Norse and Scottish cultures. Very few works of fantasy fiction ever seem to deviate from this, and they tend to be the fantasy constant; you can argue the D&D elf, the Tolkien elf, and the Elder Scrolls elves are separate enough to be considered different entities, but a dwarf's a dwarf. Any DM who makes their own setting, even if their elves are cannibalistic sea-Ottomans, if they have dwarves, they're dwarves. Anyone who knows fantasy knows what a dwarf is. It's the universal language of (albeit Western) fantasy, for better or for worse.

tl;dr dwarves are a literal meme race

>dwarves are the main 'civilized' enemy of my current campaign
>greedy, mercantile, and aggressively expansionist
>use their vast mineral wealth to field tons of savage mercenaries
>mfw there's a huge dwarfbeard at my LGS
>mfw he goes quiet and looks physically pained whenever this is brought up

I cannot begin to describe this feeling.

So you've basically made them more Jewish than Tolkien. Very good.

I've even made them aesthetically more like a Mesopotamian civilization. More Assyrian or Babylonian than Hebrew, but they were pretty similar at one point anyway.

That's less fitting, though. It's the germanized diaspora Jew who was a scheming merchant. The ancient Hebrews were by all accounts a mediocre nation of warrior farmers. Tradewise they didn't hold a candle to their contemporary Phoenicians or Carthaginians (they did share languages, though. Seriously, Hebrew sounds almost 1 to 1 like Phoenician).

In my current setting, the dwarves turned a mountain into the world's largest walled kingdom, invented concrete, steam engines, air conditioning, and engaged in civil engineering projects the likes of which the world had never seen. Then they all died from a magical plague that turned their lungs to jade, and their walled kingdom fell into ruin.

Now over a century later, the end-times are approaching, or at least events so similar that it makes no difference, and the humans of the neighbouring kingdoms are trying to restore the dwarven mountain-city, in the hope that they can ride out the end of the world within its impregnable walls.

It's just a little happy coincidence, I didn't think about the Hebrews when making the decision. I more modeled them on the people that actually kicked the Hebrews out of their nation.

Actually, some accounts describe the Hebrews as being rather badass so far as warriors went. The Romans thought they made excellent gladiators. It's just that there were so few of them and they were so held back by so many religious rules which nobody else observed back then that they lost most wars after like 400BC.

>axe wielding
THEY HAVE STUBBY ARMS THEY NEED TO COMPENSATE WITH LONG WEAPON

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Hah, I remember posting that.

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yer a cool guy user

Joe is that you mate?

My dwarfs are russian by culture and looks. And while they still have Tolkien way of digging deep and building mines, quite large number lives in hamlets and villages farming and herding. There just isn't enough food in mountains to support gigantic cities. So it is common to see dwarven farmers in lowlands and when dwarven king calls. They don their mails and helmets and take their spears and shields.

remember ALL americans, jews, arabs, scotsmen, or whatever all all a monolithic entity and monoculture that have no individuality.

clearly dwarves should be the same.

I generally just plain don't include most fantasy races, Dwarves least of all even though they're my favourite. If I do though they're basically a complete Tolkien copy-paste.

I would like to see merchant-caravan dwarves or wizarding dwarves. As much as I love that dwarfish archetype they do need some spice.

Those guys are cool! What are they from? What are they about? I need details man!

Never use demihumans at all.

I keep my dwarves fairly vanilla but change their scenery. My dwarves live in a city sized Geode they've cracked into. They carve houses into the stone outer layer and mine the inside for precious gems and magical crystals. Essentially making them super rich and xenophobic.
The city is called Azmatius' Pearl. They think their God created the Geode for them.

play dwarf fortress you cuck. There is more culture there than your mom's basement.

But user, the Half-man is a great human dwarf.

>How much shopping around do you think the one on the left did before he found a loin cloth that perfectly matched his hair color?
thats his pubic hair

trudvang dwarves

zvorda are the big ones

nah i've never really encountered that and i HAVE majorly triggered Veeky Forums before

>Dwarves have pubic beards

I made my dwarves all outcasts from their mother society, the Dwarrow (homage to tolkien's name for the dwarves). So many of them tend to be heavy drinkers and do hard labor unless they decided fuck it and keep doing what got them thrown out. The Dwarrow are instead an incredibly stoic and secretive culture that lives deep in their mountain homes, and if they ever have need to interact with the surface they wear silver masks with interlocking parts that cover their faces and beards.

Swedish rpg called Drakar och Demoner(Dragons and Demons) swedens most played tabletop rpg and originaly based on the BRP in the "latest" official setting, been the setting for two or three games now, called Trudvang. They were supposed to release an english version of it but I dont know if they ever did.

Gimili is the ur-Dwarf.

Anyone who thinks they need to reinvent the wheel is silly.

Phalanx dwarfs are the only way to go.

youtube.com/watch?v=rc3Y1hKdHL8

See Or most posts in this thread, really.

Dwarves should all be clones

I'd rather a bunch of compelling "standard" elves, dragons, vampires, and demons, rather than a bunch of shitty "original" versions.

In fact, I hate most "original" concepts of "traditional" races that I see on this board.

>"my elves are nomadic horse archers/seafaring raiders woo aren't i original"

>"my orcs are civilized imperialists with written history spanning ages woo aren't i original"

>"my dwarves are pacifist monks who live in mountain monasteries woo aren't i original"

>"my humans are the BIG STRONG race of my setting! woo aren't i original"

Fuck off.

>taking pride in not having an imagination
Truly, you are the cancer eating through the RPG medium.

Lol. No, I'm just a dude who has seen way too many shitty "original" takes on traditional fantasy races. I don't mind a couple deviations here and there, or intelligent subversions, but most of the retards in these threads simply make changes just for the sake of "being original." Then come faggots like you who cry about a lack of imagination when someone says your nomadic horse archer elves are shit.

Sorry that this isn't deviantart, dude.

I feel at best you would have one major kind of dwarf, the stereotypical kind, and more Irish-themed hill dwarves that would freely roam and wander, and perhaps a few other flavors depending on certain locations.

Dwarves are supposed to be stubborn and hold strongly to tradition and ancestors, and while you could flavor that in a Chinese sense even, at that point would it still be dwarvish?

The only place I've seen different is when you completely change the setting - Shadowrun can't focus on the traditional aspect of dwarves, since they're a new race like everyone else, so they are much more modern and generally like humans.

>She's a young dwarf girl with dark curly hair and dark eyes, she looks up at--
>Does she have a beard hahaha
>Yeah. You don't see it though.

>dwarves the main civilized enemy of my campaign
>aggressively expansionist, but in a more roman context vs. our not! King Arthur human kingdoms
>have tactics and siege weapons far beyond our primarily knight and infantry based armies, but manage to outfight them since they literally did not update their maps for the last several centuries and have no idea what the surface is like anymore

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