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I would just like to point out that women have the capacity to build muscle and be warriors just as much as men can be skinny and quick... in fact, it's easier for men to be thin than it is for women because they drop weight so quickly.

I like your idea for the humour, Seph, but it makes just as little sense razz

The reason Orcs are the way the are is because of what the actually represent in a fantasy setting. Orcs are large hulking brutish beast like things because they are there to represent evil in a raw and unhindered form. The idea is every time you kill an Orc you are doing the greater world a service, so killing an orc is considered a good thing and is meet with little in the way of remorse for the one who did the killing. Orcs are the fantasy equivalent to zombies in a survival horror game, robot warrior in a sci-fi game, and the soldiers who wore the red bands on their arms with the reversed native American symbol (since you can't say that word on a site like this). Only recently has the last in that list been dropped a pig as people realize that those soldiers were following orders as well...anyways not to turn this into a conversation like that.

Also when people do play Orcs as main characters that ugly appearance and different way of thinking lend to a whole host of interesting plot points, conversation starters, and conflicts both combative and social. It makes being a Dark Elf seem like a walk in the park. Which we won't get into the alt-races yet until we have handled the main races. Even in the Elder Scrolls games, were Orcs can walk in and out of towns without being attacked on first sight they are still in a ugly state of appearance.

I'm more for keeping Orcs the same in look but we can raise them to being the more intelligent of the goblin-humanoid races, which would not be saying much still. Even give them a style of armor they forge that only orcs make or something.

Oh I was not saying women could not, and remember this is me talking after all, so I am farthest from trying to be sexist in the meaning. We could make two new races one with the men as the brutish strong and the women the quick and agile. Then make a race were the reverse is true and the women are the strong ones, like the Amazons or something (yes I know the real story of the Amazons its just an example) and have the men be the quick little running scouts or something. Gives both sides of the coin for anyone who wants to play either side.

I vote sissy & pointy-eared, but exceptional in magic. frail bodies, longevity, but extremely low birth rate. you should go back to old school before people mary-sued the race and made them perfect at everything.

I would like to see your list of video games because in almost every D&D setting, RolePlay, Fantasy Novel series, video game and movie I see elves as diverse in their skills as humans are..... except that ORIGINALLY the whole advantage to being a human in D&D was because they were supposed to be the only race that was that diverse in classes and skills available to them. They had almost no racial limitations.

Keeping this one super Fantasy based, Warhammer style is great and cool but I'm in the mind set to leave gunpowder out of the world. In a world were there is magic and alchemy why would you need gun powder?

We will get to the orcs down the line I promise but lets go for the elves right now. There are two good ideas in the work here so far, and just so you know, your ideas don't have to solely be based of the little comments I will make about the races lol.

Going super magic, high life span, and low birth rate would be an interesting balance to the race I agree. Could go with an idea of their muscles are never developed enough to wield strong weapons. They can carry light weight staves they craft to be strong, or daggers for a back up but going to a sword would be pointless, and they have not the strength to pull a bow string back. For all the elven ranger lovers out there (I'm one of them mind you) we can always create a race that is more keen on the battle skills of the elf as well (again if that be the case we will get to them, write down any idea you have on that and save it. if there are enough people wanting to discuss that race idea next we can just go to it next).

The idea of only a combat elf also is interesting, having them use no magic at all. No enchanted weapons, special magical attributes or anything. Could make them super rustic with maybe even some of the odd "barbarian-like" qualities talked about earlier. Not brutish and angry but maybe tribal-istic or or nomadic in idea. Maybe make elves like the gypsies, always moving from one forest clearing to the next, never staying for longer than say a week or two. They can shot arrows and fight with strange weapons in odd combinations but have no affinity for magic at all, and maybe even hate it or have a large weakness to it.

We could also take the idea and go with sub-classes of elves that work completely different from each other due to their locations in the world, and how the culturally evolved. One Class say something like the wood elf idea could be all weapons and fighting with no ability to magic as they forgot how and that grew with them and so they just can't anymore. One group maybe the high elves or moon elves, can perform magic like no one else but because of that they never took time to work their bodies and become skilled warriors, so their muscles lessened over the years and now magic is the only source of defense they have. Of course you could then make everyone's favorite sub race of elf, the dark elf, and we could do all sorts of odd things to them in contrast to their normal ideas. Or take the idea of the dark elf and create the complete opposite race or light elves, who live high up on tall mountains and bare white alabaster skin and deep raven black hair.

comment and suggestion based on what has been talked over so far is what we need. If no one else comes up with an idea before...Wed, I will take what we have as ideas everyone is ok with and will hammer out a basic idea from each suggestion and put it in a poll.

As an extra deal I will be doing with the race discussion part, once an idea is voted on and done I will make a small quick RP thread were we can test out the race, and just that race in a random RP. Nothing fancy or super elaborate, just a setting based on the social idea with characters we make to mingle about the area and talk amongst others of that race. As we get more and more races done we can start talking about the other races in these test RPs.

I viewed results to see which way the wind was blowing on the elves, and apparently I'll be the first one to vote lol

Since we couldn't/have yet to agree upon a magic system, I'll go ahead and start by voting for magic-less elves.