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  1. - Top - End - #91
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    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bohandas View Post
    It was always my understandib that most people live in cities or suburbs
    Quote Originally Posted by Blymurkla View Post
    What, today? Or in actual medieval times? Or in ye olde pseudo-medieval fantasy lands?

    In the real world, on a global scale, urban population outnumbered rural for the first time quite recently. Like a couple of years ago. So it's pretty close to 50-50 (though such figures are either based on rather rough estimates or on available national data, which for example doesn't nesssecarily use the same definitions of urban vs. rural. So it's a though question to answer with accuracy).

    Of course, in the Western world most people live in urban areas, but they haven't been doing that for long. Like, maybe a hundred years.

    In ye olde fantasy, agriculture is often next to nonexistent and you find maps of huge cities with city walls, a thin strip of veggie patches just outside and then the deep, dark forest. Which is ridiculous, but hey, whatever feeds your boat.

    Keep in mind, also, that the definition of "urban" is so inclusive as to be almost meaningless. For example, a town in the middle of nowhere with 2500 people is considered "urban" by the US Census Bureau. So, a lot of people who are living in areas no way urbanized in any functional understanding of the term, are counted as "urban" instead of "rural".

    Now, before the agricultural advances of the last ~century, there wasn't any way for even those sorts of definitions to warp the numbers. In the grand scheme of things, it was just a little while ago that about 90% of humans were involved in farming or ranching or herding or some other form of food-growing activity, and would count as "rural" mostly.
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  2. - Top - End - #92
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    Griffon

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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    Keep in mind, also, that the definition of "urban" is so inclusive as to be almost meaningless. For example, a town in the middle of nowhere with 2500 people is considered "urban" by the US Census Bureau. So, a lot of people who are living in areas no way urbanized in any functional understanding of the term, are counted as "urban" instead of "rural".

    Now, before the agricultural advances of the last ~century, there wasn't any way for even those sorts of definitions to warp the numbers. In the grand scheme of things, it was just a little while ago that about 90% of humans were involved in farming or ranching or herding or some other form of food-growing activity, and would count as "rural" mostly.
    The people who now can't compete pricewise for the suburbs that their homelands have become.
    The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.

  3. - Top - End - #93
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    Kobold

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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Only on this forum can there be a thread where page 1 is about halfings vs gnomes in terms of superfluousness, and page 4 starts with Urban vs. Suburban vs. Rural classifications.

    I love this forum.

  4. - Top - End - #94
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by ImNotTrevor View Post
    Only on this forum can there be a thread where page 1 is about halfings vs gnomes in terms of superfluousness, and page 4 starts with Urban vs. Suburban vs. Rural classifications.

    I love this forum.
    To be fair it is somewhat related to the Halfling versus Gnome discussion. I can see how halflings are the rural small folk and gnomes are the urban small folk, just like elves are rural and dwarves are urban.


    But the important question is, without gnomes who'd be guarding your garden? Only thing stopping the halfling from nicking all your lawn.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zelphas View Post
    So here I am, trapped in my laboratory, trying to create a Mechabeast that's powerful enough to take down the howling horde outside my door, but also won't join them once it realizes what I've done...twentieth time's the charm, right?
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    How about a Jovian Uplift stuck in a Case morph? it makes so little sense.

  5. - Top - End - #95
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
    To be fair it is somewhat related to the Halfling versus Gnome discussion. I can see how halflings are the rural small folk and gnomes are the urban small folk, just like elves are rural and dwarves are urban.


    But the important question is, without gnomes who'd be guarding your garden? Only thing stopping the halfling from nicking all your lawn.
    A funny thing when you consider most descriptions (in D&D, at least from 3e onward) describe gnome communities as small and hidden in hilly areas, attempting to harmonious with nature (which gnomes are all reported to love). Forest gnomes are the "rural" variant because they don't like outsiders and are less mechanically inclined.
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    All Roads Lead to Gnome.

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  6. - Top - End - #96
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
    just like elves are rural and dwarves are urban.
    I don't think I've ever seen this in fiction before, with those two races exclusively as rural and urban

  7. - Top - End - #97
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    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    In my Ringwaldt Setting

    Halflings are directly connected to Humans
    Gnomes are directly connected to Elves
    Goblins are directly connected to Orcs

    They are all half-man races that are smaller then there cousin race with some unique characteristics. Making them all odd eccentric and wild in there own fashion which also makes each unique.

    Like goblins are basically asari in mine, they are all female adorable green race that can work it out with most anything. They also hate there orc brethren and have moved across the continent to avoid them
    Gnomes develop certain traits based on the race they lived around when young, basically developing the stereotypical traits of that race. Meaning greedy around dwarves, hippy like when around elves(despite the fact the elves in ringwaldt have well guns) and other eccentric behaviors.

    Meanwhile Halflings are eccentric travelers with a wanderlust because all roads will lead home. As such halfling towns are small migratory and man halfling clans build big caravans that travel between 2 to 4 cities part traders part nomads wandering freely.
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  8. - Top - End - #98
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    HalflingRangerGuy

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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Humans and dwarves are respectively dire halflings and gnomes.

    Down with the big people!

  9. - Top - End - #99
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by The Jack View Post
    Humans and dwarves are respectively dire halflings and gnomes.

    Down with the big people!
    I LOVE the "humans are monsters and super humanoids" trope so much that I might one day make a (spoof) campaign about it. Only monstrous and non humanoid races are allowed. They all bask in fear of the humans.

    They build entire cities in under five years! How do they do that?
    They multiply by the decade!
    They're not as strong or durable as we are. But they are so damn smart! I think they call that Tucker's humans.
    So tall and strong. And no matter how wounded they are, they somehow keep on coming?

    Well, maybe Belkar is a BAD pick for the stereotypical halfling...

  10. - Top - End - #100
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Gnomes are superfluous. KDEs and Cinnamons are much better.

  11. - Top - End - #101
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Gnomes are magical dwarves, as opposed to purely non magical & magic-resistant dwarves.

    Halflings are non-magical & magic-resistant small humans, magic resistant small elf-like humans, or magic resistant small dwarf-like humans.

    The only superfluous ones are Stout Halflings. Because magic resistant small dwarf-like humans basically describes a dwarf already.

    Grognard Grognard.

    As a side note, D&D 3e made Halflings awesome again, both in stats and more important by revamping their image. It rescued them from both Hobbits and Kender.

    5e has done the same for gnomes. They've mostly rescued them from tinker gnomes, but more importantly from the high-pitched voices & steam-punk mechanics of WoW gnomes.

  12. - Top - End - #102
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tanarii View Post
    As a side note, D&D 3e made Halflings awesome again, both in stats and more important by revamping their image. It rescued them from both Hobbits and Kender.
    Right, now they're an empty shell.

    And why did they keep the name?
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  13. - Top - End - #103
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bohandas View Post
    Right, now they're an empty shell.

    And why did they keep the name?
    Because D&D has halflings, no matter what the characteristics.
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  14. - Top - End - #104
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Probably for the same reason they kept the names 'tiefling' and 'aasimar' despite the first being bad german and the second reminding people of butts. It's what people think of, and a lot of fans react badly to change.

    Personally, I find 4e to be better than 3e for the halflings. Riding around on a dog is cool and all, but I really feel like halflings belong on boats because of their small size. Getting a bunch of slingers/archers on the deck and the size difference probably wouldn't really factor in as much.
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  15. - Top - End - #105
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Why is there no core giant race? It seems like a bigger hole to fill then devil people and a common thing in the fantasy genre, so why do people have to buy a supplement to play giants?

    I think my next D&D character will be a Goliath Fighter/Wizard, just to even this skewed average height I see in parties.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zelphas View Post
    So here I am, trapped in my laboratory, trying to create a Mechabeast that's powerful enough to take down the howling horde outside my door, but also won't join them once it realizes what I've done...twentieth time's the charm, right?
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Raziere View Post
    How about a Jovian Uplift stuck in a Case morph? it makes so little sense.

  16. - Top - End - #106
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
    Why is there no core giant race? It seems like a bigger hole to fill....
    I see what you did there.


    But more seriously, giants pose a problem for typical "dungeon delving" style play, in that they may not fit easily into the corridors designed for Medium-sized characters. Often, mounts are left out for exactly that reason (and is one of the subtler advantages of Small race builds that use mounts: the Medium dog your Gnome or Halfling rides around on can go anywhere the humans in your party can). Giants may wind up excluded or posing difficulties to simply playing the game.

  17. - Top - End - #107
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Imagine if you were a halfling or a gnome.

    The OP would be about why are their Humans and Elves, they’re both the same. Elves are just humans with pointy ears. They both live above ground so why differentiate them?

    What I don’t get is why gnomes and halflings would adventure with humans and elves. From a practical point of view so many things are different - walking speed, space needed for shelter, very limited inter-operability of weapons and armors, ability to move in confined spaces, sitting at the same table, riding animals, ad infinitum.

    It can be a lot of fun to do an all small party adventuring in a big world, then the differences between the different types of small become much more apparent.

  18. - Top - End - #108
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Honest Tiefling View Post
    , but I really feel like halflings belong on boats because of their small size.
    In the Known World (later Mystara) theyre famous as Pirates in a few places.

    Ever since I read Dungeonomics, one of my two default ways of thinking is Halfling Vikings. The other, since 3e, is gypsies, including river barge gypsies.

  19. - Top - End - #109
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    Default Re: Rant: Halflings are NOT superfluous! Gnomes are.

    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    I see what you did there.


    But more seriously, giants pose a problem for typical "dungeon delving" style play, in that they may not fit easily into the corridors designed for Medium-sized characters. Often, mounts are left out for exactly that reason (and is one of the subtler advantages of Small race builds that use mounts: the Medium dog your Gnome or Halfling rides around on can go anywhere the humans in your party can). Giants may wind up excluded or posing difficulties to simply playing the game.
    I assure you, the pun was unintentional.

    But I get what you're saying. I think it's because I tend to play either urban or wilderness adventures, where the problem is somewhat mitigated (a Goliath in a city likely spends as much time as they can outdoors, which actually makes for an interesting complication instead of stopping it entirely).
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zelphas View Post
    So here I am, trapped in my laboratory, trying to create a Mechabeast that's powerful enough to take down the howling horde outside my door, but also won't join them once it realizes what I've done...twentieth time's the charm, right?
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Raziere View Post
    How about a Jovian Uplift stuck in a Case morph? it makes so little sense.

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