Halfling PCs

[Tony Irwin]

Hi Luke,

I couldn't find any rules for halfling PCs which surprised me because your game looks like it would run a great Lord of the Rings campaign. With all the films out I'm betting at least one person you've played with must have asked, "So how do I make a hobbit?". Is this something that might come out in the future?

[taepoong]

Even though Luke seems to be quite busy with lots of additional material, I doubt you will see a Halfling setting come from his desk. I once asked about Gnomes and was admonished! But, being the generous creator he is, he offered me this:

http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31&sid=5a2a28e78dddc50da40a903d11346d23

If you did go ahead and make Halfing LPs, I would love to see them! I will trade you my Gnomish ones. ;o)

Someone seems to have made a human nomadic Setting which looks really cool, BTW.

[Bankuei]

Hi Luke,

Your guidelines for creating Lifepaths are great.  I hope more of your supplemental material is along this line("Here's how you can do it too!").  Aside from race based lp's, I think you already have a great deal of lp's covered...has anyone come up with some interesting and useful ones that aren't too "niche-y"?

Chris

[Valamir]

That's a great article!  Contrary to the opening parenthetical, I not only will not ignore, but would eagerly consume more such discussions on other topics.

One thing I did wonder about that applies but isn't mentioned in this article is the stat points.

It occured to me that if the age based stat points were reduced, that the life path modifiers could be more common and vary more...and still get to about the same place.

Since Luke's obviously thought a good deal about the rationale behind the life paths, I'd love to hear his thoughts on this.

[taepoong]

I think you already have a great deal of lp's covered...has anyone come up with some interesting and useful ones that aren't too "niche-y"?

We had some luck with new Lifepaths before the site crashed. The Barkeep is a good one which surprisingly was missed when the Character Burner was created.

http://www.burningwheel.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=3&topic=&allstories=1

[Luke]

Hi all,

You'd be surprised how little anyone wants to play hobbits/halfings. You are the first request I've had to date.

However, I did give the little folks a bit of juice in the d&d translation guidelines. You can find their common racial traits in here:

http://www.burningwheel.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=viewdownload&cid=2


Hm, stat points. I guess my guidelines in my lp creation post are too thin.

8 Mental and 16 physical makes a completely average character, an "average human" if you will. These pools should be totalled from both age and lifepath-acquired points. So you have to set your pools and age margin against that bar. And of course, the system is based on questions I ask myself. For example: Is this race less mentally adept than men? Then knock off a point. More? then add a point. Really limited? Then knock off two. You get the idea. The real hard part is judging how many lifepaths make a fully mature member of this race/culture. I usually set it at 3 lps, but it could be anything. The orcs and elves that I did don't reach maturity for 8 lifepaths! And their maturity is very formidable. Then once you judge maturity's age, then you have to formulate your optimum specimen of this race. What would perfect be? What is this culture/race capable of really producing?

Hm, I am going to think more on this one and see if I can come with better guidelines for building age stat pools. My brain is foggy at the moment.

It occured to me that if the age-based stat points were reduced, that the life path modifiers could be more common and vary more...and still get to about the same place.

Actually, this was the original form of the system. At one point, it was so detailed that every lifepath actually benefitted a specific stat!  It sounds great! But it was horrendous in practice. It was unnecessarily complicated and invariably generated characters with WAY too many stat points. "Monsters" we used to call them.  You'll have to trust me on this one. Sounds good, but it really didn't work in game play.

-Luke

[taepoong]

Hi all,
You'd be surprised how little anyone wants to play hobbits/halfings. You are the first request I've had to date.

Ehem, are we forgetting about Biggie the Halfling Paladin? It seems to me that Halfling characters would be more popular than Orcs or Wolves. I know one of my own favorite PCs was a certain Hereford Halfheight!

If you build them, they will come.

[Brennan Taylor]

Luke,

The hostility toward halflings is really interesting to me in your case. Everything else you've created for the game so far has been aimed at creating a really strong Lord of the Rings game world (at which I think you have been quite successful, I might add). Aren't hobbits a fairly essential part of that world?

[Valamir]

Hobbitses are for eating.
They're especially good with hotsauce.
They make wonderful additions to any adventureing party because they stay fresh for years...mmmmm...hobbitses....

[Luke]

i guess i have just had too many bad experiences with ye old halfling thief in my day.

There wasn't much demand for them, and I don't like them as pcs. So they got cut. (Some of my playtesters threatened to mutiny if I put halflings in, too).

As for Mr Tolkien's works, my favorite by far is the Silmarillion. This is reflected in game.

Tolkien's works are astounding and very important to contemporary literature, but they are not my favorite in the genre. I used Tolkien as an example because his work is common ground for the fans. I felt that once folks could see how these pop culture stereotypes were represented in the game, then they would be in a better position to look deeper into the game.

-L