[Vagueposting] Wugs are my new favorite

So recently I did something I normally don't do; and that is look at indie RPGs coming out. Lands of Eem was one such game. Personally, I don't really vibe with the overly nice, colorful, or "cute" type of games like this based on art style and approach, but I think the design of some of the creatures and races are cute. Nothing too remarkable; UNTIL I got to the Wug.

I fucking love Wugs. Just the name is perfect for what it is. But there is another reason. Archetypal fantasy races tend to fall into categories. Elder Scrolls Elves and Tolkien Elves are very different from each other but still feel "elvish" due to a similar overlap of commonalities and cultural traits. Same goes for Dwarves, Gnomes, and a few others. But what about "that" creature?

I don't think it's at all the creator's intention; but to me the "Wug" is kinda the perfect, archetypal name for this "kind" of fantasy creature. The intelligent, usually good natured race of kinda dumb, big, kinda animal person that isn't a furry but isn't an enkidu-type hairy beast man creature. It's that final last category you really see on the "Big Five" table of races; the "gentle giant" types who oust the human as the tallest and strongest race, but tend to not be as capable of agility or spellcasting type of things. Sometimes Half-Orcs fill this role too, but it kinda has its own specific baggage.

It's hard to describe, hence why this is a Vaguepost. I'm also going to be excusing myself at crediting the artists, because there are just so many pieces of commissioned artwork and AI shit I have to sift through to find what I'm talking about; sorry.

This archetypal role is often named something else, but the names never fit perfectly. Sometimes they're Bugbears but I hate that name, both for the weirdness of being goblins but big(?) but not being green??? And they aren't part bear or bug at all??? I know fantasy games have tons of folklore names turned into species which don't make sense but for some reason I just do not like this for "bugbears" at all.
Sometimes people call them troll/ogres but that's usually a monster. And if you make them dumb and lovable it takes away a lot of the mystic wilderness that a big scary troll (that's smart and can talk but just lives under a bridge and eats people instead of working a job and paying taxes).
Sometimes they are firbolgs, but firbolgs have their weird different mythological connotation and doesn't really roll off the tongue as well.  Plus you got that one weirdo who is like "firbolgs aren't cow people they're scottish giants!!!" as if a single fucking person EVER had the specific intention to use a "firbolg" in place of a generic giant encounter in their game ever in the history of D&D other then because it had more hit points.
Sometimes they're Goliaths but Goliaths are weird D&D invention and usually more humanoid.

We need a name for them. The issue with making up new weird fantasy names is they have no cultural background. That's why it's easier to make your own elves and orcs and goblins, but if you make yours too weird they cease to be that fantasy archetype and fall into the scrimblo-bimblo worldbuilding discourse. It's not that you're not allowed to do that but nobody else will want to interact with it on face value because they have zero cultural overlap with your vision. But this "kind" of creature I feel is just right for the cultural overlap zone; just iconic enough with enough examples and relevance it could be codified into a "thing", like when kobolds went from little men sprites to yappy doggish things into little dragon-minions and before they became a sex thing; they went from this vague soup of "have your own interpretation" into "everyone draws them like this now". Critical Roll tried with its Firbolgs but I don't think it was super successful.

Now I want to make it clear I'm not delusional enough that my own ideas for Wugs, nor do I think "Eem", have the cultural staying power or memetic potential to overhaul this entire fantasy archetype the same way kobolds did. But I feel like there is something to this archetype that is still in its larval stages; All Elves are Legolas, all Dwarves are Gimli, all Wugs(?) are... Torbek?

The hairy, tusked, big-man who is not an orc and is connected to nature but is not a troll or giant or god forbid a satyr; perfect to fill the spot of "human but stronger" without being an off-shoot orc or stepping on the toes of dragonborn with their dragon and elemental aspects or orcs and their "dark mirror to humanity" aspect or gnolls and their savage beastfolk aspect which is also not a furry but has elf ears and shows up all the time in fanart as some weird thing? 

What is this stupid fucking kind of creature called!??!? It's a WUG! It's PERFECT!

In Defense of Race as Culture + 8 Universal Origins for People

Art @Su Jian

Often browsing internet forums or writing advice blogs, you will often hear the adage of "writing a fictional fantasy or sci-fi race with only one culture is bad writing", and this is true! Classics include Klingons, fantasy Dwarves, always-evil Orcs, and other such examples. The idea of an entire polity of intelligent beings, at least as smart or socialized as humans, yet not having even close to the same amount of diversity of cultures and ethnicities (or "races"; we're using the term race = species here as a colloquialism), does seem to raise some alarm bells and a lack of care for the detail and belivability of a fictional world.

The cause of this phenomena is talked about a lot, so I won't spend much time writing on it. Basically, everyone who writes these types of stories is a human, and humans are pretty much the only intelligent "race" of beings on our planet. As such, we see differences amongst ourselves much better then we do other living creatures. For example, most people couldn't tell the difference looking at an adult male or female tiger unless you put them right next to each other. The stripes, fur, hips, skull construction, everything is too similar unless you're some kind of zookeeper or something. Humans are designed to see differences in other humans, so we naturally gloss over the differences in a fictional nonhuman race. (One could argue this is actually genius level writing; portraying all members of a fantasy race as stereotypes is just the unreliable human narrator or the viewer own lens ignorant of the deep culture differences between deciduous forest elves and conifer-elves, but we're not gonna go there.)

Secondly, the overhead of writers and authors to create (and audiences to consume) is too much for a full human-level of detail and breakdown for different fantasy races with their own cultures and history. There is only so much room in a game or book or show or whatever else to dedicate to such extraneous fluff. As such, they are simplified. This creates a sense of "fakeness" and one-dimensionality to these fantasy races, making them walking stereotypes. Surely, the elves would have their own many factions and cultures. They can't all be tree dwelling, bow using, magical immortals with a penchant for sneering at younger races, right? Is having an entire race of ultra-capitalists in a sprawling sci-fi setting creating a less believable world, no matter how well developed they actually are? 

I think with the bottom-to-top worldbuilding design of creating and explaining every little detail of a world, yes, I think having fantasy races as monocultures is a bit lazy and could veer into bad writing. But in my opinion? Monolithic and one-dimensional races are not bad at all. This is because they are not representative of an actual fantasy race of people but, instead, are essentially the fantastical, exaggerated fantasy versions of real-life heritage and diversity.

Art @Timbukdrew (these are my favorite troglodytes ever btw)

Humans are Not a Race
Perhaps because of playing so many non-human characters, imagining settings with them, or generally consuming media with a smattering of different fantasy races I personally don't find myself with some special connection to fellow humans as portrayed in fantasy worlds. Instead, I just think of intelligent beings in fantasy as just being some vague kind of people. It also helps if we don't use the label of "human" for one or more fantasy races. One good example would be the Elder Scrolls or Lord of the Rings; while they may be "Men", the differences between them are still significant. After all, Hobbits are a race of men too, despite them being wayyyy different from the other "humans" in Tolkien's works, both physically and culturally (mentally?).

In the real world, different human genetic traits evolved due to evolutionary and selective (cultural) pressures. While this topic is obviously contentious, it is in inarguable fact of biology. It cannot be denied without a creationist argument. Even so, I still very strongly feel that the genetic difference between two of the most distant human groups still capable of interbreeding is still probably less then the differences then a Nord and a Breton, or a High Elf and a Dark Elf. They're still the same race, but the differences between them are exaggerated, made fantastical, more apparent to highlight the differences and potential gameplay impacts (which is the only thing anybody actually cares about) that your choice of character race will have on your playthrough.

Of course, "genetic distance" and DNA and shit doesn't exist in fantasy anyway. It's a misnomer. They exist but only as vague concepts that direct how the author and audience expect things to work unless something "else" is going on in the fantasy world. In the real world, somebody can't be half animal, because the genetics don't work like that. But in a fantasy world? Someone can be half horse or half bull or whatever, and potentially pass that trait on. Somebody can also just be touched by supernatural spirits, or be part of a cursed bloodline, or whatever else the author makes up. While logically or "realistically" orcs and elves and humans can't be part of the same species, they can still occupy that space thematically.

Imagine you are traveling along a road in medieval times. After a long enough walk, two villages could have totally different dialects, totally different industries and ways of living, different food and dress, different cultures and customs, and they may even look just a little bit different physically too. These differences are minor, scaling with distance traveled. In a fantasy world? It's the same, except exaggerated. Made fantastical and unreal by the creator and the reader, so much so that the next village over is not run by humans, but little badgers living in little holes under the ground. They aren't literally the same species under a complex set of genetic rules and cultural histories creating these differences; but instead a way to make that pop and become something that inspires awe and intrigue. This is why I don't mind when a fantasy race is boring or one-dimensional. They're only one-dimensional when compared to the real world, but in the fantasy world? They make up part of the tapestry.

Also to improve this rambling post a bit; a random table you can roll on to worldbuild where all your different fantasy races are actually all from the same place and we should like not fight in race wars in stuff because we're all really the same and stuff.

Universal Origins - Roll 1d8
[1] The Gods each made their own race out of the same special clay. Each is molded to look different and do different things, but in the end, they're all from the womb of the earth. Mortals can do this too, but only a fraction of their power; this is where golems come from.

[2] All of the races were uplifted are from different animals, which came first, and were magically transformed into Man-Shape. Orcs are pigs, elves from foxes, dwarves from goats, humans from flightless birds and so on. What about animal people? They were the first drafts, which is why those races are more bestial and less developed; cast aside as failed experiments.

[3] Do the Goblin Punch thing where all the races are uplifted genetic castes made for specific purposes by a precursor race. But don't make the precursors "true" Elves or some super powerful aliens; make it gnomes. Every time there is a secret plot or evil conspiracy, it's always the fucking gnomes.

[4] The first being in the world had many offspring that it split off from itself to admire creation. These beings are all just pieces of the whole. The eyes of the Elves, the arms and hands of the Dwarves, the horns of the Oni; all pieces of the true being. When the players finally arrange all the pieces together and zap it with lightning to bring it to life, it actually looks really horrific and it's basically a Lovecraftian monster that is their progenitor; not some creature of great beauty and grace.

[5] The world was actually a trial for souls, one representing each race, to overcome adversity and purify themselves to ascend into heaven to sit besides the Throne of God. Each one of these heroes was given a form that representing their emotional state and greatest faults they had to overcome. The Elf was a soul in love with nature and peace, needing to learn how to be practical. The Orc had a fiery temper and had to learn patience, and so on. The problem? The trial is over, they're all gone. It was made for individuals, and their offspring and families were just left behind later. Those ancient ancestral heroes are all chilling in heaven and don't really care about you anymore. You're just the leftovers.

[6] Each race is really from another demiplane that was once perfect for them. Endless rolling green hills for the halflings, toxic swamps with much prey for the lizardfolk, and so on. Eventually, the demiplanes fused together with cosmic planar gravity; the world is its accretion disc. Racism and stuff happens because you kinda weren't meant to ever exist together, so it's hard to adapt. Don't get mad when demons and freaky outsiders try to open portals to your dimension; they're just trying to join in with everyone else.

[7] When God made the world in all its complexity and design he took all the souls of all the people who would ever be born and asked them what they wanted to be and when all of them said they wanted to be kings and beautiful creatures and all powerful he got mad and just mixed them up in a pot and just spilled them out so that's why you're short and stubby and eat your damn mushroom soup.

[8] We all actually "evolved" over a "billions of years" from a single extremely simple creature called a "single celled organism". Scholars laugh at this nonsense; point to the statues of their Gods which look exactly like them. It just makes more sense.

Seeking the GFS (Generic Fantasy Setting) + 20 Core Elements

I've never liked the idea of calling something a “generic” fantasy setting for two reasons. One, the term generic has a bit of a negative connotation that, in my opinion, isn't really warranted. I like generic stuff. Sometimes vanilla is the best flavor. But the second, and most pressing reason, is because “Generic” doesn't actually mean anything.

When people are calling something generic, they're usually saying whatever thing or system or setting they are most familiar and comfortable with that has become the basis for their fantasy universe. The term “generic fantasy setting” is a bit of a misnomer because people have very different definitions of what generic actually is.

Art @Andreas Rocha

 

Off the top of my head, I'm going to list the most “generic” fantasy settings I can think of, or the “generic” settings that people use as the baseline for fantasy worlds.

• Lord of the Rings or Tolkien's expanded work / Middle Earth
• The Elder Scrolls / Tamriel
• World of Warcraft / Azeroth
• The Witcher Universe / The Witcher Universe
• Dungeons & Dragons / Forgotten Realms + Others
• Dungeon Meshi Manga / Dungeon Meshi Universe

Now these are just the ones I've seen or played. I've heard Dragon Age and Dragon's Dogma are supposed to also be fairly generic as well, but I haven't played or seen enough of those to make a judgement if they should be added to the list. Warhammer is also fairly generic at the surface (human empire, elves, dwarves, orcs, order vs chaos, etc.) but has a lot of specific unique elements and factions which don't fit that well for our purposes.

As you can probably tell; the above list is not supposed to be some kind of list of carbon copy fantasy worlds. ALL of these worlds are very different from each other. Even if they have similarities on the surface, they're each different and unique. This is exactly what I've been trying to say; Elves from Warcraft and Elves from Tolkien have almost nothing in common, but they are both “generic” because they both have vaguely similar aesthetic presentations and hold similar tropes. They both feel like elves despite almost everything about them being different.

However, it is clear that there is some undercurrent of “generic” connection between these and more fantasy worlds. I think the term “Generic Fantasy Setting”has value. I think it's both a useful term and a fun archetype of “world” to create or run in. So let's quantify it with a table.

 

You could also use this table below as a quick-and-dirty fantasy setting creation tool. Take everything below as "true" for the setting. Then just roll d20 to pick a category, then a smaller die with a number of faces equal to the bold and italic text in the category. Whatever you roll; change, remove, or shift up that element. Roll any number of times to spice up your new "generic" fantasy setting.

 

Art @Sweetmoon

20 Core Elements that make up a GFS

[1] The world is based on the cosmic struggle or balance between Good and Evil OR Law and Chaos OR is physically constructed by the Four Elements.

[2] The main biome or landmass of the setting, or the place with the main campaign or most detail, is a Western European Temperate Biome. The setting has a technological level and history that is roughly analogous to the High Medieval / Early Renaissance.

[3] The setting tends to be ruled by a Pantheon of Gods. The Gods are thought to exist but only rarely intervene in mortal affairs.

[4] There are several different intelligent fantasy races. These races are;

• Humans who mostly live on the plains, and tend to be the most populous race.
• Elves who mostly live in the forests.
• Dwarves who mostly live in the mountains and/or hills.
• Orcs who mostly live in the wastelands. They tend to be antagonistic to the other races.
• Any other races are much more rare and are often from exotic locales.

[5] The primary power structure of the setting is a feudal monarchy which is ruled by a King OR Emperor. This system is one where land, wealth, and social status if passed from parent to child. The most powerful individuals in society are Nobles. The primary inheriting sex is Male.

 

[6] The land is protected by trained soldiers who protect it from monsters, invasions, and other threats. The most elite of these trained soldiers are Knights or heavily armed cavalry. These Knights are expected to Follow a Moral Code and there is a level of Prestige associated with them.

[7] The majority of the people survive by Farming. The most common types of food cultivated is Bread cultivated from wheat ground into flour, etc. Livestock include Cows, Sheep, Goats, Chickens and Pigs.

[8] The primary vehicle used by people in this setting for transport and warfare are Horses over land and Ships over sea. While the primary setting is already mapped and established with civilizations, there are Unexplored Lands on the borders of the map.

[9] The most common threats people encounter when traveling on the roads Bandits and Wolves. Most rookie adventurers start off fighting weak monsters like Giant Rats or Goblins. More rare monsters can be very dangerous. The most infamous, though not necessarily most powerful or common of these monsters is the Dragon. The strongest monsters in the setting tend to have a weird habit of Kidnapping Princesses and locking them up far away.

[10] There are ancient Dungeons which house dangers like monsters, traps, and magic. The primary reason people explore these dungeons is to acquire Treasure. These dungeons are usually ruins left behind by a More Magically Advanced but fallen Precursor Civilization. Additionally, dungeons are also the most likely places to hold Ancient Evils that are waiting to be awakened.

[11] Among treasures and other wonders found in Dungeons, you might also find magic items. The most powerful and sought after are Magic Swords, which is the most noble weapon. The other most powerful magic item are lamps which house Genies that grant Three Wishes.

[12] Magic is a powerful force in this universe. Magic is Rare and usually kept as Secret Knowledge. Those who cultivate magic can use it in the forms of Potions, Spells, and Enchanted Items.

[13] The type of people who use magic are scholarly, wise Wizards. They are usually Very Powerful but Withdrawn from the world. They tend to sequester themselves in Towers.

[14] Typically, the most common end goals for a Wizard or mark of a great Wizard is to become Immortal or to create the philosophers stone and turn Lead into Gold.

[15] The most advanced weapon in the setting is a Catapult OR Repeating Crossbow. Blackpowder weapons are in their Infancy OR Are inexplicably absent.

[16] The primary currency used by people in the setting are Circular Coins made of Gold, Silver, and Bronze for different denominations. The wealthiest people in the setting besides the ruling classes will usually be Merchants and Guildmasters.

[17] Outside of civilization, there is untamed wilderness. This is where Fairies live, who are known to be Magical Tricksters who love Pranks. They are not usually hostile nor are they benevolent. Nature itself may also be a force in the world; too much industrialization from (usually humans or orcs) may incur the Wrath of Nature in the form of natural disasters and animal attacks. Finally; there are Treants, tree people who talk and may be able to walk or uproot themselves if needed who defend the forests and seek to retain a balance with nature.

[18] After people die, their souls are ferried to an Afterlife determined by their Deity OR Taken to Heaven or Hell based on how good or evil they are. Those whose spirits are get lost in the process or have unfinished business may end up as Ghosts, which is where Ghosts come from.

[19] There are people who come back from the dead as Undead Monsters like zombies or skeletons. They were raised from the dead by a Necromancer OR by being Buried somewhere Cursed. They can be destroyed physically and are Repelled by Holy Things.

 

[20] The most common religion in the setting is expressed by a powerful Church with ordained priests. The priests can sometimes perform Healing Miracles and can destroy the Undead with their holy magic. While the world can be dark and scary, the faithful teach messages of Hope. Other faiths practice in secret and form into Dark Cults.

6 Ways to do Boulder Traps

[1] The Classic

In this scenario, the character(s) activate the rolling boulder to release when they get close enough to it that it will build up speed faster then they can run, such as down a long incline. The ball may also roll along a flat, level floor if it stars up in a chamber above the main hall, enough to give it the momentum it needs to crush people. At the end of its path it may be deposited in a secondary chamber or niche, waiting for a monster or magical thing to reset the trap.

[2] The Path

In this scenario, the boulder is large enough and wide enough to be set at the end of a hallway or long room which is difficult for people to traverse. Such as in the example picture; tight walkways that the ball can travel over in a straight line, but people will have to follow a long and winding path, meaning there is no way to escape this except by hanging on to a ledge and letting the boulder roll over your hands. Could also be fit in a room filled with mud and just a few thin rails that the boulder rolls on. Essentially- the boulder rolls faster then traverse the room.

[3] No way Back

This trap is set up to gather speed but not actually to crush the adventurers. Instead, there is a side passage or door the adventurers can easily escape through that has a small tunnel. The ball then goes over a ledge or through a secret wall and falls into a chamber where it stops. This blocks the way back, thus meaning that the adventurers cannot follow their own route back through the dungeon- this serves as a method to cut them off from the familiar paths they've taken before.

[4] Fake Safety

The boulder trap in this scenario starts rolling towards the group, but with some speed or luck you can get through a side passage to safety. This side passage should only be through a very thin wall or on the end of a ledge that is impossible to climb the other direction. The ball rolls past them, but as they catch their breath from running away the boulder will come back, either smashing through a false wall or coming down a long and seemingly unconnected corridor. Hopefully, the targets of this trap will be caught unaware as they try to catch their breath. Secondly, this second fake safety chamber could have doors or hallways leading off that just lead to brick walls or don't actually exist, being illusions or tricks of the light, thus keeping them stuck in this hallway. Essentially, this boulder gets two passes to try and crush the people who activated it.

[5] Trap Niche

This method is much more cruel then the above, and would probably make people upset if you used it in an actual game. The boulder is on a slope but with perception and speed you can get out of the way into a small niche or side passage. However this niche or side passage is always a dead end; with the floor having a false bottom or secret depression that is activated shortly after the trap is sprun. The boulder stops rolling in that hole and essentially just traps whoever went into the side passage behind the rock. This could be anything from wasting several turns to destroy the boulder or pry it loose, to having the person inside suffocate after several hours or even starve to death over many weeks. I also like the idea of this trap letting you only “escape” it if you essentially reset it; you have to push the rock back up in to place and avoid triggering it to move past, since even if you unblock the side passage the main passage would be blocked.

[6] Fake Boulder

Finally, this trap subverts the entire boulder trap. From a distance, the boulder appears as a round object that will roll towards you and crush you, but it is actually a large piece of worked stone. It may have a chain or weight that, when activated, slowly moves towards the players. It can't go far though because the chain it is connected to instead pulls a new trap in motion- the sliding of the floor or a bunch of spikes come out or some other trap is activated down the line where people will run to avoid the rolling boulder that they think is coming. This also acts as a plug for the hallway as nobody can squeeze past the boulder; the space behind it could be empty or simply require you to activate the trap and let the “boulder” fall down far enough you can step around it to go past it.

[Bonus] The classic boulder trap is sometimes said to be flawed due to the ability to dive into a the corner of a square hallway in order to escape it. I do think this could be a legitimate tactic depending on the size of the hallway, but one way to fix it would be to have raised corners or filled in tracts running alongside the main path. You could even set this up to be secreative; have the corner space of the hallway near the floor filled with dirt, slanted edges to act as “drains” or pipes from further on down in the dungeon so pesky adventurers can't escape a crushing boulder.

Seeking the "Generic" Wizard

When it comes to creating the “generic” or “orthodox” Wizard, several instant categories come to mind; mostly to do with specific spells. Firstly, fireballs and summoning creatures are both classic examples of Wizards, but step on the toes of specific classes (such as Summoners, Witches, Elementalists, etc.). Invisibility & Knock is also a classic Wizard spells, but it makes the thief outdated and almost useless. Flight and Instant Travel (ie; teleportation) are also contenders, but are too powerful and universally useful in most campaigns for Wizards.

So instead; I boiled down Wizards without the above to create the most generic and traditional suite of powers I thought fit the Orthodox Wizard;

• Create/Control Arcane Energy
• Animate (Inanimate) Objects
• Discern the Invisible or Hidden
• Levitate/Hold Beings

Create/Control Arcane Energy is a good one; as it fits with things like magic missile, prismatic spray and wall, and fits with all other evocations and generic Wizard spells that aren't tied to elements.

Animate Objects is one that's very fitting, in my opinion. I think of Wizards as from Disney, such as Mickey Mouse in the Fantasia short, or the Sword in the Stone's Merlin, or even Beauty and the Beast's anthropomorphized objects as good examples of what I'd consider an animated object. Not just floating around, but also not totally humanized either. I see the “Animate” keyword as to mean giving human qualities, not just motion, so I see spells like Magic Mouth and Alarm (when an object is moved) also counting towards the animation, which is classic Wizard stuff.

Discern the Invisible or Hidden is a tougher discipline. It's very classic of Wizards to learn the passcodes to secret doors, like Gandalf, but may step on player skill and classes or characters that specialize in secrets and lore. Revealing the invisible at least is pretty obvious; faerie fire or glitterdust are classic examples- along with the Corona spell from dungeon crawl stone soup, though technically that's for Enchanters in that game. As an aside, one of my favorite things from Harry Potter was when Professor Snape commanded the Marauder's map to “reveal its secrets to him”, as though this is common practice to reveal invisible or hidden things, simply throwing around your Wizardly authority.

Finally Levitate/Hold beings is a classic among Wizards. While “levitate” implies a calm and gentle motion, it doesn't imply flight, which is a good start. However I also like to imagine it being able to used as a quick slam or shove, such as to throw people off a cliff or off horses, which is pretty fitting to a non-elemental Wizard's combat potential. Hold person/being is also a classic of Wizards.

There- I think this list of archetypal spells is very well fitting to a non-elemental and generic Wizard. While very specific, I think it helps give personality to the class without being an “everyman”.