Mythical and magical races are a staple of fantasy fiction, both as heroes and enemies, so it only makes sense that fantasy roleplaying games (RPGs) would include race options for players to use in building their characters. Race provides yet another way for player characters (PCs) to be unique. It can function as a distinguishing characteristic in two different ways: through fluff and crunch.

Crunch is jargon for the mechanics and math of a system. Racial mechanics typically include modifiers to a set of calculations or special abilities that can be used to affect gameplay. Some systems place restrictions on character advancement or what types of abilities a character can have based on race.

Fluff refers to the non-mechanical characteristics of a system object. These characteristics are there to add color to the game by describing the object in terms of the setting. Common examples of race-related fluff are how one race interacts with others or reasons why a race would go adventuring.

Most systems that implement race combine crunch and fluff. Some game systems seem to think that throwing a plethora of choices at players will result in a diversification of character races represented in actual play. What this actually results in is a pool of races that possess many overlapping characteristics, and are thus difficult to tell apart. To promote racial diversity in an RPG, make sure each race possesses significant differences, but are all equally viable. Or, like I did with my d00M roleplaying system, drop race as a mechanic all together.

There are multiple ways mechanically to distinguish one race from another. The most common is to use ability modifiers, i.e., bonuses or penalties to the base attribute scores of the PC. This would seem to be the ideal solution, except that it requires the system to give equal weight to all attributes, which is rare because there are usually one or two “dump” stats. The number of attributes also puts a limit on how many races you can produce before there starts to be overlap.

Another mechanical method for diversifying races is to give them unique features that affect gameplay. These can be difficult to balance, both in the number of abilities per race and how they interact with other game mechanics.

While crunch has its limits for promoting racial diversity, fluff knows no bounds. You are limited only by your imagination when it comes to how races look, what their heritage is, and how their cultural customs influence them. Players are more likely to try different races if they know the game won’t penalize them when their concept of their character doesn’t mesh well with the mechanics of gameplay.

I choose not to include races in the core rules for my d00M RPS. I wanted race to be a cosmetic choice. I wanted players to feel like their choice was just as viable if they wanted to play an axe-wielding barbarian, a shadow-skulking thief, or a spell-throwing wizard. I’ve never been a fan of the “racial profiling” that results from having race as a mechanic (not that I don’t take advantage of them).

What really distinguishes races is their physical appearance and cultural customs. Players tend to gravitate toward synergistic combinations, and it is much easier to come up with cultural reasons why a certain race might follow a particular archetype than it is to come up with mechanics that are varied enough that the race makes a viable choice for more than one role.

I’m interested in your thoughts on promoting racial diversity in RPGs. Share about your experiences around the table–do your games tend to be filled with elven rangers, dwarven clerics, halfing rogues, dragonborn paladins, and tiefling warlocks? What makes you choose one race over another? What systems do a good job of promoting racial diversity, and which ones tend to propagate stereotypes?