Found in a Box Part 9: Dwarves

Again, not actually in a Box, but still old stuff.

Dwarves
There are two basic types of Dwarves. They are the same physiologically, the differences are cultural. Grooming, clothes, & accent make it easy to tell one from the other.

• Mountain Dwarves - They could best be described as unsophisticated. They live higher in the mountains and they 've learned to dislike Elves. Most stories of Elf Dwarf conflicts involve Mountain Dwarves. They braid and die their beards in ways that are both humorous and amazing. 
• Hill Dwarves - Hill Dwarves that are more social which is a good thing now that Mountain Dwarf and the occasional Elf refugee have started filling up their cities. Still, the increased pace of war against the horde, and increased contact with the Elves, has increased Dwarven vs Elf resentment.

Roughly 75% of all Dwarves are born male but the constant wars have evened the numbers to 60%/40% male to female ratio. This imbalance colors the Dwarves view of the world driving most of them towards a life of hard work hoping to prove themselves enough to attract a mate. Dwarves are embarrassingly chivalrous as well regrading the ladies, of all races/species.

Female Dwarves are put on a pedestal and protected to a level that most consider stifling.

Dwarves marry only once. This cultural trait is strong and inflexible, which has caused havoc in their society as Vaults have fallen and widows are everywhere. Many widows have joined military bands seeking revenge and purpose in their lives.

Dwarven House

Mountain Dwarf	Hill Dwarf	House Size
01-04	01	Great House
--	02	Minor House
--	03-04	Common House
01-05	05-07	Fallen Great House
06-10	08-10	Fallen Lesser House
11-20	11-20	Fallen Common

Why Fallen?

Mountain Dwarf	Hill Dwarf	House Size
01-02	01-02	Over time House fortunes faded
--	03-10	Slaughtered in the fall of Aald Osst Ar
--	11	House Leaders were dishonored in the fall of Aald Osst Ar
03-10	12-18	Slaughtered in the fall of Aald Veztr Ar
11	19	Slaughtered in the fall of Morni Torak
12-20	20	House Leaders were dishonored in the fall of Morni Torak

House Unity

Mountain Dwarf	Hill Dwarf	Unity
01	01-02	Very close. Character lives at home
02	03-04	Reasonably close. Everyone gets together occasionally
03-04	05-07	House is more like a dozen different houses really
05-15	08-10	House has been decimated in numbers
16-20	11-20	Character is an orphan (possibly kicked out)

Rational for Adventure

Mountain Dwarf	Hill Dwarf	Rational
01-09	--	Suicidal Rage
10-17	01-02	Cold burning revenge
18	03-04	Restore House Glory
19	05-10	Recover House Artifacts
--	11-12	Earn enough to raise house/Start vault
--	13-18	Earn enough to attract love and settle down
20	19-20	Other

Scars & Wounds

Mountain Dwarf	Hill Dwarf	Scar
01-02	01	Limb hurts when its cold out
03-04	02	Missing 1d6 fingers or toes
05-06	03	1d6 scars on the face and neck
07-08	04	Burns along the b
09	05	Missing an eye or ear
10	06	Part of the scalp is a mass of scar tissue
11-13	07	Numerous teeth were knocked out, wooden teeth are adequate
14	--	Developed a drink now for tomorrow we may die personality
15	--	Agoraphobic, can't go outdoors for more than a few minutes without strong booze
16	--	Darkphobia, freaks out of the lights go out
17	--	Mumbler, tends to have unintelligible conversations with self
18	13	Psycho, only good Orc is a Dead Orc!
19	14	Multiple wounds, roll again
20	15-20	No wounds

Gained the Scars where?

Mountain Dwarf	Hill Dwarf	Scar
--	01-05	Fall of Vault Aald Veztr Ar (Old West Gold, a Hill Dwarf Vault)
01-02	06-10	Battle of Khaz Morni Rukh (Dead orc)
03-04	11	Battle of Khaz Valaz Dueger (Cowardly Duegar)
05-14	12	Fall of Vault Morni Torak (Dead Soul a Mountain Dwarf Vault)
15-15	13	Battle of Khaz of Burk Torak (Axe Soul)
17-19	14	Battle of Khaz Khazdul Heus (Dwarven Hammer)
20	15-20	Fall of Vault Aald Osst Ar (Old East Gold a Hill Dwarf Vault)

* Note the name Aald (Old) is a recent addition to the names of vaults that have fellen to Orcs.

Character Traits

1d6	Character Trait
1	Agoraphobic - Hate the outdoors. Must make a WIS save any time you go outside during the day and every day afterwards. Any fail means you'll try to return to the underground (cave, cavern, dungeon, basement, etc) the quickest way possible.
2	Besotten - Must make a WIS save or fall in love with an individual of the opposite sex. Save lasts 1d6 weeks per individual. When the save fails you will agree to whatever the individual says or does.
3	Drunkard - Love the drink, and must make a WIS save to decline a drink and tend to stop drinking only when blackout drunk.
4	Greedy - Accumulation of wealth is your goal, not for yourself mind you but to improve the lot of your clan and Vault.
5	One-upper - Dwarven pride causes you to provide examples of how Dwarves do something better, even if that something is a bit of a lie.
6	Rage-a-holic - Life is unfair and it makes you angry. You tend to go berserk when threatened.

Found in a Box Part 8: Elves

Actually not in a Box but on my hard drive from back in the day when I was planning to set up a campaign about recapturing Dwarven Vaults that had been overwhelmed by the Horde of Chaos Worshiping Orcs and Goblins.

Elves

Elves are one of the ancient races. They are great and they know it. They opened up dimensional gates and colonized thousands of worlds and brought Halflings, Dwarves, and Humans along for the ride. They developed the Common tongue to allow everyone to communicate. Then the Orcs came and started attacking through the gates. The Elves decided they had to close the gates, and isolated all of the worlds, without consulting with anyone.

Elves tend to be elitist, emotionally cold, vegetarian, androgynous, loners with a fine fashion sense.  Elves have a female dominated society with a male/female/other ratio of 15%/50%/35%. The other are asexual and/or gender-fluid. They don't define the terms to non-elves and feel they are above labels.

There are three main types of Elves. They are all physiologically the same, the differences are cultural.

• Grey Elves - Sophisticated city dwellers. They all live in "Foreign" compounds adjacent to Hill Dwarf Vaults. Most Grey Elves specialize in magic and moodiness. 
• Sea Elves - Merchants and traders. Their large colorful ships are recognizable by the hydroponic gardens hanging along the sides of the main deck. Unlike other Elves the Sea Elves get along with everyone. 
• Wood Elves - Semi-nomadic, insular, wild folk Their wardrobes are dominated by green and brown robes. Each large group of Wood Elves has a dozen 'cities' they travel between depending upon the seasons (leaving small communities of Halflings behind to keep the places up). These cities are built beneath large mounds in the forest, protected by thick hedges and ha-ha walls.

Size of Elven House

Grey Elf	Sea Elf	Wood Elf	House
01-02	--	01	Great House
03-07	01-02	02	Minor House
08-20	03-20	03-20	Common

Unity of Elven House

Grey Elf	Sea Elf	Wood Elf	Unity
01-02	01-14	01-10	Reasonably close. Everyone gets together occasionally
03-14	15-19	11-20	House is more like a dozen different houses really
15-20	20	--	House in name only

Rational For Adventure

Grey Elf	Sea Elf	Wood Elf	Rational
--	01-04	01-19	Fight Chaos
01-10	--	--	Recover lost artifacts
11-19	--	--	Recover lost knowledge
--	15-19	--	Accumulate wealth
20	20	20	Other

Pieces of Flair

Grey Elf	Sea Elf	Wood Elf	Pieces of Flair
01-03	01-02	--	Stylish boots made of the finest material
04-05	03-04	--	A hat that others would kill for
--	05	--	Stylish costume jewelry
06	--	01-05	Face paint (could be War Paint or Marilyn Manson)
07-10	07-10	--	Excessive piercings. Mostly on ears and/or nose
11	11-14	--	Tattoos on the left side of the body
12-15	--	--	Fancy and expensive hair style
16-18	--	--	Colorful and useful scarf/towel
19-20	--	--	Multiple Pieces of Flair, roll again
--	15-20	06-20	No Pieces of Flair

Character Traits

1d6	Character Trait
1	Asexual - Lost interest in sex long ago, there are far more important things in life to think about. It's amusing and a bit disgusting to see how obsessed others are with all that.
2	Claustrophobic - Buildings are fine but being inside of caves and dungeons and such with metric tons of rock overhead waiting to crush you, and unable to even see the stars freaks you out. Must make a WIS save any time you attempt to go underground and every day below ground afterwards. Any fail means you'll try to return to the surface the quickest way possible.
3	Elitist - Other races just aren't as good as Elves, and a lot of other Elves aren't so hot either. They are uneducated, boorish, and violent. They are worthy only as fodder to stop worse creatures it seems.
4	Helpless - Having lived a spoiled magical life many simple tasks (such as cleaning) are beyond you.
5	Moody - Long life has given you deep perspective on mortality. Thinking about it can put you into a funk or into a whimsical joyous mood depending upon the situation.
6	Patronizing - You tend to treat other races as you would a puppy. This comes off as aloof but there is no malice, it is just that other races don't live all that long so there is no point being super-attached.