Settings in which humans are the rare / dying-out race with other races being numerous / ascendant? In such settings, what should humans get to make up for their rarity?

>>95877907 (OP)
Bigger and stronger than the rest of the species and races, not enough settings have the humans actually be the big warrior orcy types compared to the other species. I'd unironically like that setting, especially if it's got that sort of Wizards flair.

>>95877907 (OP)
Are they still human at that point? If you go beyond the most surface level aesthetics don't they just become short eared, bearded elves? Humanity is defined by its ascendancy, not its biology.
The only way I can see to avoid it is to go for planet of the apes and root the dwindling humanity in modern real life civilization.

>>95877907 (OP)
>In such settings, what should humans get to make up for their rarity?
Nothing. They are dying out and in decline, they dont need a super special participation cookie.

>>95878003
>Are they still human at that point
Yeah

>>95878044
Why? Other than their general appearance and being called as such.

>>95877907 (OP)
Does stuff like After the Bomb (humanity nearly wiped itself and sapient mutant animals are on the rise; setting began as tie-in to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) count?

>>95878084
>Humanity is defined by its ascendancy, not its biology
That is incidental, not deliberate.
Also, because I called them humans.

>>95877907 (OP)
Guild war IFAIK

>>95877907 (OP)
>Settings in which humans are the rare / dying-out race with other races being numerous / ascendant?
Whichever one you make that way.
>In such settings, what should humans get to make up for their rarity?
Whatever works for you and your group.

>>95877907 (OP)
Gamma World. The inhabitants of the world are mostly mutants (be they Altered, New Animals, or Green Men), with True Men a minority. They won't develop negative mutations (though radiation is purely harmful to them rather than potentially helpful like it is for mutants), they have better chargen dice all around while mutants tend to have various weak rolls, and automated systems and AI will generally be helpful to them.

>>95877907 (OP)
adventure time

I ran a short campaign in the Star Fox universe where humans were rare because they were created by Andross as ascended monkey people.
I plan on a future campaign set in the Metroid universe that's about someone who uncovers Andross's research and early human history.
I regrettably ran the first game in hacked Starfinder. I think Albedo would have been better for my purposes.
You could also try doing something similar with Ironclaw if you don't mind the fur. Furry systems really focus on the difference between species, which would really make you think about what makes a human, human rather than just generic baseline race.

>>95879570
Yeah, no, Starfinder's scuffed as fuck. Supposedly they rereleased an improved version, but I'd recommend a generic system with the elements you wanted.

>>95877907 (OP)
>HFY fags reached the point where they are the tieflings from their bullshit bait

>>95878307
It is pretty much this, yeah. Though leaning closer to the fading/dying-out than being rare. Yet.

The humans in that setting aren't native to the planet at all, brought there by the gods they worship. But between all the catastrophes, often involving said gods, the decline in worship of them as their real nature is made clear. The rise of other races, including the Sylvari who in any other setting would be the ancient declining people.

>>95878003
>Humanity is defined by its ascendancy
Not it's not, otherwise the Imperium of Man wouldn't be the Imperium of Man.

>>95877907 (OP)
Do they need to get something to make up for that? Assuming we're talking about a game setting, what matters is how human characters stack up against other characters, not how the human race as a whole stacks up against other races. If anything, that very rarity is already a special feature humans "get" over the typical take of humans as a sort of a generic everyman race in most settings. If you do want to give them something, though, humans have presumably had their days of glory in the past, so just give them something as a legacy from those days - technology gene-locked to only work for humans, or race-wide pacts of mutual aid with ancient spirits, or some shit.

>>95878084
Because humanity is, in fact, defined by its biology. Or maybe psychology, as I'd buy the argument that an uploaded human mind or something similar is human in all the ways that matter. Either or, but either way whether or not humans are ascendant or not isn't the defining factor.

>>95878003
Dumbest take ever.

>>95877907 (OP)
>what should humans get to make up for their rarity?
That's a silly question to ask. If they're dying out it's because they're inferior, just like elves in many settings, who are nominally better than humans but in practice we all can see they're beyond braindead.

I'm working on a setting with a similar theme to what you've described, based on the legend of the 5 suns from Aztec mythology.
> Giant Stone Men of the First Sun.
> Apesque Wood Men of the Second Sun.
> Avian Clay Men of the Third Sun.
> Mermen Salt Men of the Fourth Sun.
> Cursed Corn Men of the Fifth Sun (us).

From here on, these are my inventions.
> Anthophilos Honey Men of the Sixth Sun.
> Iron Men of Metal of the Seventh Sun.
> Elastic Rubber Men of the Eighth Sun
> Sculpted Yucca Men of the Ninth Sun.

In case you haven't understood, this setting means the world has been destroyed and rebuilt nine times.

>>95877907 (OP)

>>95877907 (OP)
5e already exists, Anon.

>>95877907 (OP)
A Fire Upon the Deep. Humanity is just another race in the background, definitely not one of the dominant ones, and an extreme rarity where the immediate action happens.

>>95879821
is that movie any good?

>>95879821
Kindly take your misanthropy and shove it right up your ass.

>>95879570
Funny you should mention Albedo, since that's also an example. Humanity's mostly extinct and the galaxy is ruled by genetically engineered animals, but they find some humans in suspended animation late in the comics. Also, they have the Starfox team interacting with humans in Starlink, Battle for Atlas, but I'm not sure if the crossover is csnon.

>>95877907 (OP)
Distant future, humans were the first to the stars, forging megastructures across the heavens while other species were learning to have multiple cellular structures. Most of humanity are no longer anything we would call human, but here and there ancient ships drift in the void with crews held in suspended animation or vast, system spanning stations hold clone facilities with mind uploads ready to live again. Aliens have discovered some handfulls of Old Humanity, who now walk among the newcomers as the lords of untold technological wonders.
Humans are from a higher gravity world, sure, but not the highest among all species. Our natural healing is pretty good, but by this point everyone has miraculous medical tech. Our aggression, endurance and pack bonding tendencies are all notable qualities but hardly unique among a billion alien empires. No, these days it is our technology that sets us apart, every human able to step aboard the monolithic structures left cold for so long and bring them back to life, commanding technologies that make the gods of ancient myth seem like children playing with sand in comparison. And many, many powers across the Universe will do anything to stop humans from ever getting that chance.

>>95877907 (OP)
We have a worldbuilding general newfriend.

>>95877907 (OP)
In one setting the dominant race was lizardmen. Humans were the orc-analog barbarians who lived in colder climes and would invade in the winter when nations were hibernating like civilized people.

>>95886413
It's delightful but extremely French; the ending makes no sense until you think it through yourself because nothing is explained.

>>95880825
Well, if humanity is this declining race in their twilight, then they're not the baseline standard anymore, right?

When humans are the most numerous and 'dominant' the rationale for them getting no ability score adjustments or special racial features is that they're the normal baseline against which all other races are measured.

Now the new norm'll be flufflepoggles or something, so humans get all their shit adjusted compared to how a human stacks up against a flufflepoggle.

>>95877907 (OP)
My current pet setting has that, with it being fairly clear that humans will be outnumbered by the other races soon, if it hasn't already happened. And its entirely humanity's fault, because they made those other races to begin with.
Currently humanity is still top dog, but various non-human insurgencies challenge their dominance, and racial tensions are ramping up to a point that someone's going to get wiped out. And that all is besides the fact that the whole setting is falling apart due to all the fell magic used to create the non-human races in the first place.

>>95878507
Wait, isn't this the story of Caves of Qud

>>95879570
Didn't a recent-ish game confirm that humans exist in the Star Fox universe outside the Lylat system?

What if humans are like the Goblins of the galaxy? Normally not considered a significant threat, but if you turn around for a century you might look back to see a bunch of them have popped up, They do raiding, can be deceptively clever and gangrenous as a group. Also everyone knows what happens if they can carry off your women. So it’s the quick-breeding archetype that fit humans well.

>>95887878
Baseline does not mean baseline in the setting, it means baseline to us. So no, they can still be baseline because we the players are, in fact, humans and will measure stuff using human as default.

There is a vidya strategy game Stars in the Shadows, where humans are practically space gypsies.