Are there any RPGs with elves in them that AREN'T insufferable stuck-up assholes?

Ughubughughughughughghlug said:
As long as we're on the subject of alternative fantasy, I've been thinking about the idea of what high fantasy, constructed from the ground-up from an American perspective, would look like. Like, high fantasy pretty much all draws directly from European mythology and history. There's almost always an Empire that collapsed in the distant past and was superseded by a bunch of kingdoms. There's almost always elves, dwarves, dragons, and the like.

After all, Tolkien created Middle-Earth in large part because he wanted to create a mythology for a country that didn't have a distinct national mythology (England).

So what does the American fantasy look like, where instead of the Medieval historical setting being merged with magic, otherworldly creatures, and the like, it's the Western? Some authors have tried, but I don't know as any of them were committed to just being "the American Tolkien." The closest it seems to get is Deadlands, which is an alternate history set in the West which has magic (mostly in the sense of Native American magic, and magic involving Faustian deals and gambling; the travelling gambler archetype is merged with the wizard archetype) and monsters (horror creatures and folklore).

I think somebody could make something interesting by taking inspiration from Tolkien and Deadlands and creating a high fantasy which is set in a world analogous to the US, where instead of kings it's dictators and republics, a march of industrializing civilization against the savages, and the creatures and magic draw from Native American and American folkloric ideas. Breaking fantasy's addiction to elves and dwarves (but the Indian equivalents would be fine, if they exist). A fantasy version of the South could also be just as interesting for that sort of thing (going for more of a gothic feeling).
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Every culture has elves/fairies. For example, the Choctaw had ones they called the Kowi Anukasha which literally means "forest dwellers." As for dragons, they had those too. Amhuluk, Paisa, etc.
 
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Elves are always gonna be faggots.

The only good thing about Elves I can think of is a setting where Elves are poor forest dwellers with a low social status with male Elves being pushed around like weak bitches and serve human women and the Elvin women work in brothels and are also kidnapped to be used as sex slaves for their male human overlords.
 
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Shield Breaker said:
Every culture has elves/fairies. For example, the Choctaw had ones they called the Kowi Anukasha which literally means "forest dwellers." As for dragons, they had those too. Amhuluk, Paisa, etc.
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Every culture has something kind of equivalent to elves/fairies in the sense of little mischief-makers of the woods, but not necessarily (I don't think) equivalent to little Tinkerbells or Kubler elves. Dragons can also vary drastically in depiction, although to be fair, they vary quite a bit in high fantasy too.

Francis E. Dec Esc. said:
Harry Turtledove wrote a trilogy of books about a high fantasy version of the American Civil War, called the 'War Between the Provinces'.
There's also Manly Wellman's 'Silver John' books and short stories.
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That's a false example, though, because while it's drawing its history from American culture, the aesthetic is firmly high Medieval/traditional fantasy. Crossbows instead of guns, magic carpets, kings and castles, etc.

Silver John sounds more like urban fantasy mixed with folklore, but it's much more in the direction I had in mind. I'm going to see if I can find a copy of one of the books; it sounds interesting in its own right.
 
Ughubughughughughughghlug said:
Every culture has something kind of equivalent to elves/fairies in the sense of little mischief-makers of the woods, but not necessarily (I don't think) equivalent to little Tinkerbells or Kubler elves. Dragons can also vary drastically in depiction, although to be fair, they vary quite a bit in high fantasy too.



That's a false example, though, because while it's drawing its history from American culture, the aesthetic is firmly high Medieval/traditional fantasy. Crossbows instead of guns, magic carpets, kings and castles, etc.

Silver John sounds more like urban fantasy mixed with folklore, but it's much more in the direction I had in mind. I'm going to see if I can find a copy of one of the books; it sounds interesting in its own right.
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It really depends. The Cherokee have three separate types of fae, including the little mischief makers, to a type that is more like the elves of England (living underground, tall as men, etc.)
 
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The elves in Bound by Flame are pretty cool guys, sheltering what's left of humanity in their jungle homes. Their prince even has a pretty nice beard.
 
The Drow are magical Soviet Slavs with the Females being party officials abusing the male workers and constantly backstabbing their equals and lying to their superiors in a Machiavellian clusterfuck. Which doesn't make them not insufferable stuck up assholes but it's at least for very different reasons then normal high elves.
 
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