I have also been thinking about this..and have come up with a fairly newish idea..
Rather then having the standard sort of different races, you could just ditch them and make various different human clans..
Some ideas;
A clan from the north, Due to harsh conditions this clan recieves bonus toughness. They would be a fighting clan and as such would recieve bonuses if they became a fighting class and additional strength.
The grey clan, Frail and weak humans (pretty much grey elves for those who know what they are ;)) They could be practically nocturnal, hence their grey complexion, To make up for them being so physically weak, they possess powerful magic (maybe summoning magic?) And use this to defend themselves.
Put a new twist on things. Far too many games have done the whole multiple human clans, or just the basic human, elf, dwarf, halfling, blah blah blah. Of course nothing is completely original, but rather than just manifesting these beings into existance, some background could be incorporated.
For instance, humans could of course exist based on basic evolution and existance. Possibly a stellar being with some name, the Ytalmae, just to provide any random name, came to investigate or ended up on the planet as the result of a cataclysmic astronomical phenomenon, or experiments on their world gone wrong. Maybe a mischievous god came down one day and decided that humans were far too lonely or boring and decided to fuse a group of them with an animal. They procreated out of instinct, voila, a race is born. To appeal to the masses still attached to the ever-standing races of dwarven or elven or halfling nature, they could be added with a twist on them as well, such as dwarves who stumbled upon a shrine deep beneath the earth, and agreed to give up their thumbs in exchange for power over a certain element, fire, we'll say. Fire dwarves! Possibly more balanced for their lack of ability to use weapons effectively.
These are improvised suggestions and by no means am I saying they're great ideas. The main point I was trying to make is originality. It may not be the most important aspect of the game, but it is an aspect which has an effect from beginning to end and might be good for interest or popularlity if it's something no one's ever seen before. So, rather than placing it in the same category as the human/elf/dwarf games, it now has a reason from the get-go to stand out.
Of course, my ideas are free for distribution if anyone wants them.
Joined: 2007-01-28