Dwarf's

characteristic of the majority of tolkien's dwarves which were simplified further for early dnd which itself is either simplified further or used as the jumping board for everyone's idea of fantasy

to stretch it out of this notion of what dwarves/dwarfs ought to be and not just be "my dwarfs/dwarves are like regular dwarves/dwarfs but" you might as well just create your own race

>>53206193
Probably same reason why dwarves are very similar physically and culturally too from setting to setting, unlike elves or even orcs.

Dwarves are basically just bizarro humans.

>>Dwarf's originally have a massive Empire
They certainly don't have an empire, not in the sense what we understand under an empire.

>>53206332

Okay, they have a large powerful nation, whatever.

>>53206390
They have several independent city states. The iron hills and beyond weren't that affected by Khazad-dum getting buttfucked into ruin by a disgruntled maia.
Some of them even allied with Sauron and helped orcs.
Though if we take the letter of the Silmarilion at face value that only elves as a race were undivided in their siding against the darkness, that means there are good orcs somewhere. Which is hard to believe given orcs are hateful and miserable by nature.

>>53206193
Outside of WHFB I can't think of any setting that fits all your meme arrows to be honest.

>>53207961

>Though if we take the letter of the Silmarilion at face value that only elves as a race were undivided in their siding against the darkness

That passage obviously meant for you to count orcs as the darkness that the elves were against.
I'm inclined to believe that good orcs would just become elves or humans but as Tolkien never wrote an orc redemption story they are uniformly evil.

>>53208049
I guess they could be neutral brigands that didn't answer the call of any dark lord.

>>53208100
Can brigands be neutral? Seems like an evil profession to me.

>>53208122
Evil but not aiding Sauron. They could just as easily loot and pillage his lands or those of his servants just as much as they would any of the free peoples.

>>53208122
>>53208207
Like the Goblins out of the misty mountains during the war of the ring.You'll recall that fight between Sarumons Uruk-Hai, Orcs of Mordor and the Goblins from the mountains.

>>53208358
>Sarumon
That explains why his uruks dreadlocks.

>>53208207
>>53208358
Yeah I get what you mean now. It was just D&D rotting my brain.

>>53206193
have you tried Dragon Age? the Dwaves and Elves barely interact with each other, and even though both have existed for thousands of years, they still know fuck all about each other and seem fine with it.

>>53209260
>elves are niggers and sjw pandering ruin the series: the example
No.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uxfoa23skHg

Dwarves are a universal constant.

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>>53206193
You know what I really want to see, just once? Dwarven lich necromancers, with some dwarven skellingtons in some nice dwarven fortress.

I personally tend to think of Dwarves like the Swiss, living in mountainous terrain, keeping to themselves and very militarily defensive, and always out to earn more gold.

>>53209382
>Not Tolkien Ensemble/10

>>53209614
Do they make chocolate?

>>53207961
What about Durin's folk, or to be exact, the Longbeards? They held the most territory if memory serves correct. (Moria, Angband, Erebor, and the Blue mountains next to Linden.)

Surely with the sheer size of their territory they could be considered an empire?

>>53206193
Because the default version of dwarves is what people expect.

>>53210077
Not really, those cities are pretty independent.
You can say it's like a tribe settled in different parts of the world. Same people but not that affected if their western cousins get eaten by angels or dragons.

>>53207961

Isn't that just because they tend to call evil, broken Elves 'Orcs'?

Iron Kingdoms setting.

Bam.

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>>53209614

>>53210041

Aye, t'finest Dwarven chocolates, handcrafted and inlaid with lagomorphic decoration, wrapped in gold and sealed with a golden chime.

Or for more common fare, Dwarven chocolate peaks; miniature mountain ranges of chocolate and nougat sealed within triangular tubes, can be used as an improvised weapon.

I've stopped including Dwarves in my homebrew settings unless I'm actively aiming for a Tolkein feel. I don't like going with standard Elves or Halflings either.

>>53206193
>Dwarves are a fledgling industrial nation
>Rapid expansion and growth in present day
>Good relations with Elves, hates Humans
>Willing to bury the hatchet if trade and good times can be secured

>>53210290
...So your saying Dwarves made Toblerone?

>>53206193
Because I said so.

>>53206193
My dwarfs still have their empire.
Bad relations with elves turned out to just work with the history of the setting, but was completely unintended.
They are obsessed with religion and status in mine.

>>53206193
I like my dwarves as former mountain dwellers who are now nomadic steppe peoples, mounted archers, pastoralists and expert textile craftspeople who maintain few permanent settlements. Traditionalist/religious minority keep to the old ways, live underground, and commune with the earth. They favor spears, axes, hammers and other multi-purpose arms that can also work as tools. They make armor out of natural materials primarily, and though they've not lost any of their smithing skills as a culture they don't generally rock heavy metal armor.

I've a feeling that dwarves occupy a niche in fantasy as 'that one good-aligned, decent underground-dwelling race', and since there are not any real-world analog cultures like that, they end up maintaining that position in most settings. Other races who live on the surface like we do are much easier to modify using real-world cultural influences and inspirations.

>>53209333
Origins was a perfectly good game, with a perfectly good setting, it only went to shit after that.

Don't go dissing my gamefu.

>>53206193
>Dwarf's
I don't respect the opinion of anyone who thinks that's how you spell Dwarves

>>53209614
>I personally tend to think of Dwarves like the Swiss, living in mountainous terrain, keeping to themselves and very militarily defensive, and always out to earn more gold.
I'm swiss and I agree.
Also : we don't actually have gold or paintings or any riches

>>53212300
>Also : we don't actually have gold or paintings or any riches
That's exactly what someone hiding gold, paintings and riches would say.

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>>53212319
N-no

>>53206193
Because dwarves, on the contrary to elves, work perfectly well in any given setting without the need to modify or alter the basic traits that define them.

Elves on the other hand since they're generally the mary sues of the setting they're in need to be modified to cater to the power-fantasy of those who play them

My dwarves are seperated by terrain love.

Northern dwarves loved their caves, war and gold. They started the last great war and are assumed wiped out. They were xenophobic to all races, not just elves. Their cities had mines that were connected together for easier travel to avoid the other races who didn't dare dig below.

Southern dwarves love the sea, the ports, and their gold. They keep a peaceful strong-arm on the southern trade routes and have amassed a large island nation. Their steam ships offer faster travel, and their iron navy is the pride of the ocean. Also they float well and dont sink like rocks.

Probably dumb to some (or most) but it's different than all dwarves in mountains.

>>53207961
Wasn't there some Elven king who got murdered in his own home by dwarves that visited him?

>>53212386
Yeah, but they were double-teamed by the greatest treasure of the elves and the greatest treasure of the dwarves. It'd be like some muslim holding the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail in his basement, you'd probably murder his ass too.

>>53212476
>it's okay when dwarves do it

>>53212476
>It'd be like some muslim holding the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail in his basement, you'd probably murder his ass too.
Fuck no. I've seen Indiana Jones. When I hear someone has all that in his basement, I turn around and run the fuck away before the soul sucking happens.

>>53212696
In fairness, Tolkien elf-lords might well be able to do that too, I wouldn't know.

>>53206193
>dwarves have a mediocre empire with 3 cities
>it collapses because of a threeway civil war
>one of the splinters likes humans and elves, a third only likes elves, and the third is hostile to all non-dwarves
>obsessed with discovering their history and protecting their allies
Warcraft confirmed for most unique dwarves

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>>53212346
>must have exist since forever
>long ass lifespans guaranteed
>because of this they're got to be experts
>believes they know better than anyone
>usually some kind of innate magic fuckery
>must somehow be in-tune with nature/existence/somebullshit
>conventionally attractive even if they're the more alien-y kind

or

>generally craftspeople
>hard workers
>enjoy material pursuits
>possibly greedy
>short and hirsute

fucking this

>>53212346
>>53212879
>fat and bearded
>angry, belligerent, intolerant
>stuck to their ways and hard to get new ideas through their heads
>near-incomprehensible accents
>drink a lot
>almost universally male
>live underground

I think the real reason dwarves don't change much is that they're basically neckbeard wish fulfillment: you get to be exactly what you want and yet also really strong and beating up goblins and shit.

>>53212930
lel
That too, and because of it most find that Dwarves are more "likable" than Elves

>Can you more easily identify with common human vices/virtues or do you feel old and assume you know best?

>>53209614
That's because dwarves are fantasy jews and swiss are mountain jews.

>>53213190
Dwarves? Likable? Dwarves are like "good Orcs". There's nothing likable about them.

And don't get me started on hobbits, halflings and gnomes.

>>53206193
I kinda want to do a golden age dwarf civilisation for once. Elves and dwarves tend to be constantly crumbling.

Actually if there is ONE thing from Tolkien I would want to get rid of, it's the "nostalgia" (I feel it may not be the word) of age past.
Not that it's necessarily bad, Tolkien did it good I think, but I find it almost everywhere I look in fantasy and it tires me.

>>53212930
The fuck you have against Welsh people

>>53214821
They have a stupid language and they shag sheep.

>>53212879
>>53212930
On a more serious note, dwarves are piss easy to represent, despite their attitude/quirks. They can adapt easily to whatever fantasy setting you got. If there's metal, craftmanship of any kind, and gold, a dwarf will fit right in without any problem.

Elves, since they're almost always immortal assholes, need to be adapted because they have a much more vague trope of "immortal and ancient beings that are superior to everyone in any way except a few precise things, and may or may not be dicks about it"

dwarves, simply put, don't need to be diversified, because thy are just so much adaptable in their default traits that doing anything else would seem unnecessary