Q&A with Jeffery Quinn

[Havard]

Jeff, the post I am quoting below was just brilliant. Thanks!

Another thing that was new in the D20 Sourcebook was the additional information about the elves (Cumasti/Westryn split for instance). Who came up with those ideas?

That would be me. I have always seen elves and vampires as illuminated by the same spotlight. The wild, secretive, xenophobic, and deadly side of the elven personality are the Westryn. The civilized, hyper-intelligent, snobbish, and seductive elves are the Cumasti. View them as the noble rake/primal beast vampiric dichotomy.

Pretty interesting perspective!

I wanted to see lofty, flowing, artistically-twisted spires set in pristine wooded glades. But I also wanted to see a bleak, grey wasteland of death and ruin. I kept two pictures locked in my mind when designing these guys: Cumasti, New York City and Rivendell; Westryn, the scene in Lord of the Rings where Arwen (in her vision) is standing vigil over her husband, a dead King Aragorn, and the world rots around her.

New York City? Rivendell was really my association with Redwood as well. I love the imagery you describe for the Westryn here!

So, the elves of Blackmoor are sensual, deliberate, deadly, beautiful, horrific, and wise.

Hearing these descriptions of the thoughts behind the elves really adds to my understanding of how this race was intended.

In the 4e version, I was a little unhappy to see that the 4e PHB races were given an opportunity to appear in Blackmoor. I understand why they were given that chance, I just wasn't pleased. If I really wanted to include the 4e PHB races in Blackmoor, I would make the eladrin into the Cumasti and the elves into the Westryn.

That makes sense. It seems like much less of a break with previous material than what has been done with other settings.

Tiefling ---> Afridhi half-demon or Coot-spawn humans

Looks like we are having similar ideas here.

Deva ---> City of the Gods human (awoken from a sleep chamber)

This is a pretty interesting idea. I have a blog post planned for the near future which might incorporate this....

Gnome ---> Gnome

I have to say I like the Fey connection to the Gnomes in 4E. They really seem to have been a bit misplaced in older editions, especially in a setting like Blackmoor where the invention element is distributed among many races...

Goliath ---> Half-giant or half-ogre

Works. One of the more interesting legacies from 3E.

Shifter ---> Beastmen

A bit different than how I am seeing the Beastmen, but I have toyed with the idea of Beastmen with Shifter-like abilities.

Bladeling ---> Bladeling (from the City of the Gods or the Ash Hills)

A strange creature. Related to Ash Goblins?

Drow ---> Scarrythe Elf (descendants of Cumasti and Westryn clans that were tainted by a Scar)

I love this idea! Maybe with some modified visuals?

Shadar-kai ---> Afridhi

Really? I guess I dont know enough about the Shadar-Kai...

Warforged ---> Liberated/Rogue Automaton

Yeah, I had alot of different theories on Warforged, but I agree that this is probably the best option. I have toyed with the idea that Blackmoor Unviersity mages may have been able to duplicate such automatons, but maybe that is too early still?

Thanks again!


-Havard