I'd Tell You My Dwarf Joke...

I mean, do the woman have beards?

 

Please give me beards.

On a more serious note:

I play a dwarf because I love the race. I love my fiery stout woman who cares for tradition. I love the smithing culture but I wish dwarves had more love. If I had enough time I'd take up Wyn/Brynaelda again, but my schedule is too intense and I foster my own RP community as Elizabeth with the Almshouse for new players much more effectively. I have tried about 4 separate times to build a roleplaying group for dwarves but it has always fallen apart because either faction dwarves have their own lore, follow Tolkein lore, or cannot stick to the character. I love the dwarves and always will. My ugly gal is honestly one of the best characters I've ever made and maintained. I have done so many successful story arcs with Brynaelda. In all of my characters, I strive to better themselves as "people" and raise them up.

I seriously think that more expansions to their lore beyond these primitive people known for their smithing. I think that @Gartono and I were on a good path even with a smithing guild. More focus on them from a progression standpoint (which is hard because staff are busy and dwarves are an extreme minority).
I want dwarves to have more diverse cultures for different sects / clans / Holds of dwarves. I want dwarves to have something flashy and extraordinary, but right now that's really hard because from what I've seen dwarves are considered more short and ugly humans despite their in-lore strengths. I find that part of the problem with players is that from a surface value dwarves are less fun and interesting when you have Cro-Allar or the entire Allar race, Half-Varran, Url, etc. They just can't compete as of current and since there is such minimal interest they aren't a priority.

I played Bronwyn/Brynaelda consistently (every day) for about a year. If not a year then at least 10 months. I love her. But right now college and decreased interest. I ran a smithy for months on end and the same plots of people trying to beat up my dwarf every day continued. It became stale and I eventually dropped the slums entirely. That being said I did have fun. I do not regret any of that. Right now it's largely time constraints.

I'd love to hear from @Magivore and @Gartono

 

My longest-played OC is a dwarf, though not on Massivecraft. I tried roleplaying a dwarf here but it just ... did not feel right.

Originally, it was to find break from the long line of human nobles I played. A little change, to mind.

As to why dwarves in specific, I was drawn by community and deep lore, both of which are, sadly, lacking here.

A reconsideration of what dwarves are. Massivecraft's dwarves are boring, shallow, underdeveloped and lacking in seriousness.

The current dwarf page is quite basically a tolkien wiki's paraphrased content save for the few extra bits added by Plecy during the last revision (last revision by Plecy ... just swallow that there).

There is no diversity amongst them, not even in looks. Fantasy dwarves are seldom as boring as Massive's: the Wildhammers, Slayers, Duergars, Dark Iron clan, Forest Dwarves ... these are all niches completely absent from Massive.

Culture is wholly lacking as well, although that applies to most races. The dwarves have no developed language, subcultures much, neither do they have a detailed clan culture, honour system, grudges, fraternity. The most their page refers to is some awkward conservatism leaving them unable to choose ale.

 

...but its a little short

 

I would have to argue with you here. This is false. While I will say that the dwarves really REALLY need an update, to write them off entirely and imply that they have no subcultures, no language, clan culture, or grudges is entirely false and makes me question whether you've read all the pages. Not to come off in an inflammatory manner but when you are so blatantly criticizing the wiki it does make me wonder if you've read parts. I am including them below for your perusal at your own convenience. **You may take whatever you wish with a grain of salt, I have been an active enthusiast and representative in the past of Massivecraft dwarves. This is the only place I've really roleplayed on and to me, these are the dwarves I've known.

Not only have the dwarves had issue with the Dakkar, a now retired and extinct race, but they also had issues with neighboring Ailor settlements they stole from, and most prominently, the Isldar.
On the subject of the Isldar to my knowledge, and I will have to check again, the Isldar updates within dwarf progressions of the last year are not yet up to date. Which could give a false impression. That being said.
The dwarves are incredibly judgmental people and do hold extreme grudges. This is stated multiple times throughout the history's backstory.

On the subject of sub-cultures and sub-races. There are a few.
1. There are multiple Dwarven holds, most prominently Grebor and Aldruin, but there are also a handful of others. Notably, Grebor and Aldruin vastly differ on their social and political ideologies. There are even warring political factions of Ternoc and Fehrnen clans who battle within Aldruin for control. Grebor and Aldruin differ due to their stances on allowing trade, and Aldruin allows a little. Aldruin is the hold that fell to the Isldar in the past year.

As a sort of "side note" when you brought up the argument of fraternity, I was rather shocked as I am certain that I read that the dwarves have a large sense of community, almost a sort of agenda in the sense that once a Humorrin dwarf picks a job within their community, they must uphold that role and cannot change it. To my knowledge, the dwarven holds generally, if not all, maintain the community-oriented mindset.

2. Additionally, there are two surface level subraces of dwarves. While I can understand why you say that their culture is lacking, because without meaning to offend staff or anyone involved in the creation of dwarves, on a surface level it largely appears that the Aldor subrace of dwarves are glorified Ailor, which is also kind of justified due to their intermingling with Ailor, it does not truly assist the dwarven race at all and **in my opinion** makes them actually less appealing to any audience. I have yet to see Aldor dwarves stick around as plot-driving characters in comparison to the Humorrin. The Humorrin dwarves are your strong, beefy, culturally rich and more developed dwarves.

Additionally, if you type "Grebor" or "Aldruin" into the wiki search bar it will show up more information.
https://wiki.massivecraft.com/Grebor
https://wiki.massivecraft.com/Aldruin
(my personal favorite Hold is Aldruin)

Now, the only part of this statement that really confused me was this part:

I struggled to find that, and really cannot do so. If you wish to educate me and take a screenshot or further discuss this topic I'd be more than happy to. My discord is Miss_Confined#8341

While I do STRONGLY believe that dwarves need some sort of appealing update of any sort, I would also say that Massivecraft dwarves aren't the worst. Yes, their culture needs an update and I deeply desire someone to share the love that I have for the dwarves in effort to make change. But I also am aware that the playerbase of dwarves is small. At it's height this past year there was about 5 dwarf players that actively were in my circle. Which is great! But also not significant enough to prompt way more work for staff while they are already so busy with other projects. I have always wanted to give them the love I feel that they desperately deserve but I am in no position to do so, nor do I have the availability as of current timing.

@indyfan98 makes a really good point with this conversation and I also invite him to seek me out on discord for further discussion. This is not a bashing post to smash @Reaganism into smithereens, rather, I wish to instead point out some aspects of dwarf culture that do exist instead of writing off dwarf lore entirely as a loss to adapt it to something that does need a lot of work.

 

Mostly, I understand your dedication to the race. Also understand, however, that in my critique and references I look for substance and not empty references. This answer applies to a lot of what you contested just above.

When you say "grudge", you mean a race that does not forget harm. When I say a "grudge", I refer to the literal grudge system of the Warhammer dwarves, with the book of grudges, grudgekeepers, relevant blood oaths, slayers and all the honour duels. Other than being "revengful", this other fantasy universe demonstrates how a trait can be made part of a culture. This is missing.

The Grebor page describes how they are no longer the same as they used to be in culture, though still hold some of their original thought. Then it links the original thought, which is an unwritten wiki page. The Aldruin page hints even less, and does not even link to this one empty page.

This is not fraternity, but stubbornness. Fraternity would have been united holds against the Dakkar ... but it did not happen. Because it is a paradox in the race's lore. I roleplayed a dwarf of fraternity views, and splinter holds from the main kingdom always posed moral challenges, not even mentioning an apparent state of dozens of independent holds. If the individual dwarf cannot be independent per their racial lore, why are they splintered in their racial history and why are their insividual holds independent?

Well stated.

"A Humorrin might take minutes to decide what drink to order at a bar they’ve never visited, (...)"

Dwarf race page, mental characteristics section.

Too small to be relevant to prompt change, too large and influential to be axed as a race. Too outdated and low in quality to appeal widely, but still a popular and beloved niche to gather small numbers.

A vicious circle, yes. I would say push for updates that you propose and write of your own, but the bearded lady suggestion did not go anywhere either.

The main difference between you and I is that I nation-led dwarves in an environment where their player-written lore and history spanned 7 OOC years, and as such I really see how much weaker Massive's take on the race is.

I will state this clear: Tolkienism is not going to work. It did not work elsewhere either. Dwarves need more than what Tolkien gave them, and there are far more sources of inspiration out there. Warcraft, Forgotten Realms and Warhammer are just three, all far more popular in gaming.

What you can do? Spark this yourself. Leutz, Anglian, Vladno and Imperial cultures were all "created" mostly by players, and I bring them as examples because I saw them being created. They need a strong presence, a good appeal and an on-point design. Go further than the average player would. Make a dwarven clan that is as different from the Humorrhin definition as Ithanian or Vladno are from Heartland Ceardian.

 

• Why do you play dwarf?
  Because I like dwarves since I read Hobbit and am too stubborn to give upon them
• What do you think would attract more players to the dwarven race?
• I have seen quite few people that like dwarves but they won't touch them. But they do not like dwarves because of their lore page. They like dwarves from other media. So I gotta blame the lore first. It feels quite uninspired. They kinda focus on wrong parts. Whole rp is in Regalia and majority of dwarvendom is in diaspora. They could have taken advantage of this point and create few different diaspora cultures. Similar to different Jewish cultures that evolved in their disapora. But they instead made three subraces, one stereotypical dwarf, one dwarf with human culture and stereotypical bankers. They could instead describe new dwarven culture that was created in Regalia that was created by influence of all different cultures dwarves met there. Culture that would actually be relevant to roleplay setting. And the whole 'Anduinn sending dwarves out to serve Ailors to get their favor' kinda feels undwarven, leaving their nation while war with Isldar is happening. That is why Wulf is third generation dwarf immigrant, coming from Bjorn, hold long fallen. So it is more clear that his homeland is lost and Regalia is his new one
• What would encourage you to play your dwarf character more often?
• He is already my main, but I if there was good community it would help