Why Shard Ain't Full Of Furries?

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    • RE: Why Shard Ain't Full Of Furries?

      Well depending on your definition of furry shard can be full of furries. I go by the, anyone that likes anthro animals. May it be movies with talking dogs, or anime with catgirls, or loves animals. Going by that view nearly everyone is a fur.

      Other people think of furry as people who think they have a spirit of an animal or is a reincarnation of an animal. Also some think of it more along the way of the native americans and believe they have animal spirit guides. This narrows the group of people who fit a little more.

      Some people define furry as a person that has perverted thoughts about animals and/or anthros. This goes more under bestiality than furry I think. Many people who call themselves furry are often thrown in with this crowd and more often than not they belong in the 'fan' or 'spiritual' groups.

      In the end furry is what you make of it, so everyone here is furry and is not furry. It all depends on who you ask.


      I think of myself as furry in the since of I like books/shows that have animal characters in them. Also the fact that I would like to build a wolf sanctuary one day for rescue wolves. However I don't take part in many of the odd things that furs have come to be known for.


      I hope this explained furry, if you want more detail just message me.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by LostFoxeh ().

    • RE: Why Shard Ain't Full Of Furries?

      Well, hey there: Thanks for the answer!

      I already kinda know what furries are, I was just asking, since I read in this revue

      examiner.com/x-11209-Lexington…m7d13-Shard-An-RPG-Review

      this: "Something the authors of Shard make clear, Zoics are not furries. No attempt is made to make any of the ninety Zoic types presented in the core book a cute cartoon abstraction."

      I was wondering what are furries to the authors of Shard & why the Shardites aren't.

      Or is the revuer wrong?


      Thanks again!
      A-L
    • RE: Why Shard Ain't Full Of Furries?

      The game was created with Zoics as an artistic and design choice. We loved the variety that could be offered to players as character choices (we started out with 90 animal templates) and we loved the "look" of these animal people in the Indian/Eastern setting. We didn't want the usual fantasy races (elves, dwarves, faeries, trolls, etc.), but we didn't want to create a bunch of alien races that folks would not be able to connect. Not to mention that many fantasy and scifi authors have used animal-people as a common trope (the feline race, the avian race, the saurian race, etc.). And they do so because they're familiar to people.

      Further, as Foxeh pointed out, the term "furry" comes with a lot of baggage. It means different things to different people. And it has also come to represent (at least in my mind) a certain look to the anthropomorphic characters. Usually it's a more cartoony approach that seems highly influenced by anime (big eyes, hair on animals to make them seem more human, sexy and provocative poses and clothing, etc.). Our approach was not influenced by this. It was influenced by the various anthropomorphic representations that exist in many Eastern mythologies.

      That said, we were certainly aware of furry fandom and knew that this game would appeal to that fandom. I have no objections with SHARD being called a "furry" game, but I appreciate that RPG fans have embraced the game even though they do not consider themselves "furry" fans. They clearly see a distinction, and quite honestly so do we.

      To use another example, watch the making of KUNG FU PANDA on the DVD features. That will explain more of what I'm talking about. The makers of the film didn't choose animals because they considered themselves "furries" or because they wanted to make a "furry" movie. They chose to do animals because of the kid appeal and because kung fu Chinese animals would be a cooler visual than human kung fu warriors. They saw the mental real estate value (meaning the built-in audience expectation) of making tiger warriors, and monkey warriors, etc., because it fit the Chinese mythology, especially in light of the fact that many of the martial arts styles are inspired by the very animals they used. It made sense to make KUNG FU PANDA.

      So if KUNG FU PANDA is furry, then SHARD is also furry. But only insofar as they both have anthropomorphic animals chosen because it suited the setting and offered fun, cool characters for audience members to identify with and be entertained by. It's furry after the fact.
    • That is what kept me away from D&D I really don't care for dwarves or Elves, and aliens are too creepy for me to imagine myself as one. I would like to be able to get into my character when I play. Don't look at me like I am crazy >.>

      I really like the fact that Shard does not call it's self furry. That will only lead to problems that no body wants. There is a whole history lesson about why, and I'm still learning about the stories from other furs.

      I also like how they chose the more realistic artstlyes over the manga anime types. But please don't photoshop the heads of animals on the bodies, it just doesn't look as good XD.

      Just a trivia thing, many furs consider Ancient Egyptians and Native Americans to be some of the first furs.