ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

A player requested that we add the ability to change the skin tones on the player doll. I imagine there'd be quite a lot of interest in this and that a lot of players would enjoy having some basic customization options for their characters.

So the question is if rex would be interested in drawing some tile options and if anyone would be interested in updating the birther to allow for it?

I'm ok with that, but it will be even nicer to have the respective lore/story bits for the different options too .

Umm lore/story for different skin tones?
I don't think "Someone in my ancestry comes from the north/south." or "I like to sunbathe at the beach a lot." is going to add much to the game.

Some lore tie ins would be good sure.

That said I don't see how it's strictly necessary either. We're talking about something that's purely cosmetic and I'm not saying we need to represent every ethnicity as it is on earth or even use ethnicity as a measure. But showing that there's some diversity and giving the players the option to pick from that diversity, in my mind anyway, is only going to be good.

But yeah, if someone wanted to write some lore that would be great too

I'd like to play a black furred yeek. Black furred yeeks have a genetic mutation and are generally revered among their kind.

Or an albino yeek. Also a mutation. But generally shunned by other yeeks.

Or a yellow furred yeek. Fairly common genetic mutation. No social status one way or the other.

This is why I don't write lore. But you get the idea.

Doing different color variations on the "red skin" cosmetic option should work for humanoid races. Adding multicolored yeeks and whatnot is another matter, but it would be a cool addition in its own right.

Some people were interested in having random skin tones for NPCs, although I imagine that would require a lot more work.

I love the skin tones idea. So much!

Some basic lore of what skin tones are common in different regions wouldn't hurt, but no reason that the work needed to create them should wait for such things. Where would you even see that lore in-game? A sentence or two in the race descriptions?

I think it would be wise to avoid attaching any kind of meaning to the skin tones. So I'd avoid the idea of skin tone being related to race, region or any other personal attributes. Otherwise, down the road, we're going to get into a situation where someone writes some lore that says the (e.g.) light-skinned folk from the (e.g.) west of the continent have done something evil, and then (stupid) people will interpret that as "OMG, DarkGod thinks all light-skinned westerners are evil IRL!"

Perhaps the best option would simply be to randomise the skin tone of the player and all NPCs. There is no need to explain this in lore. Eyal is not Earth, Eyal humans are not Earth humans, and weird things happen there. The best storytelling usually doesn't involve explaining every detail.

That'd work! Though customization options are better for the player than random, methinks.