BETTER D&D "races": Narrative-Driven Ancestries 

i love this idea! thanks!

Amazing work on the ancestries! This is the kind of stuff that should just be written into the game by default. Anybody who thinks it's too involved could just ignore it, while everybody else would get plenty of mileage out of it in their games. I kind of already play into these things in the games I run. In character creation and active play, I encourage exploration of different cultures throughout the game world. Though I don't have them built into the rules in any way, nor do I explicitly incentivize that engagement, I always reward it in various ways, both mechanically and diegetically. For example, someone who ventures in the name of their clan both carries responsibility (your actions can fall back on the reputation of their clan as a whole), as well as benefits (your clan will sometimes help them out or award you for bringing honor upon them, or you gain abilities that only your clan and your unique experiences could have taught you). During character creation, I like to explore who a character is through conversation. I ask players a lot of questions. This sometimes even takes the form of mini-roleplaying-decisions of their own-in this, I take a cue from the venerable Ultima game series. In some of the Ultima games, you determined your character's build by answering a series of questions; the game describes a situation and you must decide between one of two different actions (which are tied to a different virtue each). Once you complete all questions, the game has generated your character and throws you into play. Similarly, I give players small insights or snippets of world, lore, and cultures that might fit their character, ask how they would have handled certain situations in their lives prior to play, and slowly close in on how the character connects into the setting. I then give them unique abilities, items, or contacts they can rely on in play. I see a common misconception in online discourse regarding things like race, culture, species, etc.: that the only way to express their differences in narrative is through racism. But this is incredibly one-sided. First off, I believe differences are something to be celebrated, and I know I'm not alone in this sentiment. A table wishing to explore darker themes can certainly use cultural differences to discuss xenophobia, but it's far from the only way to include it. It's also very "human" in nature to explore other cultures with curiosity and positivity. There are so many ways to express differences and showcase the unique nature of different cultures, such as language, speech, manners, traditions, daily rituals, festivals, storytelling, games, cuisine, family life, and so much more. It is often that people find unity and togetherness through sharing and learning of such differences! And that's why I believe it's such a valuable tool for rich and lively roleplaying scenarios. A fantasy world just feels so much more believable and alive if it feels like it's lived in, like these different species and cultures don't just exist in a vacuum, but co-exist in this same world, with history and purpose to how they live their lives.

I think this idea is great. I just don’t think temporarily hit points are a good incentive. I would give players EXP or inspiration.