Re: Fantasy Race Bloat?
I do it all the time, it's not a big deal. Of course, I apparently do something taboo and completely decouple species from culture and behavior, as stated above. There's no elven culture, or dwarven culture, or thri-kreen culture, etc. Race is just genetics. You have nations with cultures, and whatever races are there, are there, and that's their culture ... and, of course, not everybody born into a culture embraces that culture, anyway. So, at most, I have to deal with maybe a half-dozen major cultures, no matter how many species are running around the continent.
I also believe that there is only one bad reason to play a character, and that's spoiling the game for everybody else. Anything else I consider a valid reason, whether it's 'I have cool powers' or 'I look awesome' or 'I want to turn this stereotype on its head' or anything else. So long as it's not ruining the game for anybody else, whether by being broken or by the player being disruptive, I keep my hands off it.