NPC mannerisms: d66 animal-folk attitudes

tl;dr: for quick and easy animal-folk cultures watch nature videos or try the d66 table below

Sparked by a twitter poll by Macca the DM asking "Do you include anthropomorphic animals in your #ttrpg games?" I was surprised to see such support for animal-folk. At a first guess, I would have said 'Yes' and 'Only RAW' would be switched.

As alluded to when answering Vayras setting questions I both use a lot of animal-folk in my home campaign and am conscious of the risk of them feeling like 'humans with different heads'. My home game is a menagerie world with 73 species/ancestries rocking about the main city combined from d50 fantasy races from Skerples and the race-oids from Lizardman Diaries Infinigrad, the Endless City and most NPCs are randomly determined unless it is plot-critical (the elven ambassador is going to be an elf).

The oracular dice had established certain groups as dominant within the city when it was first created and then those were run into most as the player interacted with some districts more than others. I recently pinged my players to see if any of the groups had been encountered frequently enough that an impressions of 'what this bunch are like' had stuck. The response was 'partial' as not many of the groups had been encountered sufficiently often for patterns to be established and for some, other factors beyond their personal heritage drove their identity.

Palace Guard Fizz, a spider-ling by Evlyn Moreau

Of groups where an impression was formed:
1. Hawklings had come across as honorable types who know their strengths and play to them.
2. Spiderlings left an impression of subtle (or sneaky in a good way) mimes.
3. Weaselings seem to enjoy their creature comforts
4. Elves tend to be self confident and competent in their field of focus
5. Tieflings are cheerfully ruthless about how things get done
6. Tabaxi have notably cat-like traits
7. Dragonborn are all marked by their poor treatment at the hands of the ruling class

For these groups - excepting elves, tieflings and dragonborn - inspiration for mannerisms and traits came from nature videos, from spiders signaling to falcons swooping to weasels playing. As an easy short-hand it is great to get started and in a somewhat 'fake it til you make it' fashion, after sufficient time acting like that, the motivations for their actions grow organically in game.

There were also many of the animal folk groups where only a single member (if any) had been interacted with in detail due to random chance so it is known only to me whether (for instance) all batlings are like that or that one guy is just a pain in the neck.

What surprised me when I started discussing perceptions of NPCs at the table was that a whole series of other factors has become clear over the campaign.
1. Sufficiently high level wizards are a species all to themselves. Weird being the most frequently used descriptor
2. Temple devotees and clerics become 'of their temple' and those habits and ways over-ride the idiosyncracies of their heritage
3. The noble houses have their own ways, similar to the temples, where it was difficult to tell if that family was representative

Palace Guard Grinbit, a badger-ling by Evlyn Moreau

I wrote up a couple of things to put in the toolkit for easy NPCs here.

In the absence of a greater attitude driver - temple membership, being a noble or a wizard, etc. - the table below offers some baseline 'animalfolk attitudes' to try and avoid the 'humans with a mask on' problem. Their mechanical modifers can be found on the original d50 fantasy races from Skerples and the race-oids from Lizardman Diaries Infinigrad.

d66	Group	Animalfolk	Attitude
1,1	Aquatics	Eel-ling	Happy to dwell in their niche, hates change
1,2	Aquatics	Fish-ling	Defensive, slow to trust, wanderers
1,3	Aquatics	Jelly-ling	Live-and-let-live,
1,4	Aquatics	Slobberer	Venturesome, patient, tough
1,5	Avian	Hawk-ling	Patient, watchful, decisive
1,6	Avian	Magpie-ling	Greedy, gregarious, smart
2,1	Avian	Owl-ling	Wise, solitary, taciturn
2,2	Avian	Raven-ling	Gregarious, gossipy, craftsfolk and collectors
2,3	Critters	Apeish	Cheerful, private, hospitable
2,4	Critters	Bat-ling	Adventurous, impatient, quarrelsome
2,5	Critters	Boar-ling	Traditionalist, like things as they should be, violent
2,6	Critters	Deer-ling	Proud, nervous, like big displays
3,1	Critters	Fox-ling	Cunning, energetic, mischevous
3,2	Critters	Frog-ling	Slippery, observant, adaptable
3,3	Critters	Goat-ling	Hard-headed, placid but fierce when roused
3,4	Critters	Hound-ling	Loyal, reckless, nosy
3,5	Critters	Possum-ling	Talkative, oblique, reckless
3,6	Critters	Rabbit-ling	Clannish, traditionalist, hospitable
4,1	Critters	Rat-ling	Collectivist, welcoming, panicky
4,2	Critters	Sloth-ling	Slow, wise, hard to interest in todays troubles
4,3	Critters	Toad-ling	Contrarian, patient, observant
4,4	Critters	Weasel-ling	Gregarious, energetic, like practical jokes
4,5	Critters	Whiskered Man	Proud, curious, lazy when not intrigued by something
4,6	Insectoid	Ant-ling	Focussed, pedantic, uncomfortable with dissent
5,1	Insectoid	Beetle-ling	Resilient, cheerful, set in their ways
5,2	Insectoid	Black Eyes	Curious, risk-takers, love secrets
5,3	Insectoid	Cockroach-ling	Terrible manners, adaptable, welcoming
5,4	Insectoid	Flea-ling	Subtle, polite, impeccable social senses
5,5	Insectoid	Fly-ling	Diligent, persistent, forthright
5,6	Insectoid	Scrabman	Organised, like rituals and traditions
6,1	Insectoid	Slug-ling	Adaptable, venturesome, cheerful
6,2	Insectoid	Spider-ling	Quick, taciturn, creative
6,3	Insectoid	Worm-ling	Quiet, keep to themselves, nervous around strangers
6,4	Plant	Cacti	Enduring, defensive, traditionalist
6,5	Saurial	Lizard-ling	Practical, hates cold, anti-social
6,6	Saurial	Scaled Man	Flighty, distracted, excited by new things