D&D 5E We Would Hate A BG3 Campaign

[Oofta]

Definitely, I am all for compromise. But compromise goes both ways.

Compromise can’t be “I’ve created this world, play something else, deal with it!” Because that’s not a compromise.

An earlier post has a good example: tortles weren’t a good fit for the DM’s campaign, but a lake elf with tortle mechanics was. Or maybe tortles are a species of dragonborn descended from dragon turtles.

I don't think there is always a compromise. I let people know what I limit when I open an invitation, it's up to them to decide if the game is right for them.

So I don't think it's necessary or would even be good for the game to compromise no matter what. If someone wanted to literally play Superman in my D&D game, I see no way to compromise on that. While that's an extreme example, I assume telling someone "no" is effectively universal so it really is just a matter of how far a DM and group are willing to bend. Superman is obviously an extreme, but what about 3PP material? Playing an extremely evil PC in a way that makes others at the table uncomfortable? We all have limits, a list of races is just one example.

But if your definition of compromise is "give the player what they want, no matter what it is, just change the fluff" then that's not compromise either. People can always ask to play something on my list and sometimes we'll figure something out. Sometimes the answer is "no".

 

[Warpiglet-7]

So, anyone else taking such an extreme position? It’s just really easy to attack the most extreme form of an argument.

I have asked that because it seemed that way.

So here goes again!

Does anyone think there should be no limitations?

If not, what are we going on about? Dragon born? No one in my group as player or DM has expressed any interest in them…

If no one cops to no limits, then we are just arguing about a pet racial choice?

 

[FrozenNorth]

Again, this is highly unlikely. Both in Antiquity and the Medieval Period, there was an outright expectation that there could be Incredibly Weird Things in areas sufficiently far away to be exotic. In Antiquity, that could literally be "the other side of Greece." In the Middle Ages, it was closer to "the far edge of Europe," likely due to the lingering effects of the Roman Empire linking Europe together.

And we aren't just talking like, people with weird eyes or funny skin tones. We're talking literal dog-headed people. Including--I am not joking--medieval iconographic depictions of an actual Orthodox saint with a dog's head. (Specifically, St. Christopher.) They had absolutely no trouble believing that a man with a dog's head, coming from a nation of dog-headed people, had served in the (pre-Christian) Roman Legions before receiving baptism and eventually being martyred.

The song of Roland has a character whose father was black and whose mother was white. Naturally, his skin is a checkerboard pattern of white and black because that’s what happens when you’re mixed race, right?

But you raise a good point about parochialism. A lot of settings are designed by British and American people, and both Britain and the US have the quirk of having geographically isolated for a large part of their history, particularly during the periods TTRPGs focus on. As a matter of fact, Vikings sold slaves to Muslim traders at the end of the Silk Road, so it wouldn’t be unheard of to have a Scandinavian person in Afghanistan or further East.

 

[Maxperson]

Definitely, I am all for compromise. But compromise goes both ways.

Compromise can’t be “I’ve created this world, play something else, deal with it!” Because that’s not a compromise.

An earlier post has a good example: tortles weren’t a good fit for the DM’s campaign, but a lake elf with tortle mechanics was. Or maybe tortles are a species of dragonborn descended from dragon turtles.

It depends on the context. @Oofta has said repeatedly that he tells people up front what is curated and that they are welcome to join subject to that curation. A player that agrees to play that game has automatically agreed to the curation, so to show up with a character that isn't allowed is automatically wrong and is right then offering up a slap in the face. Compromise shouldn't happen for such a person.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Firefly is the perfect example of anything goes campaign.
DM Space setting where you are merchants against the evil goverment
Nat, I want to play the captain ex military

Gina, I be his side kick. No I dating Alan now. So I am married to Walsh

Alan, I just want to be a hot shot pilot

Morena, I want to be an exotic spy, no socialite.

Adam, I want to be a thug. No snipe. You know I have job could the DM have a session which gives me a reason to leave.

Jewel, I just want to be the engineer.

Summer, I want be a ninja. No Professor x. No I can’t decide.

Sean, I just want to be the healer. I try to reign Summer in.

Ron. I want to be a priest. No ex spy. No the moral compass of the group.

The Mom bans the play group after 14 sessions.

Star trek is a curate dm session

Gene, I want a space game like wagon train

Bill, I want to be captain which gets all the cute women.

Leonard, I want to be a high elf and no icky girls.

De, I want to be old healer

Jimmy can I be the enginner.

Gene, we may have let our younger brothers and sister play. I have pregens for the Navigator, weapons officer, and Radio officer.

Gene ends up going to college after 3 years of high school play.

Counterpoint. Star Wars.

 

[Maggan]

Does anyone think there should be no limitations?

According to the poll that was created as a result of this discussion 8,1% have no restrictions or limitations, at time of writing. Anything goes.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/dm-imposed-restrictions-to-the-game.701956/

Based on this discussion I would have thought it to be more like 75% for no restrictions.

 

[mamba]

So, anyone else taking such an extreme position?

not that I am aware of

It’s just really easy to attack the most extreme form of an argument.

I am not attacking the argument that there should be compromise, I agree with that. I am attacking that extreme position both for what it is and because it tries to dress up as 'only asking to be heard'

 

[mamba]

Based on this discussion I would have thought it to be more like 75% for no restrictions.

vocal minorities are real

 

[FrozenNorth]

I like to be as accommodating as possible when I run a campaign.
Problems tend to be more about the player than the player options anyway, I find.

Example: last game I ran I told the players beforehand that I might want to do an adventure in a dream realm at some point so could they not choose 'immune to sleep' type creatures.

player one: elf
player two: warforged
player three: minotaur

So, 2 out 3 characters immune to sleep, now, the elf player almost always picks elf, the war-forged player has always wanted to play a warforged. Easy enough to just handwave it and say the sleep works anyway, I told the players that and they were fine with it.

It seems to me that this is the way compromise should go in most situations.

 

[Maxperson]

vocal minorities are real

And far more common than vocal majorities.