Wow, this thread is humming along! Let's see...
Possibly, but I don't run published settings, nor do I have many preconceived ideas about the campaign world.
I don't run many published settings either (and frankly often throw the setting out and just use the actual "adventure" if any), but I do have more of a developed homebrew world I run most of my games in. If you treat each session zero as its own unique setting, that works well then but I generally don't.
Why?
IME people who pick traditional or typical races tend to develop their PCs history and personality as the world interacts with them. If the DM doesn't offer a world primer or the setting isn't published, thePC of common races start of as stereotypes of their race/class/background and grow from there.
Why can't a player of an atypical race PC do the same and make up a character as they go?
Why must the dragonborn, hippoman, or rockface justify their existence, but the human, dwarf and elf don't?
Which goes back to my point that people are more likely to RP a traditional race flat than an exotic one.
For established races that are more typical, it is simple enough to say, "My character is from [blank] and so and so," as where an "exotic" race requires more effort to place them in the current setting for the adventure. Since my established world is mostly with the common races, playing an unusual race is
usually permitted, but I need a reason why you're there. That being said, certain races are much more likely to be present in a region depending on the race, even unusual ones.
Then that begs the question
If the race doesn't match the setting, why is it allowed?
Why is the townfolk of every town in a kitchen sink setting so shocked by a frogman? Wouldn't they know of frogmen? Or wouldn't rumors of a lone frogman adventurer reach them?
To me, it's better to ban the race than include them halfway.
Because banning them entirely is against the "fun" of the player, so I try to be accommodating unless I feel it is a game balance issue (like the Warforged). 90% of the time, working with the player, we can come up with a reason for them to be there--
BUT I make sure they understand they
ARE unusual and will be reacted to accordingly (curiosity, mistrust, interest, or whatever depending on the reaction roll and the PC's actions).
The frogmen people might have been heard of, or maybe not, maybe a local sage will take interest and want to encourage the frogman to stay and tell about his people? Or maybe the locals will fear the frogman because some curse or illness has come to the region and they are seeking a scapegoat? When the frogman and his friends save the locals, the PCs become heroes and word of the frogman spreads. Who knows... the story will unfold.
FWIW the most extreme example is the "stranger in a strange land" scenario--where the unusual race is
literally alien to the setting and somehow was transported there and is trying to make due until they find a way home.