D&D 5E What is the appeal of the weird fantasy races?

[MGibster]

That's when the first recorded representative made it to Europe from China . Marco wasn't the first to make it to China but left the best accounts.

Impossible no but the journey is so rare and epic that I wouldn't let them say they made it as part of a backstory.

I'm of the mind that just because something is possible doesn't mean it's appropriate for the campaign. And that's the difficult thing about having discussions here. Given the wide variety of games, campaigns, players, and DMs there's a near infinite combination of what works and what doesn't work. Concepts I might give the green light to in one campaign might get the red light in another. And the fact that I might give a red light doesn't mean another GM is wrong for giving it the green light.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Does this make sense? If you're a "Players as consumers" type DM, then, player input isn't really sought or expected. You have your campaign, your world and the players can take it or leave it. OTOH, if you're a "Players as collaborators" type DM, not only do you welcome player input in the design of the campaign world, you expect it.

I agree with this...up to a point. Even if you view your players as consumers, don’t you want to provide them the best product for them possible? That implies a certain amount of flexibility in dealing with player requests.

 

[FrozenNorth]

It's not like I can even remember the entirety of the rules at any given second. There's a lot of them!

Well, if you limited your world to a single race and to three classes, you would have more space to remember all the rules.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

As I said I would let a PC attempt it. It's probably easier than irl.

I wouldn't let a PC be created from abland that far away though. Well highly unlikely.

I wouldn't let an Axtek in Europe either for obvious reasons unless said PC was generated in Aztec lands and made the effort to travel to Europe I suppose.

Similar idea with Polynesians or whatever.

A fantasy world where such cultures are closer or have some sort of plausible connection (gates etc) it depends. If gate travel is part of the setting sure, someone going "I'm a gate traveller I'm XYZ" probably not.

I would work it into the campaign vs yeah sure you can be XYZ.

No I’m very curious. What would making the attempt look like?

 

[Zardnaar]

No I’m very curious. What would making the attempt look like?

Beats me but a trip like that to me is a campaign arc.

Kinda easy in D&D terms. Create food and water, remove disease.

At least for seasoned adventurers.

Also depends on world. If there's long range teleport circles and airships 6000 miles no big deal.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It was novel, but it would have been better served with a different system that could do the kind of magic and combat systems a modern-ish Horror setting needed, not one made for medieval fantasy dungeon crawls.

Well, IMO you could do that pretty easily in 5e. It’s gonna be work, worthy of going along the lines of Adventures In Middle Earth, but you could do it with much less work if you wanted.

 

[Remathilis]

Well, IMO you could do that pretty easily in 5e. It’s gonna be work, worthy of going along the lines of Adventures In Middle Earth, but you could do it with much less work if you wanted.

Yeah, I considered it. I've seen DM Guild products that have tried. In the end, I'd rather find a system that fits the genre rather than force D&D to.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Beats me but a trip like that to me is a campaign arc.

Kinda easy in D&D terms. Create food and water, remove disease.

At least for seasoned adventurers.

Also depends on world. If there's long range teleport circles and airships 6000 miles no big deal.

Huh.

Alright, I guess I just am not gonna understand your POV on this. I can’t fathom why not just let a PC be part of a crew that did the incredible but very possible feat of crossing beyond the known world without dying. I mean, it happened IRL, in various centuries and places. Why should it only be an option if the PC wants to play out that journey?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Yeah, I considered it. I've seen DM Guild products that have tried. In the end, I'd rather find a system that fits the genre rather than force D&D to.

Eh, fair enough. To me, D&D does other genres well enough that I’d rather make some new options (all that is generally needed) than try to get my group on board for a new system.

 

[Zardnaar]

Huh.

Alright, I guess I just am not gonna understand your POV on this. I can’t fathom why not just let a PC be part of a crew that did the incredible but very possible feat of crossing beyond the known world without dying. I mean, it happened IRL, in various centuries and places. Why should it only be an option if the PC wants to play out that journey?

It happened so rarely irl it is an epic adventure in its own right.

So rare using it to justify a Samurai in Europe (pre 1600) is ridiculous.

Assuming the tine is vaguely Earth like campaign. A Samurai wanting to explore west is fine but not if the DM wants a different tonebeg campaign in Kara The or whatever.

It kind of like saying in a modern setting my background I landed on the moon.