D&D General A glimpse at WoTC's current view of Rule 0

[Mort]

I would much rather have a DM who has a clear vision for their world and works hard to deliver a tone and style unique to them than giving everyone a vote. A DM has to be enthusiastic about their game. If I would like to play a dragonborn but can't I can always come up with a dozen different characters that will fit. There is nothing unique about playing a dragonborn that I can't replicate RP wise with another race.

I'll agree that a DM who has a clear vision and works to deliver a unique style and tone is (usually) a big plus.

But so are players who advocate for their interests and who express enough interest in the world to want to influence it. Very few DMs have a world that is SO developed that all or even most ground has been covered.

If a player comes to me with a race, if I have an ACTUAL reason to not let them play it - I will say so. But if the reason is, I just hadn't thought about that race? Then more likely that not, we can have a discussion about fitting that race in.

 

[Emerikol]

In which case either the majority wins, or the GM tie breaks. Neither of those seems a particular thing to slow things down.

And every single time, if I would not have relented on the rule, that would be the end of the game which is the exact same outcome you get with my approach but I'm up front about it.

I'm not going to play a roleplaying game where a committee of players can overrule the DM. I won't even start a game with that caveat. I hope you put that in your session 0 document. Oh wait who is writing that? the committee? Maybe the committee should just DM the game.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I'll agree that a DM who has a clear vision and works to deliver a unique style and tone is (usually) a big plus.

But so are players who advocate for their interests and who express enough interest in the world to want to influence it. Very few DMs have a world that is SO developed that all or even most ground has been covered.

I literally wrote the novel of my world (6, actually) and I still have room in it for things the players want that I didn't think of or don't personally care about.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I am quite positive that this time we have the conversation about the division of authority between players and the GM in D&D, using absolutist language on theoretical concerns, backed by personal anecdotes...

...this time it will be different.

Or, perhaps we are likely to re-enact the same conversation? Wonder what the odds in Vegas are on this?

(FWIW, I will again say that different tables work differently, rules can't stop jerks, and people should have fun. Other than that, have at it!)

 

[TwoSix]

If a player comes to me with a race, if I have an ACTUAL reason to not let them play it - I will say so. But if the reason is, I just hadn't thought about that race? Then more likely that not, we can have a discussion about fitting that race in.

Yep. I've mentioned this anecdote recently, but I had a player who wanted to play a half-orc/half-leonin. Certainly not a hybrid I had considered before, but we bashed some mechanics together and she really enjoyed the character.

 

[Thomas Shey]

And every single time, if I would not have relented on the rule, that would be the end of the game which is the exact same outcome you get with my approach but I'm up front about it.

Thanks for supplying me with an example next time I need to reference an overly top-down GM.

 

[Emerikol]

If a player comes to me with a race, if I have an ACTUAL reason to not let them play it - I will say so. But if the reason is, I just hadn't thought about that race? Then more likely that not, we can have a discussion about fitting that race in.

I guess being a heavy world builder it's never going to be the case I didn't think about that race. In rare instances, I have allowed a one off unique race but there were conditions. As a unique being we had to have a reasonable origin story. In my example it was a warforged that a wizard had crafted and then died. So the warforged started out into the world.

Playing a unique race is always going to be harder. The world is very suspicious of outsiders and unique outsiders are often objects of fear. The whole group needs to commit because this is going to be at least some aspect of the ongoing campaign.

 

[TwoSix]

I am quite positive that this time we have the conversation about the division of authority between players and the GM in D&D, using absolutist language on theoretical concerns, backed by personal anecdotes...

...this time it will be different.

Or, perhaps we are likely to re-enact the same conversation? Wonder what the odds in Vegas are on this?

(FWIW, I will again say that different tables work differently, rules can't stop jerks, and people should have fun. Other than that, have at it!)

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

 

[Oofta]

I'll agree that a DM who has a clear vision and works to deliver a unique style and tone is (usually) a big plus.

But so are players who advocate for their interests and who express enough interest in the world to want to influence it. Very few DMs have a world that is SO developed that all or even most ground has been covered.

If a player comes to me with a race, if I have an ACTUAL reason to not let them play it - I will say so. But if the reason is, I just hadn't thought about that race? Then more likely that not, we can have a discussion about fitting that race in.

When we start a campaign we discuss options. If we're using my campaign world though, I've spent a long time making that world make sense to me. If I fit one race in I have no reason to fit a second, third and tenth. I just don't see an issue with not getting to play the species I want to play, as a player I have nearly infinite character ideas compared to the DM who has one established world. It's different if each campaign is a unique world that is built for that campaign.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

One must imagine Sisyphus happy.

Sisyphus is unavailable; he is currently having a get-together with D&D enthusiasts, and he has been promised release from his tasks if he can get all of them to agree on what exactly happened with 4e.