D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

[Scribe]

It’s almost like a not insignificant population want to be non-conformist no matter what.

Within nerd culture?!

 

[DammitVictor]

I agree with the cure, but not the diagnosis. If anything, the "weird" doesn't come out of political correctness, but by a adherence to traditionalism. They want the Tolkien-inspired mentality of humans asecendant, demi-humans (elves, dwarves, gnomes and halflings) in decline or a minority player in the world, and everything else to be a monster used for villains (orcs, drow, goblins, gnolls, kobolds, etc). The problem isn't a "just like earth" issue, but a "just like Middle Earth" one.

Yeah. And... like, those totally are tropes, but they're not the only tropes. They weren't even the only tropes when they were the ones Tolkien used for reasons in his work. They're not at all present in Narnia-- which would make a dooope D&D setting with the serial numbers filed off, like Dragonlance X Iron Claw-- and I'd dare someone to do a D&D adventure with the subtext of Rogues in the House.

People should build their fantasy settings however they want, but... there's a sort of tunnel vision about what "fantasy" can or should be, and that's... like, the very opposite of fantasy. I'll die on the hill that any given setting should be its own thing, but I'll also say that any two given settings should also be two different things. I feel like those are two sides of the same coin, and it bothers me that it doesn't seem to have very much currency.

 

[DammitVictor]

I have had settings that are very far from that traditional perspective and players STILL want to buck the trend. It’s almost like a not insignificant population want to be non-conformist no matter what.

Within nerd culture?!

And then they will weep, for they will have no more envelopes left to push.

Nerds destroy their own fun.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

My understanding is that there's a shortage of games. Period. The number of folks who are willing to run games is small compared to the number of folks who want to play games.

This is definitely true online but in my experience the exact opposite is true for in-person groups.

There is a huuuuuuge number of people who have never played DnD before and say they want to try it (but don't remotely understand the time commitment required for a successful group), and then most of the people who are dedicated to playing DnD routinely want to be DMs. People who actually show up consistently as Players for a long period of time are the true unicorns who make in-person DnD possible.

 

[Hussar]

I don’t think this is true, I think I and others have made it pretty clear it’s about dissonance with the setting presented not about races different from the traditional norm.

I have had settings that are very far from that traditional perspective and players STILL want to buck the trend. It’s almost like a not insignificant population want to be non-conformist no matter what.

Like I said, this is certainly my experience. If the DM says, "Let's do X", without fail, players will want to be the "exception to X". And the worst part is, it's inconsistent. I gave up on trying to really deep dive into setting. It just wasn't worth the squeeze. So, I ran a Spelljammer campaign and said up front it was going to be a "planet of the week" style, episodic campaign.

So, one of my players decided to question, extensively, EVERY SINGLE DETAIL. He wanted to know everything about everything and incessantly asked for me information. When I finally challenged him on the point - because in the previous campaign he could not have given the slightest about this sort of setting detail - he said he would only be able to enjoy a campaign that felt "real".

I just about lost my poop at that point. He pulled a complete 180 from one campaign to the next. Went from a "Man with No Name" character to "I have deep backstory and connection to everything around me and I need details so I can properly flesh out my character".

It's to the point where I figure that I just have to pitch the opposite of the campaign I actually want to run, but, I'm too scared because I just know that the players will 100% bite onto the pitch just to drive me crazy.

 

[Bravesteel25]

So, one of my players decided to question, extensively, EVERY SINGLE DETAIL. He wanted to know everything about everything and incessantly asked for me information. When I finally challenged him on the point - because in the previous campaign he could not have given the slightest about this sort of setting detail - he said he would only be able to enjoy a campaign that felt "real".

That is exactly it. I encounter that type of stuff all the time as well. I can’t decide if I’m crazy or the people doing it are!

Like was said earlier, I don’t for a minute think anyone is doing it out of malice, but I have certainly had players outright deny they are doing things like that. It really challenges my desire to want to GM in the first place.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

but don't remotely understand the time commitment required for a successful group

There is no massive time commitment for a player beyond turning up for 3 hours once per fortnight. Maybe if you go round suggesting that there is, it is putting potential players off.

then most of the people who are dedicated to playing DnD routinely want to be DMs

Hell no! I've not come across anyone who wants to be a DM! They do it because if they don't no one else will, largely because no one else has the time.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

There is no massive time commitment for a player beyond turning up for 3 hours once per fortnight. Maybe if you go round suggesting that there is, it is putting potential players off.

There are so many DMs in my area looking for players but unable to find any stable groups of people who want to play. I just want players to show up over half the time, give a warning ahead of time when they'll miss a session, and have fun when they do show up. Almost everyone I ever meet who wants to dedicate that much time to DnD also wants to run the show, so it's really hard to actually get a chance to DM

 

[Hussar]

There are so many DMs in my area looking for players but unable to find any stable groups of people who want to play. I just want players to show up over half the time, give a warning ahead of time when they'll miss a session, and have fun when they do show up. Almost everyone I ever meet who wants to dedicate that much time to DnD also wants to run the show, so it's really hard to actually get a chance to DM

Can I move to where you live? Pretty please?

 

[Bae'zel]

wait so why do they keep doing that?

I honestly don’t know, but part of it might be that my friends are all neuro divergent goofs who flit from one passionate interest to another each week. They may have thought “oh yeah, ancient greek Odyssey character” one day, but by the time we’ve gotten started, they’re really, really obsessed with Baldur’s Gate 3 and really really want to be a Dragonborn Dark Urge. Or a Jedi.