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

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I am blessed with players that enjoy deep roleplaying not focused on outlier races or skin suits. So I end up with human-centric parties with the odd Tolkien race. Which is how I prefer it as GM, so all is well. And yes, we’re old.

 

[Epic Meepo]

If nothing else, this thread has convinced me that if I ever end up recruiting strangers to play in a pick-up game I'm running, I'm going to audition both the players and their proposed characters before accepting anyone into the group.

 

[Hussar]

If nothing else, this thread has convinced me that if I ever end up recruiting strangers to play in a pick-up game I'm running, I'm going to audition both the players and their proposed characters before accepting anyone into the group.

Having played online for a long time, yeah, it's not unreasonable. I used to be a "hey, you want to play? Come on in?" kind of host. I got burned so many times that now, I am very particular about who I game with. I am far more likely to walk away from a group than I was, for sure. And, when talking to prospective new players, I really do try to outline expectations.

It makes sense really. We're going to be spending dozens, if not hundreds of hours together doing something. We really should try to make sure that everyone is at least close to being on the same page.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Having played online for a long time, yeah, it's not unreasonable. I used to be a "hey, you want to play? Come on in?" kind of host. I got burned so many times that now, I am very particular about who I game with. I am far more likely to walk away from a group than I was, for sure. And, when talking to prospective new players, I really do try to outline expectations.

It makes sense really. We're going to be spending dozens, if not hundreds of hours together doing something. We really should try to make sure that everyone is at least close to being on the same page.

maybe that idea of rpg pseudo dating sites is to totally insane

 

[Umbran]

But you can see the tons and tons of political correctness: In a modern RPG everyone must be 100% equal. And everything must bend and change to the Hollywood View point.

First, please note that dismissing, or labeling things as bad, because of "political correctness" is against the site's inclusivity policy. So, please watch it.

More conversationally, claims like, "In a modern RPG everyone must be 100% equal," seems pretty vague, and very poorly supported.

It would help if you defined what you meant by "modern" for these purposes - the past 5, 10, 25 years?

It would also help to see what data you have supporting this contention - like, perhaps, a documented survey of games and their mechanics and settings, and their internal positions on racism, sexism, and the like? And how you are differentiating, "political correctness" from the basic game design concept of letting players play what they want.

We often see folks complain about, say, how in D&D orcs are no longer depicted as slavering evil, and how D&D game art has less cheesecake, and includes the occasional disabled person, and then an assertion like you make above. But, there's no systematic support for the idea for us to take seriously.

Just like at a lot of the "historical" shows on the streaming services, for example.

Again, vague. If you aren't going to name names, and give well-considered critique, this is not really a support.

If you mean that presentations of history are noting how history was a moral and ethical mixed bag... well, I think that's probably because history actually was a moral and ethical mixed bag. History is a poster child for "don't ever meet your heroes", because your heroes will turn out to be mere humans, and have flaws.

Modern RPGs are the same, just look at say WotC's "dos and don't " list for writers.

Did someone present this alleged list upthread? Where is a version of it with documentation of its provenance? Have you, personally, read the list? Because "everyone knows" that it exists isn't actually support for the contention.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

maybe that idea of rpg pseudo dating sites is to totally insane

Because dating sites work so well…

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It is true a huge number of gamers like the "Middle Earth" setting, or even just the "Old Earth" setting. Middle Earth is a lot like Old Earth in many ways.

The Default DM often loves the "just like Old Earth" low/no magic setting as it is simple and easy.

But you can see the tons and tons of political correctness: In a modern RPG everyone must be 100% equal. And everything must bend and change to the Hollywood View point. Just like at a lot of the "historical" shows on the streaming services, for example. Modern RPGs are the same, just look at say WotC's "dos and don't " list for writers.



This is true. Though I would point out if you have a setting that is far, far from traditional then players can't "non-conform"


I'm on the other side of this. Hard Fun. Players can ask NO questions during the game. So, like recently a player made a cool ghost dwarf from a lost FR dwarven nation. I gave the player an e-mail of "what your character would know" and a list of "recommended reading." They player does none of it, and shows up for the game Clueless. Even just an hour into the game and the player is all upset as their character is Clueless. They whine that I should just tell them stuff "their character knows". My response is harsh "If you can't be bothered to read an e-mail, why should I bother telling you anything?"

And I'm way worse for not knowing the rules or what your character can do. More then three seconds of "um, um, um" and I say "your character stands confused this round", and most often attack the PC.

Let’s break this down shall we:

1) email: people get hundreds of emails every day, so they have learned to ignore anything that doesn’t come from the boss saying “if I don’t have that report on my desk by 9am you’re fired!”;

2) reading: if reading was a good way for people to learn things they would have sacked all the teachers the instant they invented books;

2b) a lot more people than you think are not very good at reading (such as dyslexics like myself) and go through life trying to cover it up;

3) writing: a lot of people are not as good at writing as they think they are;

4) size: to write down everything a person knows would require a massive encyclopaedia. Did you remember to include the recipe for dwarf bread?

5) RAW: the History skill check exists to determine if the character knows something about the world. There is no rule requiring the player to know anything at all. If you don’t allow questions you invalidate all the lore skills and most of the INT stat.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Let’s break this down shall we:

1) email: people get hundreds of emails every day, so they have learned to ignore anything that doesn’t come from the boss saying “if I don’t have that report on my desk by 9am you’re fired!”;

2) reading: if reading was a good way for people to learn things they would have sacked all the teachers the instant they invented books;

2b) a lot more people than you think are not very good at reading (such as dyslexics like myself) and go through life trying to cover it up;

3) writing: a lot of people are not as good at writing as they think they are;

4) size: to write down everything a person knows would require a massive encyclopaedia. Did you remember to include the recipe for dwarf bread?

5) RAW: the History skill check exists to determine if the character knows something about the world. There is no rule requiring the player to know anything at all. If you don’t allow questions you invalidate all the lore skills and most of the INT stat.

I’d add that if players are asking lots of questions - instead of declaring what their PCs are trying to accomplish and how they’re going about it - then I, as DM, have probably not done a good enough job at describing the environment. No one’s perfect of course and descriptions might be lacking or a player might be momentarily distracted, but minimal questions is a goal of smoother game play for me, the DM.

Also:
Player: “Does my character know [the thing]?”
DM: “I dunno. Does your character think they know [the thing]? Why would they?”

Player can invoke their background or backstory or whatever to justify it - if reasonable enough, sure they know [the thing]. If there’s some uncertainty and a meaningful consequence for not knowing [the thing], then the dice and an ability check can be called for. Fail the roll and the PC (and player) will remain in the dark as to whether [the thing] is what they think it is.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I’d add that if players are asking lots of questions - instead of declaring what their PCs are trying to accomplish and how they’re going about it - then I, as DM, have probably not done a good enough job at describing the environment. No one’s perfect of course and descriptions might be lacking or a player might be momentarily distracted, but minimal questions is a goal of smoother game play for me, the DM.

Also:
Player: “Does my character know [the thing]?”
DM: “I dunno. Does your character think they know [the thing]? Why would they?”

Player can invoke their background or backstory or whatever to justify it - if reasonable enough, sure they know [the thing]. If there’s some uncertainty and a meaningful consequence for not knowing [the thing], then the dice and an ability check can be called for. Fail the roll and the PC (and player) will remain in the dark as to whether [the thing] is what they think it is.

The question I get asked most frequently is “how high is the ceiling?”, but things like “is there a drawer in the desk?” “What time is it?” and other environmental details get asked about quite often. Lore type questions tend not to come up much.

My players are very good at setting aside information that they know but their character does not.

 

[Umbran]

I’d add that if players are asking lots of questions - instead of declaring what their PCs are trying to accomplish and how they’re going about it - then I, as DM, have probably not done a good enough job at describing the environment. No one’s perfect of course and descriptions might be lacking or a player might be momentarily distracted, but minimal questions is a goal of smoother game play for me, the DM.

We can add to that an element of how some GMs do not want players inventing anything in the scene. Players asking questions are then looking for what they can, and cannot, use in declaring their actions.