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

[Paul Farquhar]

Presumably because they assume it suggests the setting is coherent and not generic and shapeless.

That's how most fantasy writers who aren't called Tolkien work. The world starts out largely formless. As their protagonists move through it details become defined in a way that supports the narrative. If they continue to write in that world for long enough it ends up highly detailed. Doctor Who ran for six years and around 140 episodes before Time Lords where introduced.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Presumably because they assume it suggests the setting is coherent and not generic and shapeless.

I have never mistaken ban lists for coherency, distinctiveness, or shapefulness. The vast majority of banlists are all about keeping things as generic and shapeless as they can--by making it so you only play the Extremely Traditional Options, in Extremely Traditional Worlds, using Extremely Traditional Tropes. It literally is about removing shapeful options!

Moreover, a setting can be coherent as well as generic, and can be both coherent and generic while also not being shapeless. Dragonborn were added to Eberron, and Eberron is definitely generic in the sense that it was built to allow any of the default classes to appear, any of the default species to appear, and make adventuring a thing people are used to seeing in-world, sot hat parties of adventurers are a reasonable thing for people to be. Eberron was designed to be welcoming to any of the things D&D furnishes the player with being able to do/be. Yet it is deeply beloved specifically because it is both coherent and highly well-shaped, with tons of interesting locations, concepts, lore, and adventure hooks.

A ban list doesn't tell me a damned thing about whether the setting is "coherent" or not. Great example: Several GMs I've spoken with have banned non-"core four" species options (that is, anything beyond human/elf/dwarf/halfling) with various sociopolitical excuses, only to then do absolutely zero thinking about how the ridiculously long lifespans of elves and dwarves (700 and 300 years, respectively, IIRC) would completely warp the social fabric of any society with large populations of these species. Remember, if there were a 500-year-old elf in the United States today, that person would have been alive before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. A genuinely just middle-aged elf today could have personally attended Shakespeare's plays. Can you imagine if we still had to deal with folks who saw African-ancestry people as "Blackamoors"? If we had to deal with the social and political fallout of conflicts that happened before any current government existed? (Remember, the United Kingdom only formed in 1801--the United States is actually one of the oldest governments on Earth.) 99.9% of the time when I see banlists like this, it has absolutely nothing whatever to do with even the slightest effort at "coherency", and everything to do with "ew, I think that's icky because it's unfamiliar to me".

(Note: at best I have a leg in this camp; usually if I have a fantasy setting that I'm closing off options I'm also adding some, but I still understand the position).

And I applaud that! Additions tell me so much more than subtractions ever will.

 

[Hussar]

To be fair, I tend to make subtractions mostly to keep my own sanity. I have trouble with 5e and how incredibly high magic it is, so, my ban list tends to be in the service of reining in the massive amount of magic in the setting.

I have to admit though, I don't generally ban species too often. My groups have been circus troupes since the 1e days. Minotaurs, ogres, wemics, rakasta, and a shed load of others. Heck, as a player, I usually pick human, not because I'm not into the weird, but, because by choosing human, I'm the most unique PC in the group. It's the same reason my characters always come from loving homes and have healthy, loving relationships with their family. I just want to stand out from the crowd.

I mean, heck, even in the current PC lineup of my Out of the Abyss game, the Dragonborn was sold into slavery by his sister, the human warlock was sold into slavery by his adoptive family and employer, the goblin has a horrifically abusive back story, as does the half-orc. Every character has these troubled histories with all sorts abuse and betrayal. So, not only are they a circus troupe - they're a broken circus troupe.

I like to swim against the stream and make an entirely "normal" character that has chosen the life of adventure out of other reasons than horrific abuse and betrayal.

But, yeah, the whole "circus troupe" thing is not new at all. At least, not for me.

 

[Bae'zel]

Yeah it is kind of funny that the concept of a protagonist who had a decent family life and loving home is considered unconventional. Gotta have a tortured past, one or more dead parents and a traumatic adolescence to have a mainstream hero character hahaha

 

[Mecheon]

Yeah it is kind of funny that the concept of a protagonist who had a decent family life and loving home is considered unconventional. Gotta have a tortured past, one or more dead parents and a traumatic adolescence to have a mainstream hero character hahaha

People with decent family lives generally aren't taking up the adventure of risking life and limb to delve into dungeons and ancient ruins to grab treasure. They're living with the decent family and loving home.

Adventuring, by its nature, draws a very specific crowd, and a lot of the question of why someone is adventuring is just that: what set them on that road to adventure?

 

[TiQuinn]

People with decent family lives generally aren't taking up the adventure of risking life and limb to delve into dungeons and ancient ruins to grab treasure. They're living with the decent family and loving home.

Adventuring, by its nature, draws a very specific crowd, and a lot of the question of why someone is adventuring is just that: what set them on that road to adventure?

One PC I had was just from a family of adventurers - all still alive and a loving family but my character was just following in mom and dad’s footsteps with Dad saying go off and explore the world while Mom was more concerned about all the loose ends from her adventuring days that might rear their ugly heads again and harm her family. Adventuring was just the family business so to speak.

 

[Azzy]

I think the funny thing is that the original "circus troupe" party is the Fellowship of the Ring—humans, hobbits, an elf, and a dwarf. It only looks "standard" now because of authors emulating Tolkien and because of the defaults of early D&D and AD&D. In 20 or so years, tieflings and dragonborn and goliaths will all seem old hat.

 

[Remathilis]

This raises a very good point.

A lot of GMs present their settings as a laundry list of things they aren't allowed to do, aren't allowed to play, as though that is an inherently cool and inspiring thing. I still to this day do not understand that perspective.

"You aren't allowed to do X, Y, Z, W, Q, P, J, G, or M. Aren't you super excited to play now?!"

Outside of a few super-specific campaign elements outside their respective settings (Dragonmarks in Eberron, Dark Gifts in Ravenloft) I don't ban things unless they are broken. I have long championed the kitchen sink and find it a profound lack of creativity if you can't even fit the PHB in your setting. I find large ban lists a red flag that the GM is going to be overbearing and we probably won't mesh well.

 

[CreamCloud0]

lots of people still seemingly mistakenly interpreting the title's 'circus troupe' to mean a party made of lots of different species...

 

[CreamCloud0]

People with decent family lives generally aren't taking up the adventure of risking life and limb to delve into dungeons and ancient ruins to grab treasure. They're living with the decent family and loving home.

Adventuring, by its nature, draws a very specific crowd, and a lot of the question of why someone is adventuring is just that: what set them on that road to adventure?

or the monotony of a safe village and 9-to-5 with the same people every day could be exactly the kind of thing to drive someone to drop everything, pick up a sword and chain shirt and run straight out the gates to stab some wolves.

edit, or alternately: fame and fortune, you don't get remembered for running your family's inn or relaxing in your parent's mansion.