“Monstrous” NPCs

This became relevant to a recent discussion at our table about fantasy manga, especially ones that are interested in cooking and eating monsters (Dungeon Meshi is the obvious example but really a lot are into this in various ways; this also comes up in RPGs, such as Tiny Dungeons or Wilderfeast).

We were all icked out by manga where the PCs cook and eat orcs (on the grounds that they look like pigs and taste like pork*) because orcs are, even if evil, tool-using sapient humanoids with language etc and eating anything you can have a conversation with is off the table as far as we’re concerned.

*As do humans.
 

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This became relevant to a recent discussion at our table about fantasy manga, especially ones that are interested in cooking and eating monsters (Dungeon Meshi is the obvious example but really a lot are into this in various ways; this also comes up in RPGs, such as Tiny Dungeons or Wilderfeast).

We were all icked out by manga where the PCs cook and eat orcs (on the grounds that they look like pigs and taste like pork*) because orcs are, even if evil, tool-using sapient humanoids with language etc and eating anything you can have a conversation with is off the table as far as we’re concerned.

*As do humans.
All the characters in Delicious in Dungeon agreed (one reluctantly) not to eat intelligent creatures.
 



Which ancestries/races/species are "standard" as PCs will vary by setting and campaign, especially in non-D&D games. In my old Etan game, for example, there have been both PC and NPC goblin and lizardman characters, because those two are among the "standard" for Etan. But there won't be any halflings - they are not present in that world.

Now certain ancestries/races/species might not be available as PCs for one reason or another, while still having named individuals that the PCs can talk to and otherwise interact with in a non-combat, non-hostile manner. These "NPCs" might not belong to the culture(s) or civilization(s) that PCs are drawn from, or they might have only specialized places in the culture or civilization that preclude them from being standard adventuring PCs.

A palace might have a palace dryad, with her tree in the palace garden - very much an NPC fixture when the PCs visit the palace, but not at all someone suitable to become a PC herself.

Or "Grandma Cuprate" in my Brotherhood of Rangers campaign. One of the rules of the Brotherhood is "Be polite to her; she’s a friend of Captain Grey, the head of the Brotherhood." She's also an ancient copper dragon.

Now certain monsters may be disqualified from being PCs because they are implacable enemies of the PCs, with the only non-combat interaction possible falling into the category of "hostile negotiations." If they share rumors, it will be with malice aforethought and the intent to cause trouble. If they negotiate for ransom (in either direction) there is a very large possibility of bad faith in the negotiations. But even they will be NPCs in the sense of individuals who the PCs might talk to, with names or at least titles (e.g. "I am the Mouth of Sauron").

To get back to the OP: If someone told me they believed that only the “standard” ancestries should be NPCs, then my response would be, "I do not understand. What do you mean by that?"
 

In 30+ years of gaming, I don't think I've ever come across someone with an attitude/approach such as you describe, except in cases where the standard PHB player races were the only intelligent/sentient races in a given setting.

In any case, excepting the above I'm with you. In fact, my user name here comes from an illithid trader NPC I developed in an Astromundi Cluster campaign, who later became a resource and quest giver in an Al-Qadim campaign.
 


I'm to a point that if the group I'm playing with stopped playing for whatever reason, I don't think I'd bother to actively seek out another. Thats no to say I wouldn't play if I ran into some people I used to play with by happenstance, it does happen, but I wouldn't go on social media or troll LGS's looking for a group of people I don't know. I gotta go brush off my car and drive to go get one of our players for our game in a few hours, and I'd much rather just stay home and sleep.
Considering both my gaming groups are with friends (and my brother), our connections run deeper than just people I game with. We hang out outside of gaming, but it's one of our strongest ways we keep in touch.

In 30+ years of gaming, I don't think I've ever come across someone with an attitude/approach such as you describe, except in cases where the standard PHB player races were the only intelligent/sentient races in a given setting.

In any case, excepting the above I'm with you. In fact, my user name here comes from an illithid trader NPC I developed in an Astromundi Cluster campaign, who later became a resource and quest giver in an Al-Qadim campaign.
I haven't run across this particular scenario per se, but I have seen (and at times, unfortunately been one myself when I was younger) gamers that just weren't into wild non-Tolkien style fantasy.
 

Considering both my gaming groups are with friends (and my brother), our connections run deeper than just people I game with. We hang out outside of gaming, but it's one of our strongest ways we keep in touch.
Pretty much the same situation with me. Except for about a 3-year stint in the early 2000s when I played at a gaming store close to my house and then I put together a group on Meetup in 2010, I've usually always played with close friends. Cuts way down on the drama.
 

Pretty much the same situation with me. Except for about a 3-year stint in the early 2000s when I played at a gaming store close to my house and then I put together a group on Meetup in 2010, I've usually always played with close friends. Cuts way down on the drama.
I wish I still had enough close friends to do that. Most of mine have moved on from tabletop or passed away.
 

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