D&D 5E Am I no longer WoTC's target audience?

[QuentinGeorge]

It's rather easy to fit in dragonborn and tieflings (the two most mentioned races from the PHB), since Ravenloft has stuff from everything (Lord Soth from Dragonlance is in it). Of course, the CoS adventure was basically just Barovia and didn't include all the other demiplanes within the Mists. There's also the part about the adventure starting in Faerun, too. But I can understand the desire to not want something that was introduced in a later PHB to be included in an old setting. Like you said, it's easy to disallow the bird people, since they don't appear in the PHB. Just by saying "PHB only". But I have seen nerd rage about people wanting to play a tiefling in Grayhawk, or a dragonborn.

There's the big chance WotC would include some new NPCs of those races in a Grayhawk book, because they exist in the PHB. Just like how they kinda hamfisted the dragonborn into FR. If WotC would be smart, they'd leave those races out (are the dragonborn even included in the new Eberron book?), and have a little appendix on how to include those races into the setting if the DM is so inclined (kinda like how they did the same with the adventure books on how to place the adventure in a different setting).

Ravenloft has always been fairly "iffy" on how suitable are the races beyond humans, elves, halfelves, gnomes and halflings, most likely due to its 2nd edition origins. Notably the 3rd edition setting re-fluffed halforcs as "calibans", mutant humans caused by misuse of magic. You might even extend that to dragonborn - have them even more extreme forms of "calibans".

Now I know someone is going to try and correct me and say Ravenloft dates to 1st edition - and the original module does. But that is not the campaign setting. And that's the crucial thing. Curse of Strahd is a reboot of the original module, it is NOT the 2nd/3rd edition setting. It departs radically in continuity and tone in several important places. It doesn't even have the proper mechanics that the setting is known for. (Fear/Horror/Madness checks, Power Checks, Altered Magic, No contact with gods). Barovia in Curse of Strahd is not the Barovia from the Ravenloft setting without some radical retooling.

Those thinking that a 5th edition version of Dark Sun will ban any races are barking up the wrong tree. If they didn't take that approach with Ravenloft, or Greyhawk....why would they do it with Dark Sun?

 

[Azzy]

It's because they're not the classic demihumans. Demihumans are accepted although people don't like half orcs.

Anything more monstrous than a half orc not going to go over to well.

That's not actually written into the setting, it's just your take away.

 

[Zardnaar]

That's not actually written into the setting, it's just your take away.

It's from Gygaxs writing and 1E where GH was the default.

Dragon magazine, Gygax's writings on this site even.

Greyhawks humanocentric, a bit grittier than say FR.

You could go anything goes but I wouldn't play it. May as well play FR, or Eberron or Midgard.

That's what makes GH stand out IMHO. If GH is even more generic anything goes there's other settings that do it better.

It's not like GH is any better politically than any other setting. 3E onwards added all sorts if stuff, I'm saying that's a silly idea.

If GH is just FR with harder to pronounce names it's fairly pointless. What's unique about it outside the map? Eberron has Artificer's and magitech, even Mystara has some unique things you could revive.

I already have 3 kitchen sink settings, I don't need a 4th. Those 3 being FR, Eberron, Midgard although Midgard may be debatable but it has a heap of new races.

I also own Golarion and Mystara. I don't mind kitchen sink settings as such but each campaign should have a hook or unique something.

Even Ravnica limited options and had the guild thing going for it and I own that as well.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Ravenloft has always been fairly "iffy" on how suitable are the races beyond humans

Given that the default scenario is to have PCs transported from some other plane by The Mists, pretty much any race could be a PC in Ravenloft.

Natives of Ravenloft's domains are overwhelmingly human though.

 

[Zardnaar]

Given that the default scenario is to have PCs transported from some other plane by The Mists, pretty much any race could be a PC in Ravenloft.

Natives of Ravenloft's domains are overwhelmingly human though.

2E said something like anything can get there but the default is human. It's been 20+ years though. You'll get funny looks, I think there was 1 Elf realm.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

2E said something like anything can get there but the default is human. It's been 20+ years though. You'll get funny looks, I think there was 1 Elf realm.

I generally go with the idea that people who live in Ravenloft are so dulled that they just assume any non-human PC is a human who had an accident with a threshing machine as a child.

 

[Zardnaar]

I generally go with the idea that people who live in Ravenloft are so dulled that they just assume any non-human PC is a human who had an accident with a threshing machine as a child.

I would probably limit the funny stuff to 1 or two PCs and anything to monstrous is appearance is a bad idea. Near human and easy disguise like half elf or halfling as a child helps.

Not that I would run RL, I might play it if it was RL or no D&D.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I would probably limit the funny stuff to 1 or two PCs and anything to monstrous is appearance is a bad idea. Near human and easy disguise like half elf or halfling as a child helps.

Not that I would run RL, I might play it if it was RL or no D&D.

Old woman: "Oh, you poor dear, can I offer you a salve for that terrible skin condition?"
Dragonborn: "Err, no, thank you."

 

[Azzy]

It's from Gygaxs writing and 1E where GH was the default.

Dragon magazine, Gygax's writings on this site even.

Greyhawks humanocentric, a bit grittier than say FR.

Humanocentric isn't the same as xenophobic, and I have yet to see where Gygax has said that xenophobia is a feature of the Flanaess. Heck, even hobgoblins and orcs are fairly common as mercenaries in some locations (such as the Great Kindom and its peripheries).

Also, the inclusion of something "new" doesn't make the setting "anything goes", that's just silly.

As for grittier than FR... Not until From the Ashes. There was nothing inherently gritty about the orginal folio or boxed set—it was pretty much a blank slate.

 

[Zardnaar]

Old woman: "Oh, you poor dear, can I offer you a salve for that terrible skin condition?"
Dragonborn: "Err, no, thank you."

Well Dragonborn isn't going to be able to pass that off. Genasi or Yuan Ti maybe.