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

[Fenris-77]

They already have, in Ghosts of Saltmarsh discussing how the Saltmarsh folk would be fairly taken aback by Dragonborn or Tiefling PCs .

Like get my pitchfork, honey taken aback or a very British well I never taken aback?

 

[HarbingerX]

One of the most liberating things for my campaign was when we walked away from 4e. I went back to B/X and discovered how much more fun I had DMing that than 1e, 3.5e or 4e. It also made me delve into the history of the game and really try to embrace making player rewards things in the world rather than mechanical bonuses.

 

[Zardnaar]

Like get my pitchfork, honey taken aback or a very British well I never taken aback?

Not get my pitchforks.

 

[Fenris-77]

Not get my pitchforks.

A peasant with more than one pitchfork gets an A for preparedness. Is that like one everyday pitchfork and a shiny special occasion pitchfork?

Barring pitchfork action I'd pretty much play the villagers like a cross between Deliverance and the townsfolk in a 80's BBC whodunit.

 

[Carmen Sbordone]

I would err by putting Greyhawk right at the back of the queue. It has nothing going for it apart from nostalgia, and you can never make grumpy old men happy anyway.

Then tell wotc to stop stealing parts of it to reimage in FR. Still has tons going for it

 

[Parmandur]

Like get my pitchfork, honey taken aback or a very British well I never taken aback?

The text is vague: just mentions it is super abnormal, leaves adjudication to the DM.

 

[Ampolitor]

No I agree, BUT in the days of 2nd we didn't have much on the net. D&D was not geared toward social media and what was popular on it. We didn't have streamed games etc.. I could care less about those products as well. I want to see a Birthright core book or Planescape, I think like me you are used to what we had then. A line of worlds and everything after was to support those lines. Now they are going off in tangents, and you would think that they would have learned their lessons when TSR did that. I know these items are selling now, but in the long run they have to support their main products. Get some more Ravenloft out there, more core worlds. I mean lets be real, Planescape would be Huge seller for them. Right now they are running it for the money as a business, boardgames, and hitting on novelty things that sell, like rick and morty, stranger things, etc.. I just hope they start putting out some more module books or books that support the worlds they are using. I still loved the old 2e times when there were box sets, modules, and crunch books galore, but sadly i think those days are long gone. It is whatever sells. As for me I am still hoping and holding out for a new hardcover for Birthright, my favorite setting. With the popularity of Game of Thrones you would of thought it would have been a no brainer.

 

[Magister Ludorum]

My dad did, indeed, learn to code with Punch cards.

I'm only 54, and I learned to program on punch cards. FORTRAN for the win (?)

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Henchmen are still NPCs. You couldn't play an Orc.

In not claiming things don't exist. I'm saying letting PCs play anything is a bad idea for some settings.

I like variety. I'm using Midgard for example that has all sorts of new stuff in it.

That new stuff is what makes it interesting over say FR.

I think my preference is around 75% of phb races allowed what they are can vary and some options exclusive/iconic to the setting with maybe some non standard races that are available and are organically in the setting.
. I don't mind Dragonborn/Kin in Midgard and they gave a nation of their own.

They don't organically belong in FR for example although they forced it in 4E literally blowing up chunks if the world.

So they're either a minor race that exists somewhere or you shoe horn them in badly.

Using Dragonlance as an example I'm not a fan of Kender, gully Dwarves etc but they are natural parts if the setting. They have lore that fits, nation's if their own etc.

Draconians as PCs is a bad idea, Dragonborn reskinned as Draconians is even worse.

A Necromancer walking into town with an undead posse isn't going to get a great reception a villager should probably contact the nearest lord or whatever. If a party of goofballs (Drow, Orcs, Draconians, Dragonborn, fiendspawn etc) waltz in why should they get a different reception.

Please stop with this "Draconians as PCs are bad" idea. The fact they are not "mere monsters" has been true since 1999. They even have a whole nation of their own, their leaders are non-evil. They fit the thematic nature of the setting, they are recognisable and familiar to people. Really some people are invested in a Dragonlance that hasn't existed since the 1980s. Why limit players? Especially since 5th edition is the first edition where you could actually play a mechanically balanced Draconian (the 3rd edition had some horrible Level Adjustment issues).

Why is there a desire to outright ban things that players might enjoy? Better to work with a player so that can realise their concept in a way that doesn't destroy a campaign. And that's at your table. All campaign settings should support playing any PHB race. Whether the race is rare or not is irrelevant - even if the PC is the only one in the world, the option still needs to be there. Doing otherwise is a strange form of puritanical policing.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I think comparing GH to DL is inapt.

DL self-consciously changes the race spread - eg there are no orcs or halflings in DL - and it also has a distinct theme which means that playing draconians is comparable to playing orcs and Nazgul in a Middle Earth game.

But GH doesn't change the race spread - they're all there except dragonborn for whom there is easily room given the number of existing reptilian and draconic-type humanoids. And GH doesn't have any particular sort of thematic emphasis which makes playing a half-orc or a tiefling a problem for the setting and its default orientation.

In one of these threads people were talking a lot about Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (not my own cup of tea, but I know many like it). A tiefling and dragonborn can investigate that just as easily as can a dwarf and an elf. Likewise the nobles of the Yeomanry might send a tiefling and a dragonborn as much as anyone else to clear out the hill giants on pain of death. And a tiefling and a dragonborn might as easily come across Keraptis's note and head out to White Plume Mountain as a character of any other race.

GH is a very capacious setting both in the personalities it can encompass and the sorts of adventures that might take place there. Which is one reason I find this and the other thread a bit odd.

But he was played. There was no requirement that players choose only from "traditional" (ie PHB) races.

That's not true about draconians in DL, and hasn't been since 1999. And having them be irredemably evil goes against the themes of Dragonlance.