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General Tabletop Discussion
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Do We Really Need Half-Elves and Half-Orcs?
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<blockquote data-quote="WaterRabbit" data-source="post: 7530935" data-attributes="member: 2445"><p>Yes. A setting is a collection of ideas to provide a specific narrative feel and tone. Dark Sun feels very different from Forgotten Realms for exactly this reason. For the choice of races, magic, items, rarity of resources all set this tone. </p><p></p><p>Dragging a race into such a setting "just 'cause" is disrupting to the tone and narrative.</p><p></p><p>The lack of Dwemer (dwarves) in the Elder Scrolls is a perfect example of how a race missing creates an interesting narrative feel.</p><p></p><p>The problem with gnomes is that in most games halflings and gnomes are somewhat interchangeable -- just like half-elves don't necessarily fill an interesting niche. </p><p></p><p>Your argument about removing races could be the same for low magic vs high magic or including lasers and power armor in a particular game.</p><p></p><p>A proper session 0 can satisfy most of these types of issues to make sure everyone at the table is on the same page. However, the DM still puts in most of the work and if the DM isn't on board with a particular option the game suffers (or falls apart).</p><p></p><p>Also 99% of the time, the character concept a player is going for easily fits in the whatever setting restrictions are in place.</p><p></p><p>That being said, I personally use more of a carrot than a stick. I run a point buy system starting a 20 points and then based upon race/class/alignment choices players can get up to 32 points.</p><p></p><p>So a player that wants to play a Chaotic Evil Kenku will have to work with 20 points. A Lawful Good Cleric of Human/Dwarf/Elf can get 32 points. I have found this tends to cut down on the menagerie effect. The points change though depending on the setting -- a Spelljammer setting works fine thematically with a party that looks like it belongs to a clown show.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="WaterRabbit, post: 7530935, member: 2445"] Yes. A setting is a collection of ideas to provide a specific narrative feel and tone. Dark Sun feels very different from Forgotten Realms for exactly this reason. For the choice of races, magic, items, rarity of resources all set this tone. Dragging a race into such a setting "just 'cause" is disrupting to the tone and narrative. The lack of Dwemer (dwarves) in the Elder Scrolls is a perfect example of how a race missing creates an interesting narrative feel. The problem with gnomes is that in most games halflings and gnomes are somewhat interchangeable -- just like half-elves don't necessarily fill an interesting niche. Your argument about removing races could be the same for low magic vs high magic or including lasers and power armor in a particular game. A proper session 0 can satisfy most of these types of issues to make sure everyone at the table is on the same page. However, the DM still puts in most of the work and if the DM isn't on board with a particular option the game suffers (or falls apart). Also 99% of the time, the character concept a player is going for easily fits in the whatever setting restrictions are in place. That being said, I personally use more of a carrot than a stick. I run a point buy system starting a 20 points and then based upon race/class/alignment choices players can get up to 32 points. So a player that wants to play a Chaotic Evil Kenku will have to work with 20 points. A Lawful Good Cleric of Human/Dwarf/Elf can get 32 points. I have found this tends to cut down on the menagerie effect. The points change though depending on the setting -- a Spelljammer setting works fine thematically with a party that looks like it belongs to a clown show. [/QUOTE]
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