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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 6793910" data-attributes="member: 6778044">Well there's no doubt that it's a me thing...In terms of lots of players playing things that are rare - yes I'd prefer that things be largely the norm. If the party was a drow, a duergar, a high elf, a minotaur, a dragonborn and a tiefling, that would bother me. That's not the norm in my world, and very unlikely to occur. But I don't want to negate the possibility of somebody playing something that's rare just because it's rare. It would depend partially on how we bring it into the campaign. Don't know if that makes sense or not.My frame of reference for my campaigns is the real world coupled with Tolkien. So, humans, whose civilization has grown from primitive to civilized with help from the elves, dwarves, and halflings, view these races in much the same way people view other people in our world. Which means there is a wide variety with outright racists, to mostly acceptance. In most places it's largely acceptance, with stereotypes.For the average Realmsfolk, anything outside that norm is generally cause for caution and suspicion. They've been attacked enough, by enough strange things, often masquerading as a friend, that they are generally quite wary. The larger the settlement, the more accepting they can be, and it's not always a hostile suspicion, but it's there. More unusual creatures or monstrous humanoids are dangerous than not, so the default is basically consider them dangerous. The most closely resemble dragons (dangerous), lizard folk (dangerous), yuan-ti (dangerous) which are also all races that would be considered largely acceptable to kill on sight.In addition, if somebody became outright hostile towards one, they probably wouldn't suffer significant repercussions since there is nobody there to speak on behalf of the dragonborn. I have yet to find something in the published material that supports they are common, other than a sentence here or there that might mention it. In the Neverwinter Campaign Setting I could only find reference to them in the random encounter tables, both the general and the one for the Cult of the Dragon. If they were seen as allied with the Cult of the Dragon, then the perception of them being dangerous goes up, and repercussions for engaging one in combat or killing one goes down.I've already questioned the idea of them speaking the same language, because I don't think there would be much need for the majority of the race that doesn't have a specific need to communicate with anyone outside their homeland to learn other languages. In addition, their neighbors speak less common languages of the Realms natively.I also think that a race that suddenly found themselves in a new world, suddenly free from slavery, not speaking the native language, with cultures vastly different than theirs, that has very strong ties to a regimented society and clan, would be very unlikely to be common outside of their homeland even 100 years later. What compelling reason is there for the race to start to Think of how long it took the Europeans to work their way across North America. It's roughly the same distance in a straight line from Unther to Waterdeep, but much longer by a land route. Now in Chessenta they find favorable reactions, why would they continue past there? The fact that I don't like the Returned Abeir story means the dragonborn never would have arrived in the first place, which is a bigger hurdle. This is entirely my interpretation, and an partial one at best. But the world that I enjoy is one where the characters and the players start with the mundane, everyday life of existence, and the magic of the world unfolds before them as they stray farther from home. Obviously, the mundane is very different for a farming village in the Shaar compared to somebody born in Waterdeep. Since I'm the one laying out the world, it helps if the world makes sense to me. By no means am I saying that it's the way it has to be for everybody. And I certainly don't want to rain on anybody's parade. As I said before, when the situation has arisen I've worked to make it happen, but with some modifications that work within my thinking as well.I've had no problem over the years finding players who enjoy the world I enjoy and share and that they not only populate it, but expand it with their characters and actions. I have no doubt that my world, my DMing, or even just me is the right fit for every player. It's extremely unlikely that I'd change my mind on this, and I'm not really trying to change anybody else's mind. I'm just presenting how I think through and build my world, and why I make some of the choices I do. I'm certainly no Ed Greenwood, but I don't think people question him as to what he chooses to add and remove from the published materials in his campaign. Obviously I'm being questioned in part because I'm putting it out there on a public forum with the intent of engaging in the discussion, and I'm also probably taking a contrary view to most of the others in the discussion.I do try to make sure that before people join they know what they're getting into. In the current campaign I've provided a 37 page booklet of house rules and modifications, along with campaign background for their starting point (Berdusk in this case). I don't expect them to read it all, but it's there for them to engage with as much as they'd like. Most of my players don't really care about the specifics of the rules to a large degree (and I do end up with a lot of new players too). The overall feel is much like the 1st edition where the bulk of the rules were in the DMG for the DM, and the players just had the rules to build their characters. I love having players who know the rules well, it helps keep things moving, and right now it's about 30% knowing the rules well, 70% not. That probably has an impact on them being OK with my approach, since they haven't really attached themselves to things like dragonborn yet.I do really enjoy these types of discussions, because I learn a lot from how others manage their worlds and game, and at the same time it helps me understand my world and decisions a bit better too.Ilbranteloth</blockquote>

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