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Greyhawk, and race options for Oerth PCs
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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7907485" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>[USER=18182]@Dire Bare[/USER], [USER=22779]@Hussar[/USER] I just want to repeat that there is no one true way. I run my campaign for reasons that make sense to me, but it's certainly not the only way. </p><p></p><p>If I had to summarize why I restrict races it's two-fold. </p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I know how the existing races work and fit together. It varies by region but there's logic and history to my reasoning. I also want a sustainable population of any given race.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This is a world where monsters exist. It's logical that people are afraid and suspicious of the unknown. A tiefling might be one of a kind, but in a land where monsters exist I don't want to deal with the level of fear and animosity they should encounter. It wouldn't be fair to a player.</li> </ul><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p>Longer version:</p><p>Take the example elves and dwarves. There is no inherent racial animosity there but depending on tribe and region it varies from distrust bordering on hatred to grudging respectful indifference to cooperation and collaboration. Some of it based on events outside of the control of the PCs, others as a direct result of what the PCs did.</p><p></p><p>So a more specific scenario. From a nearly-forgotten campaign I had a faction of evil dwarves from way, way back when. Had some minor influence on campaign back then, nothing serious. Because of things happening in years of yore they were clanless so they eventually hooked up with the Big Bad. As part of a back story I developed (again off-screen) the dwarves invaded a neighboring elven kingdom and killed the king.</p><p></p><p>This left the elven kingdom incredibly insular, especially because the queen went a bit crazy. When a player wanted to play a high elf PC, one of my recommendations was to come from that kingdom. It gave them a reason to be adventurers and some interesting RP opportunities.</p><p></p><p>So there was a lot of animosity there. Dwarves that crossed a certain river were likely to be attacked on sight, everyone else was driven off in no uncertain terms. Even elves were treated with suspicion and called traitor or deserter.</p><p></p><p>Eventually in the campaign before last the PCs had an elf expatriate from the kingdom that wanted to get to the bottom of this and bring peace to the land. When they had an opportunity, they confronted the queen only to find that she was an imposter Drow and that the real queen was imprisoned and dying ... and so on. There's still a lot of tension between the elves and dwarves, but it's not likely to break into outright war for now.</p><p></p><p>I think I can tell a much deeper story if the players want it with this kind of world. But that doesn't work as well if suddenly there's a large enough population of [insert race X here] to maintain the race if I suddenly have to just plonk them down somewhere. I also have no idea what their homeland would be like, relations with other groups and so on. </p><p></p><p>Most of the background stuff I come up with is just my way of dealing with (very) minor insomnia. If I'm having a hard time sleeping I try to envision what's going on in the world, or how a region got to where it is. It's rarely something I make up on the fly, it's not arbitrary.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 7907485, member: 6801845"] [USER=18182]@Dire Bare[/USER], [USER=22779]@Hussar[/USER] I just want to repeat that there is no one true way. I run my campaign for reasons that make sense to me, but it's certainly not the only way. If I had to summarize why I restrict races it's two-fold. [LIST] [*]I know how the existing races work and fit together. It varies by region but there's logic and history to my reasoning. I also want a sustainable population of any given race. [*]This is a world where monsters exist. It's logical that people are afraid and suspicious of the unknown. A tiefling might be one of a kind, but in a land where monsters exist I don't want to deal with the level of fear and animosity they should encounter. It wouldn't be fair to a player. [/LIST] [HR][/HR] Longer version: Take the example elves and dwarves. There is no inherent racial animosity there but depending on tribe and region it varies from distrust bordering on hatred to grudging respectful indifference to cooperation and collaboration. Some of it based on events outside of the control of the PCs, others as a direct result of what the PCs did. So a more specific scenario. From a nearly-forgotten campaign I had a faction of evil dwarves from way, way back when. Had some minor influence on campaign back then, nothing serious. Because of things happening in years of yore they were clanless so they eventually hooked up with the Big Bad. As part of a back story I developed (again off-screen) the dwarves invaded a neighboring elven kingdom and killed the king. This left the elven kingdom incredibly insular, especially because the queen went a bit crazy. When a player wanted to play a high elf PC, one of my recommendations was to come from that kingdom. It gave them a reason to be adventurers and some interesting RP opportunities. So there was a lot of animosity there. Dwarves that crossed a certain river were likely to be attacked on sight, everyone else was driven off in no uncertain terms. Even elves were treated with suspicion and called traitor or deserter. Eventually in the campaign before last the PCs had an elf expatriate from the kingdom that wanted to get to the bottom of this and bring peace to the land. When they had an opportunity, they confronted the queen only to find that she was an imposter Drow and that the real queen was imprisoned and dying ... and so on. There's still a lot of tension between the elves and dwarves, but it's not likely to break into outright war for now. I think I can tell a much deeper story if the players want it with this kind of world. But that doesn't work as well if suddenly there's a large enough population of [insert race X here] to maintain the race if I suddenly have to just plonk them down somewhere. I also have no idea what their homeland would be like, relations with other groups and so on. Most of the background stuff I come up with is just my way of dealing with (very) minor insomnia. If I'm having a hard time sleeping I try to envision what's going on in the world, or how a region got to where it is. It's rarely something I make up on the fly, it's not arbitrary. [/QUOTE]
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