ChrisCarlson
First Post
We've done the whole obligatory all dwarf adventuring company thing a few times. One was a rather extended campaign back in 3e. Good times.
D&D 5E Have you played or DMed a single-race campaign? What was it like?
Well not for 5e specifically. Also, I was not a player, but the DM. I limited everyone to human. I also had restrictions on the classes in the campaign and several classes and/or class variants were limited to specific cultures.
At first, a couple of players were slightly hesitant, but all were willing to give it a shot (the one most hesitant needed some encouragement from other players). However, once the first adventure started everyone was having fun. The players found the initial adventure tied to the stated goals of their characters. After that, the direction of the campaign was primarily player/character driven. For instance, the characters, eventually, found that a wizards guild kept finding them, because the rogue had stolen and pocketed a guild ring off a guild wizard whom they killed on the first adventure. In the escape, the party rogue stuck the ring in a pouch and forgot about it until almost a year later while rummaging through the pouch. Other examples included
- the players trying to get the stuffy Shaman "laid" in order to get the "stick out his butt" which led to him being kidnapped and taken to the court of the fey- the party went to rescue him only to find he was reluctant to leave.
- Albert, the knight returning home after a year away hunting down the people that ambushed and slaughtered his border patrol. Upon his return, he found himself charged with treason and desertion, his fiancee about to marry his best friend, and his noble house about to be taken over by that of his friend.All of this, because Albert never once contacted his liege or even his fiancee (I even double checked with the player to confirm this). While Albert was busy trying to convince his fiancee to back out of her marriage and also deal with family matters, the party was busy building a case to clear Albert's name. Eventually, the party found that the best friend was responsible for the ambush. This led to a climatic duel of honor and the party joining in to stop Albert's opponent's comrades from interfering from the sidelines.
The campaign itself lasted about five years as there were a few small breaks to allow me a chance to play while someone else DM'd. Within a session or two of someone else running (we had two other DMs), players would email or call asking when I would be ready to run again- while everyone asked, it was the one player most hesitant at the beginning, frequently, telling me that he wanted to get back to running his knight, Albert. When the campaign ended, everyone, to my surprise, agreed that it was the best campaign that they had experienced (personally, I attribute that in large part to the players themselves). Albert's player kept asking me for months after the campaign ended to start a new campaign with the characters or at the least a one-shot.
At first, a couple of players were slightly hesitant, but all were willing to give it a shot (the one most hesitant needed some encouragement from other players). However, once the first adventure started everyone was having fun. The players found the initial adventure tied to the stated goals of their characters. After that, the direction of the campaign was primarily player/character driven. For instance, the characters, eventually, found that a wizards guild kept finding them, because the rogue had stolen and pocketed a guild ring off a guild wizard whom they killed on the first adventure. In the escape, the party rogue stuck the ring in a pouch and forgot about it until almost a year later while rummaging through the pouch. Other examples included
- the players trying to get the stuffy Shaman "laid" in order to get the "stick out his butt" which led to him being kidnapped and taken to the court of the fey- the party went to rescue him only to find he was reluctant to leave.
- Albert, the knight returning home after a year away hunting down the people that ambushed and slaughtered his border patrol. Upon his return, he found himself charged with treason and desertion, his fiancee about to marry his best friend, and his noble house about to be taken over by that of his friend.All of this, because Albert never once contacted his liege or even his fiancee (I even double checked with the player to confirm this). While Albert was busy trying to convince his fiancee to back out of her marriage and also deal with family matters, the party was busy building a case to clear Albert's name. Eventually, the party found that the best friend was responsible for the ambush. This led to a climatic duel of honor and the party joining in to stop Albert's opponent's comrades from interfering from the sidelines.
The campaign itself lasted about five years as there were a few small breaks to allow me a chance to play while someone else DM'd. Within a session or two of someone else running (we had two other DMs), players would email or call asking when I would be ready to run again- while everyone asked, it was the one player most hesitant at the beginning, frequently, telling me that he wanted to get back to running his knight, Albert. When the campaign ended, everyone, to my surprise, agreed that it was the best campaign that they had experienced (personally, I attribute that in large part to the players themselves). Albert's player kept asking me for months after the campaign ended to start a new campaign with the characters or at the least a one-shot.
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
I'm wrapping up a year-long all-human (not what you asked, admittedly) PbP. It's a d20 Modern game, so human was the default race when we did character generation. The game's gone very well.
When we started play, I wondered whether I or the players would be bored with all humans, but on the contrary, I've had a stellar time, and the players have reported enjoying the game. For starters, when I did start introducing F/X and monsters, it super really set apart the "other-worldliness" of the paradigm shift I'd been gunning for. The characters got to roleplay in entertaining ways: "What the deuce?! Monsters are real?! There's magic?!"
The other thing I've enjoyed about an all-human party is that the singularity of race shines a spotlight on differences in abilities and backgrounds. I notice class diversity a lot more with an all-human party (there's probably a metaphor about life in that statement). The Dedicated character stands out in meaningful ways from the Tough character.
I'd definitely run a same-race party again. And not just for d20 Modern, either.
When we started play, I wondered whether I or the players would be bored with all humans, but on the contrary, I've had a stellar time, and the players have reported enjoying the game. For starters, when I did start introducing F/X and monsters, it super really set apart the "other-worldliness" of the paradigm shift I'd been gunning for. The characters got to roleplay in entertaining ways: "What the deuce?! Monsters are real?! There's magic?!"
The other thing I've enjoyed about an all-human party is that the singularity of race shines a spotlight on differences in abilities and backgrounds. I notice class diversity a lot more with an all-human party (there's probably a metaphor about life in that statement). The Dedicated character stands out in meaningful ways from the Tough character.
I'd definitely run a same-race party again. And not just for d20 Modern, either.
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Li Shenron
Legend
The City of the Spider Queen adventure/campaign (about 2 years gametime, 10-12 levels span), all PCs were Drow.
Honestly, it felt irrelevant. We were all Drow but renegades, so we didn't have to immerse ourselves into thinking how we would fit inside the Drow unique society and culture. We could have been any other race and it would not have mattered from a RP point of view, except that obviously the adventure would have been very different because we would have been constantly hunted and attacked. The whole adventure required to be Drow mostly to be able to infiltrate the underdark without being killed on sight (even tho many things still tried to do that to us). A secondary reason was that the underdark is, well, dark... if you don't have darkvision, you are forced to keep track of light sources (almost impossible if the whole story takes months without ever returning to the surface) or to ignore the whole problem with some cheesy trick like magical permanent torches.
I played in an all-dwarf game. It was cool to have the common element, but the game was very brief due to the DM quitting. I've also run games with all one class (D&D derivatives), and I think it works very well. I am trying to get another such game going now.
I think anything that gets the players working together is good for the game. Some of my least fun games were ones in which my character was not in theme with another. I believe the way to solve it is to sit down as a group before a game starts and talk about everything: story, system & characters. I hope to do it soon.
I think anything that gets the players working together is good for the game. Some of my least fun games were ones in which my character was not in theme with another. I believe the way to solve it is to sit down as a group before a game starts and talk about everything: story, system & characters. I hope to do it soon.
strider13x
First Post
Our group had been away from d&d for 12 years and away from gaming for 6. We tried 4e and introduced our kids to it. We started as an all human all martial class game. Multiclass feats were available. We played to about 5-6 level. It did not feel like a restriction because we were new to the edition and the world was all human. I used the monster stats but described something different. Kobolds became savages, hobgoblin were Egyptian, gnolls were cannibals. Ogres were large Apes. I had been reading a lot of Howard at the time. At one point they crossed dimensions and discovered thri-kreen...
ccs
41st lv DM
For the most part our original BECMI game back in the 80s was a single class/race affair.
Remember the choices were: Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Magic-User (all humans), Dwarf, Elf, & 1/2ling..... Race/class was the same thing.
Anyways, We had 3 elves all from the same village. Every now & then they'd be joined by a friend - a Fighter.
But since the elf players were the constants, it was often an all elf party.
Remember the choices were: Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Magic-User (all humans), Dwarf, Elf, & 1/2ling..... Race/class was the same thing.
Anyways, We had 3 elves all from the same village. Every now & then they'd be joined by a friend - a Fighter.
But since the elf players were the constants, it was often an all elf party.
PieAndDragon
Duncan T
I had a group of 6 players who had talked about it before the campaign started and decided to all be of the same race from the same tribe. They all played lizardfolk and the campaign that happened was vastly different to the one I initially planned. There were a couple replacement characters who were also the same race and tribe!
It lasted about 8 months but they seemed to enjoy it. There was no inter-party conflict and they adventures revolved around doing things for the good of the tribe.
It lasted about 8 months but they seemed to enjoy it. There was no inter-party conflict and they adventures revolved around doing things for the good of the tribe.
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