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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9466190" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Even if the author goes out of their way to cover nonhuman experiences and cultural influences arising from physiological differences, being sapient omnivorous bipeds who form complex social structures of mutual support, with a lifespan of 8+ decades, a puberty that marks the transition between childhood and adulthood, a height range between about 4'6" and 7'6", and (apart from darkvision) grossly similar sensory acuity, there will almost guaranteed be many, many ways that any two species can in fact pretty well relate to one another.I've ranted many times about the fascinating differences between humans and dragonborn and how those things would influence their cultural patterns and social/infrastructural development, but ultimately, despite being one of the most "alien" 5.0 PHB races, dragonborn would still be mostly relatable to humans.Because the needs and conventions of genre fiction are not 1:1 identical with those of tabletop roleplaying game design. Indeed, in numerous ways, the two don't align at all. Consider the Gandalf type character, what OSP's Red refers to as a "safety net." He's a mentor (not a playable character in most TTRPGs), one of the most powerful magic users to ever walk the Earth (way out of line with the power level of anyone else in the party, including the quite powerful Stock Hero Protagonist character, not to mention the utterly mundane actual protagonist), and secretly an ancient, wise angel temporarily embodied into a durable but mortal shell that he can survive the loss of (again, nothing compares in the "party".)But that's because his role as the "safety net" requires him to be powerful and wise and dependable. That makes his (temporary) loss both actually painful and VERY much a raising of the stakes, since now the bad guys are dramatically more threatening and the party has lost the guy who called the shots and guided the group. Everyone scatters and has to take a level in bad-donkey in order to make up for Gandalf's absence, such that when he returns, while he's still head and shoulders above everyone else, the gap no longer feels quite so vast (even though Gandalf the White is actually much more powerful than Gandalf the Grey.)The only TTRPG convention that the above even remotely resembles is the DMPC, and such things are widely revised for good reason.So, before you act like this is some unbelievable break of symmetry....there are already plenty of asymmetries here. This is just another one of them. When coupled with the above, that TTRPG species really aren't that alien even when you intentionally (but not egregiously) play up the differences, you get the simple fact that it isn't necessary to have a human in the party in order for the PCs to still feel relatable and grounded. Hell, one of the most relatable and grounded NPCs in my DW game is a literal gold dragon, and the players (much to my relief) think he's great, basically the draconic grandpa they never knew they had.</blockquote>

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