D&D General The Monsters Know What They're Doing ... Are Unsure on 5e24

[SableWyvern]

It depends on the game. If you’re part of a Federation crew during Kirk era, then it may not make sense to play a Klingon.

If Drow do not exist in the setting, then it does not make sense to play one either.

Yeah, I think that from a player's perspective as well, if one player is looking to subvert the expectations of a game from the way it was originally pitched, I'd start worrying. Is this player looking to make the game about them? Was the GM's pitch actually a fair representation of what the game is about? (I thought this was Archer-era first contact stuff, but there's a Klingon on the crew? How does that even work?) I would like to think that if a GM pitched first contact Star Trek and I agreed to this, they would set to right any players who aren't proposing characters in line with the game I signed up for.

If I'm in a War of the Lance era game, then I expect to be fighting draconians, not adventuring with them. If it turns out there's a draconian in the party, then I have to start assuming the campaign is likely to be about this draconian. I'd probably be OK with this, but it would be handy to know up front so I can design my character with this in mind, and I would certainly understand if some players feel differently and feel as if a bit of a bait-and-switch has occurred. I have one player who is a huge DL fan, but has never gamed in the setting. I'm sure he'd live with a "draconians among us" game as better than nothing, but I'm pretty sure that he would prefer to experience something a bit "purer" first, if at all possible.

 

[Azzy]

Anyone, player or DM, insisting on anything, is not reasonable.

It should be discussed and agreed upon by all parties. And if no agreement can be reached, those people should not be playing together.

Quoted for emphasis.

Discussing things like grownups and treating each other with respect usually solves problems.

 

[tetrasodium]

Next you're going to tell me I shouldn't play Klingons in a Star Trek game . . .

Definitely no drow PCs, they're all evil . . . nobody reasonable would suggest that . . .

It depends on where/when the game takes place and others have already pointed out some of it. If you are genz younger millennial or somehow never really watched trek prior to tng it's easy to think how easy it might be to bring in a Klingon, but that simply was not true until worf served under Picard because earlier trek leaned pretty hard on some cold war travel restrictions∆ that resulted in the Klingon and romulan empires not allowing their people to come to federation space and vice versa by treaty level.

That was so true back in 87 when star trek tng came out that it was almost scandalous with how trek fans and entertainment tabloids talked about a Klingon like word son of mogh* serving on the flagship of the federation as a star fleet officer in charge of security. At the time it was viewed pretty much as the equivalent of a Soviet general's son being trusted with launch keys on a us nuclear sub.

Because of that trek history it would be an enormous disruption to the federation if you were to play a Klingon in a star trek game set during the kirk TOS era. Klingons and romulans served a particular role in the trek and it doesn't matter if that's because the trek ttrpg being played is one that licensed and was set in the TOS era or gm choice because simply having a Klingon on board during such a game would very seriously undermine that role in ways that transform the game into something very different where the gm needs to constantly curate the ripple effects of your Klingon's actions out across stellar empires rather than just being kinda local.

If the game was set during the Archer first contact era, you can't play a Klingon because they haven't been met yet and that meeting has already been established as not having gone well.

Then if course you can't play a Klingon because Klingons aren't blue and spiney


∆ westerners and East Germany Soviet Union etc.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It depends on where/when the game takes place and others have already pointed out some of it. If you are genz younger millennial or somehow never really watched trek prior to tng it's easy to think how easy it might be to bring in a Klingon, but that simply was not true until worf served under Picard because earlier trek leaned pretty hard on some cold war travel restrictions∆ that resulted in the Klingon and romulan empires not allowing their people to come to federation space and vice versa by treaty level.

Hell, Spock got some hairy eyeballs in his direction when Romulans were revealed to be related to Vulcans- not exactly widely disseminated info at the time of TOS.