D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

[Kannik]

For me, "circus troupe" is nothing new. I've been playing for 35+ years, and even "back in the day" we had parties that were filled with what we might call unusual. I played a centaur back in the early days of a 2e game. We've also had parties of, say, all dwarves. It's run the gamut.

And that bit there about "what we might call unusual" is worth remembering. If a fantasy world, or even more so something like the Star Wars universe where there are thousands upon thousands of different species, a diverse conglomeration isn't going to seem all that unusual. Especially, as Charlaquin pointed out, to be an adventurer (or mercenary, or...) is already pretty darn unusual. Most folk would prefer to stay at home and not die, thank you very much. Adventuring is already going to call for the exceptions.

That might be a framing that for your mind can make it easier to get on with.

You also asked for moving past it, and for that it might be worth looking about what elements of an all "more mundane" campaign you feel are missed out of a diverse cast of unusuals. What thematic bits, what narrative bits, etc. Is it the "everyman makes it big?" or a greater tie to taking up action in our modern world? Is it a nostalgia or desire for a certain aesthetic? An overall difference in genre/tone? Once you get what you feel is missing for you, that can be the place to lead with during your next Session 0. Maybe those genre/thematic/narrative/focus bits can be introduced into the campaign without having to develop a world without circuses. Or, maybe by framing it that way everyone is intrigued and enticed to play in such a world.

As there is most certainly nothing improper about either style of adventuring group and campaign. And we all have our preferences. If our preferences aren't being met, we can choose to bend them to stay in the group, and/or choose to invite others into our preferences, and/or choose to find another group that already shares them.

 

[Dire Bare]

One method I employed years ago when I also wanted a more traditional adventuring party composition . . . .

I wrote class and race/species names on slips of paper, threw them into a hat, and had the players draw. What they drew was their parameters for creating a character, but they were allowed to trade with other players.

For classes, I had a slip labeled "Warrior (Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, Barbarian)" (3x for warriors) and another (1x each) "Wizard", "Cleric/Druid", and "Rogue". I was trying to ensure a balanced party!

For species, I had 4x "Human", 2x "Demihuman (elf, dwarf, halfling), and 1x "Wild Card" (anything goes!).

My players initially liked the idea, but there was argument and resentment on the luck of the draw and players not willing to trade . . . .

I'm not sure I'd do it again, I've adapted to the new normal of extremely diverse party make-ups. We manage to have fun!

Although currently, we are running a mostly dwarven party through the Mines of Moria! 5 dwarves, 1 hobbit, 1 Dunedain ranger, and 1 "wizard". The "rules" for character creation were discussed during session zero, and it's what the group wanted to do! It's been great fun!

 

[Tonguez]

you could do what I did and turn them in to an actual Circus!

The Grand Circus Maximus would tour the empire putting on shows and getting in to adventures (even being the adventures as the Marques and beast pens made its own dungeon)

but yeah it is an issue, let the odd characters be in and odd, so townsfolk gawk at them as they walk past and inn keepers refuse to serve 'that kind'.
Even in Star Wars (where 4/7 of the iconic party are human) CP3O was constantly complaining about how droids were mistreated and Chewbacca was inherently intimidating to others

 

[djotaku]

How do you get over it? You just get over it. It's a game with talking dragons and mermaids and every kind of mythology thrown into a blender.

Also, the LGBT person had it right as well - one of the things I constantly read or hear or watch on YT about RP in TTRPGs is that you should have a reason to adventure. Think of real life middle ages through renaissance (the time period of most fantasy RPGs). Sure, SOME people joined the crusades. Most people were exceptional if they went further than the next town over. So SOMETHING has made you decide to go adventuring (same for your party). So, by nature, the adventurers are going to be weirdos. Think of all those protagonists (like Luke Skywalker) who are willing to trade the safety of a boring life for adventure - they're the exception! (Otherwise like everyone would be joining the military - which is what Luke wants to do - for adventure)

As someone pointed on page 2 if you've been playing D&D or Pathfinder long enough you're probably sick and tired of dwarves and elves.

Finally, there is some support to your POV. The Midgard setting for 5e (originally for Pathfinder) and the Pathfinder Player Core 2 both mention that you should talk to your GM before picking a weird species. Why? Because technically if your GM is running things "correctly" then if you show up to a continent of only dwarves and you're a tiefling - everyone's going to stare at you. And that's true to real life, too. I don't know if it still happens in today's Internet world, but 30ish years ago when I was in HS I had a friend who's black who went to China and people kept staring as if there was an alien among them. So, yeah, there's something to be said for that.

 

[Marc17]

I have noticed such party compositions from much earlier than 5E. In my last game there were no human PCs and and elf was the most normal. Come to think of it, my current game may also be that way. I forget what species the paladin is. It's one of the reasons I abandoned a campaign better set in medieval Britain that was working on for something set in a much more cosmopolitan setting at least to begin.

As for an adventuring group acting as circus troupe, I did do that as an NPC group in one of my games. They had some typical monster species so they played it up and were part of a side show exhibit that had giant insects in cages, taxidermies monsters, dragon scales, and tons of other things commoners wouldn't normally see. Ended with the "monster" and the woman that would disguise herself (with spells and otherwise) as a nymph, dryad, or other thirst trap monsters. Then my first game of 5E was an all bard game, but we were a band rather than a circus troupe. We still had an odd assortment of character species though.

 

[Bravesteel25]

Okay, but that doesn't really change any of what I said.

You don't care for "eclectic" adventuring parties. Okay, shrug. What do your players want? If they are enjoying playing anything and everything, then lighten up and join the fun! Or find a new group. Have you talked to your players? Maybe they would be game for a mostly human party, or a mostly dragonborn party, or what-have-you.

I get what you're saying, but I feel like what you said (bolded by me) is a little dismissive of my point of view, a view that might be held by other players as well, but they are too afraid to rock the boat. Granted, I completely understand that sometimes you have to bend to play in this cooperative hobby of ours, it's just a growing trend that I've noticed that really seems to take me out of the game.

I haven't really thought of adventuring party composition in this way before, but I think you nailed it! This is the perfect way to "justify" (not that it needs justification) a diverse, eclectic adventuring party.

I've spent a lot of time in the theater community in my area, another community that tends to attract outcasts, misfits, and others who struggle to fit into "normie" society. When I was watching the animated "The Legend of Vox Machina" and now "The Mighty Nein" on Amazon, I was reminded of this, as the adventuring parties in both stories are pretty diverse and eclectic!

And . . . tabletop roleplaying is another community that attracts a lot of "outsiders", and it's understandable if many of them prefer to create fantastical, "unique" characters of all sorts of colors, ear-shapes, and species!

The fiction that inspired D&D in the first place was more human-centered, the more fantastical races/species tended to be side-characters, background characters, or antagonists rather than "player hero" protagonists. So, I also get when folks want their D&D game to model that fictional inspiration, but . . . that was 50 years ago!

I feel like fantasy fiction is still relatively homogenous from a species perspective, however. Maybe I'm just not reading the hottest and newest stuff (if so please direct me) as I'm more of a Science Fiction reader these days.

 

[CreamCloud0]

you could do what I did and turn them in to an actual Circus!

The Grand Circus Maximus would tour the empire putting on shows and getting in to adventures (even being the adventures as the Marques and beast pens made its own dungeon)

this does however presume a degree of willingness to abandon whatever the existing plot/setup was going to be (or to of not had any in the first place i guess)

 

[Tonguez]

this does however presume a degree of willingness to abandon whatever the existing plot/setup was going to be (or to of not had any in the first place i guess)

yeah its pretty much Sandbox set up, with the assumption that the Circus travels to the next town and gets involved with whatever is happening there ...

 

[Charlaquin]

I feel like fantasy fiction is still relatively homogenous from a species perspective, however. Maybe I'm just not reading the hottest and newest stuff (if so please direct me) as I'm more of a Science Fiction reader these days.

It really depends on what fantasy fiction you’re reading. There’s no shortage either of fantasy fiction featuring extremely diverse casts of characters or of fantasy fiction with very human-centric points of view. Though, I think the fantasy fiction that is most closely associated with D&D and other RPGs tends towards the former. I mean, even in Lord of the Rings, the fellowship only had two human members (though Gandalf could easily be mistaken for human by anyone isn’t versed in the broader legendarium). Plucky bands of adventuring heroes tend to be very diverse within their respective settings, and as fantasy settings have branched out beyond Tolkien for their fantastical humanoids, so too have the adventuring parties grown more outlandish than just elves, dwarves, and hobbits halflings.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me? How can I move past it?

I just play with similarly minded people (who like Pratchett, Star Trek and Monty Python). I’m afraid I would tend to avoid playing with a group whose tastes were very different.

I'm more of a Science Fiction reader these days

This I find strange, in that I prefer Science Fiction to Fantasy, and thus I prefer an array of diverse aliens to boring old elves and dwarves.