I want to be sure I didn't use the term "circus troupe" in some sort of way that was offensive as it was genuinely just the easiest way I could describe my thoughts on it in a succinct way.
It seems that people who don't understand
your problem from
your end are taking offensive because your phrasing implies that you don't understand (or care about)
their problem on
their end. You're conflating a behavior that bothers you with bad faith motivation on your part; they're insulted. You're trying to justify your good faith aesthetic preferences against similar accusations of bad faith.
I don't care. I'm just pointing out that I think you're focusing on the wrong facet of the problem, and the phrase is locking the topic onto that facet.
I don't think you care that
someone is playing an exotic ancestry, it's that
the majority of your group all want to play
different exotic ancestries, and, to a greater or lesser extent, aren't taking group cohesion or your campaign premise into account.
The "circus troupe" language makes it seem like your problem is the
weird new races, not the lack of regard for your worldbuilding or your desire for immersion. Both of which you're doing
for everyone's benefit.
Part of the problem, I think, is that you're treating humans and "old school" (and more humanlike) ancestries as automatically normal and justified and newer and less humanlike as being automatically out of place. In a way, you're doing the same thing to yourself.
In a Planescape/Sigil game, planetouched are
common enough that they should count as human-- even mixed types-- AD&D PHB races and PCS boxed set races are uncommon, and unusual
Prime ancestries are "rare" or "exotic". Nothing's really "off the table" unless you're specifically excluding it.
Greyhawk? Humans and half elves/orcs are human, the Tolkien Trio are common, gnomes and stock humanoids are uncommon, and drow and planetouched are rare. I'm probably going to put my foot down on anything else unless
you know that I know they're canonically native.
Athas or Krynn? Don't even try to talk to me about half-orcs.
I find it the opposite. "You're all part of a Thieves' Guild" is right up there with "you all meet in a tavern" unless...
I've never started a D&D game that way, but that is how I want to start the Terminator game I want to run. The PCs are all "orphaned" TDCs who need safety in numbers and help completing their missions. They meet in an abandoned bar using old Resistance tricks and try to... work together, or not.
Of course, that's
a whole lot of shared purpose...
Oh yeah. I also banned wizard and cleric and have never been happier!
Next on my list of "stupid D&D games" I want to run is PF1, fixie-gestalt... but no core races or ancestries allowed, and you can't pick both classes from the same publisher.
Would make
some allowances:
- Planetouched count as human.
- Half-goblins replace half-elves and half-orcs and count as them.
- I might allow a PrC with a core race prerequisite apply to a different ancestry.
- Full BAB classes and some 3/4 BAB martials get weapon/armor training and count as Fighter to qualify for feats.
- Brawler and Inkyo get some Monk features and "count as Monks".
- Sorcerer is combined with Bloodline Disciple, but has restricted spell access.
Might try to get clever with some of the classes that have
An Lotte of alternate takes by different publishers, especially since so many of those classes are
just bad but have that
one nifty idea buried in them.
