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

[Scott Christian]

A world having sharp moral lines is not the same as that world being "full-on black-and-white morality". Sharp moral lines just mean that there's a very clear division and that, at least on some axis or axes, there's no fuzzy boundary.

I guess I misunderstood. When writing my response, I viewed it as the same. Your quote from TVTropes,

"Please note even in a world where the moral lines are sharply drawn, there may still be characters or organizations that are presented as being 'grey'. A general rule of thumb as to whether or not black-and-white morality is present is that the heroes are almost always considered to be in the right, while the villains are always 'wrong'. Of course, the audience might disagree with the author's moral compass."

seems to view them as the same. The heroes, in my case, all the movie and book protagonists I presented, are almost always considered to be in the right. The villains are in the wrong. Can you please explain what I am missing?

 

[Mecheon]

have you considered the half orc and half elf are the problem? like, seriously, what are we doing here? are we actually gonna pretend like orcs and humans are the same species despite all evidence pointing otherwise including literally being labeled different species by the game itself, or are we gonna acknowledge that maybe - just maybe - interbreeding between different species works a little differently in dnd then in real life and move on?

"Species" is a term with no real fixed definition that changes often and often includes stuff that frankly shouldn't be included. Keep an eye on Mamenchisaurus, its about to pull an Iguanodon and those 7 species split into completely different animals in the coming years.

Given all that's really different biologically between the three is extremely limited (pointy ears) and they're all in the rare situation of bipeds, if we look at D&D form a realistic biology perspective, yeah, they'd be in the same genus

 

[billd91]

have you considered the half orc and half elf are the problem? like, seriously, what are we doing here? are we actually gonna pretend like orcs and humans are the same species despite all evidence pointing otherwise including literally being labeled different species by the game itself, or are we gonna acknowledge that maybe - just maybe - interbreeding between different species works a little differently in dnd then in real life and move on?

Interbreeding between different species in D&D doesn't have to work differently from real life at all for the two to still be termed different species. Organisms can be classified into different species even if they can successfully interbreed in a physical sense, but generally don't because of other factors such as when the organisms of separated by diurnal/nocturnal schedules or by geography. It wouldn't be that weird to consider organisms separate species if they're separated by culture, to say nothing of other physical differences, and don't normally interbreed.

 

[Scott Christian]

The year people understand D&D is not a scientific taxonomic hierarchy, is the day people can get over this ridiculous argument.

 

[Umbran]

By your own words, no it doesn't. I said that coming to the table with a "fully formed character" doesn't work. You point to the Phase Trio which specifically tells you not to have a fully formed character before you start. Thus, no, there's no rejection.

You know what? I have a holiday, and a cat full of cancer to deal with. I have no patience for your picayune wordplay. I'm done.

 

[Remathilis]

Nope. They could lean into the tropes that used to define the other species instead of reduce them all to funny hats.

I still think that's a tall order for a couple of people sitting at a table eating snacks and rolling dice. An elf has all the basic thoughts and emotions of a human. They love, laugh, fear, cry, ponder, doubt and hate the same as a human because they are being played by a human. If you wanted to make elves feel different, you'd have to some elements of their thinking that is Unfathomable to a human. Something like: "elves have no concept of time. Between their long lives and lack of biological sleep, an elf has nearly no idea about how much time passes. As such, an elf will come and go as they please (showing up at 3am to have a social call), let months pass deciding if they want to buy a red cloak or a blue one, and cannot understand why 'time is of the essence' on anything. If an opportunity closes, another will always come, all you gotta do is wait."

Then you tie that to some mechanics (elves roll a nonstandard initiative die, all downtime activities take x2 as much time to complete) and you give the players an alien mind to play. The kingdom is under threat by a dragon? Let's take a few months to study the situation. If the kingdom falls in the meantime, another will spring up eventually...

But let's be real here. People are not going to want to play a race that that thinks the solution to problems is to simply outlive them. Every elf PC is going to perceive time like a human does because the game depends on it. What did old editions say about elves? They are obsessed with magic, love beauty and art, are alive slow to act, deeply passionate and are aloof and somewhat arrogant. Guess what? That's every stereotype about the French I've ever seen. Playing an elf in AD&D isn't playing a different species with a different mindset, it's playing a human with a funny beret.

 

[Scribe]

Playing an elf in AD&D isn't playing a different species with a different mindset, it's playing a human with a funny beret.

Then why does it exist at all?