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

[Hussar]

People with decent family lives generally aren't taking up the adventure of risking life and limb to delve into dungeons and ancient ruins to grab treasure. They're living with the decent family and loving home.

Adventuring, by its nature, draws a very specific crowd, and a lot of the question of why someone is adventuring is just that: what set them on that road to adventure?

But, in the real world, that's not even remotely true.

It's not like Captain Cook was an orphan. Magellan was a noble. To be fair, his parents did die. But, again, there are a horde of historical figures that aren't from tortured pasts who have become explorers and adventurers.

 

[Belen]

Only problem with that is, again, players make their characters in a vacuum and it really doesn't matter how cool you think your options are, the players just don't care. As I said earlier, I've largely given up on trying. The players are going to bring whatever to the table, so, at this point, I'm just too tired of trying to buck the trend.

Why would players make their characters in a vacuum?

This has never happened in one of my games in the last 30 years. I provide the character generation document. I am usually pretty generous and give extra options.

Do I restrict some species options? Yes. I do not allow Warforged, for example.

I have a session zero although never called it that. The players have a discussion with me and the other players about what to play and what may fit with the rest of the group. It is always a discussion.

I have even built options for players who want something different.

If people are showing up with some random character and not discussing and interacting with the group, then something has gone wrong.

 

[Mind of tempest]

But if it's D&D's greatest strength, why do we have threads like this where DMs bemoan how their player's characters are disconnected from the settings? That's my point.

A double-edged bladed can cut if both directions

 

[Mind of tempest]

I mean, one of most famous list of player hinjinks ever written starts with "I am not allowed to play a character based on the Who drummer Keith Moon".

you mean Glen's list

 

[Remathilis]

A double-edged bladed can cut if both directions

True. The consequence of that diversity is that my elf PC may not adhere to the norms of your elves because we are viewing elves from two different lens. And I think that, barring the most extreme examples, that is where most of these "entitled player" and "nightmare GM" stories come from. The players and GM are playing two different games or at least interpretations of it.

 

[Umbran]

But, in the real world, that's not even remotely true.

It's not like Captain Cook was an orphan.

Yes, but Cook had been on the seas for 20+ years before the famed "First Voyage of James Cook" started in 1768, and he didn't initiate that voyage himself - he was commissioned by the Royal Navy and Royal Society. So, that voyage was not a snot-nosed young adventurer jumping into hazard. It was a seasoned professional and military officer being ordered to do it.