Four is clearly the outer of limit of fantasy races that the human mind should imagine. More than that is decadent indulgence.

[video=youtube_share;RkP_OGDCLY0]https://youtu.be/RkP_OGDCLY0[/youtube]

The one 5e campaign I got into was one where everyone else at the table was a Millennial (one of whom even identified as non-binary).

What did they play? We had two humans (a fighter and my bard), two half-elves (a cleric and a wizard) and an Earth Genasi (a barbarian).

The moral of this story? Internet posters are not a representative sample of actual players.

Our first campaign, even before Rifts was a thing, was crazy gonzo. We threw everything together (Marvel Super Heroes RPG, AD&D, Gamma World, Boot Hill,etc) Mutant rabbits with plasma guns fighting Robot Hitler and demonic possesed muscle cars. I do believe we even had a squadron of X-Wings piloted by some elves from the Elfquest world. Zam! Pow@ Zowie! A "monstrous" PC in that game wouldn't have raised an eyebrow.
Around about 2nd edition AD&D we calmed down some, but I still like to play a monstrous character once in a while.

Man, those were the days. whole summers playing D&D hopped up on Mountain Dew, round robin DM style, so everyone got a chance to play, with the gentleman's agreement that your character was unavailable as an NPC while you were GMing, so you couldn't twink out too badly.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1066702Our first campaign, even before Rifts was a thing, was crazy gonzo. We threw everything together (Marvel Super Heroes RPG, AD&D, Gamma World, Boot Hill,etc) Mutant rabbits with plasma guns fighting Robot Hitler and demonic possesed muscle cars. I do believe we even had a squadron of X-Wings piloted by some elves from the Elfquest world. Zam! Pow@ Zowie! A "monstrous" PC in that game wouldn't have raised an eyebrow.
Around about 2nd edition AD&D we calmed down some, but I still like to play a monstrous character once in a while.

Man, those were the days. whole summers playing D&D hopped up on Mountain Dew, round robin DM style, so everyone got a chance to play, with the gentleman's agreement that your character was unavailable as an NPC while you were GMing, so you couldn't twink out too badly.

IME at the table with 5e the Variant Human with starting Feat is definitely most popular, with some dwarf clerics, kids playing dragonborn etc.


Girls posting their pastel-coloured My First PC drawing on Facebook are not particularly representative IME. In any case I don't bear them any ill will (unless they complain when I kill their PC).

Well, from the original Men and Magic LBB, "There is no reason that players cannot be allowed to play as virtually anything, provided they begin relatively weak and work up to the top".   So play whatever freakish thing you want.  If it fits the campaign. (That is to say that the DM allows it.)

Current campaign I'm in has 2 humans, 1 1/2-elf and 1 dragonborn.  I cannot say that the race differences amount to much.  In my 4 decades of playing, I've seen very few players actually play their not human PCs as not human.  It's like the gumball machine.  All the different colors of gumballs ...that all taste the same.

Which is not to say that some players do not play their not human PCs fittingly.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1066672Take a look at the DnD tag on twitter and all you'll see is hipster kids showing off drawings of their totally non-human orange or red or blue or purple thing, which they'll call 'my boi' or 'this cutie' or whatever, to the point where you wonder whether the fuck they've ever had them inside a dungeon or their whole campaign is just about the characters eating cake while complaining about the patriarchy.

So what do you think about modern D&D having all these kids playing tieflings, aasimar, genasi, tabaxi, dragonborn etc.?

Is it 'special snowflakeism'? Does it let them show off their (mostly imagined) non-conformity by all doing the exact same thing?

But is it basically harmless? Does it add to the game? or make it worse?

Anime damaged generations of humans.

So much #dndgate in there. Why isn't there a #travellergate, where lesbians ask each other what their first Traveller RPG experience was like? Or are there not enough female neckbeards yet playing the game?

I'm not sure... There's a subset of 5th edition gamers who play strictly human and not for the reason you'd expect... It's because of the 1st-level feat option!

Quote from: Graytung;1066727I'm not sure... There's a subset of 5th edition gamers who play strictly human and not for the reason you'd expect... It's because of the 1st-level feat option!

Hah, I was just about to ask is there some mechanical reason why these kids are picking these races? I'm no D&D expert.

People used to think it was funny to play a duck in Runequest. Part of the de rigeur schtick was acting all offended if anyone tried to suggest playing a duck was ridiculous.

Quote from: Slambo;1066695What's wrong with tieflings...besides the fact no one ever seems to react to them and try to execute the fiend spawn like the lore says they do.

Happened to one of my PCs once. I brought a tiefling into the campaign as a replacement character. As we weren't playing with "PC" stamps on the character's foreheads, the other players let my character die of wounds when they first encountered him, because "tiefling". *shrug* Next character!

Quote from: S'mon;1066708IME at the table with 5e the Variant Human with starting Feat is definitely most popular

That has been my experience too. However, I never see anyone playing the 'standard' (non-Variant) Human, and that's an issue for me since I don't like Feats being available at 1st level.

Quote from: MonsterSlayer;1066678No, we are just getting old.
We were raised on READING Tolkien and such.

These kids were raised on WATCHING Pokemon, My Little Pony, Phineas and Ferb, and such. Games like Skyrim have let these kids play cat people and lizard men for years even in a setting that is fairly traditional.

Tabaxi and Dragonborn are more the norm in my open library games than the wood elf or mountain dwarf.

We either yell "Get off my lawn!" or just roll with it.

Pretty much this. Different, more visual source material.

Another thing I've noted is the millennial women in my new group are really into romance. Every NPC is a target for flirtation and romance.

Quote from: MonsterSlayer;1066678No, we are just getting old.
We were raised on READING Tolkien and such.

These kids were raised on WATCHING Pokemon, My Little Pony, Phineas and Ferb, and such. Games like Skyrim have let these kids play cat people and lizard men for years even in a setting that is fairly traditional.

Tabaxi and Dragonborn are more the norm in my open library games than the wood elf or mountain dwarf.

We either yell "Get off my lawn!" or just roll with it.

Agreed and seconded and nothing wrong with it.

I don't get the issue here seriously. If everyone is having fun at the table who really cares. Besides some grongnards on the Internet. More often than not at least at the tables I play at it's usually the core races with the occasional Dragonborn or Tiefling. Humans with the bonus feat seem to be most popular. Let's be brutally honest it's not for any real love of human as a race more the no level limit cap or extra feat at first level depending on the version of D&D being played. Do not confuse taking a particular race for it's in game mechanical bonus as actually liking the race. I find humans in most rpgs boring as anything. I usually take them because of the extra feat.

Quote from: Broken Twin;1066686I think this is honestly the most relevant part of it. Kids growing up in the last two decades have had a ton of exposure to non-Tolkien fantasy, and their tastes reflect that. Combine that with the natural bias of wanting a visually interesting character to showcase art for, and it makes sense that the old standbys have given way to more exotic appearances.

Again seconded. The sad part those shitting on other peoples fun would do the exact same thing if they were born with the same exposure to non-Tolkien influences to Fantasy. I'm sure they will deny it though because hypocrites are going to be hypocrites and denial is more than a river in Egypt. Myself I freely admit I would be probably be playing a non-standard race if I was a younger player.

If people want to play teiflings and other races in the game, it is fine. I don't really worry too much about what other people are doing at the table. And tastes are going to change a lot by time and place. If young people like Teiflings and Dragonborn, that is what they like. Don't see any point in wasting energy on it. There is nothing about humans, dwarves and elves that make them have to be a permanent standard. Personally, I quite like the classic D&D races and I am not too into the teifling aesthetic. But back when I first started GMing, the Drizzt books were popular and lots of players broke from the standard races to play dark elves and other humanoids. Things change but there are also fads. Especially now, when you have so many varieties of D&D available under other names, I don't think there is much point in worrying what young people do with character races. It isn't really a zero sum game because even if the standard races are evolved out of the official D&D books in some future edition, you can be sure someone will make a standard races retro clone. But I have to say, this isn't stuff I've seen much of in my own groups. Though the youngest people I've played with are in their early 20s.