So I'm preparing to DM my first campaign. I'm using the Wildemount setting as a change of pace from Forgotten Realms - using one of the starter adventure and then planning to transition to Netherdeep when the book drops - and told the players that aside from a few races (ie. aquatic-centric and MtG races) they could pick whatever they wanted to play.
At the moment it's looking like the table is going to have a Harengon, Satyr, Tabaxi, Goblin, and Human. The Human and Tabaxi are no issue but the other three are causing me a little bit of head-scratching. Now I don't regret not restricting any of those, I want them to have fun and play what they want to play, but the issue I'm having is that I'm not sure how to handle NPC interactions.
What I mean is, I don't want every NPC they interact with to have the same "What an odd group... what even are you?" reaction to the Harengon and Satyr as I feel that would get old fast. That said, they are still races that are rare. So I'm looking for advice; what sort of approach would you use in first-meeting style interactions and how often would you use the aforementioned reaction?
So I'm preparing to DM my first campaign. I'm using the Wildemount setting as a change of pace from Forgotten Realms - using one of the starter adventure and then planning to transition to Netherdeep when the book drops - and told the players that aside from a few races (ie. aquatic-centric and MtG races) they could pick whatever they wanted to play.
At the moment it's looking like the table is going to have a Harengon, Satyr, Tabaxi, Goblin, and Human. The Human and Tabaxi are no issue but the other three are causing me a little bit of head-scratching. Now I don't regret not restricting any of those, I want them to have fun and play what they want to play, but the issue I'm having is that I'm not sure how to handle NPC interactions.
What I mean is, I don't want every NPC they interact with to have the same "What an odd group... what even are you?" reaction to the Harengon and Satyr as I feel that would get old fast. That said, they are still races that are rare. So I'm looking for advice; what sort of approach would you use in first-meeting style interactions and how often would you use the aforementioned reaction?
I will admit I never looked at the lore for Harengon yet and I only skimmed over the lore for Satyr a couple of times (and I know I will get hate for bringing it up this way but it is good advice) so I'm not sure about the backgrounds per se.... but you are the DM lore can be whatever you make it want it to be (were getting to the part that I am going to get hate for, hadn't said it yet). For example, Wildemount is in Exandria and that's the world Critical Role plays in. In both Exandria, and in Campaign 3 a Satyr is in the party (granted I haven't gotten to Campaign 3 yet) and there hasn't been that many eyebrows raised... there might be a few nods or questions here and there but it's never been a drastic problem... so why would it need to be for your campaign.
Just skimming Wildemont's available races, most folks will probably simply mistake the Satryr for some sort of Tieflings with some unusual physical traits, since Tieflings are largely assimilated co-existing among the other people's of Wildemont, not a a lot to gawk at there.
Goblins, the book gives you ways out to have a well intending goblin, may get a lot of stinkeye, but make sure the player is up on Wildemont's goblin lore, including the Bane-free enclaves of goblinkin. Maybe if you play through Frozen Sick, the goblins up there precisely because they're accepted at the extreme edges of civilization (I don't remember goblins being mentioned but there's a sort of Arcangel type outpost with a Werebear as the sorta de facto mayor, so evidnetly a "takes all kinds" bulwark of survival).
Your Harrengon may get gawked at and may give a false impression to many people as to what a Firbolg is.
End of the day, this is sorta the DM's hole. If I was worried about displaced races, I'd have had them look over the races discussed in Wildemont and limit it to that list of ... around 32 options. Not making race a big deal in the game may just be a consequence to granting the players the even more liberal option. And then, as Justen points out, it's not like CR seems to grant a lot of fidelity to the lore of world races when making characters for seasons. It's actually the other way around, the player wants to be a certain lineage, they and Matt come up with a way for the being to exist in their game.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
@Justen - Yeah, that's fair. The character in both Exandria Unlimited and Campaign 3 are one and the same so there is that. I didn't watch EU so I'm unaware of any backstory stuff that came up there, though I believe it's been mentioned a few times in C3 that she came from the Feywild.
I think you two are right, I should try to think outside the box on this one.
For the Satyr and Harengon say they irked off a druid and were transformed into those bodies. For the goblin, he should have some type of disguise capability to move around whether magic or kit. It all depends on how you wan to run the campaign.
They're currently working on their backstories so I'm gonna wait until I see what they've got for me - the Harengon and Satyr are going in together for a inter-connected backstory - and then see about working it into the setting. I've just been trying to think of how NPCs are going to react to them. The goblin seems to be going down the Nott the Brave route, masked and such so he's got some deception checks in his future, lol.
I have set a world that lacks certain races and then had my players choose from races NOT native to the realm they are in. This was intentional, to really set them off in contrast to anyone else they meet. Their initial stop, a keep on the outskirts of town, they were "expected" by a high ranked priest, so their introduction wasn't too overwhelming. Upon leaving there and heading to town, they received VERY strange looks, were treated with suspicion initially and generally were the "sight to see" in town upon arrival. Essentially these strange creatures are, so far, met with some trepidation, but not open hostility (that may come in other towns at first) to add some flavor and nudge them towards trying to make an impression, to create a reputation.
Over time, they will become not only recognized and accepted, but my hope is, to be somewhat idolized and adored, for the work they are doing to help. I like the idea of "oddballs" coming in and getting immediate weird looks, then, via their own actions, go from the weirdo we stare at, to the heroes who have come to save us. Kind of the widest swing of encounters I can manage easily.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Just add those races to the world. They don't have to be a major demographic, but just like "ah, you're one of those bunnyfolk I heard tell of way off to the south. Nice to meet one in person, welcome to my shop!" "Satyr? You know the Antela family in town? Only satyr's locally and they're always happy to meet the few who pass through..." that kind of thing.
I feel your pain on this one, and I do regret being 'nonchalant' in the past about allowing my players to make whatever characters they wanted to. I can confirm that it does get old when every NPC reacts in a realistic way to a very unusual player character, and when you choose not to acknowledge it, it is somewhat immersion breaking. It's put me in a bit of a damn-if-I do, damned-if-I don't situation with that game. In the end I addressed it out of game, and make some lore changes to the world to make it a non-issue. Now, I tell my players they've got to pick races out of the Player Handbook, unless they can give me a good reason why they should pick something weird.
It's a little adjacent to the issue the OP has, but I will mention that it's MUCH more annoying for me personally when they player doesn't understand their own race, more so than trying to fit it into the world. I would much rather my players make a Human character with a feat, than have them play a Kalashtar without understanding what they're all about. It's probably a little petty, but after having to shoehorn in weird races into an already complicated world, I sorta just feel like the bare minimum a player can do is make their choice meaningful by playing it like it ought to be.
Satyr is a MTG race. That being said there is one in season 3 of CR right now, just flavored as a faun. Fauns aren't offically a thing in d&d, other than being on CR as far as I know but they are fey creatures so having a shared backstory with the Harengon works.
What to do with them really depends on what the players want from their race. If they just like what it gives their PC mechanically, then you can just reskin the race how ever you want to fit the backstory they want to inhabit. If they want the race for the backstory then you should probably ask them why and what about it they want to incorporate.
If they actually want the lore then look at Knot from season 2 for how a goblin would fit in that world.
First, you can just ignore it. There's nothing going with that, it can be a cognitive load to have people react to the presence of exotic races, and repetitive. Just make the NPCs unfazed by the novel races.
Alternatively, you can play it up a little. I'd have the major centres still be unfazed by it - they're metropolitan and see all sorts, so it makes sense that a few more odd things wouldn't even register - but have the hushed comments, furtive glances, etc when the party enters hamlets and small villages. They wouldn't be as exposed to giant bunny rabbits wearing swords, and so would be more curious. More to the point, it'll limit the amount of "and what exactly are you, furball?" type of interactions you'll have to roleplay and sell to your players. You could even use it as a basis for a quest - the scared villagers want [insert race here] out of here/dead, and you have to deal with their attempts to drive you off, etc.
It depends on how much you want their exoticism to play a role in the campaign and how much tou think you can carry.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Satyr is a MTG race. That being said there is one in season 3 of CR right now, just flavored as a faun. Fauns aren't offically a thing in d&d, other than being on CR as far as I know but they are fey creatures so having a shared backstory with the Harengon works.
What to do with them really depends on what the players want from their race. If they just like what it gives their PC mechanically, then you can just reskin the race how ever you want to fit the backstory they want to inhabit. If they want the race for the backstory then you should probably ask them why and what about it they want to incorporate.
If they actually want the lore then look at Knot from season 2 for how a goblin would fit in that world.
Satyr may be from the Theros book but so are Centaur and Minotaur. I meant more of the "Magic the Gathering specific races" such as Symic Hybrid, for example.
Satyrs were also referred to as Fauns in the old AD&D Monstrous Manual.
But I get what you're saying. Not too hard to work it into the campaign setting. :)
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So I'm preparing to DM my first campaign. I'm using the Wildemount setting as a change of pace from Forgotten Realms - using one of the starter adventure and then planning to transition to Netherdeep when the book drops - and told the players that aside from a few races (ie. aquatic-centric and MtG races) they could pick whatever they wanted to play.
At the moment it's looking like the table is going to have a Harengon, Satyr, Tabaxi, Goblin, and Human. The Human and Tabaxi are no issue but the other three are causing me a little bit of head-scratching. Now I don't regret not restricting any of those, I want them to have fun and play what they want to play, but the issue I'm having is that I'm not sure how to handle NPC interactions.
What I mean is, I don't want every NPC they interact with to have the same "What an odd group... what even are you?" reaction to the Harengon and Satyr as I feel that would get old fast. That said, they are still races that are rare. So I'm looking for advice; what sort of approach would you use in first-meeting style interactions and how often would you use the aforementioned reaction?
I will admit I never looked at the lore for Harengon yet and I only skimmed over the lore for Satyr a couple of times (and I know I will get hate for bringing it up this way but it is good advice) so I'm not sure about the backgrounds per se.... but you are the DM lore can be whatever you make it want it to be (were getting to the part that I am going to get hate for, hadn't said it yet). For example, Wildemount is in Exandria and that's the world Critical Role plays in. In both Exandria, and in Campaign 3 a Satyr is in the party (granted I haven't gotten to Campaign 3 yet) and there hasn't been that many eyebrows raised... there might be a few nods or questions here and there but it's never been a drastic problem... so why would it need to be for your campaign.
Just skimming Wildemont's available races, most folks will probably simply mistake the Satryr for some sort of Tieflings with some unusual physical traits, since Tieflings are largely assimilated co-existing among the other people's of Wildemont, not a a lot to gawk at there.
Goblins, the book gives you ways out to have a well intending goblin, may get a lot of stinkeye, but make sure the player is up on Wildemont's goblin lore, including the Bane-free enclaves of goblinkin. Maybe if you play through Frozen Sick, the goblins up there precisely because they're accepted at the extreme edges of civilization (I don't remember goblins being mentioned but there's a sort of Arcangel type outpost with a Werebear as the sorta de facto mayor, so evidnetly a "takes all kinds" bulwark of survival).
Your Harrengon may get gawked at and may give a false impression to many people as to what a Firbolg is.
End of the day, this is sorta the DM's hole. If I was worried about displaced races, I'd have had them look over the races discussed in Wildemont and limit it to that list of ... around 32 options. Not making race a big deal in the game may just be a consequence to granting the players the even more liberal option. And then, as Justen points out, it's not like CR seems to grant a lot of fidelity to the lore of world races when making characters for seasons. It's actually the other way around, the player wants to be a certain lineage, they and Matt come up with a way for the being to exist in their game.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
@Justen - Yeah, that's fair. The character in both Exandria Unlimited and Campaign 3 are one and the same so there is that. I didn't watch EU so I'm unaware of any backstory stuff that came up there, though I believe it's been mentioned a few times in C3 that she came from the Feywild.
I think you two are right, I should try to think outside the box on this one.
Appreciate the insight.
For the Satyr and Harengon say they irked off a druid and were transformed into those bodies. For the goblin, he should have some type of disguise capability to move around whether magic or kit. It all depends on how you wan to run the campaign.
They're currently working on their backstories so I'm gonna wait until I see what they've got for me - the Harengon and Satyr are going in together for a inter-connected backstory - and then see about working it into the setting. I've just been trying to think of how NPCs are going to react to them. The goblin seems to be going down the Nott the Brave route, masked and such so he's got some deception checks in his future, lol.
I have set a world that lacks certain races and then had my players choose from races NOT native to the realm they are in. This was intentional, to really set them off in contrast to anyone else they meet. Their initial stop, a keep on the outskirts of town, they were "expected" by a high ranked priest, so their introduction wasn't too overwhelming. Upon leaving there and heading to town, they received VERY strange looks, were treated with suspicion initially and generally were the "sight to see" in town upon arrival. Essentially these strange creatures are, so far, met with some trepidation, but not open hostility (that may come in other towns at first) to add some flavor and nudge them towards trying to make an impression, to create a reputation.
Over time, they will become not only recognized and accepted, but my hope is, to be somewhat idolized and adored, for the work they are doing to help. I like the idea of "oddballs" coming in and getting immediate weird looks, then, via their own actions, go from the weirdo we stare at, to the heroes who have come to save us. Kind of the widest swing of encounters I can manage easily.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Just add those races to the world. They don't have to be a major demographic, but just like "ah, you're one of those bunnyfolk I heard tell of way off to the south. Nice to meet one in person, welcome to my shop!" "Satyr? You know the Antela family in town? Only satyr's locally and they're always happy to meet the few who pass through..." that kind of thing.
I feel your pain on this one, and I do regret being 'nonchalant' in the past about allowing my players to make whatever characters they wanted to. I can confirm that it does get old when every NPC reacts in a realistic way to a very unusual player character, and when you choose not to acknowledge it, it is somewhat immersion breaking. It's put me in a bit of a damn-if-I do, damned-if-I don't situation with that game. In the end I addressed it out of game, and make some lore changes to the world to make it a non-issue. Now, I tell my players they've got to pick races out of the Player Handbook, unless they can give me a good reason why they should pick something weird.
It's a little adjacent to the issue the OP has, but I will mention that it's MUCH more annoying for me personally when they player doesn't understand their own race, more so than trying to fit it into the world. I would much rather my players make a Human character with a feat, than have them play a Kalashtar without understanding what they're all about. It's probably a little petty, but after having to shoehorn in weird races into an already complicated world, I sorta just feel like the bare minimum a player can do is make their choice meaningful by playing it like it ought to be.
Satyr is a MTG race.
That being said there is one in season 3 of CR right now, just flavored as a faun. Fauns aren't offically a thing in d&d, other than being on CR as far as I know but they are fey creatures so having a shared backstory with the Harengon works.
What to do with them really depends on what the players want from their race. If they just like what it gives their PC mechanically, then you can just reskin the race how ever you want to fit the backstory they want to inhabit. If they want the race for the backstory then you should probably ask them why and what about it they want to incorporate.
If they actually want the lore then look at Knot from season 2 for how a goblin would fit in that world.
I'd go one of two ways, with this.
First, you can just ignore it. There's nothing going with that, it can be a cognitive load to have people react to the presence of exotic races, and repetitive. Just make the NPCs unfazed by the novel races.
Alternatively, you can play it up a little. I'd have the major centres still be unfazed by it - they're metropolitan and see all sorts, so it makes sense that a few more odd things wouldn't even register - but have the hushed comments, furtive glances, etc when the party enters hamlets and small villages. They wouldn't be as exposed to giant bunny rabbits wearing swords, and so would be more curious. More to the point, it'll limit the amount of "and what exactly are you, furball?" type of interactions you'll have to roleplay and sell to your players. You could even use it as a basis for a quest - the scared villagers want [insert race here] out of here/dead, and you have to deal with their attempts to drive you off, etc.
It depends on how much you want their exoticism to play a role in the campaign and how much tou think you can carry.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Satyr may be from the Theros book but so are Centaur and Minotaur. I meant more of the "Magic the Gathering specific races" such as Symic Hybrid, for example.
Satyrs were also referred to as Fauns in the old AD&D Monstrous Manual.
But I get what you're saying. Not too hard to work it into the campaign setting. :)