>Just explained the races of the setting.
>A Player wants to play a half-elf.
>That's fine but remember that Elves are despised by humans (Their religion blames the Elves for both races being exiled from Paradise and killing all the Elves will let humans return.) and he would face a lot of discrimination.
>Still wants to play a half-elf, game starts.
>Player bitches when his pc isn't allowed into human settlements or is refused service from most human merchants.
How should I deal with this tg? The Human - Elf bad blood is kinda important to the setting. I don't wanna be that gm and ruin the game for the player, but none of the other are having issues.
He either has to suck it up and role play his choice, or make a new choice (so far)
>>43625307
Tell him to buy a damn cloak.
>>43625307
Retcon him into a human (after asking him if it's okay)
>>43625307
Seconding >>43625395
A half-elf disguising themselves as human should be fairly easy
>>43625307
If you wanted to ban half-elf as a race then why didn't you just say you were banning it instead of passive-aggressively shitting on the character and then screaming about "MUH FLUFF" as if your fun/the setting's "integrity" was more sacred and holy than your player?
>>43625443
I didn't want to ban it. They get better stats then either humans or elves but are hated by both. That is a fair trade.
>>43625443
^That.
If they're not allowed to function in society, whey the fuck are they available as a player option?
>>43625443
>>43625487
>durr hurr, why have a playable race have a disadvantage?
>>43625487
Not allowed in human settlements. They are allowed in Elven settlements but are looked down upon. No other race cares.
>>43625443
He told the players elves were despised by a lot of humans, but they went with it anyways. The player should have known what they were in for unless they lived a sheltered life where they don't understand what racists do to races they look down upon. There's no reason to ban it because there's plenty of room to roleplay with it.
It's not like making a fucking hood to cover your half-elf ears is hard.
>New group, some players are friends.
>They arrive at the first meeting (not the first session) with characters already made.
>Tell them that they haven't even been given the setting information or the type of campaign that's being played, so there's no reason to think the characters they've built will be allowed.
>One of the players insists he's playing a Goblin.
>"Considering a large part of this campaign takes place in a town that has been attacked by goblins for many years now, no, you're not playing a Goblin."
>Basically no longer wants to play, puts no effort into character building, and threatens to leave and take his friends with him.
Players ruin everything.
>>43625475
>I didn't want to ban it.
Clearly you did, otherwise you wouldn't have done everything you could to make them not viable for actual play, since half-elves apparently aren't allowed into human OR elven society whatsoever save for very rare exceptions.
The player was probably expecting standard fantasy racism as a way to add plot hooks and fun situations, not being stonewalled in 98% of society.
>>43625572
But they are allowed in elven society just looked down upon. Like a bastard child.
>>43625572
You're clearly not reading the thread, OP said half-elves are fine to interact in elven society, just looked down upon. Not to mention that every other society doesn't give a fuck. I'd hardly call that being stonewalled by 98% of society.
Unless half-elves have bright green neon skin or something retarded, disguising oneself as a human would not be very hard.
>>43625572
>banned by both
Nice strawman. See >>43625531
Also there is more to a game world than humans mate. Plus the player could've used this as a good roleplay opportunity to be cunning, and work his way up the social ladder while always being wary to gud his heritage. It could've made for a cool story, and at later levels the actions of this character could've possibly effected the culture of the town/human civilization. Quit being a faggot.
>>43625307
Ask him if he ever heard of Hotel Rwanda
>>43625572
There's a lot of actual play to be done even if you don't have an easy time walking into towns. Personally I love playing as a member of a subjugated race, and even if the DM doesn't present a lot of opportunity for it, as long as he doesn't fuck me over every part of the way then I'm sure I could make myself opportunities to do things with it.
The OP's scenario seems manageable, what I'd consider bad DMing is >>43625558 where I wouldn't even get the opportunity to work with the issues.
Had the same problem, straight up told my players that goblinoids were not allowed in many societies due to being stereotyped as slavers and conquerers (rightly so, but that's beside the point). Had a player get angry when a person saw through his hobgoblin's disguise and extorted him out of all of his coinage in exchange for not calling the city militia.
>>43625760
Why'd he get mad? He's not exposed, and he can always kill the grifter in a back alley to get his coin back
>>43625427
This.
It's so easy to pass this kind of thing. Getting creative with disguise is a lot of fun. My longest running character (still playing) has been using disguises, magic, and lies to convince everyone that's he's still alive despite being ghoulified.
>>43625689
>what I'd consider bad DMing is >>43625558(You) where I wouldn't even get the opportunity to work with the issues.
You do not get the option to play a PC that, per the setting and/or the story, should be shot on sight, but doesn't because "He's a PC so he's special".
If you ask for that right, you are only there to ruin everything for everyone.
That's perfectly reasonable, you gave him a heads up. He should deal with it. I once played a Japanese Spider Crab Man Samurai, and he was discriminated and feared for how he looked, but rather than bitch and moan I embraced it since it made perfect sense within the setting.
>>43625558
>Muh setting is more important than the players having a character they actually care about and want to play
>>43626042
>Nogabuna
I see what you did there
>>43625895
A DMs only job is to keep things fair and to keep things interesting. Not to say that the whole world should be changed for the player, but there're a few simple compromises to these situations that can slot into most settings.
On the very kind side of things, the PC could be a conditional citizen allowed to stick around due to previous good behavior or utility. The OP's scenario isn't bad either, where everyone hates your kind but you can slink around the shady sides of town bundled in cloaks and shadows. You could have the PC walk around in slave chains, led by the others of his party whereever he goes.
Personally I'd probably just tack on a slum or underground to the city where people care less about that kind of thing because life there is bad enough already.
Maybe your city is filled with religious zealots that burn goblins or sight, or maybe the goblins in the settings really are so dangerous by nature that in all cases they're better dead than live, but from the way that you're putting things it really sounds as though you're just not willing to make the effort to work with your players.
>>43626100
>muh feels care more about game cohesion and continuity
>the world should mold itself around my wants and desires and feelings
That's some heavy entitlement there. It seemed like non of the other players had a problem, so if its just the one guy who's being a bitch, he needs to learn to grow some stones and do what these anons suggested>>43625877
>>43626042
>>43625670
>>43625550
>>43625427
>>43625395
Because unless the other anons have a problem with the setting, there is really no problem. What would you have him do? Ignore the setting he created and instead run just another meatgrinder pregen adventure?
>>43625307
Kill the character
Problem solved
>>43625558
They never actually wanted to play your game. They didn't ruin anything anymore than you ruined their character.
It's like complaining that customer who accidentally walked into a cake shop, when they wanted a pie, refused to buy your cakes. Suck it up fag.
>>43626183
Maybe instead you could, I don't know, build the setting with your players or around what they want to play, since the games focusing on them?
Doubly so if you just told them to show up with characters and only explained the setting at the last minute.
>>43626356
>Maybe instead you could, I don't know, build the setting with your players or around what they want to play, since the games focusing on them?
Hahahahaha.
But in all seriousness, ideas like this never actually work in the majority of rule sets. Group design of a setting doesn't deliver coherent content, and a setting shouldn't have to bend over backwards to accommodate the whims of a single person. This doesn't even cover the possibility of differing opinions among the group. Just look at world building threads on /tg/ if you want an idea of what would happen.
If being a half-elf was so important to his character (despite not wanting to interact with the setting's feelings on half-elves) then there is a disconnect. Why should the world change rather than his character's race? What does he want out of his character's race that he is not getting? Does he just have a hard on for the concept of a half-elf.
>Doubly so if you just told them to show up with characters and only explained the setting at the last minute.
Except this is not what happened in the fucking thread, it's stated that they were told about half elves before making characters.
>>43626493
Why're tripfags always so stupid.
Look man, just back up a little bit and follow the conversation train. You are so far off from current events that Hitler's still an artist where you are.
>>43626551
>being this big of a faggot
What is he doing while he's not allowed into these places, OP? Racism has its uses in setting design but if the player is forced to sit and wait for everyone else to finish their business in human settlements then you have a problem. Be sure you give him things to do and characters to interact with while the others are spending time in human territory.
>>43626493
I was more referring to the goblin thing, but it applies to both. Having a single race be something everyone hates with no exceptions or one that is always evil is lazy, and a player wanting to play as one gives you a chance to expand on it and make it something actually interesting.
>>43626625
You're making some rather big assumptions there m8.
>>43626637
As are you.
One of the player characters in my campaign is a slime. Since only about 1/400 of their kind retain a human mind and intelligence, the character is treated with suspicion and even attacked occasionally. Guess what? The player doesn't bitch and moan because he understood the consequnces of playing a character like that. The problem in the OP is all the player making forests out of ferns.
>>43625395
This. Cloak and a disguise kit.
>>43626625
See, you made some big assumption here, both of which are false. I said many societies, not all societies. The main region the players interact with are near a militaristic hobgoblin majority country, and thus many societies do not want them in their towns for fear of them being advanced scouts for the army for fear of reporting back the town's defenses.
As for the "always evil", again I never said that.
All I said was a player was extorted.
>>43625689
Are you actually defending someone fucking stupid enough to show up to a game with a premade character before they even know anything about it?
>>43626751
In the elf case the player is at fault for not adapting to the situation, I'm just pointing out that the first guy I responded to is a dumb fuck for thinking that having a harder time means a race isn't viable for play.
In the goblin case I am totally defending the player because the DM forced them to go in blind, then vetoed a character choice that's more difficult to work with but is obviously available in the setting.
>>43626742
You said one town got attacked by goblins and were suspicious of them. There is an awful lot of leeway there.
>>43626811
>forced them to go in blind
They showed up with premade characters before he even told them what the setting was. Did you not even read the post? Its obvious they were supposed to hear about the setting before making characters.
>>43625307
Look into his eye and say
>You piece of shit dog, I shit on your mother (spit to the ground here)
>Not wanting to breed with the elves.
Humans just need to give the Elves their hate boner.
>>43626882
Any character or concept they could have come up with or wanted to play could have been invalid just as easily.
Which is why its better to discuss this beforehand.
>>43626882
>not telling the players about your setting the moment you mention you would DM
He sounds like an enormous faggot to be honest.
>>43626996
>>43626993
Granted, the dude did have a first meeting before the first session so they could discuss character creation together.
I still strongly disagree with him though. DMs are only their for their players sake, if one player being a goblin wouldn't cause trouble to the rest of the group, the DM should've found a compromise to make it work.
>>43626993
But the session they turned up to was when the 'discussing beforehand' was to take place. Why is the concept of a preparatory session so alien to you.
>>43627114
>the DM is a slave who must cater to every whim of the players
That is not even slightly how it works or should work.
>>43627216
>The DM is a slave who must cater to every whim of the players
That's pretty much how it works. The enjoyment of the players should be top priority for every DM, and the decision to veto the whim of a player should only be made on the belief that the players as a whole will be happier this way.
>>43627317
Player entitlement is so real here it hurts. The DM is allowed to say "No, fuck that, I don't want that in my game". He's a player just like anyone else, and your fun does not override his fun.
Yeah, he should be trying his best to make every player happy, but if he has to make the game unfun for himself in the process, he is fully within his rights to say "No, eat a dick".
>>43626625
>Having a single race be something everyone hates with no exceptions or one that is always evil is lazy
No one told the dude Goblin was on the table as a race choice. There was no explaining of the setting, because he came to the very meeting where setting information, along with "These are the allowed races" would be delivered, with a pre-constructed character that was not informed by anything.
You do not get to sit at a DM's table and tell him what you're playing and how you're playing it before he gets to lay down the rules for his table. That is not a right players have.
>>43627114
>DMs are only their for their players sake
Jesus fucking christ, what is wrong with you?
>>43627317
That is a shitty, entitled attitude. And if it was normal then running a game of a specific theme or genre would be impossible.
One of the jobs of a Game Master is to veto any concept that does not fit the game he wants to run. And he is there to have fun too.
>>43627216
So you came up with the entire setting beforehand, and they came up with their entire character beforehand. Why is the purpose of a prepatory session so alien to you?
>>43627405
>>43627406
I have actually seen people show up for a DnD game with the character sheet from a previous game with a different DM, group AND setting.
Then act surprised and offended when they were told they could not continue with it.
>>43627317
Good god. Playing Pen and Paper should be fun for all. And if the GM says "Sorry anon, I guess that wouldn't work", than you as a player should probably try to cooperate since he is doing most of the work.
The GM should try his best to provide fun for his players and vice versa.
When a player shows up to a session with a character that shits all over the GMs prep, and is not willing to change anything than he is a cunt.
>>43626606
To elaborate on this..racism in your setting should provide roleplaying opportunities, not exclude the player from participating. The player should feel pressure from the hostile reception, but needs to still have places he can go and things he can do. These need to be relevant in the now, it's no good if there's an elf town two weeks away but for the moment he just has to sit and watch everyone else shop.
Most merchants may refuse him service, but perhaps the local thieves guild takes an interest, and will happily offer the character services at a slight markup.. or a reduced one if he'd be willing to handle a few issues they need resolved. After all, the guild doesn't care about heritage, only ability, and someone who's spurned by the general public is a useful tool unlikely to turn on the only ones willing to show them hospitality.
In short, be sure you use this as a tool to improve your game rather than exclude the player from key parts of it.
