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most adventurers tend to stand out in their own localized societies, and a lot of them are seen as odd in their own ways. because adventurers tend to be freaks, exotic races within reason shouldn't be a problem
all 8 species of planetouched are basically pallette swapped humans, some might have minor exotic traits that can be either concealed or passed off as an exotic fashion statement
some, like changelings, samsarans or dhampir, could be passed off as identical to humans with odd or rare pigmentations and/or odd cosmetic features that could be passed off as fashion choices, much like planetouched
the key to defeating an attention grabbing players habits, is not to restrict options, but to simply not give the player the attention they desire
everytime the dwarves give the drow an odd look, everytime your players show signs of being irked by the gnome, everytime the NPCs attack the catfolk on sight, every time an NPC begs the aasimaar for a lock of her hair. every time you contemplate abducting the noble blooded loligoth for her cuteness and fashion choices, every time you prioritize your focus on the guy with blue skin and feathery black wings, you are doing one thing that can be percieved as the mistake of a DM whom hasn't learned to counter this
you are letting the snowflake win
the Snowflake, following the definition of the "look at me i'm special" player could be done with any race, class, fashion style, age category or accessories, they all have one thing in common, they want all the attention and generally want special treatment
to defeat the snowflake, the strategy is to ignore their uniqueness and pay them less attention.
think to yourself but don't word it aloud, "the blue man with wings is not special, he is an adventurer like the rest of the group, nothing more." blue man with wings could be a stand in for any oddity.
have your NPCs say to themselves under their breath. "oh, adventurers, an odd bunch, their lot come with all sorts of oddities, but no matter what, they are all the same inside, greedy scoundrels whom can be bought with promise of reward." need not be all NPCs, just the village elders or whatever.
when you learn to accept that the one guy's exotic race is no more worthy of attention than the dwarf's odd accent or the elf's OCD, and when you learn to dismiss adventurers as adventurers, rather than focusing on one facet of one adventurer, thus restricting the attention the snowflake can milk
the snowflake will learn one of two things, the first, to leave your game and find one where they can get their attention, or two, they can bite their lip and realize that no matter how unique they make their character, you won't let it hog the spotlight
try creating a variety of encounters to challenge a variety of facets, try creating a variety of scenarios designed for different characters to shine, don't give in to the snowflake's uniqueness. just accept the odd race, find a similar core or standard enough race to mistake it for, and learn, that by deliberately paying less attention to the snowflake and giving a chance at spotlight to the other characters, that they will stop making their eccentricy a focus of the game, either by leaving, or by seeking reform
everytime you give them special treatment in game, whether killing them on sight, giving them odd looks or remarks, tripling item prices for them, focusing on the act of abducting them, asking for a lock of their hair, or focusing on their priority in combat, you are giving them the attention they seek. learn to accept, adventurers are often oddities and the majority are bound to be freaks or outcasts, regardless of race, and you can more freely ignore the snowflake
the key to defeating the snowflake, is not giving into their craving of attention, but to ignore the facets of their uniqueness on a facet that sounds sensible. every time you reward or punish a character in game, you are personally engaging them, giving them the attention they crave with such intensity.
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But what happens if you have a bunch of them, say a "Blue Man Group'?
*grins evily*
But what happens if you have a bunch of them, say a "Blue Man Group'?
*grins evily*
then it is safe to accept that the whole or majority (2/3 or more) of the party is blue skinned humanoids and then you can focus on their race choice as a theme because you aren't biasing for or against any one player
because the whole party is focused around blue, you can say "look at those blue people" without singling out any one PC for good or ill.
"look at those blue skinned raiders, they have a young female half-elf slave, we have to save her."
or "those blue raiders are in cahoots with those orcs, there are 5 blue people, 3 orcs, and a little half elf girl whom is probably their slave."
in this case, i would have to retract my giving exotic races less attention, because the loligoth is the unique on in this party of 9, and it makes sense for comments to come because the focus of the campaign, is the oddity that is blue raiders. you are still focused on the blue people, you are including the loligoth half-nymph too by mentioning her among the "blue raiders" and the orcs. referencing the "half-nymph" as a "Half-Elf"
in other words, retract the statment against giving odd races extra attention when odd races are the majority of the party and an odd focus of the campaign, and contrast them with the less odd PCs
That was a joke. Google search "Blue Man Group"
most adventurers tend to stand out in their own localized societies, and a lot of them are seen as odd in their own ways. because adventurers tend to be freaks, exotic races within reason shouldn't be a problem
all 8 species of planetouched are basically pallette swapped humans, some might have minor exotic traits that can be either concealed or passed off as an exotic fashion statement
some, like changelings, samsarans or dhampir, could be passed off as identical to humans with odd or rare pigmentations and/or odd cosmetic features that could be passed off as fashion choices, much like planetouched
the key to defeating an attention grabbing players habits, is not to restrict options, but to simply not give the player the attention they desire
everytime the dwarves give the drow an odd look, everytime your players show signs of being irked by the gnome, everytime the NPCs attack the catfolk on sight, every time an NPC begs the aasimaar for a lock of her hair. every time you contemplate abducting the noble blooded loligoth for her cuteness and fashion choices, every time you prioritize your focus on the guy with blue skin and feathery black wings, you are doing one thing that can be percieved as the mistake of a DM whom hasn't learned to counter this
you are letting the snowflake win
the Snowflake, following the definition of the "look at me i'm special" player could be done with any race, class, fashion style, age category or accessories, they all have one thing in common, they want all the attention and generally want special treatment
to defeat the snowflake, the strategy is to ignore their uniqueness and pay them less attention.
think to yourself but don't word it aloud, "the blue man with wings is not special, he is an adventurer like the rest of the group, nothing more." blue man with wings could be a stand in for any oddity.
have your NPCs say to themselves under their breath. "oh, adventurers, an odd bunch, their lot come with all sorts of oddities, but no matter what, they...
Yep, defeating snowflakes is easy, and you understand this. You can throw them the bone of small acknowledgement, but other than that, a dm can run things as per normal.
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I do not agree at all with the OP.
I expect ALL of my players to create PCs that are their own unique snowflakes in one way or another.
I then proceed to give them the spotlight accordingly. It is my job as a GM to ensure that all of the players get as much fun as possible while doing that.
My biggest problem usually comes with 2 PCs who want to be the best at the very same thing. Or with a player who just cannot explain what he expects from our game :-(
Well, archetypal chars and the common sort of man/woman thrown into adventuring can be great rp characters too.
Being a snowflake from the get-go is not a pre-req, and some can develop over time, starting plain but moving and growing from there. As they complete quests, meet other npcs, solve problems and rp the real uniqueness of their char will show (or will not show).
Yeah, it easily makes a good story.
I do not agree at all with the OP.
I expect ALL of my players to create PCs that are their own unique snowflakes in one way or another.
I then proceed to give them the spotlight accordingly. It is my job as a GM to ensure that all of the players get as much fun as possible while doing that.
My biggest problem usually comes with 2 PCs who want to be the best at the very same thing. Or with a player who just cannot explain what he expects from our game :-(
if you are encouraging the party to stand out, it's a different story
but the blue skinned man yelling "hey, look at me! i'm so special that my skin is blue." is a problem player seeking attention
not all exotic races are bad
the issue is with players who seek attention and to hog the spotlight, not players who pick an oddball race.
Heh, nicely played Umbriere.
Not all exotic races are bad. that said they ARE exotic. not just humans of a different color, but more outsider than human (as per their type) and need to be played as such. elves are more than point eared humans, dwarves more than stumpy humans and the plane touched are more than colored humans.
depends on who raised said Planetouched as well
a lot of planetouched look fairly similar to humans and a lot of them are raised by humans, and would likely adopt the cultural aspects of their human parental figureheads that raised them. why would they be any different from a human in mannerisms nor outlook if they spent so long growing up around humans and look so human, they needn't roll a disguise check.
the advantage of most planetouched, is their descriptive liberties and how freely a player that created the planetouched character can control their planetouched characters appearance, focusing more on either the planar aspect or the human aspect for appearance.
I remember a new dm ran a very nice short game in magic-heavy Iriaebor, it had planetouched. A fiery lady really is one worth helping, if only to watch her flames dance in the wind.
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if you are encouraging the party to stand out, it's a different story
but the blue skinned man yelling "hey, look at me! i'm so special that my skin is blue." is a problem player seeking attention
not all exotic races are bad
the issue is with players who seek attention and to hog the spotlight, not players who pick an oddball race.
The thread topic implies it's just about people who are hogging the limelight by playing unusual races.
As you mention, though, there are other ways to be a spotlight hog. For example, if a player has designed a character to be gruff and taciturn, yet always tries to have the character monopolize every conversation with NPCs. Or if every time there's a combat, one player wants to perform a lot of action-movie-style combat maneuvers that take up a lot of extra time to roll dice and determine outcomes, thus leaving the other players waiting impatiently for their turns.
I mention these only because I think often players don't realize they're hogging the spotlight when they do these kinds of things.
if you are encouraging the party to stand out, it's a different story
but the blue skinned man yelling "hey, look at me! i'm so special that my skin is blue." is a problem player seeking attention
not all exotic races are bad
the issue is with players who seek attention and to hog the spotlight, not players who pick an oddball race.
The thread topic implies it's just about people who are hogging the limelight by playing unusual races.
As you mention, though, there are other ways to be a spotlight hog. For example, if a player has designed a character to be gruff and taciturn, yet always tries to have the character monopolize every conversation with NPCs. Or if every time there's a combat, one player wants to perform a lot of action-movie-style combat maneuvers that take up a lot of extra time to roll dice and determine outcomes, thus leaving the other players waiting impatiently for their turns.
I mention these only because I think often players don't realize they're hogging the spotlight when they do these kinds of things.
they indeed are hogging it
i like a bit of description here and there
just don't go too overboard at the table