Oh. Missed that one.
Looking at the poster, can I have a +3 cold iron skillet?
|
What you call "hassle," I see as a potential opportunity to improve my setting, if the idea is a good one and/or can be tied into ongoing events. And I enjoy spending the time and effort, so I don't see it as a source of martyrdom. Yeah, there might be some things that still couldn't be made to work, but I personally haven't hit them yet.
Thankfully, no one has asked to play a furry or My Little Pony yet, so that might be part of it, too!
I think that is a big part of it.
It also isn't just about the GM's baby. It's about the party.
If you have a group that wants to play in a cloak and dagger political intrigue campaign steves shows up with my little pony...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Frying pans! Who knew?
It also isn't just about the GM's baby. It's about the party.
This has been my main point all along, but a lot of people don't seem to grasp it.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Look at it this way.
Do you automatically paint better pictures when you have more colours?
i merely can't stand most of the core races
** spoiler omitted **...
While I can understand some of your concerns on this, I cannot help but think two things about this:
1. I think that perhaps you've run across too many stereotypical presentations of these races. There are a lot of takes on all of them, especially humans. I never quite understand when people have a great dislike for humans and liken it to going to the store or just being "boring".
2. I think a lot of your take on the races may be linked to your, um, fascination with the lolita bit. I suppose it is hard to see a dwarf in that light and getting a free tail or wings or nifty hair colour with another race is more tempting than playing something considered ordinary or not attractive.
None of this is bad, mind you, but something to consider along the way. If the GM of the game you wanted to play disallowed cute/attractive characters of the sort you like, I imagine you'd be more upset than if they disallowed say, orcs.
i have an unhealthy fascination with small framed anime girls, and gothic lolita fashion
i would indeed be more upset if my particular archetype of character was banned, than if somebody banned orcs or catfolk.
free tail, wings, or nifty natural haircolor, i like
lots of hair, i'm not fan or, nor Schwarzenegger type muscles, unless the concept demands it
i wouldn't care as much if dwarves or orcs were banned
just keep a few planetouched avaiable as player races for my tastes
i'm not a hardcore optimizer, i'm an ametuer artist, i'd really love to be an architect, young women's fashion designer, or something similar.
|
|
It also isn't just about the GM's baby. It's about the party.This has been my main point all along, but a lot of people don't seem to grasp it.
I get where you are coming from, but I also think it isn't wrong for a GM go say "I really want to run this, and if you don't that is cool but this is what I want to run" in the same way it is cool if a player says "Yeah, if you aren't allowing this, I'm not interested."
What isn't ok is for either to say the other must do what they want.
Will this mean some players have a hard time finding a game they like? Probably.
And if you have a fetish for one-legged greek midgets, you also might be lonely for a time if you are unwilling to compromise a bit.
Well...in both cases with the internet, maybe not...
i have an unhealthy fascination with small framed anime girls, and gothic lolita fashion
And it's something that really creeps a lot of people out. I wouldn't unilaterally ban any of your characters without asking, but I'd have to make damn sure the rest of the table was OK with them before I allowed them, just so the creepiness factor didn't distract them from the rest of the game. It's all a matter of group preference.
That said, there's nothing about my campaign setting that would somehow make your characters impossible, so if the other players all thought your PCs were really cool, I'd end up allowing them, even though they creep me out, too.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Man, we've been beating this dead horse for a while now, when are we going to actually roll up characters for this game?
I could play along Umbriere's characters just fine, but I know a lot of people couldn't.
thank you for showing acceptance
i'm a little awkward and creepy, no matter what i play
i also tend to be quite graphic with detail, like SAW Series graphic
small framed need not neccessarily mean child
it merely means in my case, a planetouched of 5'0" to 5'5" with a lean figure rather than the standard 7'7" Giant Hulking Half-Orcs you normally see that dominate the martial population
not that i will often play fighters or whatever
but most of my martial characters tend to be rangers and other partial bab partial casters, such as inquisitors or bards
but those are my most common class choices anyway
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
This is definitely where we differ, then. I've seen it -- usually because I was actively looking for it instead of just assuming the other players were on "my side" -- and when I dragged it out of them that they thought "Steve"'s idea was pretty cool... well, it's not theoretical at that point. So I might say to myself, "Look, my setting is pretty detailed all over these maps, but I suppose some unexplored lost city over here could maybe contain the remnants of a lost race of X... come to think of it, in the last campaign, they explored these ruins over here. Let's put the lost tribe as having lived in the section the PCs never explored, and that's why one of them is emerging now, even though we've never seen one in the history of the campaign up until now."
This is very much along the lines of the example of silverhair's half-orc, which I posted previously.
To clarify, I will make additions to my setting if the player comes up with something where I say to myself. Hmmm cool idea, the flavor doesn't wreck anything. I hadn't thought of it but I suppose it could exist. Let's see what we can do.
But if the concept is just so out of place as to be immersion breaking then I will put my foot down and say nope, not DMing with that.
- Torger
I just thought I should drop by to say that while talking pony magic-users certainly have their place, magic is something you study and practice. It only happens when you decide to do it, and it's meant to make something specific that you choose to happen, happen. With sorcerers, uh, it makes no sense at all!
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I just thought I should drop by to say that while talking pony magic-users certainly have their place, magic is something you study and practice. It only happens when you decide to do it, and it's meant to make something specific that you choose to happen, happen. With sorcerers, uh, it makes no sense at all!
I thought Friendship was magic?!?!?
If you have a group that wants to play in a cloak and dagger political intrigue campaign steves shows up with my little pony...
I'm tempted to discuss the politics of Equistria and how that's actually possible, but I'm not sure how that would add to the discussion. I suppose I could try and discuss how really anything is possible if you have the group for it.
Umbriere's characters would do fine in most of my home brews and games, and would likely have blended in quite well with some of the players I had in college.
The pony wizard .. well. It'd would have been a trial, at best, to fit into a vast number of worlds and games we played unless it was just an anything goes sort of thing. Not to disparage ponies or spell casting animals (we've had wizard cats in the past, and wild familiars, but all were NPCs) but you start running into the so-called "freak" problem, especially if the rest of the party takes it into their head to follow suit.
In the right game, at the right time, with the right adult beverage, maybe.
i'm a little awkward and creepy, no matter what i play
i also tend to be quite graphic with detail, like SAW Series graphic
I have a lot of stories that can relate to that. I was once told I couldn't play a sociopath in a game about sociopaths, because I'd win. I've also been told my group was horrified about a speech on dark sides and cookies I once made. On the upside, I was once told that I had an unnatural knack at surviving the zombie apocalypse. Over the years I strayed from playing darker characters to avoid that stigma.
Umbriere's characters would do fine in most of my home brews and games, and would likely have blended in quite well with some of the players I had in college.The pony wizard .. well. It'd would have been a trial, at best, to fit into a vast number of worlds and games we played unless it was just an anything goes sort of thing. Not to disparage ponies or spell casting animals (we've had wizard cats in the past, and wild familiars, but all were NPCs) but you start running into the so-called "freak" problem, especially if the rest of the party takes it into their head to follow suit.
In the right game, at the right time, with the right adult beverage, maybe.
most of my nonhuman gothloli characters aren't as hard to incorporate as say most awakened animals or an awakened horse fighter. though some of them, would logically create an awakened horse fighter to protect them.
Umbriere, would happily desire an intelligent and trained steed that can protect her
but she desires all the protection she can both acquire and afford. so she hires exotic bodyguards because she knows she can win their services.
why hire a legion of city guardsman when you can hire Lon'qu, the great blade dancer of Ferox, whom can not only protect you pretty well, but can also intimidate foes with his reputation?
Look at it this way.
Do you automatically paint better pictures when you have more colours?
i merely can't stand most of the core races
** spoiler omitted **...
I like your post there, and you are on to why some of us are bored with the Tolkien races and opt to jettison them in our settings.
As for humans, I feel the need to defend them. Playing humans is not just going to the shops, an adventure with humans can be a lot more than just shopping, and humans and their many plights and perils can really draw players in. It can also make certain games work well, if the players want to play French humans, Italian humans etc, and the stereotypes and notable figures within those cultures and fantasy cultures associated to them (Italian bard, French duellist or knight). This came up a lot in a politics game of mine which ran for three years. Most people were humans, but there was a lot to do to grow your realm (pre-Kingmaker Kingmaker).
With humans, you can also make them human but not completely. I am not just meaning half elf humans or part orc humans. If you are creating a setting with a lot of demihumans, you can say there has been a fair bit of mixing. So the humans are certainly not just plain humans anymore, you can get a range. In my current setting I am building here is the common appearance of the central human civiliser "race" (expanded in the discussion of each region):
Common appearance: civilisers over a wide space and typically farmers, or builders, they are a slightly tanned people. To the south dark green hair, emerald green eyes and strong legs are more common (Merfolk ancestry), with some of the old noble families having pale jade coloured skin. Fairer brown hair can be seen to the north with butter-gold eyes in the central to northern regions. Rust coloured eyes and dense black hair to the east (Gith influence), and many with long torsos and cloven feet (mountain Centaur ancestry). Large mouths, wide faces and considerable size are a trait of the people of the west (ogre and giant influences).
Mechanically, I can play around a bit with them, if I wish, but as said above, for many it isn't just about having races that perfectly fit into class slots. That gets a bit tiresome after you have done it more than a few times. If you want a glass cannon no dachi build, you do not need to go an orc for instance, you can make that without leaning on the orc race as a pre-req.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
He sure could... But when he doesn't... as he's free to do...
Let it go.
Not everybody likes yo sharkfin soup... They don't have to.
This isn't North Korea... Just because you're cookin doesn't mean we all have to eat.
And not everyone likes your awakened pony sorcerer.
And no, they don't have to eat. But once they have committed to come over and agreed to the menu its in poor taste to then complain about it and try to force a change into it.
Urgh, this Korean restaurant only has Korean dishes. I hate Korean, why did we come here?
You agreed to go out for Korean...
I've had those campaigns... we ruin the fun of the folks we don't like and the lesson is learned and those gms and players move on. Not everyone likes your sharkfin. Not everyone likes my style... Thats how you discover who's who... By letting everyone find a table that works for them.
Thats how life works.
You don't get bonus eeps for shackling a guy up in the basement and force feeding him sharkfin soup any more than I get extra eeps for running what I like for someone who doesnt like it...
Let people choose the sharkfin soup... And when they're ready no stop choosing the sharkfin soup... they go.. they watch... they stay... they join....
It's supposed to be about choice... You choose the restrictions, and they choose to join or not.
Take a deep breath and let the sorting hat put people where they belong. Even if it means no sharkfin soup today.
On eeps and running what you like, actually dms improve the most when they are running what they like and they really want to drag the players along for a ride. I've improved most when really diving into my creations, running them and taking on a ridiculous rp workload (which I didn't care about because I was having fun). Seen a dm that was awkward as you can be running pre-gens. He really grew when he got to run his own setting, which was plugged straight into his head, every single page (he wrote them, with only minor input from me). Now he is really competent and doesn't touch pre-gens. He no longer needs training wheels!
What made him grow, was the running of his own setting.
Look at it this way.
Do you automatically paint better pictures when you have more colours?
i merely can't stand most of the core races
** spoiler omitted **...
I like your post there, and you are on to why some of us are bored with the Tolkien races and opt to jettison them in our settings.
As for humans, I feel the need to defend them. Playing humans is not just going to the shops, an adventure with humans can be a lot more than just shopping, and humans and their many plights and perils can really draw players in. It can also make certain games work well, if the players want to play French humans, Italian humans etc, and the stereotypes and notable figures within those cultures and fantasy cultures associated to them (Italian bard, French duellist or knight). This came up a lot in a politics game of mine which ran for three years. Most people were humans, but there was a lot to do to grow your realm (pre-Kingmaker Kingmaker).
With humans, you can also make them human but not completely. I am not just meaning half elf humans or part orc humans. If you are creating a setting with a lot of demihumans, you can say there has been a fair bit of mixing. So the humans are certainly not just plain humans anymore, you can get a range. In my current setting I am building here is the common appearance of the central human civiliser "race" (expanded in the discussion of each region):
Common appearance: civilisers over a wide space and typically farmers, or builders, they are a slightly tanned people. To the south dark green hair, emerald green eyes and strong legs are more common (Merfolk ancestry), with some of the old noble families having pale jade coloured skin. Fairer brown hair can be seen to the north with butter-gold eyes in the central to northern regions. Rust coloured eyes and dense black hair to the east (Gith influence), and many with long torsos and cloven feet (mountain Centaur ancestry). Large mouths, wide faces and considerable size are a trait of the people of the west (ogre and giant influences).
Mechanically, I can play around a bit with them, if I wish, but as said above, for many it isn't just about having races that perfectly fit into class slots. That gets a bit tiresome after you have done it more than a few times. If you want a glass cannon no dachi build, you do not need to go an orc for instance, you can make that without leaning on the orc race as a pre-req.
no build has race as a requirement
but when you include lots of races
people tend to pick races based upon their class
thing is, unlike most. i pick race based on the visuals in my head, not what looks better mechanically, though both sometimes make rather convenient synergies. such as an Oblivious Angel Blooded Battle Oracle or a Shadowtouched Assassin for example
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Urgh, this Korean restaurant only has Korean dishes. I hate Korean, why did we come here?
You agreed to go out for Korean...
Mmmmm, Korean.... (mouth waters uncontrollably). Ask JAM412 about the lengths I'll go to for Korean food IRL!
I knew this was the wrong thread for me.
|
|
If you have a group that wants to play in a cloak and dagger political intrigue campaign steves shows up with my little pony...I'm tempted to discuss the politics of Equistria and how that's actually possible, but I'm not sure how that would add to the discussion. I suppose I could try and discuss how really anything is possible if you have the group for it.
Because all campaigns are on Equistria...
|
|
Urgh, this Korean restaurant only has Korean dishes. I hate Korean, why did we come here?
You agreed to go out for Korean...Mmmmm, Korean.... (mouth waters uncontrollably). Ask JAM412 about the lengths I'll go to for Korean food IRL!
I knew this was the wrong thread for me.
Well made, it is awesome. Not well made...
Because all campaigns are on Equistria...If you have a group that wants to play in a cloak and dagger political intrigue campaign steves shows up with my little pony...I'm tempted to discuss the politics of Equistria and how that's actually possible, but I'm not sure how that would add to the discussion. I suppose I could try and discuss how really anything is possible if you have the group for it.
Which completely misses the point that a game involving ponies and cloak and dagger is entirely possible, Equistria or no. The thing is your going to have to find a group that actually wants that. Not everyone wants to play with an awakened pony dontcha' know. Man, I know people who don't even want bro-hoofing near them(me, it creeps me out. Idk why).
I didn't say you had to do it, just that it was possible. Its entirely possible that Steve shows up with his pony in a game with other ponies as characters. Maybe an Alicorn or Pegasus even. Maybe they're trying to figure out why Sunset Glimmer stole a crown and head into the human world where they get to play as humans in a high school political intrigue game for a while even, leading up to a magical girl motif at the ending. Who knows! Just saying its all possible.
Involving ponies, as in we are all playing ponies.
Involving Steve playing a pony when everyone else isn't.
It is also possible for me to stab myself in the face. It isn't something I plan to do.
what if Steve didn't want to play a MLP inspired character
what if Steve decided to Play Maximus from Tangled? a badass highly intelligent horse with fighter and ranger levels
I'm having trouble telling whether this is a serious debate, largely because I can't take it seriously myself. I just keep thinking of pony.
I think I have a problem.
Involving ponies, as in we are all playing ponies.
Involving Steve playing a pony when everyone else isn't.
It is also possible for me to stab myself in the face. It isn't something I plan to do.
what if Steve didn't want to play a MLP inspired character
what if Steve decided to Play Maximus from Tangled? a badass highly intelligent horse with fighter and ranger levels
What if Steve was the awoken ranger pet? Taken over after a gnome had a noodle incident but wanted to continue his antics as an awoken horse druid? Or what if Steve wanted to play Ironhoof Ragemane, an awesome mute stallion with barbarian levels and beast totem line. Or what if he was just a normal druid who liked being a horse all day? I don't know how I feel about coming up with ways you could play a horse in a pathfinder game... Should I be happy or sad that I'm successful?
Anyways... shoehorning these ideas in against the group's wishes is probably a horrible idea. I wouldn't advocate that. I do advocate working together to find compromise and working together on world building.
I'm having trouble telling whether this is a serious debate, largely because I can't take it seriously myself. I just keep thinking of pony.
I think I have a problem.
Is it that you were born a kobold? I mean, I don't know if you were actually born a kobold, but that could be part of it.
Involving ponies, as in we are all playing ponies.
Involving Steve playing a pony when everyone else isn't.
It is also possible for me to stab myself in the face. It isn't something I plan to do.
what if Steve didn't want to play a MLP inspired character
what if Steve decided to Play Maximus from Tangled? a badass highly intelligent horse with fighter and ranger levels
What if Steve was the awoken ranger pet? Taken over after a gnome had a noodle incident but wanted to continue his antics as an awoken horse druid? Or what if Steve wanted to play Ironhoof Ragemane, an awesome mute stallion with barbarian levels and beast totem line. Or what if he was just a normal druid who liked being a horse all day? I don't know how I feel about coming up with ways you could play a horse in a pathfinder game... Should I be happy or sad that I'm successful?
Anyways... shoehorning these ideas in against the group's wishes is probably a horrible idea. I wouldn't advocate that. I do advocate working together to find compromise and working together on world building.
those are all ideas that allow one to play what effectively amounts to an awakened horse, and they are pretty cool
just don't expect a cutie mark or fancy colors
those are all ideas that allow one to play what effectively amounts to an awakened horse, and they are pretty cool
just don't expect a cutie mark or fancy colors
I don't know, maybe Ironhoof got a tattoo in his wild youth and the tattoo owner misheard him(easily done with a mute horse) and instead of getting the awesome tribal flames he got a pink butterfly.
I don't know, maybe Ironhoof got a tattoo in his wild youth and the tattoo owner misheard him(easily done with a mute horse) and instead of getting the awesome tribal flames he got a pink butterfly.those are all ideas that allow one to play what effectively amounts to an awakened horse, and they are pretty cool
just don't expect a cutie mark or fancy colors
that works as a backstory
reskinning is fine
just don't expect to be an MLP clone
I'm having trouble telling whether this is a serious debate, largely because I can't take it seriously myself. I just keep thinking of pony.
I think I have a problem.
pony up now- you gotta post …
For your information, I am a smurfold, you filthy smurfcist.
How about a smurf? Can I play a smurf? I know it's Age of Worms and we're about to fight Dragotha, but I really wanna play a smurf.
What if no one wanted to play with those things because they wanted to play what the GM described and they don't understand why Steve joined the group and took a slot if he didn't want to play what was described.
Which is actually what we are talking about.
thing is
in some regions
there are literally multiple thousands of aspiring players
but less than a few hundred DMs
in an entire connection of geographically cities (what some would call a county)
and only less than 5% of those DMs, are willing to accomodate noncore Races
but those DMs only have so many slots to provide
which forces us to look for new DMs elsewhere
What if no one wanted to play with those things because they wanted to play what the GM described and they don't understand why Steve joined the group and took a slot if he didn't want to play what was described.
Which is actually what we are talking about.
thing is
in some regions
there are literally multiple thousands of aspiring players
but less than a few hundred DMs
in an entire connection of geographically cities (what some would call a county)
and only less than 5% of those DMs, are willing to accomodate noncore Races
but those DMs only have so many slots to provide
which forces us to look for new DMs elsewhere
To be clear, if something is removed its just as likely to be a core race as a noncore.
To be clear, if something is removed its just as likely to be a core race as a noncore.What if no one wanted to play with those things because they wanted to play what the GM described and they don't understand why Steve joined the group and took a slot if he didn't want to play what was described.
Which is actually what we are talking about.
thing is
in some regions
there are literally multiple thousands of aspiring players
but less than a few hundred DMs
in an entire connection of geographically cities (what some would call a county)
and only less than 5% of those DMs, are willing to accomodate noncore Races
but those DMs only have so many slots to provide
which forces us to look for new DMs elsewhere
it should be that way
but in my own region
it's the noncore stuff that most often gets removed
the core stuff usually stays untouched
What if no one wanted to play with those things because they wanted to play what the GM described and they don't understand why Steve joined the group and took a slot if he didn't want to play what was described.
Then Steve needs a polite talk. If Steve is in a basic Golarion setting with six people who want to play core races and trying to play a colorful MLP character, then Steve must've missed something and I have no idea how. The game doesn't exist for Steve, it exist for everyone. If for some reason those six people are fine with his character, he's cool though. Session 0 can be a good time to resolve all of this. Like I said earlier, the group doesn't have to play with the pony, but talking about it could help a lot.
There are a lot of possible outcomes and instances for both groups. For instance the group could just say "NO!" with explanation on why, not even "The rest of us really don't want ponies. We just wanted core", in which case the group isn't ever going to make Steve realize what happened. You could also have Steve who always pushes for this, and even tries to sneak it in, in which case Steve needs another talk and could be risking his position in the group. Steve could be a great guy, you could stay best friends forever, but that doesn't mean he's great to play with. I won't say who's right and wrong, but I will say there's a good way to handle the situation from everyone involved.
Which is actually what we are talking about.
Its not what I was earlier though.
For your information, I am a smurfold, you filthy smurfcist.
Oh god, that's just horrifying!
How about a smurf? Can I play a smurf? I know it's Age of Worms and we're about to fight Dragotha, but I really wanna play a smurf.
I'll let you play a smurf, but you have to be the size of a smurf and suffer both speed and constitution penalties. Don't blame me if you die.
I don't understand smurfs...
What if no one wanted to play with those things because they wanted to play what the GM described and they don't understand why Steve joined the group and took a slot if he didn't want to play what was described.
Which is actually what we are talking about.
thing is
in some regions
there are literally multiple thousands of aspiring players
but less than a few hundred DMs
in an entire connection of geographically cities (what some would call a county)
and only less than 5% of those DMs, are willing to accomodate noncore Races
but those DMs only have so many slots to provide
which forces us to look for new DMs elsewhere
Which is understandable. That said, at least for my money, the conversation about non-standard races starts before we get to the table (unless it is one of those pick up games where everyone just shows and starts playing whatever comes into their heads.)
If we've all gotten player handouts and discussed things and set to play on X day and Player A shows up with a horse fighter or dinosaur barbarian or chair thief, it is not only rude but off putting. The onus for going out of the way to make sure that an off the wall or non-standard idea gets approved is on the player. They should take the extra step to contact the GM and say "Hey. Wild idea, I want to be a horse fighter like in Tangled. What do you think?"
What if no one wanted to play with those things because they wanted to play what the GM described and they don't understand why Steve joined the group and took a slot if he didn't want to play what was described.
Which is actually what we are talking about.
thing is
in some regions
there are literally multiple thousands of aspiring players
but less than a few hundred DMs
in an entire connection of geographically cities (what some would call a county)
and only less than 5% of those DMs, are willing to accomodate noncore Races
but those DMs only have so many slots to provide
which forces us to look for new DMs elsewhere
Which is understandable. That said, at least for my money, the conversation about non-standard races starts before we get to the table (unless it is one of those pick up games where everyone just shows and starts playing whatever comes into their heads.)
If we've all gotten player handouts and discussed things and set to play on X day and Player A shows up with a horse fighter or dinosaur barbarian or chair thief, it is not only rude but off putting. The onus for going out of the way to make sure that an off the wall or non-standard idea gets approved is on the player. They should take the extra step to contact the GM and say "Hey. Wild idea, I want to be a horse fighter like in Tangled. What do you think?"
Bing.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm always willing to consider noncore races, just as I am noncore classes - I just need them run past me so I can approve/disapprove/modify/suggest workable alternatives on a case-by-case basis.
If it fits the flavor of the game, it's almost certainly in.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If it fits the flavor of the game, it's almost certainly in.
The inevitable question... can we reflavor/reskin it? I don't want my ninja wearing PJ's, that's just historically inaccurate.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm always willing to consider noncore races, just as I am noncore classes - I just need them run past me so I can approve/disapprove/modify/suggest workable alternatives on a case-by-case basis.
If it fits the flavor of the game, it's almost certainly in.
Exactly. I'd like more than six harried minutes while I'm getting my screen set and talking to the rest of the players to consider what Steve (aka Player A) has brought in. If the idea was interesting enough to cobble together and get excited about, I don't think, especially in this day and age with every known device, that an email/text/call/face to face meeting is out of the question.
When you surprise the GM and the rest of the table with your masterpiece, the reaction might be a bit different than when you give people time to digest things and work on a compromise.
When you surprise the GM and the rest of the table with your masterpiece, the reaction might be a bit different than when you give people time to digest things and work on a compromise.
Session 0 is an important one. Talking things out kills a lot of problesm before they're through. You can also get your expectations out and any houserules that might be interesting. You can also introduce Jeff to the gang if he hasn't met Joe, Sarah, and Tim.
Centaurs are pretty good, might have to balance them though. Medium sized juvenile otyughs can also work. They even speak common.
Smurfolds? Maybe.