Changing Races for Custom Settings

[Kejgar]

It seems like a wrote quite a bit about my situation and experiences so my main questions are at the bottom.


For my second campaign, I chose to do a waterborne adventure and thought of taking a lot of the cultural restrictions of the races since the access of the ocean across the ocean has made them more accepting of one another from the chaotic nature of the world and dependence on cooperation to survive in the harsh conditions. Changing the stories to the races makes sense to myself since I want the choice to not be as severe as choosing an Orc or Goblin and able to fit in some races that never seemed to fit right with me.

I know people change the stories of races all the time for home brew games but my players seemed to have a difficult time accepting change in my first campaign. For example, one guy thinks that dwarves societies won't let women be miners or warriors because of their tradition-driven society. A more notable example being when all my players lost it when I had a dwarf noble of Frostbeard Keep with his beard shaved off, which was my attempt at hinting at some kind of madness that might be linked to dark influence or sickness since they almost never shave their beards. It might have not been the best way to do so, but their expectations lead to them dismissing a clue to something as a mistake of the GM that should be ridiculed, which is the main thing that left me worried about doing the campaign I want to do.

What would be the best way to approach change with races for a setting?
Is there a limit to consider for when something is too different from the original design?
Which factors of the setting should be considered?
Or is it better to not change their stories and predict how they would interact and change in that particular setting?

Thanks for any help!

[jojo]

...What would be the best way to approach change with races for a setting?
Is there a limit to consider for when something is too different from the original design?
Which factors of the setting should be considered?
Or is it better to not change their stories and predict how they would interact and change in that particular setting?

Thanks for any help!

There are several ways to avoid difficulties like the ones you are experiencing.

First, you can always write it up. Use the Racial entries in the PHB as a template to prepare a document that provides the same information, specific to your campaign in advance of Character Creation. This can be a lot of work for you as a DM so take that into consideration.

Second, you can provide an alternate culture. The human experience is far from uniform, it follows that the same would be true of Elves, Dwarves and other races as well. Tell the players "this is how Race X's culture works in Location Y. Location Z is where standard PHB cultures for Race X prevail. The campaign will be taking place in Location Y." This lets player's run their character according to their personal ideas, without detracting from your own and creates interesting role-playing opportunities. If it's made clear up front then you should not have any serious issues.

Additionally, you could simply say "this is how Race X's culture works in my campaign." When you do this it's usually best to still allow your players to run their characters according to their own preferences but make sure they understand while their character might believe Y or Z society doesn't and they might get funny looks. Unless they break some sort of law in-game then it's better to just allow lost-in-translation hijinks to enhance everyone's RP experience.

[opaopajr]

Whose setting? GM's setting. Don't like it, don't play. Period.

How to communicate that? Open and direct, with advance notice for the players to readjust their expectations. When they have confusion between player vs. PC knowledge, let them know they are welcome to ask you as GM, and you will fill in the blanks.

You could do shared world building, but that's not this example.

They are coming into the game with unspoken expectations and getting bristled by you not "reading their minds." They may have shared tropes as expectations, but I doubt it is in any way uniform beyond the surface. So, don't play the "guess what they're thinking" game; you'll all end up resentful.

Lay down the rules of how setting development power is in your purview. Express how you will support players as needed if there's confusion. And then ask for their trust.

Those who cannot trust, or relinquish their world building expectations, are now informed that this table is not for them and can leave.

There is nothing wrong with a direct ask. Assertive confrontation is the healthiest thing to clear the air before devolution into passive aggression.

[lunaticfringe]

If your players are hung up on Traditional/Book fluff you could make a specific Culture that follows the lore while most others do not.

Think of Eberron. Elves where all just elves but there were different cultures: Khorvaire (which could vary based country); Aerenal; Valenar. A goblin from Sharn might be blue collar dock worker, a goblin from Darguun might be a ninja.