Tabletop Community Watch

[Corn Flakes]

Anything "chaotic" or "quirky", anything furry, any half-races not already described as being "common", anything weeb in a campaign not set in a weeb world (being a samurai is fine in L5R, not in Buttfuck Nowhere, Forgotten Realms), anything coming out of a non-official splat. Oh, and pronouns.

Quick question: for D&D, the "red flag" races are Tabaxi, Dragonborn, Harengon, Aarakocra, Kenku, Leonin, Lizardfolk, Minotaur, and Loxodon, correct? Any others that I might be missing?

You forgot Tiefling.

Dear God so many fucking tieflings.

 

[Wallace]

Quick question: for D&D, the "red flag" races are Tabaxi, Dragonborn, Harengon, Aarakocra, Kenku, Leonin, Lizardfolk, Minotaur, and Loxodon, correct? Any others that I might be missing?

Also don't forget kender. Anyone who says they want to play kender should be shot in Minecraft.

 

[Ghostse]

So, bit of a necro here, but I was wanting to ask; what are the "red flag" options in character creation? Like, are there any created character traits that are oftentimes warning signs? What are the player/race/class stereotypes that you've seen in games like D&D and WoD?

Gnomes. I don't know if I'd say its a "Red flag" exactly but everyone wanting to be a gnome has been doing some sort of attempt at a game-breaking gimmick build. Have them do something else.

Dudes (and Laaaaaaaadies) playing females.
And Fujo's playing guys.
Anyone who's not a bard who lists anything about their sexual proclivities or preferences.

On the subject of gnomes, anyone wanting to be a "monster" race - Goblin, Kobold, Orc, most Drow, Warforged, dryad. If its not a gimmick build its to be used as an excuse for acting like a complete mong with NPCs.

In general, just being a race that isn't human/elf/dwarf without providing a compelling character archetype they want to play that justifies it.

Quick question: for D&D, the "red flag" races are Tabaxi, Dragonborn, Harengon, Aarakocra, Kenku, Leonin, Lizardfolk, Minotaur, and Loxodon, correct? Any others that I might be missing?

Warforged (and above mentioned gnome). I haven't had issues with the characters being weirdos exactly but Warforged is second to gnome when it comes to "I am playing this because I want to do my reddit/GITP gimmick build vs any care about how I fit into the gameworld".

I haven't had any issues with Minotaurs or Dragonborn being played by weirdos. Especially since you can reskin dragonborn to just be humans with patches of scales and breath weapon.

But Tabaxi should be on there multiple times, bolded, circled and underlined. All Tabaxi have been universally garbage players and characters.

It sounds like you're getting together a recruitment campaign.
Let me suggest this:
Create a stable of Pregen PCs - you don't need to do full character sheets neccessarily (but it helps), but Name/Race/Class/Background and say "Join this campaign and pick one of these adventurers, open to discussing tweaks".
while it doesn't let the mutants self-identify quickly, usually they won't even bother trying to join when they can't be their tranny tabaxi self-insert.

Anything "chaotic" or "quirky", anything furry, any half-races not already described as being "common", anything weeb in a campaign not set in a weeb world (being a samurai is fine in L5R, not in Buttfuck Nowhere, Forgotten Realms), anything coming out of a non-official splat. Oh, and pronouns.


You forgot Tiefling.

Dear God so many fucking tieflings.

This. Except maybe Tieflings? I have never had a player who wanted to be a Tiefling, but lots of Tiefling NPCs are edgy emo snowflake garbage.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Also don't forget kender. Anyone who says they want to play kender should be shot in Minecraft.

Tell me you're an oldfag without telling me you're an oldfag. Only people who have been around the block a while know about Kender these days. All the lolsorandom kids are playing Tabaxi, Kobolds or Goblins now.

This. Except maybe Tieflings? I have never had anyone who wanted to be a Tiefling, but lots of Tiefling NPCs are edgy garbage.

For some reason girls (actual girls) love to play Tieflings, and they always play them the fucking same. As in, we got girls getting into arguments (not heated ones, but still clearly hostile words) over who got to play the Tiefling when we did demo games at cons. All you gotta do is show the official art and explain how "tragic" and "misunderstood" their race is, and I guess all the XX chromosomes within earshot start vibrating like tuning forks.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

@Ghostse Actually, I was legit just trying to figure out the reputations of different races and such; I remember seeing a bunch of negative talk about Tabaxi characters on here a while back, and it got me curious.

I ama bit lost, though; why the hell are the Tabaxi the main focus of furry degeneracy? I kinda figured it would have been Dragonborn, given the setting. Not complaining, mind; just wondering.

Also don't forget kender. Anyone who says they want to play kender should be shot in Minecraft.

Confession: I made a Kender character once. His name was Face McShooty. His entire purpose was to be a (crappy) meatshield for his team.

Yes, it was a joke character. Because fuck Kender.

Doesn't help that I've seen furfags copy and paste the Kender template into their own games - the Bumblers and the Cogsunes - and try and act like they're good characters. Fucking mental.

Tell me you're an oldfag without telling me you're an oldfag. Only people who have been around the block a while know about Kender these days. All the lolsorandom kids are playing Tabaxi, Kobolds or Goblins now.

Yeah, the Kender were kinda old; that's why I didn't mention them earlier. Haven't exactly seen much about them for a while.

For some reason girls (actual girls) love to play Tieflings, and they always play them the fucking same. As in, we got girls getting into arguments (not heated ones, but still clearly hostile words) over who got to play the Tiefling when we did demo games at cons. All you gotta do is show the official art and explain how "tragic" and "misunderstood" their race is, and I guess all the XX chromosomes within earshot start vibrating like tuning forks.

Weirdly, I haven't seen too much negative shit about Tieflings on my end; granted, I mostly play D&D with a close circle of friends.

 

[Ghostse]

I ama bit lost, though; why the hell are the Tabaxi the main focus of furry degeneracy? I kinda figured it would have been Dragonborn, given the setting. Not complaining, mind; just wondering.

Cat race.
Even if they aren't furry degenerates wanting to spank it to catgirl maids, they are lol-chaotic-neutral types being cat-like assholes saying being a cat justifies it. They are also small, and have bonuses to dex and stealth IIRC, and that's usually a recipe for trying to rob the merchants.
Basically imagine the worst Halfling player and now make them a furry as well.

Anyone who's a big enough faggot to like 5e: is there anything in the lore for them that attracts garbage players?

 

[Second Missing Primarch]

So, bit of a necro here, but I was wanting to ask; what are the "red flag" options in character creation? Like, are there any created character traits that are oftentimes warning signs? What are the player/race/class stereotypes that you've seen in games like D&D and WoD?

It's been mentioned obliquely, but anyone who wants to play chaotic neutral or the equivalent thereof. What they're inevitably wanting is to be some lolrandom "funny badass" like Deadpool or Rick Sanchez. In practice, this usually results in them pissing off everyone else at the table when they decide to do something stupid or dickish at a critical moment and fuck things up for the party because "lOL I'm jUSt sO rAnDOM YoU guISe!!!1!"

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

It's been mentioned obliquely, but anyone who wants to play chaotic neutral or the equivalent thereof. What they're inevitably wanting is to be some lolrandom "funny badass" like Deadpool or Rick Sanchez. In practice, this usually results in them pissing off everyone else at the table when they decide to do something stupid or dickish at a critical moment and fuck things up for the party because "lOL I'm jUSt sO rAnDOM YoU guISe!!!1!"

Apologizes for sperging out, here, but... dear lord I've had to deal with more than enough players like this, and it's exhausting. I can understand it if the tone the table is going for is lighthearted/silly, or at least less serious, but most of the time... yeah, it's just immature.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Man, you guy's must of had it rough! All you boring ass, straight human playing motherfuckers in here! You must of had a shit ton of horror stories when your basically like "Half the races in the game are red flags, just play human". I've played with players who chose any number of races, from tieflings, to changelings, to half orks, never had any issues with them. My very first D&D campaign, my other two party members were a Tiefling warlock and a Changeling rogue. Great times. I still remember that game fondly.

Its really about the individual players more than any particular character, class, or alignment. Play with people you trust or know, and things will go fine. Play with "that guy", and it doesn't matter what combination of the former categories he is, he's going to be "that guy".

Even if they aren't furry degenerates wanting to spank it to catgirl maids, they are lol-chaotic-neutral types being cat-like assholes saying being a cat justifies it. They are also small, and have bonuses to dex and stealth IIRC, and that's usually a recipe for trying to rob the merchants.

My last D&D campaign in college, we had two tabaxi rogues, who, in-game, were brothers. They actually were good players and helpful companions. Except that one time one of them murdered a guy in the street.

You see, we were in a game were the DM had based his storyline on Dragon's Dogma, and the dragon in question had basically turned our characters into Arisen, and taken over the entire kingdom of Aundair (our game used Khorvaire from Eberron as a base setting, but it wasn't the Eberron setting per se, and the DM homebrewed much of the lore and world). In game, we were going from nation to nation, seeking allies, hoping to gather a grand alliance throughout the continent to reconquer the kingdom and defeat the dragon (and get our hearts back).

While in one of the other kingdoms we were trying to sway to our side, we saw a noble from Aundair, who we recognized as such, and he ran away from us. We chased after him, as we just wanted to capture him, as he was working for the dragon ruled Aundair (against his will). We cried out to our Tabaxi compatriot to stop the man as he was ahead of him. Our compatriot got the wrong idea and slew the man, right there, in the street, in front of numerous witnesses, including women and children. And this was after we had managed to secure the nation we were in as a member of the Alliance. Long story short, we had to delicately explain the situation and our Tabaxi friend got viciously flogged for his trouble, with the party's approval. Pretty sure his brother was a little more pissed though.

 

[Adamska]

Races themselves aren't really the red flag IMO, since I've seen good players of the ones commonly seen as red flags out there. Honestly, I'm of the opinion you should just listen to and hear what the players say, since that more than anything else is the big red flag.

That being said, there are ones that awful players gravitate to them. In that mind, Kobolds and Drow related things TENDED to be the ones I had trouble with as a player looking in. In World of Darkness, that title went to Red Talons for Werewolves, and the Brujah or Malks for vamp.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

@The Demon Pimp of Razgriz: Can't speak for the others, here, but you can blame having to deal with furries for me; both in and out of tabletop, I've had to deal with enough of the freaks that it makes me a bit wary of using anything other than humans or a few selet races. Not that I hate the idea of playing with any races - except Kender - it's just that I've gotten so burnt out on dealing with degenerates that I can't help but shy away from most others.

Granted, I have had a bunch of good experiences with non-human races; there was a Dragonborn character one of my crew made recently that made a GREAT Paladin. It's just the general trend of how certain races attract certain kinds of players.

Races themselves aren't really the red flag IMO, since I've seen good players of the ones commonly seen as red flags out there. Honestly, I'm of the opinion you should just listen to and hear what the players say, since that more than anything else is the big red flag.

I gotta agree with this; I'd say that it's best to judge everything on a case-by-case basis. You can make a good character out of any race.

That being said, there are ones that awful players gravitate to them. In that mind, Kobolds and Drow related things TENDED to be the ones I had trouble with as a player looking in. In World of Darkness, that title went to Red Talons for Werewolves, and the Brujah or Malks for vamp.

Quick question: I know the bad reputations for Malks and Red Talons - "wacky and crazy" for the former, "furry misanthrope" for the later - but what's the deal with the Brujah? Haven't heard too much on them.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Quick question: I know the bad reputations for Malks and Red Talons - "wacky and crazy" for the former, "furry misanthrope" for the later - but what's the deal with the Brujah? Haven't heard too much on them.

From personal experience, I've seen a bunch of players through the years trying to play Brujah as full guns-a-blazin', punch-everything-in-the-face, I-AM-BULLETPROOOOOOOOOF Heavy Weapons Guy-wannabes, and then getting very pissy when their character gets overpowered by superior numbers of armed mooks because everything dies if you throw enough dice at it, or offed without a "fair fight" by an assassin sent by the local Prince.

 

[Adamska]

Basically they take a plotting and scheming game and try to punch it all away usually. They often throw a fit if reality ensues.

 

[Tactical Wizard]

Add Assamite players to the list. I’ve never met a single one that wasn’t in it for the intra-party diablerie.

 

[Mexican_Wizard_711]

Good way to avoid this is to make games where only races available are Humans, Dwarves, and Elves

 

[Ghostse]

Races themselves aren't really the red flag IMO, since I've seen good players of the ones commonly seen as red flags out there. Honestly, I'm of the opinion you should just listen to and hear what the players say, since that more than anything else is the big red flag.

I will somewhat agree with this, in so much as if I know and trust the player I'll let them try shit if they want to try it. But I've had a lot of players where if I google "<Race> <class> <edition> build" click the first Reddit/GITP/SO result, I will find the exact character sheet they're handing me. So just by banning the usual snowflake broke build classes you at least make them use something unique.

One of my players was bitching about "There's not a lot of resources for 4e builds"
Bitch that's a feature not a bug. Just build your shit to have fun not min-max.

But for new players if they want something on the banned list I'm going give them a very close watching because they are probably a shit player.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Basically they take a plotting and scheming game and try to punch it all away usually. They often throw a fit if reality ensues.

Conversely, it's hilarious when someone tries to go 0-60 with plotting and scheming when they cannot back it up and lack the contacts to do so. It was doubly frustrating because I liked the player, but I was like 'look, you're starting at ground floor, you gotta work your way up a bit'.

That being said: 'tism builds, especially ones that draw on later splats, are a bad sign. We all want to be the hero, but you don't have to be the speshul snowflake hero.

 

[Ghostse]

Conversely, it's hilarious when someone tries to go 0-60 with plotting and scheming when they cannot back it up and lack the contacts to do so. It was doubly frustrating because I liked the player, but I was like 'look, you're starting at ground floor, you gotta work your way up a bit'.

I had a player do this fairly recently. For real-world nearly a year, in-game weeks, they were fighting a mercenary force that had taken over a small kingdom (and political rivalries of the near-by powers prevented any outside nation from marching in a liberation army, so they sent the party as special ops). They had ample, AMPLE opportunity to take enemy prisoners for interrogation, or even shift through foes belongings... they even had access to a full resistance network with tons of intel & spies if they wanted to try to outsmart their enemy.
Of course they did none of this stuff, opting instead to punch faces and work to unite resistance factions - which was fine. I expected they wouldn't want to go undercover.

Only at the final stage, where they are doing the last assault on the fortress, did this suddenly decide they wanted to try to go an infiltration route. Having done zero observation, no ideas about passwords or signs/countersigns, and nothing but some bloody uniforms. They didn't even both asking "Hey, I want to try to inflitrate the organization instead of going in swinging, how do I do that?" just having a spur of the moment idea without wanting to put in the work.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

This does remind me, and I got to thinking while posting another question, but; what about Shadowrun? For anyone that's run that game, are there any character options or races or gear or such that comes across as a red flag? Because I know that some race choices in the game - like Changelings and Drakes - tend to be difficult to run; what do you guys think about people trying to run these types of characters?

 

[Mega Black]

Man, you guy's must of had it rough! All you boring ass, straight human playing motherfuckers in here! You must of had a shit ton of horror stories when your basically like "Half the races in the game are red flags, just play human". I've played with players who chose any number of races, from tieflings, to changelings, to half orks, never had any issues with them. My very first D&D campaign, my other two party members were a Tiefling warlock and a Changeling rogue. Great times. I still remember that game fondly

In my experience anyone who whines about 'red flag' races either doesn't actually play games or plays them exclusively with randoms/faggots online which, yeah, big surprise that the person you're dealing with is probably a loser freak, they can't even get four friends together to play DnD.

One of the best players I've ever had played a Tiefling, then a bird person.

Vet your players a little, you don't need to ban everything that isn't a human fighter.