Wanna play as half-orc

>Wanna play as half-orc
>DM gets buttangered
>"No, you can't play as a half-orc."
>"It doesn't make sense for an non-human race to be in a human city."
>"The story starts in a human city and they are like totally racist, dude."
>"The city guards would pick on you and fuck you up."
>I don't care that your character is visibly armed. They would still pick on you, cuz their racist!"
Which one is in the wrong here?

I assume the other players have human characters with concealed weapons, yes?

My opinion on these sort of things is always that if the DM didn't want people to play other races then he shouldn't give you the option.

This. I will usually make it clear players may suffer some kind of discrimination for their race but if it's that debilitating then there's zero reason to make that race an option.

Both.

It would be nice if the GM could work out some special backstory or reasoning to your half-orc being in the setting, but if he has a set idea of how his setting should be, it's his right to keep it that way.

Let them pick on you, builds character and makes the game more interesting, i made a halfling when everyone else made humans. GM is fucking with me every time and i just roll with it.

Pay extra toll? Sure or i sneak in, storeowners not selling or people not talking to me? Get items other ways and people may not like to talk to me but gold is the universal language.

>DM says no

His game, his rules. Make a different character or find another DM.

Well he said "no".

Depends on the setting
since the DM determines the setting, he's pretty much right by default

if he says half-orcs are universally shunned and therefore impractical to play, that's the way it is

Second. There is such a lack of communication and compromise here that I lay blame on both parties.

Of course, if we're going by "less wrong," I side with:
The DM appears to have set his foot down, and that makes sense to make characters within the context of the world he's writing. Perhaps the DM should have made this more clear prior, but otherwise his reasonings, while pretty basic, are valid for his setting because he's writing the setting.

The DM did clearly say, "No, you can't play as a half-orc."

The City guards could be fucking skinheads for all it would matter, but unless there is either
A. A state of War between the City and a Nation of Orcs and/or Half-Orcs, where either Martial Law is declared and Those with Orcoid blood are being rounded up and placed into Internment camps by the authorities,
Or
B. A fantasy Equivalent to the Spanish Inquisition against Half Orcs, and/or any other fantasy races,
The guards aren't going to Jack Shit.

These aren't the Secret Police or an Angry mob, these are City Guard. They're a bunch of regular men, most probably with families, whose jobs mostly consist of standing around heavily armed looking threatening, arrest the odd thief, and breaking up the occasional riot. They're there to keep the peace, not disturb it. Their jobs are rather tolerable when there's no trouble to be found, and unless someone with authority tells them to, they're not gonna go around making more. The most they'd do is insult you and refuse to help you.

I'l play devils advocate here.

>I only allowing human PCs for reasons
vs
>De poh-liss is raciss, don't make halforc

Pick the proper argument.

user, I don't doubt there's half a thousand races and as many half-races, it's going to be a long list if you have to talk about them all.

>half-human
>doesn't belong in human city

He's not in the wrong, but his arguments are bad.

Both of them. They're playing deendee.

You.

Race lineup changes are a common element of D&D setting design.

If your GM doesn't think a Half-Orc is suitable for his campaign, then it's reasonable for him to rule against it.

I'd say the GM, but in my heart of hearts I know he's going to make sure everyone plays a human and preferably a martial to fit into this racist nation, and then plop his elf sorceress waifu DMPC into things without comment within three games.

You.

I think it then becomes a matter of which takes priority for the story:

>I only allowing human PCs for story reasons

Then the DM is telling you the setting is the real special snowflake not the players. What changes and developments you bring as being part of the crowd is the key element of driving the story. The player is wrong because he's trying to make it about him being against the grain rather than a part of it.

>#BLM

Then the players are important because they are the focus of the story. The DM is wrong because being a half-orc wont up destroy the story just cast the limelight on one player more than the others.

Why is it everyone over-simplifies isms and ists? For some reason people treat it like everyone acts in perfect conformity and are always caricatures who act to the absolute letter of whatever it is they are supposed to be.

Sorry, *I'd say the GM is in the right. I cannot write today.

>For some reason people treat it like everyone acts in perfect conformity and are always caricatures who act to the absolute letter of whatever it is they are supposed to be.
No one ever does the racist old man who genuinely admires the [Race] PC and tells him, with all honesty, "You are a credit to your people, boy. The world would be so much nicer if all [Race] were like you!" It's a pity, because it creates so much hilarious awkwardness and asspain.

You sure you know how the citt guard is going to act better than the fucking GM? "City guard" is not some constant between all games with a clear definition of how they will act. Them being racist against half-orcs and fucking with him makes sense.

As a side note, you know who used to lynch black folks? Regular men with families.

Being biracial, this comes up more often than you'd think.

If it were me, I'd say
>You can play a half-orc, but I should warn you that in this setting humans are unfriendly with most demihuman and humanoid races and half-breeds are openly discriminated against.

There could be some really good roleplaying opportunities there without it getting preachy (at least most of the time).

I'm going to guess his DM is comparatively inept, and the campaign is going to involve a lot of railroading.

How fucking dumb are you OP?
You can't just play any race you want or choose any starting gear you want or expect to have everything your way all the time.
I think pretty much any decent DM would ban certain features of the game or simply limit the players' choices in accordance with the type of game/campaign he's trying to run.
His game, his rules OP.

Ah right, and next I'll okay a time-travelling cyborg salafist into my historical 11th century Poland game, because if I don't, it means I put the setting over the players.

>>Wanna play as half-orc
>>DM gets buttangered
>>"No, you can't play as a half-orc."

Seems to me the DM didnt gave the guy that option.

>You can't just play any race you want
Given that half-orcs are a PLAYER RACE, they're one of the races you'd be right to assume you can play.