1st-edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons keeps the player tightly tethered to stereotypical fantasy tropes like dwarves and elves, and even when it comes to those demi-human races, restrictions are in place to encourage, as much as possible a humanocentric world. In Gary Gygax’s own words:

ADVANCED D&D is unquestionably “humanocentric”, with demi-humans, semi-humans, and humanoids in various orbits around the sun of humanity. Men are the worst monsters, particularly high level characters such as clerics, fighters, and magic-users — whether singly, in small groups, or in large companies.

p21, 1st-edition AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide

Many players, (and particularly newer, less experienced players) believe that playing a strange monster might be loads of fun. And let me take this opportunity to make clear, if you find it fun, I’m not here to tell you otherwise. The point of this post is not to “instruct” anybody on the only “right way” to play the game. You can play it however takes your fancy and as long as that is fun for you, then great. The point of the post is simply to help dispel some myths about why the rules are the way they are, and to offer up an argument as to why they are actually just fine the way they are.

In that vein, the first thing to acknowledge is that however you like to play, it is unequivocally true that the playing of such monsters (including, I’m sorry 5e-fans, the like of Dragonborn and Tieflings) is diametrically opposed the original vision of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Yes, there is provision in the rule-books to basically, “change whatever you like” … but really, we didn’t need Gygax to give us that permission — we’re free to change whatever rules we want regardless — and it is also very clear that in the case of exotic player races, he also strongly suggests not to do it despite the ultimate rule-changing freedom he concedes to individual Dungeon Masters.

Why? The answer is because Gygax was just mean, didn’t want players to have any fun and also he had no imagination.

Actually, no, that’s not the reason (although I have legitimately heard it claimed!). This was undoubtedly a deliberate design decision, and the purpose for it is two-fold:

1. to create a humanocentric game world; and
2. to keep rare that which should be rare

A game world that is non-humanocentric simply turns what is intended to be fantastic and unique into something that is common and mundane. If your game world is one where every tavern is like the Moss Eisley Cantina of weirdos and your entire party is a verifiable freak-show of Tieflings, Dark-Elves and Dragonborn, you haven’t made anything more interesting. You’ve only served to make Tieflings, Dark-Elves and Dragonborn a whole lot less interesting.

It’s important to note that Gary Gygax’s vision is plainly not to reduce or remove the fantasy element from the game world. A quick browse through some of the oddities in the Monster Manual will dispel any such notion. Instead, it’s to encourage the game-world to be viewed through the lens of humanity. There are very good reasons for this, but they are perhaps best explained by way of example. And there countless to choose from, Lord of The Rings, The Witcher and Star Wars are just a few convenient examples: in all of these stories, the universe is full of bizarre creatures, but relatively few of them are actual central protagonists in the world. They’re cool flavoring and atmosphere, but they’re not the real heroes.

Why not? Because nobody is particularly interested in the plight of a bunch of weird aliens, it’s just too difficult for us to relate to them. Unless you’re an alien reading this text hundreds of years in the future, then you, like the rest of us, observe the world through a human lens. In other words, that is our default frame of reference. Remove the human-centric nature from the game and it becomes strange, alienating and difficult to relate towards. Successful Hollywood directors have known this for a long time, but for some reason, many role-players seem to be under the mistaken impression that it’s going to somehow make their particular story more interesting.

“But the protagonists in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were Dwarves and Halflings, not humans!”

True, but dwarves and halflings are allowed as player races, so that’s somewhat a moot point.

Furthermore, the common Tolkein-esque fantasy races are clearly fairly simple caricatures of humanity. Hobbits are drawn from the quaint lifestyle of Edwardian pastoral England, for example. Dwarves from the rough and tough workmen, miners and craftsmen of his time. They’re all a long way off from playing a troll, a dragon-man or a demon.

The reason for that is because although the fantasy elements of a game like Dungeons & Dragons, such as the aforementioned trolls, dragons and demons, certainly do shape a unique and enthralling fantasy world, it is in experiencing these fantastic elements where the fun and adventure lies, not in embodying them. Playing an exotic race will not make your character more interesting. Being a good and imaginative role-player, and creating a character to which the other players at the table (including the Dungeon Master) can easily-relate and interact-with is what makes your character interesting.