Will you make transsexual Elves canon in your games ?

[TheSword]

And how would these people who are uncomfortable around gay people know they are gay without it involving a PDA? I understand you can know about colleagues and family and the like, but just being in a public place you'd have no idea. So I assumed these Cosmic Kid's hypothetical people would be reacting to PDAs.

I’ve never made a public display of affection in my life, and yet shock, somehow people know I’m gay... perhaps it is through the miracle of conversation.
Strangers and public places were never discussed in that post. Just two guys who found being around gay people ‘icky’.
I can count on one hand the number of gay PDAs I’ve seen in my life. I couldn’t even begin to count the number of heterosexual PDAs on a monthly basis

 

[Eltab]

There is no "We just don't include that stuff" unless your entire world is made up of a genderless race that has no romantic relationships and reproduces by budding.

You are missing another option: the campaign is centered on "beat up the Bad Guys and steal their stuff". There isn't any 'character building' or RP going on; no time is spent on sex or gender or romantic relationships.
Bring on the next Dragon in its Dungeon!

 

[ccs]

Okay... let me throw in one little thought:

The ability to switch between male and female elf form doesn't make these elves transexual or transgender. I'd rather call it an extreme form of genderfluidity.

Being trans means a person whose gender doesn't match with the sex they were born with. But these people are actually both, mentally and physically, depending on their choice. They are not mismatched by nature, they are omni-matched.

And.... their still not a thing in my game.

 

[Sunseeker]

I guess New Zealand is a bit more liberal than the mid west. My group was 50% female in 1996 and I had a gay player 1999/2000. I kind of look at both sides though. Is it reasonable for gays to get married? Sure why not. Is it reasonable for them to get married in say a Catholic Church maybe not as you are forcing your beliefs onto them (example only I am not Catholic or a fan of organized religions in general). There is an element of physics (every action has an opposite reaction)here the harder you push there will be a counter push, if things happen a bit more organically it creates less problems IMHO. Its entirely possible to score an own goal. It just dpeends on if those things blow up into violence or not (read a history book).

Generally you should not force your beliefs onto someone else (except things like no murder, child abuse etc). There are some things I don't want to see or expect to act out but I try to challenge myself sometimes, I liked season one of Sense8 for example season 2 not as much.

Maybe I'm odd, agnostic IRL but like clerics in D&D.

I think my point was that for all of this talk about what people are going to include or not include in D&D, as a player and as a DM, I still prefer the tried and true: Because I said so.

Noone is injecting a culture war into D&D by including, or really not including anything else when their argument is "This is the way it is." That was my point in using the "Don't start none..." line.

If someone includes the Blessing simply because they think it should exist in their game, regardless of if it is every elf, a few elves, half the elves, or whatever there is nothing political about its inclusion. The DM has simply decided that sex-switching elves are something that exist in their world. No more than if they decided that they don't or that anything else does or doesn't exist. This falls into the "Don't start none."

Conversely, if elements are being included, or excluded on the basis of IRL cultural issues, then that is by definition "Starting something". The DM is injecting their politics into the game not by the nature of the elements they are including or excluding, but by the nature of why they are including or excluding those elements.

It's one of the reasons I took such a strong objection to [MENTION=6689464]MoonSong[/MENTION] here.

 

[Eltab]

However, I would rule that it is a longer transition (maybe a few months) to make it more dramatic.

I can see an Elven con man who uses the Blessing as a last-ditch 'gotta escape from an alerted angry mark' plan. The next time around an Elven con woman picks a mark...

 

[Sunseeker]

I can see an Elven con man who uses the Blessing as a last-ditch 'gotta escape from an alerted angry mark' plan. The next time around an Elven con woman picks a mark...

Though I think the Blessing only allows you to switch sex, it doesn't allow you to appear as someone new each time. So your "alter ego" appearance would still have to be used sparingly for people not to catch on. You'd presumably still retain your general appearance, just somewhat more feminine/masculine/androgynous.

Or I suppose wear a pair of glasses and then even the most talented investigative minds couldn't tell. /sarcasm

Though this makes me think that it would be interesting for a more sexually dimorphic elf to experience a more dramatic physical change than an already androgynous one. I think that'd be interesting to handle as a player, but I have little interest in telling any other player what their character looks like when it's not something directly meted out by the DM (such as curses, magic potions, or wounds).

 

[Eltab]

Double post.

 

[Eltab]

Though I think the Blessing only allows you to switch sex, it doesn't allow you to appear as someone new each time. So your "alter ego" appearance would still have to be used sparingly for people not to catch on. You'd presumably still retain your general appearance, just somewhat more feminine/masculine/androgynous.

True, and I did say it could be a last-ditch plan.
A good con-being making an escape would have a Disguise Kit, can we presume? And a change of clothes. Makeup (as appropriate), hair coloring (something natural), visibly different chest and hips … and the anatomy to back it up, should a full search be tried.
"Why, no, Mr. CityGuard, I don't know anything about His Lordship's tapestry, missing or found."

 

[Yaarel]

Though I think the Blessing only allows you to switch sex, it doesn't allow you to appear as someone new each time. So your "alter ego" appearance would still have to be used sparingly for people not to catch on. You'd presumably still retain your general appearance, just somewhat more feminine/masculine/androgynous.

Or I suppose wear a pair of glasses and then even the most talented investigative minds couldn't tell. /sarcasm

Though this makes me think that it would be interesting for a more sexually dimorphic elf to experience a more dramatic physical change than an already androgynous one. I think that'd be interesting to handle as a player, but I have little interest in telling any other player what their character looks like when it's not something directly meted out by the DM (such as curses, magic potions, or wounds).

I imagine the Blessing means, one day you look like Leonardo Di Vinci, and the next day you look like Mona Lisa.

Most people would assume these are two different people.

(Apparently, the Mona Lisa is a scientific experimented, where Leonardo wanted to know what he would look like if he was born female rather than male.)

 

[Yaarel]

I have a college friend who is transsexual (female to male). In college, I had no idea she was transsexual. Later, in a different city, I coincidentally ran into him at a pub. I saw this guy ordering a mug of ale at the bar. He had a beard. There was something familiar about him. Familiar enough, I actually walked up to him, and said, ‘Dont take this the wrong way, but you remind me of a male version of a female friend of mine.’ It turns out, he was her! He took of his eyeglasses, and the eyes were the same.

Even making the connection, I didnt fully make the connection, he was she.

They were presumably two separate people.