"Alternative lifestyles" in your campaign world

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Another possible take on homosexuality is that, oftentimes before our modern liberation movements, people weren't considered "gay". You were only a sodomite when you engaged in the homosexual act. Most homosexuals were "old maids" and "bachelors"- people didn't ask or tell, since discussing such topics was both impolite and improper. Homosexuals, in other words, were almost always "in the closet".

(Not that this was always true- there were ancient societies with homosexual components (as mentioned earlier), and there was the scandal involving Oscar Wilde in the late 19th century...)

 

[Harold Mayo]

If you want to do it, run it however you want to. It's your game, your players, your world...you know it and them better than we do.

I would just caution you to NOT do anything that can't be undone, though, if things don't work out as you wish. Whatever you do, it needs to be able to be swept under the rug or (ha ha) put back in the closet, if need be.

My own experiences (in the game, of course!!)...

Firstly, you must understand that I love world-building and create things that are never seen by the PCs just for the love of doing so...

I have some cultures in my world were homosexuality isn't tolerated (it's NOT homophobia...I find that term ridiculous...why would anyone FEAR a homosexual?). The reasons are different for different cultures. In some, it is a religious bias...in others it is a survival thing (sexual relationships not capable of producing children aren't useful to them)...in others, it's just disgust, pure and simple.

In other cultures it is tolerated, though not encouraged. The reasons are, again, varied. Religion usually plays a key role, though. It is usually not discussed and not flaunted.

In other cultures, it is seen as an individual choice. Experimentation is ok as long as no one gets hurt. The choice of the individual overrides the judgements of the society.

In only a couple of cultures is it actually ENcouraged. These are, quite naturally, cultures that are not overly large or widespread (how can a culture spread when its people can't, or won't, reproduce?). The only human one that stands out is an Amazonian-type culture that is an elite sub-culture rather than anything widespread. They breed only for duty and couple with their own sex for pleasure.

Overall, though, sexual orientation plays absolutely no role in my campaign. There have been overtones when the PCs were on leave from their wars and sought out prostitutes or when a femme fatale attempted seduction or when an NPC traveling with them got them into trouble for getting caught with a nobleman's daughter, but these are all either minor "color" for the campaign or are plot devices like any other adventure hook.

In the end, it's your campaign and only you can decide what is best.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

a question for moderators

if the moderators could give me some guidence?

(it's NOT homophobia...I find that term ridiculous...why would anyone FEAR a homosexual?).
...
The reasons are different for different cultures...in others, it's just disgust, pure and simple.
....
In only a couple of cultures is it actually ENcouraged. These are, quite naturally, cultures that are not overly large or widespread (how can a culture spread when its people can't, or won't, reproduce)

are these veiws political? if not, would me responding to them be considered political (or inflamatory)? I certainly wouldn't want to be the one accused of dragging the thread into politics...

Kahuna Burger

 

[Harold Mayo]

How are those in any way related to politics?

My views on the suitability of a particular word to describe something surely aren't...

For the second comment you had in quotes, you cut out a huge section of text to make it sound more to your liking...

And the last is FACT, pure and simple.

 

[barsoomcore]

Re: a question for moderators

are these views political? if not, would me responding to them be considered political (or inflamatory)? I certainly wouldn't want to be the one accused of dragging the thread into politics...

I also consider them political, KB. I was going to respond rather heatedly until I saw your post and said to myself, "Oh, right. None of that, now."

HaroldMayo, I would like to ask you to remove the comments that KB indicated in her posts from yours. I'm sure you didn't mean to initiate a politicized discussion but I'm worried about where this could lead. And would rather not see the moderators forced to interfere.

Thanks.

 

[Harold Mayo]

Read the comments IN CONTEXT rather than trimming away other parts of the post until you have something that doesn't even resemble what was originally said.

The posting by Kahuna Burger, where my comments were taken OUT OF CONTEXT by the magic of cutting and pasting, is far more inflammatory than the original post could ever hope to be.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Read the comments IN CONTEXT rather than trimming away other parts of the post until you have something that doesn't even resemble what was originally said.

The posting by Kahuna Burger, where my comments were taken OUT OF CONTEXT by the magic of cutting and pasting, is far more inflammatory than the original post could ever hope to be.

I'm afraid that its you who needs to read for context. Barsoncore made it clear that he already considered your comments political and somewhat inflamatory before reading my post. (and considering our past meetings of the minds, I doubt he was saying it as a random support to me.)

Its not suprizing that you don't see the underlying political and inflamatory context of your comments (none of which, btw, can be dignified as 'fact') but when it is pointed out to you, the graceful thing to do is to make petty comments about political correctness and leave the topic alone.

Kahuna Burger

 

[Harold Mayo]

Oh...while I'm stewing about you overly-sensitive types, you might want to take a look at THIS quote from my post...

In other cultures, it is seen as an individual choice. Experimentation is ok as long as no one gets hurt. The choice of the individual overrides the judgements of the society.

Hmmm...that somehow got left out of KB's quotation...a bit too quick with the mouse, I suppose...

AND, the FACT is that, in homo sapiens, a male cannot fertilize another male nor can a female naturally fertilize another female (though science seems to be able to do some cutting and pasting of its own to enable a female to become pregnant, with assistance, from another female...at least this has been done in animals). If you care to dispute this FACT, then please feel free to do so...

 

[Darrin Drader]

I think this squabble is getting way off topic, and is definitely turning into what the original poster expressly instructed it not to turn into. I'm not going to put forth that anyone edit their posts or otherwise back down from their positions, but I am going to suggest that people get back on topic and ignore this heated debate before the moderators are called in and shut down what is otherwise an interesting topic of discussion.

 

[GiantInThePlayground]

(Must...get topic....back on track!)

Well, over the last 3 years of playing D&D, we have definitely had homosexuality enter our games. This is not really surprising, since two of my players are themselves gay men, and (as a designer working in New York's West Village) I have many gay friends, of both genders.

I'll say first that neither of the two gay men has actually played a homosexual character in the time we've gamed together (though the speedster one has created for our upcoming Mutants and Masterminds game *is* a male model in his civilian identity). However, as DM, I felt it was important not to have the campaign world marginalize or persecute homosexuals. As more than one person has said, most people don't want the politics of the real world invading their D&D game, but for gay players, it kind of works the other way. For them, intolerance and homophobia are realities; wouldn't it stand to reason that they might enjoy a fantasy game where their sexual orientation was fully accepeted?

Thus, I made a conscious effort to include homosexuality in the fabric of my home campaign world, though I've hardly drowned the players in it, either. What can I say, I play to the audience with which I've been presented. Here are some of the situations that I've featured:

• As was touched on by other posters, I got the players involved in a murder mystery: a series of assassinations in a pair of wealthy families that seemed to make no sense until it was revealed that the youngest daughters of each House were lovers. They allowed themselves to be married to each other's older brother, then killed them both (along with anyone else further up the line of succession). The result was a single unified family, twice as rich, legally under their control.
• An elven necromancer who had spent the last 100 years sitting alone in his tower, mourning the loss of the human man whom he had once loved (but had died of old age decades ealier).
• The Nordic barbarian types have a tradition that one of my players nicknamed the, "Love the One You're With" syndrome, after the song. Basically, the night before Big Impending Doom, they celebrate the "joys of the flesh" before they are liberated from it. Gender notwithstanding.
• Medusae, harpies, and hags are ONLY female. You do the math.
• The goddess of love is completely supportive of all orientations; but one of her chief rivals is the goddess of childbirth, who wants only heterosexual sex for the purposes of reproduction. Neither is right or wrong, both are Good-aligned, they just don't see eye to eye.

Whether or not you introduce topics like these is ultimately a choice between you and your players; I doubt I would have made such an effort if my players were all straight, for example. Hopefully, this helps the original poster and anyone else thinking about these issues.