Gay PCs or NPCs

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Well... I've officially read this entire thread and have found it very, very interesting.

Sex and romance have had a place in the D&D game that my old group played for a looong time, however; the PCs that were doing the sex romance were not terribly mature and the game sort of turned into a soap opera...

Sexuality has never come up. It is assumed that all of the characters were straight because all of the players are straight. Though, I am an open-minded type of girl with several close gay friends and am very comfortable with their sexuality and my own. I cannot say the same for other members of the group I currently play it... most of the guys are pretty homophobic midwestern types and so, it would be very difficult to play a gay or bi-sexual character at my table.

Which creates and interesting situation... my current character is very, very young and - having lived a very sheltered life where she was abused by men and found small comfort in the friendship of the other girls that experienced the same torture and slavery - has no concept of romance or sexuality. At somewhere around the age of 14, she has become a member of an adventuring team and - for the first time in her life - is able to make her own decisions. So now, she's developing her decision making skills at 14.

I have given much thought to young, sheltered Wu's sexuality and have yet to make any decisions... and, even if I felt that she was a bi-sexual, it would probably not be an appropriate thing to bring to the table. It would either make people uncomfortable or be an endless source of "OMGLOL Lesbians are so hot!" mockery.

*shrug*

Good thread.

 

[WayneLigon]

But there are all kinds of character motivations and actions that D&D is not configured to address.

I would say there is no RPG - where anyone bothers with the 'R' part - that cannot address any form of character motivation or character-driven action. D&D can be run as wild adventure, quiet politicing, investigative (Law and Order: Waterdeep, coming this Fall), or romantic with no adjustments in anything. I can't really think of any form of roleplaying D&D - or any other RPG - can't accomodate.

Your group may not be interested in it, or do it, but that certainly doesn't mean it hasn't been done extensively in others.

 

[fusangite]

I would say there is no RPG - where anyone bothers with the 'R' part - that cannot address any form of character motivation or character-driven action.

I did not say "incapable of addressing"; I said, "not configured to address." I could melt the snow on my driveway with table salt rather than rock salt but it would be much less effective because table salt has not been configured to clear my driveway.

D&D can be run as wild adventure, quiet politicing, investigative (Law and Order: Waterdeep, coming this Fall), or romantic with no adjustments in anything.

It's true; I could clear my driveway with table salt without adjusting it. But that doesn't mean it's a good use of table salt.

Centring a D&D game around the kinds of scenes that will exclude most of the players and not utilize most of the mechanics is not a good use of D&D. If you want to build a game around playing out romantic interactions, you want a 1-2 member party instead of a 5-7 member party; you want a robust set of rules for resolving social dynamics rather the ones that are on the books right now; you want balance in this area amongst classes so that good looks and physical prowess can be brought to bear on social situations, etc. In other words, you want to be playing a different game if you intend to place romance at the centre. You'll also want to keep out people who think they're going to play D&D because I doubt they'll be too thrilled with the game their attending masquerading as D&D.

I can't really think of any form of roleplaying D&D - or any other RPG - can't accomodate.

No. But it's pretty clear that different games are adapted and designed for particular niches in the role playing market.

Your group may not be interested in it, or do it, but that certainly doesn't mean it hasn't been done extensively in others.

I'm not suggesting that you guys are imagining the games you play in which people's characters engage in romantic interactions. I'm just suggesting that D&D is not configured to address romantic interactions than it is a set of players who are all professional sculptors and want to make the best-looking statue of a centaur.

 

[fusangite]

I have given much thought to young, sheltered Wu's sexuality and have yet to make any decisions... and, even if I felt that she was a bi-sexual, it would probably not be an appropriate thing to bring to the table. It would either make people uncomfortable or be an endless source of "OMGLOL Lesbians are so hot!" mockery.

Your instincts are right. The sexuality of 14 year old female characters is best left out of the game.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Your instincts are right. The sexuality of 14 year old female characters is best left out of the game.

Thats not her instinct, and trying to boil it down to "sexuality does not belong in the game" just doesn't work. This is a character whose veiw of relationships has been traumatised at a young age. Queen D is talking about the process of her making her own decisions of what she wants to do with her sexuality (and if I may say, for the resident "historical records of gay self definition can't be found so there was no such thing before the last century" booster, prudishness about a 14 year old's sexuality in a 'medieval' setting is distinctly hypocritical. :\ ) and whether that process might involve women.

The thing is, if she wanted to role play a "safe" crush on an older completely unatainable adventurer (say the benevolent elven cleric) or developed age appropriate flirtations with a similarly aged boy her group would probably consider that good roleplaying in working out the character's past. But switch the genders and its pervy 14 y/o "sexuality".

Her instincts are probably right about her group but in a non homophobic one there's nothing wrong with considering women in such a character's self exploration.

 

[fusangite]

Her instincts are probably right about her group but in a non homophobic one there's nothing wrong with considering women in such a character's self exploration.

Given that this is what I'm talking about, I don't think there's any disagreement here.

 

[Torm]

Which creates and interesting situation... my current character is very, very young and - having lived a very sheltered life where she was abused by men and found small comfort in the friendship of the other girls that experienced the same torture and slavery - has no concept of romance or sexuality.

Based on my experience with real girls in similar situations, I would be very much surprised if she had NO concept of sexuality. More likely is that she has an overdeveloped one, but focused on using sexuality as a tool - to get things she wants from men, to avoid other physical abuse, and so on.

No concept of romance, OTOH, I can entirely believe. :\

Also in my experience, it is entirely common for these girls to be inclined to develop a relationship with another girl, rather than with a man - girls are a clean slate, men are associated with too many mistaken notions of how to deal with them in a mature and loving relationship.