Guys playing girls (chime in, ladies)

[Dark Dragon]

After some 13 years of D&D, I'm now playing a female PC for the first time (I'm male). I'v played only a few sessions so far, so I'm not really accustomed to the new PC. She is a witch from Rashemen (not a Hathran yet, but perhaps sometimes), looks quite good (Cha 14) but has a low Str (8). She tends to give orders to others but will not hesitate to do a job alone. After every fight she drinks a bit of juhild (Rashemi firewine), but avoids becoming completely drunk.

Some of the encounters were just about some men (either drunk or just in a mood to have a woman around...) who tried to have some fun with her, but either those guys regretted it (a hit with a light mace may hurt even a thug) or were ask if they are from Rashemen. If not - bad luck, if yes...well, that was never the case so far.

Hmm, don't know if I'm really playing her so that it fits, but otherwise, I don't think about it so much.

 

[Wombat]

I have always been fascinated by reactions to crossgender roleplaying.

Since I first picked up those Three Little Books so many years ago, I have been the GM for most games I have been in. As such, I run a lot of NPCs. Due to necessity, I began playing female as well as male NPCs. The first couple were horrible -- bad parodies of archtypes or women I knew (the Julia-Child-as-hobbit was a disaster, even though it could have been good). But over time I started patterning both male and female characters off of good characters from books and movies I had read and seen; from there I lept into true individuals.

Nowadays when I actually get to play in games (as opposed to GM) I play female characters about half of the time. Probably my favourite character ever was a female, Julia Peregrina of House Merenita (huzzah for Ars Magica!). Some of my females have had a sex life, some it did not come into play (about the same amount as my male characters). Some have been played "girly", some "mannish", but more have been individuals, based more on a core concept that felt more correct as a woman than as a man. The point is to be truly individual. Sure, there are stereotypes, and stereotypes develop for reasons, but remember that stereotypes tend to be boring and two-dimensional, no matter what the gender, and thus every stereotype needs some fleshing out. Breaking beyond stereotypes is often difficult, but a lot of fun as it gives you wide new ranges of characters to play. There is a world of difference, for example, between Offred, Natasha Rostova, and Joan of Arc.

I must admit, too, that one of the major reasons I have played female PCs in other people's games is because I like to balance the groups. My gaming groups have had women in them for many years; nowadays I tend to feel uncomfortable with any gaming group where there are no women at the table. But here is an interesting observation -- through many gaming groups, I have seen that women playing male characters are rarely noted, yet men playing women are often looked at askance. Now this may be due to players having seen too many men playing horrible female characters, or merely hearing about such playing in other people's games.

In the end, the important thing is to create a believable character, much more than to worry about gender until you have a firm idea of who you want to play. If the character feels more female than male, then go that way; if the other way, go there. If you are in the middle, take your choice, but think about what the changes will mean. Either way, have fun playing the character!

 

[Torm]

I've played female characters for just about every second campaign I've played in, and fairly successfully, I think. The key, for me, is primarily in the two things that have been said above about just trying to play a person and not letting the sexuality become the overriding aspect of the character, and basing the character on someone real I know or at least know of.

Also, a third thing I don't think I've seen mentioned, or at least not this way: Subtle feminization of equipment and class choices when possible. In other words, if I'm playing a male fighter, I'm more likely to want a sword that is well-statted and NASTY looking, whereas with a female, I'm usually going to go for the one that is well-statted and beautiful. Maybe wickedly beautiful, but beautiful. A female is more likely to be mindful of the fact that she IS of the (typically) strength-inferior sex (much like I would think ANY Halfling would be mindful of, race-wise) and carry a hidden, hold-out weapon - thigh-strapped dagger, or some such.

Depending on the particular female used to model on, she may be very inclined towards prestige classes that require you to be female (Swanmay, for example) or very turned off by those groups attitudes toward her male friends, or maybe very inclined to try to go after classes or situations typically reserved for males, out of spite or righteousness. I know that's pretty much the whole range, but once again, it comes down to roleplay - think her up from being a little girl, and you'll know which she would pick, and why.

As for whomever suggested that women will say "Nothing" or go off about something completely different when they're angry and asked what's wrong, a few things: 1. I've seen men do this, too - even realized I was doing it, myself, on occasion. 2. Just as we like to play idealized men when we play, we probably don't usually want to play women, or anyone for that matter, who behaves that way on a regular basis - although the occasional occurance might be appropriate. 3. An aside - If the person you are basing this statement on happens to be a spouse or girlfriend, and they're doing it way too often, DON'T LET HER GET AWAY WITH IT. Be ultra-reasonable and caring, but drive home that that is what she is doing, and try to "train" her out of doing it, at least with you, if not period. It's bad for her, because its a sign that she thinks what she's really upset about isn't important enough to talk about (either to you, to her, or both) and she needs to be able to express herself and focus to keep a healthy relationship and clear the air, and be told it IS important to you. It's bad for you, and you already know why.

And, ladies, I'm not being sexist with this bit of (first-hand witnessed on several occasions) homebrew psychology - if your significant other is doing this, male or otherwise, ditto.

Amongst my most memorable female characters, I've played a rowdy 4ft 10in Blue skinned Noble in one of our Star Wars campaigns, whom I based on a girl who used to like to beat up guys who would pick on me in High School. (Not kidding.) She worked out pretty well in the game. <g>

In a campaign we're currently running, although its on a loooong pause right now, I'm running a female Halfling Half-Celestial Wizard who is loosely based on CNN Headline News' Rudi Bakhtiar.

 

[der_kluge]

Hi-

If your gonna play a female character watch the movie "The Messenger" Its about Joan of Arc and is a fantastic movie indeed. When I DM, that movie is for me, the prime example of how to role-play a female and not be offensive.

That movie is a good example to play a schizophrenic to be sure... a good example to roleplay a woman? I don't know about that.

 

[Emiricol]

This is a trainwreck waiting to happen.

But - I usually immediately disbelieve any female PC that is overtly and overly sexual. I have known some women who were, particularly when I was in my late teens, early 20s, but there you go.

 

[Laurel]

Lots of good advise above-- Set the back story and then play the character not the gender.
Hopefully you have a great group that you play with and they will help you out if an issue arises. Any girls in the group could also lend a hand with any big questions and a good source for help with backround stories.... but remember the advise of play the character not the gender.

 

[DiamondB]

I would advise not roleplaying so much as <I'm a female, what would a female do> as going for a more specific approach. <I'm [Character Name]. What would [Character Name] do?>

I'm a male playing a female paladin/fighter and the above approach is exactly what I do. Realistically there is little in the way I play that would indicate my character is female. I play her as an extremely professional, though not terribly dedicated, representative of her deity (St. Cuthbert). She is quite charismatic, though I play this more as an exceptional leader over looks. Most importantly is the fact that she's a bit suicidal when it comes to combat (due to some rather unpleasant encounters in her past). The rest of the group (both in and out of character) remember her for this little "quirk" over any gender based aspect.

 

[ssampier]

Good female NPC advice

I love threads like this. As a young adult male it is interesting for me to hear some perpective on female gender (not sex, there is a difference).

As a DM, I love to play one of my favorite NPCs, a human female paladin. Up to this point, I have played her as a heroic, no-nonsense lady with strict ethic and moral character, with compassion and utter disregard for evil. She is somewhat 'tomboyish' in the sense that she's small, slim, and has short cropped hair.

I have not considered her backstory much. I think I can add some depth to her yet.

 

[Whimsical]

I am playing a female dwarven barbarian/cleric who is based on the personality of Sue Hawk From Survivor season 1. For those who haven't seen her or don't remember, she is a truck driver from Wisconsin who is quite un-"feminine", and can be a horrid b[CENSORED] at times. Although I didn't particularly like this person, I did believe that she is what a female dwarf would be like. So when I created one I used Sue's personality for it. So far, it has been a great success.

So what do I do to distinguish this woman, who behaves like the stereotypical Real Man™ in roleplay, as a female? She is married to the dwarven barbarian male PC in the group and she is very loyal to him and very protective of him, and he is definitely the husband of the relationship. So, my advice to the original poster is to have his female PC be the wife/girlfriend/ex-/mother/daughter/sister/grandmother/etc. of another PC or a significant NPC in the game, and that female role of your character will have you portray feminine behaviors based on that gender-based social role whereas you would normally have a genderless protrayal of a character in a "business" situation (adventuring).

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

This is a trainwreck waiting to happen.

That's part of the fun of it, though: just think, at any moment, the fragile vehicle of well-reasoned discussion can totally derail, maiming passengers and passersby alike, or maybe just flooding the streets with seven million gallons of burning molasses. Threads like this keep you sharp, man. They help you keep your edge.




I'm actually trying a female character for the first time ever...well, barring the Call of Cthulhu module we played many years back ("Devil's Children" from Pagan) where everyone had to play young Puritan girls for the first half of the session. But this is the first female PC I've ever actually designed from the ground up, with the help of a fair amount of reality-checking of her background from the women who play in our group. It seems to be going well, though we'll need to play more sessions for me to be able to really judge whether it's working out or not. So far, though, there's only been one incident of pronoun confusion, and no complaints.

Then again, two of the most popular NPCs from games I've run were female, so maybe my group's just inclined to give me a free pass when playing cross-gender. (Which is kind of a disturbing idea, now that I think about it. :\ ) On the other hand, none of our male GMs have ever had any complaints about their female NPCs (nor the female GMs about their male NPCs), so maybe we're just not that discriminating.

--
i think i'll go with that, rather than imply that i'm somehow deficient in masculinity
ryan