Will you make transsexual Elves canon in your games ?

[Eltab]

You want to tell the transgender person who I sometimes have at my table

I would suggest your guest finish reading MoonSong's paragraph that you quote; the section in -this notation- is important too.

 

[psychophipps]

One thing I've noticed is there seems to be frequent misuse of "gender" in this thread. As quoted from a frequent speaker at my hometown's largish Trans and Crossdressing convention who's name escapes me now, "Gender is between your ears and sex is between your legs".
Elves with this (semi)retcon can change their SEX over a long rest. Their gender, as mentioned quite correctly (thumbs up!) earlier way up there so I'm not going to bother looking to quote it on my phone, is a social construct that helps determine their place in the Elven society.
One of the great things about D&D is how the gender roles typically seen in our own societies directly associated with the sex of the societal members gets tossed out the window on the regular. This just makes it that much easier to Bam! Kick it up a notch.

 

[Sunseeker]

Honestly, this stuff bothers me. It is distracting, calls attention to itself, and changes the overall feel of the campaign from "Let's have some fun escapism" to "let's reenact some kinky immature stuff". I will not adopt this on any game I run, won't invite it, and won't allow it without good reason. -Making a player feel accepted and welcome is a good reason; giving someone carte blanche to start making everyone uncomfortable is not-.

Unless the blessing of Corellon brings something positive to the table that we can't do without, I won't even consider it. To me it belongs with the BoEF and the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity, that is, in any table but mine.

This is an odd statement, because the Blessing is already in the game.

It's called "Alter Self". You could probably even press the limits of Disguise Self to do a switch. Sure, it won't last all day, but if people are going to be silly about it, that's already in the game.

And it's not new. Players can do this in multiple previous editions.

 

[Umbran]

I would suggest your guest finish reading MoonSong's paragraph that you quote; the section in -this notation- is important too.

No, it isn't.

So long as MoonSong thinks they know what's better for others, the rest is lip service. People should not have to *prove* it is better for them. They should get to inform MoonSong that it is better for them, and MoonSong should accept that, without them having to meet some standard of proof.

 

[psychophipps]

I think Moonsong has a point as I used to play with what I call "Baby Seal Clubbers". You know the ones, they will create a semi-scandalous character and start pushing buttons every once in a while in the name of "Hey, I'm just roleplaying my character here". Once they find the right buttons, the gloves come off, they club the game narrative like a baby seal, ruining the game for at least half the table, and generally being a complete tool. All while acting scandalized that their character is now suddenly a problem in the game when it was obvious what I made earlier that everyone said they could live with, of course.

My answer to that is, "Stop playing with douchebags that break the social contract", as mentioned in the great Seth Skorkowsky videos on this subject.

That being said, he knows his table and we don't. He might be around folks that can't resist the odd off-color pelt gathering. He was pretty careful not to word his post saying that the rest of us are idiots for not agreeing with him so I have to give him props for that despite our enthusiasm for a storytelling tool he has zero personal interest in using.

 

[psychophipps]

And sorry for using all male descriptors if you aren't, Moonsong.

 

[Sunseeker]

I think Moonsong has a point as I used to play with what I call "Baby Seal Clubbers". You know the ones, they will create a semi-scandalous character and start pushing buttons every once in a while in the name of "Hey, I'm just roleplaying my character here". Once they find the right buttons, the gloves come off, they club the game narrative like a baby seal, ruining the game for at least half the table, and generally being a complete tool. All while acting scandalized that their character is now suddenly a problem in the game when it was obvious what I made earlier that everyone said they could live with, of course.

My answer to that is, "Stop playing with douchebags that break the social contract", as mentioned in the great Seth Skorkowsky videos on this subject.

That being said, he knows his table and we don't. He might be around folks that can't resist the odd off-color pelt gathering. He was pretty careful not to word his post saying that the rest of us are idiots for not agreeing with him so I have to give him props for that despite our enthusiasm for a storytelling tool he has zero personal interest in using.

Aside from the fact that I think the Blessing is a bit of an odd element to codify in the lore, there's all sorts of serious and humorous places it could be taken. A significantly sex-stratified elven society could see it as a terrible thing (as the Devs claim Drow do), and a previously downtrodden member of the "wrong sex" (no implications here anyone, just whichever sex is oppressed in the hypothetical society) being able to "move up" thanks to the Blessing. Or a member of the "right sex" might find some enlightenment in walking a mile in the downtrodden's shoes. Perhaps both the upper and lower sex's see those with the Blessing as "sex traitors" their allegiance always in question (in much the same way bisexuals are often mistreated by the LGBT community). Perhaps people with the Blessing are a incredibly small but generally "untouchable" underclass, being viewed as neither male, female or other but "nothing" because they are not "committed" to a given sex.

Conversely, there are also humorous elements to be explored here. Those classic jokes of when a guy pretends to be a girl and after the charade now they have to keep up the illusion, and learns something in the process, falls in love as the other sex, finds sex to be a complete waste of time and becomes gender/sex neutral.

For the most part, all of this is reliant on the collective agreement of the table and a honest good-natured approach. As soon as it turns into mocking one sex or another then that is a problem, and maybe with certain people it's easier to just not allow players to play with fire. Though I'd argue if there's a risk of people playing with fire, it's because someone is an arsonist.

Yeah, fire is dangerous, but it has no motivation. Arsonists do.

 

[MoonSong]

You want to tell the transgender person who I sometimes have at my table that something that gives her representation is, "kinky immature stuff"?

No, if a transgender player at my table asks, I'm going to allow it. Period. No judgment, no second guessing. If this makes you feel more welcome at my table, so be it. I have nothing against the Blessing of Corellon, what I have problem with is the kind of disruption that it enables.

Just by plain numbers, nine out of ten times it won't be a transgender person at my table that asks for this, and with my luck it will be someone looking forward to get a kick out of it, act his kinky juvenile fantasies and be overall creepy in and out of character in a disruptive way. I know the type, have seen the type in action, I don't want to draw them to my table by advertising the blessing of Corellon.

I would allow the blessing of Corellon to a player I know I can trust with it, and only if I was interested on exploring social issues through the game -and normally I prefer to do it through outright fiction, when I play or DM my main objective is always to have fun and make a good experience for the whole table-.

Overall, sexuality is a serious issue. I don't deal with serious issues when I play/DM, I'm not singling out this one thing, I exclude a lot of real world stuff to keep the game simple, even "simplistic". I'd rather do that than enabling people who just want to make a mockery of serious stuff.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Then don't play with people who want to make a mockery of serious stuff.

 

[MoonSong]

There is nothing innately kinky, or even erotic, in a character who can change gender/sex unless you choose to make it so. And I expected better from you.

I've had players -and even some DM's- whose very first reaction to me introducing a female NPC is to ask "is she hot?". -In the DM's case it was my PC for that campaign, to say that things didn't work out for that one would be an understatement-. I've also had to witness some severely obscene conversation while awaiting for MTG tournaments to start. There is a lot of testosterone in the hobby, and a lot of immaturity and eagerness to bring fetishes out. So, in short, the less ammo I can give them the better.