D&D General Do you allow "crossplaying" at your table? Has it ever caused problems?

[DnD Warlord]

I don't see it being an issue as long as the person playing the character is respectful. There's a guy at my table who is playing a hard nosed war veteran who's female. A real bad ass character. He steers clear of anything sexual because that would just be weird. I'm lucky to have such a great group at the table.

In 4e we had a guy playing a genisi warlord (our first warlord) and for 2 games straight he played her like a drill Sargent then out of nowhere mid tow he switched her to be a big softy... back on the road and she was back to being hard and mean and nasty... even her inspiring words were always “no time to nap get back in there” type things... until she had to heal herself one day... when it turned into “don’t let them see you hurt...you got this.”
It was the most nuanced character he had ever played... we finally asked him why and he said “women aren’t like us they are complex”.

mover the years make or female we often remind him “complex characters”

 

[LordEntrails]

Why is this even a question?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I've honestly no idea why it would be a concern in the abstract. It's only individual players' behaviors that would swing things one way or another, and either I'll learn that and have an adult conversation with them...or it won't happen so no problem occurs.

But then again, I find ban-focused thinking in general a pernicious blight on our hobby.

 

[Ace]

Why is this even a question?

Because in many gamers experience a lot of people especially guys who play the opposite gender do it in a manner that is disruptive to other players. Also not everyone has the same comfort zones at the table and gaming is about everyone having fun not just a few people.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Lots of straight males can play videogames with female characters, for example Lara Croft, Chun-li and Cammy (Street Fighters) or Sonya Blade+ Milenaa (Mortal Kombat). Usually those games haven't got romantic interactions, and many straight men love "yuri" or GL (girl-girl).

 

[Olrox17]

Nobody in my groups has showed interest in doing that in the last 20 years.

Last time I saw it action, we were all 14 year olds and a couple of male players tried playing female characters. As you can expect given our age at the time, things were not handled in a particularly mature way, but no horror stories, either.

I did hear about a female player role playing an horribly stereotyped gay character that made everyone uncomfortable, but it wasn’t my group.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

I’m using the term "crossplaying" here to describe opposite-gendered players and PCs. I've seen GM responses ranging from, "Why is that even a question? Play whatever you want!" to "Never at my table. It gets too weird."

So as a discussion question for all you GMs out there: Is crossplaying common practice at your table? And for those of you that do allow it, has it ever caused any issues?

(Comic for illustrative purposes.)

"Allow"? That's an odd word to use...it makes no sense when used in conjunction with RPG's.
If someone can Roleplay a bipedal, talking, green furred mutant half-man-half-tiger with lazer beam eyes and immunity to fire when playing Gamma World...adding in "Oh, and I'm also a dude", when played by a female shouldn't be a problem.

If I ever had the misfortune of bellying up to a table where the DM said "Oh, and you have to play your own sex"...I'd excuse myself from the table, gather my books/dice/papers and say "I forgot to do something in my car....leave". Then I'd leave.

In my mind, someone who is going to get so uncomfortable with a dude playing a chick or vice a versa, is likely someone I'm going to have other issues with, so best to just nip it in the bud right off the bat.

EDIT: Forgot to answer the actual question! Obviously..."Yes, I 'allow it'". The default is yes for everyone playing an RPG...those that say "no" are the outliers. It's why, during most character creation steps, RPG's say "Now choose your characters sex/gender/whatever", in stead of, "Your character is the same sex/gender/whatever as you are". I think the only game where this MIGHT be the case is that one where the Players all play "themselves", but in a different reality (like an apocalypse or something).

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Charlaquin]

I've always heard it referred to as "genderbending," and I've found it really depends on the player and group. Having played with a LOT of immature players, I can say that this can cause quite a bit of distraction (see Gamers 2 for several examples).

Then the problem is the players, not the practice of playing other genders than one’s own.

If you have any single player that couldn't handle it, it's generally better to not incorporate it to avoid the distraction (and probable offense) which will take away from the focus of the game.

No, I’d say it’s generally better to tell the player who can’t handle it to either put their weird hang ups aside or find another game.

Something that should be obvious, but most DMs genderbend all the time, since they have to roleplay every NPC, male, female, lizard, whatever.

Mature players can handle such a thing, but as a fellow DM has pointed out "what is the benefit?"

Would you ask that question about allowing players to portray characters of different ages than their own? Different species? No, because the benefit is obvious: exploring perspectives and identities that are different from your own is one of the core appeals of roleplaying. Gender is just one more aspect of this that players should be free to explore.

Most of the time a character's sex is of minimal importance to the concept, and unless there's a specific reason for genderbending, a player is probably better off sticking to their own gender.

Again, would you apply this same standard to age? Race? Physical and mental ability? “I want to play a character of this gender/age/race/ability/etc.” should be all the reason anyone needs. The idea that roleplaying someone who is unlike yourself should have to pass some sort of standard of narrative necessity is absurd. Who would even set such a standard, and should their authority on the matter outweigh the player’s?

I have a character in mind that's the daughter of one of my favorite characters from 2E. The reason the character is female is because that's what the DM determined when she was born in game, thus in my mind this is canon. This was with a different group, but both games are set in the Realms, plus I've already referenced this character in my group by playing his nephew in 3E. If none of this was the case, I'd just as easily play a male character that is exactly the same.

Ok. That’s a perfectly valid reason to make that choice.

 

[dave2008]

I’m using the term "crossplaying" here to describe opposite-gendered players and PCs. I've seen GM responses ranging from, "Why is that even a question? Play whatever you want!" to "Never at my table. It gets too weird."

So as a discussion question for all you GMs out there: Is crossplaying common practice at your table? And for those of you that do allow it, has it ever caused any issues?

(Comic for illustrative purposes.)

It has never come up, but since I have allowed people to play giants, dragons, and unicorns - I can't imagine it would be a problem.

 

[Charlaquin]

Because in many gamers experience a lot of people especially guys who play the opposite gender do it in a manner that is disruptive to other players. Also not everyone has the same comfort zones at the table and gaming is about everyone having fun not just a few people.

But the problem then is the guys doing that, not the practice of playing another gender. Granted, the players’ comfort is paramount. But forbidding all players from playing other genders outright is an absurd way to respond to the mere possibility that someone might be uncomfortable of the idea. If it makes someone uncomfortable, then it’s a good idea to have a conversation about it and decide together how to resolve the issue.