D&D 5E celebrating pride and lgbtq+ players 2021

[ECMO3]

We haven't provided them because it's as absurd as if you claiming that your fantasy RPG games had never included swords.


As you can see, gender and sexuality was an important part of plot, as the PCs could interact, ally, deceive or be deceived by these NPCs, and understanding the NPCs motivations was important.

Example 1:
I see nothing relevant at all regarding sexuality in the plot section noted. Please tell me how sexual preference or tras vs cis gender is relevant to this plot or what happens. More specifically, if you change the sexual preference of one of the characters how does this plot change or what would not work?

Example 2:
Part of this would fall into the "biology surrounding reproduction", which I noted is an exception (along with genitalia and graphic sex). That said, if I am playing a woman slug, why does she have to "lean woman". I would argue she is a woman period and does not need any extra qualifiers put on her .... unless of course reproduction becomes part of the game for that character. If she later decides she is a man, then she is. She is not a transgender man, or a non-binary man (which is a little contradictory). She, or I should say he, is a man period.

As for the "fade to black" sex; that can happen regardless of the sexuality and gender of the characters. Yes it happened and it does not matter if the slugman was a man, woman, binary and whether he/she was heterosexual or homosexual and what his or her partner was. Again those "labels" are irrelevant to the story.

 

[Yaarel]

Example 1:
I see nothing relevant at all regarding sexuality in the plot section noted. Please tell me how sexual preference or tras vs cis gender is relevant to this plot or what happens. More specifically, if you change the sexual preference of one of the characters how does this plot change or what would not work?

Just to be clear, you understand what the phrase "role playing" means, correct?

You seem to acknowledge that sexual orientation impacts the story, with regard to who is with who?

If person is anatomically female, and identifies as as male, the person is simply a man. But many people are nonbinary, and less interest in either opposite. And many people are gender fluid, and alternate their identity. These last two impact the story.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The real test of WotC's dedication to Pride will be are they willing to have gay characters in China and other countries were the authorities don't like that, or if they pull a Disney instead and talk out of both sides of their mouth instead.

 

[ECMO3]

I don't think it's necessarily primarily about relevance to game or story. It's more that identity is relevant to how a player imagines their character and that characters' place in the world. It's also that identities as (respectfully) presented throughout the game world more or less line up with the sorts of identities held/seen by the players themselves. And that a player can have a PC of a particular identity, and can express that identity in the game, and not be punished for it.

And I think that if those identities are included naturally in a game, then they actually do become relevant to the stories told in the game, just as surely as "traditional" relationships are relevant in a setting emulating Arthurian myth and its "traditional" notions of chivalry, or whatever.

IMO If they are included in official game materials they become tools to stereotype and discriminate against people. There is no other purpose they serve IMO.

I also reject the notion that the identites of characters in game line up with the identities of players playing those characters. I think that is true for gender alone and for PCs alone, and even there it is a weak correlation, not a strong one. I think it is generally untrue for any other aspect of a character's identity.

But it's really not for you to reject or accept how/whether other players choose to set the identity on their characters, is it?

And it is not for WOTC to do either and that is my biggest problem here, that they will be introducing it into the game.

 

[Alzrius]

This amounts to, "I don't do this, so nobody else should ever want to either." Is that really a solid position?

And that's why we should keep alignment in the monsters' stat blocks.

Whoops, wrong thread! My mistake there.

 

[Faolyn]

You normalize them by not differentiating them.

Exactly. Which means that you if you include married couples in a game--such as that nice old couple that run the inn you're staying at--you can make them gay, straight, whatever, with no difference between them.

No. This is exactly my point! There is no heterosexuality or homosexuality in that as you have described it. The first old lady could be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or asexual. Same with the second. That you described them as a lady implys they are a woman but either of them could also be a cisgender woman or a transgender woman.

I believe you're missing the point. We don't necessarily need to explore their entire sexual history or psychology. The point is that they are in an opposite-sex or same-sex relationship. That's enough for the purposes of these NPCs in the game.

But you're also missing another point, in that a player can explore their character's sexuality as much as they want.

I reject the notion that any characters should even have a defined sexuality. There is no such thing (and should be no such thing) as playing a character of a "different sexuality" than you because sexuality is not relevant to anything at all that can happen in most games. The only time it becomes relevant is when you make it relevant through stereotypes.

Are you seriously gatekeeping roleplaying here? Or deciding what can or cannot be relevant in a game? Who are you to tell me what can be in my game?

If I am playing a heteroexual male character are you going to tell me as DM that I can't "fade to black" with an NPC man if I am a "heterosexual man". Are you going to tell me I should not wear a skirt if I am a cisgendered man?

No. Why would I? I would instead ask if you wanted to explore your self-identity in the game. It could make for some interesting side-quests.

In my personal experience, though, people who decide their character's sexuality are choosing to RP that sexuality, not doing so just to mess around with the DM's expectations.

Regarding gender; in general stereotypes surrounding gender do not come in games I have played in the last 15 years or so (they admittedly did before then).

So because you haven't experienced gender stereotypes--or at least, haven't encountered something you recognize as a gender stereotype--then nobody deals with gender stereotypes in any of their games?

The difference is gender itself is relevant to the game and to the English language. Being a woman or a man is relevant to the story, but whether said person is cis or trans is not. Bringing in cis/trans as a further subdivision of specific genders only introduces stereotypes.

How can your sex and gender relevant but everything else related to your sex and gender not be relevant?

 

[Yaarel]

In general, there are at least four genders:
• Male
• Female
• Both
• Neither

Each of these genders is quite different from the other.

 

[J.Quondam]

And it is not for WOTC to do either and that is my biggest problem here, that they will be introducing it into the game.

I might have missed it, but... Are they doing that? What mechanics are being introduced by WotC that will impact a PC's in-game identity?

My impression is that WotC's initiatives are about supporting pride organizations, improving representation in the fiction and art, broadening employee diversity, and so forth. I may be mistaken, though.

 

[jasper]

As a native speaker of a language that has no gendered pronouns (Finnish), I find the existence of gendered pronouns rather jarring. One of course gets used to it, but it certainly makes the gender binary to feel far more essential and a bigger deal than it actually is. Imagine how disturbing it would be if a language had different pronouns based on some other personal characteristic; ethnicity for example.

Okay do you have a list of noble/class game titles? What would King be in Finnish.

 

[bedir than]

Claim: Gender never mattered in D&D
D&D: If you're a woman subtract points from strength (or maximum strength or whatever).

Stop pretending that D&D was equal for all genders and sexuality. It's a position that is more absurd than any fiction.