D&D 5E 5e's new gender policy - is it attracting new players?

[aramis erak]

Gender is not sexuality or sexual identity. Gender is just the question of whether people are male or female. I don't know that I've ever seen a game where the question of whether a character was male or female was never addressed at all.

A game that makes no use of gender other than a descriptive choice by the player has no influence of gender. Gender then matters only if players or NPC's make issue of it. And in many settings, they have no reason to do so, unless romantic or sexual situations are involved. I avoid making them part of adventures, and my players generally avoid those situations, as well.

My current D&D game, it makes zero difference if W is playing her cleric as male or female. That she's playing a genasi claric of light matters, but there is zero mechanical effect, no story effect to date, and only pronoun change. Likewise C's Dragonborn fighter. Both of whom have soldier backgrounds. Of the 7 players & 1 GM, one is explicitly asexual, 4 are explicitly hetero (2 have spouses), 2 have made no revealing comments at all. And I haven't actually asked. Because it doesn't matter.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

[MENTION=6704184]doctorbadwolf[/MENTION]: I feel like I have already addressed most of your objections as others have raised them earlier in this thread. Let's leave it at that; the mods are getting moddy.

 

[seebs]

A game that makes no use of gender other than a descriptive choice by the player has no influence of gender. Gender then matters only if players or NPC's make issue of it. And in many settings, they have no reason to do so, unless romantic or sexual situations are involved. I avoid making them part of adventures, and my players generally avoid those situations, as well.

In general, if male/female doesn't have any impact at all on things, I can't maintain enough suspension of disbelief to enjoy the game. It's too far from What People Are Like for me to be able to keep that world in mind. I keep replacing it with one that makes more sense to me.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

In general, if male/female doesn't have any impact at all on things, I can't maintain enough suspension of disbelief to enjoy the game. It's too far from What People Are Like for me to be able to keep that world in mind. I keep replacing it with one that makes more sense to me.

"Things" is really vague. What sort of "things" are we talking about? If there's a negative space wedgie off the starboard bow, I don't think Captain Janeway is going to deal with it differently than Captain Picard just because she's got boobs. If the treasure in the ancient ruin is guarded by a cryptic puzzle, I don't think Lara Croft is going to solve it differently than Indiana Jones just because she's got ovaries. And if a giant is terrorizing the local village, I don't think Bradamante is going to slay it differently than Lancelot just because she's got... well, you get the idea. Typical adventure-genre scenarios are pretty gender-neutral, precisely because they involve the protagonists venturing outside of their own society and encountering unique threats and challenges. So if that's where the focus of the D&D campaign lies, it hardly seems implausible that the PCs' gender is less relevant than it would be in a more social-based campaign.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If there's a negative space wedgie off the starboard bow, I don't think Captain Janeway is going to deal with it differently than Captain Picard just because she's got boobs. If the treasure in the ancient ruin is guarded by a cryptic puzzle, I don't think Lara Croft is going to solve it differently than Indiana Jones just because she's got ovaries. And if a giant is terrorizing the local village, I don't think Bradamante is going to slay it differently than Lancelot just because she's got... well, you get the idea.

first I want to thank you because of you I google Bradamante, and now I want to learn a heck of a lot more about her...

second your examples are great. At the end of the day there is 0 reason why I can't write an adventure and not care at all if the adventurer/archeologist is Jones or Croft.

Infact when I go to Cons and run there, that is what I do. I make up 1 set of stats and a generic background, then have 2 names, one male one female...

If you follow the Marvel Movie news at all there is a big complaint that Captain Marvel is too powerful, and you can't write a movie for her because of it... Dr Manhatten, Superman, Thor, and Green Lantern all seemed to do fine (with different levels of success but it's not the power or character fault)... now what do they have in common that's different then her?? could it be reproductive organs? I joke all the time that if they pretended to right a story where it starts with captain America, and part way through he picks up thors hammer they would have 0 issue, but then all then need to do is change some minor details...

 

[Shasarak]

Others where gender mattered, but sexuality didn't: 1 more pendragon campaign, 1 Arabian Sea Tales, 4 L5R campaigns, 2 Blood and Honor campaigns, and 1 TOR campaign (but only because players made an issue of it - one took a female dwarf.) Note that Pendragon, L5R, Arabian Sea Tales, and Blood and Honor are all set in settings that explicitly are sexist; female characters have to be chaperoned in L5R and B&H because of Japanese/Samurai era setting, AST requires it because it's middle eastern quasi-historical, and Pendragon because it's dark ages (with rapid progression to middle ages).

As far as I am aware the most sexist thing in L5R is the female only Battle Maidens. Otherwise there is no difference in gender.

 

[melichor]

As far as I am aware the most sexist thing in L5R is the female only Battle Maidens. Otherwise there is no difference in gender.

There aren't any male geisha

 

[Shasarak]

There aren't any male geisha

**cough**Scorpion**cough**

=;0)

 

[melichor]

**cough**Scorpion**cough**

=;0)

Names?

 

[Shasarak]

Names?

The Shosuro Acting School would be my favourite but any of the Courtier schools should be able to pull it off.

And if you dont like red then you could try the powder blue Crane option