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

[Fauchard1520]

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.)

 

[commandercrud]

My answer: "Why is that even a question? Play whatever you want!"

I don't play with people that would cause problems over something like that, or anything else really.

 

[oreofox]

I have no problem with it. Honestly, most of my characters have been female over the years (I'm a guy). Some people seem to have a problem remembering the gender of the character and referring to them as the gender of the player. It gets annoying at times.

I've met people who banned such things. I can understand it, as we've all heard horror stories of repressed neckbeards making hypersexualized female elves who want to bang everyone. Oh, and of course the character is a lesbian because that's hot and having the character bang male NPCs would be "too gay".

I've never had issues of players crossplaying. I've never had issues of players playing characters of different sexualities either (thankfully I've never played with someone like my previous paragraph). So yeah, "Why is that even a question? Play whatever you want!" is my answer in a nut shell.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Have not in many years but we do not have many restrictions. It’s a hobby for fun. For us it would be like asking if I can pick a certain kind of character in a video game or if it is ok to play white when we play chess....

just not an issue. That said, we are long time best friends (have known eachother 40 years).

 

[Oofta]

I don't do it personally but I don't care if my players do. It's never caused an issue.

 

[Voadam]

In most groups I have played in nobody has done so. In one group I play in three out of the four guys are currently playing women, and one guy has done so regularly across multiple campaigns with a recurring character concept. No problems.

 

[billd91]

I'm in the "why is that even a question" camp.

 

[jasper]

Why is that a question? The only time it comes into question, is when I do the write ups post game and forget which sex the pc was.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I don't think I would allow someone using the term "crossplaying" to play at my table. The very idea that character gender not matching player gender is something special seems to indicate a fundamentally different idea of what role playing is than I have.

 

[prabe]

As far as other people at the table, I really couldn't care less--all I care about is getting pronouns correct. For my own characters, I've gotten to the point of flipping a coin unless I have some specific concept in mind.