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

[tetrasodium]

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.)

Sure do, I even allow both my straight & lgbtq players to play whatever they want while rarely ever find a need to ask what sex/gender a PC is. The only PC sex/gender related "problem" I see with any regularity is the occasional question over how kobold lizardfolk & dragonborn have breasts or not that tends to break down into "I think they do, I don't think they do, the gm said they don't normally lets drop it, & my character has this kind of chest ". I'm not sure why this is even a question

 

[payn]

I had a male player that would always create "super hot model lesbians". That got really old. Though its been a long time since its been an issue since the player got over it.

 

[Seramus]

I have certainly seen players abuse the option, but I wouldn't punish the many for the actions of a few derps.

 

[nevin]

Whyy would I care? Its roleplaying.

I will say 99% of the guys that play women in my games seem to either play chaotic stupid, or they think tits will get them whatever they want without consequences. For sime reason wimen playing men seem more sane.

 

[Umbran]

I'm in the "Why is this even a question? Play what you want!" camp.

In my last game, I had one guy playing a heavily cyborged woman, and my wife playing a shape-shifter (think Odo, from STS9) for whom mammalian ideas of gender did not apply (given the shapshifting abilities, "gender-fluid" was pretty danged literal).

The only problem was our tendency to not keep the pronouns straight, often using the player's gender when we should use the character's.

 

[jayoungr]

Is crossplaying common practice at your table? And for those of you that do allow it, has it ever caused any issues?

It's extremely common at my table, and it's never caused issues. Most of us have acting experience, and almost all of us write as well, so we just take it for granted that this is in our repertoire.

That said, there are definitely people who get creepy about it. One of our group still shudders at the memory of a guy who cornered her at a con and insisted on telling her all about his female character, "Luscious Lily Lemondrop" ("She'll flirt with anything--annnnnything"), bragging about how she "made some GMs uncomfortable."

 

[DnD Warlord]

I play things I am not all the time (smart athletic likeable) I see no reason to not play or have my players play the gender they wish to

 

[Ancalagon]

This was 100% banned at our table...

... 30 years ago. We were young and immature then, and it lead to immature and creepy play when boys played women. So we said "erm, no", and I formed he opinion that cross-play was a bad idea, period.

As a result, I rarely have crossplayed. But looking back now, I see that if you have players with a certain level of maturity, it's not a problem at all - it's only a bad idea with immature, horny/creepy players.

It's interesting that this came up today, as I will very soon be playing a female character for a few sessions - my regular character is out of action, and for background reasons the replacement is a woman.

 

[fba827]

This is odd to answer because I’m not in the ‘it doesn’t matter to me’ camp nor am I in the ‘it matters to me’ camp.
I genuinely don’t actually even think about it or consider it as something that I need to consider.

Now thinking back, sure it happens in groups I’ve played with. I don’t even give it a second thought.

The only times I have a problem is if someone is playing an exaggerated character. Ie. An oversexed blonde cheerleader. But that’s not because someone might be playing against gender. But because that player is a jerk thinking that it’s funny and that player will be a jerk regardless of what gender he plays his characters. That’s a player problem not specific to crossgender roles. I like it when characters have depth otherwise the schtic gets tiresome for a campaign


Looking at the graphic you included the awkwardness might be less about crossplay as you called it, and more about intraparty romances /fornication/etc. that is not a gender vs crossgender issue, but rather about player social comfort levels as people playing their own genders can be awkward about having their characters fornicate too!

 

[Remathilis]

Yes I have as a DM, but I didn't do it much as a player until recently. It requires a level of comfort with your fellow players (or a total lack of fs to give) that took a while for me to get. I have been alternating between m/f PCs though for the past 5 years...