Do you let PC's play opposite gender characters?

[Mal Malenkirk]

No, I mean a player at your table playing a similar character. Why is it less weird if the player is acting this way playing a man - completely different to how they normally move or speak - than playing a woman?
-Hyp.

Because when I look at him I see a man. A man behaving bizarrely, yes, but still a man.

If Angelina Jolie had been chosen to portray Jack Sparrow, that would have been weird. After 10 minutes of watching that you'd have either concluded that the casting people were insane or that Jack Sparrow, despite the name, is in fact a woman. And every time the story would imply otherwise, it would be jarring.

As I said, in a game when you rely mostly on third person description cross gender can work fine for everyone. In that situation the portrayal of the female PC by a male players depend mostly on narration. But in roleplay heavy, first person centric campaign, the portrayal depends on visual and sound cue. And in these situations, a man pretending to be a woman just don't work unless there's a lot of make up and practice involved.

 

[Hypersmurf]

If Angelina Jolie had been chosen to portray Jack Sparrow, that would have been weird. After 10 minutes of watching that you'd have either concluded that the casting people were insane or that Jack Sparrow, despite the name, is in fact a woman. And every time the story would imply otherwise, it would be jarring.

And if they hadn't used scale doubles and forced perspective tricks and the like, John Rhys-Davies' Gimli would have been 6'1". And every time the story implied that dwarves are short, it would be jarring.

But if John Rhys-Davies played a dwarven fighter at your gaming table, and every time you looked at him, you saw someone 6'1", would that jar?

(It would be very, very cool. But would it jar?)

-Hyp.

 

[Dirigible]

You can but John Rhys-Davies In A Jar, I think.

It's a kind of seaweed jam, boyo.

 

[S'mon]

As I said, in a game when you rely mostly on third person description cross gender can work fine for everyone. In that situation the portrayal of the female PC by a male players depend mostly on narration. But in roleplay heavy, first person centric campaign, the portrayal depends on visual and sound cue. And in these situations, a man pretending to be a woman just don't work unless there's a lot of make up and practice involved.

Strange, as I DM I play ancient red dragons, frost giants, women, and demons in the first person without makeup or practice and it seems to work ok.

Generally speaking, I think players who DM a lot are more comfortable playing opposite-gender PCs than are players who never DM and thus tend to see themselves as 'being' the character rather than playing a role. Of course there seem to be some DMs who can't/won't even play opposite-gender NPCs, at least not in the first person.

 

[mossfoot]

Personally I don't like players to play gender opposite, but that's because if they want to they probably don't want to take anything about it seriously and just want the kick of using sex to get their way (men playing women), or thinking with their new penis, or just fighting everything (women playing men). That's just my experience.

 

[StalkingBlue]

Strange, as I DM I play ancient red dragons, frost giants, women, and demons in the first person without makeup or practice and it seems to work ok.

Confirmed. Hi Simon.
Though I'll say I haven't seen you as an ancient red dragon yet ...

Generally speaking, I think players who DM a lot are more comfortable playing opposite-gender PCs than are players who never DM and thus tend to see themselves as 'being' the character rather than playing a role. Of course there seem to be some DMs who can't/won't even play opposite-gender NPCs, at least not in the first person.

Oh yes. I've seen DMs run exclusively male worlds. In which, to top it off, every single sentient creature would hit on every single female PC, all the time. When I changed to a male character in one such game, the DM pretended to ignore my new PC's gender - except that "she" didn't get hit on anymore. Go figure.

 

[Len]

Well, I'm starting a female human ranger in a new campaign tomorrow, and my DM doesn't have a problem with it. I've played basically the same character in a mixed Neverwinter Nights group (3/7 female PCs, 1/7 female player, 2 female DMs) with no problems. It'll be different face-to-face instead of using a computer avatar, but if I don't ham it up I'll be OK. And D&D isn't part of my sex life, so I don't expect any of the intra-group wierdness that some people have mentioned.

 

[Hypersmurf]

And D&D isn't part of my sex life...

Not for a lack of third-party supplements on the topic, of course

-Hyp.

 

[Len]

Well, maybe it would be different if my group & I had read the BoEF.