Do you let PC's play opposite gender characters?
- Thread starter Korgan26
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Thornir Alekeg
Albatross!
Korgan26 said:
I played a female character for about 10 years in one game group. It rarely came up as a problem other than stupid teenage jokes by the other players at the time.
In our current campaign, the only problem we have is we keep referring to a female player's male dwarven character as "she" all the time and she (the player) gets a little irritated that we keep messing it up.
I've done it and seen it done by others. Never really been a problem. If someone can't resist dropping to sophomoric levels simply because they have a different set of jiggly bits than their character, I'd have to question their ability to do a good job playing any character.
Trickstergod
First Post
I wasn't the one running the game, but I did read one of the backgrounds for a game I was going to be in. The player talked about most of what was in it, so it's not like he was keeping it secret, and the Storyteller (this was a World of Darkness game) half-jokingly said the background read like a lesbian porno.
Which, upon reading it, that's exactly what it was. It was like something you might see late night on Cinemax. Ahhh...at least, so I've been told.
And that wasn't the first female character he played along those lines. However, he's since heard my ire and kept himself in check. He's currently playing a woman in the Ravenloft game I run, but there's been no problems.
Other than that...I don't believe I've had/played with many opposite gender from the player type characters. A few of my friends and I have bandied around various character concepts that we'd like to play, of which a few were women, but other than that, we haven't played more than one game here or there over the years where the gender of our character was different from our own. Those times, along with the character concepts that never saw the light of game, weren't particularly of a bothersome variety.
Still, it does seem a common problem, and I've heard about games my friends played in that I didn't, where they had the bad, stereotypical opposite gender kind of characters.
Which, upon reading it, that's exactly what it was. It was like something you might see late night on Cinemax. Ahhh...at least, so I've been told.
And that wasn't the first female character he played along those lines. However, he's since heard my ire and kept himself in check. He's currently playing a woman in the Ravenloft game I run, but there's been no problems.
Other than that...I don't believe I've had/played with many opposite gender from the player type characters. A few of my friends and I have bandied around various character concepts that we'd like to play, of which a few were women, but other than that, we haven't played more than one game here or there over the years where the gender of our character was different from our own. Those times, along with the character concepts that never saw the light of game, weren't particularly of a bothersome variety.
Still, it does seem a common problem, and I've heard about games my friends played in that I didn't, where they had the bad, stereotypical opposite gender kind of characters.
Numion
First Post
Harnmaster 3rd edition rules put it quite well: players play characters of their own gender more convincingly. I think that is quite true. I wouldn't prohibit someone from doing it, but I wouldn't be too thrilled either.
I mean, there are bigger deviations between the player and the PC in fantasy RPGs. Simpsons comicbook guy is as convincing as legolas, as he's as princess leia, in my book.
So, I allow it in my games, but I still think there's something amiss, if someone always insisted on doing that.
I mean, there are bigger deviations between the player and the PC in fantasy RPGs. Simpsons comicbook guy is as convincing as legolas, as he's as princess leia, in my book.
So, I allow it in my games, but I still think there's something amiss, if someone always insisted on doing that.
One important (to me) fact: If the player in question can do it well, but the other players can't handle it, it's still bad for the group. The goal of D&D is not to make everyone uncomfortable while insisting that they expand their perceptions and ideas. It's a game. It's supposed to be fun. So if there are a lot of sophomoric comments by other players, that's probably an indication that it's not right for the group, even if the player running the cross-gender character is doing a fine job of it.
DragonLancer
Hero
I'm a bloke, and I would say that I player characters 50/50 male and female. I've never tried to play them as anything other than a character.
I don't stop players playing opposite gender, and I've never encountered a player thus far who fell into a stereotype role.
I don't stop players playing opposite gender, and I've never encountered a player thus far who fell into a stereotype role.
Henry
Autoexreginated
Never used to allow it in high school and middle school (we were a bunch of... well, teenagers back then 
) but nowadays, dealing with more mature gamers, I allow it, as does the other DM. One player actually prefers playing female PC's because he likes the concept of strong female role models.
I'll do it every now and again as a change of pace. When I want to emulate a more feminine (not necessarily female) character, I emphasize the character's compassionate side more, and am more heartfelt about causes taken up. Then again, since women run the gamut from compassionate to bloodthirsty (perhaps in slightly different percentage distributions, but that's not for here), there's really little difference in personality when a person plays a man versus a woman.
The same argument could be made about coarse and direct personalities playing softer and more feminine personalities, and vice versa - but as long as the focus is not on the gender or gender perception itself, but rather the beliefs and actions of the character, it tends to play MUCH more smoothly.
) but nowadays, dealing with more mature gamers, I allow it, as does the other DM. One player actually prefers playing female PC's because he likes the concept of strong female role models.I'll do it every now and again as a change of pace. When I want to emulate a more feminine (not necessarily female) character, I emphasize the character's compassionate side more, and am more heartfelt about causes taken up. Then again, since women run the gamut from compassionate to bloodthirsty (perhaps in slightly different percentage distributions, but that's not for here), there's really little difference in personality when a person plays a man versus a woman.
The same argument could be made about coarse and direct personalities playing softer and more feminine personalities, and vice versa - but as long as the focus is not on the gender or gender perception itself, but rather the beliefs and actions of the character, it tends to play MUCH more smoothly.
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