Equality in the DnD world

[Beale Knight]

After being annoyed by the sex-based ability restrictions of 1st ed AD&D, and then greatly annoyed by the same with quantified role-play penalties for women in Fantasy Wargaming, I made a decision choice for general sexual equality in my homebrew. I even have an in-game historical reason for it that will probably never be revealed, simply because it's one of those background things players rarely seem to inquire about. But it's ready if they ever do.

 

[Eye Tyrant]

Female Drow are most ALWAYS in control as well....

 

[adwyn]

Gender roles, not equality, is more often defined IMC, but I am more foregiving of those who cross the boundaries of the roles than would be historical. My goal is enough discrimination, be it gender, racial, or whatever, to make for good drama and plot without preventing anyone from playing the character they want.

 

[William Ronald]

I voted for a case by case basis. I think one thing that the player in this instance forgot is tht there are several FUNDAMENTAL differences between medieval Europ and Faerun.

Among the most noticeable are the proven existence of gods AND goddesses who can grant spells to male and female worshippers, the existence of magic, and the existence of several sentient races. Although the Realms is a human dominant setting, with the demihumans and other humanoids only holding a few countries or being part of larger populations, the humans of Faerun have been influenced by non human cultures. The more advanced demihuman cultures -- elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halfling -- are often portrayed as egalitarian. Indeed, the most prominent elven political leader is a woman. The elves and dwarves are portrayed as much more egalitarian than Europeans in the Middle Ages. By contrast, the humanoids -- orcs, goblins, hobgoblins -- are often portrayed as sexist, regularly reducing the role of women to either noncombatant servants. (Perhaps a common quality of many of WotC's setting is how humans are the dominant race in different worlds. So, if the official products can legitimately be accused of any chauvinism, it is that of humanocentrism.)

I think that gender equality will vary from culture to culture in many settings, based on a DMs vision of that world. Different historical cultures in our own world have had different roles for women than in medieval Europe. Thus, women in ancient Babylonia could be business owners.

However, a magical world could easily have very different social dynamics among the sexes than many historical cultures. Discriminating against someone who is a women might not work so well when she may be able to cast a sleep spell or a curse, and get rid of the offending male. So, I think the player in question is dealing with her own issues and bringing them to a game. Perhaps the player should actually look at how many female NPCs are in positions of equality or power in the Realms.

 

[Wombat]

I checked all four boxes because this varies heavily by the particular campaign I am running and the sub-situation within the campaign...

For example, in my Ars Magica saga, men are in charge in the greater society and women are pretty much second class citizens, yet within the Order of Hermes itself men and women are equal; this creates some interesting times of social frictions between members of the Order and society at large.

In my last D20 campaign who was in charge varied by society. The base area for the campaign was skewwed more towards men, but not exclusively so; social rank was also terrifically important, so a noblewoman had great authority over the mass of society even if some noblemen saw her as "only" being a woman. This was matched against two other societies, one patriarchal, one matriarchal. Varying power structures was a major theme in the campaign.

In the IH game I am setting up there is no obvious gender bias one way or the other, mainly because this is not at all important to the game. As such men and women seem to be more or less equal. For the most part, this aspect doesn't really matter within the context of the campaign.

So, yeah, I'm all over the board

 

[kolikeos]

generaly, man and woman are equels in my game world, altough some societies might not belong to the 'general' people.

for me it seems that the unequelaty is out of game, i rarely had a female player at my gaming table, although that might be because of my lack of social skills

 

[billd91]

I'd hardy say women are second class citizens in the Realms. Women are played up so much there it's not even a real question.

In my setting, its totally a matterof culture. Barbaric cultures tend to be male dominated, civilized ones tend to be more equal, because raw strength, where men are dominant, doesnt matter as much as intelligence, which is distributed equally.

I usually run the opposite with respect to barbaric vs civilized. But that's because I don't see civilization being governed by intelligence but by personal property. Compare classic civilizations. The ones that were more property-oriented like Athens and Rome tended to subordinate women more than those that had stronger ideas of communal property like the Celts and Spartans. And the Celts even had queens like Boudicca willing to kick butt and take names.
I suspect part of the subordination of women in mercantile propertied societies was so that the family patriarch could assure himself that any heirs set to inherit the family wealth were indeed his.

In fantasy role-playing, I tend to let gender roles vary from place to place. It makes for a more fun social landscape for the PCs to travel.

 

[Uder]

Men tend to have governmental power in nearly all of my medieval-based campaigns. Inequality is interesting.

 

[Uder]

But surely male and female PC's are treated equally in the group? This is how this argument is taking place. One PC to another.

If male and female PC's have been treated differently, how did that affect the game?

Should've mentioned that in the first post* - that's an entirely different question.

We don't let the wimminfolk play D&D until they're done with the chores.


*EDIT: I mean poll - I didn't read the first post until I had voted from the front page.

 

[StupidSmurf]

I run the Realms in my game. Someone here already mentioned the witches of Rashemen and female Drow, and, on the flip side, I submit for your approval (or disapproval, whatever) the kingdom of Calimshan, where women indeed are second class citizens.

I DO think that women in the Realms get portrayed more as sex objects than the men do. And that annoys me. Again, just my opinion.