Gay PCs or NPCs

[fusangite]

Having played with an immature group as a mature gamer, I understand why.

It's hard enough keeping the players on a fairly serious note (I had one druid who insisted his wolf was a submissive peer, a Aasimar Paladin who threatened to wack people if they didn't listen, a Frey Sorceress (Paladin's RL GF) who liked to try to ride IN the paladin's armor, and generaly a group that couldn't stay on topic in a serious manor for more than 10 minutes), and if I had introduced homosexuality in the game, in any form, not only would there have been comments about it constantly, but it likely would have caused RL problems for whoever had to deal with said person. (AKA, why I don't roleplay with teenagers who don't have RP references anymore).

What you are describing here is a group of adolescents who are barely under control in terms of sexualizing the game, regardless of what happens. I guess I'm not thinking about such groups but rather about the kinds of groups I was in as a teenager.

As someone said earlier, sexuality is only part of a character's makeup... it doesn't make them intrisically good or bad, in my opinion.

Another thing to note, here is that homosexuality was not really thought of as an identity category in most societies outside of aboriginal North America (and there, the identity was halfway between modern ideas of homosexuality and transsexuality) prior to the very recent past. Homosexuality as an activity is something we have seen in all societies historically. Homosexual relationships have also been pretty common. But homosexuality as in "I'm gay," not so much.

Most societies limited problems with women having girlfriends and men having boyfriends, provided they fitted into heterosexual or asexual social structures. If men wanted to sleep with other men and maintain close relations with their male "friends," that was a whole lot more likely to be accepted if the man also got married or took vows of celibacy. A man's homosexuality might be common knowledge but he would be unlikely to face any significant persecution/prosecution unless he deliberately chose to be public about it.

For this reason, unless a game deals directly with either sexuality or romance, unless it is an Eberron-type setting where D&D is just the modern world with magic instead of electricity, a character being gay is unlikely to have any operational meaning unless you create a unique social space for a gay identity in the form of a special order or social role.

 

[Nightfall]

Interesting how many point out that there's no place for sexuality in their game, but what about romance?

Uhm not much of that either since most PCs aren't interested in the after-effects of said romance.

 

[billd91]

This has usually only come up for us in more recent-era games. I ran a Cyberpunk 2020 game in which one player (female) played a gay male helicopter pilot. That's about it. In most other circumstances, it has never come up.

Interestingly enough, while the player was identified as straight at the time, she decided during the following year that she identified lesbian. Makes me wonder what inklings she had at the time she was playing in my game.

 

[Bartmanhomer]

Just to be mature and realistic about this topic, I have a question, Can a transsexual male and transsexual female could make a couple? I know it's confusing and awkward.

 

[diaglo]

Yes and yes, but it's never been an issue.

at one point in the campaign over half the players were gay. Ryan, his beau, Shayne, and Sean. with Sam, Marty, and I straight.

some sexuality did come up in game. and has on occassion. Ryan's played a female. and made moves on various NPCs and PCs.

and Sean has changed sexes due to reincarnate.

now that Joe is a woman.... well Cha 21.. how can it not cum up...

 

[Nightfall]

Uhm...well it's a couple of SOMETHINGS that for sure.

*is glad mind flayers don't have this issue* They're just evil and spawn like fish.

 

[demiurge1138]

I've DMed for one gay PC, although it was very briefly (as in, two sessions after we found out he was gay, everybody got killed). I'd have been interested to see where the player took it, because it was not done seriously at all, at least what we saw.

In DMing, I've had gay NPCs a couple of times, but it's never been at the forefront, just like romance and sex in general isn't much of an issue in my games. If it ever came up, I'd be fine with it, but it hasn't yet.

Demiurge out.

 

[WayneLigon]

Just to be mature and realistic about this topic, I have a question, Can a transsexual male and transsexual female could make a couple? I know it's confusing and awkward.

If you mean 'create a child', no; the plumbing is there, but it's not connected to the mains (except in the case of urination) ie, unless magic or slightly technology is used than we currently have available, there is no means to carry a child or to actually produce semen. At least one temporary uterus transplant has been done, and there is the possibility of the insanely dangerous ectopic (outside the womb) pregnancy (again, magic could greatly aid this process). Transsexual women can nurse, though.

 

[Nightfall]

Wayne,

*stuffs wax in his ears* *hums loudly* I'm not listening!!!

 

[WayneLigon]

I've done two gay PC's, though neither in D&D. One was a bisexual Call of Cthulhu investigator I played for a couple years, and the other is a super-patriot superhero I'm doing in a current online game. Gay NPC's appear occassionally, as the situation warrents, though unless it comes up (seldom, but the question does arise) the PC's selcom notice it.

For an NPC, sometimes it just makes sense that it is so. One or two times at least, it's been important to the scenario that it be so. (One time, they were on the trail of a shapeshifter spy who typically changed to a very beautiful half-elven female in order to get close to the military types so she could glean information from them. There was one young man it never could seduce, though, and it was really getting ticked off. Enough so that it made a few mistakes that led the PC's to the fact it was a shapeshifter they were dealing with. The PC's tried to figure out how this was possible, until one of them hit on the obvious and flat-out asked the officer. With that bit of info in hand, they could then clue him in on what was going on so he could playact and help them trap the shapeshifter by feeding it wrong information).