Genders - What's the difference?

[Ettin]

I personally approve of any houserule which enforces real-world gender differences for realism purposes in a game where elves shoot magic at flying lizards that can be explained to a Women's Studies class with a straight face.

 

[pawsplay]

While this is probably overstated, my impression is that among human ethnies there do seem to be some differences in the amount of male/female dimorphism. Nordic and West African women seem rather larger compared to their men than do Mediterranean or Arab women compared to their men, for instance. Just comparing say Norwegian and Italian women it seems quite noticeable to me, even though the men are still much larger in both cases. I'm not sure if any studies have been done on this though.

Obviously, we need a separate set of racial modifiers for Nordic characters in RPGs.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Obviously, we need a separate set of racial modifiers for Nordic characters in RPGs.

There are RPGs that do have human races with different stats. I know in 3E days, the Midnight setting had 3 human races, including a big burly Nordic type race that received a +2 to STR and a -2 to INT. (Dorn?) Then, a smaller human race that received a +2 to CHA and a -2 to WIS, and a third human race that was a mix of the first two where the PC could choose his or her +2 and -2.

But, that's a topic for an entirely different thread.

 

[WizarDru]

I think there is a gender difference in some games, but it's not in the stats. I think it is in other game mechanics that lend itself to social options rather than statistical options. For example:

Those examples aren't really what the OP was talking about. They most certainly ARE differences, but they're setting differences, not always mechanical ones. Being an Aes Sedai in the Wheel of Time setting versus being a male channeler prior to the Cleansing is clearly in favor of the female character: men are hated and feared for destroying the world and destined to go insane, while women are powerful both socially and politically once they attain the shawl. But in terms of BEING a spellcaster, they are the same (though men and women generally are more powerful at different types of 'weaves' of the One Power). I honestly don't recall any gender-based feats, skills or prestige classes in WotC's materials, myself.

In these cases, choices are limited by setting, not purely based solely on gender. Unless you're playing in the Gor setting, women most likely have some things to which they are considered superior and men have other things for themselves. This is no different than being told that Elves will be shot on sight in OrcTown and vice-versa. Logically, someone who wanted to play in the WoT setting is more inclined to accept those gender differences (but not gender inequalities).

I am curious how folks handle the 'Game of Thrones' setting. Westeros is not a great place to be a woman overall, and I wonder how an RPG set there would have to offer opportunities for female characters. Since I've never picked the game up, I don't know...though I assume someone had recommendations of some sort.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I am curious how folks handle the 'Game of Thrones' setting. Westeros is not a great place to be a woman overall, and I wonder how an RPG set there would have to offer opportunities for female characters. Since I've never picked the game up, I don't know...though I assume someone had recommendations of some sort.

I'm in a Game of Thrones game

All the players are male. One is playing a female character, the daughter of the lord of the house. (He doesn't have any sons.) She has lower status due to not being male, but in effect makes up for this by not spending points on being the heir to the house. She put those points into Tactics instead. (It's a tradeoff similar to being a younger or older character; if you're younger, you get fewer skill points, but more destiny points.)

On occasion an NPC will be sexist, like the captain of the guard (when her father's not there, of course). It's not easy to tell; said PC is also very young (16) and has the Naive flaw, meaning said NPCs might have legitimate reasons to oppose her actions that have nothing to do with her gender.

It's a topic that needs to be handled with sensitivity, obviously. Even in that setting, we have characters like Brienne "the Beauty" (who put all her points into fighting and is not a hot amazon) or Arya. Especially the former is not respected for being a female warrior, but that doesn't prevent her from kicking butt (no statistical penalty in the game system). In such a setting, female warriors were realistically rare, not due to some statistical issue, but because female characters rarely had access to that kind of training for social reasons. (And, of course, a player can always write a background to explain how their female PC got that kind of training.)

So I guess I'm saying nothing beyond a social penalty is acceptable, although the DM can feel free to have female NPCs be very different and have lots of sexist NPCs too.

Oddly enough, I've had a female gamer some years ago say she thought female PCs should have a Strength penalty, but since any game I'm running or playing in uses point buy, I could just tell her to take points away from Strength and put them into whatever if she so felt like it. There's no need for actual rules to make character choices like that for the players.

 

[billd91]

I am curious how folks handle the 'Game of Thrones' setting. Westeros is not a great place to be a woman overall, and I wonder how an RPG set there would have to offer opportunities for female characters. Since I've never picked the game up, I don't know...though I assume someone had recommendations of some sort.

If you use the novels as a model, only part of the action is on the battlefield or tournament grounds. Plenty of it is in the courts, where women may not have final authority in most cases but they have plenty of influence (Cersei Lannister, Catelyn Stark, Melisandre, Olenna Redwyne, and of course Daenerys Targaryen). And even with stuff going on in the war-torn countryside, you've got the examples of Brienne of Tarth, Meera Reed, Ygritte the wildling, and Asha Greyjoy, all capable of holding their own in a fight. And that's just in the first 3 books. I haven't even dug into A Feast for Crows yet.

 

[Somebloke]

I personally approve of any houserule which enforces real-world gender differences for realism purposes in a game where elves shoot magic at flying lizards that can be explained to a Women's Studies class with a straight face.

You just won the thread.

My own campaign acknowledges differences in phsyical/mental attributes....for NPCs, and even then it's never impacted stats. If one of my female players wants to play a muscular amazon who can cleave through flesh and armour with a single blow I for one am completely supportive.

 

[RPG_Tweaker]

Despite what physical/social traits might be appropriate based on their gender, I won't impose statistical alterations to PCs.

PCs are unique persons, they are specifically outside "the standard". They are not Joe/Jane Average... even if they appear to start that way.

These are the characters where, in film, the names of the people playing them appear in the opening credits.

 

[El Mahdi]

Christ, I am not calling you sexist.

Saying sexism is only the belief that one sex is superior is just a poor definition.

You are calling me sexist, whether you intended it or not. Whether you understood the actual definition of the word or not, that's what that word means and that's the word you used, so therefore that is what you were saying.

Whether you consider it a bad definition or not, it is the accepted definition. Since it is the definition that most people go by, and that is their (and my) understanding of the word, when you use that word to describe someone or something, you're saying that they/it have or is based upon a belief that Males are superior to Females.

You can personally have a broader or different definition if you want, but you still have to be aware of the meaning accepted by those you're using it with, and be responsible for the accuracy of your communication...especially now that you know what the real definition of that word is.

Please bear that in mind.

Thank You.

 

[NewJeffCT]

My own campaign acknowledges differences in phsyical/mental attributes....for NPCs, and even then it's never impacted stats. If one of my female players wants to play a muscular amazon who can cleave through flesh and armour with a single blow I for one am completely supportive.

That is how I generally play it in my games. Male NPCs are typically bigger and stronger and are the vast majority of the town guards. However, I have no problems whatsoever if a woman wants to play a powerful female warrior with exceptional strength... and, I have no qualms about making a major female villain who can do that to the PCs. (In my last campaign, the BBEG was a high priest who led an evil theocracy, but his champion was a female Paladin of Tyranny who was every bit as strong as the party's dwarf fighter...however, the party's goliath barbarian (also female) had her beat by 2, I think)

I would say a woman 'tank' fighter would be considered unusual, but not unheard of by any stretch in my games.