How often do you play a differently-gendered character when gaming?

[S'mon]

This is a Legit ruling.

Takes all sorts. Doubt I'd want to play with a GM who banned all cross-sex PCs. Banning a particular player, OTOH, might be fine.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Takes all sorts. Doubt I'd want to play with a GM who banned all cross-sex PCs. Banning a particular player, OTOH, might be fine.

It's served me well for years. I've never lacked for players.

 

[S'mon]

It's served me well for years. I've never lacked for players.

Yeah, I find it icky but I'm sure many are fine with it.

 

[Gilladian]

When I play, I mostly play same/female. I used to play as much as 50/50 in the past, but the older I get, the more I play only a few types.

 

[Nagol]

Looking at the last dozen or so PCs from various systems, it looks like I play males 50% of the time, females 35% of the time, and weird and/or genderless entities 15% of the time. Looking at just D&D and similar games, its about 2 of 3 males.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Yeah, I find it icky but I'm sure many are fine with it.

Just the use of the word 'icky' determines that you would not fare well within my group.

I'm not suggesting that we are vulgar and insensitive, of course; I'm definitely stating that we are all that and much, much worse.

But each table to its own path.

 

[prabe]

For decades I have had a house rule that you can only play your own gender. I'm not going to watch a huge bearded ex-Ranger with tattooed knuckles roleplay a halfling girl ever again.

My players are too damn colorful as it.

You are (obviously) under no obligation to answer, but I'm curious: Was the problem in how the player/s handled other-gender characters, or was it the incongruity/cognitive dissonance between the player/s you saw and the character/s you imagined? Obviously the table-rule works for your table--and since I'm not at your table I'm completely unaffected by it--and I have no quarrel with it.

 

[Jd Smith1]

You are (obviously) under no obligation to answer, but I'm curious: Was the problem in how the player/s handled other-gender characters, or was it the incongruity/cognitive dissonance between the player/s you saw and the character/s you imagined? Obviously the table-rule works for your table--and since I'm not at your table I'm completely unaffected by it--and I have no quarrel with it.

It was both.

I tend to have players who are veterans (whether male or female), and the banter at the table is laden with politically incorrect invective, to say the least. It is not an environment conducive to certain types of roleplay.

 

[prabe]

It was both.

I tend to have players who are veterans (whether male or female), and the banter at the table is laden with politically incorrect invective, to say the least. It is not an environment conducive to certain types of roleplay.

Thanks for the answer. The possibility of "both" had occurred to me. I can see it being a thing at some tables, but not at others; it's not, at three of the tables I'm at, I'd feel a little weird playing cross-cender at the fourth (and on thought, no one is doing so at that table).

 

[aco175]

I recall only once playing a female in 30+ years. It was after a PC died and was reincarnated. Other than that, I think only one player in my regular game played a lot of females. In the army, there was a pair of players who played females, but it got childish and a bit X-rated with liberties. Some was tied to trying to get information out of NPCs, but overall it was less fun.

 

[aramis erak]

I guess this is necessary to say today- please don't make this political. I apologize in advance if I used any incorrect verbiage (gender/sex/etc.).

The poll is from 1-5. 1 is always play different gender(s) from yourself; 5 is never play different gender(s) from yourself. The others are in between.

I answered as a player, a role I seldom get. And that is "Rarely."

As a GM, I don't do it as often as I should, but it's still not uncommon.

 

[Voadam]

I am three games into playing my first opposite sex character as a player.

I have been playing and DMing since 1980.

My default is to play my own gender but I took over an existing NPC as I joined this campaign to accomodate the ongoing story aspects of the campaign and make for instant party integration. Three of the four male players in this group are playing female characters.

 

[Ogre Mage]

In our latest campaign (before the coronavirus put it on hold) one of my groups had a situation where EVERYONE was playing a cross-gender PC. The one female player was running a male PC. The four male players were running female PCs. We did not plan that but it just happened.

 

[prabe]

In our latest campaign (before the coronavirus put it on hold) one of my groups had a situation where EVERYONE was playing a cross-gender PC. The one female player was running a male PC. The four male players were running female PCs. We did not plan that but it just happened.

I've been in campaigns like that, both by design (or at least, a conscious decision before chargen) and by happenstance (where that just happened to be the way things happened).

 

[Asisreo]

The gender's an afterthought for me. I make the outline of the character and just kinda make it work. I've always wanted to play an amazon, so when I had the chance, I made them a "her." She's not into love and I don't intend to ever take her in that direction. She's essentially asexual until credits roll.

I do like playing male tieflings, though. My first 5e character was a tiefling cleric and I wanted him to be as visibly evil but internally kind as possible. Basically, low charisma but high kindness and gentleness. He wouldn't hurt a fly if it wasn't hurting others but he always looked devilish and scheming. Don't know why I went into so much detail, but that's the gist.

About 50/50

 

[cmad1977]

Off and on.