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How to keep women in the game?
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<blockquote data-quote="TheCosmicKid" data-source="post: 7087550" data-attributes="member: 6683613"><p>Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous to insist that historical realism demands anything in this crazy game. There is another sort of "realism" that is worth consideration, though: literary verisimilitude. Simply put, fictional cultures ought to have flaws for the same reasons fictional characters ought to have flaws, because perfection is unrelatable and imperfection generates drama. And sexism and other forms of bigotry are certainly near the top of the list of common cultural flaws. That said, literary verisimilitude doesn't demand that a culture has any one <em>particular</em> flaw any more than it demands a character does. If your character is, say, a psychopath, and your audience dislikes that, you can't say, "But my character <em>has</em> to be a psychopath, because he has to have a flaw!" You can always just pick a different flaw. Same goes for culture. Sexism is one way to give a culture that rough texture of imperfection, but there are other ways, and you should pick the way that isn't going to anger, annoy, or hurt your audience.</p><p></p><p>Yeah, a good rule of thumb is that, regardless of the flaws and prejudices in your setting's culture, the PCs should generally be exempt from it unless the player actively signals that they want it to be a part of their character's conflict. This goes for gender, race, orientation, and everything else. And it's not just ducking the issue to avoid hurt feelings (although to be clear: that is the <em>most important</em> reason for doing it, since this is supposed to be a fun recreational activity for everyone). There is some in-universe logic to a sexist lord not being quite as swinish towards a heavily-armed Amazon as he is towards commoner women, or a half-orc who slew a rampaging dragon earning a respect not afforded to his kin.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheCosmicKid, post: 7087550, member: 6683613"] Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous to insist that historical realism demands anything in this crazy game. There is another sort of "realism" that is worth consideration, though: literary verisimilitude. Simply put, fictional cultures ought to have flaws for the same reasons fictional characters ought to have flaws, because perfection is unrelatable and imperfection generates drama. And sexism and other forms of bigotry are certainly near the top of the list of common cultural flaws. That said, literary verisimilitude doesn't demand that a culture has any one [I]particular[/I] flaw any more than it demands a character does. If your character is, say, a psychopath, and your audience dislikes that, you can't say, "But my character [I]has[/I] to be a psychopath, because he has to have a flaw!" You can always just pick a different flaw. Same goes for culture. Sexism is one way to give a culture that rough texture of imperfection, but there are other ways, and you should pick the way that isn't going to anger, annoy, or hurt your audience. Yeah, a good rule of thumb is that, regardless of the flaws and prejudices in your setting's culture, the PCs should generally be exempt from it unless the player actively signals that they want it to be a part of their character's conflict. This goes for gender, race, orientation, and everything else. And it's not just ducking the issue to avoid hurt feelings (although to be clear: that is the [I]most important[/I] reason for doing it, since this is supposed to be a fun recreational activity for everyone). There is some in-universe logic to a sexist lord not being quite as swinish towards a heavily-armed Amazon as he is towards commoner women, or a half-orc who slew a rampaging dragon earning a respect not afforded to his kin. [/QUOTE]
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