male playing female PC

[Guilt Puppy]

You know, as much as I disagree with fusangite, the title of this thread isn't "everyone jump on fusangite and make the same point over and over again!" So, I apologize for trying to hijack that, but regarding the initial topic:

How easy it is depends on how deeply you want to take the characters, and how much removed that characterization is from the table itself.

The first time I ever played in a game where people aside from the DM had in-character voices and accents, I was pretty creeped out. It took some time getting used to, but over time I realized it added quite a lot to the game.

This just requires a further increase in the suspension of disbelief (especially if he uses a falsetto ). It will probably be discomforting and difficult to take serious at first, but give some time for the character to get established in everyone's minds. If he can play the character seriously, then you've got no problems.

Hell, if he plays a sultry, sex-obsessed caricature, even that can be worked with (although if you have female gamers at the table, there's some worry about being offensive). Eventually the joke will get old for the player, and he may actually put some depth inside this attitude. (Although you may wish to remind him that synthetic progesterone is not widely available in Greyhawk, or wherever you happen to be playing.)

The quite valid point has been made that it is somewhat more difficult to play this sort of character because adventurous medieval women are under-represented in literature. While this may be true, keep in mind that this is not a problem unique to women: Anyone trying to play a character without a clear archetypal model in medieval fiction is going to have some trouble. And really, there are a number of women to draw from, especially from modern fantasy.

Some have suggested that an extension from this is that this presents a problem in understanding the fundamental psychology of women in some way. (I'm ignoring the corollary that women are more complex than men, because I can't comprehend that seeming valid to anyone in a century even adjacent to ours.) I would like to submit, then, that fantasy literature is not the only place you can get a feel for the psychology of a character. There is, for example, real life (that thing that happens in the HIVEMIND threads during powerouts)... I've spent more time with women than I've spent reading fiction, and I imagine that's true for most of us. I would say that I'm far more familiar with the psychology of women (to the extent that there even is a "psychology of women") than I do with, say, the psychology of devout monks. But I'm still quite competent at role-playing a monk (and if you're going to say that monks are somehow simple, I'm going to say you've never played a really good monk), so I imagine my role-playing of women is not horrendously off-base either.

Anyway, this is straying away a little, so back to it: Having a beard is not going to stop your player from playing a female bard with an eighteen Charisma. I don't even see that as being a challenge. If he's juvenile about it he's juvenile about it, but he's not predestined to be.

Will it be believable to you? Certainly, if you're willing to open your mind to it, and suspend disbelief adequately. Same goes for your other players. It may take a while to adjust (especially if he uses a falsetto or something), but once you get used to the idea, it'll just be another character.

 

[Celtavian]

Re

I play with a couple of guys who love to play Female PC's. They have several favorite characters who are female. They actually do a great job playing females. They both have sisters and usually they model their female characters behavior off the behavior of their sister and other females they know.

I don't play females often, though I have on occasion. I am not comfortable playing them. If someone is comfortable playing a female and not disruptive, then let them go for it.

 

[hong]

Look, you can't say "this post is not inflammatory" and then proceed to flame the person. Well okay, you can, but that's sociopathic.

No, it's funny.

*twitch*

 

[Roman]

I definitely sypmathise with fusganite based on my personal experience. So far I have not seen a male player play a female character very well.

Personally, I have only attempted the feat once and it was a failure. Although there were no incidents of immaturity (I consider myself to be a pretty mature guy), I simply did not know how to play a female, so I played the character in the same way I would have played a male one. Clearly, there is no point playing a character of a different gender if you are not going to change their behaviour at all. After that experience I do not think I am going to attempt to play a female character again unless it is explicitely neccessary for the campaign my DM has in mind and that is very unlikely to happen.

 

[Roman]

Hehe, I just noticed something - all of us (myself, Teflon Billy & fusganite) who dislike the playing of female characters by males reside in Vancouver, Canada. It cannot be from the experience of playing with the same people, though, since I have only just moved to Vancouver and have no experience gaming here yet.

Are any of you two fusganite or Teflon Billy near UBC by any chance? I am looking for a group to join...

 

[Mark CMG]

I just noticed something - all of us (myself, Teflon Billy & fusganite) who dislike the playing of female characters by males...

How do male DMs accomplish this in a way that you believe players are unable to mimic?

 

[Roman]

Hehe, I just noticed something - all of us (myself, Teflon Billy & fusganite) who dislike the playing of female characters by males reside in Vancouver, Canada. It cannot be from the experience of playing with the same people, though, since I have only just moved to Vancouver and have no experience gaming here yet.

Are any of you two fusganite or Teflon Billy near UBC by any chance? I am looking for a group to join...

I believe this has already been pointed out in one of fusganite's posts - DMs have time to prepare and plan for the encounter and also the role of NPCs is more limited than that of PCs.

Nonetheless, I am talking only about my personal experience and making recommendations on that basis to the original poster. I do not doubt that there are some excellent roleplayers out there who are able to roleplay cross-gender characters nearly effortlessly. Still, unless you know that somebody is such a great roleplayer it is safer to discourage cross-gender gaming lest it spoil your campaign until you get to know their roleplaying abilities better.

 

[Bagpuss]

Re: What's wrong with that?

I have had several players that occasionaly delve into roleplaying the opposite sex, and the majority of them have been able to play it without any problems.
We did have one player who was playing a female rogue in a well known module, they came across an area where there was a roper across a stream. She was paralyzed and fell into the water and was being swept down stream, a fellow character pulled her out and set her aside where she wouldnt get into any more trouble. Later on the rogue offered to sexually compensate the other player that had saved her.
As creepy as it was, the other player politely refused and we moved on with the adventure.
No harm no foul.

Sounds like good roleplay to me on behalf of the man playing a woman. On more than one occasion when was playing a male barbarian that would always step into to rescue any woman (even if they didn't need it), I've had female party members (played by women) offer to sleep with my character after saving them. Obviously I excepted.

I'm curious as to why that male character turned down the offer, most fella's I know would not turn down an offer of like that unless they are already in a relationship.

 

[S'mon]

Re: Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Now, the only thing outside of the original poster's concern I otherwise feel the need to address here is the notion that some people have that "not allowing a player to play a character of opposite gender from themselves is wrong and close-minded." That's ENTIRELY your opinion. But you knew that, eh? It's a lot like saying "not allowing a player to play a half-dragon half-celestial because that's the only type of character that they have fun playing is wrong and close-minded!"

Interesting point, that I hadn't thought of. Not sure if I agree though - half-dragon half-celestials raise 'game balance' issues that female PCs don't. OTOH, if I ban one it'll most likely be for in-game cultural reasons, that the PC doesn't fit with my game world. Now, I might conceivably have a world where female PCs were banned for 'cultural' reasons (eg all women are kept indoors all the time - 'Taleban: the RPG') but this would of course apply to female players as much as male.
Allowing only female players (you guys do allow female _players_, right?) to play female PCs seems a completely different issue.

Having said that, I'm not saying that DMs who have psychological problems with trans-gender roleplay should be forced to allow it in their games. The DM's the boss at his own table. I wouldn't play in that DM's game, and a lot of other people wouldn't, but likewise there are players I don't want at my table, either (I'm lucky my current group are all such great guys!)

 

[green slime]

Having seen and met some pretty unbelievable people in my life, of all genders, races and creeds, I find it hard to believe that a player could really create someone who couldn't exist.

Whether you want that player's character in your game our not is more of a reflection of you and what you want to get out of the game than of them. As usual, this conflict of interests can only be resolved by voicing your concerns to the parties involved in a calm and level-headed manner.

Good Luck!