Maybe we should make one of these damn thread sticky...
1. The Race Analogy: The idea of a human being playing an elf or dwarf being analogous to a male playing a female is absurd. That's because there is no living model of a fully 3-dimensional dwarf or elf character. Perhaps if there really were elves and dwarves in the world, people's reactions to humans playing them might be similar to the general reaction to men playing women ie. "Oh my God, this guy doesn't have a clue about real elves. The elves I know aren't anything like that. I don't think he has the slightest clue about elven motivation and thought patterns."
Not all men, and not all women, have the same motivations and thought patterns.
2. Easily Adapted Classes: If men are to consider playing women, I'd suggest looking for character types based on attributes that men and women use similarly. I would suggest that, for instance, playing a female Fighter, Paladin or Barbarian would be a lot easier for most men than playing a female Rogue, Sorceror or Bard.
Damn, I'm playing an aristocrat/sorceress !
3. Stay Away From Sex: If you're going to play a female character, try to stay away from romance and sex.
Damn, said aristorceress
is involved in these kind of things. I don't see that really masturbatory nor disruptive, but maybe I'm blind. I thought the risk was deafness, not blindness, though.
4. Game With Someone Female: I recommend strongly against men playing female characters in games where there are no female players or GM. Female players are going to be the first people to notice you failing to play a truly female character and can provide you with advice and correction if your character seems to be heading off-track. Also, by having an actual model of female behaviour present the whole time you're playing, you can have constant inspiration on which to base your gaming.
The girl who play in our group would be rather surprised to hear she could be an actual model of female behaviour. There's even a risk she would take that as some sort of sarcasm.
5. Dice-Based Interactions: If you don't follow my advice and choose to build a socially-focused female character or you have a non-socially-focused character who finds themselves unavoidably entangled in a social situation, resort more readily to dice-rolling rather than playing-out interactions. Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information and other social skill rolls should be substituted for "acting like a woman" whenever possible. This isn't to suggest you should never roleplay but the processes by which women persuade men or other women of things are amongst the hardest female actions for men to comprehend and therefore play out.
Hmf.
6. Be Old: In my experience, it is easier to play middle aged or old women than it is to play women of reproductive age.
Damn, my aristorceress is 18!
But, hey, she's not
just a woman. She's also a mercenary, by the ill vagaries of fate. An exiled heir from a fallen noble family. A stranger in a harsh world. A natural-born leader, with ambition the size of an empire and a desire for revenge. A sorceress. An inheritor of draconic blood. An orphan. A heroin. A wife,
and a woman. There's much more than simply her sex to define her, there's her culture, her fate, her education, her borderline insanity and the presence of her inner dragon in her mind. The magic in her blood has a much greater influence on her (few of my mages are really sane, whether male or female, and whatever the game). Still, she's also a young woman, and I've received no criticism about my roleplay.
. At least he didn't have the frigid/whore extremist dichotomy going on that seems so common among modern players.
