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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nameless1" data-source="post: 5290882" data-attributes="member: 83379">This is both the most gross mischaracterization of a post I have read in a while as well as a perfect example of a slippery slope falacy. I am not even sure that I will be able to respond in a way that will be understood.My point is that I think that choices should be meaningful, and that when you make a choice about gender, especially if it is cross gender, then the GM should do things to make that choice meaningful. Gang raping a PC is not a good way to make their choice meaningful. How you got that from my post is a complete mystery to me.I agree with Dausuul in that the characteristics of "female" and "male" are extremely nebulous, and as his sig states, people often act "out of character." I also think that there are interesting areas of biology, societal values, and interpersonal relationships that are fun to play out at the table. There are things that one may portray through your character's actions that will go unnoticed as being motivated by gender. Some may be obviously gender related.I have a philosophy about gaming that I did not invent myself, but I definitely try to play by it. Players are often not able to portray the "character" of their character without help. Character is defined by how you conduct yourself in various circumstances, as well as how others react to you. So it is everyone's responsibility to bring out each other's characters, through creation of situations that will highlight features of your character, as well as portray the reactions of the rest of the world to your character's actions. This play style is often called "I will make you cool." It goes like this. A player can state that their character is beautiful. It usually falls flat. Sure, they are beautiful. A GM can make the NPCs around the character behave as if the character is beautiful, maybe fawning, maybe jealous, maybe just extra polite. Then the character comes alive. A player can state that their character is strong. Sure, they are strong. A GM can make enemies fly away at the strikes of the character, and doors may explode into splinters at a blow from their hammer. The caracter has come alive. It is the interface of world and character that gives meaning to the choices made by players, and it is where the rubber meets the road for real role-playing.For issues like gender, a player can state that their character is female. And it sounds like many people just forget about it after that. But a good group introduces situations that make the choice of gender matter. Like maybe the female warrior is constantly underestimated, until she kicks some major butt. Or maybe a female thief has an easier time distracting a mark because she is beautiful and winks at him. Or maybe an orc chieftain ignores the female leader of a party and speaks to the hulking but ignorant male barbarian, because maybe the orc is a mysogynist. Or maybe there are things that a male character just has no access to. Like maybe the private lives of the Women's Council in the village, the one that actually runs the show because they can "hold out" on the men who run the Village Council. Or maybe the Healing Women hold female characters to a higher standard "because a woman should just know better," but to those who can meet the standards, extra good stuff comes to them.At any rate, gender is a choice that I feel is definitely a worthwhile area to role play to, and when your choices are made meaningful in a mature way, gender can be quite rewarding to roleplay. To bring literature into it, the Wheel of Time was made substantially better, and was an interesting example of thoughtful fantasy literature, by the introduction and exploration of gender and the use of female characters as more than the love interest. Sure, there was a lot of love interest stuff in WoT, but there were examples of strong women, as well as meaningful aspects of the story that were driven by the genders of the characters.And like anything, in the end it is the maturity and communication between players that makes good RP possible, not the content of the RP itself.</blockquote>

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