roleplaying across the gender line

[Desdichado]

What?

Are you saying you could play a female more realistically than you could play a male?!?!?

If you're a female, Joshua, then your argument isn't relevant here. This thread is about cross-gender roleplaying.

LOL! Certain characters, yes! I couldn't do them (well, at least) as a male. Again, because in order to play a character well, you have to empathize with them. You have to put yourself in their shoes. And (going back to your own earlier comment) certain things you just can't see a male doing. It just isn't right. Thus, if you want a character who had that as an aspect of their personality, you can either go ahead and make it male and play through that uncomfortably, not do it at all and just play something else, or make the PC a woman. I know which one I'd pick any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

 

[Snoweel]

Thus, if you want a character who had that as an aspect of their personality, you can either go ahead and make it male and play through that uncomfortably, not do it at all and just play something else, or make the PC a woman. I know which one I'd pick any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Well, here's where we're different.

I assume you'd pick option 3:

or make the PC a woman.

Whereas I wouldn't even consider playing a character that couldn't be done with testicles and a hairy ass.

There are certain qualities that just don't lend themselves well to a violent, adventuring lifestyle. Which is why female adventurers are considered even more exceptional than male adventurers.

IMC, I prefer compassionate, pacifistic characters to stay in the village growing potatoes. They're NPC's.

Is it REALLY such fun to play a character who can't summon the guts to kill an Orc because it's got dependants?

 

[Fenes 2]

There are certain qualities that just don't lend themselves well to a violent, adventuring lifestyle. Which is why female adventurers are considered even more exceptional than male adventurers.

IMC, I prefer compassionate, pacifistic characters to stay in the village growing potatoes. They're NPC's.

Is it REALLY such fun to play a character who can't summon the guts to kill an Orc because it's got dependants?

It is really fun to play a smart spellcaster that hides behind a brawny muscle-sporting dumb fighter, and using puppy dog eyes, cuteness and fake tears to get her way in most things by appealing to that male protection instinct.

It is really fun to play a fighter that is determinded to prove to a male-dominated society that she is as good or better a fighter than everyone else.

Some concepts make viable characters but imho do not work very well with a male character.

 

[Al]

Sure they do. Those choices provide different mechanical (rules based) advantages to those characters. D&D specifically says there are no mechanical differences between men and women.

Fair point. Yet on the other hand, this is a roleplaying game. Surely you should aim to allow a variety of roleplaying, and not simply mechanical, differences? Surely you aim for in-depth character backgrounds, deep character personalities and proper character interaction (be it with NPCs or amongst themselves). All of these will be influenced by gender (the third, perhaps, moreso than warranted )

I admit no such thing. I have only my experiences to draw from, and I don't pretend to speak for the entire world, unlike some others here

Good answer, but, if I may be so bold, by the looks of the responses here (which, I will admit, is not necessarily a good cross-section of roleplaying society) it seems that your experiences are relatively rare.

How ridiculous would a male character be if his name was Holly?!?!

Wasn't the ship computer in Red Dwarf called Holly? And he was definitely male.

 

[Celtavian]

Re

Teflon Billy,

The class in particular didn't technically need to be female, so let me lay out a little of the background I came up with as I was creating the character and some of what inspired me to make it a female character.

Now, let me lay down some of the thinking behind the character.

I had watched the X-men not too long ago. I have always thought Halle Berry was beautiful. I was looking through the Faiths and Pantheons checking out the prestige classes. I read the Windwalker class and looked at the picture of the WW. My first thought was of Halle Berry/Storm all the way.

Then I concocted a cool background for the character.


I made her a rebellious young woman raised by Tyrran's. She was the youngest sibling of two brother's and a sister, all of her siblings have accepted the tenets of Tyr as their faith, although the sister served Torm, she still considered Tyr her superior.

Holly didn't enjoy the strict justice of Tyr and she had a strong desire to travel and see the world. She didn't want to spend all her life in Turmish.

She met a male human ranger worshipper of Shaundakul who showed her that a person could do good and yet not worship Tyr. This intrigued her, so she ended up leaving with this ranger.

Her big sister used the Greatsword because she chose to follow Torm as her patron rather than Tyr. She taught Holly how to use the Greatsword. The fact that Shaundakul also used the Greatsword made Holly even more intrigued. She felt destined to serve Shaundakul as a travelling warrior protector who followed the wind, letting it determine her fate.

I pictured her as an innocent, young, pretty girl of Turmish descent looking to do good with the world. She ran away from home at the age of 16 with a ranger of Shaundakul who taught her about the faith of Shaundakul and became her first love.




So, my basic reason for wanting to make the character female was a little real world film inspiration, a bit of game inspiration, and then I just came up with a cool background for the character that I liked. It all fit together, and I liked her as a female.

I don't see why you wouldn't allow such a character if I put this much work into my background and played her well. I enjoy the character. I don't play her as a slut or a lesbian. She is an innocent, adventurous young girl (she is only 17 now, almost 18) looking to serve the will of Shaundakul and prove to her family that she can still do good in the world even if she doesn't follow Tyr.

 

[LostSoul]

Re: Re

So, my basic reason for wanting to make the character female was a little real world film inspiration

So the only reason she's female is because you think Halle Berry is hot. Nothing in that history screams "I'm a woman (hear me roar)"; it's not like you discovered sorcerous powers after your first period, or were accepted into a female-only group or secret society.

I think that Teflon Billy's argument (I hope I'm not misrepresenting him) is that you can play the same character as a male, and you would probably do a better job because you are a male.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Hey guys, I'm straight-acting level 2 all the way, but if someone chooses in their game to allow boys to play girls and girls to play boys, it shouldn't interfere with your game halfway across the world. Likewise, if someone else doesn't want boys dressing up as girls, that's their right. Disagreement is fine, but can the insinuations that you're better than the other camp. ("Hah, he said camp!")

 

[Celtavian]

Re

Lost Soul,

I think you are kind of missing the point. As a roleplayer, I like to create characters. I don't consider a character simply a set of numbers and stats that I play, I consider a character a fully developed concept with a personality, an appearance, and other traits associated with a character.

I would not have played a male character of the type as well as I play this particular female because it wasn't a concept I developed for a male character. I had no inspiration to make it a male character and at no point in time during the creation of this character did I even think for a moment to make it male.

The character is female. As I stated, a variety of things inspired the creation of this character:

1. Windwalker picture in F and P.
2. Halle Berry as Storm in X-men. She is beautiful.
3. Friend playing Female Paladin of Torm from Turmish. That is why I made it her little sister. That is a different campaign, but I figured it would be a cool connection.
4. Shaundakul's write up in F and P helped me to develop a suitable background.

I will really only make a female character if I have a very sound concept. By default, I will always make male characters. If I come up with a great concept for a female character, I will play it. Very simple. I see nothing wrong with playing across the gender line.

I also write stories. I have to create credible female characters in any stories I write, I see no reason why I can't accomplish the same while roleplaying.

 

[LostSoul]

Re: Re

Lost Soul,

I think you are kind of missing the point. As a roleplayer, I like to create characters.

I'm trying to say that there isn't anything particularly female about this character. Nothing (except for the idea in your mind, which is good enough for me) about this character & history necessitates a female character. Now, if there is something about her personality that means that she would only work as a woman, that would be different.

If I was the DM, I would let you play it, no problem. But I would think that you could play a male character with that history better, because you've got more experience at being male to draw on.

But hey, your character, your choice, right?

1000th post, by the way.

 

[SemperJase]

Originally posted by Buttercup [Women and men are more alike than they are different. [/B]

I couldn't disagree more. Science has recently been late to the party in declaring that (apart from the physical differences) men and women are very different. Women are more emotional than men. They talk more, about 17,000 words a day compared to the 10,000 of men and their brains are basically wired differently.

That is what makes marriage so great. Men and women compliment each other in their differences.