Run away screaming or not?
- Thread starter CanadienneBacon
- Start date
They are all usually polite! *cast detect sexist pig and Nightfall aura glows like Hiroshima or Cherynobol* 
*is kidding* But serious CB, let us know how it goes.
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
I've received a reply from the DM on why he requires players to match the player's sex to their character's sex. "It's easier for me to keep track of who you are if you play your own sex." OK. That's not how I do things when I run the game but OK. I'm rolling with it, and will play a female character. Probably not the human ranger I've had in mind; I will come up with something different.
Thank you again for the kindly help in sorting this out.
Thank you again for the kindly help in sorting this out.
arcady said:
Hm. Where I come from, that'd be, "If a group is not meeting your expectations, you do your best to work out your differences and see if things will work out well." Abandoning ship before you've played a single session is hardly giving anyone a fair shake.
You're right, in that this is a sort of relationship advice. Sometimes (in fact usually) a relationship needs a bit of work to become and stay really good.
CanadienneBacon
Explorer
I thank you all again for your help. I met with the DM and the other player last night and am well satisfied, having met them in person in my home, that things will go well for our group.
The DM recanted, without being asked to do so by anyone, his players-must-play-their-sex edict. He said to me that he'd had male players in the past playing wonton sex-fiend females and that, in an effort to avoid having that happen again, he had imposed the ban.
The "min/maxer" turned out to be a nice fellow who asked many more questions last night in person regarding the campaign world than he did about prestige classes and the like. One of you here on this thread suggested to me that perhaps he was asking the initial min/max questions so he could fine tune his character in order to better roleplay, and my sense (having met him) is that this is indeed the case, and happily so! I was wrong on my instinct that he would turn out to be a poor roleplayer.
And, quite happily, we changed plans at the DM's prompting and decided to play some Scarred Lands, about which all three of us are excited. I myself have never played SL but, MAN, am I hankering to do so.
Lesson learned: Wait to meet someone in person before making assumptions (if you make assumptions at all). Is that difficult to do? Why, YES, it is.
The DM recanted, without being asked to do so by anyone, his players-must-play-their-sex edict. He said to me that he'd had male players in the past playing wonton sex-fiend females and that, in an effort to avoid having that happen again, he had imposed the ban.
The "min/maxer" turned out to be a nice fellow who asked many more questions last night in person regarding the campaign world than he did about prestige classes and the like. One of you here on this thread suggested to me that perhaps he was asking the initial min/max questions so he could fine tune his character in order to better roleplay, and my sense (having met him) is that this is indeed the case, and happily so! I was wrong on my instinct that he would turn out to be a poor roleplayer.
And, quite happily, we changed plans at the DM's prompting and decided to play some Scarred Lands, about which all three of us are excited. I myself have never played SL but, MAN, am I hankering to do so.
Lesson learned: Wait to meet someone in person before making assumptions (if you make assumptions at all). Is that difficult to do? Why, YES, it is.
Well, since it is now moot...
When DM'ing, you have to consider, the Maturity of each player, the maturity of the DM, and the collective maturity of the whole group.
For me, if any of those maturity levels are in question, or unknown, I am more likely to impose restrictions. Cross Gender playing is one thing that I would restrict if I had doubts of any of the maturities. But doubt can be removed by finding information. I would guess that your DM just wanted to error on the side of caution before making any final ruling. But it sounds like that information destroyed the shadows of doubt so all is well.
-The Luddite
When DM'ing, you have to consider, the Maturity of each player, the maturity of the DM, and the collective maturity of the whole group.
For me, if any of those maturity levels are in question, or unknown, I am more likely to impose restrictions. Cross Gender playing is one thing that I would restrict if I had doubts of any of the maturities. But doubt can be removed by finding information. I would guess that your DM just wanted to error on the side of caution before making any final ruling. But it sounds like that information destroyed the shadows of doubt so all is well.
-The Luddite
CanadienneBacon said:
I can understand your discomfort.
I have the same "play your own gender" rule IMC.
This is to protect my tender sanity from the BAD roleplaying most guys do when they play female charactersWe either get psychos, promiscous tramps or seductress types
Watching a 40 year old fat guy play those characters is painfull to say the least
In the interest of fairness I apply the rule to both genders even though women playing men is much less annoying
Hjorimir
Adventurer
While I don’t forbid my players from playing a different sex character I certainly don’t encourage it. I’ve been playing a long, long time. I have yet to see a man play a woman convincingly and vice-versa. It is hard enough to get a player to try and relate to his character’s experiences and motivations. To place even more distance between the two by having them run the opposite gender does little to enhance the environment.
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