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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 1669877" data-attributes="member: 3400">I think a certain amount of background sexism is fine (just like a certain amount of bigotry, racism, intolerance) because it adds a bit of realism to your game, which I think makes it easier for players to relate to. I think we'd find worlds completely devoid of any of these -isms kind of hard to relate to since it's not in keeping with our own experiences. But aside from that. Even with overt sexism in the game, there can certainly be exceptions as Drifter Bob points out with historical examples. And if you look at those examples, they'll help you find good places to put those exceptions. There are various factors that, historically, seem to have helped form sexist practices including concentration of wealth (the more concentrated, the more inheritance was at stake and the more men dominated the women to ensure that the heir was really their own blood) and the dominance of military power over politics (if men are the primary warriors and that's the main route to political power, then men will dominate politically). As you move away from these two factors, women tend to have more freedom. Have elements in your game that reflect that and I think players will easily understand it. Add a few other power resources like magic (for an example of magic dominance helping women, see the writeup on Hardby in a recent Dungeon magazine) and alignment tendencies (figure lawful cultures will have more rigid hierarchies, including sexism, than chaotic ones that favor individuals more) and you can have some interesting variations. And you'll help players figure out where they can find good female role-model NPCs if they're willing to look for them. Just find the power resources that don't tend to favor men and you could see more prominent women as the rule rather that exeptions to them.</blockquote>

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