Sexual Dimorphism in Fantasy Races

[Michael Morris]

Recently a lot of fanfare was raised about WotC's decision to include gender and sexual issues in the base rules, saying it's ok to play gay characters or the like. I'm somewhat familiar to the topic, my brother is transgendered. But it got me to wondering about the subject of sexual dimorphism.

Or should I say, advanced sexual dimorphism. There is a small degree of sexual dimorphism in humans already, and by extension fantasy races. None of these differences rise to the level of needing to be represented by game statistics in most editions of D&D (1st/2nd edition capped female strength at 18/50 I think, but that's it).

In my own world I have the Oyasini, which is a spin on Jim Henson's Gelfling from The Dark Crystal. The famous exchange:

Gen: Wings? I don't have wings.
Kira: Of course not silly, you're a boy.​

While I've tweaked the Oyasini over the years, that's been their defining constant.

What are the thoughts on this, or other fantastical examples of sexual dimorphism in fantasy literature?

 

[Savage Wombat]

I don't remember any fiction particularly, but in one SF game I ran I had the Sthan, a reptilian race where the males were small and geared towards crafting, and the females large and violent.

 

[Umbran]

I am not a fan of major dimorphism for the sake of it, or for the sake of having cool powers. I'm perfectly okay if this is instituted because it allows one to tell different stories.

I'll take a classic example from Tolkien - Ents. We don't actually ever see an entwife, but it is noted that they are somewhat different, and the difference had major impact on the nature of Treebeard's life, and his drives.

 

[sheadunne]

And we suddenly discover that Gnomes are actually female dwarves. And halflings are elven males.

Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

It's certainly an interesting idea, the concept of gender providing different characteristics. I probably wouldn't deal with it in humanoid creatures (i.e. most of the playable races), and if I did use it in a game I would probably list the creatures as different races, much the same way Drow and High Elves are different races with different characteristics. But overall, the separation of gender doesn't particularly interest me much in RPGs. We ignored it in AD&D and haven't looked back.

 

[Starfox]

While I like this idea in a "fantasy as science fiction" sense, I feel it should be campaign specific and not in the core rules. I made lots of wild writeups for fantasy races (Hermaphroidic dwarves, who look male but are double-gendered is the one I recall atm. And kobolds had queens, much like ants do), but these are radical and not for everyone.

Good world building tools, but not part of the generic rules.

 

[BryonD]

The focus is on inclusion and awareness with lack of distinction. So I don't see this being a standard.

I enjoy diversity and texture in the setting. So I do kinda like these things is a loose sense. For example, years ago Monte's AU Faen appeared in one of my settings, but the two types were the different genders. There was some fun in the dynamic there. (Though honestly, it was mostly no big deal in actual play).
But if I was going to try to sell something to the market, I'd be much more on the pure equality side and leave tweaks to home games.