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Fuzzy
2008-11-06, 03:28 PM
Do you play male or female characters? I never feel comfortable RPing a guy but my group (all guys) make fun of my characters for being girls. I think they'd rag on me more for playing a guy tho. Just wondering if any other ladies had this problem with their groups.


ps sorry if this is posted in the wrong place, it's my first time posting

FoE
2008-11-06, 03:31 PM
Are you a guy who always plays girls? Your lack of a gender icon and the ambiguity of your post confuses me.

Incidentally, this is a valid place to put your query.

@V: Yeah, but Fuzzy also says the group is all guys. The statements, they contrast! :smallconfused:

Grey Paladin
2008-11-06, 03:33 PM
^^^^^^^^^^


Just wondering if any other ladies had this problem with their groups.

Saph
2008-11-06, 03:33 PM
I've got a mix of both in the group I'm currently DMing. One of the girls is playing a guy, one of the girls is playing a girl, and one of the guys plays girls and guys alternately.

No-one really has any problems with it beyond some pronoun confusion over "he" and "she".

- Saph

Dhavaer
2008-11-06, 03:35 PM
I also always play females. Never had a problem with it. Not a lady IRL, though.

JMobius
2008-11-06, 03:35 PM
I'll be playing a female character for the first time in an upcoming Saga game. I'm not sure its all that different.

Fuzzy
2008-11-06, 03:36 PM
sorry ... I'm a girl .... I'm also the DM's girlfriend but that's a whole other can of worms

arguskos
2008-11-06, 03:37 PM
I've always played my gender (male), and never had an issue with players playing other genders. Always gets confusing, but that's just me.

FoE
2008-11-06, 03:38 PM
Ah. Well, why would there be a problem? Players usually have characters that match their gender. The vast majority of my characters have been male.

Maybe they're just being jerks?

Knaight
2008-11-06, 03:38 PM
I just play whatever, but I GM. The character that I have been playing the most recently is female, sort of. Genderless spirit, typically inhabits female body.

Grey Paladin
2008-11-06, 03:44 PM
About half of my characters are female- I just go with whatever better fits the concept/creates a cooler image.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-11-06, 03:47 PM
I'm split about 70/30 male/female. My group really just goes with whatever gender fits the concept better, in all honesty.

monty
2008-11-06, 03:52 PM
I'll play either gender, depending on what I feel like. Seriously, it's a role-playing game. You can be whatever you want. If people make fun of you for it, that's their problem.

huttj509
2008-11-06, 04:00 PM
Party players: 2 male, 2 female.

First party: All female PCs

After that one wiped: All male.

Next lineup: 1 male PC, 3 female.

I think we now finally have everyone's char matching gender.

BloodyAngel
2008-11-06, 04:05 PM
I run the range, really. I probably play more females than males, but not to a real significant degree really. I also alternate between being the DM and the DM's girlfriend, with my boyfriend playing females about half the time. This leads to the occasional hilarious situation where one of us romances the other in game, and we're both gender-swapped. It's really quite fun. I suggest you get your boy in on it by having him gender-bend as well... It might feel less awkward that way.

I've never gotten razzed on for playing a mane before though. In fact... in a wargame of sorts on these forums I'm playing a male from a previous game I'd played with my group... With the added hilarity that my character's "mistress" is my boyfriend's character from the same game. Unless your group is being sexist, I'd advise just to let it slide and play who and what you want to play. So long as it's a fun and interesting character... it'll be fine. Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't play. If they think it's "unrealistic", ask how many of them have 18 strength or can throw fire from their hands. :smallbiggrin:

Burley
2008-11-06, 04:14 PM
My first character was female. I found that my character inadvertantly became a man in a woman's body. It was awkward and unsavory, and I shant do it again. I'm wasn't mature enough to do it, then, and I have no need to do it now.

We have a girl in our group who plays girls only. We don't make fun of her for playing a girl, but for the type of girls she plays. They're always charisma-based casters, are invisioned as highly-attractive and scantily clad, and take off their clothes whenever it would kinda make sense. They also always have nigh-unpronounceable names and are just kinda...slapped together, ie almost always useless when a d20 is involved.

We give her a lot of crap about her characters... :smallbiggrin:

Greengiant
2008-11-06, 04:24 PM
My first character was female. I found that my character inadvertantly became a man in a woman's body. It was awkward and unsavory, and I shant do it again. I'm wasn't mature enough to do it, then, and I have no need to do it now.

We have a girl in our group who plays girls only. We don't make fun of her for playing a girl, but for the type of girls she plays. They're always charisma-based casters, are invisioned as highly-attractive and scantily clad, and take off their clothes whenever it would kinda make sense. They also always have nigh-unpronounceable names and are just kinda...slapped together, ie almost always useless when a d20 is involved.

We give her a lot of crap about her characters... :smallbiggrin:

My ex-girlfriend used to play with us, pretty much the same thing, she made the most unpronounceable names possible, intentionally, and always tried to do, like, seduction checks. Her characters name was Loccus Obvaen (pronounced Lock-Us Oh-Vein) and whenever we'd get into combat with any type of male humanoid, she'd say, "Can I try to seduce him?" and such like that. Not really a problem cause we aren't a really serious group, but sometimes I almost wanted to say, "Uh, can you... not do that?"

EDIT: Also, Original Poster, your group sound pretty immature. Tell them how you feel, or something.

AslanCross
2008-11-06, 04:41 PM
My group used to have 4 girls and 2 guys. Everyone plays their own gender. Now one of the girls stopped playing, so I only have 3 girls and 2 guys.

At least one of the girls has expressed the desire to play as a male character. No problems with it.

mostlyharmful
2008-11-06, 04:41 PM
No-one really has any problems with it beyond some pronoun confusion over "he" and "she".

This. I have no problem with people playing any or no gender but just don't expect me to keep track of pronouns in character.:smallredface::smallsmile:

Behold_the_Void
2008-11-06, 05:03 PM
I always play guys, I'm not comfortable with my ability to play female characters. Sometimes people will cross gender, we tend to get pronouns screwed up a lot. Sometimes when the gender isn't really relevant (like when one of my female friends was playing a young boy and we kept calling him "her") they'll just give up and switch the gender.

littlechicory
2008-11-06, 05:15 PM
Defaulting to same-sex characters is normal for the group I play with. Easier to deal with pronouns and the occassional NPC lecher encounter that way. We have had a guy play with a girl character and a girl play with a guy character, but it's rare.

Lady Tialait
2008-11-06, 05:16 PM
I usually play a guy, and hit on all the guys if we have social encounters....I like Swashbucklers when I play...hehe, Gay Zoro...MUHAHAHAAAH

wormwood
2008-11-06, 05:30 PM
my group is about half males and half females. a few of the guys play female characters on occasion. a few of the gals play male characters out of necessity (we're playing a 1940s Call of Cthulhu delta green game set in WWII europe... all the characters are military). we've never had any issues with people gender bending, though we do occasionally poke fun at one another. of course, if it weren't that, we'd be making fun of one another for something else. there's really no escaping a bit of ridicule in my group.

Talya
2008-11-06, 06:10 PM
I played a gay male bard in Everquest once, but other than that, I play all females.

TSGames
2008-11-06, 06:22 PM
EDIT: Also, Original Poster, your group sound pretty immature. Tell them how you feel, or something.

Maybe it's just how I read this, but it sounds incredibly, and ironically, sexist. I'm pretty sure you didn't mean it that way, but the irony made me lol. +1 props.

Ravyn
2008-11-06, 07:27 PM
I'm usually the only girl in my game group, and while I tend to default to female characters, I vary it up depending on circumstance; I think I'm up to about 70:30 female:male at this point. Though there was one chat-based game in which I was playing a male character, and due to the fact that we'd sign on by character name and that he'd never known me, it took most of the plot for a new recruit to figure out that I-as-player was a girl.

Most of the guys I play with have attempted a female character at least once, and with very few exceptions they do so exceedingly well.

Project_Mayhem
2008-11-06, 07:40 PM
I pretty much always play guys. Just easier I guess.

My Changeling ninja, however, was about 60/40 male/female

...

Not at one time, I mean on average

Prometheus
2008-11-06, 07:42 PM
I have decent proportion of female players(~40%) in my games, but I'm told I don't insert enough female NPCs (8 out of 22 in last game, for example). I've never played a female player, but there is a good chance that my next will be because those are the backgrounds that I am most excited about.

The female characters tend to be inclined to play male characters, with the caviat that they are homosexual *rolls eyes*. Still, whether they play as men or women though, they feel like they are filling in the role of diversity.

Project_Mayhem
2008-11-06, 07:49 PM
I'm told I don't insert enough female NPCs

snigger

[/childish humour]

CthulhuM
2008-11-06, 07:50 PM
I don't personally cross-play, but I don't have any problem with it in general. All I can really say about it is: if you're going to do it, make sure you can do it well. We have one girl in our group who frequently cross-plays, but whose "male" characters inevitably come off as... really, really girly, and it kinda hurts the verisimilitude. Also, the pronoun issues are made far worse when half the time you forget that the person in question is actually cross-playing.

As for the people making fun of your characters for being female, they really just sound intensely immature. I mean, do they think DnD should be some kind of boys-only club or something? I'd expect anyone above the age of 12 to know better.

Raging Gene Ray
2008-11-06, 07:55 PM
My first character that I played for more than two sessions is a Changeling bard. The campaign is still going on after over two years. Anyhow, one of the side villains had used Circlets of Domination on his female guards and issued them enchanted lingerie that boosted their AC and Charisma. A riot broke out after said side villain died, and the party was searching the mansion where he lived.

After casting detect magic, the bard stripped one of the dead guards, prestidigitated the lingerie clean, and tried to put it on. The DM was adamant about "You can't wear it, it's designed to fit on a woman's body." Me: "I change into a woman." He's been in ladyform ever since.

Cathaidan
2008-11-06, 08:00 PM
when I first started gaming I played only male characters. i just didn't feel comfortable playing characters of the opposite gender. However, for a mini-campaign our entire gaming group played female characters (We chose to torment the DM with a Josie and the Pussycats knock off for Planescapes. He hasn't run Planescapes since.... :smallfrown:) Ever since that campaign, everyone of my male characters seems to get hit with a curse that turns them female for at least half the campaign.

goram.browncoat
2008-11-07, 03:47 AM
Ive played both guy and girl characters. It really depends more on the character concept i'm going for. Some things are more iconic as a guy and some more as a girl (for example, an aged wizard to me is a bloke with a pointy hat and a beard .. you gotta work the cliche ;)

SoD
2008-11-07, 03:49 AM
The group I'm DMing has six playes. 5 guys, one girl. The girl is playing a male killoren ranger. One of the guys is playing a female teifling warlock.

Quincunx
2008-11-07, 03:57 AM
when I first started gaming I played only male characters. i just didn't feel comfortable playing characters of the opposite gender. However, for a mini-campaign our entire gaming group played female characters (We chose to torment the DM with a Josie and the Pussycats knock off for Planescapes. He hasn't run Planescapes since.... :smallfrown:) Ever since that campaign, everyone of my male characters seems to get hit with a curse that turns them female for at least half the campaign.

I can't help but think the two are related. . .

Female playing female here, whether pen and paper, PbP, or EQ (even the bardess ((oo, blue shiny sparkles!)) ). The other female in the RL group was only marginally interested and tossed in a female character from time to time. The guys played guys.

Vizen
2008-11-07, 03:59 AM
Once a friend of mine decided to make a female human rogue. So, he did, as you do. But what we didn't expect was for him to roleplay her. He flirted with everyone in our group, which left us all quite disturbed.

monty
2008-11-07, 04:29 AM
Ive played both guy and girl characters. It really depends more on the character concept i'm going for. Some things are more iconic as a guy and some more as a girl (for example, an aged wizard to me is a bloke with a pointy hat and a beard .. you gotta work the cliche ;)

A child prodigy, she was accepted into the wizard school at the age of 8, making her way through the courses in record time and graduating top of her class.

There's your justification for a young female wizard.

Ascension
2008-11-07, 05:10 AM
I play the occasional female character in PbP, but in person I stick with guys since I tend to try to speak in a distinctive character voice and I can't sound convincingly feminine.

potatocubed
2008-11-07, 05:31 AM
Pretty much what Ascension said. Where the medium is textual or I am otherwise 'concealed' I play men or women with impunity. In person, playing a girl just feels awkward.

Doesn't bother me when I'm GMing, though. :smallconfused:

goram.browncoat
2008-11-07, 06:11 AM
A child prodigy, she was accepted into the wizard school at the age of 8, making her way through the courses in record time and graduating top of her class.

There's your justification for a young female wizard.

*sigh* i never said women cant make wizards. i just said that for that particular character concept "aged wizard", the 'iconic' image that comes to mind for me (not the only image, just the iconic one) is a beardy old cook.

and i like a good cliche, so in the circumstance that was the reason that particular character was male. It was just an _example_

Are all your characters half-male half-female of all age groups and a bit of every race in their blood to cover all the possible bases?

bosssmiley
2008-11-07, 06:12 AM
I don't cross-play as a player. Setting foot outside my species is RP challenge enough, but trying to fathom the truly alien psyche of girls is entirely beyond me. Besides, the girls in our regular group would slap down Eggy's attempts to be a lady (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZS3JZQGhmM). :smalltongue:

I seem to have a knack for GMing villainous ice-queen characters though. :smallconfused:

Charity
2008-11-07, 06:40 AM
I've played male and female characters, it doesn't bother me, then again I am shameless.

My advice to you is that you play whatever you like, and if folk give you grief, give it back harder and faster, it's not hard to make a young fella squirm, especially if you're a girl, give as good as you get and you'll find it's all in jest.
Boys tend to have a more adversarial approach to friendship, it is unlikely that they are taking the piss maliciously, and you shouldn't change how you play just to try to please them.

Raz_Fox
2008-11-07, 08:15 AM
I run the range, really. I probably play more females than males, but not to a real significant degree really. I also alternate between being the DM and the DM's girlfriend, with my boyfriend playing females about half the time. This leads to the occasional hilarious situation where one of us romances the other in game, and we're both gender-swapped. It's really quite fun. I suggest you get your boy in on it by having him gender-bend as well... It might feel less awkward that way.

I've never gotten razzed on for playing a mane before though. In fact... in a wargame of sorts on these forums I'm playing a male from a previous game I'd played with my group... With the added hilarity that my character's "mistress" is my boyfriend's character from the same game. Unless your group is being sexist, I'd advise just to let it slide and play who and what you want to play. So long as it's a fun and interesting character... it'll be fine. Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't play. If they think it's "unrealistic", ask how many of them have 18 strength or can throw fire from their hands. :smallbiggrin:

:smalleek: Too. Much. Information.

Since I'm a PbP player primarily I play whatever I want to. Over time I'll get an even split of male and female characters. Really, this is supposed to be a game, so play whatever you enjoy playing. And have your character learn some gender-swapping magic. :smallamused:

Mando Knight
2008-11-07, 11:31 AM
I play the occasional female character in PbP, but in person I stick with guys since I tend to try to speak in a distinctive character voice and I can't sound convincingly feminine.

Same here... though the closest I've come so far is a Doppelganger who is whichever gender s/he pleases.

Ledzopolis
2008-11-07, 11:47 AM
I was just thinking about this last night, how no one I play with really stretches themselves to play characters that are different than themselves. Sometimes they try, but every character they play is incredibly similar to the one they played before, male or female.

I know its challenging to anyone who doesn't act for a career, but I'm thinking of really going outside the box.

Most of my characters, males or females, are INSANE...I try to stay in the right alignment, but my favored is chaotic evil cause well...I am chaotic evil. :smallyuk:

I am female and I find pleasure in amassing a harem of women in each port when I'm playing a male. Its like putting on a fake penis for a day, kind of gives you perspective on the male mind and how absolutely disgusting it is!

Vagnarok
2008-11-07, 12:00 PM
I am female and I find pleasure in amassing a harem of women in each port when I'm playing a male. Its like putting on a fake penis for a day, kind of gives you perspective on the male mind and how absolutely disgusting it is!

There are so many things wrong with that it hurts my brain. I really hope that you were just being facetious. If you really want to debate on this one put up your dukes.

Ledzopolis
2008-11-07, 02:28 PM
Alright alright I admit us ladies can be as crude as men sometimes, but we have an inbred decency that forces us to hide our true nature in smut novels.

Anyways, to the original poster. Dare your group, dare those boys to play girls! Being a girl is awesome!

monty
2008-11-07, 02:50 PM
There are so many things wrong with that it hurts my brain. I really hope that you were just being facetious. If you really want to debate on this one put up your dukes.

What? It's true.

Darth Mario
2008-11-07, 02:59 PM
I'm a guy, and usually DM, but I do occasionally play female characters (I'd say about 75%/25% male/female), but when I DM, I have about a 50/50 split of male/female important NPCs. Only one of my characters ever got in a romantic relationship -- one of the female ones with a guy, but the game was online, which reduced the awkwardness.

Grey Paladin
2008-11-07, 03:07 PM
What? It's true.

She appears to have accidentally replaced 'human' with 'male', thus the anger on our fellow poster's part.

Winged One
2008-11-07, 03:10 PM
I generally just flip a coin to determine my character's gender early in their development, but sometimes they've decided on it for themselves by the time I get around to it. I only play online though.

MartinHarper
2008-11-07, 03:23 PM
She appears to have accidentally replaced 'human' with 'male', thus the anger on our fellow poster's part.

I think the mistake is that she thinks her fantasy of being a womanising man is giving her an insight into anyone's mind except her own. It's the same cringe factor as when a guy claims that because his d&d character is Bertha the Big-Boobed Bimbo, he has a deep understanding of the female psyche.

Fuzzy
2008-11-07, 03:26 PM
from your stories it seems that my boys are just being dumb ... I think my problem is that I'm new and the DM's girlfriend, and I play with 2 DMs and a meta-gamer they jump on every little mistake I make so when they do some light joking I take it too personally

but! I will take your advice and talk to them about it. thanks guys (or gals)

Triaxx
2008-11-07, 03:36 PM
I rather enjoy the times I decide to with female characters. Usually it's female bruiser, often to compliment my male squishies. And no, they aren't all lesbians either. In fact only one has been, and that was not strictly her fault.

Do I get razzed for it? Sure. Do I care? Not usually. Don't be afraid of a little PvP if you have to to get your point across. Nothing says equality like a battle axe to the face.

Telonius
2008-11-07, 03:52 PM
Played a female Doppelganger for a one-shot campaign once. And several main characters in my book are female. Not much otherwise.

Vagnarok
2008-11-07, 04:11 PM
I think the mistake is that she thinks her fantasy of being a womanising man is giving her an insight into anyone's mind except her own. It's the same cringe factor as when a guy claims that because his d&d character is Bertha the Big-Boobed Bimbo, he has a deep understanding of the female psyche.
That is nearly exactly the point I was going to make. Well done, have you training in psych? I was going to point out that the human mind is always biased to think of other minds as too similar to our own.

Topic:
I think the guys are just being toolbags. I've played with new girls quite a few times and I don't think that we ever gave them crap like that. As for what you should do, I don't really know as there are many factors that you'll have to play by ear. The basic strat you should have is to talk to them and convince them to stop it without giving them further reason to make fun of you at the same time.

Nerd-o-rama
2008-11-07, 04:20 PM
I've grown to enjoy playing female characters in Play-by-post games, but have only done so once in person. Mostly because my in-person games tend to be a lot less roleplay-intensive and a lot more "let's go kill stuff", so gender doesn't matter and I go with my default.

Hzurr
2008-11-07, 04:45 PM
Although I default to my own gender, I've played both (roughly 90/10 split). I have one guy in my group who really does play each gender about 50% of the time, and it works well for him. Everyone else in my group plays to his/her own gender

But alas, this was not always the case.

Early on in my D&D career (so something like 3 1/2 years ago), I played with a guy named Chris. Chris was a nice guy but suffered a bit from...nerd syndrome. Anyway, Chris played female characters. Correction: Chris played female elf characters. Correction: Chris played female elf characters who would weild a bow, and at some point in the campaign would get wings. This was Chris' character every single time. The biggest problem with this, was that Chris is a straight guy, who never actually had a date (or much contact) with a girl, and didn't understand them. At all.

SO AWKWARD.

Mad Maudlin
2008-11-07, 06:02 PM
My DnD group is, all but one, female, so you would think we'd actually have a few female characters among us, right?

Well, we haven't been playing for long, but out of *counts on fingers* thirty or so characters, there have been about four women. Three of whom were me. (Granted, there have been a couple of characters who flipped randomly between genders as the player tried to make up her mind - there's one in every group...)

Personally, I tend to aim for a relatively even ratio of male : female, but even when my new male character is made of masculine awesome I feel a little strange playing him... y'know, like I'm betraying my entire gender to smurfette syndrome. Ironically enough, one of my favourite characters was born out of this feeling - Pyrites Jones, Bard, spy, and avid crossdresser :smallbiggrin:

DM: You all meet in a tavern
Pyrites: *looks around, sees nothing but burly men and a swashbuckler*
Pyrites: *excuses himself*
DM: Uh...
Pyrites: *comes back five minutes later wearing a dress* Much better.

I ended up weaving it into his backstory - we went with a 'you already know each other, now get adventuring' kind of workup, and were faced with the challenge of introducing the neutral evil guy to the mainly-good party in a way that made sense. He worshipped a god that venerated the protection of women, though, so we roped him into the party by strongly hinting to him that Pyrites was a woman dressed as a man, and making him his bodyguard. (that was after he first hunted Pyrites through the wilderness as part of a cannibal ritual, but that's a somewhat longer story...)

ashmanonar
2008-11-07, 06:04 PM
Do you play male or female characters? I never feel comfortable RPing a guy but my group (all guys) make fun of my characters for being girls. I think they'd rag on me more for playing a guy tho. Just wondering if any other ladies had this problem with their groups.


ps sorry if this is posted in the wrong place, it's my first time posting

Played both, male IRL. Only time it got bad was when I played a hedonist Larissan cleric (in the Arcanis gameworld.)

It was awkward.
:eek:

Proven_Paradox
2008-11-07, 06:52 PM
Typically, I play male characters in both PbP and in-person. I have one particular character concept that I typically envision as being a woman, but honestly I'm still not sure why that is--there's nothing particularly feminine about the concept, but for some reason I cannot explain the image that forms when I want to play that is a woman. I guess that would make is something like a 95/5 male/female split for me.

In in-person play, this is primarily because of my voice; it's rather inflexible. If I try to increase the pitch of my speech anywhere above "high-pitched male or young boy," it breaks and I just sound squeaky. The entire session is done via speech, so it's best if I can settle on a voice I can maintain. It's also a matter of me being more comfortable with male roles--that's why my play-by-post characters are typically male.

When I DM, it depends entirely on if I'm in PbP or in-person. For PbP, NPCs tend to be 50/50 male/female. For in-person, I tend to throw in more males due to voice issues.

Piedmon_Sama
2008-11-07, 09:31 PM
My group is almost always all guys, but I have a few regular players who only do female characters (and I always DM, so you could say I've roleplayed a few females). I just ignore it, making it an issue in the game (esp. since I only play online and have never seen my players face-to-face) would be awkward and sidetrack the plot anyway.

Although one time two of the guys played a female Wizard and her leather-clad Half-Orc Barbarian "slave" who walked around in a gimp mask, just to gross me out. I was not at all sorry when that Wizard died. T_T

Vuzzmop
2008-11-07, 10:13 PM
One guy in my gaming group has played women only a few times, and has single-handedly managed to push the feminist movement back fifty years. :smallmad: He insists on characterising them as amazon "chicks" with boobs the size of their brains. He's not the most cerebral of fellows.

on the other side of the scale, I have acting experience and have no problem playing female characters as just that; a PC with two X chromasomes and a personality to accompany them.
I do play mostly male characters though, understandably.:smallsmile:

monty
2008-11-07, 10:14 PM
He insists on characterising them as amazon "chicks" with boobs the size of their brains.

Both big, both small, or what?

THAC0
2008-11-07, 11:42 PM
I'm female. I play females.

My group is male. They play males, mostly.

Except for my husband's very first D&D character. Very first session, very first piece of treasure we found was a belt. He put it on for safekeeping. The character turned female and remained female for the duration of the campaign.

Myatar_Panwar
2008-11-08, 12:16 AM
One guy in my gaming group has played women only a few times, and has single-handedly managed to push the feminist movement back fifty years. :smallmad: He insists on characterising them as amazon "chicks" with boobs the size of their brains. He's not the most cerebral of fellows.

Unless he truly believes that all women are like those he plays as, I don't see the problem.

Its a stereotype. And not really a bad one. Amazon women = strong women. People play male stereotypes all the time and no one ever has a problem with it. I could play a stupid barbarian male and no one would think twice.

Quirinus_Obsidian
2008-11-08, 01:02 AM
I really don't care either way with my characters. I play the gender how I envision the character.

Aezetyr, my Fey Mistress of Storms would not be a male character, while Darshane'a, my Illumian skillmonkey/battlefield controller would not work as a female. Played both a Female and a Male necromancer.

Now, the next one I am working, is a DnD version of Excel (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=398) , scary yes. Especially if you have seen the anime, is definitely female.

La_Carnaval
2008-11-08, 01:11 AM
My group is male, I'm female.

I tend to play males now since occasionally a guy will play a female and it's fun to mess with their characters. I also find it amusing that people will forget my character is male and will inadvertently insult my character (DM has a "if it's said at the table, it's said in the game" policy).

When I first started out, though, I played almost exclusively females.

kbk
2008-11-08, 02:46 AM
I think such cross-play has a lot to do with comfort in yourself and in your group. As most people say, I started out playing characters that matched my gender (male), and would occasionally play a female character. I still mostly play males, but will sometimes mix it up still, especially if I have a good concept.

I think the first female I played was a wild mage. I never told the party much about her past, but the other players suspected she used to be male thanks to wild-magic.

And of course, every group that used to play 2nd edition has a girdle of masculinity/femininity story.

Halcyon_Dax
2008-11-08, 03:28 AM
Hey Fuzzy, recognize me?

Mordokai
2008-11-08, 03:35 AM
Both big, both small, or what?

Ouch, low one :smallbiggrin:

Me, I mostly play males, seeing I am one, but I had my share of female characters. Depends on the idea of the character I have and what I feel like at the moment of creation. I try to avoid stereotypes(how well I do it is for others to judge) or push it over every reasonable limit, just for the comedy of it :smallbiggrin: When I do that, it's usually painfully obvious, so nobody holds grudges. But I'm not opposed to playing females in any way wahtsoever.

Fuzzy
2008-11-08, 02:21 PM
Hey Fuzzy, recognize me?

haha ... wondered if you'd see this .... I was wondering how many people are in the same situation as our group


everyone, meet Halcyon Dax, my dm boyfriend I've been talking about

only1doug
2008-11-08, 03:55 PM
one of my group's consists of the following:

Myself (male): Halfling doctor (male)
My fiancee (female): Dwarf mercenary Sargent (female)
(male): human scout (female) (slutty)
(male): dwarf pitfighter (male)
(female): Elf beastfriend (indeterminate gender)
(male): gnome jester (male)
(female): Elf Wizard (male)

the only one of these anyone has a problem with is the scout, the GM isn't comfortable with the ummmm "romantic" aspects, not that romance is exactly what the player is after.

Flashlight
2008-11-08, 04:00 PM
I guess the image of Heavy Metal F.A.K.K. movies and Tomb Raider made ladies to cool not to play :smallcool:

Greengiant
2008-11-09, 11:02 AM
Maybe it's just how I read this, but it sounds incredibly, and ironically, sexist. I'm pretty sure you didn't mean it that way, but the irony made me lol. +1 props.

Haha, I just realized that some people could take how I said "Tell them how you feel or something." as sexist, I didn't mean it like that. I tell people how I feel all the time, and I'm all man. So there.

The Bushranger
2008-11-14, 12:14 PM
When I started out freeforming, I thought I'd never be comfortable playing a female character. Then gender-bender avvy week came around the same time I got really involved in Town, and I had a brilliant idea...

Now, I'm much more comfortable playing female characters than male, for whatever reason. With a single exception (in freeform), though, any relationships they get into are with other girls, not, believe it or not, for the "girl+girl=hawt" factor most folks go with**, but rather because I wouldn't really be comfortable RPing a romance with a male character*...


* - Now, RPing a male character in a romance with a female character played by a guy, or a female/female romance with the other player being a guy, well, those are OK. Weird, I know...

** - There is the one case where my half-drow duskblade is...involved...with the other player's succubus... :smallamused:

Shpadoinkle
2008-11-16, 09:03 AM
The majority of games I've been in have been more the "Let's go kill stuff!" type rather than the RP heavy type, so issues about a character's sex don't come up very much, so I've stuck with playing males.

Online, though, I've been roleplaying for quite a while- this sort is more of a collaborative story than what would be recognized as a game- and I've played mostly females (I'd say about 90% of the characters I've played were female, though in one instance I played a hermaphrodite just to annoy someone). I was kinda uneasy at first, but evidently I fit into the role of a female very well, as people have frequenly thought I was female in real life (in one instance another person thought I was female even though the character I was playing at the time was male).

ninja_penguin
2008-11-16, 09:54 AM
Personally, I always play male characters in the at-table games, but that's because our gaming group's sessions are generally more about killing and looting everything that moves instead of any particular story.

On pbp, I alternate between male and female characters, depending on how I think the character concept fits. I probably play to stereotypes a little bit in that I tend to make lighter weapon uses (like crossbows, rapiers, etc) female, and others male, but there's crossover. So I guess I default male, but go female if there's an actual reason for the character to be that way. I guess I also dislike/am creeped out by people who RP the other gender to act out their fantasy of that gender.

(Oh, I'm male, to avoid confusion)

Salvonus
2008-11-16, 10:38 AM
I tend to play more female characters than male, it seems, but I'm generally quite okay with genderbending. RP-wise, it helps to have really close friends of both genders - in a way, I'm both "one of the girls" and "one of the guys". It's just that much easier to get into a character's mentality... But, really, stereotypes aside, I find the genders are, at their core personality, only so different as you want to believe.

That's a whole other discussion, of course, and more than a bit complicated thanks to still-prevalent cultural impressions of how men and women "should" be. I'll admit that most of those close friends I mentioned are fairly atypical - no real "manly men" or "girly girls", so perhaps that colours my view just a tad. I also live in a somewhat "alternative" West Coast Canadian city and go to an apparently "leftist" university, so, again, perhaps my circumstances just different from the norm.

I should note that I only really play PbP. Playing the opposite gender in a (non-comedic) face-to-face campaign would be a little more awkward due to voice issues. :smallwink:

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-11-16, 12:38 PM
I'm in a group with 4 guys, and we just realized that if a certain one of us dies, we'll have 3 underage female characters in the group. My 12 year old Malconvoker, a Changeling that's generally a 16 year old chick, and a 14-year-old Sorceress with pink hair and a giant Barbarian cohort. We were pretty disturbed by the thought.

Doomsy
2008-11-16, 02:48 PM
I play a 50/50 split most of the time. It really does not bother me to play females or NPC them when I'm the DM, which is a lot of the time, though I have a pretty deep voice IRL so it can come across as a little funny.

One of the oddest characters I ever played was probably a changeling who shifted between genders without blinking - and often took the form of dead people she/he had liked as a way of honoring their memory. Tam was quirky for sure.

Frosty
2008-11-16, 03:29 PM
I tend to play more female characters than male, it seems, but I'm generally quite okay with genderbending. RP-wise, it helps to have really close friends of both genders - in a way, I'm both "one of the girls" and "one of the guys". It's just that much easier to get into a character's mentality... But, really, stereotypes aside, I find the genders are, at their core personality, only so different as you want to believe.

That's a whole other discussion, of course, and more than a bit complicated thanks to still-prevalent cultural impressions of how men and women "should" be. I'll admit that most of those close friends I mentioned are fairly atypical - no real "manly men" or "girly girls", so perhaps that colours my view just a tad. I also live in a somewhat "alternative" West Coast Canadian city and go to an apparently "leftist" university, so, again, perhaps my circumstances just different from the norm.

I should note that I only really play PbP. Playing the opposite gender in a (non-comedic) face-to-face campaign would be a little more awkward due to voice issues. :smallwink:

And don;t forget playing a genderless Modron! :smallwink:

monty
2008-11-16, 07:24 PM
I'm in a group with 4 guys, and we just realized that if a certain one of us dies, we'll have 3 underage female characters in the group. My 12 year old Malconvoker, a Changeling that's generally a 16 year old chick, and a 14-year-old Sorceress with pink hair and a giant Barbarian cohort. We were pretty disturbed by the thought.

:smalleek: Don't ever cast Black Tentacles.

Seatbelt
2008-11-16, 07:40 PM
There is a male playing a female druid in a campaign I run. We are pretty immature (and college kids...), so we make fun of him on occasion. Although the novelty has worn off so we do it less.

The wierd thing, though, is that I can't learn people's names because I'm special that way. I just dont register names anymore. But in initiative I use character names and call out the character's name (it helps the players stay in character). That has the nifty accident of me always, and only, refering to the people in my game by their character name... because I don't know or remember their real name. :P

So the female druid/male player, who is this big manly guy, walks around while I call him Elania.

Willfor
2008-11-16, 07:54 PM
The majority of my characters have been male, however the majority of my memorable characters have been female. It always seems like the weaker they are mechanically, the stronger their personalities. Though I've only ever lost one.

Protip: Don't try to sleep with a high level NPC to get his guard down so you can assassinate him. (It was inevitable due to the character's motivations, but it was still sad)

Vuzzmop
2008-11-16, 09:30 PM
Unless he truly believes that all women are like those he plays as, I don't see the problem.

Its a stereotype. And not really a bad one. Amazon women = strong women. People play male stereotypes all the time and no one ever has a problem with it. I could play a stupid barbarian male and no one would think twice.

He portrays women far better in game than in reality. At least in game he plays strong women that are a little (operative word) bit more than boobs and the possessors of said boobs.