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Post by jazzisblues on Mar 21, 2012 9:19:28 GMT -8
I really think that the concern is not how many of (_____ fill in the blank _____) are there in the game, but are they complex and meaningful and contribute to the story in the way that they should?
If any character, male, female, dwarf, elf, rat catcher, chamber maid ... whatever is flat and lifeless and doesn't contribute to the story that's a problem not whether they fit some calculation for how many of them there are.
Just my 2 krupplenicks on the subject, your mileage may of course vary.
JiB
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Post by daeglan on Mar 21, 2012 10:00:12 GMT -8
I really think that the concern is not how many of (_____ fill in the blank _____) are there in the game, but are they complex and meaningful and contribute to the story in the way that they should? If any character, male, female, dwarf, elf, rat catcher, chamber maid ... whatever is flat and lifeless and doesn't contribute to the story that's a problem not whether they fit some calculation for how many of them there are. Just my 2 krupplenicks on the subject, your mileage may of course vary. JiB On the other hand if a character is not really relevant to the story other than that they are there does not need to have much depth. So I think depth of character should be able to vary based on need. Not on gender.
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Post by jazzisblues on Mar 21, 2012 10:03:43 GMT -8
I really think that the concern is not how many of (_____ fill in the blank _____) are there in the game, but are they complex and meaningful and contribute to the story in the way that they should? If any character, male, female, dwarf, elf, rat catcher, chamber maid ... whatever is flat and lifeless and doesn't contribute to the story that's a problem not whether they fit some calculation for how many of them there are. Just my 2 krupplenicks on the subject, your mileage may of course vary. JiB On the other hand if a character is not really relevant to the story other than that they are there does not need to have much depth. So I think depth of character should be able to vary based on need. Not on gender. Agree completely, did not mean to imply otherwise. JiB
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2012 8:18:21 GMT -8
For NPCs in Traveller I tend to roll for sophont species, gender and ethnic origin semi-randomly (only adding a bias that makes sense for the context concerned). It seems to work for me and Mongoose will soon be publishing a scenario of mine ("Derelict") that originally had such a semi-random group of half a dozen human player characters (2 female, one black, one asian and a couple of caucasians, I think from memory). Obviously I try to make them all playable and interesting.
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Post by kaitoujuliet on Mar 22, 2012 17:56:58 GMT -8
I never thought of applying the Bechdel test to an RPG! Because it's a remarkably bad idea... For this very reason. It seems to me that the way to apply this as a GM is to ask yourself, "If two of my female NPCs got together "offstage," would they have anything to talk about other than the male characters?"
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Post by jazzisblues on Mar 22, 2012 18:12:06 GMT -8
Because it's a remarkably bad idea... For this very reason. It seems to me that the way to apply this as a GM is to ask yourself, "If two of my female NPCs got together "offstage," would they have anything to talk about other than the male characters?" That's an interesting litmus test. JiB
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Post by Kimi on Mar 26, 2012 16:42:03 GMT -8
Either way, the trick isn't to make sure that your female characters are fully rounded, interesting characters. The trick is to make sure that ALL of your characters are fully rounded, interesting characters. +1 Well said!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2012 17:25:02 GMT -8
I often play female characters, but they have always had a reason not to be interested in any of the other PCs.
I had a 16 y.o. Storm-Soul Genesai who thought sex was icky. Also, her natural crystaline form and electric aura made her 'unsuitable for the task'.
My male changling was perfectly comfortable as both sexes (and many races). He was tri-sexual but he understood that you don't crap where you sleep, so he never hit on any of the players.
My female Shifter Druid preferred her wolf form to her humanoid one. She was actually more interested in wolves than humans, sexually speaking.
As for NPCs, I have the same comment as everyone else. They rarely interact with each other and most of them have no relationship interest in the players. They just live their lives and deal with the PCs when need arises.
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HyveMynd
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Posts: 2,273
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, Cortex Plus, Fate, Ubiquity
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Post by HyveMynd on Apr 2, 2012 18:14:13 GMT -8
I often play female characters, but they have always had a reason not to be interested in any of the other PCs. I certainly don't think that having a group of mixed gendered PCs means that sex has to happen between the characters. Since most gaming groups are friends away from the table, I imagine things could get pretty weird if two PCs did sleep with each other. I mean, if you do want to explore that then by all means be my guest. I'm running an Apocalypse World game right now, and that game has specific "Sex Moves"; mechanical effects that trigger when characters sleep together. Some trigger for any character whether PC or NPC, others only trigger if your character sleeps with another PC. None of my players are interested in that at all, and I fully expect that none of my PCs will be having sex with one another. Will their characters sleep with NPCs though? We'll find out. I've mentioned this before, but I'm a big proponent of romantic relationships, seduction, and sex in RPGs. Please note though that does not mean I think the sex should be always shown 'on camera', or be forced onto a player who doesn't want it. In my opinion, it just adds another layer of reality to the world and the characters involved; everyone falls in love or is at least attracted to someone else at one time in their life, right? It's just another story hook that the GM can set in the players and use to make their life not boring.
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Post by clockworkmonk on Apr 3, 2012 5:25:33 GMT -8
I often play female characters, but they have always had a reason not to be interested in any of the other PCs. I certainly don't think that having a group of mixed gendered PCs means that sex has to happen between the characters. Since most gaming groups are friends away from the table, I imagine things could get pretty weird if two PCs did sleep with each other. I mean, if you do want to explore that then by all means be my guest. I'm running an Apocalypse World game right now, and that game has specific "Sex Moves"; mechanical effects that trigger when characters sleep together. Some trigger for any character whether PC or NPC, others only trigger if your character sleeps with another PC. None of my players are interested in that at all, and I fully expect that none of my PCs will be having sex with one another. Will their characters sleep with NPCs though? We'll find out. I've mentioned this before, but I'm a big proponent of romantic relationships, seduction, and sex in RPGs. Please note though that does not mean I think the sex should be always shown 'on camera', or be forced onto a player who doesn't want it. In my opinion, it just adds another layer of reality to the world and the characters involved; everyone falls in love or is at least attracted to someone else at one time in their life, right? It's just another story hook that the GM can set in the players and use to make their life not boring. Oi. I play female characters very frequently, either as GM or player. I've done romantic relationships before in-game, which have usually led to wonderful RP between myself and mature, respectable players. I did play one game where the GM insisted on going down a particular sexy sex route when it did not fit my character at all. It was very forced, to the point that I no longer wished to continue with the campaign afterward. As with real life, consent matters. A lot.
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Post by jazzisblues on Apr 3, 2012 6:28:01 GMT -8
Just for my part, the character has among other attributes a gender when they are first conceived (damnit I tried so hard to find another word you bunch of sick fucks) in my head. They are that gender it doesn't matter whether I'm male or female that's who they are and they get played as such.
I do not, as a rule, bring sex into the game particularly. We have bigger fish to fry. That said if that's the road the players want to go down that's fine we can totally do that.
I have had pc's enter into relationships with other pc's some of which ended disastrously for all parties, some of which were just fine. Also had one case where a male pc (played by a female player) raped a female npc ... It was rather disturbed but there you go.
As always, just my 2 krupplenicks on the subject, your mileage may of course vary.
JiB
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muertog
Journeyman Douchebag
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Post by muertog on Apr 18, 2012 8:19:59 GMT -8
Also I tend to avoid female NPCs not to be sexist but because I'm bad enough at accents as it is, trying to pull off a woman is outside my abilities. But listing the few I have made. I know that at times it SEEMS like women are speaking a different language, but I don't think that means women have their own accent when speaking... Sorry for the kibitzing, just was the first thing that popped to mind when I saw that statement.
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