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I'm more concerned with the Player Character end on this one; DMs and STs should already have an understanding of how to pull this off. I am a girl who sometimes likes to play male concepts. I have also run into five people in five different games who chose to play the opposite gender. One of them did this rather convincingly--you remembered his character was a girl without it being shoved in your face. The rest, however, either came off just plain weird or you wouldn't have even realized the dude's character was a chick had he not told you (meaning they didn't play up the gender at all other than writing it on the sheet under "gender").
I say if you are going to choose to specifically play the opposite gender, then the gender should be played up. Otherwise, why not just play your own gender?
I'm posting about this because I was discussing it with my boyfriend this morning and he said:
"From what I understand guys playing girls is easy. Just be emotional and randomly get mad at things."
He was trying to joke with me, but I didn't think it was funny and I...
randomly got mad...so apparently it is easy for guys to play girls.
But he also said that playing the opposite gender seems easier if you are creating a character you might be attracted to in real life, your fantasy. Just like we create other characters after things we might like to be or do.
And he's right on that part, because I am having so much fun creating my Prince Charming Paladin/Ranger. I can't wait to play him. I just need to know how to properly pull him off as a guy without being a fruitcake.
Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences in this arena?
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You didn't get randomly mad, he actually did say something that pissed you off ;)
In answer to your question; though I am rather new to both sides of the table I’ve found the most helpful thing I can do in portraying a woman (I am a man) is to just do what I do with every other character and toss out stereotypes in favor of giving the person some pressing, close to the surface motivations that are sure to come up during an adventure and a distinctive personal habit or two. Doing so seems to make the character much more memorable all around then just focusing on a single aspect of them and their gender doesn’t get forgotten, just rolled into the greater whole of who the other players think the character is.
Agreed. If you concentrate on stereotypes, what you end up with is a caricature, not a character. Stop thinking of the character as a male or a female and think of them as a human being (or an elf, dwarf, or whatever) with emotions, thoughts, motivations, hopes, fears, etc.
I always base my female characters' habits and behaviours upon those of my close, female friends... cheating, maybe, but I've managed (I think) to be sustainably 'female' over the course of a few campaigns.
At least, none of the ladies I've gamed with have yet brained me for my portrayal of women.
Yeah, that's a good way to pull it off. I'm trying to look at the men around me to get ideas for this Prince Charming guy. Problem is, I live with a bunch of Orcs. I hear the Orc Laugh (think a deeper version of Nelson from the Simpsons) at least a dozen times a day. And they get into shoving matches. They are typical guys, but subtract the football and replace it with foam swords. If I try to pull off the opposite of that...wait what is the opposite of that?
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I find it is helpful if you have a known character from something you like (Book or movie), and try to do what you think they would do. Much like Alitan uses his friends as character models.
Most of my female characters (I am male) are pretty strong women (not physical strength). They can do everything that a man can do, but socially different people interact with them in different ways. I quite enjoy completely shutting down some of the more flirty, cheesy guys who play those suave, charming d-bags. As a guy, I see right through their stuff in RL and it follows through to roleplaying. Though, casual flirting is fine as long as they aren't be an idiot. Example of characters I use as models for behavior: Ripley, Red Sonja, Brunhild (from Dragon King Movie), Evie from V, Mulan, The Girl with the Dragon tattoo, Female Shepard, and so on and so forth. The girl from the new movie Brave seems to be like many of my characters as well.
In the end, it probably won't affect your strategy or character build much as the sexes should be more or less equal in abilities. The roleplaying is where the main differences happen. If your Dm or other PCs like to do roleplaying then it can be immensely fun to see how the other half lives, and what they have to deal with.
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I try playing a woman from time to time, although it never seems to work out. Because I don't create the stereotypical damsel-in-distress, they always come across as far too masculine and people forget they're chicks. My last Druid started female but got a quick sex change when I became tired of correcting everybody at the table. It was such a shame, too; I really saw the character as a woman.
I think for a woman it is much easier to play a man than vice versa. God knows men get quickly uncomfortable trying to play up their feminine side, and even if they don't, at least one other man at the table will. One GM I had made it policy that if a guy tried to play cross-gender he would dedicate at least 10-minutes a session to humiliating them in some way. (The most memorable moment is when he made the two 'women' of the group role-play a lesbian seduction scene to win the favor of a slimy, but necessary, NPC. So you had two men pretending to be two women seducing one another for an audience. It was like a 1990's internet chatroom come to life.)
I concur with whomever said just make the character; worry about gender afterward. If you realize his personality everything else will come naturally.
I'd help, but...I can't cross-gender RP. I just can't. <_< I've tried it before, but I just don't click with male characters, so they end up being a sheet with stats more than an actual character...
I try playing a woman from time to time, although it never seems to work out. Because I don't create the stereotypical damsel-in-distress, they always come across as far too masculine and people forget they're chicks. My last Druid started female but got a quick sex change when I became tired of correcting everybody at the table. It was such a shame, too; I really saw the character as a woman.
I think for a woman it is much easier to play a man than vice versa. God knows men get quickly uncomfortable trying to play up their feminine side, and even if they don't, at least one other man at the table will. One GM I had made it policy that if a guy tried to play cross-gender he would dedicate at least 10-minutes a session to humiliating them in some way. (The most memorable moment is when he made the two 'women' of the group role-play a lesbian seduction scene to win the favor of a slimy, but necessary, NPC. So you had two men pretending to be two women seducing one another for an audience. It was like a 1990's internet chatroom come to life.)
This is the exact issue I'm talking about. One guy I gamed with played a female monk and was trying to get her laid by one of the male NPC's. Because he wasn't playing up the feminine side, coupled with the fact that the guy IRL was straight, the GM didn't pick up on the flirting.
I also think that girls at the table would be more offended by a guy not playing a girl right than if a girl didn't play a guy masculine enough. I guess the point of this thread is acting tips for playing opposite gender? I mean, you can be feminine without being the Damsel in Distress. And with playing a guy, you don't have to be macho and crushing beer cans on your head to be considered masculine.
As a DM I'm playing young, old, male, female, gay, straight, weird, normal and everything in between, all first person. So it's no big deal to play a female character for me. I like to play the opposite gender from my last character. Right now I'm playing a changeling (always female) that had to disguise herself as a male last session. It was actually quite hard to play a man as a girl as a man.
My girlfriend likes to play male characters too and she can get amazingly macho.
No one is buying it
I feel sorry for your group's lack of imagination then. Never been a problem in any of my games.
I've had cross-players in every group I've played, including myself, though I'm the DM most of the time so as Puma said I'm used to playing all over the board. I too do pretty much everything in first-person, regardless which side of the DM screen I'm on. Gets me more invested in the character, makes it feel more personal saying "I do X" versus "s/he does X".
As for advice, I can't say I've much I can offer sadly, beyond the basics - avoid stereotyping and give the character multiple dimensions, like you would a character of your own gender. Sometimes playing stereotypes can be fun, admittedly - who doesn't like playing the dumb brute barbarian from time to time, even if it's just on a one-shot game or something - but it tends to go over badly in situations such as this. It's a fine line to find, and a lot of the time it just involves getting lucky. Having an understanding group of friends to play with who aren't too irritated by having the character's gender correctly pointed out when they forget helps too. =)
I find it is helpful if you have a known character from something you like (Book or movie), and try to do what you think they would do. Much like Alitan uses his friends as character models.
Most of my female characters (I am male) are pretty strong women (not physical strength). They can do everything that a man can do, but socially different people interact with them in different ways. I quite enjoy completely shutting down some of the more flirty, cheesy guys who play those suave, charming d-bags. As a guy, I see right through their stuff in RL and it follows through to roleplaying. Though, casual flirting is fine as long as they aren't be an idiot. Example of characters I use as models for behavior: Ripley, Red Sonja, Brunhild (from Dragon King Movie), Evie from V, Mulan, The Girl with the Dragon tattoo, Female Shepard, and so on and so forth. The girl from the new movie Brave seems to be like many of my characters as well.
In the end, it probably won't affect your strategy or character build much as the sexes should be more or less equal in abilities. The roleplaying is where the main differences happen. If your Dm or other PCs like to do roleplaying then it can be immensely fun to see how the other half lives, and what they have to deal with.
+100
This is true. I've based most of my female characters on characters from books and movies (even their names sometimes are familiar).
For example, right now I have a female crossbow weapon specialist / sniper rogue named Una Therlmagne, who is based pretty closely on Uma Thurman's character personalities from her character in Kill Bill and Poison Ivy, except she uses intimidation more than seduction (widow trait), but isn't afraid to get seductive if she needs to. So far, she mostly just gets angry at the paladin in the party for sticking his nose in things she doesn't think he needs to be.
Another example is the first character I created for PBP: Selena Devanholme, a Celestial Sorceress (now multiclass with witch). She was forced to flee from her home, developed a romance, then lost that romance when she had to flee again. While beautiful and wise, she has an inability to concentrate on many tasks (low Int), and is used to using "women's weapons" due to her lack of strength. The more I play her the more she feels like Luna Lovegood.
Shalani Mistoreth and Zalania Sapphros are other female characters I've played, now defunct due to the campaigns falling through.
Shalani was a fire elemental sorceress/alchemist who has been a blast to play, and I've roleplayed her as an exotic desert nomad who is possessed by some type of fire elemental creature that wants to see the world consumed in fire, so occasionally she would spontaneously burst into flame. Since the fire elemental creature possessing her felt more masculine, I had a lot of fun mixing masculine and feminine qualities (and personalities) in Shalani Mistoreth. She was continually angry, but still managed to maintain grace and beauty (though high Charisma doesn't always mean beauty).
Zalania Sapphros is my Varisian harrow card reader diviner. She has a personality bent toward politics and gathering secret information.
Lady Vorannia Krellin is a lost character I've resubmitted in a second game. She's a dhampir sanguine sorceress/ shapeshifter ranger, and is based a lot I think on the vampiress from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, though Morticia Adams is in her somewhere too, as well as the evil queen from Willow.
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Interesting subject. I DM, seldom play. One of my players, a woman, takes no prisoners. She has been told she plays her female characters as if they were men. Of course, what she does is play them like adventurers, not quiet and shy townsfolk who never leave town.
One of the other female players is a quiet player. But has more than once made a male player back off and properly share treasures found. She wouldn't allow him to take all of them for his player character.
He evidently thought my sisters would be push overs and go along with what he wanted the game to be. :-)
Like I've said before when this question comes up. IF you DM, you HAVE to play both genders or have a very strange world.
So I'd have to ask you Neph, does your world have male NPC's if you DM?
I sometimes DM, and male NPCs are there. However, because it is more expected out of a DM, the believability bar is set a little lower than for the standard PC. Also because you are constantly back and forthing between NPCs, you have to say "he" and "she" a lot more than with the standard PC. Cranewings approach seems to be more like this.
However, when you stick with the same character that bar gets a little higher.
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There is a distinct difference between DMing someone of the opposite gender and playing one. As a DM, it's often easy to downplay the gender aspect, or conversely, if it's played up, it's not that big of a deal because for most npcs, the expectation of actually fleshing out the entire character is not there. As long as it's reasonably well done, it's assumed that the npc does have a deeper personality, but the other aspects aren't important for that scene. Even regularly recurring NPCs are generally only going to show a single aspect at any given time, and the DM has a chance to develop the entire personality over time.
PCs are different in that you are really getting into that character's mind and personality, so while some shortfalls are still expected in extreme cases, difficulties with portraying a reasonable personality, whatever the source, are a lot more visible and frequent. And trying to play a different gender is certainly a big source of that kind of challenge. I myself can DM females just fine, because I don't have to develop a complete personality, just enough of one to fit the scene. I couldn't run a female PC if I tried, because I just don't know enough about how to do it without making it seem cheap, comical, or otherwise just plain flat.
I think the best way is to relate what the character is doing in the third person. When the paladin's wife wishes him good luck, I don't get dreamy eyed and say in a whispy voice, "kiss me my love and go." That's creepy. It is way better if I say, "She says, "kiss me my love and go."" Then everyone has the freedom to picture what's happening in their mind's eye.
I tend to fall into this pattern as well. Coming up with things to say/do in character is something I'm fairly good at. Actually playing it out isn't something I can do really well, so I tend to narrate character actions and dialogue as opposed to roleplaying it. I still do my best to put emotion into what I say, but anything that I think needs to go along with it(like facial expressions) tend to be better served by me describing them than by trying to act them out.
I rarely play female characters, but there's no reason I don't do it more or less often. When I come up with a character concept, I think about what it would be like for either gender to play that part. I recently played a female fighter that I'd worked a long time on, only to have her die in her first outing (just bad rolls of the dice). We have one guy in our group who is a foaming at the mouth misogynist who remarked that's why women should stay and and stay knocked up (to produce male children who can grow up to be adventurers), but as usual, I ignored him.
I think I do a reasonable job of playing my opposite gender. I don't vamp it up or make my characters butch lesbians like I've seen so many times. I make them competent at what they do, with a little more compassion for some things than males seem to be (I try to base all this on things I've observed over a lifetime of people watching). Sure, I've played a tough as nails female fighter, who once she's washed the blood of the vanquished off, donned nice outfits for an evening at the tavern or for more formal affairs. But I never play the eye-lash fluttering, swooning one drink and she's in bed kind of female I've seen played so, so often.
That rambled. I have a screaming migraine and my thoughts are a bit scrambled, but I hope the gist came across.
No one is buying itI feel sorry for your group's lack of imagination then. Never been a problem in any of my games.
Condescending much?
By the way, I mostly agree with cranewings. When I play, I usually play in all male groups who make all male characters. To me, a player character's voice is very important to the story and the group dynamic. When we do have women play, they've always used female characters.
I have found one exception to the "rule" however. If a male player can pull it off, playing a deeply uncharismatic and unfeminine woman is sometimes fun and funny- Especially when you're using one of the uglier races like a dwarf or an orc.
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If voices are so important, it must suck whenever you imagine your hulking, 7 foot tall barbarian with a 24 Str/Con talking like all he has ever done is sit at a computer at work and at home his entire life (as would be my case when playing my favorite character). Voices can't always be mimicked, and expecting your entire group to match up with their concepts is a tall order. Most people are not voice acting material, myself included; in fact, no one in my group is good with voices.
I also have a female character. I wouldn't call her a stereotype, but she isn't what I would call believable either. I'm NOT a female, and I can't portray her as the smoking hot, fast talking, genius of a charlatan that she is, but it's a concept I wanted to tell a story with. She's a TON of fun, and even though she makes the DM uneasy sometimes, I know he has fun with her too because she gets into a LOT of messes.
Bottom line: Play what you want to play, and have fun. You are responsible for your own fun as far as playing your concept goes. If your group feels an asinine need to berate you for playing the opposite gender on occasion, taking the fun out of it, I would recommend finding a new group.
She's a high-level Imagist (from the BOEF
BOEF?
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I play female characters if that's how I in-vision the initial concept. I don't really play them differently than I play a male, because I don't think there really is much difference between males and females. YMMV.
Condescending much?No one is buying itI feel sorry for your group's lack of imagination then. Never been a problem in any of my games.
Someone makes an all-inclusive statement I know from experience to be untrue, I don't see much need to be anything but blunt in calling 'em on it.
I play female characters if that's how I in-vision the initial concept. I don't really play them differently than I play a male, because I don't think there really is much difference between males and females. YMMV.
the only differences are anatomical. both genders can comprise most of the same massive range of personality traits. i don't play my men much different from my women. i don't bother too much with the common steriotypes for gender. for me, it's concept (both background and artistic) that determines personality and age. not gender. if i want to play a man that runs around in a skirt, shaves his head daily, and calls himself Steve. than so let me play him.
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Cranewings: Just because that is your own experience (and one that is admittedly shared by many other groups) does not mean that it is the case for all groups.
I believe that's what Orthos was getting at when he said you were 'wrong'. Your commentary implied that your point of view was the case categorically (i.e. in all cases at all tables). Since there are examples of both tables and groups where this is not an issue, and tables where it is that logically means that neither extreme is true. Any claim stating that one extreme is categorically true is easily proven false by evidence of opposing viewpoints.
i.e. Just because it's an issue at your table, doesn't mean you should assume it's an issue at others'. Likewise, it's pertinent for those of us whose groups are more accepting of such roleplay to recognize that it may not be welcome everywhere.
At any rate, I for one would want to know a group's stance before character creation. It would inform me as to whether or not I'd be apt to get along with the others or if I'd be better-suited playing with another group.
BOEF?Book Of Erotic Fantasy
*Smacks self in forehead with a heavy butcher's block style cutting board.
I have that. I honestly couldn't make the connection. Oy. I'd love to see the classes in it updated to Pathfinder versions.
To me it really depends on the whole, are you a first person or third person gamer? For example many, many of my characters have russian accents. Why? I can SPEAK Russian, the accent is easy enough, even if it is a little moose and squirrel at times. But to be a woman, I'd have to do third person the whole time. I can do that as a DM but as a player it would drive me nuts.
-Playing a female character in pbp is something else. That is really just writing. However, I love Dostoyevsky and Solzhenitsyn, both of whom don't really shine in their portrayal of female characters.
-I've never understod people who want to use tabletob rpgs to help them act out sexual fantasy though. I mean, isn't that another kind of roleplaying alltogether?
I play female characters if that's how I in-vision the initial concept. I don't really play them differently than I play a male, because I don't think there really is much difference between males and females. YMMV.
Just to append in agreement with what UG said, I wouldn't sweat the verisimilitude trying to play into opposing gender role stereotypes. In the same sense where one is trying to do so with racial ones. It's not like we have to be complete thespians or have been contracted into a role and have to spend six months on-scene shadowing a mentor to perfect one's performance.
Although, there are some who are a natural fit for half-orcs with their complete immersion for the role by displaying a lack of common sense and personal hygiene, though ...
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I'm more concerned with the Player Character end on this one; DMs and STs should already have an understanding of how to pull this off. I am a girl who sometimes likes to play male concepts. I have also run into five people in five different games who chose to play the opposite gender.
(...)
Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences in this arena?
I'm still on the fence about cross-gender roles. I've done it with three characters, but I think I was only "successful" with only one of them. I'm not bothered with other people playing cross-gender roles, provided that they don't disrespect the gender in question of course.
However, I can't help feeling a bit annoyed when cross-gender roles do not bring anything meaningful to the role. For the record, I have the same issue with players characterizing an elf (or any other race) with nothing "elvish" about it, neither in roleplay, background or aesthetic of the character (or at the very least, a conscious decision to play the character outside the norm of its race).
Unlike many posters above, I do think that there are differences between men and women, and that ignoring the physical, hormonal and sociological differences between men and women is an oversimplification. I agree however that all sociological traits are meaningless when observing a single individual; no individual guy has a all the "male" traits for its society (same for women). Heck, some have none of the typical sociological traits and aren't less "male" for that. So any type of character is thus justifiable regardless of gender, but I do think some "purposefulness" is in order (same for choosing a race for that matter).
Also, I do think there is a difference between playing a stereotype and playing an archetype. There are plenty of male and female archetypes that one can play without falling to parody or disrespect of the other. We often choose to play archetypes of our own gender; I don't see anything wrong with playing an archetype of the opposite gender.
Prince charming is an example of that; you can play up to the archetype without falling for the "fruity" stereotype.
'findel
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I have only played one opposite gender character for a long mechwarrior/battletech game. Lasted about 5 years. Honestly I ended up playing her much like the revised Starbuck. She smoked cigars, drank with the guys, cussed, woke up in strange beds, and outgunned 1/2 the other PCs. She was a blast. This was in the late 90's by the way. Not sure if the character came off as a stereotype or not. No one complained because we all were having fun.
Personally I feel 95% of characters in RPGs are stereotypes. Fiction is full of the same trope over and over again. Why is the damsel in distress a 'bad' stereotype, but Conan is a good one?
It's not, provided it's "innocent in distress" and "barbarian adventurer" to eliminate the sexist implications. But a character is more than a stereotype, even if they do have stereotypes which are, to one degree or another, applicable to them. That's the key point, I think - to make them not just a TVTropes page with stats.
Sadly, many people I've played with, a tvtrope character would be an improvment. I've played mostly with people whose characters were walking weapons, and numbers. Gender or personality at all hardly mattered.
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Sadly, many people I've played with, a tvtrope character would be an improvment. I've played mostly with people whose characters were walking weapons, and numbers. Gender or personality at all hardly mattered.
Now see, that's a group where you make them all play warforged, and bam - they're playing perfect! ^_-
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I run a lot of starter groups at my college and my rule of thumb has usually been to play your gender the first time through till you get comfortable with the rules, setting, and environment of the gaming table a lot of people aren't really experienced in rp'ing quite yet and flipping gender's can be a bit more then they realize their first time. Now what gets interesting is when you get transgender players at the table or heavy roleplayers at the table. Usually after a couple of months they get the whole game down and I start to open up the option of other genders and what not if they want it and I think they can pull it off without a face palm.
Although, there are some who are a natural fit for half-orcs with their complete immersion for the role by displaying a lack of common sense and personal hygiene, though ...
No, you are thinking Goblins...
As far as playing a member of the sex you aren't biologically, well, honestly it isn't that much different from playing a person attracted to a different sex than you are attracted to. When was the last time you played a Lesbian & how did that affect her 'voice' OP? (This statement of course pre-supposes you are not a Lesbian in real life). By & large, for adventurers that main difference between the sexes is going to be who you want to spend your R & R with. (yes I know pregnancy & other factors do affect action. I'm just saying if you are an adventurer, you probably aren't worrying about those factors anyway.)
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Now see, that's a group where you make them all play warforged, and bam - they're playing perfect! ^_-
+100
I needed to comment on this one just so I could favorite it more than once.
I've probably played as many female characters as male ones. The gender thing doesn't bother my groups in the slightest.
The trick is think above the biological gender, and just worry more about the character itself. Try not to play up over-sexualized stereotypes and just do what the character would do. Most of my female characters tend to be influenced by Ripley from Aliens, or Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 anyway. If I make a female character, it's only because that's how I see the character in my head. I've tried forcing an opposite gender on character concepts and it just doesn't work for me; if I'm seeing a female, then that is who that character is.
Having gender-appropriate minis helps other players remember, just in case you are having trouble effectively selling your character in play.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I've played females online well enough to a) confuse men and b) confuse women. (I consider the later to be a bigger accomplishment.) At the table top I've been fairly successful.*
REally, part of the key to Any successful PC/NPC is making them believable in the 'real world'. Personality quirks w/o diving into absurdity, maybe some body language, etc.
Amusingly, I've not been able to play a gay character. Lesbian, yeah** but not a gay male.
I was talking to a crossdressing friend once about observing women. I told him that I observed posture, mannerisms, hand gestures, etc. to better bring that to my writing and my table. He replied he did the same, but because he wanted to be that woman.
*
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And as predicted, most of this thread is dealing with the "dudes playing chicks" end. Most gamers are guys, so it is to be expected. Girl gamers out there: any experience playing guys? Any issues with it at the table for you?
My first gaming table was filled with thespians (they were the cast/crew of their high school's production of Little Shop of Horrors one year, and Pippen the next), so the acting part of it was a big thing. They actually joined the local WoD Larp to help hone their acting skills. My first male character with them was a Mage priest who belonged to the Celestial Chorus. He was based off of the character Father Andrew Keirnan in "Stigmata." I ended up only playing him for 3 sessions because the rest of the players couldn't stop playing the "let's get the priest in a precarious situation with a woman" game.
About the sexual fantasy thing, I totally agree with that statement. We had one guy who would play lesbians that were built like him (like a tall dwarf) and he would constantly flirt with the female players. He kept trying to form an IC relationship with the only other chick in the party, who just happened to be married to the DM, three characters in a row. Same game.
This time, I'm trying a Paladin of Saranae who is the Prince Charming Archetype. He's going to be in a party with a pair of (neutral) Orc mercenaries. My characters tend to be either "I don't need a man telling me what do do" for the females and "as you wish" for the males. Is this saying something psychologically about me? How do I get rid of the inherent fruitiness in Prince Charming without him coming off as a jerk?
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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And as predicted, most of this thread is dealing with the "dudes playing chicks" end. Most gamers are guys, so it is to be expected. Girl gamers out there: any experience playing guys? Any issues with it at the table for you?
Anecdotially (Should have mentioned this, sorry) a friend I was playing with was running a male bard. I was keeping track of her character, calling him him and her her. The others at the table kept forgetting that she was playing a he, clear to the point of flirting with 'him'.
Ironically I didn't have that issue, because I was playing a 'Jack Harkness' style omnisexual, and she was basing her bard off of Jack Sparrow. So we had two Jacks. :-)
I should note also she was the exception. While most (not all) the guys would take a female PC out for a spin, she was the only one of the 4 girls who played a guy. Of course of all the 'guys playing girls' we GMed too, so maybe that's why we were more comfortable with it.
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Cranewings: Just because that is your own experience (and one that is admittedly shared by many other groups) does not mean that it is the case for all groups.
I believe that's what Orthos was getting at when he said you were 'wrong'. Your commentary implied that your point of view was the case categorically (i.e. in all cases at all tables). Since there are examples of both tables and groups where this is not an issue, and tables where it is that logically means that neither extreme is true. Any claim stating that one extreme is categorically true is easily proven false by evidence of opposing viewpoints.
Yes.
If you do not produce as much estrogen as a woman, my brain will not automatically associate your words and actions with those of a woman. You are deliberately creating another barrier between the table and the imagination by insisting that we filter you through a feminine filter. It is a waste.
And again, I feel a bit of pity for you and your group's lack of imagination in that case, as it's never been an issue for any groups I've ever played in.
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And as predicted, most of this thread is dealing with the "dudes playing chicks" end. Most gamers are guys, so it is to be expected. Girl gamers out there: any experience playing guys? Any issues with it at the table for you?
Yes I play male characters sometimes maybe one in four. I have never had issues with guys when I play male characters, other than they sometimes forget it is a male character but pretty rarely. Normally only for the first few game sessions before i get a chance to fully establish the characters personality.