In most role-playing games, women seem to fall somewhere between "completely equal to men in status and ability" and a sort of compromise between that and traditional historical gender roles, where men have most of the power and perform most of the dangerous and important (non-domestic) jobs, but exceptional women who are on relatively even footing with men are not uncommon. That's a pretty safe, comfortable range that gives everybody the freedom to do what they want, and it's probably best for most campaigns.
But I'm interested in hearing about games where the role of women falls outside this range. Are women in your games little more than chattel? Or maybe they're put on a pedestal but kept safely away from danger? Or do they actually have an advantage over men in terms of status or ability?
Do people play characters of the disadvantaged gender in such games? How does that work out? How do the PCs treat "the lesser sex" in general? Are your players hesitant to fully embrace what they may see as sexist roles, or do they seem to actually relish them?
Note: I couldn't care less about your evaluation of women's capabilities relative to men's in real life. We're talking about role-playing games in fantastical, imaginary worlds here, and that doesn't really apply. I do, however, expect to see plenty of it and ask folks here not to derail the thread arguing against it, but rather to see it as people "getting into character" and espousing an in-game viewpoint.
Also Note: This is sure to get fetishy in short order. That's pretty much unavoidable, given where we are. I just ask that you don't stray too far from the topic at hand, and if that kind of thing bothers you, that you ignore it rather than bickering over it.
I usually go with > a sort of compromise between that and traditional historical gender roles, where men have most of the power and perform most of the dangerous and important (non-domestic) jobs, but exceptional women who are on relatively even footing with men are not uncommon. in most fantasy games. Remember adventurers are exceptional people, so I don't have a problem with "muh stronk empowered womyn" showing up as PCs. There are numerous historical examples of women acting in the IRL capacity of player characters despite most social limitations. So even if women have fairly limited rights in most of the setting, female adventurers are by nature outliers and the fact they've risen above those limits is implicitly part of their character.
I'll throw in socially enforced gender roles and that kind of thing because that's just how human society has always worked. But I won't force anyone who wants to play a woman be 100% beholden to those rules and norms. Mostly because I play a lot of women
That said I don't see this thread leading anywhere good.
Tyler James
>This is sure to get fetishy in short order. No. You know what this will turn into? A cancerous cesspit of arguing and shitposting abut feminism, SJWs and identity politics that will make you wish for a fetish derail.
Jeremiah Mitchell
theres a conan like settings where women are basically nothing but rape meat.
it called gord or something
Grayson Bell
On a related note, is it possible to stray outside of the safe, comfortable default range without it feeling pervy? Also, does the "damsel in distress" shtick seem tired or awkward in this day and age? Do you find yourself tiptoeing around it or do you fully embrace it?
Way to get into character!
Luke Taylor
I think a distressed damsel character would just be annoying more than anything else. No player wants to go rescue someone who's just whiny deadweight. At least I certainly wouldn't.
You can make a captured princess able to handle herself without it coming off as a political statement, you know.
Yeah, it's basically the world that FATAL was written for, only somehow even rapey-er. The fans are just as bad.
Hudson Martin
I like it when my dm uses the damsel in distress thing because it triggers any cunt sjws people may have invited, so we know who not to invite back
Austin Gray
Wasn't that written by some sexually repressed college professor who wrote himself as the main protagonist?
Cameron Russell
>it called gord or something Gor. Yeah, Gor makes me a bit uncomfortable. Most rapey stuff I've come across doesn't come across like the writer thinks that's the way it should actually be. But Gor is certainly an example of a setting where gender roles fall far outside the comfortable default range.
