Roleplaying

/thread

Research user. There is so much bloody research on how women think and the chemical components that change their behavior. Along with things like brain structure and more. It's not too difficult to model the differences using the research we have access to.

Have you never lived near a woman or seen them interact?

Brothers might rough house and sisters might play house but they still support each other and do what they can to help one another out.

Largely it's dependent on their culture, but women tend to bond easier then men and protect each other (especially younger women and girls) because most cultures have societal norms that make them easily preyed upon. They tend toward privacy for the same reasons.

There's honestly too many variables to just list and explain over Veeky Forums, but if you want to practice just play like you normally do, just say she's a woman and try to think critically in social situations.

That would just be a skin deep level view though. The real question one should be asking is less what they do and more why they do it. Then transplant the general thought processes with what would be the logical end in the world they are in.

Ideally yes, but I'm not about to try to educate a grown man about why women think the way they think while what are likely to be a troupe of Cro-Magnons discuss why women should have a limit on how high their strength score will go.

It's a nuanced topic, and this medium and the people in it aren't receptive to that kind of thing, so this is the easy answer.

Drop the dogma that men and women are equal in every way, shape or form. Use common sense from that point onward.

Women themselves don't really know why they think they way they do. It's why I always recommend reading neurology papers on them. You won't get an accurate viewpoint if you just ask them because they'll only know how they rationalize the end results. Not an accurate viewpoint on how those results were formed or how. Basically what I'm saying is if someone wants a accurate female character they need a neurology degree.

If you have to ask questions like this then you are completely unqualified to do anything regarding women, least of all play as them.

Isn't that being a little harsh? It is difficult to roleplay a perspective you aren't familiar with and it's just fact that women experience life differently than men do.

Without asking the question how else would you learn?

No, it's very much not needing of a degree.

There is a degree of instinct involved, the same way a butterfly doesn't know why the hell it's flying where it is when it's migrating when it wont even live to see the destination, it just does. As sapient creatures however it's pretty simple to explain certain behaviors.

The reason why women go to the bathroom together is to protect one another with numbers in an unfamiliar environment, which is both instinct and a conscious decision many women make, especially if they feel uncomfortable.

The reason why someone might not explain what is upsetting them is because humans are social creatures and we actually say more with our body language then with our words, and being unable to pick up on that is not ideal in a mate, or at least it wasn't when such things were more necessary, and stepping away from the instinct explanation it displays that you are either ignorant or do not care about what is upsetting her.

Granted, we are able to break these instincts, and many people do through communication, ect.

But they aren't alien fish people. They are people, just as simple and just as complex as any given man. They have wants and needs, hopes and fears like anybody else. Just because a setting, whether it be fiction or historical, treats them a certain way or places them in a particular social standing doesn't mean they are suddenly this incomprehensible thing.

That is true, but much of what you're asking can be solved with simple life experiences. Granted, we're on Veeky Forums where that is few and far between which is why I tried not to dismiss you.

There is a bit of truth to what user is saying though, because it's not something you can really just explain to someone and they get it. You have to understand the thought processes and even the life experiences that result in their decision making from one moment to another.

Basically this.

Most of the basic rp stuff is exactly the same, it's just small situational things that make the real differences.

Go outside. Read books. Talk to people (or if that is too much to ask then simply listen to them). You will find more than a few commonalities between men and women, enough so that roleplaying as one or another is essentially the same thing.

fpbp, as is often the case.

My female character jumped at any chance to have a proper bath, but that was less to do with her being female and more to do with her growing up on the sea-side and living in a city were a bath wasn't as hard to come by as it is in the wilderness.

Well, that plus the manga influences that my DM never picked up on. I wanted a Hot Springs/Beach Episode, dammit. We BOTH of us each own the complete collection of Love Hina manga, there was really no excuse for him to not realize it.

It was even Horde of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat! The hot springs could have in the end turned out to have been heated by a dragon and all our character have to fight the dragon while preserving our dignity.

Would have been great.

in the words of ''As Good as it Gets'' take away reason and accountability.

That's just surface level though. It doesn't explain things like how they'll change their behavior if they are in a different part of their cycle. Or the other fascinating ways in which their behavior goes an utter 180.

While it is possible to get some abstraction via just going by the instincts you can spot it won't really be all that accurate. It's explaining the output. Not the input that causes it.

Humans in general are pretty close to incomprehensible user. Been studying them for thousands of years and only now are we starting to get a decent grasp the basics of how the brain and hormones effect behavior.

>What makes a female character good?

Being male.

Women can't be adventurers (a notoriously physically oriented profession) in any but the most magical realm settings.

Clearly not true

Just think of a man, and then take away reason and accountability.

(You)

Same as any character; motivation, flaws, consistent character rather than just being a vehicle for the player's whims.

The kind of people who'll go off at you for playing a female character "wrong" aren't the kind of people you want to be playing with anyway, so don't worry about it.

>People can do that but I would find it pretty difficult to design that way personally.
Maybe if you have autism or some other inability to think outside strict arbitrary boxes.
With your example of a baron's child maybe their house has fallen from grace and the character is left with no marriage prospects but a goal of earning back glory through action as an adventurer/fighting against the big bad. That can work for either gender with you adapting the specifics as appropriate also considering the setting.
I mean barring very strict gender role and law shit in specific settings most roles or character ideas could fit either gender and even in those cases you can go with the whole "rebelling against norms" shit as long as everyone else goes along with it.

First, think of a man. Then, take away reason and accountability.

fuck off

/thread

crybaby bitch

Dudes don't know why they think the way they do. Most people don't know why they think the way they do. Inherently, humans rationalize from the end result.

A lot of women go to the bathroom together because it's socially acceptable, the lines can be stupid long, it allows for talking about the situation while removed from it, and because they may have other things to do - they might want to check out makeup or anything else.

I've met few women that had drastic mood changes from their period. Most of the drastic mood changes were generally attributed to being super fucking uncomfortable / actively in pain, and thus super fucking short about things.

>Step one: Write a good character
>Step two: Decide their sex afterwards.
That is not how you make a good character. That's how you make bland tripe. Men and women have such distinctly different outlooks and thought processes that it colors everything they do. If you write a character and portray their actions as somehow independent of their sex, you have created a bland pile of nothing.

No they don't user.

>"men and women are very different"
>NUH UHHHH

Found the virgin.

"fuck off" the words of a man who can't think of anything worth saying, and so resorts to a primitive emotional response.

>movie reference
>REEEEEEEEEEEEEE im offended

youtu.be/rNKIjLLZMWs

>all these fucking responses
>100% tendies on both sides

well done.

I don't let players make characters outside of their gender.
If you want to play a tremendous faggot there's little that can be done to stop you, however.

But you don't get to hide it behind imaginary sexual organs.

I would agree to the opinion that females and males tend to be mostly same, and not very different, altough both tend to have different characteristics through different living conditions and standing in society. A beautiful woman will behave very different in front of bunch of guys she wants to manipulate as a not so good looking woman, who might react more like a man in such a scenario.

regarding your question what makes a character good, I would say that you could maybe simple design patterns to the character, like contrasting personality traits, but that would apply to male characters, too. Just try to make an interesting character and try to think about how her upbringing could have shaped her.
Buff males will react more agressivly as bookish wizard type guys, so will attractive females react differently as not so attractive females.
Another idea is to think of traits as more feminine and more masculine, and pick some feminine and some masculine, until you have a believable character.
As an example, in my impression, it is more a masculine trait to be excessively intrenched in a hobby, like tabletop, cars, computers, or collecting things, but it is believable to have a female character exhibit this traits.
on the other side a more feminine trait would be to be expressive and open about their feelings, to the point to sometimes not being able to hold back tears. this is also believable for a male character to have, and also believable for a female character not to have.

>I would agree to the opinion that females and males tend to be mostly same
>opinion
At least you're being honest here. Now tell me what you think about the FACT that men and women are born with different brain structures even before highly influential sexual hormones start influencing the development of the brain.

The reason why there are barely any women in STEM isn't because of some anti-female conspiracy.

Naru Narusegawa is shit. Well, not so much in the manga, but still, SHIT

I'm not here to discuss science and gender politics, I'm here for discussing creating interesting and believable female characters.
If you disgree on the points I made how some people react, sure, go on and tell me what you think about it.

>I'm not here to discuss science and gender politics, I'm here for discussing creating interesting and believable female characters.
>female
And there's the key word. It all depends on whether your definition of "female" is based on biological truths or an egalitarian fantasy.
You can't say you're not interested in discussing science or gender politics when the very crux of the discussion is gender. That's like discussing the Illiad while refusing to talk about ancient Greek: you *can* technically do it, but you'll end up blowing a lot of shit.

Why would you think that knowing how a female brain works would help building a believable character in a game? there is no need to know anything about the brain to understand the reasoning of anybody. You could simply look at behavioural patterns, that's more than enough

So you're saying that the GM should only populate his world with the same sex and build as he is, for otherwise it is wild power-fantasy and faggotry galore?

Because that is, by proxy, what you are saying

>Why would you think tha tknowing how a female individual behaves would help building a believable female character?
Because otherwise we get men with tits.

so no one ever got females right?

Well as long as they have tits it's OK.

Yes.

Say that to my face and not on the internet.

Your gay

So the gist of it is to write them like a regular human, leaning a bit towards them being more socially oriented than normal barring important backstory reasons to the contrary, got it.

The same thing that makes a female anything good.
Dick

No, it is my gay, not your's

>How would a male roleplay a quality female character?
Imagine your mother. You'll get good insight on how to develop her character if you make her the basis.

I'm going to go against the tide of "make them like males" posts and tell you to make them feminine.

Don't make them girly. They don't nemed to go around fainting at the side of blood, wearing frilly pink dresses, and shit like that. But don't make them a female just to play a girl (male). If you're interested in roleplaying games than play a different role than the typical bullshit. Play a mother or a wife, and I mean a mother whose primary focus actually is on their child or a wife whose primary focus assuming your setting is pretty much any time before the 1970s is supporting her husband. It's infinitely more interesting than yet another stronk independent womyn who don't need no man.

Yeah, I only ever read the manga, I haven't seen much of the anime. Of the legal options for Keitaro in the manga (Naru, Otohime, Kitsune), I think Naru was the best.

The big question is if a dedicated wife and mother would leave ever her nest to go adventuring, barring seeking revenge for said family being killed.

>not having your party play one big badass adventuring family

Adventure where it's a group of housewives who've lost their husbands to war that go on a quest to avenge them when?

On the way they have to learn to throw aside their "womanly" lives and try to learn to kick ass

For a less murderhobo example, her son joined the BBEG's cult and she's off to demonstrate that no matter how old he is he's not too old to get bent over her knee if he misbehaves. The party runs into him as part of a band of generic guards, legions of doom, or whatever. For added points, the BBEG's legion of doom just committed some atrocity like razing a village or some shit.

You do realize the character you have as an example of this was created with the "Girl Power" mentality rather than making an interesting character right? Then again Star Wars doesn't exactly have the best characters.

Two things. First, everyone saying "just play her like a man with tits" is wrong. "Girl who is one of the guys and acts just like a man" is not original and hasn't been for decades. Don't go all-out on the girlyness but at least make her a little feminine, moderation is key.

The other thing, and this is so important I'm going to reddit space it so it gets seen...

Whatever you do, DO NOT PLAY A LESBIAN!

No, not even if you're a lesbian in real life, nobody cares. DO NOT PLAY A LESBIAN.

"Bisexual" female characters whose love interest is female are JUST AS BAD. Lesbians are the WORST source of stupid drama and bullshit on Veeky Forums.

Interact with women. Play them as you see them, the good along with the bad.

Fuck off nigger, it's better to ask than to make a cringey character. Your women's studies degree is still just as useless whether or not he asks questions.

>the call of adventure happens
>PC goes to her fireplace, above which her husband's sword is mounted
>After a moments hesitation, she takes a breath, and takes it down
>"Momma"
>she turns about as her son gives her a hug
>"Come back on your feet, ok"
>She pulls back and kisses him on his forehead
>"I will. I promise."
>"Take care of your siblings while I'm gone, ok?"
>"Of course, mom."

Also a good option, and a very interesting change of pace.
The party would end up probably getting treated like gypsies, tho.

He's not wrong. I'm hard-pressed to think of a decent female adventurer that wouldn't be tooth-grindingly annoying to actually adventure with even if they're fun to watch from an outside perspective. Imagine trying to get PAID for quests with Lina Inverse as the party Sorcelock.

Go be triggered somewhere else.

>"Girl who is one of the guys and acts just like a man" is not original and hasn't been for decades.
Originality doesn't mean shit.

Everyone hating on this post has never interacted with a woman and is desperate to pretend men and women are identical to cover that up. Also they all play generic tomboys and Saber Paladin clones.

>I don't let players make characters outside their gender
>players

Honestly, lesbians/bisexuals played by women are worse in my experience, because they'll bring it up for attention.

>"I make out with the barmaid lol" when the male players are talking
>"I have sex with the evil queen. Wait, why do I have to roll? I'm hawt. C'mon pweeeease? :

>t. an uncreative faggot

It means I don't have to sit through your boring-ass Saber clone "stoic masculine personality on a woman warrior" for the umpteenth time.

>he honestly thinks he's ever created anything original in his entire life

Playing a woman as exactly like a man, but with tits, is the easiest route that requires no thought and is only mediocre instead of terrible, so naturally Veeky Forums will recommend it.

There's another easymode way, though. DM a game or two, inevitably there will be female NPCs and you can feel your way into making good ones, even if they're more anime-girl-ish than realistic-girl-ish they'll still be tolerable, and because they're not your one and only character there's less spotlight on them and you can kill them off guilt-free if they're awful. I used to hate writing women until I had to write a spoiled child queen and had a blast with it.

In b4 some wannabe feminist White Knight reeees at you for implying women might do things for attention.

You sound mad about being uncreative. How many "typical masculine personality" female PCs have you made over the years?

>t. Arnold K.
Something unoriginal done well will always be better than something original done shittily. Not that you do either, you gameless faggot.

>if your character has anything in common with anyone ever then you're on the same level as Generic Masculine Personality Lesbian Warrior Chick #6668

Oohhhh, the "you have no games because you disagree with me" defense already? You sure are committed to dying on this hill, to the point where you've projected that any concept that hasn't been done to death is going to be shitty, any characters played by people who disagree with you will be shitty, that your characters are any good in the first place...it's a virtual forest of material to > at. You already know that, though, it's why your posting is so defensive. You know that your mangirls are shit, and you're hoping for a chance to quell that doubt with anger, so instead I'll make a single point and ask a single question.

First, it has never, ever been done well. Female characters with male personalities are boring dreck and always have been. No matter how beautifully you copy it, shit will always be shit.

Secondly, be honest, is your waifu a Saber clone? You're awfully invested in this archetype and, frankly, you sound like you're taking this very personally. Sorry for triggering you, but you'd be a better roleplayer if you at least TRIED.

>x concept is impossible to do well
This is how I know you're shit.

Fucking this. Interacting with 3D women in game brings two types out. Attention whores and the ones who are deliberately bitchy IC because that's what they think roleplaying is. The most likable female PCs I've seen were all played by gay men.

If you're going to play one of the guys, then just play a guy. I'm sick of androgynous womyn. Make a woman character actually feminine, please.

Feminine doesn't mean weak. You can make a strong woman without making them a stronk womyn.

I don't see any counterexamples.

>but muh tomboys!

Tomboys are good because you have to bring OUT their femininity. It was there all along, like the sweet fruit inside the spiny shell of a pineapple.

>Tomboys are good because you have to bring OUT their femininity.
Your tastes are garbage. Just like pineapples.

Not the guy you're arguing with, but I have a polite disagreement on the matter of tomboys. It's also possible to have a tomboy who IS extremely feminine but becomes a tomboy for reasons of how society reacts to her interests or physique. For instance, Brienne of Tarth.

>Just like pineapples.
Now you've gone too far, user. Let's not get carried away.

In what possible sense is Brienne feminine other than being Jaime's side girl?

>I don't see any counterexamples.
What do I win?

The Boss is an excellent tomboy - with traditionally masculine pursuits (she's a soldier for god's sake) and yet she clearly would not work as a male character, her role as both a literal and figurative mother is central and requisite part of her character and the theme of her story.

Still no counterexamples, I see. No, tomboys (and pineapples) aren't my favorite, but at least they're acceptable. Women with actual masculine personalities are pure, absolute trash.

>Still no counterexamples, I see.

You're not very observant, are you.

>Don't post and drink kiddos.
So, drink first, THEN post, right? Gotcha, thanks m8, I've been doing it all wrong.