Sex & Gender

I fully realize that America today seems to be preoccupied with gender. I’m going to go into some detail here so that anyone considering playing in one of my games is fully informed before we get started.

Let me state upfront; there will be no sexual encounters will be roleplayed in my games and campaigns… at least not beyond me identifying NPCs by gender, when that information is relevant, with statements like, “the innkeeper and his wife”, or “you encounter a group of young boys on the street, and one of the attempts to pick your pocket as they swarm around you”.

Physical gender is a primary physical attribute, right up there with height and race. It’s used to describe your character to others, for example, and figures in some game rules and attribute scores. And it’s likely to figure prominently in how NPCs respond to your PC.

There are two – TWO (2) – biological genders in my campaigns – and indeed, in the real world: male and female. If you disagree with that well-established scientific fact, you should consider finding another DM.

For the purpose of character generation, each player will be required to identify one of those TWO genders for their PC – either biologically “male” or biologically “female”.

You are not required to run a male PC if you’re a male, or vice versa. That’s entirely up to you.

The sexual orientation of your PC is obviously quite another matter.

If you decide that your biologically female PC is, for the sake of argument, a lesbian, that’s fine. You might also choose to run a biologically male PC that regularly cross-dresses as a female, in which case I’ll normally treat your PC as a female when interacting with the game setting. Your choice. However, since, as I stated previously, the play of the game will not address sexual situations (at least not to any significant extent) it probably won’t have much relevance.

There may be occasions when a player may decide that their PC will attempt to seduce an NPC for example (short of a sexual encounter, per my stated prohibition) as a perceived advantage, and that’s fine. In that case, you take your chances. There are rules and ability check roles to account for that sort of thing.

This has been my practice throughout my decades as a Dungeon Master, and it’s worked out well. I don’t care what your personal or PC sexual orientation is… really… I don’t care. Just keep it in check at my game table, and in my games and campaigns, based on the perimeters stated above, and we’ll all be just fine. I’ll reciprocate by not pushing my sexuality on you, and won’t disturb your sensibilities by injecting unnecessary sexuality into my games and campaigns.