From: ian (i.) gorlick (igorlick@nortel.ca)
Date: Tue 10 Sep 1996 - 23:54:00 EEST
Marion Anderson:
Hi, please do not go back to lurking. That was an interesting post. This group
could use more female input.
I used a poor phrase in my post. I should not have said "Players with female
characters in Glorantha should have to put up with menstrual
cramps, pregnancy, and sexual discrimination." I should have said "Players with
female characters in Glorantha should have to DEAL WITH menstrual cramps, etc."
There is a very significant difference. The second allows for methods of
preventing or mitigating the problems. However it avoids blithely assuming that
the problems don't exist which was my real concern.
I too play for FUN. My definition of fun has evolved a lot over the years. It
includes dealing with life's problems. I want my world to be a bit gritty
because if you take out all the grit you'll be left with pap. I don't want to
play in a universe by Walt Disney where everything is clean and wonderful.
It is an unfair fact of life that the burdens of sexuality fall more heavily on
females than on males. If we ignore this aren't we in some way diminishing the
female-ness of the characters? Sure they can take precautions to avoid most of
the problems, but they must actually take the precautions we don't just assume
that the problems don't exist.
You suggest that males should be worrying about prostate enlargement. You are
correct. Unfortunately most PCs won't remain active adventurers long enough to
be at much risk. Most of them will escape this plague by dying early. Any idea
what the actual incidence rate is and how it correlates with age?
As for the Lunar Governor, my impression is that Sor-Eel is a good enough
diplomat and familiar enough with barbarians and nomads that he will take filthy
fingernails in stride. On the other hand, there are other fastidious nobles who
might be much more excitable. There definitely is some low comedy possible
there. I'll see what I can come up with.
- -Who's that?
- -Must be the Lunar Governor.
- -How can you tell.
- -He hasn't got shit all over him.
Okay, it has been done before. I happen to find 'Monty Python and the Holy
Grail' and 'Life of Brian' to be good inspirations for material about medieval
and ancient societies. In part because they don't shy away from the nasty bits,
they don't romanticise.
I agree that one can get too gritty and end up with the story line wallowing in
shit instead of going anywhere. I am not counselling that. I want the grittiness
to be part of the background reality. It doesn't have to be called into the
foreground very often, just enough to remind people it is there and to keep the
world feeling real.
Sure, you don't want your character being immobilized by female problems when
there is adventuring to be done. And there is no reason she should be. You can
probably roleplay enough of female reality that there is no call for a GM to
ever give you such an instruction. On the other hand, don't you think that a
male playing a female character might learn a bit about the other sex if such an
inconvenience were inflicted on him? Only once or twice, mind you, it would
reduce MGF to overdo it. The objective is to encourage understanding, not to
inflict punishment.
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