> Now, most Gloranthan cultures seem pretty conservative (except maybe the
> Lunars) -- should I expect hard times for my character? In Prax? In Pavis?
>
Like most pre-modern societies, I imagine that most of Glorantha is pretty conservative. But that just means that they are relatively resistant to changing the way they do things, not that they are conservative in the way that, say, modern Americas or Germans or Italians would recognize. Most Gloranthan socieies, after all, have good historical reasons for thinking that people who suggest new things are going to cause trouble sooner or later (see: the 1st Age and the 2nd Age). So, whatever lines each Gloranthan culture draws around sex, gender, sexuality, etc are probably going to be inflexible in places and flexible in others, and those places will be different from where our modern societies draw them. How much attention you want to pay to this depends largely on what interests the players and where their comfort zones are.
How much trouble your character gets into because of the gender change is up to you and your GM. Will the change be permanent? Does the idea of playing out the character's situation entertain you? Should it be played for laughs? Played as a barrier to be overcome? A learning experience? Is the character geographically limited, and therefore has to constantly deal with people who know her as "that woman who used to be a man?" or is the champaign a "group of adventurers wander around the world?" Was the change caused by a god? Hostile magic? Screwing around with Secrets People Were Not Meant to Know? How this works is pretty much up to you.
I realize that this may not be particularly satisfactory, but I don't think there is a really hard and fast answer. I mean, if you aren't enjoying having your character's gender changed and the stories that result from it, then your GM is kind of a jerk, right? If you are, and the stories that get told as a result make you and the rest of your gaming group happy, it's all good, right? I have plenty of ideas about how gender roles and sexual orientation work in 16th centrury Sartar, where my current game is placed, and those ideas are heavily influenced by the kinds of stories my players enjoy (which are affected by my players genders and sexual orientations and life experiences, etc.). I am not sure a long treatise on "Homosexuality, Gender Roles, and My Sartar" will help you or anyone else, and I don't really care to write it and then be told "I'm doing it wrong."
Gender, sexual attraction, and related topics are so personal that this is an area where "your Gloratha Ought to Vary" should probably be the rule.
In my opinion.
Peter Larsen
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