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.
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.
Powered by hypermail