My thoughts on the transgender npc
Maximvs
Member Posts: 94
First of all, most people are blowing things out of proportion. It's almost nothing... however...
The complaint in itself is right. It is not roleplay, it does not reflect the world of dungeon and dragon. A transgender person is someone that has a problem they cannot solve since as early as age 5. Now, if you are a DM, you sit at a table, books open, dice ready, and you invite a transgender person to play, who will that person play, the sex that person is in now, or the sex that person wants to be? The answer is the latter. That is why we only see gay or lesbians in DnD, never transgender.
There's some cursed belt but that's it, and it's just in the game as a joke to freak out players a little, nothing more.
This game does not deserve a rating of 0 just for that little oversight, of course. As previously stated, this is overblown. It's a troll wave/joke we've seen on Fallout 4, Dragon Age and Mass effect forums, and this troll wave will rear it's ugly head for many games to come.
The complaint in itself is right. It is not roleplay, it does not reflect the world of dungeon and dragon. A transgender person is someone that has a problem they cannot solve since as early as age 5. Now, if you are a DM, you sit at a table, books open, dice ready, and you invite a transgender person to play, who will that person play, the sex that person is in now, or the sex that person wants to be? The answer is the latter. That is why we only see gay or lesbians in DnD, never transgender.
There's some cursed belt but that's it, and it's just in the game as a joke to freak out players a little, nothing more.
This game does not deserve a rating of 0 just for that little oversight, of course. As previously stated, this is overblown. It's a troll wave/joke we've seen on Fallout 4, Dragon Age and Mass effect forums, and this troll wave will rear it's ugly head for many games to come.
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Comments
“The elf god Corellon Larethian is often seen as androgynous or hermaphroditic, for example, and some elves in the multiverse are made in Corellon’s image. You could also play a female character who presents herself as a man, a man who feels trapped in a female body, or a bearded female dwarf who hates being mistaken for a male. Likewise, your character’s sexual orientation is for you to decide.”
just because you don't see us on tv, doesn't mean we don't exist.
i do feel that including a transgender character does increase visibility. i also feel that the way it was done was a bit clumsy.
i ALSO feel that the only people who actually have any right to have an opinion on this matter are the people who are ACTUALLY affected by this, namely: transgender people, so you can go ahead and disregard this last paragraph
The kind of people that would care if a fictional god, in a fictional setting was androgynous are not the type to play DND.
Second of all, Yes, in a world where magic exists, and wizards can cast polymorph, Druids can turn into animals, and Dragons can have half human offspring, I have difficulty imagining a transgender person who wouldnt immedately just ask a wizard for a potion or a spell to turn them into the gender they feel that they are.
Especially with a game that has a belt that switches your gender.
Third, Its not the fact that the cleric is trans thats the problem. Its the hamfisted way you find out. You walk up to them and within 5 seconds of talking, find out they're trans. Its shitty writing and should not be praised.
https://forums.beamdog.com/uploads/editor/ee/58090k0epzab.jpg
That is a picture from the 1st edition d&d book
Your "transgender doesn't exist in d&d" guess is wrong
The person who suggested you might not get the idea of roleplay may be correct
Have a nice day
Can I get a fleshed out example from 3.5 edition or less, within forgotten realm lore books or novel, excluding this game forum, of a transgender NPC?
This fifth edition is weird. It is not the work of Ed Greenwood, but a travesty of it ( pun intended lol ). Excuse me for being a purist or something, but back in the real, Ed Greenwood days, his world had zero social justice warrior thing going on. There were a few gay and lesbians here and there, and nobody hated them for what they were. Nobody blinked an eye.
There is no "transsexual identity", there is only transsexuals and what they want is either a male or female indentity.
Then there are intergender people who doesnt feel comfortable being labeled as either, but they are not transsexual.
The issue with the transgender writing in SoD is that it is written in a way no actual transgender person would ever behave, and that is horribly offensive.
The people I know who takes the most offense with SJW are the people they are trying to "protect" simply because of the fact that it's belitteling of them to think they need some sort of special care.
All they want is respect and recognition, not limelight.
If anything this whole "controversy" has just shown me that people just really suck at truly understanding how non cis individuals actually feel and perceive themselves. And yes, I am speaking from experiance, not as a trans, but I'm still non-cis and socialize with alot of other non-cis individuals. The fact that I have to even use a word like non-cis is repulsive to me, but that is the world we live in.
second of all, if someone wants to play a transgender ftm purple-haired, blue-skinned half-pixie, that's entirely their choice.
have you ever seen a transgender ftm purple-haired, blue-skinned half-pixie in a novel or a source book? maybe not. does that mean they don't or can't exist in your (the player's) mind? nope.
Beyond that, I don't know what to tell you. I'm certainly not going to jump through hoops because you add qualifiers to the example you're asking for - it's there, it's canon, it goes back to 1st Edition with Corellon and is in 5th Edition now. You don't have to like it, for whatever arbitrary reasons you claim, but it'll still be there.
One playthrough I got a sex change while fighting the wild-magic imps in Watcher's Keep so I had to finish the game as a different gender. I did however keep the same name.
As somebody who played the original BG, back in '99/2000, I have felt there were some elements of the EE that did not belong. I was not a fan of Neera, she seemed completely out of place with her dialogue and arc. It felt shoehorned in, and did not warm me to her, as she acted very much like a number of people I am no longer friends with.
This, however, seems to be a deliberate attempt to force players to think like certain people involved with the expansion want them to. If you don't, and if you express your dislike of it, you are automatically labelled a terrible person who engages in harassment, and compels Dee Pennyway to run to Anita Sarkeesian for backup.
As a true and loyal fan, my suggestion is simple. Stop trying to force your own brand of politically correct gaming onto people who simply want to have a fun time. If it bothers you that much, go make a new game, but your indoctrination is not welcome among most of the community here.
There's no phantom opponent, as you put it. If there were SJWs playing this game at the beginning, you would've heard about it by now. Why would they play something they find so obviously offensive?
These people will go out of their way to be offended by anything they can. And they will flip-flop like a politician to try and manipulate others.
Speaking as a DM, really, that's what I tend to take issue with more than anything. If you are deliberately setting out to make a character who is transgendered, you are almost (keyword: ALMOST) always doing it for the attention of having a transgendered character. Now, I don't believe for a moment that it is somehow impossible to create a transgendered character in D&D and to play it well, to do so without making the transgendered nature of the character the core and sole aspect of them.. for that matter, I imagine they'd have the skill and tact to outright avoid having their transgendered nature highlighted. However, the vast majority of people who are going to do so? They're doing it with the intent of making some kind of gesture or display of it.
Forget 5E. That's from ADnD 1E.
Reposted from a previous thread, I posted it on.
(@Aaezil A heads-up would have been appreciated.
As for the argument: "He's a god, he's using magic, it doesn't count", if it's fine to have such a god in the Realms plus magic items or spells that change your gender, then people with NO access to such spells or items (for various reasons) would try to change their gender mundanely.
It's exactly the same thing.
It's arguing that there is no flint and steel because there is magic around to light things on fire.
Or that there are no medics around with healing kits because Clerics.
It's absurd.