Gender stat mods?

[alloowishus]

THis is not really rolemaster specific, but I wonder if there should be gender stat mods? I suppose I am opening up a can of worms, but when RPGs were created I would say at 99% of the players were male (as is evidenced by all the crits in RM using "he/him" instead of "they"). Now I am male myself, but there some physiological facts that are unavoidable. I am thinking at the least you could have a -5 Strength mod for Females and maybe a +5 intuition mod (not exactly physiological, just my experience. :).

[QuirkyBirky]

Big can of worms. Go with what feels right for your players and your game, but remember thet PCs tend to be better than the average person, regardless of gender.

Rolemaster players generally get to assign their stats anyway, so if the player wants a female character with high strength then so be it (why not? Brienne of Tarth was one tough cookie). If they don't feel it's right then they can assign one of their lower rolls.

[alloowishus]

Big can of worms. Go with what feels right for your players and your game, but remember thet PCs tend to be better than the average person, regardless of gender.

Rolemaster players generally get to assign their stats anyway, so if the player wants a female character with high strength then so be it (why not? Brienne of Tarth was one tough cookie). If they don't feel it's right then they can assign one of their lower rolls.

Yes, but based on the fact that there are racial stat mods, gender stat mods seems to make sense. For instance a 100 Strength for a halfing is not the same as a 100 strength for a Human, hence the modification. So equally, a 100 strength for a female would not be the same as a 100 strength for a male.

[JohnD]

Remember we currently are living in clown world on steroids.

Do what's right for your game and who gives a crap what anyone not in your game thinks.

[GunnarGreybeard]

Remember we currently are living in clown world on steroids.

Do what's right for your game and who gives a crap what anyone not in your game thinks.

^ ^ This ^ ^

Also, IIRC, Rolemaster has a Build/Frame rating broken down into Male/Female but I'm not sure it alters any stats. I know the HârnMaster RPG uses height and then a body size/frame modifier that affects a character’s weight, which in turn affects strength and agility. Smaller/lighter body leans towards less strength but higher agility while a bigger/heavier body leans towards more strength but less agility. If needed you could co-opt and rewrite something like that or just make your own adjustments.

[ChrisRevocateur]

Said tendencies are FAR from universal, thus the reason RPGs dropped them. But if that's what works for your game, then go ahead and do it.

[QuirkyBirky]

Yes, but based on the fact that there are racial stat mods, gender stat mods seems to make sense. For instance a 100 Strength for a halfing is not the same as a 100 strength for a Human, hence the modification. So equally, a 100 strength for a female would not be the same as a 100 strength for a male.

The significant difference with halfling stat modifiers and gender stat modifiers is that there are far fewer halflings in the real world to be offended.

The bottom line is that it's your game, your table, your players. As long as you're not upsetting anyone in your group then go with what feels right for your game.

[srbongo]

As long as you're not upsetting anyone in your group then go with what feels right for your game.

This. It seems like a question for either your group or the folks who created the system.

[damned]

Big can of worms. Go with what feels right for your players and your game, but remember thet PCs tend to be better than the average person, regardless of gender.

Rolemaster players generally get to assign their stats anyway, so if the player wants a female character with high strength then so be it (why not? Brienne of Tarth was one tough cookie). If they don't feel it's right then they can assign one of their lower rolls.

There is some sort of bell curve distribution across any large enough sample size of most measures.
Most people are somewhere in the middle.
But there are definitely differences in where different sexes are likely to appear on the scale in some attributes.
Others not so much.



THis is not really rolemaster specific, but I wonder if there should be gender stat mods? I suppose I am opening up a can of worms, but when RPGs were created I would say at 99% of the players were male (as is evidenced by all the crits in RM using "he/him" instead of "they"). Now I am male myself, but there some physiological facts that are unavoidable. I am thinking at the least you could have a -5 Strength mod for Females and maybe a +5 intuition mod (not exactly physiological, just my experience. :).

(Depending on your source) Genders do not make biological differences.
Sex makes biological differences.
Perhaps the Female bonus would be in Agility or Empathy?

[QuirkyBirky]

There is some sort of bell curve distribution across any large enough sample size of most measures.
Most people are somewhere in the middle.
But there are definitely differences in where different sexes are likely to appear on the scale in some attributes.
Others not so much.

Without a doubt and I wouldn't try and argue otherwise. However, we are talking about a fantasy setting where you already have to suspend disbelief for the magical and fantastic side of things. It doesn't take much to ignore these gender differences - as I mentioned above, we're talking about heroic adventurers who are better than the average person (characters with 100 strength, or 18/00 in D&D, assuming my D&D terms of reference aren't wildly out or date, are pretty unique individuals, regardless of gender).

As I keep saying though, it's down to the group who are playing it. If you want female characters then they need to be playable and not at a disadvantage from the start - balance a strength penalty with an agility bonus, so they aren't penalised in combat skills. My own group has remained the same (more or less) since the mid 1980's. We're all male, have played dozens of different systems and I don't recall this being an issue in all that time, and female characters do get played from time to time - in fact one of my players currently has a female barbarian fighter.

[damned]

Without a doubt and I wouldn't try and argue otherwise. However, we are talking about a fantasy setting where you already have to suspend disbelief for the magical and fantastic side of things. It doesn't take much to ignore these gender differences - as I mentioned above, we're talking about heroic adventurers who are better than the average person (characters with 100 strength, or 18/00 in D&D, assuming my D&D terms of reference aren't wildly out or date, are pretty unique individuals, regardless of gender).

In the stats that do differ between sexes it tends to be at the extremes that they really differ...


As I keep saying though, it's down to the group who are playing it. If you want female characters then they need to be playable and not at a disadvantage from the start - balance a strength penalty with an agility bonus, so they aren't penalised in combat skills. My own group has remained the same (more or less) since the mid 1980's. We're all male, have played dozens of different systems and I don't recall this being an issue in all that time, and female characters do get played from time to time - in fact one of my players currently has a female barbarian fighter.

Im pretty sure you quoted half of my reply and left of the part where I said
Perhaps the Female bonus would be in Agility or Empathy?

[QuirkyBirky]

In the stats that do differ between sexes it tends to be at the extremes that they really differ...

Im pretty sure you quoted half of my reply and left of the part where I said
Perhaps the Female bonus would be in Agility or Empathy?

I did only quote half your reply (apologies), partly because you were replying to the original poster, so it didn't feel right to include it in my response, but yes I was agreeing with you in terms of agility. Not so much with empathy, if I'm honest, not because it's right (which it probably is) but more about game balance - an agility bonus at least makes up for a strength penalty in terms of combat skills whereas empathy would steer the character in a particular direction. If I was female I guess I'd be more inclined to play female characters than male, but I wouldn't be happy if I was penalised for doing so. So for me, it's not necessarily about realism, but about gameplay - RPGs are about escaping the real world and all the nonsense that comes with it. If it's an all male group then it's a moot point.

We've all got opinions though and that's just my take on things and I'll get off my high horse (and try not to fumble the roll in the process).