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11 months ago ::
Jul 24, 2012 - 10:09AM
#11
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Date Joined:
Mar 28, 2012
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Given how casual Zil are with their gods, I doubt that they would be any more regimented with their dalliances.
True enough, I tend to see them as very 'casual' in everything they do, including their intrigues, of course Gnomes are sort of formal even when casual anyway.
I think they mostly have liberal views on 'love', though they mightn't see marriage as very important to a concept of love. Of course it might be painted over to look more important, but in the end it's a part of their great games.
At least, that's my view of things-... Probably not all that accurate, but hey, I like to think of Zil Gnomes as having a very tactical view of things, when their emotions don't get the better of them.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 24, 2012 - 6:59PM
#12
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I would take it that the basic POV most people have is 'it's none of my business how consenting adults spend their free time'. Some individuals, of course, will have varying views of varying intensities.
Another day, another three or four entries to my Ignore List.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 25, 2012 - 12:22AM
#13
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Date Joined:
Jan 21, 2012
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I would take it that the basic POV most people have is 'it's none of my business how consenting adults spend their free time'. Some individuals, of course, will have varying views of varying intensities.
This. Eberron has an incredible pileup of political, conspiratorial, terrifying intrigue and problems. Like Australia and the proportion of animals that will kill you, except with organized groups and the proportion of groups that are part of the "let me get my string" issues. Does it really need codified homophobia, too?
I'm not going to take this on from a well-reasoned setting-specific-based perspective, because other posters have already done that very nicely. I'm coming at it from the this is a game-enjoyment perspective: Unless there's is a good reason to include a significant level of social/legal marginalization or persecution, why do it? Does leaving it low-key detract from the quality of richness of the setting? I think not. Does including it enrich the setting? I think not. The suspension of disbelief required to envision a society with less homophobia than the real world is not onerous, and I don't think it's so unrealistic as to be calling on the power of the MST3K Mantra to deal with it. If the world was sunshine and kittens and nobody at all cared about what other people did in the bedroom at all, it'd be time to call bullshit. If it's not high on the list of concerns, that's plenty plausible. If we can buy into a world with elemental airships, we can buy into a world where homophobia is less common. The inclusion of some issue keeps it making sense, but the inclusion of a lot primarily serves to make the game less fun. It's a game. How about not doing that?
(Full disclosure: As the player of the female-attracted elf sailor Thuranni rogue who thinks another character's almost-stepmother is nice to look at, who asked this question in the first place, I might be biased.)
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11 months ago ::
Jul 25, 2012 - 2:32AM
#14
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Date Joined:
Jan 12, 2012
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This. Eberron has an incredible pileup of political, conspiratorial, terrifying intrigue and problems. Like Australia and the proportion of animals that will kill you, except with organized groups and the proportion of groups that are part of the "let me get my string" issues. Does it really need codified homophobia, too?
I'm not going to take this on from a well-reasoned setting-specific-based perspective, because other posters have already done that very nicely. I'm coming at it from the this is a game-enjoyment perspective: Unless there's is a good reason to include a significant level of social/legal marginalization or persecution, why do it? Does leaving it low-key detract from the quality of richness of the setting? I think not. Does including it enrich the setting? I think not. The suspension of disbelief required to envision a society with less homophobia than the real world is not onerous, and I don't think it's so unrealistic as to be calling on the power of the MST3K Mantra to deal with it. If the world was sunshine and kittens and nobody at all cared about what other people did in the bedroom at all, it'd be time to call bullshit. If it's not high on the list of concerns, that's plenty plausible. If we can buy into a world with elemental airships, we can buy into a world where homophobia is less common. The inclusion of some issue keeps it making sense, but the inclusion of a lot primarily serves to make the game less fun. It's a game. How about not doing that?
(Full disclosure: As the player of the female-attracted elf sailor Thuranni rogue who thinks another character's almost-stepmother is nice to look at, who asked this question in the first place, I might be biased.)
Sure, and normally my position is 'No one has an issue with it.' If a player in one of my games wants to play a homosexual character then I don't see any reason their life should be harder for it, unless that's part of the reason they wanted to play a homosexual character.
But, I sort of assume that everyone else agrees that's the default position. So if someone asks if there are social barriers or stigmas attached to sexual identity, then I assume its somehow integral to their character or they are interested in how whatever culture would react. I don't think it should be stated either way in the actual books, because its largely irrelevant, but if someone wants to explore the idea with their character then maybe I'll decide that suddenly there's a lot of closet homosexuals in Rekkenmark because maybe that will be interesting.
So for my part, the only reason I expanded on theoretical attitudes and practices regard homosexuality is because someone asked the question and I assumed they were interested in the conflict that would generate. Playing a gay character fighting against the social stigma's of the Karrnathi military might be interesting to some people.
By all means though, there's no reason to bring it up as an issue if its just going to make the player feel uncomfortable.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 26, 2012 - 7:02AM
#15
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So, I thought this might fall into an interesting point, sort of a point. A game I'm playing in, not in Eberron, that similar discussions have occurred in game. The setting is a friends homebrew and the game is about a bunch of performers, only one Bard though, that seem to have stumbled into a dangerous plot.
In the game the Party NPC is very open, nudge nudge, wink wink, follower of a god of love. One of the players is playing a character that is noble from a country that is a bit closed minded, even prudish. Now the dynamic is not simply homophobic. The noble character doesn't think that same sex relationships should happen and gets flustered when the NPC has to put his hands on him in any fashion other than healing and costuming. These are performers. Clearly, homophobic, but the two characters are clearly friends have risked their lives for one another, the whole group really, know secrets of the other.
Now in the setting the DM has established countries and cities where same sex relationships are accepted, doesn't matter who you do it with as long as its consenting, and places where they would run you out of town for the same. These places are known for still burning "witches", so yeah.
These are known facets of the world, they add a small layer of character to these countries and cities but are nowhere near the focus of the game. For the most part, if I didn't game with this particular set of "perverts" it probably wouldn't even be a facet of the world. It all really depends on who your playing with and what their comfortable with.
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11 months ago ::
Jul 27, 2012 - 5:07AM
#16
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Date Joined:
Apr 20, 2010
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In a setting that leaves so many important things open, like the cause of the mourning, I sincerely hope no official position on controversial social issues that make people fight and label others as intolerants -sometimes with double standards and forgetting that everyone is entitled to freedom of opinion, which is a human right- as this one is adopted. For instance, the reference to Leviticus and the need of having a high population as the reason that led to the consideration of homosexual acts as sinful mentioned by a previous poster is contradicted by other opinions, as Paul of Tarsus'.
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10 months ago ::
Aug 27, 2012 - 9:14PM
#17
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Date Joined:
Sep 23, 2006
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Greetings, all. One of my players asked me a question that I had no idea about: What is the legal and social standing of homosexuality in Eberron?
 
Members of Eberron's LGBT community are equal to every other sentient being on that world...as servants of the Dreaming Dark.
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10 months ago ::
Aug 29, 2012 - 4:12PM
#18
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I think the only answer that everyone agrees on is that there is no "official" stance anywhere in the lore. Therefore, like anything else that isn't stated in the lorebooks, you're free to decide for yourself what the gay culture is like in Khorvaire. That could be anything from a complete non-issue to a major deal that becomes part of the storyline.
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