Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

[phoenix240]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Who's Ravenspeaker?

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Who's Ravenspeaker?

 

A character in the 5e Champions of the North supplement.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Who's Ravenspeaker?

 

A character from the 5th ed edition of Champions of the North. He also makes an appearance in Champions online. Mentioned here due to his liberal attitudes on flirting with either sex on a whim...

[megaplayboy]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

I think teen sexuality, in general, would be harder to deal with from a RP standpoint than any GLBT/polyamorous/interspecies(human-alien)/anthro-cyber(i.e. human-android) issues among adult characters. Even given the fact that most teens lose their virginity while in their teens, and some are active even in their early teens, I could definitely see players being leery of the "To Catch a Predator" vibe of playing a teen PC with a sex life.

[McCoy]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

The player characters I have played in FTF for decades:

 

Cheeta is a male heterosexual horndog.

 

Millennium is male, celibate, and closeted Gay.

 

Snow Leopard is female, heterosexual, and with enhanced senses is aware of just how loudly her biological clock is ticking.

 

Iron Will is twelve.

 

Dolphin is male, openly Gay, and has a "thing" for telepaths. It's not, quite, a fetish.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

I think teen sexuality' date=' in general, would be harder to deal with from a RP standpoint than any GLBT/polyamorous/interspecies(human-alien)/anthro-cyber(i.e. human-android) issues among adult characters. Even given the fact that most teens lose their virginity while in their teens, and some are active even in their early teens, I could definitely see players being leery of the "To Catch a Predator" vibe of playing a teen PC with a sex life.[/quote']

 

This is a good point. While two of the PCs in my wife's off-again-on-again Teen Champs game have girlfriends, there hasn't been even a bit of discussion about that subject, outside of the occasional off-color joke. One of the PCs has probability-manipulation powers, so the jokes about 'getting lucky' are absolutely unavoidable.

[phoenix240]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

I think teen sexuality' date=' in general, would be harder to deal with from a RP standpoint than any GLBT/polyamorous/interspecies(human-alien)/anthro-cyber(i.e. human-android) issues among adult characters. Even given the fact that most teens lose their virginity while in their teens, and some are active even in their early teens, I could definitely see players being leery of the "To Catch a Predator" vibe of playing a teen PC with a sex life.[/quote']

 

I've found it varies but most have played their teenaged characters romantic lives in a very PG/PG-13 way. They're interested in dating, popularirty, that special (or cute) guy or girl at school and the typical social games people play at that age. But generally nothing that would be considered inappropriate (IMO) unless someone was scandalized by PG movies and primetime shows aimed at teens and young adults. Sex has occurred but its been completely "off screen". The repercussions have dealt with and role playing including an unplanned pregnancy in one game a few years ago.

[DusterBoy]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Well, one of my characters, Blue Streak is in a long term relationship with another woman (and Abigail helped Jenna put together the Blue Streak persona), but Jenna doesn't consider herself to be a "lesbian", because she enjoys sex with men too.

[freakboy6117]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

I have a few gay and lesbian characters In my uk hero project.

The proffesor payne a from my late 50's early 60's version of the national team,was gay but closeted and had a realationship with his female teammate Godiva as a cover but ended up being blackmailed by the Russians into being a soy and ended up having to defect to Russia along with a lot of the uks supertech secrets

 

MOe Hawke was a gay punk singer with energy costruct powers who wAs leader of the new burmigham brigade an alternative super team reformed to fight super powered neo Nazis in the mid nineties

Brighton's premier heroine Promenade a teleporting acrobat is openly gay and ended up on the streets because her heavly religious mother disowned her( weather that was due to her sexulity or her superpowers is another story)

 

after prom joins the shining aegis the uk national team she ends up in a long term and very devoted realationship with Roadrage time lost motorbike riding speed energy construct weilding daughter of Newcastles favorite hero Geordie racer

 

other alternate sexualities include princess a exile from a matrichal society of transplanted humans who are the origin of the legendary valkaries she's probably best described as bi coming from a society where males are a limited resource and only used for procreation she considers females as Fun for play but is now enjoying the ready availabilty of males she is very forward and dominate and often picks up attractive members of either sex to. Celbrate victory.

 

Professor black leader if the tower ravens team is asexual though he has no problem in using sex as a tool he's just not really intrested beyond the intellectual level

 

thrope and fortune the Whitechaplians enforcers during the eighties where strongly suspected to be a couple but no one knows for sure.

 

Handy andy a hero with telekinetic powers and a magician like schtick was hounded by the tabloid press as being gay but refused to respond strengthing the rumours but was doing it just to protect his girlfriend fro

his enemies

[dmjalund]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Well' date=' one of my characters, [b']Blue Streak[/b] is in a long term relationship with another woman (and Abigail helped Jenna put together the Blue Streak persona), but Jenna doesn't consider herself to be a "lesbian", because she enjoys sex with men too.

Did she swear a lot?

[McCoy]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Did she swear a lot?

I would have thought the other way, a limited form of mind control that causes others to burn half a phase cussing at her.

[DusterBoy]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Nope. . . . she wears a blue costume and runs really fast. I really didn't think through the implications of that name

[Blue]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

In my original champions campaign there were quite a few girl-on-girl couples, but then we were teenage guys, so it was wish fulfillment. Haven't had anything of the sort in my current campaign, though I consider Bridge to be gay, it's just never come up and may never. She's too secretive around the team, they'd have to pry.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Nope. . . . she wears a blue costume and runs really fast. I really didn't think through the implications of that name

 

Blue Streak is a pretty common name for a speedy character, really. I think I've seen at least 3 over the years.

[Orion]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

In my original champions campaign there were quite a few girl-on-girl couples' date=' but then we were teenage guys, so it was wish fulfillment. [/quote']

 

In my college group (all straight males) there was a definite chicks are better vibe from the GM. He seemed to strongly prefer playing females, and often remade male comic characters into females for the campaign. In 5 years playing in that group I can only remember 2 characters having relationships (1 lesbian, 1 hetero) that impacted the game, and it was very low key. Sexuality just didn't matter. We noted if the characters had significant others, but probably spent less than 10 minutes a week on romance and relationships. Those campaigns, and all my current ones are structured this way - it's about what the hero does at work, not the life of the hero. Adventure, not mundane. I have several characters that I've never even decided if they have parents or siblings, let alone sexual preference, because it just doesn't matter.

 

Both my shapeshifters are bisexual - it just seems a natural fit for them. If I was a shapeshifter, I'd certainly be so. Changling doesn't care about the sex of the partner, just what it may mean for the reputation of that identity, or for ruining/enhancing the reputation of the target. Jeannette (no code names in that campaign) is strictly hetero for whatever form she is wearing at the time, although she changes form more often than her clothes.

 

I've got one female character that is almost ready to experiment with bi-sexuality. She's also poly, into dominance and submission, and has heavy exhibitionist leanings. Another is known a nudist, but is finding superhero publicity to be a major problem for that lifestyle. I'm much more likely to give a character alternate lifestyles than alternate sexuality.

[Gary Miles]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Blue Streak is a pretty common name for a speedy character' date=' really. I think I've seen at least 3 over the years.[/quote']

 

Mine is one of them.

[Querysphinx]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Nope. . . . she wears a blue costume and runs really fast. I really didn't think through the implications of that name

 

Could be worse. Could've been blue paint...

[input.jack]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Im playing Batman in a DC Origins game set in the 60s.

 

Bruce Wayne is a hetero man-tramp.

 

Batman was supposed to be an asexual identity...but I just met Catwoman and that idea just kind of went out the window....

[Jhaierr]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

It's a fun coincidence that you guys have created this thread. Lately I've been thinking about this, but primarily as it relates to the Champions universe. It seems like canon gay characters barely exist at all. The only character writeup that mentions being gay is Hydro (which thankfully has been pointed out to me by people here). Justiciar is gay as well, but it seems to only be mentioned in other characters' writeups -- almost like the text mentioning his sexuality in his writeup was removed or is missing (sounds paranoid, but it really does read like that -- the writeups assume you already know this fact).

 

The thing is, since I'm a gay guy myself, I always look for LGB characters in anything I read or watch -- I can't help it. And if I don't find any LGB characters in tons and tons of supplements, I find that to be... well, at the very least lacking in verisimilitude. When there are only two characters out of hundreds with writeups that are described as being LGB (and one of those only indirectly), I feel that LGB characters are being ignored. Maybe not intentionally, but nevertheless ignored. We have a huge variety of character backgrounds (e.g., countries of origin, religions, ethnicities) represented, but virtually no LGB characters at all. Meanwhile, in Marvel and DC comics, there are many such characters, and I can easily find many other LGB characters in other roleplaying systems' source material. So I am a little frustrated with Hero Games's lack of inclusion. In my mind it would be like having no superheroes of color, or just a dozen or so scattered throughout other supplement books. I'd say if you are creating superhero writeups, about 1 in 12 of them should be lesbian or gay -- otherwise it's just not "realistic." Doesn't even have to be that many, really.

[Greywind]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

I've been thinking that in CO Red Snake is gay. He has a male secretary...

[Karmakaze]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

In my mind it would be like having no superheroes of color' date=' or just a dozen or so scattered throughout other supplement books. I'd say if you are creating superhero writeups, about 1 in 12 of them should be lesbian or gay -- otherwise it's just not "realistic." Doesn't even have to be that many, really.[/quote']

 

It has been pointed out that, for a team set in the reconstruction of Detroit, the Champions are an awfully white team...

[Bloodstone]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

The thing is' date=' since I'm a gay guy myself, I always look for LGB characters in anything I read or watch -- I can't help it. And if I don't find [i']any[/i] LGB characters in tons and tons of supplements, I find that to be... well, at the very least lacking in verisimilitude. When there are only two characters out of hundreds with writeups that are described as being LGB (and one of those only indirectly), I feel that LGB characters are being ignored. Maybe not intentionally, but nevertheless ignored.

 

Yeah, I don't think it's intentional at all.

 

I think you're pretty safe expecting to see primarily heterosexual white male supers and the smoking hot women that love them in. Ever notice that a significant number of plot hooks for the female villains involve them having the hots for one of the male PC's?

 

Now, I have no numbers to back it up, but I'm pretty sure the target audience has historically been white heterosexual male gamers.

 

I'm also presuming that most of the game supplements are also written by those same white heterosexual male gamers.

 

And based on the age of those writers, they are also probably drawing inspiration from an era in comics where Northstar being gay was actually kind of big deal.

 

I 'm not saying this is right or this is the way it should be mind you, just that I think there are a lot of factors to consider on why something like this might be overlooked.

 

Frankly, it may all change with time...

 

Meanwhile, in Marvel and DC comics, there are many such characters, and I can easily find many other LGB characters in other roleplaying systems' source material.

 

True, but it's only been in the last few years where virtually every new team to crop up in DC or Marvel will have at least one LGB team member... and they have a much larger and more diverse writing staff, a bigger stable of characters to begin with and a target audience several orders of magnitude wider.

 

While I've seen plenty of LGB characters in White Wolf games, I can't personally think of too many other studios that are quite that diverse.

 

Technically we are also all kind of making an awful lot of assumptions here. There are quite a few characters in the CU that don't have any information on their sexuality and we are just assuming they are hetero- by default.

 

In the Champions, for example, we know Defender, Witchcraft, Sapphire and Nighthawk are all hetero.

 

We have no information on Ironclad what-so-ever, but there is certainly a bad gladiator joke to be made here.

 

Kinetic's only relationship angle is that he's "just friends" with Sapphire, so for all we know he's her gay BFF.

 

Nightwind costume is fabulous, so he either needs a new tailor, is gay or is so far in the closet he can see Narnia

 

We'll skip over Dr Silverback...

 

(and I'm skipping the race issue for now...)

 

I'd say if you are creating superhero writeups, about 1 in 12 of them should be lesbian or gay -- otherwise it's just not "realistic." Doesn't even have to be that many, really.

 

Well, "realistic" numbers would probably be more like 3-4% wouldn't it?

 

Or are my demographics wrong here?

 

Ultimately, realism is probably a poor measure anyhow. I'd say it's more about intent.

 

It's a fantastic world and if we want we can easily assume that mutants or various aliens/mystical creatures are genetically or culturally predisposed to alternate sexualities. Or we can have our laboratory accidents and radioactive insect bites tend to happen in places with higher than average populations of homosexuals if we want.

 

But again, all depends on what you want to do...

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Concerning the paucity of gay characters in the Champions Universe, I think many of them could be whatever the GM wants. Most have no indication of sexuality one way or the other (at least in the older versions; I don't have the more recent stuff), so do whatever fits.

 

In my own campaigns, romance usually plays a backseat role, so sexuality doesn't crop up much. I can suspend disbelief enough to role-play superheroes or elves or space aliens, but I am not a good enough actor to be a believable romantic interest so it doesn't happen much. That said, we have had characters that have run the spectrum sexually, we just never did much with it. One superteam had a running joke about the tabloids always trying to figure out who was dating who. But of the five members one was gay, one was lesbian, two were hetero but they were siblings, and the last was an asexual android, so there really was no possibility of a hookup.

 

The only character I have run where sexuality was much of a issue was a shapeshifter with amnesia. She was hetero, but since the last thing she recalled was being a guy, she was a bit confused for a while. Mostly it played for laughs though.

[Greywind]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

It has been pointed out that' date=' for a team set in the reconstruction of Detroit, the Champions are an awfully white team...[/quote']A lot of Detroit, and the inherent civilian population, didn't survive the battle.

[Mister E]

Re: Alternate Sexualities in Champions and Supers settings

 

Concerning the paucity of gay characters in the Champions Universe...

 

In theatre, the first rule of improvisation is: "Yes, and..."

 

That is to say: "To promote and make the most of improvisational participation, all new suggestions are true & must be acted upon."

 

In contrast, at the dinner table, it is, rather: "The GM is always right."

 

(i.e., "If you are going to contradict the GM, you better have a really good reason/apology that is either self-evident or forthcoming.")

 

That being said, I don't see the problem as being incommensurable.