How to roleplay across gender in D&D

[@justinparry1621]

"Breasting Boobily Around the Dungeon" is the title of my upcoming Bardcore album.

[@GinnyDi]

Damn, I should've trademarked that too 😂

[@justinparry1621]

@@GinnyDi Does that mean we'll be seeing you perform a song with this title on KZbin sometime soon? (I rolled an 8 on my "Hint subtly" check).

[@TheTriforcekeeper]

3:07

[@gardenagnostic4138]

This is what Falin does in Dungeon Meshi

[@sebastianevangelista4921]

@@GinnyDi It really is a great line!

[@Halberdd]

The reveal that Jimmy Dean was actually Ginny Di was SHOCKING to say the least. What a completely unexpected plot twist! I was utterly bewildered! I don't even know if I've recovered, I think I'm still processing it.

[@GinnyDi]

The greatest reveal since that guy called Clark at the office turned out to be Superman

[@Halberdd]

@@GinnyDi Wait, WHAT!? I can’t believe you would spoil that for me! 😭

[@GreenKnight2001]

You should have put SPOILER in the title!

[@frankcastlefan]

No, I’m pretty sure Superman is playboy Bruce Wayne

[@cross172]

“Surprise, it’s me! Ginny Di! Professional woman!” “Wait… you guys are getting paid?”

[@GinnyDi]

You've seen the Etsy listings. We're all getting paid in exposure 😂

[@amyshaw6825]

Wait... you guys ARN'T?!

[@SunniestAutumn]

You think that's bad, I am actively paying to be one

[@sebastianevangelista4921]

@@GinnyDi 😆

[@dkamouflage]

​@@GinnyDi, I've never actually been able to hire a professional woman on Etsy. I just want someone to teach me how to fold a fitted sheet and pick out tasteful stationary, but apparently "adult services" means something different on the Internet.

[@GunnarWahl]

Let’s be clear. If you meet a blacksmith in my game, it is not likely a man or a woman, but it almost always a dwarf.

[@jingbot1071]

The three genders: Man Woman Dwarf

[@blixcarmona1481]

Ah, the three genders: man, woman, booze

[@Potato15461]

that makes lore sense though

[@EricMesa]

in your game are dwarves genderless? Makes me think of Discworld and how both genders have beards so there's a bit of negotiating gender before a date.

[@GunnarWahl]

@@EricMesa well no, however in one game world i made, that is the case actually.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

"Women are just people, I'm not but many women are." 🤣🤣🤣

[@willmendoza8498]

This was so good it made me snort at work

[@boxocold]

Oh hey it’s Treantmonk 🫶

[@KincaidDeWayne]

This one was subtle, and I had to go back to hear it again. 😆

[@myboatforacar]

WTF is a person? Never been able to figure that one out

[@Ramschat]

When the pixels on my screen said that, I was impressed by their awareness

[@kidcthulhufortney1320]

I used to be considered the "weird guy" because as a male I often played female characters because I always liked characters like Valeria or Red Sonja. I also grew up on 80's anime, so a strong heroines always appealed to me. It took a long time before my original group started to branch out.

[@ajdynon]

A lot like myself. In fact, one of the main reasons I got into anime was because there were a lot more kickass female characters than in western media back in the early 90s (this was before Xena and Buffy - sure, there was Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor, but that was only a handful of movies, and after that you had to dig through obscure and often not very good stuff)

[@aazhie]

I always enjoyed watching Game Grumps because Arin almost always chooses a woman if you get the option and he often uses pinks and "girly" colors. It's funny how rare it can be to find straight men, or guys who date women, who are okay with wearing nail polish and pinks

[@debs_7163]

20% being a woman 80% having memorized StardewWiki Never felt so understood in my life

[@-pna.pjsk-]

500th like

[@joypawz7654]

WE have never felt so understood XD

[@Chrystalshrooms]

so real

[@dannmcdan2185]

"problem comes in when sexy isnt just an option. Its the only option" Damn I fully agree and this is applicable to all types of media but I never heard somebody say it so clearly before

[@DesignateVoid]

As I got used to playing a sorceress as a male IRL: “She’s a witch! Burn her! … wait, I’m a witch. Bad precedent, never mind”

[@AnotherDuck]

If you're a sorceress and not a warlock it's fine. Witch is originally a gender neutral term anyway.

[@nevermindthesky]

lolol that is pretty funny ;P

[@hypercube8735]

"Noblewoman who's an adventurer because she's not going to inherit and wants to make her own fortune" is a very solid motivation I hadn't really considered, especially considering how much of a solid standby that motivation has always been for younger sons of noble families to go adventuring for the exact same reason. There's also an added layer of complexity in that as a noblewoman, she might have a different path that she's explicitly rejecting (marrying a nobleman and making sure her children inherit her husband's wealth/lands), whereas the younger noble son is presumably adventuring because he doesn't *have* other options and needs to figure out a way to independently support himself. In history the oldest son was the heir, the next son joined the church (to keep him safe, with the understanding that the local bishop could get him out of his duties if his oldest brother died and he needed to inherit), but the remaining sons were on their own, often doing things like trying to become a knight-errant (which is basically the real-world equivalent to the adventurer).

[@lefloog]

The hidden third Dungeon Dude!

[@GinnyDi]

Pretty good audition, huh? 😂

[@jetvulcan2020]

@@GinnyDi reminds me of April Fools Day switch video

[@M.rasmodius]

as the prophecy has foretold!

[@Minotaur-of-Malice]

Hidden?

[@willemverheij3412]

Usually kept in a deeper level of the dungeon but sometimes he escapes.

[@liamdockery8544]

5:32 Normalize women carrying around medieval weaponry for safety. Badass.

[@jasong8085]

As a dm and a frequent cross gender player the tip I can give is not the pitch of your voice, but tone. Match the tone of the chracter. I'm often roleplaying with myself for my players and the king speaks stern and to the point and the cortier speaks intelligenly and softly. You don't need a different voice ever

[@GinnyDi]

Love this tip! Thanks for sharing 🥰

[@hawktalon7890]

I do that as well; my natural voice will likely never be that deep but I can at least compensate by doing other things.

[@rileysheehan943]

I write a fuckload of characters as I am often struck by random urges of narrative, but making a sailor storm sorcerer was the first time a character came to me as female. It was a little uncomfy at first, as I had onlt played male characters before, but once I settled into it and found her personality it was a blast! She has a voice like Ms. Frizzle and loves explosions.

[@aazhie]

XD sounds like a blast, in many sense of the word !

[@trollsmyth]

Only tangentially on topic, waaaay back in 2nd edition D&D, gender transformations were on the wild magic surge table. My male wizard (because there were no sorcerers at this time, so Wild Mage was a flavor of wizard) got turned into a woman. This particular group was 50/50 split between men and women. Normally, it wasn't a deal, but there were times when my character was forced into social situations that required them to perform female. The female players at the table loved coaching my character in how to pull it off.

[@strawberryhellcat4738]

Another tangent: GURPS used to have a cloak they called "Gender Bender" (it was the late 90's) that used a unique "Change Gender" spell, with Alter Body as its main prerequisite. You couldn't swap back for an hour, and you kept your stats, skills, advantages, disadvantages, and height (though the female forms were 20% lighter). If it was destroyed, you remained in the other gender until a Remove Curse or Reversion Arrow was used. I was lucky enough to have four brothers, so I had plenty of examples to use for male characters.

[@DominoPivot]

Wow! I feared the anecdote would be about how awkward things got, but it's nice that this random event lead to a fun exploration of what the women at your table viewed as feminine. This reminds me of back when I played Kingdom of Loathing, an online RPG in which I was a pastamancer who specialised in sleazy magic. I once walked through a dark alley and was offered a free surgery! I agreed and my character woke up as a woman. It was meant to be a silly joke, but for some reason it made me very happy. It made me realize I didn't have to roleplay as a man, even thought that's what people expected 🙂 PS: If you're wondering what sleazy pastamancy is, my character would summon cannelloni cannons and fire bedroom novelties. Very effective against prude enemies, but not so much against the succubus, incubus and serial bus. KoL is a very silly game, yes.

[@AnotherDuck]

Makes me remember Edwin from Baldur's Gate 2. Or _Edwina_ as she was sometimes called during a certain plot line.

[@VanNessy97]

​@@strawberryhellcat4738 And now I can just see so many trans characters putting on the cloak before immediately destroying it with their own hands

[@danielmclellan1522]

My Hexblood Blood Hunter in a Wildemount oneshot had one of those belts in their backstory. Their mother had died YEARS ago before the character was even conceived, and their father, finding out resurrection wasn't a sure thing in that world, made a desperate bargain with Isharnai, promising anything she wanted in return for a guaranteed resurrection. So she agreed, and said his firstborn child would be a daughter, and would be Isharnai's by right, and on her thirteenth birthday, would transform into a hag herself, Isharnai's adopted daughter, Carrion. The wife was brought back, and the child, Kiera, was born. The night before her thirteenth birthday, her parents gave her a magic belt they'd spent most of their worldly belongings to buy for her. The next morning, Kieran rolled out of bed as a Hexblood, finding his parents had been brutally punished for trying to outwit a hag. As they described it, "my parents didn't find a way out of the deal, just a way to delay it so I could try to find a solution of my own." When they turned twenty-six, they finally brushed shoulders with the right adventurers, learned about the concept of being genderfluid, and realized that there was a word for what they'd been feeling. And it was the lady playing the Bard (and a few seconds later, her character) who asked if Kieran was genderfluid. OOC I responded I honestly wasn't sure. In-character, that was the moment Kieran stared at her like a deer in the headlights, and went "Wait, there's a friggin word for this?"

[@darthwingnut464]

Cishet guy here, and the character I'm about to play in my upcoming game is an 80 year old maternal gnomish female Artifacer-Alchemist who instead of doing elixirs will be providing her buffs via food items she has lovingly cooked up for the party.

[@TheKawaiifan]

love the sweet ol lady as an adventurer archetype. one of the guys at my table has been playing this elderly kobold lady called "Auntie Lorrie". She throws knitting needles as darts, gives the party temp hp with her homemade scones, entangle traps enemies in yarn, shillelagh bonks with her cane, and as a beastmaster ranger at level 10, she has a small army of cats to fight her enemies. she is a crazy cat lady, she's been the backbone to the parties nonsense, and we effing love her

[@GramGramAnimations]

“Greetings! I’m Monty Martin!” 🧔🏻‍♂️ “And I’m Kelly McLaughlin-” 👨🏼‍🦰 “-and I’m Jimmy. Jimmy Dean” 🧔🏼‍♀️

[@cross172]

“I’m Tom Ato.” “I’m Anne Chovi.” “And I’m Caesar Salad.”

[@Hawkatana]

Bob Evans is better.

[@kalenplant2675]

is Kelly enby?

[@GramGramAnimations]

@@kalenplant2675 not sure I never seen him say so. I’m curious what made you ask in the first place. If it’s because of the emoji I just used the default man emoji here which happens to have a mustache, mostly so I could get a tanner skin tone with a lighter hair color. 🧔🏻🧔🏼🧔🏽 the more androgynous looking emoji face for beards looks like this. There’s no mustache only androgynous option

[@kalenplant2675]

@@GramGramAnimations it was more because you placed a gender icon next to the other two. I assumed there wasn't a gender icon for NB on whatever device you're using (idek if mine has one, I don't use emojis much) and that was the reason why. Sorry for the misunderstanding

[@jenniferlam7482]

Your last tip about asking players for what characters in media they like is genius. Thank you!

[@TheGIJew.]

What I've learned from this video: -all women's purchases at the hardware store are determined only by the fact that they are women -women have typing similar to pokemon -some women do speak for their entire gender but they have to fill out the form first -some people in my d&d game might ALREADY BE woman (spooky) I now know everything I need to about playing women in D&D, thanks Ginny/Jimmy!

[@GinnyDi]

Only *my* purchases at the hardware store are determined by being a woman. Other women get a choice of stores 😂

[@daniellins4114]

Little known fact, men also have types similarly to pokemon (this is just less discussed)

[@ezraz.6335]

The women, they’re everywhere! Ahh!

[@brianl9571]

​@@daniellins4114 My real question is, can people of whatever gender be dual-type? And a tangential question: are Pokémon that evolve into forms with more than one type when previously monotype...is that multiclassing?

[@daniellins4114]

@@brianl9571 yes and I have no idea respectively

[@Pinkclaw]

who knew "old and flirtatious, the ideal combination" was the pick-me-up I needed today ❤

[@TopTierKnees]

Finally, someone's talking about the damn electric toothbrushes

[@GinnyDi]

The truth is out there 👀

[@davidjennings2179]

This is why people really get metal fillings - tinfoil hats for your teeth! (Apologies to those who also felt horrible at the sensor ick of tin foil in your mouth - I suffered from the imagery so I thought I'd share).

[@ninja__5375]

​@@GinnyDiThe tooth is out there!

[@dvssicarius]

good to finally know where my lifeforce has been draining

[@AFLoneWolf]

A character I've been dying to play is a male cleric with the soldier background from being a combat medic. Fully qualified to patch you up on top of making those same holes in the first place.

[@tuxxle8830]

You managed to create one of the most positive videos I've ever seen addressing gender stereotypes. I laughed harder than in a long time but none of the jokes were at the expense of a gender.

[@Mazygolucky]

Omg yes it was so good

[@trentleffanue6647]

"You've never seen a Barbarian this unarmoured." Laughs in Unarmoured Defense.

[@baguettegott3409]

(yes that's the joke)

[@Dreadnought_XIII]

ginny trailing of describing big sweaty men and gentle loving women truly is an iconic...or Biconic if you will

[@ViviBuchlaw]

Such a Bicon omg 🥰🥰🥰

[@Sirfinchyyy]

The perception of the opposite wasn't too far off the mark.

[@MyShalora]

I love that in this TTRPG themed book series I'm reading, a big strong muscle dude book character is playing a female gnome artificer TTRPG character. I love the representation of a player role playing across gender. (And also challenging the big muscle dude stereotype, as he is very intelligent and thoughtful. Great character, I love him.)

[@lextatertotsfromhell7673]

book name?

[@MyShalora]

@lextatertotsfromhell7673 it's a series called Spells, Swords, and Stealth, by Drew Hayes. The first book is called NPCs.

[@charleshaines9715]

"I only think about that at the hardware store" Had me spitting out my drink, lol.

[@derekbroestler7687]

same here!!! LOL

[@dawiddulian2403]

😂😂

[@vanatrix1942]

Same. that caught me off guard

[@99CreeperKing]

I play a female wizard in the campaign of a friend, IRL I am a dude. Most of the times, the fact that my character is a woman, is completely looked over, not in a bad way I think, but rather indicating to me that I am not overdoing the female roleplay. The most significant of which is the voice I use for her, which is softer, more relaxed, and flowy than my actual beefy man voice. Sure, the pitch is slightly higher, but not the over the top version I have seen before, and despise. I have been playing this character close to 3 years now and I absolutely love her, and I still remember getting my first ideas for her. And from the start she was a woman, not because I wanted to create a female character. But rather because it naturally came from everything else I already had. She is a character which just happens to be female. Thank you for the amazing videos as always Ginny, keep rocking on.

[@BrooklyKnight]

7:57 "When in doubt, ignore gender" - yep, I do that every day as a member of the alphabet mafia's agender division. Cancelled my gender subscription years ago, but it's hard to stop the spam mail they send to get me to re-sub to the email listserv.

[@garrettsweet9826]

Alphabet mafia made me spit take, thank you haha

[@GinnyDi]

😂😂

[@MythicMachina]

​@@garrettsweet9826 We sell vowels on the black market.

[@ViviBuchlaw]

​@@garrettsweet9826really? Its the """insult""" /pajorative Conservatives love using, at least in the West lol The best part for me is that Two-Spirit, rendered as 2S, is uh...not a letter 😂

[@garrettsweet9826]

@@ViviBuchlaw oh. Oh no. I didn't know that. It just sounded like someone didn't want to type out LGBTQIA+

[@Mattchudon]

Been playing a female eladrin barbarian in an isekai-style DnD campaign for the past several months. In the real world, she's a musician whose band just went through a messy breakup and now her relationship with her girlfriend is on the rocks. At first I was nervous of playing a character of the opposite gender, but it's honestly been a great experience so far, and I can't wait to see where the campaign goes.

[@galantynesgallery5783]

"Always carry a sword ... for lady problems," is some of the best advice (the rest is great, too)! I do need to learn more about ... gender theory.

[@Leshantra]

As a woman, I, too, can recommend to carry a sword. For lady problems.

[@KaliFortuna]

Swords solve a lot of problems, it turns out.

[@GiovannaBassani-ve3wm]

BUT HEY! THAT'S JUST A THEORY! A GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENDEEEEEEEEER THEORY! Buena Disforia!

[@DillyBlue]

I was just thinking about the whole voice thing today while watching the latest episode of Fantasy High and noticing how Brennan actually pitches his voice down slightly when roleplaying many NPCs who are women and teenage girls. It's so much more effective to focus on the characteristics of the character's voice and do them from the starting point of your natural voice, rather than try to replicate how they would literally sound.

[@ProCrastiVisionJRD]

I've been playing a female character in a campaign for about 4 years now. Suki's primary character trait is that she's the last bastion of common sense in a party of chaotic, low wisdom, morally grey fucks, and is routinely a hair's breadth from snapping and killing the lot of them. It's a lot of fun.

[@Zorkahz]

OMG ME TOO! My Drow, who joined late, silently judges the party whenever they do literally anything. She’s surrounded by a dramatic Tiefling Warlock with Mommy Issues, a racist Kobold Wizard who is slowly turning murder hobo and a Half-Orc Bardbarian who wants to adopt every friend he makes

[@TiasVsEverything]

I think this might be your best video. Every joke was a 10/10 and there were so many while still staying on message in a way that thoughtfully explored the topic. Thanks for sharing. I’ve been doing some reading around for an upcoming character - a Lakshu (d&d 2e spelljammer race I’m planning to adapt into a 5e variant human character) but I’m trying to make sure I find a thoughtful take rather than artlessly throwing all the warrior-woman tropes at the wall and seeing what sticks. This video helped me look back on my ideas so far in a new way.

[@AtaraxianWist]

Actually, I AM a threat to the men at my table.

[@Thebazilly19]

As the GM to an all male table, yes, literally.

[@AtaraxianWist]

@@Thebazilly19 saying the quiet part out loud now.

[@gregoryvn3]

Nice!

[@crazysasha1374]

Understandable, have a nice day.

[@Pachitaro]

It's true! I died

[@leorblumenthal5239]

Having been in this hobby for upwards of thirty years, I have seen a lot of cross-gender roleplaying, and have on occasion played a character of a different gender, sometimes for years at a time. One of my earliest experiences was when I was with a very short lived group, where one male player was playing a female fighter-cleric (this was way back in 2E). The gaming group fell apart due to conflict over character alignment (half the party was chaotic evil, and they attacked the half the party that wasn't), but I still remember something that the player of the female fighter-cleric said before the massive intraparty feud, namely that he was worried about what might happen in roleplaying, and said he should probably declare the female fighter-cleric celibate to forestall anything he didn't want to happen in the game. (This was long before the introduction of RPG safety tools. Nowadays the use of safety tools would hopefully prevent anything unwanted happening in the game, but this was 1992, and gaming culture was not very enlightened then). As a current DM and player, I try not to indulge in stereotyping, but subconscious stereotypes are hard to identify. For example, I could have made the Dwarven blacksmith who made my PCs' magic plate armor female, an older woman whose sons and daughters help her tend the forge. But I didn't think of it, probably due to a subconscious bias. This was especially the case since the blacksmith has become a recurring character, and I realize now, after watching the video, that I have been allowing subconscious biases to determine which NPCs get which gender. Its too late to do this with the Dwarven blacksmith my PCs patronize, but I going forward I will be more conscious of this. As I mentioned, I do play characters of a different gender. In order not to sexualize a female character, I try to determine what motivates the character. A PC I have been playing for a few years now has the Courtier background from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. I decided that she grew up in Baldur's Gate, to a courtier of a Patriar family. She had class divides in Baldur's Gate thrust into her face, saw how her mother was demeaned by it, and resented it. She went off to adventure in hopes of proving her worth, either by being bestowed with a noble title of her own, or becoming wealthy enough to indulge in the luxuries she saw the Patriar children got that she didn't get. She is more Sansa Stark than Katniss Everdeen, albeit from a different perspective on the "upstairs/downstairs" dynamic. Anyway, these are just some thoughts I had after watching the video. Thanks for making it.

[@ramzcoldlampin5460]

You’ve never seen a barbarian this unarmored 🤣 you’re fantastic Ginny, I mean Jimmy.

[@nooctip]

Sorry But until you can beat Conan in a loincloth you aren't the most unarmored. And if you can beat that check with your gm if its allowed.

[@ramzcoldlampin5460]

@@nooctip we talking Conan the Barbarian or Conan O’Brien? Either would be a formidable adversary.

[@Merilirem]

@@nooctip Warforged barbarian.

[@neelot9842]

1:20 Oh boy it sure is nice that Gary "lawful good war crimes" Gygax got familiarized with the internet before passing and got to immortalize a lot of his D&D takes. Makes me wonder how his Twitter would look like if he was still around.

[@benwertenberger6730]

Oh hey it's Monty from dungeon dudes

[@GinnyDi]

🙈 this is how we discover we're long lost siblings

[@moneymitch1303]

I literally saw the female version of Monty Martin at the store yesterday, it was mind-blowing

[@Sirfinchyyy]

​@@moneymitch1303 Did she make you roll a d6?

[@Sirfinchyyy]

​@@GinnyDi D&D Fams exist wide and far.

[@juliec4897]

I love that idea of asking what representations they have seen in media that inspires them or they admire. As you described, it's a good way to figure out characteristics to consider and may open us up to learning about new forms of representation we have not seen before.

[@hb6996]

Sexy Paladin Rights is also a great band name 😂

[@altairajgar920]

The sexiest paladins wear full plate armor... Have you seen Dame Aylin ?

[@xySuperManxy]

I’d go for Sexy Paladin Rites, but that’s just me

[@talscorner3696]

Steeled Paladin Lefts, too, ain't bad

[@Halberdd]

So is Tactical High Heels

[@JoustingJaguar]

I agree, in the principle that actual historical and protective armour is infinitely cooler than anything else. Ironically enough, however, historically they did seem willing to sexualise men's armour.

[@Kastrounaras]

0:48 from my local roleplaying community, I've heard from more than a couple women that they want female-exclusive groups to avoid bigotry, getting hit on when they just want to play the game etc.

[@nottopan4869]

“Hey fellow ✨dudes✨”

[@mindsendStoryweaver]

The last commentary on voice is 100% on point -- I'm biologically female with a fairly 'androgynous' voice (mid toned alto), and when I rp different characters I think less about the pitch and more about the character, and what tones, mannerisms, accents etc I use for them, and position myself even in voice only RP as they would be, and it helps a LOT with staying not only in their head, but with the voice. However I will give a hint as well for making your character voices sound different from your own voice without even really changing pitch at all: talk to yourself in your normal voice first and feel for where your voice is 'felt' beyond the buzzing of your vocal cords. My personal voice if felt right at the clavicle, and I've discovered that a lot of my female character's voices tend to be a little rougher and lower in the body (I have a Folk hero Dwarven Moon Druid who's voice is at the top of my lungs with a hint of gravel in her voice who's a Corgi of a woman and a Soldier background variant human phantom rogue/Grave cleric who's mid chest with really bad charisma and you can sort of *tell* she has bad charisma cause of her difficulty explaining things cleanly or just saying things on her mind without stopping to think about it (She just said "you'd think with all my education and practical field work I would STOP PUTTING MY FOOT IN MY MOUTH" to me in my head while I typed this). ) while my male characters tend to be more in back of mouth (my Male Presenting Intersex Dream Druid hermit tiefling who's fresh off the turnip truck at the start of the campaign but just.. Happy to be around people but has NO CLUE WTF IS GOING ON CULTURALLY so is often SO CONFUSED but gentle and not used to using his voice so its sort of soft), tip of tongue (My Changeling Light Cleric acolyte with anxiety and with a soft sort of scandinavian accent who tends to speak quickly but with pauses and filler words cause Common is not his first language.) or buzzing mid throat ( my sassy Harengon bladesinger wizard/bard based on my FFXIV Viera Red Mage Maining Warrior of Light). This is not "where a character voice sits by gender" though - I have a Female bard Villain/evil mini-campaign character I feel more in between my eyes, and when I voice acted Sunbreaker Olomon for my party at one point he was felt in the diaphragm - but more a suggestion to pay attention to WHERE your voice is, and see if you can move it around to find where your character would speak. Soften and harden. Find their voice before even trying to pitch it higher or lower than your neutral resting pitch.

[@TheSuperMangler]

Your mansona bears a striking resemblance to Eminem

[@GinnyDi]

Will the REAL Slim Shady please stand up?

[@thalfor54]

lol, you're not wrong!

[@joshuareitz3538]

Came here to say the same thing. haha

[@dm_katy2263]

Really? I was thinking of Travis Willingham from Critical Role

[@JT5555]

@@GinnyDi i was hoping someone would make the reference.XD

[@BIGDUEL]

nah I’m HOWLING at “Women are just people. I’m not, but many women are,” like oh my god

[@lukasschrage8935]

It's amazing to see how comfortable you have become in your sense of humor over these years. I'm over here cracking up over your jokes, and those are just the cherry on top of that edicational cake xD

[@tiph3802]

Ah, playing with gender. Be careful with that! It can sometimes open up a can of worms you weren't expecting! The number of people who went from "I just think changelings are neat" to "oh, shit. I'm actually non-binary" is very interesting.

[@Keram-io8hv]

Iam playing changeling for five years and just realized that Iam drama queen

[@Amelia-pp4wm]

100% support starting with the character and *then* deciding the gender! As an experiment, I made a rule for my most recent novella that I would default to female for all characters. If I made a character male, there would have to be a specific reason for it. For example, I needed a character that was going to be a good-natured, naïve noble whose kindness, while genuine, causes people to underestimate them. I ultimately decided that it would be more interesting for a male character, because the Naïve Noble Lady is a stereotype that people find annoying, and I needed this person to be sympathetic with very little screen time. In another case, I wanted a male-female platonic power duo of one physically adept, jaded, and boots-on-the-ground person with one cool, manipulative noble. On the one hand, I hate the Cool Manipulative Older (usually Childless) Woman, whereas Jaded Combat Woman and Noble Intellectual Man both feel fresh and fun to me (and allows the reader to focus on the characters with fewer preconceived perceptions). Bottom line is that figuring out *who* you need to fit into a slot first can help you dodge stereotypes, and get your population closer to a 50/50 population split

[@gustavobalobi3525]

The first part about guys being worried about this was so real for me, 80% of my characters have been female and I still haven't stopped worrying about if I'm doing something wrong

[@brothertaddeus]

Ginny, help! I randomly rolled an NPC's gender and got a Nat 20 and now THEY have become unstoppable and are consuming everything in THEIR path. Oh god, now THEY'RE tpk-ing the party!

[@AtaraxianWist]

When you ascend beyond pangender and become THEGENDER

[@FelicityUwU]

Enderman and Slenderman move aside. Here comes the Genderman.

[@someoneunknown7655]

@@FelicityUwU the genderthem

[@SelfProclaimedGorl]

“Pitching your voice to sound like the other gender is usually a loosing battle” Someone understands my PAIN

[@TLBainter]

That man's Ginny Di costume is FLAWLESS

[@AnotherDuck]

Yeah, love the voice too.

[@birbsdigital]

I know right! And he kept up the voice flawlessly for like 10 minutes straight, I'm impressed. Probably shouldn't have kept explicitly saying he was a woman tho, bit of an amateur thing to constantly say that you are the thing you are roleplaying, breaks the realism slightly.

[@kylekyle4169]

my biggest concern honestly when a man plays a woman is that he will go so far into the "trying not to be sexist" thing that his character will be constantly on guard, and saying things like "what, are you only _____ because I'm a woman???" when most women don't really do that!

[@perplexingpantheon]

It really goes all the way back around to being a caricature again if you're not careful.

[@baguettegott3409]

You should try doing that more often though! Yeah, most women get socialized to just awkwardly laugh and overlook it when people around them are in some way sexist. But consider saying something! Even if it was just a little bit sexist, and might not have been on purpose.

[@rubyseverinwhitworth9066]

Hero forge, the amazing solution to a lack of unique female character designs

[@sylph4252]

As long as your character isn't too thin or too beefy. The editor simply can't make the first kind and butchers the second. Seriously, anything with max Build looks like the over the top gigachad variants

[@lithigos]

Yeah... hero forge has its benefits but tbh it's way too expensive for most people, I'm pretty much done with them at this point since the last one I bought from there was $40 and arrived broken.

[@nickgotvyak5890]

Titancraft would be better priced, especially if custom 3d print is the end goal

[@Angela-hn6mb]

@@nickgotvyak5890 I second Titancraft. It's not perfect (I'm looking at you female dragonborn with breasts) but the sliders and customizations are really nice.

[@speculativemusings3593]

I mainly use HeroForge as a way to make character art for my group. If I need to come up with a particular design, I use their site and take screenshots when I’m done. Then I can share them with the particular player, and further tweak the design. Eventually, the finished character art gets shared with the group, and we’ve got references for each PC and important NPC. I only order a mini if the player wants one and will pay for it.

[@Kaze_Saikuron]

I have learned that women are indeed real and are in fact not mythical creatures. Thank you Ginny for informing me.

[@israfel070]

Jimmy Dean, Sausage King! I am a guy who started playing in 2021 and my first character was Lyra, half-elf fighter! She was awesome! I played online voice sessions in a campaign for about a year. I didn't put on a "female voice" to roleplay for her, but I did describe her actions and her dialogue, kind of like an author writing about a book character's actions in the story.

[@jmck0067]

I have seen a little bit of Ginny Di's content before and thought it was amusing but this is exceptionally entertaining, thought provoking and well executed. In my opinion a top piece of KZbin content. Very well done.

[@gharstj]

Long-time lurker, first-time commenter: I can't decide if this video is more helpful or more hilarious. Really well-done.

[@Ezryder645]

As soon as minis came up I thought of Lyla's video, its so cool to see her get a shout out, she does amazing and grounded mini painting videos with such a visually interesting style

[@diekante9659]

How did you know I'm starting a new campaign this saturday playing a male character (me being a woman) and needed exactly this video?! WOw...

[@GinnyDi]

Glad I could help!! Hope you have a good start to the campaign 🥰

[@diekante9659]

@@GinnyDi Jokes on me, I just finished the video and I wanna thank you for it, truthfully. I think most things you say should be common sense, but the more important they feel, hehe. And even though I am lucky enough to be in an environment where I feel like gender doesn't really matter in most occasions and where stereotypes get tumbled over left and right (in and out of game), I think this video is a great message to share :) Thank you again, Ginny

[@animistchannel]

Awesome scripting/performance, love the little comedy asides like "only think that in the hardware store" etc. You play those quick-snap snarks so well! I had to pause the vid a couple times it was so funny. Also love the interrupting side characters that show up out of order/context sometimes. It's so Python. I know that's a lot of work/planning/editing to do, but it really adds to the show! Stock characters from the supporting feature invading the main film (a la "The Meaning of Life" and "Flying Circus") is a labor, but it's soooo effective at resetting the audience/theatrical mindset just when you want to, or in a similar way that ventroliquist puppets can get away with saying stuff that a straight public speaker never could. "Nina Conti Standup : Talk to the Hand Full Show" on Anna channel. Monkey and others can be who she can never be, at least for brief moments (and only for those moments, hence my other comment against inflicting cross-gender characters on ttrpgs) but in a few minutes video like you do, it is GOLDEN. BTW: Congratulations on hitting 666k subscribers! It's the ominous milestone for anyone who can laugh at superstition.

[@alexanderwinn9407]

This script is hilarious. Ginny, your videos are always funny and charming, but this is the best one yet. 😂

[@GinnyDi]

Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing it 😂

[@TMRyan]

Agreed! I loved the humor. 😂

[@soldierbreed]

This one was pretty good. Shes always been entertaining but this was a TOP 3 Ginny video. Definitely audible lol'd at work.

I agree also. Definitely one of the funniest but also extremely useful!

[@Dazaer]

Same! I was like what the hell it's a banger joke one after another

[@nickoftime5501]

I played a regular woman, just doing her thing looking for her lost family. Was immediately harassed in character by my friends. That was eye opening and led to some out of character conversations.

[@DaileyDoseOfJoseph]

D&D was how I discovered I was Agendered. I was talking with my therapist about character creation in D&D and how gender is one of the last choices I make "because it doesn't matter" when making my characters goals, passions, fears, and history. And he was like, "Gender doesn't matter?" And that started a whole spiral. Lol

[@amypatterson7395]

Wait I need further deets about this conversation with your therapist??? Does gender matter strongly to them? What does that mean? I’ve had conversations with both binary trans folks and cis folks where they indicate that they strongly “feel” a gender and I’m always like “???? What does that mean???” And I feel like I’ve never gotten to the bottom of that.

[@crowpicnic3671]

​@@amypatterson7395 I've got news for you buddy lol

[@miraorbeez]

​@@amypatterson7395 From my experience being non binary and in many trans spaces it's can be different for different people so for me when I dress masculine or feminine it feels more like a cosplay than what I really am, I like wearing elf ears but I know I'm not an elf. But it would suck to have to be in cosplay all the time without being able to dress as yourself which is what it might feel like for someone presenting as a different gender as their own.

[@bittersweetpepper2482]

Infodumping your therapist is peak therapy lol.

[@koibubbles3302]

I’m not agender, but I would call myself gender apathetic. I’m often called a he on the internet, because it’s the internet, and it never bothers me and I never feel a need to correct them. When making characters I would say gender does matter to me because of sexism and gender roles, and I like exploring many topics in my characters.

[@ninja__5375]

"that's not a threat, that's a resource" gave off the same energy as "I'm not a witch, I'm your wife"

[@celesteelka]

I (M28) played a teenage halfling girl whose soul was trapped in a 7 ft tall warforged body by an artificer lich hundreds of years before the start of the campaign, only "reactivated" by the other players upon finding the robot body. I had my growth spurt very early as a kid (I was 6 feet tall in middle school), so it was fun playing a younger character not used to suddenly having a much larger body! By focusing on the parts of the character I related to, even despite our gender differences, I was really effectively able to get into the role.

[@pippastrelle]

Something I've found about voices is it's amazing how easily you start clocking/perceiving them as the right gender regardless of pitch. It's like how memories of a DnD game can be of the fantasy world rather than the physical table you're sitting at. You let yourselves get swept away in the story being told.

[@rianfagundes7724]

Strong bi energy from this one

[@bouncingbean]

Yes, I came to see if anyone had already commented this! The “gender theory” moments really activated my bi/omni panic.

[@GinnyDi]

that's my secret, cap... I always have strong bi energy 🩷💜💙

[@Retxed2051]

​@@bouncingbeansame, lol

[@HalfDecentVideos719]

@@GinnyDiI understood that reference

[@HalfDecentVideos719]

2:46 I wonder why

[@intelli-gent9863]

06:08 Thank you! It's great to see players build their character around an idea first then let everything else come next.

[@THLEamon]

I played the twin sister of one of female players in our campaign. Every so often we would start up faux arguments over who borrowed who's favorited mail hauberk or some such sibling rivalry issues My "sister "was a druid and my character was a ranger.

[@carsonm7292]

This is possibly the funniest video Ginni has made. Yes the content is good but the sense of humor had me in such a good mood the whole way through. A great way to handle this topic.

[@jimmyface71]

The reveal at 0:27 blew my mind!!!

[@GinnyDi]

I should've put a jump scare warning!

[@jasonwallace3462]

Ginny, you're the only KZbin channel whose in-video ads I actually watch because I want to see how creative you get with them. Keep up the excellent work. (And, you know, with the non-ad stuff, too. :)

[@dylanshiels1]

I love roleplaying female characters in my games. My favourite PCs that I’ve played have been women. My favourite is my Thri-kreen who was disguised as a female elf, her name was Elytra and I based her personality and design on Dominique Jackson’s character Elektra from the Tv show POSE. I feel as though I played her very respectfully, and the other players and DM enjoyed my portrayal of her. This is a great video, thank you 😊

[@ExzaktVid]

Me when I bring the tactical high heels to fight and fall over immediately:

[@bayushiteishiru6291]

I roleplayed a sentient telepathic floating crystal, raging female goblin girl (and a Warhammer dwarf slayer), a cyborg that was literally Motoko Kusanagi, a freed NPC quest giver and an old cat obsessed crone before, never an experienced woman tho. Your vid made me aware why I was subconsciously avoiding it. Thank you.

[@winstonmcelwain9789]

“Showing up at the water gym with only fire type women” 😂

[@TasareAlda]

I normally laugh a little during your videos but this made me laugh a lot. Excellent script well delivered! Thanks for the mid day smile, needed that.

[@GinnyDi]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@nowthenzen]

Great one, Ginny! I think your are getting better and better at this, if that were possible!

[@GinnyDi]

Oh thank you! I really enjoyed writing this one even thought it's a tricky topic

[@michaelmagee2062]

you earned my subscription because of your insistence of drawing your own conclusion by drawing from many sources on these sorts of subjects. In these kinds of social situations there really is no right answer all the time; and there is only kindness and understanding and communication.

[@fixit9844]

roleplaying across gender is how i realized i was a trans woman lmfao

[@GinnyDi]

I love how ttrpgs and cosplay can be such an amazing way to explore your gender identity! 🥰

[@MythicMachina]

same. I just had the revelation, but I'm pretty sure i'm genderfuild. I just wanna be pretty

[@eversystemm]

@@MythicMachinaRealll, felt 🥺

[@John-oh2nu]

You threaded such a needle (I didn't even mean to do that) of explaining the concept in a way that is friendly to people of different levels of knowledge.

[@TransGuyShane]

It's okay to rp as anyone you want ♡ Edit - also you weirdly suit a beard I love it ❤❤

[@GinnyDi]

I'm considering making it a thing for special occasions 🤔

[@TransGuyShane]

@@GinnyDi one shot as a bro dude ;) But also definitely make it a thing ♡ Who knows your next pc could be a fem dwarf with a glorious beard ;) I will defo be keeping an eye out for the beard tho Haha I love it

[@Insertfunnycomment]

I was comfortable in my sexuality when I clicked on this video.... now I'm not so sure.

[@CJWproductions]

​@@Insertfunnycomment calm down

[@blablablubb7623]

​@@Insertfunnycommentdon't worry, it's healthy to question your sexuality every few years

[@skycloud5695]

I really appreciate both the grace and wit in which you handled what could have been considered a touchy subject. Very well done video, Kudos!

[@barswa]

The Na'Krasha/Elliwyn relationship lives on I see. :D

[@dieselsdungeons]

Damn; you ab-so-LUTELY knocked it out of the park with this one. I don't think I've enjoyed one of your videos THIS much for a while! Keep it up; you're awesome.

[@valta2760]

As an afab person, i always had the habit of roleplaying ONLY men. For some reason it made me happier, i could connect with the character better if they were male or male presenting. Turns out, i was non binary all along! Now i identify as genderfluid and i'm not seeking to transition, so it's HARD for people to treat me like a dude. That's why roleplaying men has become almost a safe space for me, that one time of the week when i can just be a dude carefree

[@AnotherDuck]

I can relate to that. While I'm comfortable with how I'm born and have no problems being treated that way, I don't identify as any gender (nor as agender), my game character choices tend to lean heavily across from how most people treat me IRL, because I find it easier to identify with my characters that way. The only thing about it I'm not comfortable with is if someone tries to correct someone else when using the "wrong" pronoun. The only one allowed to correct someone's pronoun use is me, and I'm not doing it.

[@lukefrederiks5906]

I was actually surprised how much easier it was to roleplay a different gender being how nervous I was to do it. Really helped me fine tune my NPCs by focusing more on wants, needs, fears, and goals. It also helped me deal with player-NPC romance when it came up lol

[@otavioplaysz]

unrelated, i used to always roleplay women in rpg and discovered i am trans, it has been relatively cool so far

[@tukynii]

I remember watching a breakdown about Female Characters from the netflix series *Arcane*. The narrator made a really good point about how, "Writing women isn't hard, just write them as people," is a very bad approach to writing women. When you just write women as people, you disregard the nuance and unique problems that women experience that men don't.

[@GinnyDi]

Totally agree! I think you can write *good* characters who are women if you simply write them as people. If you want to write *great* woman characters, their experiences as a woman should play a role!

[@conmore1]

If you weren’t a professional KZbinr that was a pretty great Slim Shady cosplay

[@johnlee7164]

Slim shady cosplay? That's the real Slim Shady, all the other Slim Shadys are just imitating so better stand up.

[@phawkuffe9491]

Very well put together. Some of the best characters I, as a man who is also male and masculine, have played have been female, and they run the gamut from tomboy to girly girl, from calculating to nurturing, and everything in between, and they've been a blast to play.

[@Pootythief]

Heroforge is a really good option for miniatures. There’s even a colored 3D Print option if you’re not keen on painting.

[@GCWeber]

Yeah, in an ideal world we'd have a wider variety of archetypes and body types represented in premade minis, and we absolutely should strive for that, but until then, making your own representation is always a solid option.

[@5-Volt]

I vouch for Hero Forge too as someone who has bought 4 colored minis.. They are expensive though.. $50 a pop.

[@ninjaSpence21]

As a male that plays mostly women characters, I try my best to do character studies and a blend of my unique personality depending on class and playable race. It's as Ginny states, avoid the trap tropes of sexy battle babe, and make them as human feeling as possible. I think I have great gender diversity in my world with my npcs and have lgbtq coded npcs that are done with respect and care. Much like cosplay, Don't limit yourself adventurers and you can be anyone you desire.

[@bluepantheon467]

12:36 “Old AND flirtatious? The ideal combination.” GINNY, NOOOO!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@raysandrarexxia941]

Trans woman here, pre-transition is basically required roleplay of a character you hate. Once I got to live my life as myself, the requirement to roleplay my every day life has stopped and now roleplay in games has been fun again!

[@firetube8288]

Couldnt have said it better myself sister 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵

[@catdragon1313]

Heir to the sausage fortune 😂 You are a champion, Ginny. Keep being you ❤

[@Maholix]

I will never forget the first time I role played another gender properly. I used to be in theater when I was in school. You always hear any sex can be asked to play as the other. Usually it comes out akward and silly though so I thought that was all there was and never tried it. Until my grades were involved. I was working with a team of three people who were supposed to put on a skit for the class. When the day came the only female in our group bailed. There was no time to come up with a new skit on the fly, but luckily having practiced with her I knew her lines. Out of desperation, our three person skit became a two person performance. I nervously stepped into her role, picking a gossiping tone to deliver the lines. I was worried about being a guy playing a girl and expected to be made fun of by others for it, but my classmates actually really enjoyed it. I got a lot of compliments about my commitment to my role and it inspired others to try playing as other genders later on. I never forgot it. It was a day I learned that sometimes the best way to over come a basis is just to go ahead and give things a try, without all the preamble. Our skit wound up as the favorite one out of the entire class and it almost didn't happen. If I hadn't been brave enough to try it, to take it seriously, I would never have known how capable I really was.

[@silentredgaming1661]

I actually just had this talk with a fellow player who wanted their femme presenting Eladrin to switch to be male presenting. But they weren't sure if that was allowed because they themselves were AFAB. I told them were no rules that locked into playing you're assigned gender at birth and that like 90% of our table is Non-binary, myself included so i don't think they'll run into any issues from other players

[@GinnyDi]

Love this! Imagine having a world where magic exists but you can't change your gender 😅

[@emilyredbird7497]

when I came out as a trans man, my GM and I agreed to gender bend my existing character with a retcon. Never want to pretend to be a woman ever again!

[@kyhumphrey5247]

I also remember an official video about elf lore also stated that Corellon gave elves the ability to switch sexes, if that’s of any interest to them.