Of course I was being sarcastic In some of my other posts I gave examples of (imaginary) women who did kick ass and I even used the phrase "kick ass". Yes, a game with traditional gender norms sounds like a snore.
Sure. Viking shield maidens (although they weren't entirely equal) are good example that lasted well into the medieval period. But the Romans crushed the matriarchies and gender equal societies in Europe and much of the medieval period is really the fall out from Roman rule. Take Boudica's rebellion. A the time of Boudica the Romans were saying whatever -- you guys rule as you like, you don't have to follow Roman law. Tell us who your leaders are and we'll treat them as allies. But the one thing the Romans couldn't deal with was woman leader. Her husband, sure. But there was no way the Romans were going to accept a woman inheriting her husband's property and position. That's why she and her daughters had to be publicly shamed.
Boudica kicked ass. But the patriarchy won. And the empire became the church and Roman law became papal law and we have patriarchal, medieval Europe. Hell take a look at what happened to Joan of Arc after she won the war for the church. The church wasn't going to accept a woman as a spiritual and military leader.
My point is that we are all used to gender equality in games so it's invisible to us. No one seriously asks why a woman is a warrior or priest even though that would have been impossible in a truly medieval setting. So why does it makes sense to say that medieval Monrovia was entirely white but not to ask why the game has strong women characters? And @sordak has helpfully and honestly said that gender equality interferes with his immersion. As does bisexuality. So we are seeing what a truly "non political" game would look like. Traditional gender norms and normative heterosexuality. Which makes my point that "non political" is really a political stance in disguise.
And again, were this 1960 DOS2 would not have felt non political (and it still doesn't to some). Take a look at how women were portrayed in early fantasy works:
@volmetia -- great story about finding you have an epicanthic fold!
@_vic_ good point about the assumption that evolution even works in Faerun. WotC has repeatedly said the laws of physics don't apply to Faerun so why evolution? For all we know humans are an experiment of the creator races. I probably should have gone there myself but I was overly influenced by the memory that evolution did operate in 1st edition
In some of my other posts I gave examples of (imaginary) women who did kick ass and I even used the phrase "kick ass". Yes, a game with traditional gender norms sounds like a snore.
