Can men follow Babeester Gor?

[soltakss]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:39 PM, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Are you arguing that cult restrictions based on sex or gender can be basically ignored, especially by PCs?  Since they have agency, and also magic or gender flexibility?

It is a difficult question to answer.

In my game, I would say that gender rules for cult membership are fixed. I.e. a woman cannot become a member of Yelm or Waha.

However, there may be people who get around those gender restrictions. How does that work? Either by saying that the person is special in some way, or has proven themselves to be exceptional and out of the norm.

On 7/24/2022 at 10:39 PM, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Since they have agency, and also magic or gender flexibility?

No, I wouldn't allow it just because a Player said "Hey this is cool".

On 7/24/2022 at 10:39 PM, Rodney Dangerduck said:

I'm not against this concept, and of course YGMV, but I'm not sure that it is the designers' intent.  Otherwise, I think they'd write "Only women can join", or, for Waha, "Must be a male tribal member", in a more flexible or inclusive manner.

Maybe use something like the One Special Thing from 13th Age Glorantha. "My One Special thing is that I am a female initiate of Waha". That sparks off a whole lot of roleplaying opportunities, from the conservative members who challenge her, to those who HeroQuest to prove that she cannot worship Waha.

 

 

[Squaredeal Sten]

On 7/22/2022 at 10:59 AM, Eff said:

..... But of course if we question whether there's a battle of the genders going on, we have to question the gender restriction of the cult and question whether Babeester has any other face than the stern or brutal one. 

That reminds me: a year or so ago in my campaign on Zoom, the adventurers had a random encounter with a group of Babeester Gor initiates on pilgrimage, essentially a holiday off of their usual guard duty.  The ladies were friendly, outgoing, - and cautioned the adventurers not to try to actually enter the Ernalda temple the two parties were approaching: "Then we'd have to kill you boys."