A Theban Sacred Band based game/campaign would have PCs sexual orientation and relationships be important. I don't know of any game that does this currently. (The nearest I know of would be Night Witches, which depicts the women-only WWII Russian squadron of same name, and contain homosexual aspects)

A school drama/"coming of age" game could have sex taking an important role. Monsterhearts already does this. Don't know of other game that does.

A female monster who seduces her male victims might be stopped when trying to seduce a gay male PC.

A gay male PC might fail an initiation ceremony if expected to have sex with a female NPC.

I had a Gloranthan Heroband based around the Theban Sacred Band, with same-sex partners joined in a similar way to Caladra & Aurelion twins. It would probably work with lesbian partners as well.

Scenarios about forbidden love work well with same-sex love.

After all the posturing about the appropriateness of shoehorning LGBT characters in to adventures and settings, I find the silence of our resident SJWs deafening on the subject of being inclusive when it fits with the material.

Quote from: jeff37923;1109144After all the posturing about the appropriateness of shoehorning LGBT characters in to adventures and settings, I find the silence of our resident SJWs deafening on the subject of being inclusive when it fits with the material.

Of course. They can only bitch about whatever injustice they are hallucinating today is. They cant actually offer anything creative or positive. They just virtue signal disguised as being helpful.

Personally I am totally against useless inclusion of race, gender, whatever. Hence my irk at the various instances in 5e modules so far. They are predominantly meaningless. And even the one interesting instance in Tomb of Annihilation so far makes jack all sense.

The leader is CE and a known backstabbing killer. His chief spy, confidante and consort is a NG fellow. And they are totally trust and are loyal to eachother. But no explanation of why or even how. Part of the problem seems to be whomever wrote this section of NPCs seems to have like zero understanding of alignment.

The only instance that does make sense is the NE merchant who is BI and getting it on with her succubus and incubus consorts/assistants. Even this is not fleshed out any.

I'd love to think this is just a case of the designers leaving it so blank so DMs can "make of it what you will".

Quote from: jeff37923;1109144After all the posturing about the appropriateness of shoehorning LGBT characters in to adventures and settings, I find the silence of our resident SJWs deafening on the subject of being inclusive when it fits with the material.

I'm struggling to feign shock over the concept that the outrage brigade finds great difficulty in summoning commentary of any actual value.

In my games, a player character might choose to visit a tavern, drink some good ale, and roll with the local wenches.  That's a classic fantasy trope.

I think non-traditional hookups require non-traditional explanations, or setups if you will.

Quote from: Razor 007;1109204In my games, a player character might choose to visit a tavern, drink some good ale, and roll with the local wenches.  That's a classic fantasy trope.

I think non-traditional hookups require non-traditional explanations, or setups if you will.

I'd agree, but this is about the conditions in which the non-traditional (as you put it) is fitting to the adventure or setting.

Quote from: Antiquation!;1109182I'm struggling to feign shock over the concept that the outrage brigade finds great difficulty in summoning commentary of any actual value.

I had hopes.

In multi-generational campaigns, procreation is a topic. In my current Ars Magica campaign, courtship/marriage is a popular side plot.

Quote from: Pyromancer;1109217In multi-generational campaigns, procreation is a topic. In my current Ars Magica campaign, courtship/marriage is a popular side plot.

That can become a plot in itself. They gay or lesbian PC who is expected to reproduce, so does so but takes a lover on the side, or the spouse of a gay/lesbian who also takes a lover in order to reproduce. That kind of things seems to have happened in the past.

There is also the confirmed bachelor or spinster who doesn't marry and, therefore, reproduction is done by relatives. In noble families, you don't have to reproduce yourself, as long as you have brothers who reproduce, it just means that titles pass to the brothers' families when you die, if you inherit.

I've been away at Big Bad Con over the weekend, and haven't responded to any threads.

Quote from: jeff37923;1108932OK, we have talked about having NPCs with sexual orientations and/or sexual preferences outside the norm being shoehorned in to adventures and settings by publishers, so my question is now where would they fit in naturally and organically to an adventure or setting? What scenarios or settings would hinge upon a NPCs sexual orientation and/or preference? Where would it be important to the structure of the game?

Quote from: S'mon;1108991I've had events hinge on the heterosexuality of NPCs - when they fall in love with PCs.

I think the sample adventure for Blue Rose is an obvious one -- two NPCs are in love, but their love is forbidden by the local religion, so there are consequences. That's something that can easily appear in other settings.

Falling in love with PCs, as S'mon says, is a common one. My James Bond 007 campaign some years back always had a suitable NPC for my friend Jim's gay English superspy to fall in love with, complete with classic James-Bondian names like Phil McCracken and Ivan Moorcock. They were sometimes involved with the plot, or sometimes just a bit of color -- like how Ivan was a Russian expatriate who had vital information for the PCs. Similarly, my gay Amber PC Manfred had more than one NPC fall in love with him. I had a Bluebeard's Bride game end with the bride running off to another land with a maid who had fallen in love with her.

I played in a game of The Mountain Witch that was re-cast as being gangsters in the style of Reservoir Dogs. My PC had spent time in jail with the crime boss' son, and it worked out that the two of them had a torrid affair, and he was still in love. But in classic crime story style, the NPC boss' son betrayed me in the end and my PC died in his successful bid to take over the crime empire. That one would have been hard to re-cast as a hetero love story since not only were they hidden because of prejudice, but they got together from being in jail.

If I understand the question correctly, it is a little challenging.

As many have pointed out, sure it's easy to change out a gay couple for a straight couple, or vice versa, and, assuming an inclusive setting in which no sexual orientation is stigmatized, it really doesn't matter for the scenario which you choose. Orientation really is inconsequential. Meaningless, really. Or arbitrary.

But the question as I understand it, is, what scenarios can you think of where it matters a great deal: where a couple or character MUST be - or really should be - gay (or straight) for the scenario to work. Where sexual orientation isn't just window-dressing but important. That's tougher.

If the ability or inability to reproduce is key, then that's one way of making orientation truly important, as the OP suggested, but what else?

My thought is that the only other way to make it important is to ditch the inclusive setting where orientation doesn't matter, and replace it with a less inclusive setting with some form of stigma or intolerance re orientation. Once you do that, then the orientation of both PCs and NPCs can actually matter in the game.

It depends on how "uncommon" sexual orientations are viewed. Mostly considering same sex attraction.

If society uniformly disapproves, then it could be significant as a secret. The NPC could be blackmailed over this; could be suspected of disloyalty or involvement in a cult due to secretive activity; could seek to flee to a more tolerant place; could seek to advance a lover without harming the reputation of either; could seek a private club where they can be open about their preferences. Similar scenarios might arise for heterosexuals due to extramarital affairs, polyamory or unusual sexual fetishes, if these are similarly disapproved of. (Or playing D&D in the midst of a Satanic panic.) The PCs could be pulled into either side of these conflicts.

If society mostly does not judge but contains some elements who do, then it could be significant as a motivation for enmity. The NPC might be targeted by a cult that disapproves strongly but must act secretly or indirectly; a rejected (due to being the wrong gender) suitor might seek vengeance for the humiliation; diplomacy with less tolerant countries might be compromised (so potentially any of the earlier situations). Again, the PCs could be pulled into either side of these conflicts.

If the game world is entirely tolerant and views anyone who is intolerant as mentally ill, there are still potential factors. The PCs could hire the wrong gender of courtesan to distract the guard, or press someone of the wrong orientation into the seduction role (e.g., Supernatural, "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tatoo"; Dean has to coach Charlie on flirting with the guard, because she's attracted to women). The PCs might look in the brothel with female courtesans for a male NPC because they were unaware that he would prefer the brothel with male courtesans. A same sex couple might seek magical or SF means to have a child jointly (fairy tales are rife with childless opposite sex couples obtaining the child they long for through means that accord with neither biology nor conventional adoption practices; also, what Spock's parents must have done to have a child). Love triangles in which each person lusts after another person who does not lust after them (A->B->C->A) are possible. If a player character pursue marriage with a royal heir NPC, their first choice of prince or princess may be off the table due to the NPC's preferences.

One could ask why gender or hair color or left-handedness or names or human subrace (with no mechanical effect) would be relevant to an NPC; mostly these are thrown in just to make the NPC seem more real and less of an undistinguished pawn. Or they could be there for heavy handed commentary on sexism or racism (e.g., Star Trek episode with the bichromatic aliens). Just as one can imagine a scenario in which a woman poses as a man to join some army that would not otherwise have her (Eowyn or Mulan), one could have one where a red-headed ruler dies his hair for fear of being suspected of being illegitimate, or where left-handed fencers are often members of a secret society skilled in dueling which accepts only left-handers (and so all left-handers are viewed with suspicion) or where the medical examiner concludes the murder victim was killed by a left-handed assailant.

Or any of these things could be a red herring that distracts the players from the actual relevant clues in a mystery. A same sex couple in a scenario is not Chekhov's gun, and unless you're railroading or storygaming a detail doesn't have to be significant.

Some of the scenarios with the "hot chicks" fey that have powers (e.g., charm, blindness, etc.) that only effect males (presumably straight males) might qualify. Do those powers work on gay males or lesbian females? Repeat this question for any other combination of sex, gender, and sexual preference.

Quote from: rawma;1109453It depends on how "uncommon" sexual orientations are viewed. Mostly considering same sex attraction.

If society uniformly disapproves, then it could be significant as a secret. The NPC could be blackmailed over this; could be suspected of disloyalty or involvement in a cult due to secretive activity; could seek to flee to a more tolerant place; could seek to advance a lover without harming the reputation of either; could seek a private club where they can be open about their preferences. Similar scenarios might arise for heterosexuals due to extramarital affairs, polyamory or unusual sexual fetishes, if these are similarly disapproved of. (Or playing D&D in the midst of a Satanic panic.) The PCs could be pulled into either side of these conflicts.

If society mostly does not judge but contains some elements who do, then it could be significant as a motivation for enmity. The NPC might be targeted by a cult that disapproves strongly but must act secretly or indirectly; a rejected (due to being the wrong gender) suitor might seek vengeance for the humiliation; diplomacy with less tolerant countries might be compromised (so potentially any of the earlier situations). Again, the PCs could be pulled into either side of these conflicts.

If the game world is entirely tolerant and views anyone who is intolerant as mentally ill, there are still potential factors. The PCs could hire the wrong gender of courtesan to distract the guard, or press someone of the wrong orientation into the seduction role (e.g., Supernatural, "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tatoo"; Dean has to coach Charlie on flirting with the guard, because she's attracted to women). The PCs might look in the brothel with female courtesans for a male NPC because they were unaware that he would prefer the brothel with male courtesans. A same sex couple might seek magical or SF means to have a child jointly (fairy tales are rife with childless opposite sex couples obtaining the child they long for through means that accord with neither biology nor conventional adoption practices; also, what Spock's parents must have done to have a child). Love triangles in which each person lusts after another person who does not lust after them (A->B->C->A) are possible. If a player character pursue marriage with a royal heir NPC, their first choice of prince or princess may be off the table due to the NPC's preferences.

One could ask why gender or hair color or left-handedness or names or human subrace (with no mechanical effect) would be relevant to an NPC; mostly these are thrown in just to make the NPC seem more real and less of an undistinguished pawn. Or they could be there for heavy handed commentary on sexism or racism (e.g., Star Trek episode with the bichromatic aliens). Just as one can imagine a scenario in which a woman poses as a man to join some army that would not otherwise have her (Eowyn or Mulan), one could have one where a red-headed ruler dies his hair for fear of being suspected of being illegitimate, or where left-handed fencers are often members of a secret society skilled in dueling which accepts only left-handers (and so all left-handers are viewed with suspicion) or where the medical examiner concludes the murder victim was killed by a left-handed assailant.

Or any of these things could be a red herring that distracts the players from the actual relevant clues in a mystery. A same sex couple in a scenario is not Chekhov's gun, and unless you're railroading or storygaming a detail doesn't have to be significant.

On Tekumel, most of the NPCs sketched by the author are fleshed out characters, with families, predilections, hatreds, abilities and shortcomings, and these may simply be used for colour, or may be used to good effect in the game, whatever the GM prefers. Since Tekumel, the first ever published RPG setting, made it explicit back in 1975 that homosexuality, and by implication, bisexuality, were totally accepted in the larger empires of the setting (except for one), some of the described NPCs are gay. That detail may have little consequence in the game, or it may have broader implications, like which deity the character follows, which imperial legions he or she favours, or how they but with people from neighbouring empires. In any case, it always seems natural in the setting, never forced or shoehorned.

 Speaking of character details, on Tekumel, eye colour is normally an insignificant detail, but having blue eyes, the "curse of Avanthe," will have a profound effect on a character's interactions with others.