So I'm going to start GMing a game for 5 personal friends. We got together today and finalized character creation. First play session in 2 weeks.

One of my friends made a back story for his female Wookiee in which she was sold off as a slave to a fetish brothel, got blamed for an assassination and is now on the run. He has hinted at basically planning to, at times, offer "services" for social checks. He is at least partially joking, but I'm not sure how much he is joking and it wouldn't surprise me if he did. Before you say it shouldn't come up, it just so happens that this character is going to have the highest ranks in most social skills. The group's face is a female Wookiee. Run-ins with the Empire should be fun.

Anyhow, I'm just not sure how to handle it if he seriously tries to offer. Feels strange to go with it, but I don't want come across as trying to restrict his play style. Maybe just have NPC's reject him? She is a Wookiee after all...

Start off a game with them on the run from Imperial Storm troopers.

Back in WEG they used scripts for the start of play, try and think one up revealing this actually came up and caused the situation they're now running from.

Make it clear that all Wookie's are considered escaped slaves by the Empire and since this character is already an escaped slave there's a bounty on her head that makes it twice as difficult for her to go about doing her original business and make it clear the character has to change their MO if they want to avoid this happening again.

If they persist in continuing this then by all means sic them with bounty hunters and imperials who for some reason think that character is also a rebel after all how else are they going to remain free if they have no obvious ties to any guild or cartel to protect them?

They might be upset if you went this way but seriously without ties to some crime boss at the very least this will continue to happen as long as they don't take precautions and from what I read if that player decides to ignore the fact they're playing an escaped Wookie slave then by all means either cut loose or involve them in a scenario that might interest them more... for example locating and freeing other enslaved Wookies?

I had this come up with a young Human character during a d6 campaign back in the day. We basically paused the game and talked about what we liked in our Star Wars galaxy, and the player decided not to pursue that course of action.

-Nate

Yeah I get this sort of stuff all the time as a Star Wars GM. I've had someone want to play a wookiee prostitute in a game before. I've also had Ithorian acrobats, Jedi played as a noir-style detectives with drinking problems, melee-Gungans that run up to people and flop on the ground for ranged AC bonuses, and Kushiban galore.

It kind of depends on what you want your campaign to be and what your players want your campaign to be. Either I just let them run with it or I tell them that I'm looking to run a more serious campaign that sticks as closely as I can to the canon, and they should play something more serious. Of course, then they retort Jar-Jar Binks, Ewoks, and Ziro the Hutt. I reply "who are they; never heard of them," we all laugh, and they make a less ridiculous character. If you're not comfortable dealing with someone's ridiculous character, whether it is ridiculous because it's funny or ridiculous because it doesn't fit the setting (or both), just ask them to not do that because it will be disruptive to your campaign and you don't want to deal with it. It's not really that much to ask.

Alternatively, just note that strategy will not be effective to *most* people and say it will require 2 setbacks against anyone that isn't into that sort of thing. Then you can occasionally throw in people who do want a wookiee "date" and have it give a bonus every now and then. That way, you probably don't have to deal with it constantly but can still throw the player a bone on the concept.

Alternatively, just note that strategy will not be effective to *most* people and say it will require 2 setbacks against anyone that isn't into that sort of thing. Then you can occasionally throw in people who do want a wookiee "date" and have it give a bonus every now and then. That way, you probably don't have to deal with it constantly but can still throw the player a bone on the concept.

On this note, I try not to treat all potential social interactions as equal. For example, even against absolutely average, non-skilled NPCs, if the NPC has any flavour at all their responses to Charm, Coercion, Negotiation, etc will all be different. Maybe it's a street rat kid who needs a father figure, in which case, Leadership might be the most useful, but Coercion will just put their back up. Depending on the severity of these tendencies I could increase the difficulty, add setback, or even upgrade.

Alternatively, just note that strategy will not be effective to *most* people and say it will require 2 setbacks against anyone that isn't into that sort of thing. Then you can occasionally throw in people who do want a wookiee "date" and have it give a bonus every now and then. That way, you probably don't have to deal with it constantly but can still throw the player a bone on the concept.

On this note, I try not to treat all potential social interactions as equal. For example, even against absolutely average, non-skilled NPCs, if the NPC has any flavour at all their responses to Charm, Coercion, Negotiation, etc will all be different. Maybe it's a street rat kid who needs a father figure, in which case, Leadership might be the most useful, but Coercion will just put their back up. Depending on the severity of these tendencies I could increase the difficulty, add setback, or even upgrade.

Agreed. I think one of the biggest traps GMs fall into is just setting the difficulty or skill required based on what the PCs have rather than what makes sense for who the NPC is in the story and what the PCs are trying to get them to say/do.

Definitely make sure none of the other players have a problem with the character's methods. Different people have different issues when it comes to sex and gaming, and you don't want to make others feel uncomfortable in game.

On a side-note, this is an easy trap players fall into when they first start gaming. I have no issues playing opposite gender characters, but time and time again, I've seen inexperienced gamers fall into the trap of over sexualizing them, and thus making them unrealistic.

Thanks for the tips guys. I am fairly positive none of the players will be uncomfortable. We are all personal friends that are fairly close. He's been joking about it now, and people laugh, but then part of me wonders if he will actually do it.

I think the best route for now is to accept the reality of the situation: most characters will not be interested in a Wookiee, so its probably not going to work often.

One of my friends made a back story for his female Wookiee in which she was sold off as a slave to a fetish brothel, got blamed for an assassination and is now on the run. He has hinted at basically planning to, at times, offer "services" for social checks.

I've had someone want to play a wookiee prostitute in a game before.

I'm surprised there is a person who dreamed up a wookie prostitute, let alone two? Is there some sort of hairy woman fetish fad I haven't heard of?

I would ask myself what the other players in this group would think of the wookie offering, "services". Are they going to laugh it off or is it going to get creepy for them? If you can answer this in advance then you will know to let it go or have a talk with the player before hand if you think it is going to alienate the others. If you don't have an clue, then I suppose you have to wait until it happens then take note of the reaction. Funny or creeped out? Then have the same talk if it doesn't go over well. Or if you would rather it been handled in RP fashion, the first (second?) offer needs to work out very poorly for the party to put an end to it being used again?

Edit: Appearently forgot how to spell creep.

One of my friends made a back story for his female Wookiee in which she was sold off as a slave to a fetish brothel, got blamed for an assassination and is now on the run. He has hinted at basically planning to, at times, offer "services" for social checks.

I've had someone want to play a wookiee prostitute in a game before.

I'm surprised there is a person who dreamed up a wookie prostitute, let alone two? Is there some sort of hairy woman fetish fad I haven't heard of?

I would ask myself what the other players in this group would think of the wookie offering, "services". Are they going to laugh it off or is it going to get creepy for them? If you can answer this in advance then you will know to let it go or have a talk with the player before hand if you think it is going to alienate the others. If you don't have an clue, then I suppose you have to wait until it happens then take note of the reaction. Funny or creeped out? Then have the same talk if it doesn't go over well. Or if you would rather it been handled in RP fashion, the first (second?) offer needs to work out very poorly for the party to put an end to it being used again?

Edit: Appearently forgot how to spell creep.

My concern was handling it narratively because I just don't see it as working on a majority of NPCs. I'm of the mindset that if something absolutely isn't going to work, the players don't roll. So if this player is trying to seduce NPCs every social encounter, and I'm telling him no every time, is that going to create a negative experience for him? How can I prevent that before it happens?

So I talked it over with the player a bit.

He already anticipated setback dice for trying to actually seduce species outside his own, and admitted while it is fun to joke about he would understand if its preferred he sticks to other ways to charm.

So I think it will happen occasionally, if at all. I appreciate the advice others have given. It helped me form an approach rather than come off as overbearing. Thanks!

I'm surprised there is a person who dreamed up a wookie prostitute, let alone two? Is there some sort of hairy woman fetish fad I haven't heard of?

People playing dedicated social characters as prostitutes are pretty common. People who like to take common concepts and stick them on a race that isn't normally associated with the concept are also pretty common (see Ithorian acrobat, etc). Just a matter of time before these two things converge at wookiee prostitute.

People playing dedicated social characters as prostitutes are pretty common. People who like to take common concepts and stick them on a race that isn't normally associated with the concept are also pretty common (see Ithorian acrobat, etc). Just a matter of time before these two things converge at wookiee prostitute.

Or an Aqualish Politico with a fetish for Gand. And on the first serious encounter where his skills would be needed front-and-center, he decides to take the local Gand (who was already written into the story) back to the ship for "Whoopiee".

And so now, the #1 taboo for my male Wookiee is Rishathra. There are some things that you just can’t un-hear. Not that I (as player) have a problem with it, but boy does my Wookiee.

You know Chebacca didn't wear pants, so I think maybe Wookie plumbing and Human plumbing are different.

I also think that the whole idea of making love in front of a fire on a rug is one thing. Making love in front of the fire with the rug could well be another.

You know Chebacca didn't wear pants, so I think maybe Wookie plumbing and Human plumbing are different.

I also think that the whole idea of making love in front of a fire on a rug is one thing. Making love in front of the fire with the rug could well be another.

Yeah, I'm just letting it go for right now. I don't think it will come up that much, or it will be a running gag among friends if anything. We have a Chiss with decent social skills as well, plus a Drall doctor and two combat heavy droids. Its an interesting party.

I'm guessing your player has heard this song by weird al

http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/weird_al_yankovic/wannabe_stormtrooper-lyrics-683859.html

I'm guessing your player has heard this song by weird al

http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/weird_al_yankovic/wannabe_stormtrooper-lyrics-683859.html

Well, if his player has heard that "Weird Al" song, he's the only one who has. That's not one of Al's songs.

Ok... the Internet [source of all true information ] said it was a weird al song. Yes that was a joke.

If memory serves it was by the anarchy steering committee but I was went with what the website hosting the lyrics said rather than my memory. After clicking on the link look at the path... it has weird al in it.

Ok... the Internet [source of all true information ] said it was a weird al song. Yes that was a joke.

If memory serves it was by the anarchy steering committee but I was went with what the website hosting the lyrics said rather than my memory. After clicking on the link look at the path... it has weird al in it.

Your memory is correct.

You know Chebacca didn't wear pants, so I think maybe Wookie plumbing and Human plumbing are different.

I also think that the whole idea of making love in front of a fire on a rug is one thing. Making love in front of the fire with the rug could well be another.

I seem to recall someone writing to Dan Savage with this exact situation.

You know Chebacca didn't wear pants, so I think maybe Wookie plumbing and Human plumbing are different.

I also think that the whole idea of making love in front of a fire on a rug is one thing. Making love in front of the fire with the rug could well be another.

That sounds like a Robot Chicken sketch.

But think of the possibilities with an Ithorian prostitute... Two mouths, four throats, and every one of them is a screamer!

Wow, Happy, that is horrible...

Ok, I know what I am about t to say won't be popular, but I'm not here for popularity.

I have been a GM for a very long time now, and have seen all most all of the "types" of players out there. And I have seen just as many crazy character ideas out there.

For me, I do not allow gender reversals. I once had a dude that would only play chicks. ??? In every Game System.

My group was coming up with ideas for a new game, and we're talking about maybe doing a Stormtrooper squad thing, and this guy told me if he can't be a female Stormtrooper, then he wouldn't play. After that, he didn't get invited back.

I have a hard enough time trying to imagine the person I am talking to as being a wierd alien. But if they are trying to play a female as well, for me it just ridiculous. They either make their voice comically too high, or they sound like a transvessite. Or I just picture Dr. Frank-N-Furter. For me, it just breaks the barrier. So I don't allow it anymore, and any player that can't respect that, won't respect my other descions that I make as well.

I am not saying what you have to do, or even what you should do, but if you as the GM do not like a character concept, you do not have to allow it. I think it is admirable that you are trying to let this person do this crazy idea, but this almost seems like too much trouble to be worth it.

I start my groups off as Groups usually. They either know someone in the group, or at least have a NPC acquaintance. If a character player does come along that provides nothing to the Group, why would they hire him/her and keep them around? I do let my players fire people. I once had a Wookiee brawler that would start a fist fight in every bar they went too, well becuase he wanted to. After they started loosing all thier contacts, they left with out him. (Their was much discussion with the player for a while.) He countered with, "I am just playing my Character!"

I'm just saying, if a character provides no worth to your game or to the Group, why would the other players keep him/her around.

Final thought using a Firefly reference. I loved the flashback story where they showed the original mechanic for Serenity, who got fired because he wasn't a good mechanic at all.

Good luck out there with your Wookiee prostitue. I can't imagine a high demand for that kind of thing...at least in public.

I start my groups off as Groups usually. They either know someone in the group, or at least have a NPC acquaintance. If a character player does come along that provides nothing to the Group, why would they hire him/her and keep them around?

We've been doing this for ages, none of this "meet in a bar" stuff. It started with one GM setting us up like the Amber books by Roger Zelazny, we were all family and we even all had a deck of cards painted up by our quirky old gramps. Ever since then we've either gone with family, or some kind of existing business or allegiance arrangement. I'm starting a new Far Horizons game (tomorrow...eeek!) with the shared business premise.

I agree it has to work for everybody, GM included. I wouldn't personally object to cross-gender roles, but it depends who the player is. My one experience with that was pretty negative: it was clear the player was simply interested in fantasizing about what NPCs were doing with his character than playing the character herself. Creepy. It seems that games that appear to be "sexual" are really about "power"...not my thing. Thankfully the game with those people fell apart.

My concern was handling it narratively because I just don't see it as working on a majority of NPCs. I'm of the mindset that if something absolutely isn't going to work, the players don't roll. So if this player is trying to seduce NPCs every social encounter, and I'm telling him no every time, is that going to create a negative experience for him? How can I prevent that before it happens?

So before I put on my A$$-Hat, I really want to commend you for this sentence. It's clear you're going to be a great DM because you want to create a positive play experience for your players versus many other the other motives of other DM's. Kudos to you.

Now . . . **A$$-Hat On**

I DM most to all of my games. Unfortunately my friends like playing and not DM'ing. That's fine, as I love telling great stories and I have plenty of them to go through. That being said . . . I've played with almost every kind of player out there. I can spot the type of player somebody is after a session (Or two at most). If one of my friends pulled that on me, that would set off red alerts. ( Did he just . . . Star Trek? Yes. A$$-Hat mode.)

To me, that player clearly isn't taking something serious. Whether it be your story, the atmosphere, something. He's making a joke out of it, and personally to me that's no good for a story telling environment. Sure, if you die in game, do you die in real life? No. But that's no reason to not invest, to get pulled in, to be sucked in to your character, the story, and the universe around you. A character / player like that? I could only assume that when they meet a new NPC, he won't be listening to dialogue. He'll only be thinking "What would be the funniest way I could hit on this guy?"

I was a player in a D&D campaign a couple years out of High School, and the DM was setting the situation and a couple of players were joking around. I'm not sure if he was having a bad day, but essentially he began to berate them saying "Look, I spend a lot of effort and time not only setting this up, but actually doing it. It's a Saturday. I could be out doing things in the sun, with my girlfriend, taking care of bills or cleaning the apartment . . . but I'm here with you guys to play this game."

I'm sure those weren't his exact words, but the idea comes across. While he was, ultimately, a terrible DM, I won't discount that argument. As a DM, I put a lot of work into my games. It just plain hurts my soul when I have a disrespectful player who wants to make a joke character and $hit on the session. I have no respect for them and treat them as such.

**A$$-Hat off**

. . .

**Deep breath**

My concern was handling it narratively because I just don't see it as working on a majority of NPCs. I'm of the mindset that if something absolutely isn't going to work, the players don't roll. So if this player is trying to seduce NPCs every social encounter, and I'm telling him no every time, is that going to create a negative experience for him? How can I prevent that before it happens?

So before I put on my A$$-Hat, I really want to commend you for this sentence. It's clear you're going to be a great DM because you want to create a positive play experience for your players versus many other the other motives of other DM's. Kudos to you.

Now . . . **A$$-Hat On**

I DM most to all of my games. Unfortunately my friends like playing and not DM'ing. That's fine, as I love telling great stories and I have plenty of them to go through. That being said . . . I've played with almost every kind of player out there. I can spot the type of player somebody is after a session (Or two at most). If one of my friends pulled that on me, that would set off red alerts. ( Did he just . . . Star Trek? Yes. A$$-Hat mode.)

To me, that player clearly isn't taking something serious. Whether it be your story, the atmosphere, something. He's making a joke out of it, and personally to me that's no good for a story telling environment. Sure, if you die in game, do you die in real life? No. But that's no reason to not invest, to get pulled in, to be sucked in to your character, the story, and the universe around you. A character / player like that? I could only assume that when they meet a new NPC, he won't be listening to dialogue. He'll only be thinking "What would be the funniest way I could hit on this guy?"

I was a player in a D&D campaign a couple years out of High School, and the DM was setting the situation and a couple of players were joking around. I'm not sure if he was having a bad day, but essentially he began to berate them saying "Look, I spend a lot of effort and time not only setting this up, but actually doing it. It's a Saturday. I could be out doing things in the sun, with my girlfriend, taking care of bills or cleaning the apartment . . . but I'm here with you guys to play this game."

I'm sure those weren't his exact words, but the idea comes across. While he was, ultimately, a terrible DM, I won't discount that argument. As a DM, I put a lot of work into my games. It just plain hurts my soul when I have a disrespectful player who wants to make a joke character and **** on the session. I have no respect for them and treat them as such.

**A$$-Hat off**

. . .

**Deep breath**