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So I brought this up before, with some mixed feedback, but I'm once again thinking about this:

If you Encountered someone and her Tolerance was lower if the group did not include at least one female hero, what would you think of that?

And to be fair, flip either the gender of the Encounter or the required gender or both. (I.E. he wants 1+ females, he wants 1+ males, she wants 1+ females, she wants 1+ males).

Ehhhh. Dicey issue. I'd leave gender out of it, myself. Besides, not all gaming groups will have a female player, or someone eager to play a female.

Sexist characters? Yeah, sure. It's not exactly the nicest character trait, but neither is racism and that crops up.

I wouldn't make it especially common, and would make it clear that it's a bad thing, but I see no reason why it shouldn't come up.

zedturtle wrote: If you Encountered someone and her Tolerance was lower if the group did not include at least one female hero, what would you think of that?

If the NPC has a particular problem with men/women, it's a good idea.
Otherwise, I'm not sure it hs a point.

If you want to get into detailed gender issues, you have to address the fact that Middle-earth generally doesn't see a lot of women going on adventures or getting into battles. Only the most powerful and highest born find their ways into the stories.

The One Ring wisely chooses to ignore sexism of any form in its rules, assuming that the difference between men and women is negligible as far as game mechanics go. I believe it is best to stick with this.

Stormcrow wrote:If you want to get into detailed gender issues, you have to address the fact that Middle-earth generally doesn't see a lot of women going on adventures or getting into battles. Only the most powerful and highest born find their ways into the stories.

The One Ring wisely chooses to ignore sexism of any form in its rules, assuming that the difference between men and women is negligible as far as game mechanics go. I believe it is best to stick with this.

Well, the only way I'd ever implement it is in the first iteration given, i.e. a female character valuing companies that have at least one female higher than others. But I'm thinking instead that I will just have her value diversity, rather than set any particular requirements for cultures or genders.

And, yes, there is very much no need for sexist game mechanics that limit or reward a hero for a gender choice.

zedturtle wrote:So I brought this up before, with some mixed feedback, but I'm once again thinking about this:

If you Encountered someone and her Tolerance was lower if the group did not include at least one female hero, what would you think of that?

And to be fair, flip either the gender of the Encounter or the required gender or both. (I.E. he wants 1+ females, he wants 1+ males, she wants 1+ females, she wants 1+ males).

Given that the informations provided in the core rules are just guidelines, I think it can be reasonable to expect this kind of behaviour, although much of it depends on the tone of the campaign.
As Stormcrow observed, the game skip this issue entirely and with good reason.

It's been touched on in the official TOR books but was very much part of a specific Encounter rather than the norm. In TfW's Kinstrife and Dark Tidings, Brunhild's Tolerance is reduced by one if there are no women or hobbits in the fellowship.

If it makes sense to the plot & story then I see no problem with it. The thing I would avoid is situations such as a male NPC having lower tolerance if women are present because he "thinks they are weak" or something of that nature*. But a female NPC who has a reason to mistrust men? Sure, increase Tolerance if there's a woman present. Or reduce TNs for that character, or something like that.

*On the other hand, if that NPC had a vision or portent that a woman would be his downfall, that could be a valid reason.

Glorelendil wrote:The thing I would avoid is situations such as a male NPC having lower tolerance if women are present because he "thinks they are weak" or something of that nature

Why? This would be a negative aspect of that NPC, for sure, but is it worse than an Elf NPC who is prejudiced against dwarves? I don't mind some of my NPCs being jerks, as long as is isn't too much of a disadvantage for the woman PC. I mean, some of my NPCs kill people.

Also, Tolkien did create Eowin and the "no living man" line.