lifepaths and "born..."

[kitsune]

looking at the maritime lifepaths, it occrus to me to wonder whether "son of a gun" qualifies as a "born..." lifepath. that is, can you be born at sea? in a fantasy setting with equal rights for women, there could be female sailors, etc... certianly for my own games, i'd adjudicate it on a setting-by-setting basis, but i was wondering what the official ruling was.

[luke]

Hello Kitsune and welcome!
No tricks please (and I swear that wasn't me peeping out of the bushes at your wedding).

To answer your question, yes a Born LP "counts" as a lifepath. And Son of a Gun is a born LP. The sexism is inherent in the cliche, but the name was irresistable.

A character Born Son of a Gun, Landsman, Sailor is a 3 LP character.

While most LPs are gender neutral, some are gender specific-- like Young Lady, Wife, and Dame. There are some roles which men can't fill! And of course you are welcome to involve women in whatever roles you see fit in your campaign.

-abzu

[kitsune]

my comment about gender-equality was meant more as a way of pondering how one could be actually born at sea, rather than a comment on the name.

aw, i wanted my male-chauvinist swordsman to have a "young lady" lifepath as his deep dark secret :wink:

thanks!

[nebulousmenace]

The traditional "son of a gun" happened when a sailor smuggled a woman on board, c. 1700-1800. Which, for all it was "bad luck" and the like, happened a lot.

Some were girlfriends, some were, ah, "rental girlfriends". A whole lot of them got pregnant. And in a lot of cases, the father could be almost anyone on board. Hence, "son of a gun."

[kitsune]

thanks, that makes sense. nauticaul history is not my forte.

and "rental girlfriend"? that's one way of putting it... :P