Penny for your thoughts on playing a bi character as a hetro player

I am going back over the creation of my bard and thinking more about his reasons for starting out as an adventurer.  Thinking over several reasons, I thought - what if the reason he becomes an adventurer is because he is forced to leave his home for some reason.  This resulted in me thinking of reasons why he would be forced to leave.

Thinking through several reasons, I thought - what if he was caught doing something that resulted in a scandal.  I liked that idea so started to think about what would result in a scandal.

I thought, okay, so he is a bard and an entertainer - he is all kinds of charismatic now, so what if he got caught canoodling with some nobles daughter.  But this has been done to death and its like such a bad trope that I wanted to switch it up a bit so I thought - what if he was caught canoodling with some nobles son.

Yep, that would for sure create a scandal and you can sure as heck imagine this noble giving him an ultimatum.   "Leave town or I will ruin your family" and because he loves his family, he left.  The problem is that having left home, he now has nowhere to go, so he travels to the next town.  That's not far enough though, as there are retainers of the lord he spurned stationed in this town and pretty soon he gets moved on.  

This happens several times until he eventually finds himself in a dusty rundown town (or wherever he eventually meets the party).  As an entertainer, he is able to secure free lodgings at a small, broken down tavern where he spends his nights entertaining the guests and during the day, he takes on odd jobs in and around the town to earn a living.  

Eventually meeting the party through whatever means - but the results are that he goes off on this adventure with them because he needs to find some new inspiration to keep his patrons at the tavern entertained if he is to keep his home (since he get free lodgings there in exchange for entertaining the guests, this is basically where he lives)

Anyway, this character would be bisexual but I myself am heterosexual and I don't know if playing a bisexual character as a heterosexual player would cause offence to anyone who is actually bisexual. 

Cheers for your thoughts

Jay

Have you seen the Critical Role videos?

In short, no it isn't a problem as long as it fits with your table.

I really doubt anyone will care as long as you're not perpetuating harmful stereotypes and treat being bi as just another facet of your character.

Disclaimer: I'm straight.

It's make believe.

Would you, a human, worry about offending any Orcs when you play an Orc character?

Stop worrying about offending people. It's not your job to prevent people from being offended.

I swear I seem to be the only D&D player where the sexuality and relationships of characters form about 0.00001% of my gaming experience.

Not only is it not-offensive it's actively encouraged.

D&D is about being something more than what you are. It grants you the opportunity to think through the perspectives of characters different than you. Playing characters of a different gender, sexuality and ethnicity (and actual race) from you is a great way to broaden your mind to realise in what ways they are different and the many ways we're all the same.

The difference is, Orcs are made up beings that wont be sitting at the table in flesh and blood but it is entirely possible that someone at the table might be bisexual.  So no, I wouldn't worry about offending an Orc but I do worry about offending real life people with my choices.

 dropbear8mybaby: I would be interested to know how you would write his backstory then - like if you could give me a general overview of what you would write for a character that was forced to leave home to avoid a scandal, I would really love to see it.

Creating this character is turning out to much more complicated than just about every other character I have created before and I think its because I am trying to inject an actual personality and wants and desires into this guy, rather than just creating a standard "lets go on an adventure" fantasy character.

I want him to seem real, as though he was really living in the world of the story.

Like Cyb3rM1nd said, I don't think this is offensive, but rather encouraging. I know, it's not the same, but a LGBT person could also play a heterosexual person without offending anybody. And like Quasimojo said, it shouldn't be a problem as long as it's fits your table. Maybe talk to the other players and discuss with them, if anybody feels offended about this. I would bet, that nobody will feel so.

As a Bisexual Person(TM) I don't see a problem on the face of it. I like that you want to shake up some of the old backstory tropes and stereotypes!

For the most part, playing a bisexual character is just like playing a straight character, but sometimes you flirt with guys instead of gals. Seriously, that's about it. However, there are a couple things to think about when you're making your character:

1. Is bisexuality stigmatized in your game's setting, or is it considered normal/unremarkable? Don't assume that a setting must be homphobic/biphobic just because it's based on a medieval European time period (or some other historical period). Same-sex attraction has been around forever, and many societies were more accepting of it than you'd think. They just didn't necessarily conceive of it in the same way we do, or use the same words to describe it. This is probably something you'll want to talk to your DM about to see what their ideas are for the societies in your game.
2. Does your character have a preference for one gender or another? Some bisexual people are attracted more strongly to one gender than others; other bisexual people are equally attracted to all genders. Both are perfectly valid and "real" forms of bisexuality, so you can go either way. (LOL.)

Quote from Nat_30 >>

As a Bisexual Person(TM) I don't see a problem on the face of it. I like that you want to shake up some of the old backstory tropes and stereotypes!

For the most part, playing a bisexual character is just like playing a straight character, but sometimes you flirt with guys instead of gals. Seriously, that's about it. However, there are a couple things to think about when you're making your character:

1. Is bisexuality stigmatized in your game's setting, or is it considered normal/unremarkable? Don't assume that a setting must be homphobic/biphobic just because it's based on a medieval European time period (or some other historical period). Same-sex attraction has been around forever, and many societies were more accepting of it than you'd think. They just didn't necessarily conceive of it in the same way we do, or use the same words to describe it. This is probably something you'll want to talk to your DM about to see what their ideas are for the societies in your game.
2. Does your character have a preference for one gender or another? Some bisexual people are attracted more strongly to one gender than others; other bisexual people are equally attracted to all genders. Both are perfectly valid and "real" forms of bisexuality, so you can go either way. (LOL.)

Thanks so much for your input Nat_30.  No, being bisexual is not really stigmatised per-say.  Though amongst the higher ruling classes like lords and such, bisexuality or any anything that wont produce hairs to the family title is strongly looked down upon.

Had he been canoodling with another performer, nobody would have given a hoot and even been somewhat expected.  It only became a problem because of who he was with.  This Lord (noble), like most others of their social class, sees it to be his sons duty to perpetuate the family name and title and so clamped down so much harder on this relationship than would generally have been expected in lower social classes.

Its not only that it was a relationship between bisexual people, but it was a relationship between people who were not even of the same class.  The same would have happened if it was a performer and the daughter of a lord.  Though probably not so vehemently.

Also, I am thinking that this particular noble is just less tolerant and more backward thinking, even more so than other nobles.