Tuzenbach
First Post
OK. This may sound very strange to you and/or many persons here, but so be it.Chaos_Kitten said:Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster.
Forgive me for the fairly silly title. It just felt appropriate at the time.
This question/rant is directed mostly to the female gamers in the forum, but anyone is welcome to add their input.
I find when I play D&D and other d20 roleplaying games I tend to have difficulty with some of the male gamers. They expect me to play some sexed sorceress in barely there clothes or a fighter chick in a chainmail bikini.
What is even more frustrating is how it comes as some huge surprise that I can play my character effectively. If I do have a character that shows some prowess then I've had many assume my significant other must have built and written it up for me. I got the half minotaur template banned from the local PvP on my own merit. (A naturally large Hextor worshipping, flail wielding, monkey gripping cleric can be especially dangerous when you put divine favor and righteous might into the mix.)
Don't get me wrong. I'm not up on my soapbox glaring at the male population as a whole. I've just had some very frustrating experiences of this nature. I just wonder if anyone else has and just how they dealt with it.
Thanks for seeing this through and not getting horribly bored with my rambling.
One of the myriad reasons I'll play D&D is to escape from females. Why? Hmmm. Let's see. I started playing D&D when I was seven. Back then, girls were the "bad guys". For me, that association never changed nor have I wished for it to.
And so I get involved with some ludicrous female in the REAL WORLD who invariably ends up breaking my heart. What then? I turn to D&D. In that FANTASY WORLD, heartbreak just isn't possible. Sorry, no girls allowed! I'll not have my "safety zone" compromised.
A few years ago I found myself in a campaign with a dude who's live-in girlfriend/fiance'/whatever supposedly liked D&D as much as he did. Or so he convinced her. And us. Needless to say, when he announced boldy that she would be joining the campaign and that the two of them would be playing characters that were "in love" with one another, I almost projectile-vomitted all over him.
Love and relationships are for the REAL WORLD. I like D&D because it isn't real. I can't kill orcs & such in real life, that's why there's D&D. I play D&D to cast spells and fight monsters, and I'll go out with girls to see my paycheck evaporate before my eyes and have to worry about stupid things like did I or did I not apply deodorant before leaving the house?
My point is this.......I don't mix the two. Playing role playing games with females is the same thing (for me, anyway) as that argument in "When Harry Met Sally" pertaining to why men and women CAN'T be "just friends". Eventually, one of the dudes gets involved with the girl and the campaign collapses. It's the Yoko Ono effect. The best way to counter it is to not let it happen in the first place.
To this day, if I'm DMing, I only very reluctantly create any sort of female NPC. And yes, I may be taking it extremely too far, but I've never been able to shake my associations with first playing D&D way back in 1979. NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!!