Female DM's

[Axegrrl]

I started gaming around '79 or '80, with the blue and red D&D books... I don't often GM. The first game I ran was Shadowrun (1st & 2nd ed) -- because there were no open spots in the one active game in the extended gaming group (about 20-30 people). I ran that for a couple of years. I've also run Werewolf, briefly.

I haven't run d20 for a few reasons. The big one is time. Another major issue is that, based on what I've seen, I think the current set of rules encourages rules-lawyering. My god, *I* have done some rules lawyering, something I once swore I'd *never* do in a game. But when one plays with rules lawyers... Another issue is that there are waaay too many fiddly bits in the rules, almost to the point of Fizbin. ("If it's Tuesday, then... but if it's Tuesday and the moon is full but it's raining, then....") But then I see all sorts of things I've seen that look like they're done "right" and I want to use them in a game, and that ain't gonna happen in any of the games I'm in now.... sigh.

 

[Thanee]

In France, however (curious to know about the rest of Europe...) there is extremely FEW female gamers.

In germany female gamers are fewer than male gamers, but not extremely FEW.

If I had to guess... maybe 30%.

Bye
Thanee

 

[James Heard]

I've had a few female GMs. Honestly? They were awful, mostly because they'd been playing a while and not particularly been paying attention to the rules or because ANYONE has a hard time picking up the curious juggles it takes to run a large group - and they were too nice to put caps on the players like I recommend for the guys that want to try it out with our circle of gamers. The best one was using the Storyteller system, good grasp of mechanics and absolutely encyclopedic knowlegde of where to find anything in any of the books. The only problem was that 'deep immersion' worked against her when everyone's roleplaying murderous psychopaths in a VtM game. I kept having to edit myself, I was "giving her nightmares". It happens I guess.

For the record though, those several bad female GMS don't hold a candle to the legions of bad male GMs. I've never just walked out after 5 minutes, for instance, with a female GM. They're at least polite. ;-)

 

[StalkingBlue]

Of all the many DMs I've ever had, by far the best of all has been the one female DM, Stalkingblue.

Thus, women are better DMs than men.

QED.

He is quite obviously mad.

Because, of course, of all the DMs I've had yet, S'mon has been the best.

Thus, mad men are better ...

Er ...
Wait.

In fact I think I'll run away now.

 

[Balsamic Dragon]

Ah, the bimonthly female gamers thread! I really need to start frequenting the boards more, because it seems like every time I check in, this is the thread I end up responding to.

So in brief: hi there, female gm, gaming for 25 years, gming for 20, have run pretty much everything at one time or other, and yes, still meet guys who are amazed that I exist

Balsamic Dragon

 

[Thanee]

Because, of course, of all the DMs I've had yet, S'mon has been the best.

Maybe that's just because you two can't DM for yourselves, so you can't compare to each other?

Bye
Thanee

 

[StalkingBlue]

Maybe that's just because you two can't DM for yourselves, so you can't compare to each other?

Bye
Thanee

Someone understands! At last ...

 

[Khaalis]

Counting in my head, I know around nineteen or twenty female DMs.

This comment alone is just so depressing. I cant even find that many GAMERS in my area much less any discussion of gender percentages...

ARG! I am going through such withdrawl!!!

 

[S'mon]

Someone understands! At last ...

Hm... yes... I better create a GM PC immediately, so I can enjoy my own wonderful DMing. Of course since I'm a natural leader they'll need to be a few levels higher than the other PCs so they can tell the other PCs what to do, and to reflect my brilliant tactical insight they'll need to be built on 95-point-buy, with feats from the FRCS... I'll just give them regular Wealth to start with though, since I know where all the treasure is IMC I'll have no problem getting more...

 

[Wonger]

Where do you people find these female geeks? I've been gaming for 15 years, still have a campaign that is coming up on 12 years, just finished another after 7 years and epic levels, and amongst the entire gaming pool (20+ people) in my campaigns and others over the entire timespan there is one solitary female, the wife of one of the players.

I would love to have females included in the group, but I simply don't see them. Is it geography? Is Chicago some void in the lady-gamer population? Piratecat's statement of knowing 19 female GM's astounds me! Where are all these women hiding? Are they avoiding me? Do I smell?

It also seems that a great majority of the women that play (from what I read on these boards) do so because there husbands or boyfriends do. My girlfriend and the significant others of 95% of my gaming pool would never even consider playing - it simply doesn't interest them. But if not introduced by their partners, how were you female DM's drawn into the game? I would love to have a more diverse group, but where can I find these mythical female gamers?

I know this topic comes up all the time, but it truly does amaze me because I just don't see it! In fact I think it is all bunk! I don't believe any of you claiming to be female really are! It's a conspiracy I say!

And while I am 26, and have no problems "leaving the basement", hitting the bar scene and meeting people, I am an immature juvenile at heart so I'll pose a more relevant question:

What percentage of female DM's are hot?