Female DM's

[Lizard]

I think a sizable number of male gamers simply haven't reached a maturity level where they are aware that females are pretty much members of the same species as they are. They probably are still amazed on some level that women do not have their own separate language.

They do.

For example, when a woman says "Nothing" is wrong, she means "Something is very, very, wrong, and you'd better figure out what it is, pronto!".

Ooooo, I'm gonna get hit.....

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'm a girl. I have only been playing a few years , but have been planning to run my own game (something set in ancient Egypt) for a while. Right now I'm busy with two other games I play in. When those DMs need a break, and I feel like I have enough prepared to keep the players going, I'll DM. And I like to think the guys I game with (and one woman) will enjoy it.

go to www.pantheon.org for info on Egyptian deities. You'll have to dig around a bit through mythologies, Africa, then Egypt, but it's a great resource. I also apologize if this reply came through earlier and appears redundant. When I hit "post" the first time, my computer decided to take a nap, so I don't know if it posted.

The first campaign I ever played in, so many years ago, was a sort of "What if the influence of the Egyptian gods had survived and spread to a medieval Western European style setting?" That DM and that setting influenced every creative thing I've done since.

Incidentally, that first campaign consisted of 3 guys and one girl, who played until her sorority sisters "recommended" she spend her time in a "more acceptable social endeavor". She played a monk, and was absolutely terrific. I found out after she left our group that before I'd joined, she had DM'd a great deal, but had decided to take a break and play.

This morning on the way to work I happened to recall I have played under another woman GM. We had a very long-running DC Heroes campaign, and she wanted to start a side group called the "Justice League Academy" with young heroes. She had great ideas and great stories, but only ran about twice because her (now ex) husband sat and badgered her about the rules and what she was doing wrong or what he felt she should do differently (he'd been the primary GM in that campaign for years). She finally just gave it up, thanks to him.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

I am female, and I am dm too, at times.
I was dm more often in the past, but then I become more lazy and sticked for player's role for few years. Not totally, but mostly.

I have started to dm more games recently, but I feel I have kind of lost my touch. It's not the new system or anything, I used to know a lot of different systems and I still do. I kind of plan adventures half-way and have then "ok where I should take this next" -feeling I can't get over. Having players who don't give ideas what kind of common direction they'd like campaing to go (more combat, more plot or less combat less plot and that kind of things.)

Then there is the fact that I rather just play, because I don't have to plan so much. Then I find myself planning for those who dm at times. Create all kind of source material for them, they may or may not use. My own stuff starts to bore me. I get bored easily. I prefer unpredictable. As player, things are a bit more so.

I probably would still like being dm more, if I was still with my old group. But usual life stuff happened, they moved elsewhere, got married and stuff like that. Those people weren't that predictable as players and there was more time and interest in general for role-playing games then.

But since people keep pushing me to dm more I guess I will give in and keep it up for few years.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Having players who don't give ideas what kind of common direction they'd like campaing to go (more combat, more plot or less combat less plot and that kind of things.)

Trust me, I completely understand where you're coming from on this. Sometimes I feel like my players are parasitic life forms who feed off my efforts, yet give back little in the way of creative energy. They're not as bad about this as they used to be, and I treasure every one of them as friends and gaming buddies. But sometimes you just wanna.....

I noticed you're from Finland, home of my latest musical obsession--Nightwish. Ahh....Nightwish.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

My group has two or three women playing, depending upon who is DMing (my wife won't play when our other DM is running the game, he has a tendency to take over her characters). All are wives of other players, but one brought her husband into the game and the other met her future husband and when she found out he was a gamer, brought him into our group. My wife was the only one who started playing because of me, but she had always wanted to play (she had a Basic set from when she was a kid that was in pristene condition - dice still sealed in the bag), so I just became a good excuse to finally learn the game - I feel so USED!

One of our female players has started DMing another group, she said she wanted to do it to better learn the rules, so she calls it her "remedial group", since she is a new DM, and other than her husband her other players are all new to the game. One of these days I'm going to find the time to pop over an be a guest player. I have a feeling she'll be a better DM than I am once she gets comfortable with the mechanics of DMing. Too bad she and her husband are moving away this summer...(anybody know of any gamers for her and her husband in Alfred, NY?)

 

[ForceUser]

I've only played with a female DM once and she was awful. I'd love to try a game with a good female DM - I think it would be fun to have a canny female in charge. Unlike P-Kitty, I only know of the one female DM. I know several great male DMs though.

 

[Silver Moon]

...one of the reasons a lot of women get into gaming because of a husband/boyfriend or only stay in as long as the relationship with the gamer lasts.

I joined my first gaming group back when I was in college, and the group had around a dozen players with 50/50 male/female ratio. The game was hosted by an older couple, but the woman (my first DM) was the dominant force behind the game and always made the female players feel very welcomed. Most of the female players did make their way into the group as the girlfriend of a gamer, but when the relationship ended it was usually the boyfriend who left the gaming group.

My other group began with around a 2-to-1 ratio of male to female, and female gamers have always been a part of it.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

Trust me, I completely understand where you're coming from on this. Sometimes I feel like my players are parasitic life forms who feed off my efforts, yet give back little in the way of creative energy. They're not as bad about this as they used to be, and I treasure every one of them as friends and gaming buddies. But sometimes you just wanna.....

I noticed you're from Finland, home of my latest musical obsession--Nightwish. Ahh....Nightwish.

Yep, you pinned my thought exactly.

Oh, you like Nighwish. Well me too, among other music I listen to.

 

[nopantsyet]

Man, I gotta' get out more. I've only had the good pleasure of gaming with one female gamer, but never a female DM. I've been hoping to break the gender monopoly of my group for some time, but my gaming network is pretty limited.

 

[Silver Moon]

Man, I gotta' get out more. I've only had the good pleasure of gaming with one female gamer, but never a female DM.

Keep coming to the ENWorld gamedays and you'll get to meet several (and thank you from all of us for wearing pants to the last one).