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Message: <blockquote data-quote="StormbringerAUS" data-source="post: 7783850" data-attributes="member: 6936541">My first game was i the early 80s with Ad&D, I was introduced by a friend who had 2 brothers and one other guy played.  I was 16 girls were just other people I went to school with who ignored me, I wasn't part of the 'in crowd' so basically other than a circle of male friends, everyone either ignored or taunted us.  The only gil I knew was my sister - and too me she was a spoilt brat who threw tantrums when she didn't get her own way so my inclination was just to ignore them.This group was the only people I knew who had anything to do with gaming.However over the next couple of years (last two years of high school) I did make one female friend who was into scifi and fantasy.  Leaving high school we went our separate ways for about a year, before I ran into her again and she invited me to join a campaign run by her bf (he was was a few years older than us).  This campaign had people she went to uni with and had DM and 7 players (the DM and two of the players a couple then and now play in my current campaign) made up of 4 males and 3 females.  These for several years where the main gamers I associated with.  So from that beginning it seemed to me gaming was if not evenly split there was a good proportion of females.Then we started going to conventions - playing as a group it was often commented that in a group of 6 we would have 2 or 3 females and that we were unusual - we also often won the role playing awards - not sure if it was connected but thinking back it could well have been.After a couple of years of playing we began DMing at the con and even writing the modules.  This is where I first became aware of a real anti female stance - though this was around DMing, groups assigned a female DM often complained before they even run that a girl couldn't know the rules/ how can they be themselves or play their characters as they want with a female in charge, exact words used.  After this as a group we drifted away from the cons and by the early 90s had really drifted away from RPGs as life, work and commitments took our time and energy (children for alot of them).When 5E came out I contacted all those players and said if interested I would be happy to DM a module (HoDQ) to give it ago - so with myself and 5 of the old group and the daughter of the couple (she is 20) we started playing.  Have now moved onto my own campaign.In the last year I have started playing at my local gaming store (so I could play a character and not DM).  The group I lay with there has 8 players though not all make it every week - 2 are female.  Across the probably 60 players about 25% would be female - some daughters of others but most are just gamers like the rest of us.  However and this is finally the point I was trying to get too - none DM outside the cons I mentioned where the female DMs were basically chased away I have never encountered one who regulars runs - I am sure there are plenty out there.  There are more females interested in gaming now than when I started but there is also some terrible bias around them and at least the game shop is a safe environment though this is the only one I know so maybe its not always.So for my rambling and if you made it this far let me know you deserve an XP.</blockquote>

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