Tell me about the women in your world!

[Dagger75]

One of the most powerful spellcasters in old campaign was an Elven Female Lich. Her name was Asolia Darkmoon. The PC's feared her. Her son was an Elven Death Knight Bladesinger.

Then an evil Drow priestess named Lyriel Us'Claiden set up the PC's in another game. They wanted to kill her pretty bad.

Hmmm all the chicks in my game seem to be evil, go figure

 

[Doug McCrae]

I'm going with what's become the norm in the past few years - sexual equality - though there might be the odd sexist culture. Dunno if I've got the stones to make such a culture sympathetic.

I'm trying to find a way to fit in hawt drow lesbian chixxorz in chainmail bikinis. Figure they could be an exotic dance act or something.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Hmmm all the chicks in my game seem to be evil, go figure

Like a little realism in your games, eh?

Spoiler

Just kidding! Please don't hurt me, ladies!

EDIT: I these new spoiler tags

EDIT: They're cool, though, and useful. No more ally looking at spoilers.

 

[Turjan]

The situation of women IMG is very different, depending on regional cultures. I have

-partriarchal societies where women do not count much (men can marry several women);

-societies with strict gender roles, where women rule the household (everything inside the house and the education of children), whereas men rule outer affairs and the state;

-societies with strict gender roles, which nevertheless allow equal access to education and to key positions;

-completely egalitarian societies;

-societies where women own the houses, the money and inherit everything, while the war leaders are mostly men (women can marry several men)

-societies where women dominate everything.

An example for the last point is the northwestern troll kingdom (with the largest city of the NW), which is ruled by female trolls (they are bigger than males). In order to exclude any speculations: I don't use alignments and trolls are not inherently evil. Women as leaders are not so rare; the ruler of the largest human empire is also a woman.

 

[Dagger75]

Like a little realism in your games, eh?

Spoiler

Just kidding! Please don't hurt me, ladies!

EDIT: I these new spoiler tags

EDIT: They're cool, though, and useful. No more ally looking at spoilers.

I thought of going there but took the high road

But in general ladies have equal rights in my games to.

 

[fusangite]

In all of my game worlds but two, women have been men's social inferiors in the public sphere (where the game takes place). This is simply because the societies I construct in my games are based on our planet's historical, mythical and literary traditions where men dominate the public sphere.

I have run two games in which women were more powerful than men; one was based on modern feminist neopagan images of the past. I grew to hate that world and scrapped it because the myth and symbol system was so flat and one-dimensional.

The other, more recent one, has been more successful -- it's based on resonances between gnosticism (especially as expressed in modern Sufism), Persian and Celtic fairy legends, and modern celebrity culture as described in magazines like Star. Here I have managed to come up with a world sufficiently rich in myth and grounded in real world culture. But this is my one and only success in creating a game world where women dominate the public sphere.

But I'll admit that most of my worlds are like Teflon Billy's. Even the remaining oral traditions of cultures we know to have been matricentric tend to centre on male characters, suggesting that even when men do not own property or hold final legislative authority, they often still dominate mythic narratives.

I'm baffled by the ease with which most people run worlds where gender means nothing; but I guess it just goes to show how different gaming styles can be.

EDIT: I have never run a game with less than one female player and have approached gender balance at different times; mixed in there with all the male heroic stories in almost any good myth tradition is the inevitable story of the exceptional woman who succeeded in the public sphere.

 

[Whimsical]

I go with how women have equal rights, opportunities, access, parity with men as portrayed by 3e material. It's a greater level than women enjoy even in our times. I'm a feminist. This is my "fantasy", if you will.

 

[BOZ]

how much for your weemin!

 

[adwyn]

IMC its less about equality and more about gender roles. For the most part women have some legal and social parity with men, but tend to have more domestic roles, though exceptions are more common than is usual in our own history.

A female PC will stand out, but won't have to establish her credentials in every encounter either. After all, if a woman becomes just "one of the guys" what is the point in having women?

 

[RangerWickett]

I do often fall prey to the fantasy trope of 'women of magic.'

• I had a nice archetypal death crone as a major villain in my last game; she was immortal and young, but all her powers were directed toward destruction.
• In many of my games, the party is accompanied by an NPC that they meet and like, and I use the NPC to interject some other points of view. Almost invariably, these are women spellcasters. The first was a young woman who was rescued and eventually learned magic from the party wizard. The second was a PC's sister, a powerful fire mage who everyone thought was a naughty word that ends in 'atch.' The third was an air mage on pilgrimage, and the party became her protectors. I'm breaking the mold a bit in my latest game, having the party meet up with a Buffy-esque Gnomish paladin.
• Most nations in my game are ruled by men. I like males for the faceless masses, and I tend to give all the cool powers to women.