The Real Housewives/husbands of your RPG Group

[I'm A Banana]

My first few girlfriends were people that I introduced to the game. Not sure if they're still into it, but I've increased the Hottie Exposure of the hobby by a few.

My current ladyfriend is more skeptical, but she kind of packages D&D, videogames, and Star Wars movies all into the same Masculine Adolsecent Power Fantasy Dork Pile that she's not very interested in.

Which, honestly, I kind of like, since it keeps me grounded in reality apart from the game. I think if I were to date a gamer, I'd sort of loose touch with the fact that, ultimately, I'm sitting with some friends in a room pretending to be a magical gumdrop elf. After those first few relationships, I've actively stayed away from gamer girls (models, rockers, and lawyers don't overlap much with "gamers"). Dunno why.

Though I would like to convince her to give it a spin sometime. She's got a weird dorkiness which embraces Katamari Damacy but disergards LotR...so I think there's a weakness there....

 

[SSquirrel]

My wife likes to lord over me the fact that she rolls dice WAY better. Like she could roll 3d6 for stats w/no rerolls and have nothing lower than 13 and probably have a couple of 18s in there. We both made characters last night for a 4E game we might be joining in a couple of weeks. That game is still pretty open (2 strikers, 1 leader, 1 undecided), so we both made multiple characters. She made 2 and I made 6. Granted 3 of those were different racial variants of Paladin She teases me about how many characters, but she knows I've always loved doing that. I tend to help her min/max her character specs in WoW too heh.

In short, she's right there next to me when we game. Heck, our kids are probably there too hoping we'll let them roll the dice for us. Maybe my 2 and 5 year old would get better rolls than I do...

 

[nedjer]

Black magic voodoo lady. Christmas, buys me expensive watercolour pigments, expensive papers and really cheap jeans. Two days later I kneel on one of the pigments wrecking the jeans. She just smiles

 

[Dedekind]

My wife thinks it is the dumbest waste of time ever. Since it is my hobby and I don't play _too_ often, it doesn't cause conflict.

 

[nedjer]

My wife thinks it is the dumbest waste of time ever. Since it is my hobby and I don't play _too_ often, it doesn't cause conflict.

When I present the alternatives gaming never seems to be a problem. No idea what my wife has against vodka, gambling, ferrets and loose women.

 

[amnuxoll]

My wife of 12 years tried D&D once. That was all she needed to decide that it was not for her. She is not particularly antagonistic of the game itself but she does dislike the amount of time I burn pursuing this hobby.

:AMN:

 

[SoulsFury]

My girlfriend started playing with us a few months ago. Sometimes she acts like she enjoys it, will randomly ask when we are playing again. Other times, I will ask her if she wants to play tonight and she will grumble and play. Sometimes she is very attentive to the games, other times she is texting one of her girlfriends (I hope, lol) the whole time. Anything over 3 hours and she starts to get distracted more. So I am pleased she is willing to play and spend time with me, but her roleplaying is severely lacking for the most part. She has played in at least 10 sessions, maybe more, and her understanding of the combat rules is still subpar and the fact that she is in a fantasy world is still hard for her to get. She gets better each game though, so I have hope.

 

[JediSoth]

My first wife (RIP) tolerated it. She wouldn't complain when I had a game scheduled, in general, but she did like it better when it got cancelled. She didn't have an interest in learning more about it and was skeptical of the amount of money some of it could cost, often asking if it was something I needed and something I would use often. She felt like she was competition for any videos games I wanted to play, despite me explaining that I preferred video games to watching reality programming on TV (particularly the shows on TLC) and it had nothing to do with her. She came to Gen Con to shop the Dealer Hall with me a couple of times and always came to the dinner I hosted on Saturday night for the folks at the OK--Your Turn message boards.

My current wife is supportive of my gaming and is concerned about making plans that might interfere with my gaming activities. She's interested in learning more about the hobby, but has concerns. Specifically, since she was in a car wreck over 15 years ago and is a chronic pain patient managed by narcotics, she has concerns about remembering the rules (the narcotics affect her memory) and about sitting in what can be uncomfortable chairs for 4-6 hours at a time. She often asks questions about games I'm preparing or participating in. She did play in one of my Paranoia games at Gary Con II last year--her first role-playing experience. She views my video gaming as a necessary release for me after working all day, then having to commute across town in rush hour and doesn't complain as long as I give her an hour or so before bedtime of talk, watching TV together, what-have-you. She looks forward to Gen Con every year, and is eager to attend seminars and workshops with me (or without me if it's a topic that interests her). She insists (for convenience reasons) that we stay downtown for the convention, rather than driving in every day, and looks forward to it every year, asking if there's any games I think she could play in or any way she can help out with the ENnie Awards.

She also tends to be an enabler of my gaming addiction by buying me Crystal Caste Dwarven Stone dice (she's a gem collector, so she thinks dice made from semi-precious stones are cool); so far, she's bought me 16mm Tiger's Eye Agate, 16mm Pyrite, and 14mm Green Goldstone.

I love my wife. I think the only thing keeping her from becoming a full-blown gamer is her physical disability. The narcotics keep her down probably 12-18 hours a day most of the time.

 

[Goonalan]

My Mrs. thinks my gaming is a good thing- it gets me out of her way. She thinks my gaming friends are strange (and weird)- but she thinks the same of me.

When we used to game at our house (moved house since then) I used to give her a list of monsters needed for the next session- with a little description of each. She would go out and shop (that's her hobby- shopping) for the creatures- mainly jelly snakes, chocolate elves, a bottle of sprite for an angry water elemental, a beholder kinder egg etc.

My players loved this as the reward for killing and/or defeating the creature in question was much more immediate- and gratifying (sweeties), the XP points for their characters were just a bonus.

She also became obsessed with Troglodytes (although she called them Froglodytes) and liked the Ettercap (her version Mr. Ettycap)- she even sends me postcards from Mr Ettycap and the Froglodytes when she goes to stay with her auntie down south. Apparently the aforementioned creatures live in a caravan on the Isle of Wight (real place).

I repeat- and she thinks I'm weird.

Cheers Goonalan

 

[nedjer]

My girlfriend started playing with us a few months ago. Sometimes she acts like she enjoys it, will randomly ask when we are playing again. Other times, I will ask her if she wants to play tonight and she will grumble and play. Sometimes she is very attentive to the games, other times she is texting one of her girlfriends (I hope, lol) the whole time. Anything over 3 hours and she starts to get distracted more. So I am pleased she is willing to play and spend time with me, but her roleplaying is severely lacking for the most part. She has played in at least 10 sessions, maybe more, and her understanding of the combat rules is still subpar and the fact that she is in a fantasy world is still hard for her to get. She gets better each game though, so I have hope.

My sympathy goes out to those with wives and girlfriends who grind broken glass into their gaming porridge

Here though, surely we have a lady who's so keen and polite that she doesn't SCREAM - "be fun if we didn't have to count combat beans for two hours in every three!"

I hereby charge you with the heinous crime of limiting player choice.

And, as I've decided you have no defence, we'll proceed straight to sentencing. Roll your d20 and provide the lady with the requisite number of breakfasts in bed until you've paid for the crime.