NOTES FOR THE DUNGEON MASTER
WOMEN IN ROLE PLAYING
by Roger Moore
Fantasy reflects reality in some measure.
Even in the 20th century, we are more
likely to see males than females in active
and adventurous occupations. Even in
relatively quiet pastimes like role-playing
gaming, it becomes apparent that males
outnumber females by a large margin.
Women, as one can easily see from reading
the mail DRAGON Magazine gets,
often (but not always) encounter problems
when gaming with male players in
AD&D games. Getting past some of these
problems and getting things settled
into a more enjoyable atmosphere is the
concern of this article.
One cannot set down a set of rules of
conduct in playing D&D or AD&D
games (or any other role-playing game for
that matter) that are guaranteed to make
one a winner or make everything completely
enjoyable. However, a few themes
keep cropping up that are more likely to
lead to good gaming than bad.
First, female players can work to maximize
the advantages of their characters
and minimize or eliminate the disadvantages.
In many RPGs, female characters
are not going to be as strong as male
characters, and may have other disadvantages
or limitations set upon them. It is
generally true, though, that such limitations
can be overcome by magical devices
or weapons. Look at most of the male
characters in AD&D games who own
items like gauntlets of ogre power or
girdles of giant strength. Do they all have
strengths greaters than 18/50, the female
human limit? Probably not; however the
magical items completely offset their own
limitations. Potions of giant strength,
though temporary in effect, also extend
these limits.
As far as gaming goes, perhaps the only
other limitations women might encounter
concern height and weight. This may
only come into play when the female
character is question finds, as one of mine
did, that hammers of thunderbolts cannot
be used well except by characters over 6'
tall. The cleric above refused
to part with the hammer, however, and
was eventually able to find a wish ring
which she used to increase her physical
height to just a bit over the 6' mark.
Giants have become very scarce in my
campaign now.
These character limitations, then, can
be overcome in time. In truth they often
do not mean much. Few fighters run
around with exceptional strengths, and
there will be little differences between male
and female warriors in any aspect of combat.
However, the non-combat aspects of
the game can be even more important
and more of a problem for female characters
and their female players.
Male players are often more than willing
to go out of their way to have their
characters assist the female characters of
female players. All questions about the
desirability of this mild form of chivalry
aside, female players seem to find that
this is not such a bad deal unless they
come to grow too dependent upon such
aid. This can lead to problems when male
players come to resent having to help
what's-her-name out of a jam again, or go
off with Sorceress Such-and-such on
another of her quests. Both sides, male
and female should remember that interdependence
among characters is what
makes them stronger than the monsters
they face; but taken to an extreme,
dependence is destructive. All characters
should be able to handle most of the
minor problems they face on their own
without having to call another character
over to deal with rude tavern patrons or
sneaky shop clerks.
A second problem growing out of the
above situation is that male characters
who are called upon to help female
characters (as well as those male characters
who just decide on their own to help
female characters) may want some sort of
reward out of the deal. How this is handled
is left up to the players, but if a certain degree
of independence is desired,
then it might be wise to make it clear in
one way or another that such rewards, if
given awt all, will be kept to a minimum.
What do male characters who help other
male characters out of a jam get for
rewards? Why should female characters
be treated differently?
Female players may also find it helpful
to develop some assertiveness when gaming
with male players. Suggestions that
women make in planning an adventure
are often discarded by the males for one
reason or another. There are two things
that can overcome resistance of this kind.
The first is for the female gamer to
become as familiar with the rules and
situations involved in this game as possible.
This helps to eliminate the male
attitude that female gamers "don't know
anything." If the guys are setting up their
characters to simply hack the vampire to
death, but the one female player in the
group points out that vampires cannot be
killed that way and suggests another way
of dealing with it, then that female player
may pick up some brownie points with
the others. Knowing the rules goes a long
way toward being accepted and, more
importantly, being listened to in gaming
situations.
Knowing the rules may not be enough,
though. Male gamers often relegate
female gamers (and their characters) to
secondary positions in the game.
"Here," says Chuck, "Mary's character
should stay in the corridor and watch
for monsters. All of us guys will go charge
into the dragon's lair and beat the crud
out of the dragon. If anything comes
down the corridor, Mary's paladin will
come in and warn us and we'll go beat
the crud out of that, too."
"Why should I wait in the corridor?"
says Mary. "My character is tough
enough to smack a dragon on the nose.
I'm tired of having to play watchdog and
not get involved in any fighting."
"Well, okay," says Chuck (rolling his
eyes and shrugging at the other guys in the
group). "Sure. You can be our second
rank, and you can attack the dragon if one
of us gets killed or something, or maybe
you can attack it from behind. . . . "
"Look, guys," says Mary. "We're
supposed to be a team. I feel like my
character's being left out of the main
action, and I really want my paladin to
get involved in this. Watching the doorway
isn't enough. Why don't all of our
characters just go in and beat the crud out
of the dragon together?"
Hopefully at this point the guys will see
the light and try to make amends. No one
likes to be patronized, and no one likes to
be left out of the action. This means being
denied the chance to become a hero (or
heroine), which is no fun at all. However,
if after all this the guys still don't want to
let female characters get any of the glory,
then the group may have to be dropped as
hopeless. A sad possibility but a real one.
Something else female gamers might
want to consider is stereotyping. One of
the deadliest things for a charcter to have
happen to him or her is to become
pigeonholed, easily characterized so that
everyone expects only a certain thing
from that character and nothing else. In
my experience, the most damaging
pigeonhole that female characters can get
sorted into is that of "cute magic-user"
and its equally infamous cousin, "cute
thief" (both of the above also come in
human and elven variations). Magic-users
and thieves are certainly important
in the game, but these two classes are not
expected to do much face-to-face combat
and are often not taken seriously by those
playing fighter characters. Taking the role
of an "out of combat" character may
futher cause a female player to be
dropped into a second-class status in the
game, unless the charcter is carefully
handled. Being played as "cute" will
often be perceived as being empty-headed
as well.
Players should at all costs avoid having
their characters be so easily stereotyped.
What about a female thief who leads the
rest of the party, scouting dangerous territory,
who also wears an assortment of
throwing daggers and unusual combat or
adventuring devices? What about a
female elven magic-user (who in some
people's eyes already has three strikes
against her) who is a well-traveled, cynical,
chaotic, and who enjoys timing her
spells ot create the maximum possible
effect on those around her, building a
reputation as a very unpredictable but
much respected or feared mage? The
role-playing of the character will, in the
last analysis, make all the difference.
Mages and thieves aside, what about
other professions? Why aren't there more
female ranger characters? Female paladins?
Female monks? Female assassins?
None of these roles are what you might
call "traditionally" female (if anything in
an AD&D game can be called traditional),
and the very presence of a female
character in such roles might gather considerable
respect for that character. While
we're on the topic, why not try a female
gnome, halfling, or dwarf (with or without
a beard)? There have been some
female halfling thieves in campaigns I ran
and gamed in who would cause your toes
to curl upon meeting them. Female half-orcs,
for those who don't mind the loss in
charisma and like the gain in other areas,
might also prove fun to run as characters.
Humans an elves need not be the only
races played in the AD&D game; male
characters (and players) may sometimes
find them to be attractive, but
again, being cute isn't everything.
An article that addresses the question of
how to enhance the enjoyment women
have in role-playing is of little value
unless it has something for the male readers
to consider as well. Oftentimes it
seems that guys like to go out of their way
to try and have their characters overwhelm
the female characters with their
great strength, charm, sophistication,
brilliance at springing traps and outsmarting
monsters, and so forth. This is
fun, and is nothing to complain about
(stuff like this can make for interesting
adventures), but once in a while you get
the idea that some guys think the gaming
session is just another substitute for a
singles' bar.
Women often like playing male characters
in role-playing games, though men
don't often play female ones. This sometimes
takes a little while to get used to,
but everything works out fine. Indeed,
from a male point of view, this may eliminate
some of the problems that could arise
from trying to role-play male characters
who are running around with a female
character among them. If everyone's
"just one of the boys," things flow a lot
easier. Having a character that fits in can
make for a more enjoyable session of
gaming.
There is a line between what goes on
in the game and what is reality, and when
this line gets crossed, you can get some
weird results. I recall an adventure I
refereed in which an attractive young
woman rolled up a character that she
stated was a male gnome, and a rather
homely one at that. Nevertheless, (probably
because she was the only female at
this gaming session) her character continually
received overly-chivalrous treatment
and occasionally veiled propositions from
the male characters of some of the male
players.
Women do not generally play AD&D
games or any other role-playing games in
order to find new boyfriends. It might be
a relief to many women if the "singles
bar" atmosphere permeating some of
their adventurers would fade away, so that
everyone would just relax and get into
playing the game and enjoying themselves.
Again, this is not to discourage
having one's character go off and court
another one; this can be a wacky experience
in itself. Male players might keep
the boundaries between the game and
reality a little more in mind, though.
Once in a while you hear of an adventure
in which a male character (run by a
male gamer) molests a female character
(played by a female gamer) against the
latter's will. People who are prone to pull
this sort of thing should be avoided like
the plague. The female player might
consider talking it out with the offender
after the game is over (if she's calmed
down enough by then), but the best
course of action might be to have the
offending player dumped from the group.
If this cannot be done, then maybe
another group can be found.
The best defense against this before it
even happens would be to be choosy
about one's gaming partners. One can
also bring the topic up discreetly or use
some other method to sound out the
maturity level of the other players. As a
last resort, it often works to simply say,
"Look, if you do what you're about to
do, I'm going to be mad. This is a game,
but you're going to<o> far." Direct confrontation
may stop the problem; if not, then
the best solutions are to either get rid of
the offending player, or leave to find a
better group. No one needs problems of
that sort.
Until recently there were very few
sources upon which female players could
draw to get some ideas on different ways
to role-play their female character is<in> fantasy
setting. Fantasy and science-fiction
stories which predominantly feature male
writers, like Robert E. Howard's
Dark Agnes (who is a bloodthirsty sociopath
who savors killing), do not have a lot
of appeal to women. When men write
stories with female major characters, they
often cannot do it convincingly or they do
not create characters that women would
like to emulate (the works of James H.
Schmitz, who wrote the Telzay Amberdon
novels, are widely noted as exceptions
and are highly recommended). More
often than not, female fantasy characters
are notable only in that they are the
girlfriends of some more powerful and
important male character. Were it not for
Conan, who would remember Belit or
Valeria?
Fortunately, there are still a large number
of female writers who produce excellent
fantasy material that may be used to
find role-models for playing female characters
in fantasy games. Lynn Abbey's
Rifkind, C.J. Cherryh's Morgaine, C.L.
Moore's Jirel of Joiry, and Jo Clayton's
Aleytys stand out among the best presented
and developed adventureesses in
fantasy literature. Doris Pisechia, Tanith
Lee, Phyllis Ann Karr, Margaret St.
Clair, and Jessica Amanda Salmonson
have also produced some outstanding
fiction in this line, and Ms. Salmonson
has also edited two excellent collections of
short stories about fantasy heroines (Amazons!
and Amazons II, both in paperback
by DAW Books) that any gamer, female
or not, should find worth reading.
Role-playing gamers are also urged
to read the DRAGONLANCE novels
by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, to
be released starting this fall. These books
have a number of female characters who
are realistic and fascinating, and surely
rank as some of the most memorable
personalities that fantasy literature can
offer. The first book, The Dragons of
Autumn Twilight, will be released in
November of this year. TSR, Inc., has
already released three modules (as of
August 1984) in the DRAGONLANCE
series, which feaure female characters
who play a major rolle in the development
of the campaign. DL3 The Dragons of
Hope, is worth studying in particular.
It is a rather sad note that in The
Rogues Gallery (a TSR AD&D game
aid describing pregenerated non-player
characters) only one of th e18 personalities
taken from actual AD&D game campaigns
is a female character previously
played by a female player: Jean Well's
unpredictable Ceatitle Trodar Northman.
"Cea" is a well-presented character with
a unique personality; she is worth taking
the time to examine as an alternative to
playing a cute magic-user.
Comments from readers on this article
would be greatly appreciated. AD&D
games, like all the other role-playing
games available now, are meant to be fun
for all players; and, getting messed over
because you and your character happens
to be female is not going to be much fun
at all.