First Post!

[Narf the Mouse]

Hello. Love the comic, it has a great sense of fun.

[Pablowapsi]

Maybe I should have posted here first, this seems like an introduction thread. I'm glad I found this comic because it has such a fun sense of nostalgia for me. I don't play RPGs anymore but I got started with them back in the early 80s (geeze I sound old). Anyway, I thought I'd pop in and say, "Howdy".

*waves*

[Xaq]

Maybe I should have posted here first, this seems like an introduction thread. I'm glad I found this comic because it has such a fun sense of nostalgia for me. I don't play RPGs anymore but I got started with them back in the early 80s (geeze I sound old). Anyway, I thought I'd pop in and say, "Howdy".

*waves*

Nah, there's plenty of people posting here who are in their 30's, I figure. At least a couple I know of, anyway. I too started gaming in the early 80's, with the old Basic DnD set. I just refuse to grow up.

By the way, it amuses me to no end how most of the Blank Label crew are Pauls, Daves, or Taylors. I think Steve Troop, Kris Straub and Greg Dean should be forced to change their names!

[Narf the Mouse]

The thirties are creeping up on me. I'm beating them off with a club, but they keep coming.

[Galtran]

woooooo
Great webcomic, and since the topic is called First Post, I'll post here first(despite the "first post" from the topic name having another meaning hehehehehe)! It's so nice to see something that agrees with my opinions =D
Where I live the RPG world is still basically DnD and Vampire -.-
Most people that actually play RPG haven't even heard of Shadowrun(which is one of my favorites) and think GURPS is too hard -.-

I want girls in my group , why is it so hard to find girls that play RPG


btw, Abbie RULEZ

[Narf the Mouse]

From my male perspective:

Theory #1: RPG's aren't marketted towards women. In my opinion, this has both some truth and some error. Truth, in that game companies rarely seem to think 'What would women like in a game' and when they do, the results tend to be stuff like 'My Little Pony' games - Which, as far as I know, is of little interest to adult women.
It also has falsehood, because what you should really be thinking is first 'What would make an interesting game for me' and second 'What would my playerbase like' - Without reference to gender. First because if you don't like it, it's unlikely anyone else will. Second, because if you just poll your player base, you'll recieve a clear picture of what they want. Then, just pay attention to the opinions presented and why.

Theory #2: There aren't many female RPG'ers. This is both true and false. True, in that as far as I can tell, most gaming groups contain more males. False, in that there are female RPG designers. They obviously have opinions and influence.

And another problem - 'Male RPG's and Female RPG's'. No such thing. I have a female friend who loves sports. She played baseball when three months pregnant, and, according to my fuzzy memory, hit a home run. I, on the other hand, view sports as a pointless waste of energy, precious brain cells (In the case of football) and bodily integrity.
On the other hand, I have a perilous addiction to high hills and biking, so there you go.

Point #1: There are some truely horrific stories of how certain gaming groups have treated female players. One gaming group had their characters consistantly rape the lone female character, played by the long female in the group. This was posted by a gamer, on a gamer site, a few years ago. Specifically, this one: http://www.geocities.com/poetess47/gamerchick.html

If there's a point in here, it's that the question is both simple and comples. Simple, in that we need to worry more about making and playing good RPG's and less about whether those RPG's are male or female and in that we need to realise that, while gaming is a good thing, not all gamers are good gamers - And take a good hard look at how that affects our hobby. It's not enough to assume that every accusation is false; while most of them are hysteria, I have heard some truely horrid stories on our own gaming sites - Specifically, RPGnet has a thread for them that, last I saw, was dozens of *Pages* long. Granted, that was probably about a decade of experience per poster, spread over years of posting and dozens of posters, but still...

Strange that I'm so philisophical after a double tooth extraction...

[Xaq]

Wow. I checked out that link and some of the stuff I read SCARED me.

There are plenty of female gamers out there. Most of them, however, do not hang around gaming stores, which makes it difficult to just go out and "find" them. The trick is to have a relatively normal, healthy, extended social circle. It also doesn't hurt to be a LARPer (there are WAY more female LARPers than there are table-top RPGers, in my experience). And of course, it depends on your age-bracket. Teenage gamers are going to have a harder time finding female players. In the RIFTS game I currently run, there are 3 female and 3 male players, and I arranged that deliberately... I could have easily had an all-female group if I had wanted. Two of my players are a married couple with a young child (we play at their place so it's easier to deal with the young'un), and one is my girlfriend. The point being that, when you have numerous married friends, you'll often find spouses who both game.

Just my two cents!

[Narf the Mouse]

True. In my (Admittadly unmarried) opinion, in a healthy relationship, both spouses will be willing to give the other spouses' hobbies a chance. And one spouse or the other will often take part for the sociability.

Which, as we all know, is how geeks are made. First, you read Hardy Boy books. Next thing you know, your sister has introduced you to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and your dad has introduced you to Asimov.

And then...The Dork Side has you!

Which is a good thing.

[Galtran]

Well, since I'm 20(so no married friends) and LARPing(sadly) doesnt exist here at all, I guess I'm doomed to have a boys only group ^^""

btw, me and my friends would never mistreat any female, player or not, is just against our very nature. In a matter of fact, about half of our friends in common are girls, but sadly they're not interested in RPG =/
And my social circle in a wider view has slim chances, since I'm a Computer Science student(so no girls at Uni) and boxer(sport girls only, too little geek factor)


The Dork side is the best

P.S.: sorry if my post was a little confuse, I didnt wrote it in a linear way and english is not my first language

[Narf the Mouse]

Most gamers never would treat women that way. However, I've noticed that the automatic reaction of gamers (Including me) to criticism is instant denial.

The truth is, though, for example, violent computer games wouldn't be hurt if they came with the warning 'Not for the mentally unstabalized'.

* To get an actual point in there, we do need to consider that our hobby does, on occasion, warrent criticism.

[Narf the Mouse]

Hope I didn't scare anyone too badly there. Seriously, everyone I've ever gamed with has been great. Creepy wierdoes can be found in any hobby.

[Alina P]

Creepy wierdoes can be found in any hobby.

How very true... If you've got some time to kill and have a strong stomach and/or a morbid sense of curiosity, check out this thread from rpg.net, called "The Creepiest Person You've Gamed With".

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=133489

There's some real winners in there. If even a quarter of them are true stories... *shudder*

[Narf the Mouse]

Fortunatly, there should also be a thread about the 'best people you've gamed with'.

If you can't find it, ask and someone will point you. You'll need it to clear out your brain. It works quite nicely.

[Khayankh]

Being a young geek girl can SUCK. This is why I'm not discussing middle school, period. Some girls who I knew who were sort of geeky ditched this sort of thing for lipgloss and boys because it was easier, and it meant you had friends. I tried the normal act for a little while and nearly had an emotional breakdown, then I reverted to my true self. There are geek girls in high school like there are gay boys in high school: due to social pressures, most of them aren't open about their passions. It doesn't mean they don't exist.
Oh, and geek girls come from the same place geek boys come from, except we read Nancy Drew instead of Hardy Boys. And all the geeks I know in my age group are Harry Potter freaks. People who graduated from high school more than five years ago were mostly too old for Harry when the series started. The first books were written at a ten-year-old level (I read Sorcerer's Stone at nine and was thrilled). As Harry has grown up, so have I, and the series has changed more or less in step with my life. (I didn't start fighting with my mom until shortly before the book Order of the Phoenix was released.)

[Narf the Mouse]

Hey, I read Nancy Drew. Didn't see a reason not to.

[KatyaR]

Heh, as good a place to start posting as any....

I can empathize with you, khayankh. Even though geekiness is marginally more acceptable these days, it's still never been easy. Nonconformity in middle and high school seem to be all but a threat to those that *do* conform.
(Imagine being a budding geekgirl in the late 1960s and on through the 70s...yeech....)

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say I just recently found Weregeek from the ad sidebar at Schlock Mercenary. Love the story, love the characters-just pleeease pretty please don't make the girlfriend the stereotypical 'gamers are satanic' Christian. I hate that stereotype with the fierce glow of a thousand suns.

Keep up the great work, Alina! WG is definitely on my 'regular reading' list.

Currently playing: WEG Star Wars 2nd R&E (minus wild dice)

[Narf the Mouse]

Welcome to the forums; have some cheese.

[Lion el'Jonson]

Hey! I'm new to this whole roleplaying lark, having never role-played in my entire life outside the wonderful bioware RPGs. Seems to be a lot of fun, and I'll be poking around for to see what the best game to start with is. I really like the comic, the art's very good, which is a pleasant suprise when it comes to web-comics, and the humour is great for a wannabe geek like me!

As for myself, my names Andrew, I'm from Sheffield UK, I'm 18 years old, and I'm glad to finally start posting here. I've lurked for a while but never got round to registering, and I thought I'd better join you lot.

Cheers.

[The Bellmaker]

Welcome to our humble forums! Nice to meet you, Andrew!

I would probably suggest D&D as a good start-up, if you want to go for the hard-core geeky-type tabletop role playing. Otherwise, there are a lot of lighter RPGs available, like the Ninjaburger RPG, or the WEG d6 series. they are a lot cheaper, but it can be hard to find someone interested in it, as those types often degenerate into comedy rather than epic adventure.

On that note, who here (Other than my D&D players) has heard of the Mackenzie List?

Also, if enough others are interested, I may begin running a parallel D&D game to the one I'm currently running, so if you're interested, drop me a line.

[Narf the Mouse]

What is this 'Mackenzie List' of which you speak? Google does not seem to know it.