Achán hiNidráne
Illuminator
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2004
- Messages
- 3,974
Currently I'm into:
Pireme's Hammer's Slammers
Stargrunt II
Full Thrust
Heavy Gear Blitz
Empire Of The Petal Throne
Traveller
2300 AD
-
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Currently I'm into:
Pireme's Hammer's Slammers
Stargrunt II
Full Thrust
Heavy Gear Blitz
Empire Of The Petal Throne
Traveller
2300 AD
Skeptic Guy
Raccoon Death Squad Leader
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 6,990
You need to go visit the "Ghost Hunters" forum. They have a couple of threads devoted to the "dangers" of playing around with Ouiji boards. I kid you not.
Not really. In my experience, gamer guys suffer a -4 penalty to their INT and WIS stats whenever a female shows up, especially if her CHA stat matches or exceeds her dress size. However, the chances of a gamer girl having a CHA stat that matches or exceeds her dress size is the same as surviving a lightning attack while wearing plate armor, wielding a metal pole-arm, and standing in 2 feet of salt water.
It can happen, but it isn't the way to bet.
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Madalch
The Jester
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2006
- Messages
- 9,763
SnuggleSmacks
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2008
- Messages
- 303
Not really. In my experience, gamer guys suffer a -4 penalty to their INT and WIS stats whenever a female shows up, especially if her CHA stat matches or exceeds her dress size. However, the chances of a gamer girl having a CHA stat that matches or exceeds her dress size is the same as surviving a lightning attack while wearing plate armor, wielding a metal pole-arm, and standing in 2 feet of salt water.
It can happen, but it isn't the way to bet.
Hi...I'm a girl, a gamer, and wear a size 7. I'm also cute.
How much is that bet, and do I get a cut?
By "cute" I assume that your CHA is 7 or greater? Average is 10 or 11, y'know, so if this is the case, then somewhere, some lucky Paladin just made his save vs. Lightning...
... twice!
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Madalch
The Jester
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- Nov 17, 2006
- Messages
- 9,763
SnuggleSmacks
Critical Thinker
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- Jan 29, 2008
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Alas...47 more posts before I can put my Avatar where my mouth is and prove it. I'm 34 and still date 20-something geek boys. High IQ's turn me on, especially when paired with creativity and a snarky attitude.
But, back to the OP: Sadly, the right to play a game at a pre-school is unfortunately not something that seems worth losing your job over. Those narrow-minded, intellectually starved parents have a right to thier ignorance, and the passing of thier ignorance to thier child.
Be the bigger person. Speak to your boss, invite your boss to a game, and if possible, invite the offended parties to a game. If this doesn't work, switch to a different game immediately, voluntarily, and without complaint...but let the kids know that you are doing so because of a parental complaint by someone who has "odd notions" of what the game is about (make sure you look very puzzled as you say this)...no need to point fingers at the poor girl with the deranged parents, as that will only cause her harm, and no need to go into what those "odd notions" are...hopefully those children will complain to thier own parents.
At the very least, keeping a calm and agreeable attitude will show everyone involved that it is just a game, with no hidden agenda, and another game might do just as well.
cj.23
Master Poster
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2006
- Messages
- 2,827
I write for Call of Cthulhu and Ars Magica. I'm also as my sig suggest a Christian. I'd be tempted to get the kids to play Demon the Fallen if you get any more complaints, but I'm not good with kids. Perhaps Kult? I do lack tact. Sod the parent - thats what unions are for, and the employer willsee the kids are learning and enjoying it?
Talking of which, I may have posted this before but hey, it was fun (originally posted on the Richard Dawkins forum by me after "Narnia makes kids theists comment"
I hereby propose a new organisation, DADD, short for Dawkinites Against Dungeons And Dragons. It has long been troubling my conscience that one of the industries in which I work, role playing games design, encourages theism, supernaturalism and belief in the occult and magical thinking.
In the "roleplaying game" Dungeons & Dragons (originally 1974 by TSR, today published by Wizards of the Coast) players, often young teens at a very vulnerable and impressionable age, take on the role of "wizards" and "clerics" (!!!) who perform magical acts by casting spells (despite the fact that no one has ever claimed Randi's millions and anyone who has ever read a book knows all parapsychology is bunk and part of an evil conspiracy of Jesuit controlled pseudo-scientists). The book positive encourages "worship" of these deities - many of which are actually based upon REAL deities whose followers have oppressed and persecuted atheists in the past! The infamous Deities & Demigods book contains for example stats for Zeus and Odin, and detailed description of polytheism, pantheism, and other religious practices. Players are expected to "roleplay" dedicated service to and worship of these deities, which in the game is actually OBJECTIVELY TRUE! and rewards the players character with experience points.
This seemingly fantastic and innocuous hobby has repeatedly been used in the past too attract teenagers from their natural interests in sex, drugs and rock n roll to a study of occultism as a way to rot their minds and lead them to magical thinking, and from there it is a short step to reading a well known Evangelical tract and being convinced of ones sinfulness and becoming a Theist! Church groups often encourage these roleplaying games, and there are even a number of explicitly Christian and Christian themed games out there.
Even such seemingly innocent entertainment's as White Wolf's Vampire, in which one plays a tragically hip angst ridden teenage vampire who gets "to kill people and take their blood" - all clearly harmless enough - has actually hidden within deep Christian overtones, with concepts of damnation, salvation (here cunningly disguised as Golconda) and objective morality. Even this most, on the surface, acceptable game has a hidden theistic/magical agenda - the Disciplines are clearly supernatural powers, irreconcilable with any logical naturalistic paradigm.
So what can the sensible atheist parent due to protect their child from this hideous threat? Firstly, take your copy of The God Delusion, and read it loudly to build the confidence to confront your child. Secondly, arm yourself with a big stick - teenagers CAN bite when roused. Thirdly, search their bedroom, and take and burn all this supernaturalist mind rotting theistic trojan horse stuff, in a big bonfire. And call all the other freethinking parents, and encourage them to do just the same.
Topics not directly associated with roleplaying games and often associated with roleplayers but possibly worthy of destruction are dice, drugs, drug paraphenalia, occult books, the works of Stephen J Gould, the Journal of European Parapsychology, BDSM gear, girls, hot water bottles, cats and Telly Tubby merchandise. Destroy it all! You may also want to ban your child from internet access to prevent them from going to such well known spawning sites of fundamentalist, Catholic and liberal theology as http://www.rpg.net !
If atheism is to survive, we must protect our children's minds from this terrible threat! Say no to God and the Supernatural today, and organise a Freethinkers bonfire for your neighbourhood!
ACT NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE
This warning was brought to you (mainly as a parody of the Religious Right)
by CJ x
cj x
Talking of which, I may have posted this before but hey, it was fun (originally posted on the Richard Dawkins forum by me after "Narnia makes kids theists comment"
I hereby propose a new organisation, DADD, short for Dawkinites Against Dungeons And Dragons. It has long been troubling my conscience that one of the industries in which I work, role playing games design, encourages theism, supernaturalism and belief in the occult and magical thinking.
In the "roleplaying game" Dungeons & Dragons (originally 1974 by TSR, today published by Wizards of the Coast) players, often young teens at a very vulnerable and impressionable age, take on the role of "wizards" and "clerics" (!!!) who perform magical acts by casting spells (despite the fact that no one has ever claimed Randi's millions and anyone who has ever read a book knows all parapsychology is bunk and part of an evil conspiracy of Jesuit controlled pseudo-scientists). The book positive encourages "worship" of these deities - many of which are actually based upon REAL deities whose followers have oppressed and persecuted atheists in the past! The infamous Deities & Demigods book contains for example stats for Zeus and Odin, and detailed description of polytheism, pantheism, and other religious practices. Players are expected to "roleplay" dedicated service to and worship of these deities, which in the game is actually OBJECTIVELY TRUE! and rewards the players character with experience points.
This seemingly fantastic and innocuous hobby has repeatedly been used in the past too attract teenagers from their natural interests in sex, drugs and rock n roll to a study of occultism as a way to rot their minds and lead them to magical thinking, and from there it is a short step to reading a well known Evangelical tract and being convinced of ones sinfulness and becoming a Theist! Church groups often encourage these roleplaying games, and there are even a number of explicitly Christian and Christian themed games out there.
Even such seemingly innocent entertainment's as White Wolf's Vampire, in which one plays a tragically hip angst ridden teenage vampire who gets "to kill people and take their blood" - all clearly harmless enough - has actually hidden within deep Christian overtones, with concepts of damnation, salvation (here cunningly disguised as Golconda) and objective morality. Even this most, on the surface, acceptable game has a hidden theistic/magical agenda - the Disciplines are clearly supernatural powers, irreconcilable with any logical naturalistic paradigm.
So what can the sensible atheist parent due to protect their child from this hideous threat? Firstly, take your copy of The God Delusion, and read it loudly to build the confidence to confront your child. Secondly, arm yourself with a big stick - teenagers CAN bite when roused. Thirdly, search their bedroom, and take and burn all this supernaturalist mind rotting theistic trojan horse stuff, in a big bonfire. And call all the other freethinking parents, and encourage them to do just the same.
Topics not directly associated with roleplaying games and often associated with roleplayers but possibly worthy of destruction are dice, drugs, drug paraphenalia, occult books, the works of Stephen J Gould, the Journal of European Parapsychology, BDSM gear, girls, hot water bottles, cats and Telly Tubby merchandise. Destroy it all! You may also want to ban your child from internet access to prevent them from going to such well known spawning sites of fundamentalist, Catholic and liberal theology as http://www.rpg.net !
If atheism is to survive, we must protect our children's minds from this terrible threat! Say no to God and the Supernatural today, and organise a Freethinkers bonfire for your neighbourhood!
ACT NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE
This warning was brought to you (mainly as a parody of the Religious Right)
by CJ x
cj x
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cj.23
Master Poster
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2006
- Messages
- 2,827
There are real dangers. When I was writing The Mysteries Revised Edition for Ars Magica 5th ed (bringing this formly back on topic) I was "resident parapsychologist" at a well known British 'haunted' location. I organised a sceptics night there on rpg.net, and great fun it was. I also was witness to three inexplicable to me events, but that is another thread...
Anyway one night a group of middle aged ladies were messing around with a ouija board and table tipping when one of them freaked out. I wandered in to the darkened room to calm her, fell through the seance table ending up in a heap of splintered wood and the ouija board struck me on the neck. Painful
Onanother occasion I was forced to call the police in a local graveyard when drunk ghost hunting teens turned up in their hundreds, and i got to recite the riot act (well the relevant clause of the Public Order Act while helping the churchwardens disperse them.) The local paper famously then included a line in its report about drunken teens "trying to contact the dead with iron bars and running amok with ouija boards."I have a silly life...
cj x
Arkan_Wolfshade
Philosopher
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2006
- Messages
- 7,154
Women have been becoming more prominent in many areas of entertainment that were predominantly men for many years; not only table-top gaming but also video games. I think the newest stereotype that the industry is dealing with is that all female gamers play things like Cooking Mama and Animal Crossing. And, while those are great games, it's still a level of sexism that is pervasive. IMHO, and IAAGD*, I think a large part of the rise of the female gamer can be laid at the feet of MMOs.
My US$0.02
*I Am A Game Developer
cj.23
Master Poster
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2006
- Messages
- 2,827
Back in the 80's we had two female gamers in our group- one of whom was a fashion model a few years later, so presumably cute. My gaming groups are generally 50/50, though we have had a 6:1 female to male ratio in a Vampire game in the mid 90's. I do play in one all male group now though. I would estimate that 30% of UK tabletop roleplayers i have met are women. I've never played D&D much - maybe it's just my Cthulhu/Ars Magica/Unknown Armies/Traveller/Conspiracy X/ Heroquest/Pendragon/Heaven&Earth/Mage tastes are more acceptable to women than D20?
Currently running: Heaven & Earth, Ars Magica, Pendragon weekly. Least gaming I've done in years, only two nights and one sunday a week. Still busy writing for several RPG commissions so I guess i can claim its work.
cj x
Currently running: Heaven & Earth, Ars Magica, Pendragon weekly. Least gaming I've done in years, only two nights and one sunday a week.
Still busy writing for several RPG commissions so I guess i can claim its work. cj x
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JFrankA
Illuminator
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2006
- Messages
- 4,054
As to girl gamers, does World of Warcraft count?
My girlfriend is the druid leader in her guild (the best guild on her server), has several toons and levels up quickly on all of them and can kick my butt from here to Stormwind.
....and yes, she's 13 years younger than me....
Damn I love that chick!
My girlfriend is the druid leader in her guild (the best guild on her server), has several toons and levels up quickly on all of them and can kick my butt from here to Stormwind.
....and yes, she's 13 years younger than me....
Damn I love that chick!
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I'm also a Christian - a Presbyterian Elder, in fact -and I've played AD&D since I lived in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. That's almost 30 years.
All sexist jokes aside, the worst thing to ever happen in an AD&D game was when the DM described an encounter with a farm family. The mom was a raving wacko. Unfortunately (as we were to find out later), the events described mirrored an argument that the DM and his wife had had a few nights before.
The DM's wife was sitting across the table from me. She looked very uncomfortable, especially after we all determined that the farmer's wife was possessed, and we had to bring literally beat the demon out of her. The DM's wife served divorce papers on him soon thereafter.
My point is that there is no issue with AD&D, or with RPGs in general. The only real problems are those pre-existing issues that people bring into the game.
As for gamer-girls, I wish there were more. I sometimes get tired of all the macho posturing, both as characters and as rules-lawyers. There's something about having a lady present that inspires most men to be on their better behavior. But if a guy is going to be an even bigger Rule-10 type, then it is HE who is not worth having in the game.
It's only a game.
All sexist jokes aside, the worst thing to ever happen in an AD&D game was when the DM described an encounter with a farm family. The mom was a raving wacko. Unfortunately (as we were to find out later), the events described mirrored an argument that the DM and his wife had had a few nights before.
The DM's wife was sitting across the table from me. She looked very uncomfortable, especially after we all determined that the farmer's wife was possessed, and we had to bring literally beat the demon out of her. The DM's wife served divorce papers on him soon thereafter.
My point is that there is no issue with AD&D, or with RPGs in general. The only real problems are those pre-existing issues that people bring into the game.
As for gamer-girls, I wish there were more. I sometimes get tired of all the macho posturing, both as characters and as rules-lawyers. There's something about having a lady present that inspires most men to be on their better behavior. But if a guy is going to be an even bigger Rule-10 type, then it is HE who is not worth having in the game.
It's only a game.
kmortis
Biomechanoid, Director of IDIOCY (Region 13)
Back in the 80's we had two female gamers in our group- one of whom was a fashion model a few years later, so presumably cute. My gaming groups are generally 50/50, though we have had a 6:1 female to male ratio in a Vampire game in the mid 90's. I do play in one all male group now though. I would estimate that 30% of UK tabletop roleplayers i have met are women. I've never played D&D much - maybe it's just my Cthulhu/Ars Magica/Unknown Armies/Traveller/Conspiracy X/ Heroquest/Pendragon/Heaven&Earth/Mage tastes are more acceptable to women than D20?
Currently running: Heaven & Earth, Ars Magica, Pendragon weekly. Least gaming I've done in years, only two nights and one sunday a week.
cj x
Ok, since you've brought it up 17,000 times so far, Ars Magica rocks. It has to be my all-time favorite magic system, in particular, and game style, in general. It was the final nail in my D&D coffin. I've not seriously played a D&D game since Lion Rampart first put it out.
Of course, I 've not gamed at all in the last three years. A good group is hard to find.
TheDoLittle
Disco King Discombobulator
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2007
- Messages
- 1,842
There are always a lot of college aged girls at Owlcon this weekend. I'll save ya a few.
cj.23
Master Poster
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- Dec 17, 2006
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- 2,827
My subliminal Ars Magica promotion is working?
I organize the UK Ars convention, Grand Tribunal. Next one is August 16th -17th 2008, featuring line editor David Chart all the way from Japan and some of the US crowd. If you can get to the uK, we will help put you up. Always pleased to meet a fellow Ars gamer!cj x
Achán hiNidráne
Illuminator
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2004
- Messages
- 3,974
I know this is going to sound weird, but... I HATE COMPUTER GAMES!
I want to use my own imagination when playing a RPG, not have it imagined for me by a damn machine.
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Arkan_Wolfshade
Philosopher
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2006
- Messages
- 7,154
Yes. (see my previous comments on such)
RE Mark A. Siefert, I think the catch is, computer RPGs are about immersing yourself in a role, in an environment that doesn't require the... overhead of tabletop. There are RP servers which do have a full blown role-playing population and in which the game is nothing more than an automated GM. Granted, you don't have the complete sandbox freedom of tabletop, but it does have its advantages at times. I don't tend to view them as being "in the same ballpark", rather I see them as American Football and rugby; similar enough that they can hold appeal to the same person, but in different (yet similar) ways. *shrug*