After many years, I’d like to run a Dungeons & Dragon campaign but with the following change. First, I’d like to advertise for this using websites in order to use Google or Yahoo ad links to make a little side money.
Secondly, I would like at least 2/3 of the group to be females. This is to not only get away from the Hack N Slash type of adventure but to also meet women into roleplaying games.
My problem is this: Where da female gamers at? Single female roleplayers are hard to find (for me, at least). So I could use help on the following:
Is there a better way, other than creating my own website with SEO, to find female gamers locally (Southern California)?
What search engine keywords should I use in my website to attract female gamers?
What table top roleplaying games are popular with women these days, anyway? (I’m hoping D&D).
What features should be in my campaign to attract female gamers? (emphasis on diplomacy/intrigue? A quest instead of mayhem? Vampires and spellcasters?)
My experience with female gamers is that they absolutely hate being subject to unwelcome come ons by their fellow gamers. So they’d be suspicious of a male looking for a majority female group, even if your motivations are more pure. So you’d be better off shopping around for an ongoing group that already has a good percentage of females.
D&D is never a bad choice, it’s so overwhelmingly popular, but if you want to attract a greater percentage of women, try Vampire.
I’ve got nothing more to add to Menocchio. It’s good advice. I know I’d pull a :dubious: if I found out you were specifically looking for females. I’d probably still join, but I’d be wary.
The main problem I find with joining guys is there’s always a time period where I have to “prove” myself. As if they think I’m just joining because my SO is (not true) and I really don’t know what’s going on (try me) and I’ll quit really soon (yeah right). If you can avoid all those things that would help…guys who have played with females before and don’t have huge chips on their shoulders would be nice.
I’m certainly not saying your friends fit into any of these categories! I’m just telling you my experiences.
I second the advice of looking for an established group to join. That way, you’ll find people who are at least socially skilled enough to interact with the opposite sex. And I know that’s a stereotype, but there are reasons that stereotypes exist.
If what you are looking for are a bunch of singles or quasi-singles to hook up with, may I suggest your local SCA?
To answer some questions, first goal is to find people to play my D&D campaign. If I were looking to strictly get laid, I’d go elsewhere. It would be nice to play a game with more women, though, even if they’re there just because of their SO. More of the female perspective, you know…a different type of game.
The D&D version is 3.5, but I’ve been considering running a Vampire game too.
I’m at a loss at finding a D&D group locally. I know of Meetup.com. Are there other ways?
Based on my personal experience as a female gamer and my observations through the years, there is no huge difference in what experienced female gamers enjoy vs. what experienced male gamers enjoy. (Or at least, individual preferences vary enough to drown out gender-based preferences.) I would guess that the game quality, personalities and hygeine level within your group will have a much greater impact on your ability to retain female players than your choice of system or genre.
Of course, this is based on interactions with gamers who have already survived a few years of RPGs without bailing. If you’re looking to convert non-gamers, then I don’t have of advice to offer – except perhaps to start them on boardgames (e.g. Settlers of Catan, Talisman), get more and more complicated (e.g. Illuminati, Civilization) and then once they realize how geeky they’ve become, convince them to jump off the cliff to RPG.
First, find one or more women who are willing to partner with you on the effort to get this group together. Second, organize the group based in or around an organization that is already primarily women. If there is a women’s college near you, that might work. Or a YWCA. Advertise to various book clubs, which is probably the closest female-dominated equivalent to a role-playing group. Maybe tying some element of costuming into it, possibly by connection to SCA? Make sure your group is welcoming to absolute beginners. Maybe hold a couple one-day try it, see if you like it, kind of thing. Build-a-character nights, kind of like those build-a-bear shops. Food is another thing women like in a get together. Maybe roasted turkey legs, or jewel-like candy, or rustic apple pie (like regular, only made without a pie pan) here’s an example. http://www.dominosugar.com/recipes/recipe_detail.asp?id=265.
