A specter is haunting the tables of gamers—the specter of the GM’s girlfriend! Whether accused of preferential treatment from the GM because of their relationship, or for throwing a wet towel on the roleplay by joining the game just to spend time with her man, many a group has seen the arrival of the GM’s girlfriend as the herald of the group’s end. Mike couldn’t make it to record this weekend, so Jason recorded an episode with his wife Giuli to take a look at the much-feared phenomenon.
- 2:24 How much XP for a blowjob?
- 6:10 Stephen Asma’s On Monsters
- 9:45 Sex vs. Gender
- 11:04 Enjoying violence
- 16:02 Armchair psychology with RPG’s
- 20:40 Giuli’s performance (unfortunately, Virtual Play’s files were corrupted)
- 23:03 Female athletes can’t win for winning
- 27:21 How bad is preferential treatment in a cooperative game?
- 28:39 Can roleplaying be a spectator sport?
- 30:12Mirror neurons
- 33:01 “If everyone’s acting stupid, then no one’s stupid.”
- 34:50 Building energy
- 37:08 Table chatter
- 39:40 Playing passionately
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First thing first: Giuli, don’t think there is any favoritism going on, and I’m glad you’re at the table. More importantly, I’m glad you’re at the table AND having fun. I personally saw you doing a lot of lurking in Mornskeep. My usual response to that is to start spewing comedy. I’m a social pariah, so if I see someone seemingly uncomfortable (as I used to always be), my first instinct is comedy and I’ll start slinging quips to lighten the mood. I want everyone to feel as comfortable as I do. I’m comfortable everywhere because I belong nowhere.
And I think my favorite Giuli quote is “I want to hurt more people, but I don’t have enough actions!” or something very similar. Heh. Yes, you enjoy crumping the monster. We all reinforce this. You’re supposed to feel good bashing the monster!
And in terms of RP, we joke quite a bit. I also know I’m a major contributer. And, in many respects, I’m trying to get most/all of it out of my system before our return trip to Forgotten Realms. I have every intention of RPing the hell out of that character. I think it was stated at the beginning that this upcoming campaign was meant to have a good amount of RP. That being the expectation handed out from the start, I think it is something that will not be difficult to accomplish with the group, because I know all of us are capable of good RP.
I look forward to it as well. It’s been a long time since I did good RP, and I think the group knows enough about each other that it is possible. There needs to be a certain amount of comfort in the group before you can really RP.
Just my two copper. Consider the source and take it for what it’s worth.
I didn’t realize you were doing that on purpose! That’s very nice of you.
I hope my shyness hasn’t been responsible for too much of the joking around.
On a different note, Jesus, is that really what I sound like? I remind myself of Ann Coulter. :::shudder::: Oh, also, when I said “D&D started with roleplaying” I actually meant to say it started with wargaming. Doy.
Well said, Felix. I don’t regret anything about our Mornskeep game—we were learning the system, I didn’t start off with an expectation of a lot of deep RP, and most of us met for the first time in that game. Actually, it started from a one-shot that Mike & Giuli probably remember: I bought the 4E books when they came out, and we played that one-shot the Saturday after, on the first World-wide D&D Day.
I’m looking forward to some more deep RP in this campaign, too. Not that we all have to sit around the table ashen-faced the whole time, but I think we’re on the same page here.
Giuli: Your smooth, sultry tones have nothing my nasal rasping. But then, everybody hates the sound of their own voice.
Jason, I think you are making some heavy assumptions about the composition of RPGs. There is a much larger percentage of female gamers than you think.
Not assumptions, and I certainly acknowledge that many people have had other experiences. But when I look around at gaming conventions, I see more males than females.
No, they have done market surveys and female gamers are approaching 40% now.
Convention populations are not representative of gamers as a whole.