[HOE] Re: Urban Renewal Cover

["Reuben McCallum" <bloopy40@hotmail.com>]

>WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!  I was about to complain about the
>LACK of hot, scantily-clad girls in Deadlands books.  All throughout
>adventure games, going WAY back to D & D, and even the old Warhammer series
>from Games Workshop, scantily clad hot females, whether they were powerful
>Sorceresses or damsels in distress, have been a STAPLE of fantasy 
>role-play,
>and fantasy in general.  (Just pick up a copy of X-Men, hello?)  Any girl
>that I know cool and laid back enough to play Deadlands with a bunch of 
>guys
>(and we have a few in our posse) wouldn't mind this cover, because it
>enhances the fantasy of the role you're playing.  And yes, it's just as 
>much
>fun for female role-players to say, "Yeah, I'm the hot female Templar" as 
>it
>is for guys to say, "I'm the handsome, stud Templar with all the chicks."
>
>If you can't take the heat, stay the Hell out of the kitchen.  As far as 
>I'm
>concerned, if I'm going to pay like $25 for an adventure, whatever
>reasonably tasteful scantily-clad females are in there is just gravy.  You
>can call me a chauvanist, but I think most of the guys who roleplay are all
>thinking the same thing here.
>
>Russ
Okey-doke, I'm going to wade in here with my depreciated non-existant 
currency as well...
Russ, I hope that's sarcasm. If you girly pictures of sci-fantasy women, I'm 
sure Clyde Caldwell has put a book out of his artwork. I for one, as a male, 
do NOT wish to see any kind of art that looks like that on my gaming 
products. I still shudder whenever I see the skimpily clad woman on the 
machine-gun in Road-Warriors.
I'm not a PC thug (or a greasy thug either, for that matter), but I happen 
to like the idea of having more females in my favorite hobby. And not so I 
can pick up either. For a while, I ran a shadowrun game that was at all 
times (by intent), 50% female. And the six months I ran that game remain 
some of the best experiences I've had in roleplaying to date. I don't want 
to make generalisations, but I've found women approach role-playing in a 
refeshingly non-linear manner. Because of various reasons, that game is no 
longer running, but I wish it was.
But many women I know look at the covers of many books, and some of the 
artwork inside, and it seems quite farcical to them.
But on a bigger level, why don't we look at the kind of stereotypes of women 
we include in our games. I too am guilty of this. When I made up a female 
character for Deadlands, she was an attractive ass-kickin' cowgirl. Although 
that's not necessarily a bad thing, It's a stereotype. When was the last 
time you had a slightly overweight, built like a brick outhouse, syker in 
your game who takes no gump from anyone? What about the last time you had a 
60 year old anarchist grandma who spent 10 years fighting a secret war 
against helstromme and the bombs before the war? I mean, to look at some of 
the HOE artwork, you'd think that only supermodels had survived the Last War 
(Dr. Strangelove, anyone?). I mean, by all means, have spunky, attractive 
women. But have not so attractive, slightly overweight ones. Hard-lookin' 
ones. Women who aren't butt-kickers. Think of a male archetype you know and 
try and put your sister in the role.
Now I know this is a bit of a rant, but I thought that I could not allow 
myself to be characterised as the type of person who thinks that "Add 
breasts" is surefire way of making anything better, which, unfortunately, 
all too frequently characterises the gaming community.
Flame on, you crazy diamonds
Reuben McCallum
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