[HOE] RPG's and the sexes

[Dusarat@aol.com]

In the last year, I've had the unique pleasure of having my gaming groups have women in them after years and years of only guys.... I don't know how it happenned, maybe it was just me changing the aftershave of my NPC's, but it happenned.  

And my first observation is that women in general, like the idea of 'character' better than guys do.  Guys are much more likely to powergame.  Face it guys, how many of us have done the calculation "If I put a D12 in quickness, get the right mutation and five points of unholy speed, I can get a quickness of d12+14, +16 if I can get the templar gift and..."
         Women.... don't.... do... this...
    Women are much more likely to focus on who the character is, why they do what they do, and fleshing them out rather than merely using them as an excuse to brutalize hypothetical people.
  But I've never had any problem with woman players getting annoyed when their characters receive damage, haven't killed any yet, but previous posts should let you know I'm not a big fan of killing characters.

I personally prefer a more character driven focus.  This doesn't mean no combat, just that combats need to have a reason (Had one NPC that one of my female players was just ACHING for an excuse to kill.... but she never got it... heheheheh).  

I would think HOE would have fewer women than most RPG's because, to put it bluntly, its a bit of a macho game that can draw the sort of macho gung ho powergamer that don't really get along well with a character focus.  On the other hand, I've always hated those guys anyway, so I don't really miss them.