On Tuesday, I will have the honor and privilege of resuming the Patuxent Valley Middle School Dungeons and Dragons club for the 2018-2019 school year. Although I have been the faculty sponsor of the D&D club for 3 years, last year was the first time I was tasked with introducing a new group to D&D as a DM and as a mentor. It was a very rewarding experience. This year, in addition to the "old crew" from last year, I have about 18 applicants to the club. Most of them have had no prior DnD experience. Moreover, I am excited to say, nearly half of the new additions are girls. This is a humbling and important challenge I have in front of me. Gaming is for everyone, and I want to make these players comfortable. So, female players I offer you a question: If you had the option, just as you were entering the hobby, to join a group, would you have preferred it to be single gender or mixed?
[Warning: I'm thinking this through as I type] It probably depends on the other players. As a general rule, I prefer a mixed group. But, in junior high/middle school, that might be a different matter: are the male players stereotypical middle school boys out to annoy/gross out/pester girls? Then segregated tables might well be in order. On the other hand, DnD players tend to be more geeky, and at least among my teen children's geeky friends, that sort of dynamic is much less pronounced. I run a mixed group of high school students (more male than female, but an all male night is rare), and I've not had any issues along those lines. I do know that one of the girls in the group my son DMs has threatened to quit because the guys are all telling her how to play her character. How much of that is male/female, and how much of that is that a couple of the guys lean towards power gaming I don't know.
If you can ensure that there will be folks at each table policing behaviors like telling other players what to do, and teasing shenanigans, mixed may be fine. If you can swing it, though, separate tables for girls might be a good thing while they build confidence.
On Tuesday, I will have the honor and privilege of resuming the Patuxent Valley Middle School Dungeons and Dragons club for the 2018-2019 school year. Although I have been the faculty sponsor of the D&D club for 3 years, last year was the first time I was tasked with introducing a new group to D&D as a DM and as a mentor. It was a very rewarding experience. This year, in addition to the "old crew" from last year, I have about 18 applicants to the club. Most of them have had no prior DnD experience. Moreover, I am excited to say, nearly half of the new additions are girls. This is a humbling and important challenge I have in front of me. Gaming is for everyone, and I want to make these players comfortable. So, female players I offer you a question: If you had the option, just as you were entering the hobby, to join a group, would you have preferred it to be single gender or mixed?
[Warning: I'm thinking this through as I type] It probably depends on the other players. As a general rule, I prefer a mixed group. But, in junior high/middle school, that might be a different matter: are the male players stereotypical middle school boys out to annoy/gross out/pester girls? Then segregated tables might well be in order. On the other hand, DnD players tend to be more geeky, and at least among my teen children's geeky friends, that sort of dynamic is much less pronounced. I run a mixed group of high school students (more male than female, but an all male night is rare), and I've not had any issues along those lines. I do know that one of the girls in the group my son DMs has threatened to quit because the guys are all telling her how to play her character. How much of that is male/female, and how much of that is that a couple of the guys lean towards power gaming I don't know.
If you can ensure that there will be folks at each table policing behaviors like telling other players what to do, and teasing shenanigans, mixed may be fine. If you can swing it, though, separate tables for girls might be a good thing while they build confidence.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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Best wishes for upcoming New year 2019