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A thread about why being a female DM/GM is important if that’s your interest:
So my brother holds painting parties for minis about once a quarter. He supplies some stuff, but there’s a byo aspect to it. We paint, listen to music, eat, and talk dnd. (1/?)
So my brother holds painting parties for minis about once a quarter. He supplies some stuff, but there’s a byo aspect to it. We paint, listen to music, eat, and talk dnd. (1/?)
It’s a lot of fun and in a night a group of us can get through about 10-15 minis. So we’re slowly getting through his backlog (almost 500 out of 700 painted!). The group usually consists of him, me, and some teens from his younger groups. (2/?)
Now that the backstory is out of the way: a new face appears last night a teenage girl who’s just getting into dnd and came with her cousin. She’s a bit shy, but excited. I’ve been there for about 40 minutes and I have a few minis I’m rotating through as layers of paint dry (3/?)
She has no where to sit so I show her where she can find an extra chair, I scoot my stuff over, let her sit down, get her set up and share my pallet with her. She keeps to herself and I continue my conversation with my brother about how our campaigns are going (4/?)
Eventually the other teens overhear and start asking us questions: what was the biggest derailment you ever had, craziest story, best encounter, greatest nat 20, basically we go back and forth and share our dnd war stories. (5/?)
Time passes and my brother has to leave to pick up his son from somewhere. The conversation dies for a bit but then by my side I hear a very quiet “So you’re a dm too?” (6/?)
And oh goodness boys and girls the excitement from this girls face from learning that I was a DM gave me an extra 5 years to my life I swear. She started to pepper me with questions: how long have I been dm? Do I only have one group? How big is it? Did I create my campaign? (7/?)
Then finally the big question: Does this mean I can be a DM too?
“Of course!” I tell her. (She started her first session last month so I did tell her to get comfortable playing a little more first.) “I played for about 6 months before I started my first session” (8/?)
“Of course!” I tell her. (She started her first session last month so I did tell her to get comfortable playing a little more first.) “I played for about 6 months before I started my first session” (8/?)
After this she asked a few more questions related to Dm’ing but after that she started interacting with the painting group more, adding to conversation, asking for color advice, etc. (9/?)
Here is the moral of the story: gatekeeping sucks, and I know there’s a reason that I’m the only female DM I (physically) know. Dnd is a male dominated hobby and DM’ing is even more so. But it breaks my heart to see girls lose something they love because of gatekeeping. (10/?)
Especially at an age where, let’s admit it, life sucks. I watched a quiet girl blossom (slightly) because she met another female dm. I’ve helped my niece enjoy the game again because she joined a one shot when she visited me where she felt safe (Another story). (11/?)
We all know that representation matters. So ladies of the ttrpg fam, if you’re interested in dm-ing, grab some friends who will support you and try it out. You never know who will be listening to your dnd war stories at your next painting party. (End)
So this feels slightly tacky, but since this is getting attention. Can I plug something real quick? I make custom dice sets and my commissions aren’t open yet due to waiting for some supplies. But hopefully they will be open soon. 
https://www.instagram.com/wizardkittydice/
https://www.instagram.com/wizardkittydice/
