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Ask your players?
In my experience, player gender does not have any sort of overwhelming effect on what sort of game people like to play, and it's kind of offensive to imply otherwise.
Just ask up front what sort of theme and tone would prefer (hack and slash, political intrigue, exploration based, light-hearted, grim and gritty, tongue-in-cheek cheesy), or barring that, try to run a game that does a little of everything, and focus on whatever bits everyone seems to enjoy the most.
My experience has been that the individual variations of taste of each individual trumps any other trait (like sex).
My advice then would be the same regardless of gender. You have new players and you need to figure out what they like. Try to plan a short adventure (one shot would be ideal, but it may not be possible) and try to play up anything that you think they might like.
Make sure there is plenty of RP, make sure there is a dungeon crawl and combat, etc. etc.
The biggest part then would be to make sure you take some time after the first game to ask them each what they liked and what they didn't like.
Then go from there.
Just a male here, but how about: ask them. Gender aside, a first (or pre-) session discussion is a good idea. Get everyone on the same page or at least aware that it will be a multi-page game. And that includes making it fun for you, too, to avoid having the campaign peter out.
Good luck and welcome to Pathfinder- it's a great game!
Ninja'd. And I reloaded just before typing, too; sneaky ninjas.
If everyone is new to Pathfinder, they may not know what they like just yet. Part of GMing is improvisation. Go with the flow, and you will soon know what they like. I GM a game with 3 males and 3 females. REGARDLESS of gender, I very quickly knew wanted to role play, and who gets antsy during a long dungeon crawl.
My intro to pathfinder and DMing sounds very similar to yours. As has been said, a lot does depend on the individuals, and the general demographic of the group. However, I have noticed some tendencies. Girls/women tend to like, and get more invested in, the role-playing. If there is a player who wants to know more about the innkeeper I randomly mentioned, it's always one of the girls. Likewise, my girl friends enjoy dungeon crawls more if there is a compelling reason to be there, besides gaining power and wealth, and if the elements in the dungeon form a compelling story. Don't be surprised if after examining the cool piece of treasure you gave the party, a girl wants to know it's back story and try to return it to the owner, if possible. They also tend to min-max/optimize less that the guys do. Not that the guys are bad about it, but if one of the girls has to choose between the most mechanically advantageous feat and the feat she thinks fits best with the character, she'll choose the character feat, while the guys tend to choose the mechanics.
Throwing my two bits out there, please don't crucify me. This is from my own experience with my college group and my sister's friends group.
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I would strongly recommend using one of Paizo's published adventures. At least for your first few games. You can even find a few for free as PDF. Make sure to check weather it was written for 3.5 or PF. The 3.5 stuff is usable, just realize you should do the conventions before the game and not get upset in the middle of it when you see some things are different.
I'm a level 5 witch in Don Hastily's gender-diverse party of about six or seven. I think he described the tendencies of our group accurately, but do want to comment personally about preferences and what I've perceived thus far.
As someone new to Pathfinder, I am not yet nearly as proficient in the mechanics and rules of the game as I'd like to be. This might explain my tendency to embrace the role playing aspect a bit more than power and wealth grinds. However, one of our female group members has been playing D & D/Pathfinder collectively for about 15 years now and even she, a seasoned pro who is meticulous about combat/equipment/stats, prefers to breathe a bit more life into her character compared to our seasoned male players. In fact, she created what our group calls a "fluff sheet," which involves answering a bunch of questions to add that "flavor" to our characters. Our DM issued these fluff sheets to everyone months ago and so far, only the females have submitted them.
Now, I am not saying that us women will never want to optimize our gear, nor do I think we want to forego combat in favor of uninterrupted role playing. (I've always played DPS in MMOs, and I love pummeling monsters as much as any dude)...and yeah, I'm sure there are plenty of chicks out there who love dungeon crawls more than I ever will. However, as a feminist and a female, I still say there are playing style differences that a DM should consider. Ours does an amazing job of integrating both approaches and aspects of game play.
I don't have much else to contribute to the conversation at this point, but as I continue to play and learn, I'm sure I'll think of a few things.
Wait, what? Who doesn't like chick in chainmail?
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I would like to see one of these fluff sheets. I think it is odd how easy I come up with back story for my Society characters. Then i have to nix rp somewhat due to time constraints. Then when i have a private campaign, where we can pick up where we left off next time, I have a really hard time coming up with such backstory. That limits rp. A list of questions on fluff matters may get the gears churning and lead to brainstorming rp ideas that do not otherwise come easy. Would you please be so kind to share these fluff sheets here?
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Treat them as people first. Ignore gender. Let them express themselves and learn how they like to play rather than assuming based on biology.
I've played a wide gamut of styles.
My brother's wife likes to play a murdersmashy orc called 'the Eater of Skulls'.
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1) Like everyone else has said, find out what they like as gamers and not as "female gamers." I haven't seen any consistent playstyle differences between female and male gamers. You probably won't have more adjusting to do than with any new group.
2) Have a look at your female NPCs. The occasional bar wench or chick in skimpy chainmail is OK. I've seen female players run their own PCs as "the fanservice character," and those playing grittier characters might see the damsels as foils (or those playing male characters might flirt). But if all your women are treated as objects or incompetent your players will probably notice and they probably won't appreciate it.
pretty much what they said I have some friends obsessed with games like resident evil and COD and anything with blood and gore and some that cant handle anything above a teen rateing and get squeemish at the mention of blood so its really a matter of how they are. just take time to admire what you have done when they all get to a situation and are debateing what to do....
Sugar, spice... and shoes maybe?
Who do the pathfinders belong to?
I'd say with the way everyone is new, it's probably best to start off with the sampling (as mentioned earlier) of a little bit of everything, then a few sessions in ask for feedback. But asking for what girls like is like asking what guys like. If there was one answer, there wouldn't be the variety of play styles there are. Treat them like players, not girls.
This from my observations (I'm a guy) and after talking to a couple of the female gamers I am in contact with.
No significant difference in the type of game prefered. They are scattered all over the map, just like the guys. Just as likely to want to 'beat things with pointy sticks' as the guys. Though less likely to go into gory details about bits of meat flying. (Personally I don't do that either.)
Seem slightly less likely to pore over umpteen books and websites to make the perfect build.
Slightly more likely to be put off by elements that don't make sense. "Why is the King meeting with us newbies in a bar when he could just tell the Marshal to take care of it?"
Since you are all newish. Those I talked to said. Just run a few one-off published modules. Then afterword ask them what parts they did or didn't like.
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I learned last night that a lady player asked for the campaign to have more female NPCs. The GM obliged this and introduced several, he later had to point out that after doing so, she ignored them? When he brought this up, she said she does not have to interact with all of them just that theGM should acknowledge about half the people in the world are women.
Seems a bit odd to me, but maybe those new NPCs had nothing of interest to her.
Chicks are like dudes. Ask them what kind of game they are expecting, think of what kind of game you want to run, meet somewhere in the middle if there are vast differences. The only appreciable difference I have noticed, and my sample size is small for female players mind you, is that women usually like to play a more nurturing role, i.e. clerics and druids. That being said the posts above will tell you they play all sorts of types. I say to that... Women are like men, they play all kinds of stuff.
I never really ask my players what they want, I pick a direction and go, I modify it if they lean heavily one way or the other. My advise would be give them a break down of what you are thinking, where you are starting, race and classes avaible, and ask them to write up a background (say a page or so) so you can add plot hooks. This should cover some basics.
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I learned last night that a lady player asked for the campaign to have more female NPCs. The GM obliged this and introduced several, he later had to point out that after doing so, she ignored them? When he brought this up, she said she does not have to interact with all of them just that the GM should acknowledge about half the people in the world are women.
Seems a bit odd to me, but maybe those new NPCs had nothing of interest to her.
Ever walk into a party, classroom, or crowded restaurant and been the only guy there? You probably noticed, maybe felt a little uncomfortable to be the odd one out. Many women notice the absence of women, and this can make them uncomfortable.
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Yeah, it's pretty uncomfortable when your storyteller forgets that half the world's population is female, and only makes characters that *have* to be female (e.g. mothers, love interests for heterosexual male characters, etc.) women and has the default for everything else be male.
As far as what women like in gaming, there isn't a Magical XX Style Of Woman Gaming. Women in gaming like what people in gaming like.
But here are a few things that you might want to consider that do sometimes differ between the genders due to the life experiences that are more common among women and our underrepresentation in certain types of games:
--You may want to avoid including sexual violence in your campaign, or at the very least, talk to your players about it beforehand. Statistics vary from 1:4 to 1:8, but the most widely-accepted statistic is that 1 in 5 women has been sexually assaulted. So what might seem like a convenient plot point to you may be a trigger for memories of a traumatic experience for women at your table. (Of course, the same holds true for men, but the numbers aren't as high -- the chances that one of your players has experienced sexual assault go up when some of them are female.)
--You should do this regardless of whether you have female players, just so you're not actively perpetuating the underrepresentation/stereotyping of women in fantasy settings, but it becomes more insulting/hurtful/offensive/alienating when there are actual women at the table: make sure you're representing people of both genders in a variety of roles, and not making all your female characters wives/mistresses/love interests/femme fatales or otherwise defined by their relationships to more important male characters.
--Be careful about gender-specific treatment of your female characters. It's annoying when all the male NPCs' only interactions with the female PCs involve flirting or trying to get in her pants. It's also frustrating if you're limiting the character's options because of her gender (e.g. "well, you're female so you should be a spellcaster").
--This is true in many venues, but it's more common than it should be in the gaming world: make sure you're not interrupting female players/talking over them more than you're doing to the male players. This is something that happens for many reasons, and it's exacerbated by the fact that a lot of women are socialized to be less assertive than men (it's changing, thank goodness, but it's still common), especially in situations where they don't feel entirely welcome.
Here's a good summary of things you may want to consider as well, from Gaming As Women.
Seeking advice what females enjoy in games
What do males in enjoy in games? Believe it or not, females are actually individuals.
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I have the opposite experience, not with males/females but I am often the only or of exceptionally few white people in a large group. Been use to it since I was in kindergarten. I actually think it is wired when I find myselfn in a place with almost no one but white people, like at some game conventions. I don't remember being daunted by a class full of women, though I think there were always at least one other male. Been over a decade since university so I cannot recall such well, didn't care what the make up was then, why bother to remember such. Been the only male at work but those were small groups and transferring from one branch to another freaquently or even just who has what day off can change those numbers daily.
I'm a guy, but for what its worth I see this one in terms of a single, simple rule: Women are just people.
On the one hand, that means it doesn't matter what genders your players have. On the other, it's helpful to remember the rule when you're portraying your world and its inhabitants.
Funny enough, the only time I remember rape come up in a roleplaying game, (not counting mention of Greek myths), it was brought up by a female player.
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No matter the gender, talk to your players about the Rating they want for their game, and if they have any triggers, phobias, or things they want to avoid during their gaming time (from phobias to child abuse to whatever). Talking with your players will establish a baseline and social contract that will allow you as the Game Master to tailor your game more appropriate to your group.
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I learned last night that a lady player asked for the campaign to have more female NPCs. The GM obliged this and introduced several, he later had to point out that after doing so, she ignored them? When he brought this up, she said she does not have to interact with all of them just that theGM should acknowledge about half the people in the world are women.
Seems a bit odd to me, but maybe those new NPCs had nothing of interest to her.
This is particularly telling. The tendency to make any NPC male unless there's a reason for the NPC to be female is usually unconcious, but it's very frustrating for female players. When at least 50% of all people are female(well, maybe not in India or China right now, but that's another story), but being female is called out as unusual, there's a very uncomfortable subliminal message that your half of the human race is abnormal.
It's really awesome to see so many mixes of races and sex across classes and characters and heroes and villains in Paizo products. Using Paizo adventures makes it easier to avoid this pitfall, as a large part of the work is done for you.
Another thing I've seen is people thinking that a woman is going to want to roleplay "real life" in games to the point of constantly dealing with sex discrimination. One justification is "that's how it really was!" This is a game, not just a simulation. I think the introduction of magic would have some far reaching consequences on societal organization. And it's just not always fun for the female to fight the same battles in her hobby she has to fight every day. Sometimes it's fun to run the game this way - maybe to fight against it or "correct" it, maybe just as an exercise - but make sure it's actually something the players want to do.
The best thing to do is try to avoid assumptions about what your players will enjoy. I realize the nature of assumptions makes this difficult! Watch for signs of boredom or irritation in your party, and after the session, try to address it. "I noticed you didn't seem to enjoy this part of today's session as much. Was there anything you didn't like? A way I could make it better / smoother / more fun?"
Making communication easy and as stress free as possible will only help you be a better GM and your players be better players!
While its all be said before, everyone has their own preference and taste. Some people know exactly what they want in an RP, others will have no clue at all.
Hmm. The only advice I can give, that doesn't look like its been mentioned, is experiment. See what trips the triggers and what makes them excited or active (every player, not just your female players) and play towards that.
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As a female gamer since 1979 I will say this. I love the RP... GREAT RP not lame RP. I love the fight, the hack, the slash, the blood, the gore, the graphic visualnise of it. I love the puzzles, the ones that make sence. Not just another Hobbit riddle. I want to think. I want to use tactics. I want my game to be rich and alive. I want to feel like I AM that character just not a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper or a computer/tablet screen. I want depth, background, I want it all.
Now for other female games? I cannot speak for a one of them. I can say the other female gamers I have gamed with, some love the RP, some want to be treated as an equal not a lesser being. They do not want to be told they are a female and cannot be a knight or a ruler or a warrior and be handed a chain mail bikini. Some have loved the dice rolling. Some the puzzles, some the life of it all and depth like a real world. Some want it to be fantasy but real.
I have 1 female player that loves the richness of language and rp. She hates male players treating her as anything but a full equal and some do love to fuss over her and protect her.
So just my 2 pence worth
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Yes we are ALL new to Pathfinder, so somewhat tough to know what we like
Of course I will ask players, but also hoping to do some preperation ahead of timeI have some experience with D&D, but I am new to the GM role
Let me second the suggestion to start with pre-written material - the adventure in the beginners box is a great starting point. There are more adventures available free in The Beginners Box Bash.
Now, let me make a suggestion. Your whole group is new to Pathfinder. Once you have run the first couple of adventures, suggest the everyone else takes a turn running a pre-written adventure. That way everyone knows what it is like to be the GM and you can see the way that they choose to run the game to see what they like.
Lastly, good luck and have fun!
It's been my experience in mixed gender games the women are the hands down best roleplayers in the group. Sure, the hackity goodness is great, but they always preferred to play out scenarios as much in character as possible. On the other hand, I once knew of an all girl D&D2e game that was the bloodiest, cruelist, and most murderous band of good characters I'd ever seen.
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I notice next to 0 diffrence, except that I sometimes feel some women want to keep spotlighting the percieved differences moreso than guys.
Other than that, just like guys, their preferences and desires from the gam are all over the place. Just like guys, they tend to play certain things up, but the certain things vary just like guys. As a generalization, women tend to be less focused on the game and more into multitasking between a few things at once, but there are a lot of guys that do that too. Another generalization I've noticed is that women gamers tend slightly more towards group play and not really team work, but sort of establishing a sort of role to everyone, and less enjoying the victory or tactics and more that their expectation when the roles work out as planned, if that makes any sense.
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I'm with Beckett on this one. People like different things. Don't let gender get in the way of fun. That's what it's all about, right? Maybe talk with them to see what interests they have. I love encountering undead and I'm a woman. I'm not so good at puzzles, but I enjoy combat. Just have fun and don't worry about putting shirtless heroes with bulging muscles riding on a white stallion, unicorns, and barbie dolls just to please the girls. They may like to poke undead (or other things) with sharp pointy sticks....er...swords. Just have fun that's what it's all about.
This is particularly telling. The tendency to make any NPC male unless there's a reason for the NPC to be female is usually unconcious, but it's very frustrating for female players. When at least 50% of all people are female(well, maybe not in India or China right now, but that's another story), but being female is called out as unusual, there's a very uncomfortable subliminal message that your half of the human race is abnormal.
Some of that seems to spring from the "source material" views/read by the players. :( See also The Smurfette Principle.
Consider, even the otherwise excellent film - The Avengers - had only one major female character (the Black Widow) out of the six heroes.
And speaking of gender bias in avengers...
A thought provoking but hilarious twist!
Or google image search the 'hawkeye initiative'
And speaking of gender bias in avengers...
A thought provoking but hilarious twist!
Or google image search the 'hawkeye initiative'
Yup. ;)
Here is that thing though, in some ways, the problem with the non-portrayal of women is actually worse then the sexualization of female characters.
All right, so I'm a bit late to the party, and I hope it worked out well for the OP, but my suggestion would be to not worry about it too much. Start it off with a light plot, and leave the game open enough that the players can influence the game in the direction they'd like to see.
You don't really have to sit down and interview each and every player on what they may or may not enjoy (if they are new, they might even know the answer to that question! Even if they think they do.)
So basically, run them through a few scenarios, but be attentive and open to focus on whatever the group wants to be doing.
