right now i am a bit too sick (as in feeling unwell) to make up something for this year
sorry guys, maybe next year 
Donāt worry Lamuness, you still have 24 hours!
and, hope you get better soon.
Itās interesting how the explanation actually sounds believableā¦the flaw being that little kids generally need tangible objects to fuel their imagination, and tabletop RPGās are far too abstract to hold their attention. Not to mention itād take a great deal of marketing to create a market with no existing consumer foundation.
If I had the license, I would already have made a My Little Pony computer game with (very light) RPG elements to add to my stable of girly games.
Not to mention that theyāre in the perfect scenario to do what no one has been able to so far - make a girl-friendly āwargameā. Iām a huge RPG geek but I find miniatures games intimidating. Even HeroClix. I like to collect all the characters - I donāt like to play!
A simple miniatures game based around an appealing license could indeed be a ground-breaker and bring more girls into the hobby. But itās too much of a risk, so no one will try itā¦
I gotcha this year, guys (although it was Simon at Icarus, Iām just reposting his press release)
quote:
I gotcha this year, guys (although it was Simon at Icarus, I'm just reposting his press release)
I must admit part of that had me as I staggered in from work last night. Really not fair considering I am having to prepare for inventory there and I have been wanting some of their offerings....
On a serious note I want to collect all of the AG comics. Problem is I can never get a reply about availability when I email Jlist, Mr. Payne. Perhaps you could tell me if there is any such way to purchase all the back issues?
Just to clarify, that isn't an April Fool's joke.
[This message has been edited by Mirk (edited 04-01-2006).]
quote:
Originally posted by papillon:
If I had the license, I would _already_ have made a My Little Pony computer game with (very light) RPG elements to add to my stable of girly games. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]Not to mention that they're in the perfect scenario to do what no one has been able to so far - make a girl-friendly 'wargame'. I'm a huge RPG geek but I find miniatures games intimidating. Even HeroClix. I like to collect all the characters - I don't like to play!
A simple miniatures game based around an appealing license could *indeed* be a ground-breaker and bring more girls into the hobby. But it's too much of a risk, so no one will try it...
The "My Little Pony" PC game already exists. I bought it for my girlfriend as a cutsie toy. Have you checked that out? It's definately aimed that the 5-7 market or so, from what she says, but it was worth a few giggles to her.
What kind of minatures/figures are you talking about? I know the minatures is what got my mother interested in D&D when I was a child. She liked to paint them. So she was always giving me new minatures, so she'd have plenty to paint.
I donāt want to play a game aimed at 5-7 year olds, I want to make a game aimed at pre-teen/teenagers with unicorns and sparkly fairy lights and dramatic fantasy adventure in it!
clarifying edit: See, I was a little girl in the 80s when the MLP cartoon was on. And the MLP cartoon - the original version, not the later horrible one - was all about magic and adventure. Like, there was a story about an evil castle trapped in some horrible hell dimension that would shift into alignment with the pony plane once every thousand years, and when the time started approaching, all the unicorns, who could normally teleport from place to place, would instead teleport and never come back, because theyād been sucked into this evil castle and were being held prisonerā¦ I think the rest of the ponies had to wait until the evil castle reached full sync with normal space, then sneak into it, free their friends, and ring the BELL OF DOOM to unhook the planes and send the evil castle back into the hell dimensions for another thousand yearsā¦
My details may be off, but the point was that it was full of huge overblown fantasy plots that would make a perfectly good pc-RPG.
Later, I guess they fired all the writers and hired people to make episodes that were only about eating ice-cream and playing dress-up.
ā
And yeah, my sister in law has a massive collection of paintable miniatures as well. She doesnāt play any of the games involving them, she just likes to paint. (She does play HeroClix occasionally. The Clix games are much more accessible than stuff like Warhammer, but I still find them too stressful. Too many powers, too many options. I feel overwhelmed.)
But no miniature wargame really goes out of its way to appeal to crafty girls (most models are hideous/monstrous, most female models are half-naked with giant tits, most rulesets are super complicated). A game with simpler rules that included slightly larger plastic doll-like miniatures to paint, based around something insanely girly like fairies or Sailor Moon, could be a gateway drug. From there, they could graduate to HeroClix which is at least slightly girl-friendly.
[This message has been edited by papillon (edited 04-02-2006).]
You know, the problem is that everyone has their own taste.
Most ladies that I know that got into RPGs on their own, wellā hrrm. My RPG āgenerationā did it by being bookie types who were into Tolkien and Elves (back in the 70s and 80s). Indeed, that is what turned my mom onto D&D minaturesā¦ Gandolf. Sheās a big Gandolf/Merlin freak. I think she now owns every book published in English that ever feature Merlin as at least a supporting character.
The RPG generation that followed mine, well, all the indepedants (found it on their own, and not through thier SO) got into Vampires (mostly LARPing). Big vampire fans.
These days, you get a mixture that have gotten into games on their own through various interest. Tolkien/Elves, Rice/Vampires, and the die hard SF subcultures seem to be the most common origins though.
Of course, if they got into it because their SO was doing it at the time, then all bets are off. They may have learned on all sorts of odd systemsā¦
For RPGs thoughā¦ you know, Iām really surprised there isnāt more ladies attracted to Shadowrun. That game is very much focused on your characterās costuming, it has a fair bit of āreasonableā female illustrations (ie, females decked out just like the guysā¦ hardcore combatantist in modern heavy armors or serious āattentionā types in very little. Males are depicted in the the same as well though. You have all the classic beautiful elements (the SR elves purposely rip off Tolkien in many places in the game), and all the fixing of future cultural promise as well.
Hummā¦ that reminds me. Did you find all the close to naked barbarians offensive? Or just the femal ones? Youāve got me thinkingā¦ My mom did paint a lot of my āConanā type figures (which she bought for me), but only a few of the āRed Sonjaā types. Of course, Conan was her favorite American manga character (and where I got my first taste for fantasy when I was a very small tyke), so that makes sense.
I always wonder when I hear gals complain about all the āchainmail bikiningā done in fantasy artworkā I wonder just how many almost naked Conan type illustrations theyāve got up on their walls. Those donāt seem to offend nearly as many lady gamers as the Red Sonja/Amazonian figures and artwork. Why is that?
Seriously thoughā¦ if you can name what youād really like in an RPG, I bet I could find a game that probably has it. The hobby has a lot of variety out there these days. Now, the rules might be a bit much, but the easiest way to learn is to find a gaming group in your area and just go hang out (and play) with them. Plenty of gamers out there willing to help someone new join in the hobby.
Computer RPGS are really just a repetitive mugging game, or mugging/postal worker game, with a bit of textual plot tossed in. Nothing like face to face gaming.
Uhā¦ who are you talking to, exactly?
Certainly not me, as Iāve been a gamer for twenty years. I do not play wargames because I find them stressful and unfun. Typical tabletop games and LARPs, I play and GM. I did say I was a huge RPG geek.
As for being offended by half-naked picturesā¦ dude, Iām on a hentai forum, and not only do I collect this art, I draw it.
Iāve never known any girl to have half-naked Conan pictures on her wall, though. Most girls I know with posters of cute actors hanging up, the actors are quite well-dressed.
On miniatures, Iām actually more annoyed that they tend to be UGLY than that they tend to be half-naked. Wargames minis are often made with really odd proportions to avoid being too fragile. The D&D ones I used to carry in my dice pouch got all bent up. Also, like action figures, they often have really distorted angry expressions to make them look more violent and less girly.
I am not personally offended by Naughty Naked Nymphs, but I can guess that your average teenage girl would be a lot more likely to play a game that involved figures of fairies or sailor moon characters than barbarians with giant tits.
So as I said, no miniatures game/company that Iām aware of makes an effort to be girl-friendly. And wargaming remains, afaik, the area of the industry that has the smallest proportion of female players.
[This message has been edited by papillon (edited 04-03-2006).]
quote:
Originally posted by Darkstar:
I always wonder when I hear gals complain about all the "chainmail bikining" done in fantasy artwork--- I wonder just how many almost naked Conan type illustrations they've got up on their walls. Those don't seem to offend nearly as many lady gamers as the Red Sonja/Amazonian figures and artwork. Why is that? [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
The scantiness of a barbarian's outfit isn't for protection, but mobility. And it reflects the historical fighting style. The chainmail bikini is supposed to be for protection--in 3-D CRPG's for example, you equip a suit of chainmail on a female char and you see a chainmail bikini, as well as the defense bonuses and limited mobility of a real suit of chainmail. That's just fanservice. Not that I don't appreciate the fanservice [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img], but I recognize the ridiculousness of it and why female gamers might be turned away by it. Then again, female gamers might also be turned away by warrior women decked out in *real* full plate that have no femininity at all *shrug*.
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 04-04-2006).]
quote:
As for being offended by half-naked pictures... dude, I'm on a hentai forum
...
I'm not a pervert!
quote:
Not that I don't appreciate the fanservice , but I recognize the ridiculousness of it and why female gamers might be turned away by it.
The only times I've really gotten annoyed at artists were when their thought processes were included along with the art, and the thought processes were pretty stupid. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
Two examples I remember from the same artbook... one involved an elfchick who, iirc, had a nice metal breastplate up top but her bottom half was covered by a heavy leather skirt, ankle-length, slit up one side. And the artist was like "Look, I have invented properly feminine armor!" and all I can think is "How is she supposed to ride the mount she's standing next to in a long skirt? Get this woman some pants!"
Even slit up the side a floor-length skirt is going to get in your way, and if it's made out of armory material, it's going to be HEAVY, and for a full skirt there's going to be a LOT of extra added weight that wouldn't be needed if you just put the armor directly on the bits it needed to cover...
(Xena's little skirt of separate strips is fine. It's not heavy or restrictive. Since they had to actually do stunts on that show, they probably took these things into account!)
The other one was a barbarian woman fighting an acid-dripping dragon in a filthy swamp dungeon. In the sketch, she had pants - by the full painting the artist decided "bare thighs would be sexier" and pretty much put her in a metal swimsuit with fluffy boots. It looked silly, to me, and I felt sorry for the poor girl, stuck getting her legs filthy and covered in acid...
quote:
Originally posted by papillon:
It looked silly, to me, and I felt sorry for the poor girl, stuck getting her legs filthy and covered in acid...
I thought that was supposed to be part of the appeal...
*dodges a slap and runs away*
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 04-04-2006).]
I guess Saber from Fate/Stay Night has somewhat realistic armor.
Iāve got 3 sisters and a mom. Half their wall art is of nearly naked men.
Then there are their friendsā big fantasy freaks as well. Half their posters are of nearly naked men.
Humm. Now, my female cousins. As I recall, their wall decorations (posters) depictions of men are also split about 50 - 50 between nearly naked men and more dressed ones.
Then thereās my lady friends. Most of those who are into fantasy, their pictures are also split between the nearly naked Conans and the more demurely dressed Merlins.
You know, the only time I recall those nearly naked men posters vanishing is when they get replaced with newer artwork or the lady is serious about a guy who often sees her bedroom for whatever reason.
Hummā¦ I see your point. Women do not like beefcake. And nearly naked beefcake totally repels them. Must be done entirely for the gay men.
Iāve seen pretty figures, but those are high end level stuff. Not something youād probably use in play. So I guess a āMy Little Ponyā figure set would have the same problem. The cheap, low end would be fairly ugly (like most horse figures Iāve seen), but the top end might be fairly nice.
[This message has been edited by Darkstar (edited 04-15-2006).]
I didnāt say NO girl likes beefcake - romance novels wouldnāt have so many Fabio-types on them if somebody didnāt go for it. Just that most girls I know donāt even have posters up, and if they do, the boys are dressed.
When I was in college and had posters up, I had one Twilight Zone poster that had no people on it at all, one poster of a fully-clothed wizard, and one Star Trek poster. This stuff was all up more to make sure that anyone entering my room knew what sort of girl I was than because I actually enjoyed looking at them. I donāt really get posters anyway - Iād get bored staring at the same picture all the time. Iām happy with frequently-rotated desktop wallpapers.