|
Post by Admin on Mar 21, 2016 10:37:26 GMT
#3.1 NOTES ON WOMEN & MAGIC -- Bringing the Distaff Gamer into D&D by Lenard Lakofka October 1976 This article takes a look at female characters in D&D, giving alternate female versions of the 4 main classes. As a bit of trivia, I think this also includes the first piece of art by Jennell Jaquays, in Dragon, who, during that time period (the 1970s), was also very active with Judges' Guild (it would be great to see an index of JG publications, one day!) From an AD&D perspective, here we see the first introduction of 'female strength limits' -- well, actually there are no limits, but, in this article, female STR is generated via d8+d6 instead of via 3d6. Since the issue of female strength limits in AD&D is so contentious, at times, I will try to side-step the issue a bit, and, focus on the level titles. (Female STR limits are something that will be looked at in depth, later on, in issue #39). In BtB 1st. Ed. AD&D... is there a passage that mentions alternate level titles for female characters, and, if so, what page is it on? Prespos
|
|
|
Post by Malcadon on Mar 21, 2016 12:36:42 GMT
It was a dumb article. It tries to put women in a whole other category, rule wise, and only added unnecessary complexity to a, at the time, rare demographic. Plus, the female fighters titles are all wrong! For example, a female Gladiator is called a Gladiatrix. Level
| Male Title
| Female Title
| Better Female Title
| 1
| Veteran
| Fighting Woman | Shield Maiden
| 2
| Warrior
| Swordswoman
| Warrioress
| 3
| Swordsman | Gladiator | Swordswoman | 4
| Hero
| Battle Maiden | Heroine
| 5
| Swashbuckler
| Shield Maiden
| Battle Maiden
| 6
| Myrmidon | Myrmidon | Myrmidon | 7
| Champion | Heroine
| Valkyrie
| 8
| Superhero
| Valkyrie
| Superheroine
| 9
| Lord | War Lady | War Lady |
For the most part, I gave them the female equivalent titles. I moved Shield Maiden down, as they are Pages — they hold the shield for a knight. "Warrioress" is a real word. I could not find a way to incorporate the Gladiatrix title into the array. Although, "Gladiator" means "sword-fighter", the word is too affiliated with arena fighters, and the Fighter class is not limited to that type of fighting. They likely add "War" to Lady to make them sound more war-like, instead of sounding like a helpless Queen or Princess. Although Noblewomen in a number of cultures are expected to be able to kick ass by their own right, most people would think its a title for a damsel in distress. Also, the female Thief, as presented in that article, should be it own class. I have seen a number of other articles that tries to make a Seductress/Temptress/Houri type class.
|
|