Gender Rolls: Of Dice and Dames

Hey everyone, welcome back to The Treehouse blog! There’s someone we’d like you to meet…

This is Jenny, one of our crack team of Games Masters, who’s been running roleplaying events for customers at Treehouse for more than two years now. Starting on February 27th, Jenny will be running a new six-session roleplaying season: Ms Havelock’s School for Girls, based in the Call of Cthulu system.

We caught up with Jenny to talk about why roleplaying is awesome, to explore her decision to make the season for self-identifying women and non-binary players only, and find out what players can expect from Ms Havelock.

How did you get started in roleplaying?

“I started the same way most people do: with one very enthusiastic friend begging us all to give it a go! A more distressing number of years ago than I like to think about, a good friend in our board-gaming group convinced us all to join in with something he had written. It was Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition, and I had absolutely no clue what was going on. I just turned up, drank mead and hit things when I got told to. One particular member of the group insisted I was doing things wrong, and I stepped away from it for sometime after having my confidence knocked back significantly.

Luckily, that very enthusiastic friend became a very enthusiastic partner and it was harder to get away from his campaign planning. After several years of thinking I didn’t enjoy roleplaying and it was something I just would never get in to he convinced me to try it again with a smaller group and an updated edition; I had a completely different experience. Everyone around the table had a brilliant time, and though we never finished the campaign it opened whole new horizons for something I thought I would never be able to enjoy. “

Why do you love it?

“Getting to mess about with lovely people, do silly voices and build a story together? What’s not to love?!

I’ve always loved stories. I’ve been an obsessive reader since I was little, and roleplaying games are basically just stories that you get a say in. Being able to bond with people over telling the same story is a really wonderful experience. The Game Master may be the one who is in charge, but everyone around the table can affect the world and is working to tell the same story, just coming from different angles. If I’m running a game, I love watching the group figure out what each other is about, getting to know the world we are in and being able to build up an adventure that feels right. I may plan out a whole campaign, but the party could choose to follow a completely different thread that they find interesting. There aren’t many feelings which match the adrenaline from having to fly by the seat of your pants, it’s almost better than having everything play out just as you planned. 

Unlike board games or video games where you have specific options you have to take, roleplaying games allow complete freedom of choice for your reaction, and everyone will tackle things differently. If I’m writing a big nasty wolf attacking a village, my players might choose to fight it outright, or they might cast a spell and talk to it, or they might do something I would never have thought of. 

Everyone gets something different from roleplaying. For me, it has massively built my confidence and helped me work through social anxiety, and it’s much more exciting than sitting at a desk and writing a book all by yourself.”

How has gender affected your experience of roleplaying?

“Most people have a particular stereotype of who plays roleplaying games: a bunch of sweaty nerds with bad beards playing in their basement. There’s rarely a woman shown in these groups. I could not see how I would fit in, and having had my fair share of unpleasant experiences with people gatekeeping particular hobbies or fandoms, I had no desire to find out if I would fit there. I would never have dreamed of going to a game shop by myself to play, because I assumed I would have been treated differently. After I had the chance to play more with friends, I realised just how inaccurate a stereotype coming from 1980’s America was nowadays.

I expected to come into a community where I would have to fight to earn my place at the table. What I have found is a community with room for everyone who wants to join, with all kinds of folks with several key things in common: we all want to have fun, make friends and tell stories. I’ve been very lucky in that the vast majority of my experiences have been positive. I do still hear horror stories from women who play with groups who shut them down or don’t treat them as equals, and I’m not without these stories myself. There will always be the odd guy who will talk over me, or who will get out the rulebook to double check every single ruling I make. Luckily, they are few and far between and certainly not the majority.”

Why have you decided to make Ms Havelock’s School for Girls exclusively for female-identifying and non-binary players?

“I am all about making roleplaying feel inclusive for absolutely everybody. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but anyone who wants to is welcome to come and drink deep. Many women I have spoken to have expressed trepidation in joining since the stereotypes we are used to suggest there isn’t room for us in the community or because we have all had an experience with a guy telling us where we do or do not belong. Trans-women and non-binary folks experience this marginalisation regularly too but on a wider sociological scale, dealing with the same worries of how people will react to their gender.

When I was first getting into comics, the thing that helped me feel at home was a women only event called She Reads Comics, which was hosted at a comic shop in Glasgow once a month. To go and know that everyone there would have had the same experiences as me and be approaching from the same place was hugely comforting and helped me feel confident in exploring something I was excited about.

The Treehouse has always been about making our space one which is welcoming and supportive for all people. For me, I think that having a roleplaying season which is aimed specifically at self-identifying women and non-binary folks to make sure they know this is a safe new space to try roleplaying with people on their team is a great way to help people see there is a space for them in this community, and to explore it without fear.”

What can players expect from the season?

“Cream buns and staring into the starless void of the Great Old Ones!

Call of Cthulu is all about working together to solve a mystery, usually a very spooky mystery. It's going to tackle horror and crime, as well as Latin homework.”

Tickets for Ms Havelock’s School for Girls are now on sale via the event page here. Find out more about roleplaying at The Treehouse and other upcoming events here.