Hahahaha, brilliant. Love the last one.

Gapped armor like that always annoyed me when I played D and D. Yeah, I know it's male fan service, but you can have that without making a "Stab me here!" hole in the damn armor.

Heheheh. I love the number one, bro.

Roll a saving throw against the nerdy girl in glasses!

No Lidda tho? Or is it the 'size of a child' thing keeping her off the lists? ;)

#1 is one of the reasons I married my wife.

Thank you for including Dixie. She's featured in my favorite Role Playing Adventure ever where Phil is dressed as Godzilla and Dixie is dressed as Tokyo...

I've been wanting to get into D&D for a while now, any tips on how to start?

What, no Aleena? The poor sweet cleric that Bargle killed in the old D&D intro adventure? It broke my poor teenage heart.

Anne..."Stab Me Here" hole?

Yeaaaaaaaah - I'm not touching that one.

Screw 10 - 2, No. 1 is the best!

And the DandD tradition lives on in modern sooperwomen like Power Girl

#1 is a contributing factor to the strength of the relationship between my fiancee and myself.

RAINE: The quickest way to start is to find a group that's playing, and ask to join. If you can bring chips and sodas to your first session, you generally get brownie points and thus ingratiate yourself much faster.

IN GENERAL: My wife games. We have a kid. You do the math.

No mention of Lolth, the original Black Widow?

Fugly in spider-form, but in Hottie Drow Woman In Chainmail form, with two attendants also in Hottie Drow Woman form?

Just embrace the illusion...

Raine, look up the game stores in your area--you could find one with a bulletin board where you can advertise your interest, or find info on a D & D group. All else fails, you could go the MMO route and try the online game, it went to Free Play mode a while ago.

Good luck!

loved number one for after all where is it set in stone that d&d is just for males to play . and the other ladies on the list have earned there places but would have had a few higher on the list.

I remmeber in the Basic rules a drawing depicting a party of adventurers being set upon by a dragon. One of the adventurers was this cute, slender elf gal with a shield in a midriff-baring outfit that for some reason I always found very cute. Maybe because this was my very first D&D book and that was the picture I immediately saw when opening up the book.

At any rate, she was a cutie. Right up there with Morgan Ironwolf in my 11-year-old imagination.

Doc

Great choices, and a real winner with #1, but what about:
Sheila, the amazingly cute girl-next-door-thief from the cartoon?
Mercion, the hawt blonde cleric from the action figure line?

I second Hachiko's comment--you missed a few! (Part 2?)

Morgan Ironwolf should have been #1!

Mainly because I don't know one woman who will play D&D. I tried teaching my wife one day and she said it just wasn't for her. She's not into RPG anything - including video games.

@Hachiko: I considered both Sheila and Diana from the D&D Cartoon, but eliminated them because they're 14. Granted, I was younger when I watched that show, which makes it not creepy then. I'm just not sure that this keeps it from being creepy 25 years later.

Nice call on Mercion, though!.

It is in moments like this that I am ashamed that I visit this site.

I know most of the armor is stupid but I wonder if girls would be even less attracted to the game if all the sexy was taken out of D&D. You would think so but I am not so sure anymore, I mean most girls play nightelf/bloodelves in WoW, and have you looked at the covers of many romance books?

@Anne Packrat: Alias is the only one who really has an excuse for that one. The armor was from a ritual where, at the end, she'd get stabbed in the chest as a sacrifice to an evil god. Why it'd be armor doesn't make much sense, but eh, magic and all.

Though I'd agree that logic ends the second she passes by an armory where she could buy something better. I remember in the forgotten realms comic she was wearing that years after the events of the novel.

That said, the "sexy Halloween costume" armor is probably one of the single biggest embarrassing things from the game. I remember always cringing a bit when something like that came out when the rare girl was actually playing.

I would have ranked Alias higher. Even if she is always in the company of a dinosaur man who talks through smells.

As for the 'gaping armor' trope, it was brought up in one of the Alias novels. Some baddie tries to stab her in her seemingly unprotected chest only to have his blade bounce off nothing ... turns out the armor is enchanted lol

I'm not sure about why there is so much talk about a dearth of female gamers. I've gamed since 1983 and I can only recall a handful of campaigns that didn't include both male and female players. I'm 37 now and our regular group consists of 5 males and 3 females. Is this really that much of a rarity?

Doc

I'm with Doc. Although I know more dudes than dudettes who get their game on, I still know plenty of ladies with dice all their own. Matter of fact,one of the best GMs I know is a, whatchacall'em, a woman.

Oh, and the stuff about how most game groups are hostile to women seems weird to me, because all of my buddies have been glad to have female players at any time.

Annah or Fall-From-Grace, the CRPGer's eternal "Betty or Veronica" question.

I have to agree with Doc and Dr Rotwang!, I have been playing D&D for 17 years now and I have never sat at a table that didn't include at least one female gamer. I have even run games at different conventions across the U.S. and there were ladies there too. They really aren't that much of a rarity as far as I can tell.

Love this and any D&D list! I never had too many females in my crew of gamers but that's because all but two of us were the stereotypical nerds that repelled women.
When I got older and had a female team mate I was glad cuz the group was better for it. Women have a different perspective on things then guys and make awesome players.

While #1 and #10 display sharp insight into the D&D mind, the absence of Lolth (the Queen of the Demonweb Pits), Glasya (Princess of Hell), and Annah (the Tiefling thief from Planescape:Torment) is deeply disappointing.

But then, arguing over what should or shouldn't be in is kinda the point of having top 10 lists. So, nice job!

@Mike

Power Girl is only about a year younger than D&D. And yes, she had the boob window back then.

Hey, I play D&D and run my own campaign. How's that?

It's awesome.

Dude, I play and don't weigh like 300 pounds and if you saw me walking down the street you totally wouldn't guess it. I have a silver D20 pendant on a Tiffany chain and my dice are quartz. Who says you can't be hot and vogue and play D&D? Those who do can kiss my Dwarven Barbarian's axe!

Another reason why I love my girlfriend.

@ Steel
Though many female players like to play the pretty races they mostly struggle with finding armor that ISN'T sexy. I shouldn't have to equip a tabard and shirt on every toon because the armor is going to show belly, copious amounts of chest or coin slot. Its lame.

@ Khrys
I actually took a good friend to get her first dice- pink with sparkles and turquoise with sparkles. I play with purple dice.
I honestly think the best part of being a girl gamer is NO ONE can guess you are unless you're doing or wearing something outwardly nerdy.

My incredible hatred of Catti-Brie shall never be extinguished. I used to be a pretty huge fan of Salvatore until I realized that there wasn't really much new there. Shame to have lost the innocence rose glasses from my childhood about his stories.

Catti-Brie gets my ire though because as tough as she's claimed to be, when has she ever done anything useful? When has she done anything more than played the damsel in distress foil to Drizzt so he can look like the big man in the story? She is, without question, the single most useless figure in those books when Salvatore teases us by having other female characters that are actually worth a damn. It's almost painful.

@ CChaos
She was useful when she first found taulmaril heartseeker and peppered the shadow dragon with arrows in streams of silver and when drizzt got all suicidal and went down to mennzoberranzenan (spell check) she went down and saved his purple ass. Other then those 2 examples she is utterly useless. Plus she's a foil for Wulfgar too

@Steel:

We have a regular group for six, two of which are female (myself and another girl), and neither of us give a damn about the "sexy" of our characters. In one campaign, I play a dwarf with a notably low charisma, so the running gag of our group is how ugly my character is, to the point where she's described as some sort of ooze-dripping monster. In all cases, both myself and the other girl typically play the bruiser characters, saving the hapless men. :P

I do see your point about WoW, though. I guess the thing is, so much of DnD is left to your imagination, but if your character in WoW is a monstrous orc female, there ain't no getting away from that (Although a good helm does wonders).

There was a chick with a trident in the old companion rules drawn by Larry Elmore. I'll be in my bunk.

Holy crap, I'd forgotten all about both Dragon Magazine and Dixie! Used to have a subscription back in the day...

And no love for the succubus from the original Monster Manual?

@Raine: The publishers of D&D hve a free introduction to D&D adventure on their site. I've run it to people before and it's a good dungeon crawl (as in go into a dungeon and beat up monsters and evade traps). Here's the link: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/TryDnD.aspx

So the easiest would be to download it and gather up your friends to play.

I'm happy that my regular gaming group has three of #1 in the group, one of which being my girlfriend. :)

Thanks for all the suggestions about how to get into D&D!

I love the list, especially since Cattie-brie, my favorite character from the Forgotten realms is on it.

What?
How could you have ignored Ms. Frost from Chick's tract, Dark Dungeon? She was hotter than Loviatar or Ki. And not only a grown woman that played D&D (after the first few pages, anyway, when Dark Dungeons changed inexplicably to D&D), she DMed!

How many of the boys at her gaming table were hoping to one day roll a successful assault on her boudoir....

ALIAS! Oh, man. I thought I was the only one who read The Finder's Stone Trilogy. ;)

Jahira wasn't a bitch at all! She stuck to her convictions of not being evil...or good. Or lawful or chaotic.

She did talk a lot, but hey, so did Minsk.

I'm rather fond of the Weretiger from the 2nd edition MM, myself. I'd do angry things to that pussy.

Should have saved a slot for the redheaded fighter chick on the back cover of the module X1 - The Isle of Dread. She's about to stab some sort of sea serpent through the head while she's got little more than a Kleenex covering up her well-drawn derriere. What's not to love about that?

I have a particular fondness for Alias, but that may be because I have a signed, framed print I got from Clyde Caldwell himself at GenCon. There is a lot of detail that you can't see in the novel cover.

What about Jacqueline Renier from Ravenloft? I always found her terribly attractive (speaking as a woman).

@ Jason Thorn : THANK goodness :]
Yeah , TR where is the seduce you then rock your world till your legs break spiderQueen ?

or that slut of all sluts , Matron Banae *ok i cant spell her house name , but you know the one ... that bitch is tougher than nails * and her hips were amazing
gata love a healthy , drow dominatrix
XD

@tvtatsegood:

Yeah, I'll concede those two points, but pretty much, yes, completely useless after that point. The character was such a cardboard cutout that it was actually a little painful.

You would not believe the fan I was of Salvatore for such a long time though. I got into writing myself because of his stuff. Catti-Brie was always that...THING that hovered above everything else though that eventually made me realize that none of the other characters were really that good either. Kind of a sad day. Personally, I would love nothing more than to see Drizzt get gutted just so the series could end and readers could finally be rid of him.

That Dark Elf has done so much more damage than good during his existence.

D&D 4th Ed. Player's Handbook, pag. 258.

Huh. Looking at #1 - a real live female who plays... is it really that much of a rare thing?

When I was in high school, I made friends with someone who later decided that she and her brother needed to teach me how to play D&D (2nd edition, if you're curious). We ended up with a regular group of my friend (female!), her brother, me (female!), and my sister (also female!). Yes, that means the group was estrogen-heavy.

In not too horribly long, my sister started to play with some of her friends - while I don't know the details of her group, the regular DM was the (female!) cousin of her then-boyfriend.

My friend, her brother and I started playing more with some of his friends. That group was later expanded when two of his friends brought their girlfriends into the group (okay, that took a while, but still...)

Final results?

My sister ditched her then-boyfriend, kept the gaming group, and later married one of the other players.

I married my friend's brother. We have two children who are the next generation of nerdlings. We decided to teach them how to play (warning - if you have small children, keep a watchful eye on your dice. Not just as a choking hazard, but 4-siders make astonishingly effective caltrops on the floor in the middle of the night).

Both of my now-husband's friends are now married to the girlfriends that they brought into the gaming group. Though Cyberpunk 2.0 and Shadowrun 2nd edition went over better than D&D 2nd edition.

My friend married a horror movie fan (not gamer-geek, but still on the nerd/geek spectrum). Several of her friends also play, and have brought their husbands into the fold.

Given all of that, I find it hard to grasp the idea that there's such a scarcity of female gamers.

I'd have to agree with number 1 there and its ruined EVERYTHING for me as a player, honestly I'm on my second group of players and I may have to quit because the DM made his character and my character married with a kid in the future after most of our friends (including his girlfriend) died in some apocalyptic war. Does anyone have any advice on repelling nerds?

The #1 rule is so true. A D&D group I played with briefly, had a DM (that's Dungeon Master for the 3% of people on this site whom are not nerds)had a very hot wife who played with the group as well and knew the D&D rules inside out. I kept my dirty thoughts in check, until I heard her recite Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky poem completely from memory, which instantly caused me to gain a +6 pork sword of vitality.

I've always wanted to play DnD but the game looks so damn intimidating! I don't know anybody who plays DnD (or willing to admit it) to teach me or at least point me to a proper beginners guides.

@Soriah

I totally get what you mean, there are like a billion books with crazy rules and when there is math involved I am always kinda a retard. Thankfully I was lucky enough to have friends who have been playing it for 10+ years and were super patient. Hell, I've been playing for two years now and I still get stumped with some of the rules.

As for finding someone to teach you and play you can usually go to a local comic/gaming store and they'll have weekly sessions. You come across the problem that a lot are playing 4th edition (bleh), but some will be playing the new Pathfinder series. If you are looking for a good place to start Pathfinder is great and has a lot of really fun games that you can run with friends who are also new and you can learn together.

Also, it sounds silly, but D&D for Dummies is great and if you are a girl or don't mind reading from a girl's point of view pick up "The Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress". It follows a woman's introduction into the game and has a lot of really cool information that gives you a fun base way to look at the game. I gave it to my friend who was curious and she said it helped a lot. Anyway, good luck getting into the game and whatever you do don't take it seriously, being silly with it is way more fun.

Hey, it's a way for us shy but cute girls to interact with people. #1 is totally true. Although I always played gnomes and halflings, so I normally wasn't hit upon in character. Or out of character either. when I played in college my boyfriend at the time was usually the DM so, the other guys couldn't hit on me or he'd do something evil to them in game.

Oh, man -- that picture for #1? That's from "Dynamite" magazine, isn't it? I had that issue. It was instrumental in getting me involved in D&D. The nostalgia, it hurts me.

It's cool to have women in the group, definitely. I've also found that, while it's not too uncommon, it's still a nice change of pace.

I game almost exclusively online and, as such, after a good 18 years of D&D I've really grown tired of the nerdy guys who seem to obsess over the females in the game, particularly NPCs. I'm male and even I start to get embarrassed when I see these guys acting not far off of the 'I attack the darkness' level of 'player'. I know that not all guys who play are like that but I've been exposed to them so much they start to make me lapse into 'killer DM' mode which (while satisfying) just ends up causing more issues.

Some of the best groups I've had are mostly female groups because there seems to be more of a focus on the story than getting into anyone's pants. It was really great fun.

Now, if only I could find a damned game that lasts more than two weeks before collapsing...

@Soriah:

You can either purchase the D&D Roleplaying Starter Set (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/217120000) or download the Quick Start rules at: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/TryDnD.aspx

You can look up local gaming conventions since they will usually run games for people who have never roleplayed before. My friends and I run games for new people at our local convention, Cangames (www.cangames.ca). So we teach people how to play.

You can look for local college or university if they have a gaming club. Even a local hobby store that sells D&D might know where you can learn.

@ EricPaq and Krys

Thanks for the great tips guys! I'm going to spend most of my work hours looking up the info and calling up my favorite comic shops but it's worth it.

I had to laugh at #1. That was me many moons ago. I have now moved on from board games and dice to console and computer, but the principle remains the same....LOL...and yes, we usually do know the rules better ;)

I can honestly say, as a female gamer.. that there often seems to be few of us.. In fact, out of many groups adding up to 15 guys.. I can think of 2, one of which was me.. Shadowrun seems to be a bit more lady friendly.. as for revealing armor.. yeah, enough already.. or at least make sure the guys have to be just as selectively naked. That said, I'm proud to be #1 on this list!!!

You forgot Telerie Windyarm from SnarfQuest. She easily beats out the Bone Hill chick.

#5 - Don't forget Bast! Cat head or not....I mean, Blibdoolpoolp had a LOBSTER head...

Phil and Dixie - ah yes!

#7 - the chicks in the PS2 versions of Baldur's Gate were hotter...

Seriously guys I need some help with this game situation, I really like playing with my group but its honestly getting uncomfortable with the DM lusting after me, he outright admitted it to me and then I responded by admitting to him that being lusted after makes me REALLY uncomfortable and then he responded with the current in game awkwardness of his storyline being all: "if my girlfriend and all the possible male competition were dead and you were in a vulnerable emotional state I'd totally go for you and then we'd get married and have babies"
How do I make it stop?

@lazerpoweredlime: Find a new group. It's that simple.

I have to say #5 does it for me. It so captures the essence of a young mans mindset. When you look back on your earliest gaming days you remember them fondly and with a large dose of humor as well. Great top 10 list!

make the list 12 and add

Arilyn Moonblade, the troubled moon elf with the sword that is occupied by her ancestors and

Liriel Baenre, drow fighter/mage who left the underdark like Drizzt but with a different mentality than his 'do-gooder' attitude.

Speaking of #10, years after he quit Dragon magazine, Phil Foglio kept his promise, and published a number of X-rated comics with many characters that have strong resemblance of Phil and Dixie. They are called Xxxenophile.

that DM on the cover of #1 is the luckiest RPing SOB ever he not only found 2 girls to play but managed to have them be the ONLY players that kid is the geek macdaddy