(With no disrespect to the female members on this board . . . )

I know there is a lot of chatter about wives/girlfriends complaining about too much "geek stuff" around, too much shelf space occupied, too much money being spent and too much time online. Always it is a constant battle to reconcile the two and know when to bow to our "higher authority" and when to sneak downstairs after she has fallen asleep.

Is anyone's signficant other actually onboard with the D&D/RPG'S? Is anyone here lucky enough to have a wife you takes an interest in your purchases or wants to spend an evening gaming?

Blackmoor's wife does an awesome job painting minis, so I think she must have some interest (maybe a lot?).

The only time my wife shows a glimmer of interest is when I say something like . . . "See this book that I just picked up for $2.99 at the used book store? It's called Kithbook Pooka and I just sold it to someone for $100!"

I tell her I am going to trick her into playing someday by getting the our children involved and then she will feel obligated to play (of course, I am mostly just joking . . . if she actually took me up on that, I think I would be the one regretting it!!!!)

well my girlfriend, despite her moaning about how much i spend or how much time i spend on D&D, she actually likes it.

i am currently DM'ing a game in which she and my daughter (who is 14) is playing. the other daughter (who is 6) wants to play too, but doesnt quite grasp it all yet. g/f is playing a cleric and daugher is playing a ranger (we play 1E)....(when i play, i have a mountain dwarf fighter) - they did B4 and are now in the middle of B2. they seem to be having lots of fun and are picking the game up rather well.

hoping to get my mate keith over, so he can DM and we can then continue the saltmarsh series (we have just finished U1 - have i ever said what a fantastic module that is?)...

but yes, she does like the game, but doesnt like the detail i tend to go into sometimes. eg. explaining to her how to apply bonuses to hit and saving throws / what infravision-ultravision is etc

while this is going on, my daughter has taken an unhealthy interest in orcs, who were chopping down trees for lumber, from a wood she has started to frequent and has built a little cabin in.... she's getting pretty damn clever with them traps, let me tell you! grimtooth's traps hasnt got a thing on her believe me

Telling you my personal experience.

I have tried many times the concept to my different girlfriends and my wife, and also to other women in general - girlfriends/wives/friends - and that's what I learnt from.

It's pretty difficult to find someone genuinely interested in RPGs. The most of them play because it's a way to share something their significant other does - a fact that greatly detriments their enjoyment of the adventures and provides an element of distraction to the whole group.
The most recent case is the ex-gf of one of my players, who had a character too, and was more interested in the pets of the house, in rattling dice and building towers with them, on scribbling on the character sheet and so on; in play she did the most absurd things withour remorse, often putting the group in dire straits.
When they split up, she didn't came anymore (of course) - and I can say no one in this group was THIS sorry. The fact is that she likes to paint miniatures instead - and is quite good too at it.

One of my ex girlfriends instead was very, genuinely happy to play - and she enjoyed the game very much with all her friends and we played one day a week until we split up. I don't know if this counts, but she worked with kids for a living.

The best solution generally is to have someone with whom you're friend with - and have no sentimental quibbles about. In this way, she plays for fun and nothing else, and doesn't feel obligated to play because you do.

in fact of all the cool D&D stuff that i have, the only item my girlfriend REALLY likes, is the Judges Guild module "Rat on a Stick" for Tunnels & Trolls.... for some reason she loves that item dearly. so she has a collection of 1 and thats it

My wife began playing shortly before we got maried.  She is a gamer through and through (tabletop rpgs, MMORPGs, computer games, Risk, minigames like Hackers and Zombies!!! you name it, she'll play it).  She however is NOT a collector.

Well thats only half true, she does collect things....medical devices...which are far more costly and difficult to get these days than an ST1 (some are actually illegal to own if you are not liscenced).  She really does not understand my collecting that much, to her having one "white box" is enough, even after I explain the difference between 4th and 6th prints she can't see wanting both (which is why I don't have a 4th print atm).

So when I have enough funds gathered I will attempt to buy her her new object of desire (an ultrasound) and afterwards I think I will have free reign to buy anything I want in regards to oD&D (despite the fact I won't have the funds).

~jeff

My wife and I play D&D every weekend and go together to game shows like Gencon and games days to play games.  She is very involved and a big fan of gaming.  She also doesn't mind that I spend $300 - $ 500 every month on games and miniatures, it is just what we do.

My freinds are very envious sometimes

Tangental reply . . . . I don't play D&D anymore, but my wife is incredibly tolerant of the art infestation in our house. We were actually married for almost a year before we had a bed, because every time we decided we'd had enough of sleeping on the floor of our apartment on eggcrate foam, a painting would turn up and I'd buy that instead. That she didn't a) divorce me or b) slaughter me in my sleep is still an item of no small amazement to me . . . .

She has even accepted the fact that she cannot own any furniture which rises more than 3 1/2 feet off the ground - can't be wasting precious wall space on useless things like china cabinets, etc. (I built custom bookshelves upstairs to fit books into places where there wasn't room for art.)

She DID look at me a little strangely when I informed her that I was removing the door to the bedroom, since I wanted to hang a large Jon Foster oil on the wall behind the open door, but she acquiesced good-naturedly.


Pat

I've convinced my wife to try, largely on the basis of the fact that a friend of hers (a fellow gamer's wife) is also trying.  It's real touch and go.  Each time she plays, she seems to have fun, but then says she's not sure whether she'll play again...but then she'll play the next time.  Sort of like Dread Pirate Roberts' "Good night I'll probably kill you in the morning."

I keep hoping she'll find that magic sword or kill that baddie or whatever it will take to set the hook.

We had a solo girl play in one of are sessions once!  She was very overweight, obnoxious and not invited back for another session.

On a nicer note we used to have 3 girls in our group, now it is down to only one and that is my wife.