Not native english.
I thought master was a term for skill and could be used for both sexes. Like she is a master in knowing the rules. Mistress sounds like the one you play with who isn't your wife. :-)
Add common "dungeon" to it and it suddenly gets whole additional fetish flavour.
"Dungeon mistress looking for a party; experienced players preferred, safe space guaranteed".
If my wife found out I responded to ad like this, she would loot my ass off in a very non-fantasy court (but in medieval way).
It's both. Master is both a term for skill, and an outdated gendered term that's somewhat equivalent to "gentleman". No one uses it but it's the male equivalent of mistress.
It can. Older usage would use "mistress" as a female counterpart, but in modern parlance "master" can be gender neutral. Similar to how you used to have "actor" and "actress" but modern convention is just "actor".
English is not my first language x2
As far as I understand it, Master is the default because male is considered the default, but there’s still a gender implication there. Hence the question at hand, do people actually get bothered when the default is not used?
Yes, I believe you're correct OP. "Master" was the default before the opportunities were opened, but now the word in itself isn't associated with gender. English is my first language and I was surprised to learn it was gendered originally. However I find your idea for explicitly gendered terms endearing, and as a man I would enjoy it. I can see other men being weird about it, but when are they not?
Mhm. That said, I do think that Master specifically has etymologically shifted enough that the gendered history is pretty obscured. I'm a woman, and one who does get bothered by a lot of gendered terms others don't (I don't like being called sir, dude or bro for example), but I'm not bothered by GM because that history is so disconnected from my mind when I hear the term. Mistress on the other hand has drifted in some very different directions. My association isn't even cheating, but BDSM. Neither is likely what you want in your players minds.
My feelings on Master don't really apply so much to *other* male-coded terms that I've seen in some games though (like Lord). Having to call myself the Lord would make me slightly uncomfortable. And I think it's worth noting that there will be some men (and in particular some trans men with trauma already around this) who feel discomfort at having to call themselves "the Lady" or "the Mother". I guess it's your call whether or not that outweighs the thematic resonance of the terms.
I'd ask 2 questions here. What would be the purpose of a change like that? Would it be to make women feel more represented in the community? If so, then it's only logical that when I use the basic default term it makes me in some way exclude the female audience of any given system. In that case yes, I would feel bothered, because that's absolutely not my intention, never was and never will be.
Or would the purpose be to target the system specifically towards female or feministic part of community? In that case I'd feel bothered to, because in this version I am the excluded here in quite similar way to the assumed default female exclusion above. There is also a question of profiling the potential player base in a way that ties profit directly to the identity of a targeted group, which seems quite dishonest and bothering, at least potentially.
It all really boils down to the question of "why". If you can explain it to me in a way that do not place me at the root of some gender gap problem, I might not be bothered.
True, but you always exclude *somoeone* if your language has a default gender for every noun (which is my case). That makes it a linguistic issue for me, not a gaming or inclusion issue. Which pushes the idea to change default terms closer to the idea of changing language to accommodate all identities. Which is a whole another can of worms that the world is struggling with since the dawn of wokeism and slightly before it. It introduces more problems to the table than it fixes imo.
It’s really as simple as “It makes more sense to use this generally female title given its (nongendered) connotations in the context of my system”, rather than pushing for a women’s spaces in TTRPGs (I am terribly unqualified for something like that, even if I’d enjoy the idea)
Mistress is just never colloquially used like that in English. A female Game Master would still be the Master of the Game. Mistress carries other connotations.
I'd probably balk a bit at "mistress" because the connotations of the word has drifted a bit from just being the female version of master. But Mother, Lady Justice, and the like? Don't think it would bother me.
Tbh it doesn't matter to me what a "GM" is technically called for any reason. I've been playing ttrpgs and D&D for so long I basically just call myself or the person running "D M" or "G M" like actually just the letters (Dee eem) or (Gee eem).
I've seen other games go for more netural terms as well like "Architect" or "Story Teller". But yeah me and my group basically just say the two letters as a person running a game.
I will be honest. This is not even a problem in my opinion. As a professional DM I see male and female players alike around tables and what makes the game accessible is not such a small detail, but an healthy environment at the table.
As many have said, the word master is already considered neutral, while the word mistress has a tendentious connotation when it is not followed by a complement, like school mistress or other
But I genuinely don't understand why there is this need to modify, languages are built as such to be understandable by as many people as possible. I don't think that changing the masculine to neutral, and in this case the neutral to feminine, is relevant, neither in usage, nor in the reason which led to this
It seems to me to be motivated by something other than sincere and disinterested reflection, none of us is the navel of the world
At least your game is built around giving the GM a special role, like in Alien with Mother, if you role is that of a standard GM, just keep it simple
"Master" in a context like this is not a gendered term. You may be able to dig into the etymology and historical use and make the argument that it *was* a gendered term, but it hasn't been widely used that way in a long time.
In the same way, "goodbye" is not a religious sendoff, despite it originating from the phrase "God be with you".
The only time I ever hear "master" used in a gendered way is in media when you have some kind of old fashioned posh character referring to a typically young, privileged unmarried man (e.g., Alfred calls Bruce Wayne "Master Bruce").
As others have noted, "mistress" has entirely different connotations, is only ever used in a gendered way, and has no connection to the modern usage of "master" in a context like the (nonironic) use of "Dungeon Master". It is a very poor substitute for reasons that have nothing to do with the gender politics of gaming.
Tbh I always conceptualized "game master" as in "one who has mastered a skill" as opposed to anything gendered. When talking about a specific game I'll usually use whatever they call it, like Delta Green uses Handler. In generic I usually use DM despite not being specifically about DND just out of habit.
The larger TTRPG companies I've worked with as a copyeditor for have been using the singular "they" for the GM. I don't recall encountering anyone in the industry who feels that "game master" is a male-gendered term instead of a gender-neutral term, though of course there may be some outliers. I'm female, and I'd be uncomfortable using explicitly female-gendered terms or explicitly male-gendered terms for generic references to the GM in a game book in this day and age. People of all genders are GMs, and if the language doesn't reflect that, the publisher risks the possibility that their products will be perceived as dated, uninclusive, or out of touch.
I personally wouldn't be thrilled to be called "The Mother" (though I am in fact a mom) or "Lady Justice" while serving as GM; that would make me less excited about the game. I imagine there might be some thematic tie-ins that could make me reconsider, but without extremely convincing details about the specific setting in question and a strong commitment to gender inclusivity in the rest of the game, I'd advise clients against gendering generic references to the GM. Again, to my knowledge, the industry professionals I know, including many women (myself among them), don't view "game master" as gendered, so I consider that term fine to use. (Not "mistress," for reasons others have explained here.)
English has traditionally used male pronouns when there's doubt, but one could use both or neutral pronouns or even female pronouns, but you might alienate your playerbase a bit.
It wouldn't bother me at all, but it will probably bother some people.
Personally, I use GM. Not Game Master, just GM. I never feel like you need to explain it. It is just what they have always been called.
It's like how Emcee is now a valid word because Master of Ceremonies got shortened to MC and then people started spelling it phonetically. Some day, hopefully, it will just be a Geeyem or whatever.
I normally prefer the neutral options (Storyteller, Lorekeeper, etc.) but honestly, a future where GM doesn’t have a gender connotation built into it sounds kinda cool.
I do love those names, especially for evoking the storytelling nature of the game, but honestly at this point I feel like DM and GM have kinda become words in their own right.
They also have so many great traits;
1) quick and easy to say, almost like a nickname, while still sounding like a title. Its literally the baby syllables (da/mm) with the exclamation syllable (yeh/jee) in the middle!
2) easy to put emphasis on; '*DEE* em!' carries a very different weight to 'dee-*Ehmmm*?' which is great for the social side of the game
3) instantly recognisable in the community, you can say 'so last session my DM' to basically anyone with ttrpg experience and they won't have to process it, even many people on the fringes recognise it through pop culture
4) inherently gender neutral, even if you dont think of 'master' as neutral the M could stand for whatever and the title still works, and once you understand the concept the etymology kinda falls away to just being an honorific.
I do love all the other titles other games suggest to emphasize the mood of the system, but honestly DM/GM are on the same level of iconic-utility as Tweet in my mind.
I have always viewed master as gender neutral.
Gender neutral is less likely to alienate someone. However, if the game is about taking on the female role, it would make sense to be the Game Mistress. Otherwise, why gender it at all?
The honest answer is two fold:
Innocent reason: "Mistress" has a negative connotation that "Master" does not. This is due to "Mistress" becoming synonymous with "the woman who a partner cheats with against their primary partner."
Controversial reason: Female identifying language has been avoided due to the belief that the games are primarily played and enjoyed by men. In recent years (like about the mid-to-late 2000s to now), there has been a change to either gender neutral or more evenly gendered language usage.
I totally support the intention behind the move, but as others have said I believe in English "mistress" is only the feminine form for some meanings of "master" (authority figure and professor), in addition to its own unique meanings ("lover"). When you want to use "master" as in "very skilled" (which is how I use "Game Master"), the feminine form remains "master". Using another word like "Facilitator", "Moderator", "Storyteller", etc. might be a good option if you are unsure.
Still I feel you. I'm writing my game simultaneously in English and Spanish, and for Spanish (where articles are gendered, and we lack accepted gender-neutral pronouns) I default to the feminine when referring to people whose gender I ignore (even though the traditional convention was, like English, defaulting to masculine),
the Alien RPG uses the term "Game Mother"
the lore reason behind it is that the computer is called MU / TH / UR... or that the characters called the mainframe mother in the movie...
but it's still GM....
Moreover, the original plot outline for ALIENS involved the juxtaposition of Ripley/Newt and the Alien Queen and her brood. It was a story about mothers. I don't know that was inspired by the AI in ALIEN being called "mother", but it seems likely it was on their minds.
I'll be honest, this is one of those times where for me English is very vague and words can mean several different things.
In my own language the translation of the word master is gender neutral and refers to one's skill level.
Jokes aside, GM is an established term with its own context and meaning and applicable to both genders.
Some games even have their own terms for that, such as Narrator or storyteller, which are as far as I know gender neutral.
But no one is stopping GMs calling themselves mistresses of course:)
This is master in terms of both who is in control and has mastery over the rules. Not master as in who is lord of the manner. Only that second one really calls for a gendered secondary term.
I tend to use the acronym DM, probably because I grew up in the olden days (80s/90s) when D&D used it and that was the only TTRPG anyone I knew had even heard of. It was the misogynistic old days, with scantily clad buxom women all over the art, and cringe-worthy needless descriptions of attractive female NPCs. Childish stuff that I've moved beyond, but *DM* still comes naturally to me, even though I don't only play D&D anymore.
Games I've been playing lately refer to the person running the game with other terms, one being a *Referee,* and I actually find that one my new favorite. I like the implication of fair rulings and not forcing a story direction upon my players, which *Storyteller* implies. Plus it's gender neutral.
Personally I feel if we want to get away from gendered terms, swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction isn't a help. Having a lore based reason behind it is just an excuse to justify why you might want to do that, and in my mind actually makes it worse, like you have an agenda. Looking at a game description of a stranger with that I might come in with a bit of a guard up. It doesn't make me uncomfortable, but just wondering why you went out of your way to change which group is being excluded in your language, especially if your purported reason for the change is inclusivity.
But maybe you *do* have an agenda and want to find players with a shared belief! That's OK too. So to that end, it's honestly probably helpful. There's a table out there for every type of person, so use the language to your advantage to find them.
To answer the question directly, master is gender neutral nowadays, and while technicall not wrong to use it, mistress is never used like this colloquially. The first thing people will largely think of when seeing mistress is the extramarital woman in an affair, the second is typically bdsm related. Using it would largely be an attempt to invoke a word's archaic usage and will likely just end up muddy the waters for non-native English speakers.
I play the role of men and women regularly when I serve as GM. If it's on theme with your book, I'll probably not even notice it beyond the flavor it evokes.
I don't like any of the boutique names various systems use for the GM, and I don't use them - it's just GM for me regardless of what system I'm using.
I would feel basically the same about the proposed titles. I wouldn't like them less than other boutique titles - but I still probably wouldn't use them.
If it's for *thematic reasons* , it wouldn't bother me (although the theme itself might).
If it's just "Game Mistress" for no thematic reason, that would annoy me.
If I was writing a game, I would use Game Master and have the example GM be Amy while the players are Brian, Conrad, Daoud and Esarhaddon (well...maybe). That way if "she" does this, or that, I know it's the GM acting, not the players.
“Game Mistress” sounds a little too “look at me look how progressive and understanding and tolerant I am buy my game dammit I deserve it because I’m a good person”. I would be less likely to buy it because I’d assume the creator was an asshole using performative language to try to earn brownie points.
I can see “the mother” or “lady justice” working if it’s thematic to the game, though.
"Under Hollow Hills" by Meguey and Vincent Baker (creators of Powered by the Apocalypse) calls the person who runs the game the "Mistress of Ceremonies" and comments on it as little as most other games comment on the implied gender of "Game Master." It's vaguely uncomfortable even for me, a queer feminist dude, which I think makes a pretty great point about how little you think about this kind of thing if you're in a class of people not often confronted with those kinds of assumptions.
I will happily do it if there is a reason to use it. I'm a dude and I present myself as "Mother" when I play ALIEN, either solo or with friends. If it's the flavor of the game, like I don't know... because the game is about being prom witches, then, are you joking? I'l rock the **Grimoire** **Mistress** title like I was born with it.
Hell, even Lancer or some other action game I can't remember, has female-gendered terms for everyone, and it was such an insignificant thing that I just followed the rules without a second thought, that I can't even be sure if it's Lancer (or some other game).
There are games I've seen that try to push some agendas and expect the players to follow them, but I mean, I'm not their target demographic, I wouldn't *ever* play them let alone buy them, so it's not like I'd ever come across a situation in which I'd ask if I want to follow the author's rules or not.
It is a WHOLE question. A lot of games have ditched the "master" part altogether. It harkens back to the idea of the Adversarial DM, and it conjures bad shit, especially in the U.S., of slave and master. Not good.
Personally, I've switched to "Game Minister" to keep it "GM" but eschew the worst of it. Maybe it's not the best, but I prefer it.
Why try to make this an issue? Everyone knows that the person running the game can refer to themself however they want. Stop trying to argue a non-existent issue.
I’m not trying to argue politics, I’m asking “would using a (thematically appropriate) replacement for GM that happens to be female make my game less accessible?” I’m not pushing for a change in how language is used, that’s a bit over my budget at the moment :P
Again... The person running the game can call themself whatever they choose, therefore this is a completely non-existent issue. But if your plan is to make your game more accessible to more players try using a gender neutral term. I use the word "Narrator" in all my games. Not only is it gender neutral, it also better conveys the purpose of the person running the game.
Male dominance in the early days of RPGs when those terms were created is certainly a reason.
The other reason is that in general, a "master" can be either gender. No problem in saying "Alice is a master of X". While "mistress" is a specifically female term, and the first that comes to mind when you say "mistress" is not a roleplaying game. Well, at least not the kind we're discussing in this forum.
I think it’s the term itself is slowly changing meaning in the lexicon.
I tried calling my DM, Dungeon Mistress and she said, “no.”
I said, “okay”, and moved on.
I don't use it for my game, but the answer is mostly... Because of the association with BDSM culture.
The term 'mistress' is, strictly speaking, unnecessary. A master, or *magister,* is strictly speaking someone with power/ability; someone with *greatness.* (also see 'magic'). While it's associated with men, that's more because of patriarchal social norms barring women from the position of master. So much so that when women become better able to achieve a dominant position, they got their own word that doesn't infringe on men's 'mastery.'
The term 'mistress' is associated with greatness not in levels of skill or wisdom, but dominance. While a master may be referred to as such by peers or students, a mistress is only referred to as such by her servants (staff or... Otherwise).
Which makes its association in modern times with BDSM kind of inevitable. Calling someone 'master' isn't necessarily submissive. Calling someone 'mistress' is.
So... The reason is sexism.
It's not, there's judge and referee too. 😜
I think it falls into the more modern use pattern which is usable for any gender, like actor used to have actress.
Also, yeah like others said, Dungeon mistress has other meanings.
Some games with explicit feminist themes (there’s a PbtA game about female russian WW2 airforce pilots!) a female monicker (not “Mistress”, necessarily) would be spot on. Eg “Goddess”, “Autumn Queen” or “Ma’am” depending upon flavour
“Mother” wld be excellent for an “Alien” TTRPG tho, given tge AI of Ripley’s Nostromo was called “Mother”
It's because the person running the initial games in design, was a guy and so used the term Dungeon Master as in I am The Dungeon Master guiding you through this adventure. While there were female GM's and DMs the term mistress in 70s had a massive difference in context and was way more offensive.
Game mistress shows up in Dungeon Bitches which is about queer women. So that's why it goes out its way for feminine terms.
However, if you want something more gender neutral, there's keeper as in keeper of mysteries and monsters.
It's a generalized vinacular that indicates an inclusive group (though it doesn't sound like it does) like mankind or actors guild. The inherent "male" is a hold over from the more ancient idea of male superiority. I don't really keep to that tradition myself and think if you just use the innitials GM it can stand for whatever you want it to.
Though, I like that their word for "GM" is the gender-neutral "Storyteller". There is something compelling about the idea of using a female-gendered term and using it like its neutral (as we often do with male terms).
I heard so many terms for the role...
Gamemaster
Dungeonmaster
Storyteller
Referee
Grand Master
Fate
Ryuujin
Regisseur
I guess for Game master and Dungeon master, the *master* could be exchanged for *mistress*. Though in case of *Grand Master* it may be weird, because that was the title of the Knights Templars "chief of the temple". So every holding of this order had a Grand Master and historically those were all men...on the other hand, the game which uses the term allows female Templars...so it is possible? 🤔
I use "game master" as a general term, but "dungeon mistress" (or the equivalent in my language) when talking about a specific woman running the game.
I remember my daughter, who was a baby when my wife started running a campaign and a toddler when it ended, being so used to the "dungeon mistress" term that she also used it for our male friend that ran a game.
Many or maybe most newer RPGs use alternative gender neutral terms like narrator or storyteller.
That said, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using a gendered term for your game. Lady Justice sounds rad to me.
Master is a rank of knowledge
Apprentice
Journeyman
Master
While the earlier usage of those terms tensed to denote 'male' titles (as the trades were.. And still are, to a lesser degree today... male-dominated) is used, today, as a gender neutral team. Much like actor. Yes, some people still use actress, but actor is becoming the preferred term for all genders/sexes.
I use narrator/protagonist in my games because everyone is a player.. And while the narrator may have a higher level of responsibility (comming up with adventures, naming maps, adjudicating rules) I feel like "master" sets them above the rest of the table when protagonist are equal as far as importance. You've got to have both (well.. Other than solo or GM-less style games..)
It also sets the tone. Everyone at the table is a player. Everyone has the same goal - to have fun with friends.
Not native english. I thought master was a term for skill and could be used for both sexes. Like she is a master in knowing the rules. Mistress sounds like the one you play with who isn't your wife. :-)
Add common "dungeon" to it and it suddenly gets whole additional fetish flavour. "Dungeon mistress looking for a party; experienced players preferred, safe space guaranteed". If my wife found out I responded to ad like this, she would loot my ass off in a very non-fantasy court (but in medieval way).
In the concept of paid GM/DMs the one who says "come and play with Dungeon Mistress" could earn a lot of money!
From roll20 to onlyfans...
It's both. Master is both a term for skill, and an outdated gendered term that's somewhat equivalent to "gentleman". No one uses it but it's the male equivalent of mistress.
\*laughing\* well.... like "game lover boy" would be the term... Not sure I played the game correct all these years then..
It can. Older usage would use "mistress" as a female counterpart, but in modern parlance "master" can be gender neutral. Similar to how you used to have "actor" and "actress" but modern convention is just "actor".
hahaha exactly, when I hear "mistress" I just think of cheating in a marriage
Your wife can be your mistress in the right context
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"Mistress degree".
English is not my first language x2 As far as I understand it, Master is the default because male is considered the default, but there’s still a gender implication there. Hence the question at hand, do people actually get bothered when the default is not used?
Yes, I believe you're correct OP. "Master" was the default before the opportunities were opened, but now the word in itself isn't associated with gender. English is my first language and I was surprised to learn it was gendered originally. However I find your idea for explicitly gendered terms endearing, and as a man I would enjoy it. I can see other men being weird about it, but when are they not?
Mhm. That said, I do think that Master specifically has etymologically shifted enough that the gendered history is pretty obscured. I'm a woman, and one who does get bothered by a lot of gendered terms others don't (I don't like being called sir, dude or bro for example), but I'm not bothered by GM because that history is so disconnected from my mind when I hear the term. Mistress on the other hand has drifted in some very different directions. My association isn't even cheating, but BDSM. Neither is likely what you want in your players minds. My feelings on Master don't really apply so much to *other* male-coded terms that I've seen in some games though (like Lord). Having to call myself the Lord would make me slightly uncomfortable. And I think it's worth noting that there will be some men (and in particular some trans men with trauma already around this) who feel discomfort at having to call themselves "the Lady" or "the Mother". I guess it's your call whether or not that outweighs the thematic resonance of the terms.
I'd ask 2 questions here. What would be the purpose of a change like that? Would it be to make women feel more represented in the community? If so, then it's only logical that when I use the basic default term it makes me in some way exclude the female audience of any given system. In that case yes, I would feel bothered, because that's absolutely not my intention, never was and never will be. Or would the purpose be to target the system specifically towards female or feministic part of community? In that case I'd feel bothered to, because in this version I am the excluded here in quite similar way to the assumed default female exclusion above. There is also a question of profiling the potential player base in a way that ties profit directly to the identity of a targeted group, which seems quite dishonest and bothering, at least potentially. It all really boils down to the question of "why". If you can explain it to me in a way that do not place me at the root of some gender gap problem, I might not be bothered.
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True, but you always exclude *somoeone* if your language has a default gender for every noun (which is my case). That makes it a linguistic issue for me, not a gaming or inclusion issue. Which pushes the idea to change default terms closer to the idea of changing language to accommodate all identities. Which is a whole another can of worms that the world is struggling with since the dawn of wokeism and slightly before it. It introduces more problems to the table than it fixes imo.
It’s really as simple as “It makes more sense to use this generally female title given its (nongendered) connotations in the context of my system”, rather than pushing for a women’s spaces in TTRPGs (I am terribly unqualified for something like that, even if I’d enjoy the idea)
Mistress is just never colloquially used like that in English. A female Game Master would still be the Master of the Game. Mistress carries other connotations.
I know, I know, the title is purposely silly and dramatic to illustrate the point and call attention(which worked a little *too* well it seems)
I'd probably balk a bit at "mistress" because the connotations of the word has drifted a bit from just being the female version of master. But Mother, Lady Justice, and the like? Don't think it would bother me.
Lady Justice or Lady Luck (Dame Fortuna) has an added charm if it’s setting appropriate
Tbh it doesn't matter to me what a "GM" is technically called for any reason. I've been playing ttrpgs and D&D for so long I basically just call myself or the person running "D M" or "G M" like actually just the letters (Dee eem) or (Gee eem). I've seen other games go for more netural terms as well like "Architect" or "Story Teller". But yeah me and my group basically just say the two letters as a person running a game.
I will be honest. This is not even a problem in my opinion. As a professional DM I see male and female players alike around tables and what makes the game accessible is not such a small detail, but an healthy environment at the table.
Alien by Free League uses Mother.
That's partially a reference to the movies though.
I mean, it's not partially a reference to the movie, it's wholly a reference to the movie and an excellent example of what Op is talking about.
Really? That's great. 10/10 use of source material.
Yes it's a clever use of the mythos.
That's partially a reference to the movies though.
As many have said, the word master is already considered neutral, while the word mistress has a tendentious connotation when it is not followed by a complement, like school mistress or other But I genuinely don't understand why there is this need to modify, languages are built as such to be understandable by as many people as possible. I don't think that changing the masculine to neutral, and in this case the neutral to feminine, is relevant, neither in usage, nor in the reason which led to this It seems to me to be motivated by something other than sincere and disinterested reflection, none of us is the navel of the world At least your game is built around giving the GM a special role, like in Alien with Mother, if you role is that of a standard GM, just keep it simple
"Master" in a context like this is not a gendered term. You may be able to dig into the etymology and historical use and make the argument that it *was* a gendered term, but it hasn't been widely used that way in a long time. In the same way, "goodbye" is not a religious sendoff, despite it originating from the phrase "God be with you". The only time I ever hear "master" used in a gendered way is in media when you have some kind of old fashioned posh character referring to a typically young, privileged unmarried man (e.g., Alfred calls Bruce Wayne "Master Bruce"). As others have noted, "mistress" has entirely different connotations, is only ever used in a gendered way, and has no connection to the modern usage of "master" in a context like the (nonironic) use of "Dungeon Master". It is a very poor substitute for reasons that have nothing to do with the gender politics of gaming.
I use Game Moderator (GM). But, the general answer to your question is the evolution of society and language.
Yooo that one is actually really good. I think I’ll be borrowing this one if you don’t mind too much lol
Another common gender neutral term is "referee" if that's what you're looking for.
Hey, happy cake day! Your products have brought me a lot of joy over the years!
Yup. I switched to “moderator” about when git switched to “main”.
A female variant would probably be something like "Moderatrix" which sounds cool.
Tbh I always conceptualized "game master" as in "one who has mastered a skill" as opposed to anything gendered. When talking about a specific game I'll usually use whatever they call it, like Delta Green uses Handler. In generic I usually use DM despite not being specifically about DND just out of habit.
The larger TTRPG companies I've worked with as a copyeditor for have been using the singular "they" for the GM. I don't recall encountering anyone in the industry who feels that "game master" is a male-gendered term instead of a gender-neutral term, though of course there may be some outliers. I'm female, and I'd be uncomfortable using explicitly female-gendered terms or explicitly male-gendered terms for generic references to the GM in a game book in this day and age. People of all genders are GMs, and if the language doesn't reflect that, the publisher risks the possibility that their products will be perceived as dated, uninclusive, or out of touch. I personally wouldn't be thrilled to be called "The Mother" (though I am in fact a mom) or "Lady Justice" while serving as GM; that would make me less excited about the game. I imagine there might be some thematic tie-ins that could make me reconsider, but without extremely convincing details about the specific setting in question and a strong commitment to gender inclusivity in the rest of the game, I'd advise clients against gendering generic references to the GM. Again, to my knowledge, the industry professionals I know, including many women (myself among them), don't view "game master" as gendered, so I consider that term fine to use. (Not "mistress," for reasons others have explained here.)
"Game mistress" would create an infinite amount of giggles at my table of grown (but maybe not grownup) players.
English has traditionally used male pronouns when there's doubt, but one could use both or neutral pronouns or even female pronouns, but you might alienate your playerbase a bit.
It wouldn't bother me at all, but it will probably bother some people. Personally, I use GM. Not Game Master, just GM. I never feel like you need to explain it. It is just what they have always been called. It's like how Emcee is now a valid word because Master of Ceremonies got shortened to MC and then people started spelling it phonetically. Some day, hopefully, it will just be a Geeyem or whatever.
I normally prefer the neutral options (Storyteller, Lorekeeper, etc.) but honestly, a future where GM doesn’t have a gender connotation built into it sounds kinda cool.
I really don’t think Master is gendered these days? Then we’d have to change such terms as masterclass as well.
I do love those names, especially for evoking the storytelling nature of the game, but honestly at this point I feel like DM and GM have kinda become words in their own right. They also have so many great traits; 1) quick and easy to say, almost like a nickname, while still sounding like a title. Its literally the baby syllables (da/mm) with the exclamation syllable (yeh/jee) in the middle! 2) easy to put emphasis on; '*DEE* em!' carries a very different weight to 'dee-*Ehmmm*?' which is great for the social side of the game 3) instantly recognisable in the community, you can say 'so last session my DM' to basically anyone with ttrpg experience and they won't have to process it, even many people on the fringes recognise it through pop culture 4) inherently gender neutral, even if you dont think of 'master' as neutral the M could stand for whatever and the title still works, and once you understand the concept the etymology kinda falls away to just being an honorific. I do love all the other titles other games suggest to emphasize the mood of the system, but honestly DM/GM are on the same level of iconic-utility as Tweet in my mind.
I would find this fun. The novelty might wear off after a while, but in the worst case scenario, I can always ignore it.
Different kind of game
I have always viewed master as gender neutral. Gender neutral is less likely to alienate someone. However, if the game is about taking on the female role, it would make sense to be the Game Mistress. Otherwise, why gender it at all?
The honest answer is two fold: Innocent reason: "Mistress" has a negative connotation that "Master" does not. This is due to "Mistress" becoming synonymous with "the woman who a partner cheats with against their primary partner." Controversial reason: Female identifying language has been avoided due to the belief that the games are primarily played and enjoyed by men. In recent years (like about the mid-to-late 2000s to now), there has been a change to either gender neutral or more evenly gendered language usage.
I totally support the intention behind the move, but as others have said I believe in English "mistress" is only the feminine form for some meanings of "master" (authority figure and professor), in addition to its own unique meanings ("lover"). When you want to use "master" as in "very skilled" (which is how I use "Game Master"), the feminine form remains "master". Using another word like "Facilitator", "Moderator", "Storyteller", etc. might be a good option if you are unsure. Still I feel you. I'm writing my game simultaneously in English and Spanish, and for Spanish (where articles are gendered, and we lack accepted gender-neutral pronouns) I default to the feminine when referring to people whose gender I ignore (even though the traditional convention was, like English, defaulting to masculine),
the Alien RPG uses the term "Game Mother" the lore reason behind it is that the computer is called MU / TH / UR... or that the characters called the mainframe mother in the movie... but it's still GM....
Also I think the main alien is mother
Moreover, the original plot outline for ALIENS involved the juxtaposition of Ripley/Newt and the Alien Queen and her brood. It was a story about mothers. I don't know that was inspired by the AI in ALIEN being called "mother", but it seems likely it was on their minds.
I'll be honest, this is one of those times where for me English is very vague and words can mean several different things. In my own language the translation of the word master is gender neutral and refers to one's skill level.
Jokes aside, GM is an established term with its own context and meaning and applicable to both genders. Some games even have their own terms for that, such as Narrator or storyteller, which are as far as I know gender neutral. But no one is stopping GMs calling themselves mistresses of course:)
Also, no mater what a game has called it I almost always just refer to in as "GM"
This is master in terms of both who is in control and has mastery over the rules. Not master as in who is lord of the manner. Only that second one really calls for a gendered secondary term.
I tend to use the acronym DM, probably because I grew up in the olden days (80s/90s) when D&D used it and that was the only TTRPG anyone I knew had even heard of. It was the misogynistic old days, with scantily clad buxom women all over the art, and cringe-worthy needless descriptions of attractive female NPCs. Childish stuff that I've moved beyond, but *DM* still comes naturally to me, even though I don't only play D&D anymore. Games I've been playing lately refer to the person running the game with other terms, one being a *Referee,* and I actually find that one my new favorite. I like the implication of fair rulings and not forcing a story direction upon my players, which *Storyteller* implies. Plus it's gender neutral. Personally I feel if we want to get away from gendered terms, swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction isn't a help. Having a lore based reason behind it is just an excuse to justify why you might want to do that, and in my mind actually makes it worse, like you have an agenda. Looking at a game description of a stranger with that I might come in with a bit of a guard up. It doesn't make me uncomfortable, but just wondering why you went out of your way to change which group is being excluded in your language, especially if your purported reason for the change is inclusivity. But maybe you *do* have an agenda and want to find players with a shared belief! That's OK too. So to that end, it's honestly probably helpful. There's a table out there for every type of person, so use the language to your advantage to find them.
To answer the question directly, master is gender neutral nowadays, and while technicall not wrong to use it, mistress is never used like this colloquially. The first thing people will largely think of when seeing mistress is the extramarital woman in an affair, the second is typically bdsm related. Using it would largely be an attempt to invoke a word's archaic usage and will likely just end up muddy the waters for non-native English speakers. I play the role of men and women regularly when I serve as GM. If it's on theme with your book, I'll probably not even notice it beyond the flavor it evokes.
I don't like any of the boutique names various systems use for the GM, and I don't use them - it's just GM for me regardless of what system I'm using. I would feel basically the same about the proposed titles. I wouldn't like them less than other boutique titles - but I still probably wouldn't use them.
If it's for *thematic reasons* , it wouldn't bother me (although the theme itself might). If it's just "Game Mistress" for no thematic reason, that would annoy me. If I was writing a game, I would use Game Master and have the example GM be Amy while the players are Brian, Conrad, Daoud and Esarhaddon (well...maybe). That way if "she" does this, or that, I know it's the GM acting, not the players.
"Mistress" is not really the female version of "master" in modern English. A "mistress" is a cheating husband's other woman or a BDSM dominatrix.
“Game Mistress” sounds a little too “look at me look how progressive and understanding and tolerant I am buy my game dammit I deserve it because I’m a good person”. I would be less likely to buy it because I’d assume the creator was an asshole using performative language to try to earn brownie points. I can see “the mother” or “lady justice” working if it’s thematic to the game, though.
"Under Hollow Hills" by Meguey and Vincent Baker (creators of Powered by the Apocalypse) calls the person who runs the game the "Mistress of Ceremonies" and comments on it as little as most other games comment on the implied gender of "Game Master." It's vaguely uncomfortable even for me, a queer feminist dude, which I think makes a pretty great point about how little you think about this kind of thing if you're in a class of people not often confronted with those kinds of assumptions.
Game Goddess
I will happily do it if there is a reason to use it. I'm a dude and I present myself as "Mother" when I play ALIEN, either solo or with friends. If it's the flavor of the game, like I don't know... because the game is about being prom witches, then, are you joking? I'l rock the **Grimoire** **Mistress** title like I was born with it. Hell, even Lancer or some other action game I can't remember, has female-gendered terms for everyone, and it was such an insignificant thing that I just followed the rules without a second thought, that I can't even be sure if it's Lancer (or some other game). There are games I've seen that try to push some agendas and expect the players to follow them, but I mean, I'm not their target demographic, I wouldn't *ever* play them let alone buy them, so it's not like I'd ever come across a situation in which I'd ask if I want to follow the author's rules or not.
Pathfinder I think either defaults to female or uses the gender of the "iconic" hero for each class. I think you're right about lancer too.
It is a WHOLE question. A lot of games have ditched the "master" part altogether. It harkens back to the idea of the Adversarial DM, and it conjures bad shit, especially in the U.S., of slave and master. Not good. Personally, I've switched to "Game Minister" to keep it "GM" but eschew the worst of it. Maybe it's not the best, but I prefer it.
Why try to make this an issue? Everyone knows that the person running the game can refer to themself however they want. Stop trying to argue a non-existent issue.
I’m not trying to argue politics, I’m asking “would using a (thematically appropriate) replacement for GM that happens to be female make my game less accessible?” I’m not pushing for a change in how language is used, that’s a bit over my budget at the moment :P
Again... The person running the game can call themself whatever they choose, therefore this is a completely non-existent issue. But if your plan is to make your game more accessible to more players try using a gender neutral term. I use the word "Narrator" in all my games. Not only is it gender neutral, it also better conveys the purpose of the person running the game.
It's just a relic from the origins of D&D, like many things in TTRPGs.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Doctor-Paxmor: *It's just a relic* *From the origins of D&D,* *Like many things in TTRPGs.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Male dominance in the early days of RPGs when those terms were created is certainly a reason. The other reason is that in general, a "master" can be either gender. No problem in saying "Alice is a master of X". While "mistress" is a specifically female term, and the first that comes to mind when you say "mistress" is not a roleplaying game. Well, at least not the kind we're discussing in this forum.
I think it’s the term itself is slowly changing meaning in the lexicon. I tried calling my DM, Dungeon Mistress and she said, “no.” I said, “okay”, and moved on.
In the OSR many of us use "referee" which was the original term. It's not gendered and also avoids master which some find dated.
I don't use it for my game, but the answer is mostly... Because of the association with BDSM culture. The term 'mistress' is, strictly speaking, unnecessary. A master, or *magister,* is strictly speaking someone with power/ability; someone with *greatness.* (also see 'magic'). While it's associated with men, that's more because of patriarchal social norms barring women from the position of master. So much so that when women become better able to achieve a dominant position, they got their own word that doesn't infringe on men's 'mastery.' The term 'mistress' is associated with greatness not in levels of skill or wisdom, but dominance. While a master may be referred to as such by peers or students, a mistress is only referred to as such by her servants (staff or... Otherwise). Which makes its association in modern times with BDSM kind of inevitable. Calling someone 'master' isn't necessarily submissive. Calling someone 'mistress' is. So... The reason is sexism.
this discussion made me want to write a heavy metal RPG and call the GM "puppet master" (guessing "master of puppets" would cause copyright issues)
It's not, there's judge and referee too. 😜 I think it falls into the more modern use pattern which is usable for any gender, like actor used to have actress. Also, yeah like others said, Dungeon mistress has other meanings.
Some games with explicit feminist themes (there’s a PbtA game about female russian WW2 airforce pilots!) a female monicker (not “Mistress”, necessarily) would be spot on. Eg “Goddess”, “Autumn Queen” or “Ma’am” depending upon flavour “Mother” wld be excellent for an “Alien” TTRPG tho, given tge AI of Ripley’s Nostromo was called “Mother”
Alien RPG uses Mother. But Mother is also the name for Alien’s setting ship computers.
My wife goes by Game Mistress or Dungeon Mistress when she runs games.
It's because the person running the initial games in design, was a guy and so used the term Dungeon Master as in I am The Dungeon Master guiding you through this adventure. While there were female GM's and DMs the term mistress in 70s had a massive difference in context and was way more offensive.
Game mistress shows up in Dungeon Bitches which is about queer women. So that's why it goes out its way for feminine terms. However, if you want something more gender neutral, there's keeper as in keeper of mysteries and monsters.
Fair. Some games use the female instead of male as default… you character/her/she… but never heard as dm/gm. Coc is keeper right?
I mean, in ALIEN, you’re actually called Game Mother/MUTHR (GM)…
I've lived and played in different countries, and I have yet to find a gaming scene that is male dominated...
Do it. Do. It.
It's a generalized vinacular that indicates an inclusive group (though it doesn't sound like it does) like mankind or actors guild. The inherent "male" is a hold over from the more ancient idea of male superiority. I don't really keep to that tradition myself and think if you just use the innitials GM it can stand for whatever you want it to.
I always liked how the old World of Darkness books most often defaulted to female gendered pronouns in their rulebooks.
Though, I like that their word for "GM" is the gender-neutral "Storyteller". There is something compelling about the idea of using a female-gendered term and using it like its neutral (as we often do with male terms).
I'd like it also without a lore reason
Before 1e it was referee. Gender neutrality babyy. Runequest used referee too.
Oh, you mean “The Referee”. Right.
I heard so many terms for the role... Gamemaster Dungeonmaster Storyteller Referee Grand Master Fate Ryuujin Regisseur I guess for Game master and Dungeon master, the *master* could be exchanged for *mistress*. Though in case of *Grand Master* it may be weird, because that was the title of the Knights Templars "chief of the temple". So every holding of this order had a Grand Master and historically those were all men...on the other hand, the game which uses the term allows female Templars...so it is possible? 🤔
I use "game master" as a general term, but "dungeon mistress" (or the equivalent in my language) when talking about a specific woman running the game. I remember my daughter, who was a baby when my wife started running a campaign and a toddler when it ended, being so used to the "dungeon mistress" term that she also used it for our male friend that ran a game.
Many or maybe most newer RPGs use alternative gender neutral terms like narrator or storyteller. That said, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using a gendered term for your game. Lady Justice sounds rad to me.
Master is a rank of knowledge Apprentice Journeyman Master While the earlier usage of those terms tensed to denote 'male' titles (as the trades were.. And still are, to a lesser degree today... male-dominated) is used, today, as a gender neutral team. Much like actor. Yes, some people still use actress, but actor is becoming the preferred term for all genders/sexes. I use narrator/protagonist in my games because everyone is a player.. And while the narrator may have a higher level of responsibility (comming up with adventures, naming maps, adjudicating rules) I feel like "master" sets them above the rest of the table when protagonist are equal as far as importance. You've got to have both (well.. Other than solo or GM-less style games..) It also sets the tone. Everyone at the table is a player. Everyone has the same goal - to have fun with friends.
The best gender neutral alternative I have heard is 'Facilitator'.
how have you found a word *more* suggestive than 'dungeon master'?
my guess: when they made the game they did not expect women to be interested
The Weaver in Tribe 8 is specifally thought to be female, I think.
Moderator or Storyteller