while giving my feedback on fleshmonger/worldmonger's legends of gaia i remarked on the female dwarves lacking beards what does the rpgsite think of beards on female dwarves im all for it myself

also relevant funny image

Spoiler

image source http://humbledwarf.deviantart.com/art/Beard-or-No-Female-Dwarves-92334352

i think there should only be 4 kinds of dwarven woman without beards

hipsters who are doing it to be different
teenagers and manchildren going through some sort of rebellious phase
and the rare person who just honestly prefers not to have 1
prepubescent children

to be honest i can even accept a culture of beard shaving but dwarven woman should always have the option of growing a beard just as long as a mans

I only like my bearded ladies in the carnival.

Seriously, I don't prefer the aesthetic. However if a setting or resource does include such, I would not dismiss it out of hand.

Modern female Homo Sapiens tend to have considerably less facial hair than males, however it's believed that the further you go back, the more hair we all had. From a biological standpoint, there could be a species that kept the hair for both sexes do to some environmental condition (probably cold). Being born into that species, a person would have different standards for attractiveness than the current "majority preference".

I remember as young pubescent boys playing D&D, we preferred all our women to be buxom, beardless and beautiful. As we have learned growing up, this may not only be unrealistic but extremely naive. You quickly learn to appreciate all types as you find there is so much more than boobs and beards involved in what attracts us to each other.

It is however a fantasy game. So, whatever ties your bootstraps and all that jazz. I think the decision to do so should be made in consideration of fun and awesome. If you believe that bearded female dwarves are fun and awesome, then you should include that.

i agree (well not about the beardless being better but everything else you said) and i do indeed find them fun and awesome

oh i just realised the 5th exception adventures and soldiers a beard just gets in the way when fighting, all my characters have no hair on there head past a small moustache.

The RPG debate about whether female dwarves had beards or not was trite, lame and old in the 70s, and IMHO helped fuel the stereotype that tabletop gaming was the exclusive province of misogynist nitwits.

Who. The Fuck. Really. Cares?

people designing a setting for 1

also fa/tg/uys its the sort of argument we love

and all sorts of other people

Personally, if I'm running a trad-fantasy setting, female dwarves have beards. In fact, much like Pratchett's dwarves, they're practically indistinguishable from the males.

Females who shave are daring feminists, hipsters who are leaving their traditions behind, or adventurers who need the practicality of a good shave (and are generally part of the other two groups).

I go with what seems to be the current compromise - that dwarven matrons have beards, young maids don't. Beards are a sign of maturity. I expect middle-aged dwarf prostitutes shave their beards to appear useful, but it's not something a respectable married dwarf woman would do.

Was the idea of bearded female dwarves part of the mythology that inspired the race or something invented for D and D specifically? I've always been curious but, honestly, too lazy to do the research.

Quote from: Nexus;820268Was the idea of bearded female dwarves part of the mythology that inspired the race or something invented for D and D specifically? I've always been curious but, honestly, too lazy to do the research.

Predictably, it originated with Tolkien.

I liked the idea, from the sadly late Terry Pratchett, that much of dwarven courtship involved determining the sex of the other dwarf.

In my games, dwarven females have beards and elven males don't. Why? Because that's the way it is.

Quote from: S'mon;820264I go with what seems to be the current compromise - that dwarven matrons have beards, young maids don't. Beards are a sign of maturity. I expect middle-aged dwarf prostitutes shave their beards to appear useful, but it's not something a respectable married dwarf woman would do.

wait why does a lack of a beard make a prostitute seem useful

If I had a player who wanted to play a female dwarf, I'd leave it up to them. As the GM, I don't have dwarf females in my games. The Dwerrow are a male race who marry human or elf women.

Beards are markers of bravery, accomplishment, rank, and status. You gotta earn your beard, regardless of whether you're male or female.

Quote from: languagegeek;820363Beards are markers of bravery, accomplishment, rank, and status. You gotta earn your beard, regardless of whether you're male or female.

Totally will quote that in my wedding speech.

wait your getting married