Rebel Robin - Blog Posts
okay but imagine dming a girls-only dnd campaign with Nancy, Robin, El, Max, and Erica
The D&D scene in Hawkins has always been kind of barren. A boys club if you will. Of course there was always the party and the Hellfire Club but you were always looking for a space where you could feel more comfortable playing with other girls.
When things become more stable in Hawkins you acquired a solid group of female friends. Nancy and Robin are your age, and while you definitely spend time with the boys, you’ve started to hang out just the three of you.
El and Max are younger than you but you always enjoy their company. You serve as a kind of older sister figure to the party and the two of them kind of look up to you.
You’ve only recently started hanging around Erica but you like her a lot and once she gets in to D&D you two start to bond.
It’s actually Erica’s idea to start the campaign in the first place.
All of the girls are coming in with different levels of experience.
Nancy has observed D&D through Mike for a good chunk of her life and has occasionally participated so she knows the basic mechanics and other random facts about the game.
Robin has never touched a 20 sided die in her life. The people that she’s hung out with before the summer of 85 were never the type to play D&D and she barley knew it existed before the whole Satanic Panic thing started to sweep Hawkins.
Max has always been a bit put off by D&D. At first it was something that was used to exclude her from the group and once she became friends with the party she would be insecure that she wasn’t as good at it as the boys were. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will had been playing forever and she feels like she doesn’t fit in.
When you pitch the idea to her you assure her that the majority of the participants are starting from square one and there's nothing to be worried about. That persuades her to give it a shot.
El is just happy to be doing something with other girls. Of course she’s friends with Max but she longs for more female company. She also knows a little about D&D due to how much Mike has tried to explain it to her.
Once Robin is introduced to D&D and learns the rules she’s super psyched about playing and creating her character. She also rolls her dice really weird (big Ally Beardsley ala Fantasy High energy).
Robin is obsessed with languages so she quickly tries to learn Elvish and uses it during role play. Her experience in drama also leads her to commit especially hard (sometimes too much lol).
As for classes and races: Robin plays as a teifling bard, Erica as a half-elf rouge, Max as a tabaxi barbarian (my first instinct was also rouge but Lady Applejack is already a rouge so gahhh), El as a half-elf mage, and Nancy as an elven duel class cleric and fighter.
Nancy is the resident note taker and jots down every detail, stat, and piece of inventory.
She also probably unravels all of your planning with her great detective work. Like you’ll spend ten hours crafting a mystery that's supposed to be revealed in the very last session and she cracks it by the third.
Erica spends hours hand painting minis for each character. The detail is astounding.
"Did you paint a tiny star in her eye?" "I'm thorough."
El is that player who cannot do basic addition for the life of her (aka me). Max always has her back though.
"I rolled an eighteen. Eighteen plus seven is ....." "Twenty five." "Thank you."
El is also proficient in animal handling and constantly adopts wildly dangerous creatures to be her pets.
You might think that Erica is a head-straight-into-battle kind of player due to the absolute powerhouse that is Lady Applejack but she's actually incredibly tactical. Her and Nancy tend to alternate as party leader.
Max and Robin on the other hand are the kind of players who crave chaos.
You: "The villager seems to know something about the creature that lives in the woods. You can see however that he's apprehensive to answer any of your questions."
Max: "This guy is totally shady." Robin: "Yeah you're right ... we should punch him." Max: "Oh my god you're so right. If I roll a nat 20 can a tooth fly out?"
As a DM you are very attentive to your players. You craft scenarios for each girl to shine and show their growth as a player. You also make little dice boxes and customize. You make their favorite treats and have them in the middle of the table every session.
You notice they all seem to be getting closer and more comfortable with the game which warms your heart.
Sessions are hosted on Friday nights and usually conclude with movies, pizza, and sleeping over someone's house based on the availability of their living room.
Each girl also gets to make her own mixtape to play during sessions. The vibes of which are all over the place. Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, Tiffany, Blondie. The works.
The environment of the campaign is so comfortable. Yes you're putting their characters through horrible danger and mental gymnastics but its out of love <3.
Your players are amazing. You feel so lucky that you're able to share something you love with the girls in your life and make it your own.
By the time you're nearing the end of your campaign Dustin and Lucas are begging to get in on the action for the next one, only to be disappointed when Robin slams the door in their faces clarifying that this party is "Ladies Only!".
I’m fucking screaming right now. I’m rereading Rebel Robin and this is how she describes Mike and the party when she sees them in the grocery store.
She calls the party “feral small people”.
She also calls Mike Mrs. Wheeler’s “offspring” , “extremely pale child”, and “ghostly child with a frightful dark bowl cut”.
(Mike calls his mom “the blonde Medusa”.)
It’s so funny I cannot.
My Favorite Robin Buckley Details From “Rebel Robin” (that you can feel free to use in your fics)
These are canonical details from the book "Rebel Robin" by A.R. Capetta. It's so good please go read it!
Robin's favorite flowers are stargazer lilies.
Robin’s favorite songs canonically include: “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks, “I Want to Break Free” by Queen, and “All Through the Night by Cyndi Lauper”.
Robin doesn't like Hall & Oates (and that fact KILLS me).
Robin has hippie parents.
Robin had a bad perm for almost her entire sophomore year.
Robin didn't know she was a lesbian until almost the end of her sophomore year.
The real reason Robin can't drive is that she stole her parent's car after being grounded and crashed it while driving to the prom. She was promptly chased down by Hopper the whole night.
Robin's dream was to elope to Europe for a summer with a "special someone" (she called it Operation Croissant. She's such a fucking dork I'm in love with her).
Robin had a friend named Milton from band (please use him in your fics! He's so cool! He's Japanese American, he plays the electric keyboard, he played Robin's favorite song at prom!!!)
Robin worked at the movie theater before Scoops Ahoy.
Robin gave herself a short cropped cut with rusty scissors before the events of season 3.
Robin and Barb were friends in elementary school.
Noticed my obsession with Maya Hawke and made this shit .
I love and appreciate robin buckley she is me