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Thirsty Sword Lesbians

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Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Cover of Thirsty Sword Lesbians with art by Kanesha Bryant.
DesignersApril Kit Walsh
IllustratorsKanesha Bryant
WritersDominique Dickey, Jonaya Kemper, Alexis Sara, Rae Nedjadi, Whitney Delaglio
PublishersEvil Hat Productions
Publication2021
Genres
SystemsPowered by the Apocalypse[1]
Players3–6[1]
Playing time2–4 hours[1]
ChanceDice rolling[1]
Age range13+[1]
Media typeRole-playing games
Websitehttps://evilhat.com/product/thirsty-sword-lesbians/

Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a narrative-focused tabletop role-playing game which emphasizes telling "melodramatic and queer stories".[2] The game was funded via a 2020 Kickstarter campaign and published by Evil Hat Productions in 2021. It uses a modification of the Powered by the Apocalypse game system. Thirsty Sword Lesbians was the first tabletop game to win a Nebula Award[3] and the fourth winner in the "Best Game Writing" category.[4] The game also won the 2022 ENNIE Awards for "Best Game" and for "Product of the Year".[5]

Creative origins

The game was developed by Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney April Kit Walsh and illustrated by Kanesha Bryant; Walsh began development in 2017.[6] Walsh wrote that, "my primary inspiration was urgently wanting to tell stories about dashing queers having adventures and connecting emotionally and finding that the game I wanted wasn't out there yet".[6]

Walsh told The Daily Dot that development began "slowly" due to her work as an attorney – the development of the game "was inspired partially from queer fanfiction, where LGBTQ writers can 'explore the feelings that never get represented by legacy media cartels'".[6] In another interview, Walsh stated that the closest game inspirations for Thirsty Sword Lesbians are The Watch, Monsterhearts, and Masks as

Each of them did something neat in using mechanics to evoke feelings and I wanted to adapt those elements and build on them. [...] I also adore the cadence of narrative down beats from low rolls and up beats or mixed beats from higher rolls. Being able to focus the mechanics on the narrative, rather than on tasks or simulation, is a design tool I really appreciate, and so is the randomness of the dice, to help tell stories that can surprise you.[7]: 42 

Publication history

In October 2020, Evil Hat Productions launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the publication of Thirsty Sword Lesbians – the Kickstarter was fully funded within three hours of launch.[6][8] The final total raised by the Kickstarter when it closed on November 12, 2020, was $298,568 with 8,152 backers[2][1] which exceeded "its initial goal fifteen times over"[9] and unlocked "nearly 50 stretch goals".[10] It was also Evil Hat Productions' "second largest Kickstarter".[7]: 43  In an interview on EN World, Walsh highlighted that the core rulebook has "five contributing authors" and "two sensitivity consultants"; it also went through "rounds of playtests" to refine mechanics.[11]

The game's scheduled delivery for backers was in June 2021.[2] Evil Hat Productions stated that instead of delaying publication of Thirsty Sword Lesbians while stretch goal content was developed, the company "went forward with production and backers received their core copy of TSL five months ahead of schedule".[12] Thirsty Sword Lesbians then had its wide release on DriveThruRPG, with both PDF and print-on-demand (POD) softcover editions, in June 2021.[13] Evil Hat Productions also released the game as a tradebook.[1]

The Kickstarter funded community copies[a] which are available on itch.io.[2] The game has also been released as part of bundles on itch.io to raise funds for various charitable causes such as support for trans rights in Texas[14][15] and support for Ukrainians impacted by the ongoing Russian invasion.[16]

Expansions

In November 2021, Evil Hat Productions launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the first expansion titled Advanced Lovers & Lesbians. The expansion adds ten new character playbooks and 21 new settings to the game.[17][18] Dicebreaker highlighted that "initially a collection of stretch goals for the original RPG's Kickstarter campaign, Advanced Loves & Lesbians has since become its own 272 page expansion that players and games masters can use to alter and enhance their sessions of the game".[18] The two week long Kickstarter raised a total of $97,403 with 1,762 backers when it closed on November 23, 2021;[12] the expansion had an estimated delivery of March 2022 for backers.[17][10] This Kickstarter campaign also included a hardcover edition of Thirsty Sword Lesbians.[12][17]

On May 16, 2022, Advanced Lovers & Lesbians was widely released with PDF, POD softcover, and hardcover editions.[19][20]

Game system

Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a narrative-focused role-playing game built off of the Powered by the Apocalypse game framework.[21][8] Adventures are run by the Gaymaster.[8] Player characters can enact various defined Moves during a scene – Moves fall into several categories such as Danger Moves, Heartstring Moves, Recovery Moves and Special Moves.[22]: 23–42  Characters can also gain narrative Strings which "represent emotional influence over another person. This could be the affection of a friend or lover, or it could be blackmail material".[22]: 20  Characters can spend Strings as a Move in order to influence other player and non-player characters.[22]: 20 

The base game includes nine queer-coded character archetypes: Beast, Chosen, Devoted, Infamous, Nature Witch, Scoundrel, Seeker, Spooky Witch, and Trickster.[21][8] "Each of these character types comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, with players needing to work together to cope with whatever emotional, romantic and personality issues they may face throughout their adventure".[8] Ana Valens, for The Daily Dot, commented that "player characters don't actually have to seek each other out sexually or romantically. Thirst can be purely platonic. Swords and lesbians are also optional offerings, as players can switch these out with all sorts of weapons, sexual orientations, and gender identities".[6]

Characters have five main stats: daring, grace, heart, wit and spirit. The game also has rules for fighting, flirts and zingers – players can use these to escalate or defuse conflict. Alex Meehan, for Dicebreaker, explained that "whatever players decide to do, they will have to attempt to roll for success, with the outcome determined by the combined total of the dice roll and their chosen modifier. Should a player experience an unfortunate event, they could suffer from a nasty variety of conditions [...] which they'll have to seek out a source of emotional closeness in order to cure".[8] Conditions are both physical and emotional challenges; these emotional conditions have "both narrative and mechanical effects" including adding a penalty to dice rolls.[22]: 17 

The game also emphasizes playing with safety tools.[23][24][25] Walsh stated that:

Participating in romantic role-play can be very emotional and requires communication and respect for boundaries that aren't necessarily in everyone's personal toolkit when they show up for a game. Thirsty Sword Lesbians builds consent and collaboration into the mechanics, as well as centering safety and communication practices that help groups explore more emotional themes.[7]: 41 

The sourcebook outlines both the Lines and Veils and The X-Card safety tools along with introducing its own new safety tool called the Palette which "not only includes consent, but story elements, tone, and overall playstyle that everyone establishes in a pre-game discussion and can get changed during play as players are encouraged to frequently check in with each other to make sure everyone is still on board".[23]

Reception

Richard Jansen-Parkes, for the UK print magazine Tabletop Gaming in 2021, highlighted that "the name makes it clear that this is going to be a game about romance [...], about sword fights, and about being super, mega gay" and that the sourcebook contains "just over a dozen sketched-out settings" which spans "almost every genre you could imagine".[26] Jansen-Parkes commented that "the scope of Thirsty Sword Lesbian adventures is something near limitless".[26] He wrote that the biggest modification to the Powered by the Apocalypse system is "the use of ‘strings' – tokens that represent emotional influence over another person. These are the fuel that keeps the romantic bonfire burning, and while the practicalities of the system can be a little fiddly – if you have a large cast of NPCs you can end up with masses of different tokens – it does a stellar job of keeping the table focused on kisses as well as the adventures".[26] Jansen-Parkes commented that Thirsty Sword Lesbians isn't the game for everyone, however, if "you want something joyously fun and disastrously romantic to play, this might be just the game you want".[26]

Mey Rude, for The Advocate in 2022, called Thirsty Sword Lesbians "a heavily customizable game" with the goal of building relationships instead of fighting the bad guy or rescuing the princess; Rude commented that players experienced with Powered by the Apocalypse games should find this game easy to pick up.[27] Rude wrote that there are nine character types and characters "can adapt to any kind of flirting style, whether it's sexually charged sword fights, hilariously intense pun battles, or deep and dramatic heart-to-hearts. Even if you don't like romantic or sexual flirting, you can still play the game and make it about friend flirting and building a chosen family".[27] Rude also highlighted that "the game is loaded with sexy and stylish art. [...] The books are worth the purchase just to look at the gorgeous sapphic art inside them. It's filled with a variety of women, queers, and lesbians in a wide variety of situations".[27]

Alex Meehan, for Eurogamer in 2022, highlighted that the game's world is geared towards "intense melodrama and extravagance" and that it celebrates "the antics of disaster lesbians".[24] Meehan commented that "if players are not fighting, then they're probably flirting. Sometimes, player characters are doing both at the same time. [...] Its goal is not to produce realistic portrayals of lesbian characters – most gay women don't brandish swords and stash hidden tools about their person, unfortunately – but to provide an outlet for players to embrace a messier, but undoubtedly more fun, side of themselves. [...] Thirsty Sword Lesbians is special because it's explicitly a TRPG about celebrating queerness".[24] Meehan also praised the game's safety tools.[24]

Hylke Jorrit Langhout, for Gayming Magazine in 2022, rated the game as 3.5 out of 5. Langhout praised the game's safety tools, such as the new Palette tool, and the writing of the book; they highlighted that the sourcebook includes a glossary of "queer terminology and a special section devoted to how to respectfully tell trans stories". Langhout wrote that "keeping the language fun and inclusive throughout shows a genuine commitment to making sure Thirsty Sword Lesbians can be played by as many people as possible without compromising its vision of a game for queer stories".[23] Langhout found explanations of some mechanics, such as the Strings mechanic, confusing; in their test session, their group found the Strings mechanic "difficult to use during play".[23] Langhout commented that playing as the Gamemaster is a very "different experience" from other games as the Gamemaster needs "to be comfortable running lots of NPCs that can be romantically appealing to the player characters, which is something I know I was pretty bad at. [...] There are guidelines for adjusting the rules to accommodate not playing with a lot of romance, but the default rules do assume a large amount of flirting and romantic connection, so that's how we played".[23] Langhout respects Thirsty Sword Lesbians "because it knows exactly what it wants from its players, and if my group wasn't a good fit for it, that's not the game's fault".[23]

Thirsty Sword Lesbians was included on Kotaku's "The 10 Best Tabletop Roleplaying Books Of 2022" list – Claire Jackson commented that "the game offers a suite of really cool settings to choose from, be they sci-fi, fantasy, or even 'Sparkle Heart Magic Force Go!' There's some traditional TTRPG structure for those familiar. A GM, Gaymaster in this game, and a group of player characters tell a collaborative story of thrilling heroics, but it's one that urges you to 'follow your heart,' and not get so bogged down in the intricate details of planning out an adventure or campaign as is often the case in this hobby. This is a wonderful and very inviting gay-as-hell game that can serve as the basis for an ongoing campaign, or just a ruleset you turn to when you and a bunch of queer friends want to make some narrative noise".[28]

The game was #8 on CBR's 2022 "10 LGBTQ+ TTRPGs To Play With Your Friends This Pride Month" list – Rebekah Krum highlighted that "this Nebula Award winner includes exactly what the name would suggest: sapphic swashbucklers taking on alluring enemies and making emotional connections with the people around them. Thirsty Sword Lesbians has nine character types for players to choose from, each centering on a particular kind of emotional strife. The beautifully illustrated Thirsty Sword Lesbians sourcebook includes various setting options and story seeds for gaming tables to build off of and turn into adventures".[29]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2022 Gayming Awards LGBTQ Tabletop Game Thirsty Sword Lesbians Nominated [30]
Nebula Awards Best Game Writing Won [4][3]
ENNIE Awards Best Art, Cover Nominated [31][32]
Best Art, Interior Nominated [31][32]
Best Game Gold Winner [5][33]
Product of the Year Gold Winner [5][34]

Notes

  1. ^ Free copies available for people who cannot otherwise afford the game.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Evil Hat's 'Thirsty Sword Lesbians RPG' is Headed to Trade". ICv2. November 16, 2020. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  2. ^ a b c d "Thirsty Sword Lesbians". Kickstarter. Evil Hat Productions. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Thirsty Sword Lesbians Wins Nebula Award for Best Game Writing". ComicBook.com. May 23, 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  4. ^ a b "Sapphic and sharp tabletop RPG Thirsty Sword Lesbians wins Nebula Award for best game writing". Dicebreaker. 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  5. ^ a b c Hall, Charlie (2022-08-08). "Queer creators win big at Gen Con's Ennie awards for 2022". Polygon. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
  6. ^ a b c d e Valens, Ana (2020-10-14). "'Thirsty Sword Lesbians' role-playing game blows past Kickstarter goals". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  7. ^ a b c Wieland, Robert (September 2021). "Violence is Easy. Romance is Hard". Wyrd Science (Interview). 1 (2): 40–45.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Flirt and fight in queer tabletop RPG Thirsty Sword Lesbians". Dicebreaker. 2020-10-15. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  9. ^ Johnson, Grace; Dithrich, Carolin (2021-10-19). "Chivalry Is Undead: Kink, Sword Lesbians, and The Locked Tomb". Tor.com. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  10. ^ a b "Thirsty Sword Lesbians new 270+ page supplement provides more sapphic adventures - Gayming Magazine". Gayming Magazine. November 9, 2021. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  11. ^ "Thirsty Sword Lesbians: An Interview With April Kit Walsh (Evil Hat Productions)". EN World. November 5, 2020. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  12. ^ a b c "Advanced Lovers and Lesbians". Kickstarter. Evil Hat Productions. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  13. ^ Girdwood, Andrew (2021-06-07). "Thirsty Sword Lesbians RPG now available in print and PDF internationally". Geek Native. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  14. ^ Diaz, Ana (2022-03-04). "Tabletop role-playing designers come together to support trans rights in Texas". Polygon. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  15. ^ "This Tabletop Bundle Just Raised $220k for Trans Texans". The Mary Sue. 2022-03-07. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  16. ^ "Ukraine charity bundle offers over 300 tabletop RPGs for $10, including Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Troika and The Wretched". Dicebreaker. 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  17. ^ a b c Girdwood, Andrew (2021-11-11). "The arts of Advanced Lovers and Lesbians is a chance for UK backers to enjoy Thirsty Sword Lesbians". Geek Native. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  18. ^ a b "Advanced Lovers & Lesbians first expansion for Thirsty Sword Lesbians RPG". Dicebreaker. 2021-11-10. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  19. ^ "Advanced Lovers & Lesbians". Evil Hat Productions (Product page). Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  20. ^ "Advanced Lovers & Lesbians". DriveThruRPG (Product page). Evil Hat Productions. Retrieved 2022-08-07.
  21. ^ a b Girdwood, Andrew (2019-12-04). "Thirsty Sword Lesbians RPG announced by Evil Hat". Geek Native. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  22. ^ a b c d Thirsty Sword Lesbians. Evil Hat Productions. 2021. pp. 17–20, 23–42. ISBN 978-1-61317-197-4.
  23. ^ a b c d e f "Thirsty Sword Lesbians offers a fun queer time - Gayming Magazine". Gayming Magazine. January 7, 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  24. ^ a b c d "Pride Week: Dicebreaker recommends Thirsty Sword Lesbians - revelling in an unapologetically gay soap opera". Eurogamer.net. 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  25. ^ Fanning, Maria (2020-10-16). "Thirsty Sword Lesbians – Kickstarter Review". Cannibal Halfling Gaming. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  26. ^ a b c d Jansen-Parkes, Richard (July 14, 2021). "Thirsty Sword Lesbians Review". Tabletop Gaming (57).
  27. ^ a b c "Dueling, Dice Rolls, Kisses Await in Thirsty Sword Lesbians Game". www.advocate.com. 2022-03-08. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  28. ^ Jackson, Claire (2022-07-27). "The 10 Best Tabletop Roleplaying Books Of 2022". Kotaku. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  29. ^ Krum, Rebekah (2022-06-03). "10 LGBTQ+ TTRPGs To Play With Your Friends This Pride Month". CBR. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  30. ^ Ankers, Adele (2022-04-25). "Gayming Awards 2022 Winners: The Full List". IGN Southeast Asia. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  31. ^ a b "Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Uncaged: Goddesses and Colostle clinch major noms in the 2022 ENnie Awards". Dicebreaker. 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  32. ^ a b "2022 Nominations – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  33. ^ ENNIE Awards [@ENnies] (August 5, 2022). "Best Game Silver goes to: Root: The RPG Gold goes to: Thirsty Sword Lesbians" (Tweet). Retrieved August 6, 2022 – via Twitter.
  34. ^ ENNIE Awards [@ENnies] (August 5, 2022). "Product of the Year Silver goes to: Call of Cthulhu Classic Prop Set Gold goes to: Thirsty Sword Lesbians" (Tweet). Retrieved August 6, 2022 – via Twitter.
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