D&D 5E (2014) celebrating pride and lgbtq+ players 2021

[Cadence]

You know how most gaming books, up until recently, used the male pronouns for everything, largerly because the default assumption was that the readers were guys. But then people realized that hey, women game too, and started including female or actually gender-neutral pronouns as well.

I thought I remembered an early D&D book explaining why they went with "he", but I guess it wasn't the 1e DMG or PHB doing it. Was kind of surprised that the DMG has "he or she" 314 times. PhB has it 263.

Does more need to be shown to claim that use of "he" meant it was because the authors didn't think women played? When did "he" stop being taken as the third person singular of unspecified gender in the style guides and English books so that "he or she" became a thing? (Or am I misremembering how relatively recent that was?).

I'm still rooting for singular they to be the default and am glad it's hit more of the style guides.

 

[Gradine]

I'm still rooting for singular they to be the default and am glad it's hit more of the style guides.

As an added bonus, it includes those of us who are neither a "he" nor a "she"!

 

[BrokenTwin]

I can't think of a single game I've played in where sexuality and relationships didn't come up at least in passing. And that's not a queer thing, most of my gaming groups have been primarily cis straight guys playing cis straight guys. But their characters have had wives, flirted with barmaids and queens, had mothers and fathers, and all the other heteronormative indicators that go unnoticed because they're the assumed default background noise for people who haven't had to examine it.

Having said that, I don't know what I'd actually want to see in terms of support from companies like WotC. I rarely pay attention to campaign books, and I really don't want to see them make queer-related mechanics. That would be a dumpster fire regardless of how they did it.
Pride-themed product logos I find tacky...
I guess I really just want to see more inclusive art and writing, and to WotC's credit they have gotten a lot better about that.

 

[Imaculata]

I think every campaign I've ever played in has had relationships and sex to some extend. Most of the relationships in our stories were heterosexual, as most of our players lean that way. The sex is not explicit, as we tend to fade to black whenever sexy shenanigans happen.

In my current 3.5 pirate campaign, I've explored other sexualities as well. Real life pirate culture was ahead of its time and quite accepting of same sex relationships. So I try to reflect this in my D&D campaign, while also touching upon the more conservative norms of the time. One plot in my campaign actually revolved around a girl crew member masquerading as a boy, as occurs in some real life pirate stories. It was certainly one of the more interesting moments in the campaign, when the captain found out (he was very accepting of it). This same captain also snuck into a bordello at some point, dressed as a woman.

 

[Blackrat]

I personally prefer to use queer as a blanket term for anybody not cishet (cis-gender, heterosexual), but I know some people dislike its use. I choose to use it because it allows me to identify myself as non-cishet without having to out my specific characteristics to the abyss of the internet, and allows others the same courtesy. And I have my own reasons for not wanting to engage in the politics of the ever-changing acronym.

Same

Also I'm super lazy and typing out or saying LGBTTQQIAP+ is a mouthful and I always forget a character or typo

Yeah, same here also. On the rare occasion that I feel like talking about it, I call myself queer, exactly for these reasons.

So since the article is about advertising about their Pride merch, what do people think they'll be selling? Rainbow dice seems like a given. Rainbow-faded D&D logo stickers, keychains, pins... maybe a limited edition PHB with a queer characters on the cover?

Well, rainbow dice are already a thing. I bought a set three or four years ago. So, if they are not rolling out their own set, I’m surprised.

I love them. They are my evil gm dice that roll high damage crits against the players

 

[imagineGod]

Another pro-tip and not to cause more quotes to correct me, that I am wrong, that too gets annoying, since I am narrating lived experiences here.

Basically, I play at conventions often. One man at our table was playing a female character but gave her a common male name like Michael Burnham in Star Trek Discovery. The difference in Star Trek is that it is a visual TV series where Michael's general body frame on TV and voice were easy for viewers to recognize.

At a table with strangers who cannot see your character sheet, and the DM who may have made notes, but in the heat of play forgot, and then kept referring to that one man's PC as male because of the Player himself. We corrected often, DM sometimes got it right, but over 4 hours play still got it wrong too many times. That annoyed me, but surely annoyed the other Player more. I thought to suggest to him call his character Michelle or any common name to help the DM remember.

When playing one-shots at a convention with strangers, to avoid the DM and other Players in passing, or forgetfulness to stop calling your female PC male, give her a common name known to be used by women. Those people will make mistakes, so try to he helpful rather than think strangers are bad people.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Well, rainbow dice are already a thing. I bought a set three or four years ago. So, if they are not rolling out their own set, I’m surprised.

I love them. They are my evil gm dice that roll high damage crits against the players

LOL! I have a dark blue d20 which I refer to as Blue. It is part of the first set of die I got so some of the white numbers on it are a little faded. My players hate it as I sometimes, depending on the number, have to pick it up for a closer look to determine the number rolled. Our table's experience with it leads us to suspect that it leans towards higher rolls. I'm happy about it.

 

[Bagpuss]

Truth that and probably the majority of tables with D&D Players. I have never witnessed a kiss in any of my D&D games, because never was that relevant to the mostly questing and finding loot storylines.

Carnal relationships became a thing in those trendy Powered by the Apocalypse Games, which is why I avoided them until Dungeon World brought back traditional questing to PbTA.

Been carnal relations between PC and PC/NPCs since back in 1st Edition games at the tables I've been at. Never the focus and fade to black, wake up the next morning James Bond movie style. So it isn't something new.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I have never witnessed a kiss in any of my D&D games, because never was that relevant to the mostly questing and finding loot storylines.

I don't know what you played but that's not D&D.
You haven't gamed until you've experienced the pleasures of a succubus!
Bonus points if it was the level-draining kiss of the earlier editions.

 

[Morrus]

Now if you play a porno version of D&D with explicit graphic sex or description of genitals, then yes you may not have a truly inclusive game if your descriptions and situation are not broad and inclusive, but I think people that play those kind of games are the ones that are outliers.

I think you're confusing graphic sex scenes with portrayals of diverse relationships.