D&D 5E D&D Promises to Make the Game More Queer

[Xeviat]

http://kotaku.com/dungeons-dragons-promises-to-make-the-game-more-queer-1798401117

This is some really good news for me. My gaming group is very diverse. I couldn't imagine trying to get some of my friends to play the game back in 2001 when I started, when a lot of gamer culture felt like a boys club. This is a game about being whoever you want to be. If your group is up to it and mature, it's an opportunity for some exploration. It's nice to see NPCs in the game like yourself, and to have the PHB call out that your character can be whoever they are.

Color me impressed.


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[MechaPilot]

I think it's cool that WotC is attempting to make their worlds more inclusive and realistic by recognizing that not every NPC is going to be straight, and including some homosexual characters in their published adventures. As long as the characters are well-rounded (and not just stereotypes) and the revelation of their homosexuality comes about in an organic way in the adventures (instead of being "look at how gay I am! Whooo! Doesn't this make you feel included!") I'm all for it.

 

[guachi]

I had no idea Crawford was gay.

In my life, what my loves of youth like Star Trek and D&D showed was that being a human who was gay or black or blind was by far not that unusual compared to other things. Yes, D&D and Star Trek didn't show homosexuality, but it wasn't hard for younger me to make that extrapolation.

 

[Hussar]

Well done them. Making the game more inclusive is just a good thing.

 

[cmad1977]

Cool.


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[LordEntrails]

More inclusive is good. But I always thought D&D was. I don't think I ever saw an NPC stat block list someone's sexuality. We always thought it was irrelevant unless the DM said something.

I do remember the lords and such always having heterosexual mates. Though I also remember same sex "companions" in a single location. It was never said what their sexuality was.

I can say in general such concerns never were part of my thinking, in part because another person's sexuality has never been a concern of mine. But, I can see how those in such an unaccepted (?) minority could feel otherwise.

Something else that I think is related. I'm watching Kill Joys on SyFy (DVR), and there was a commercial for SyFy. Bizarre commercial, scene is of a side table just inside a door with mail on it. Guy (?) walks in and pulls stuff out of his pockets, drops his wallet, keys and a bunch dice (including a d20) on the table. The captions are something like "Returning from Battle" "It's a Fan Thing"

So I tried to find a link to some article about it, and this is what I came up with; SyFy Releases New Commercial About Inclusion...

 

[LordEntrails]

I didn't find the one I just saw, but here's over 30 of them. Not that we didn't know SyFy was for Geeks,or that Geeks are into RPGs, but here's proof at least one channel is aware.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX5Az9LAnbkQF4R_dneXwPrR_UQuz-uwQ

 

[Xeviat]

I can say in general such concerns never were part of my thinking, in part because another person's sexuality has never been a concern of mine. But, I can see how those in such an unaccepted (?) minority could feel otherwise.

Without derailing my own thread, this is the exact reason why real inclusion is important and good. People in the majority shouldn't notice it, but it means all the world to the people it represents. Especially for young people looking for role models.

It's especially tough for gay youth when it was, and is, common for the only characters who could be interpreted as gay were the villains. Having adventures with queer allied NPCs and a PHB that tells someone their character can be anything on or off the rainbow lets them know they belong.

Hopefully game stores will continue to become more inclusive and not chase people away.


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[Sunseeker]

Cool. There are a lot of default assumptions stemming from the fantasy genre and the history of the game that are very straight, white and male-centered for no real reason other than "tradition".

 

[Prakriti]

There is an openly gay (and married) character in Storm King's Thunder, and an arguably gay character in Curse of Strahd as well.