Beyond Representation
Queer Mechanics in Tabletop Games
Avery Mcdaldno
Sustaining Good Faith
why i quit most sitcoms.
story games create space for growth & learning.
story games have immense potential for�queer world-building.
Representation Isn’t Enough
queer faces, normative stories
games are systems, not slideshows
we need to queer more than just the cover art
Examples: Exalted
Mechanics Are Politics
game systems aren’t objective or neutral
games present us with the designers’ biases
all mechanics reinforce worldviews & politics
we’ve been playing straight games
Examples: Palladium, Dogs in the Vineyard
Games Illuminate Systems
games allow us to experience the systems and reward cycles that govern others’ lives
games let designers codify & share their experiences, realities, hopes, fears, and dreams
Example: Dog Eat Dog
Queer Mechanics & Actively Disrupting Normative Systems?
queerness isn’t just about non-normativity
it’s about actively disrupting normativity
is the same a requisite of queer mechanics?
Compare: Hugpunx vs Apocalypse World
Once More With Feeling
Games are an important site of queer world-building. Representation isn’t enough. To create queer games we must create queer systems. Mechanics are political and we must create space for our politics and our existence. Games illuminate systems and reveal experiences. We should think about how queerness positions itself in relation to normative structures of power.
Okay
Queer
Mechanics
let’s imagine some
The Fruitful Void
your game is about whatever it is conspicuously missing
despite our love of niche identity labels, queerness is about exploring fruitful voids
Example: Monsterhearts
Coding Fluidity / Uncertainty
stats are straight mechanics
the hero’s journey is a straight narrative
queer lives are fluid, uncertain, changing, multidirectional, both clear and cloudy
Example: Silver & White
Character Non-Monogamy
character ownership asks us to eschew collaboration and community, to valorize the progress of enlightened & privileged heroes
Examples: The Tavern, The Quiet Year
Explicit Power Dynamics
it’s often taboo to talk about the power dynamics that govern our relationships
it’s doubly taboo to play around with them
Example: Hot Guys Making Out
Multivalent Signifiers
our identities and their expressions are layered, complicated, meaning many things at once
our lives are not well expressed in mechanics that have fixed & singular meanings
Examples: Monsterhearts
Enshrining the Preposterous
games don’t need to be physics engines
we can centralize and validate our experiences, no matter how liminal, subjective or denigrated
camp & hyper-sincerity
Examples: Superhero, Crystal Warrior Ke$ha
Show Notes
buriedwithoutceremony.com/beyondrepresentation