Fantasy gaming, relying on a surface level interpretation of the western medieval period for its commonplaces, has had a difficult time accommodating the role of sexism into its settings. Traditional fantasy settings assumed that the world would be patriarchal and male dominated in order to simulate the feeling of medieval Europe, but in more recent years, largely to accommodate the desires of non-man players, fantasy settings have attempted to do away with the sexism of the medieval period. In Dungeons and Dragons illustrations, woman adventurers are seen alongside their male counterparts, and your character is allowed to identify however they want and express sexual attraction to whoever they please. The setting becomes an idealized form of our own liberatory ethos, where sexism and homophobia do not exist.
Art by Hyde Nikolaev
Many look to fantasy gaming as an escape from the troubles of life. To go from a life navigating the struggles of being a woman into a fantasy game where your character is also treated poorly is unappealing to many players. I agree that the whole point of roleplaying is to project ourselves into an imaginary dimension where things are more exciting and indeed more compelling than everyday life, but I think that above being a form of escapism, ttrpgs can make commentary on our own lived experiences and have a direct critical relationship with the external world. Navigating the reality of our gender systems is a part of life, and living up to the demands of our cultures is something that we all struggle with, furthermore, gender is another avenue to explore for worldbuilders and game designers alike. But this does not mean we have to return to the embrace of heterosexist worlds, instead it means that the concepts of gender and sexuality should be defined in your game’s fictional cultures.
To create an interesting gender system, in my mind, can be as simple as defining what qualities and roles are valued in men and what qualities and roles are valued in women. What is expected and demanded of each sex? The challenge, for me, is to create something that is neither clearly male oriented or female oriented, the challenge is to create something that makes players ask, “Who is truly the one being oppressed?” or perhaps illustrating how roles and expectations for women and men do not necessarily equate to gendered oppression. In many real world societies with gender roles, there is space for people of one sex who wish to take on the rolls of the other. Other societies have third gender categories for people who fit into neither set of roles, these third genders often fulfill ritual or ceremonial roles in their societies.
Perhaps in your world, woman fighters are looked down upon, but men are generally believed to be unable to perform sacred rituals, and only intersex people and eunuchs are the keepers of the secrets of arcane magic. Sure, this limits your players on the basis of their character’s sex, but it creates for an array of very interesting possibilities. A female fighter might have to disguise her femininity and pretend to be a man, or unabashedly proclaim her femininity despite being socially looked down upon. A male may wish to become a sorcerer, but is he willing to submit to castration and take the vows of a third-gender magician? Or perhaps they want to be a cleric, but firstly must live as a woman and make public displays of femininity in order to get people to take them seriously.
Another metric to think about is gender pluralism: how much diversity is accepted in your fictional society? Some societies, such as medieval Europe, are not pluralistic. They reject forms of sexuality and gender that do not align with the dominant worldview of heteropatriarchy, but other societies, like early modern Southeast Asia, legitimate a wide variety of sexual behaviors. Both types of societies can be enjoyable to explore in a roleplaying game, but it is important to note that even pluralistic societies have limits to what they accept. For instance, a society may be openly accepting of homosexual sexuality, so long as it is heterogenderal. In other words, sexuality between two males is accepted, but only if one of them has taken the roles and appearance of a woman, changing their gender. It is also important to note that a non-pluralistic society does not mean a lack of gender diversity, but rather the existence of state or social sanctions against it. What can be fun about these societies is the opportunity for resistance. How do gender diverse individuals react to their oppression? (I recommend Pyromancy)
Another metric to think about is gender pluralism: how much diversity is accepted in your fictional society? Some societies, such as medieval Europe, are not pluralistic. They reject forms of sexuality and gender that do not align with the dominant worldview of heteropatriarchy, but other societies, like early modern Southeast Asia, legitimate a wide variety of sexual behaviors. Both types of societies can be enjoyable to explore in a roleplaying game, but it is important to note that even pluralistic societies have limits to what they accept. For instance, a society may be openly accepting of homosexual sexuality, so long as it is heterogenderal. In other words, sexuality between two males is accepted, but only if one of them has taken the roles and appearance of a woman, changing their gender. It is also important to note that a non-pluralistic society does not mean a lack of gender diversity, but rather the existence of state or social sanctions against it. What can be fun about these societies is the opportunity for resistance. How do gender diverse individuals react to their oppression? (I recommend Pyromancy)
Art by Hyde Nikolaev
Queer Culture
In real life, queer culture is exceedingly rich, and when we are coming up with fantastic cultures to explore in ttrpgs, we should not neglect this opportunity to create something beautiful and compelling. Fifth edition D&D made an effort to use inclusive language and suggest the possibilities of having gay PCs, but they do not talk much about the fantastic culture surrounding these identities. Gender diversity is culturally specific, and the people who practice same sex sexuality, gender transgression, and other forms of sexual and genderal diversity inherently form their own communities and cultures in response to the limits and affordances of their societies. If your character is attracted to people of the same sex, what might be expected of them from their society, and what are the mythologies that surround people like them?
None of this advice is meant to put people in boxes, but rather to create the effect that our personal identities always exist in a dialectical relationship with our societies. While we may see ourselves in one way, our societies and cultures have their own ways of categorization. While many see this as a front for liberation oriented resistance, others find meaning and freedom in living up to the expectations of their culture’s categories. Roleplaying games can be an avenue for either of these responses.
Examples:
Selbern is a matrilineal society ruled by a council of noble families and the matriarchs at their heads. In their island society, a woman’s status is tied to her number of husbands, and a good husband is expected to work for the household of his wife, providing food and income for the family and estate. In times of war, women send their able bodied husbands to the military. Women who have no husband generally must live with a sister, mother, or aunt, and will only start working for wages as a very last resort. Men who are unmarried generally must work for their subsistence and generally are underpaid and mistreated. Women take care of domestic household labor, as well as the management of the polity, and men are mostly responsible for farming, building, and most other labor, and although some become entertainers, they are rarely taken seriously as great artists. Women who fight and partake in “masculine” professions are seen as of lower classes, but they are accepted as priestesses, military tacticians, artists and ship’s captains. Some males who meet certain standards of femininity also take husbands and are accepted into the council and other areas of high society, but they must vow never to partake in sexual activity with women. Otherwise, sexual activity between women is common and accepted, but not often publicly expressed.
In the ranks of the Kizhari armies, soldiers are encouraged to form strong homosocial and even homosexual bonds with each other in order to strengthen the overall military body. Many soldiers form companionships, becoming romantically engaged with another soldier in their unit. This generally occurs in addition to the existing marriages of soldiers, whose wives expect and accept this behavior. It is looked down upon to not let your wife and companion have their own affair, if both parties wish it to occur, and often a throuple-like relationship triangle occurs, which can become quite complicated.
Ewa of worldbuilding notes has a quite uninfluenced worldbuilding project where most women reproduce by cloning themselves, and only the highest class of society have men and marriage. It is a very unique project, and while her focus is not on ttrpgs (to my sadness) her ideas are absolutely wild. I will just leave a link below.
In real life, queer culture is exceedingly rich, and when we are coming up with fantastic cultures to explore in ttrpgs, we should not neglect this opportunity to create something beautiful and compelling. Fifth edition D&D made an effort to use inclusive language and suggest the possibilities of having gay PCs, but they do not talk much about the fantastic culture surrounding these identities. Gender diversity is culturally specific, and the people who practice same sex sexuality, gender transgression, and other forms of sexual and genderal diversity inherently form their own communities and cultures in response to the limits and affordances of their societies. If your character is attracted to people of the same sex, what might be expected of them from their society, and what are the mythologies that surround people like them?
None of this advice is meant to put people in boxes, but rather to create the effect that our personal identities always exist in a dialectical relationship with our societies. While we may see ourselves in one way, our societies and cultures have their own ways of categorization. While many see this as a front for liberation oriented resistance, others find meaning and freedom in living up to the expectations of their culture’s categories. Roleplaying games can be an avenue for either of these responses.
Examples:
Selbern is a matrilineal society ruled by a council of noble families and the matriarchs at their heads. In their island society, a woman’s status is tied to her number of husbands, and a good husband is expected to work for the household of his wife, providing food and income for the family and estate. In times of war, women send their able bodied husbands to the military. Women who have no husband generally must live with a sister, mother, or aunt, and will only start working for wages as a very last resort. Men who are unmarried generally must work for their subsistence and generally are underpaid and mistreated. Women take care of domestic household labor, as well as the management of the polity, and men are mostly responsible for farming, building, and most other labor, and although some become entertainers, they are rarely taken seriously as great artists. Women who fight and partake in “masculine” professions are seen as of lower classes, but they are accepted as priestesses, military tacticians, artists and ship’s captains. Some males who meet certain standards of femininity also take husbands and are accepted into the council and other areas of high society, but they must vow never to partake in sexual activity with women. Otherwise, sexual activity between women is common and accepted, but not often publicly expressed.
In the ranks of the Kizhari armies, soldiers are encouraged to form strong homosocial and even homosexual bonds with each other in order to strengthen the overall military body. Many soldiers form companionships, becoming romantically engaged with another soldier in their unit. This generally occurs in addition to the existing marriages of soldiers, whose wives expect and accept this behavior. It is looked down upon to not let your wife and companion have their own affair, if both parties wish it to occur, and often a throuple-like relationship triangle occurs, which can become quite complicated.
Ewa of worldbuilding notes has a quite uninfluenced worldbuilding project where most women reproduce by cloning themselves, and only the highest class of society have men and marriage. It is a very unique project, and while her focus is not on ttrpgs (to my sadness) her ideas are absolutely wild. I will just leave a link below.
~Wren
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