Thirsty Sword Lesbians and 4 Other Queer TTRPGs
Whether you’re a Thirsty Sword Lesbian or a straight-up Dungeon Bitch, most LGBTQ+ roleplayers can all agree on one thing: there’s nothing better than a good tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG).
And that’s whether the game is made to be LGBTQ+ or not; TTRPGs are rooted in creative freedom, making them the perfect medium for players to explore themes of gender and sexuality.
Yet even with the autonomy these provide, many may find it difficult to really examine the queer concepts that exist in the stories being told. And even more, many may want to play worlds that are explicitly LGBTQ+, with mechanics and storylines made for and by people who understand the power these games hold for marginalized party members.
Roleplayers everywhere are lucky to be rolling dice during a time filled with queer, inclusive TTRPGs. Let’s take a look at some of them right now and give queer adventuring parties some tips on which may be the best for their next campaign.
Thirsty Sword Lesbians
When thinking of LGBTQ+ TTRPGs, most players will immediately think of Thirsty Sword Lesbians — and that’s not just because of the game’s blatantly queer title.
TSL’s name is not only an eye-catching moniker, but a great encapsulation of the queer romance at the center of this nuanced system. Set within your typical ‘Dungeons and Dragons’-esque world filled with magic and mayhem, it threads queerness into every facet of the gameplay experience. Whether it be selecting one of the players classes built around LGBTQ+ archetypes — for example, the ‘Spooky Witch’ represents the way queer folk feel distanced from society — or the discriminatory metaphors that are this setting’s monsters, every moment calls back to queer themes players will know well.
Cap this all off with the complex romance and flirtation mechanics that fill every interaction, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians is perfect for LGBTQ+ players who just can’t get enough of queer melodrama.
Girl By Moonlight
Few queer TTRPGs are as beloved as Girl By Moonlight. A spin on the popular ‘Magical Girl’ anime genre, this system’s queerness immediately comes through during setup, when players are encouraged to consider the many sexualities and gender identities their characters may hold. This self-exploration continues into the actual gameplay, with GBM offering a world full of societal evils where characters turn into powerful magical girls ready to fight for what’s right.
These transformations are explicitly meant to represent people coming to express their inner queerness, with characters’ magical forms being outward manifestations of the internal identities they’re too scared to show. Girl By Moonlight’s core mission is not only for players to fight evil, but to find power authenticity, with their equally introspective party members offering a mystical found family to rely on. It fosters this by providing a multi-faceted roleplay where nothing is one-dimensional, making this game a great fit for players who enjoy emotional catharsis as much as combat.
Monsterhearts
What’s more anxiety-inducing than being a queer teenager trying to hide your identity? Being a queer teenager trying to hide your identity — who just so happens to be a literal monster.
Monsterhearts is based on internal conflict, with each player taking on the role of a young monster grappling with their burgeoning sexual identity as well as their new supernatural abilities. The game doesn’t try to hide its metaphors; the monstrous identities players grapple with are explicitly meant to represent queerness in the modern day.
Monsterhearts showcases this internal conflict through innovative dice-roll mechanics that determine things from hormonal surges to sexual questioning, a thought-out system that brings players back to the chaotic experience of figuring yourself out at such a young age. It makes for a heartwrenching, shockingly uplifting setting filled with interpersonal intrigue, perfect for players who aren’t big on physical fights but absolutely love emotionally-loaded roleplay.
Glitter Hearts
There’s just something about magical girls, isn’t there? For the second time on this list, players get the chance to build characters who can transform into ultra-powerful heroes in Glitter Hearts. Though, while Girl by Moonlight focuses on LGBTQ+ allegory and emotional nuances, this game focuses on different ideas — namely, how absolutely awesome it is to be a queer superhero!
Though LGBTQ+ themes are not blatantly worked into Glitter Hearts, its manual encourages players to create characters unburdened by what the mainstream media believes heroes should look like. Its in-depth system stresses fluidity over labels, a distinctly personal style of gameplay that extends into combats where every fight has a peaceful option out. Glitter Hearts reinvents the superhero genre that players know and offers a modern, more thoughtful approach to the concept that is particularly welcoming for LGBTQ+ roleplayers. Focusing on fun and diversity, this TTRPG is great for players trying to discover what true power looks like for them.
Dungeon Bitches
And last but certainly not least, it’s hard to describe the grungy, perilous game that is Dungeon Bitches. One of the TTRPG’s creators, Emily Allen, put it best in an interview with Side Quest about the system: “Dungeon Bitches is a snarling, feral, lesbian RPG with teeth.”
Set in a gritty fantasy setting filled with horrific evils — namely, societal discrimination against women and queer folk — DB’s player classes are LGBTQ+ archetypes who’ve been scorned by this world in some way. One thing that any player entering this system must know: Dungeon Bitches is a thoroughly adult, thoroughly brutal game, with hardcore fighting mechanics to match. Its pre-made stories don’t skimp on the ways discrimination hurts our communities today, but on the flip side, its ingenious (and at-times horrific) playstyle stresses the ability of marginalized folks to band together and find strength in their connection.
It’s a gritty, intense spin on your typical TTRPG campaign, and it’s exactly the right system for any player wanting to brutally take down the utterly human horrors of this fantasy world.
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