Flirt and fight in queer tabletop RPG Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Roll for romance.
Fall in love and face off against various foes in Thirsty Sword Lesbians, an upcoming tabletop roleplaying game about exploring queer stories.
Thirsty Sword Lesbians is an RPG in which players become magic-wielding, weapon-swinging and claw-swiping warriors looking to make the world a more compassionate place. Whilst characters are able to battle against aggressive characters, the fantasy roleplaying game also encourages its players to take a more empathetic approach to their potential foes.
The major stats in the game consist of daring, grace, heart, wit and spirit, with players able to perform various moves that relate to one of the traits. For example, a player might add their daring modifier to a move roll if they’re attempting to slash at someone with their weapon. However, there are other ways and means of approaching certain situations. Players can attempt to use flirts or zingers against other characters - including other players - in order to defuse possible conflict. Thirsty Sword Lesbians provides many examples of how player characters could seduce their adversaries, such as offering food or flowers and (of course) showing an interest in their sword.
Whatever players decide to do, they will have to attempt to roll for success, with the outcome determined by the combined total of the dice roll and their chosen modifier. Should a player experience an unfortunate event, they could suffer from a nasty variety of conditions - from feeling insecure to sinking into hopelessness - which they’ll have to seek out a source of emotional closeness in order to cure.
Players can choose from a range of different character types, such as the non-conformist beast, selfless devoted and individualist trickster. Each of these character types comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, with players needing to work together to cope with whatever emotional, romantic and personality issues they may face throughout their adventure.
Thirsty Sword Lesbians includes a selection of six different adventure one-shots designed to offer an introduction to the game’s world and serve as a starting point for players to begin their own campaign. In addition, the RPG features several possible settings for the GM - or ‘Gaymaster’ - to set their game in, such as the Lesbeans Coffeehouse by Dominique Dickey and Les Violettes Dangereuses by Jonaya Kemper, plus oodles more.
April Kit Walsh is the creator of Thirsty Sword Lesbians, having previously designed several other tabletop roleplaying games including The End of the Line - a GM-less storytelling game about a space-faring crew who are waiting for their vessel to be scrapped - and Catch Feelings, a romantic supplement created for the Masks RPG.
The publisher behind Thirsty Sword Lesbians is Evil Hat Productions, the company known for releasing roleplaying games such as John Harper’s Blades in the Dark and - most recently - the ancient Greek-inspired RPG Agon.
The Kickstarter campaign for Thirsty Sword Lesbians is live until November 12th, with a pledge of $30 (£24) getting backers a copy of the physical rulebook set to be released next June. Alternatively, backers can pledge $15 (£12) to get a copy of the PDF version. Both pledge amounts give backers immediate access to a prototype version of the RPG.