Celebrate Pride Month with these awesome games designed, or created by people who identify as LGBTQ*. For a bonus, many of these games celebrate an aspect of Queer life. Enjoy.
Board Game: Bad Maps
• Designer: Tim Armstrong II
• Publisher: Floodgate Games
• 3-5 players
• 30-60 minutes
• Age: 13+
As pirate captains layout pieces of treasure map to the collective island board and program your minions to search for treasure. But beware, as the instructions of the other captains and their map pieces can interfere with your crew! You have two rounds to collect the most treasure. Yarr you up for it?
Micro RPG: Halo’ N’ Horns
• Designer: Connie Chang
• 3 players
• 30+ minutes
• Age: 14+
• Available in PDF: https://byconniechang.itch.io/halo-n-horns
With one of the most unique systems that we’ve come across to recommend Halo ‘n’ Horns is a micro rpg with two GMs, one player, and a whole lot of hijinks. In this rpg you and your friends will decide who is the hapless mortal trying to get through their day and who are the devil and angel influencing them for the purpose of their own goals. At just one page of instructions this is a devilishly quick game to learn as well as teach, letting you get into the action quickly. Gameplay is a fun escalating push pull between player goals and desires, chaos will ensue. Highly recommended to play at your next game night and add to your ttrpg.
*Note* For the the month of June 2022 this game is part of the Queer Games Bundle happening over on itch.io. You can purchase it and over 500 games, software, and zines created created by over 400 queer artists across the community. Follow the link to learn more: https://itch.io/b/1404/queer-games-bundle-2022
RPG: Thirsty Sword Lesbians
• Designer: April Kit Walsh
• 3-6 players
• Age: 13+
• 2-4 hours
• Available in PDF and Print: https://www.evilhat.com/store/
This Nebula award winning roleplaying game is beautifully illustrated, fantastically laid out, and filled with all the feelings. Using the Powered by the Apocalypse system players will swing swords, make moves, and pull strings to achieve their heroic goals and relationship aspirations. There are so many amazing archetypes to explore within this book and the various settings included are just as delightful and varied. With a good sized player count and wealth of content to explore this is a great fit for libraries with a gaming group that wants to delve further into the world of rpgs. Highly recommended to add to the library’s collection and game night offerings.
How to Play on Roll20 Video: https://youtu.be/3-PtnCb6yc8
Small Box RPG: Our Mundane Supernatural Life
• Designer: Vee Hendro & Hayley Gordon
• 2 players
• 60-90 min
• Age: 14+
• Available in Print: https://storybrewersroleplaying.com/ourmundanesupernaturallife/
Everything you need to start a cozy domestic adventure is contained within one little box. This TTRPG focuses on the small daily activities of a supernatural and their loved one. Having a small rulebook and GMless system makes it easy to learn as well as teach you and you can get started playing within a few minutes of opening the box. And if learning from a booklet isn’t your style the creators of the game have made a handy how to play video to get you started quickly as well. Having only two players will be a boon for libraries with smaller gaming groups and offers a unique and intimate style of gameplay. This game’s lovely mix of everyday and supernatural is cozy, exciting, and highly recommended for any library’s gaming collection.
Video Game: Unpacking
• Developer: Witch Beam
• Publisher: Humble Bundle
• Designers: Wren Brier and Tim Dawson
• 1 player
• 2-4 hours
• All Ages
• Available on PC via Steam, GOG and Humble, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 & 5, and Xbox One & Series X|S
Unpacking, the 2022 winner of the ‘Best LGBTQ Indie Game’ and ‘Authentic Representation’ Gayming Awards, is a puzzle game that has no timers or scores. Players explore and unpack the belongings of an unseen protagonist over eight separate moves between her childhood and her early thirties. The puzzle mechanics are delightful and meditative, giving players the freedom to creatively arrange objects in each living space. The pixel art style is pleasant to look at over several hours of gameplay, with some great music to boot. But the minimalist stories embedded into each object that makes (or doesn’t) make the move are nothing short of riveting. Each player’s personal nostalgia and memories will no doubt make each unpacked object more poignant.
The protagonist goes through her own journey of self-discovery as she progresses through going to college, moving in with roommates, starting (and ending) a relationship, and beginning a family. Players will have a rush of memories of similar life experiences and choices while inspecting each object. To say much more about the character’s journey to a greater personal truth that players uncover would be a disservice to this game. The game’s LGBTQ+ representation is truly authentic and lacks all of the commonly utilized tropes in games with similar narrative threads. Unpacking is a must-play for those who love puzzle games, life simulators, and exquisite implicit narrative.
Bonus TTRPGs to Explore: https://gizmodo.com/26-tabletop-roleplaying-games-by-queer-game-designers-1849067931?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=dlvrit&utm_content=gizmodo
Happy Gaming!