Genre Police: Making Mistakes

Girdy’s note: I skipped this article by mistake, putting Pacemaker after All Adventurers Welcome. This article should follow from All Adventurers Welcome. Sorry!

Now, back to Ben…

Last time, I talked about ideas you could put into your game to help foster an inclusive table that represented all peoples. I discussed decoupling narratives and how we can change and challenge stereotypes.

But I just want to take a moment to look at where and how it could fall down. Let’s see some areas we need to look at and consider.

As with the last article, I want to re-state I have had this as request, I am not an expert on this and operate from a position of some (but not total) privilege. So please take that on board.

Representing Truth Vs Comfortable Experience

One of the reasons I worked to talk about decoupling narratives in games is that in a fantasy game, it’s easy to sidestep and change things so that people with different cultures are all on a level playing field. But what happens when we move to a setting based on a historical Earth?

Take, for example, a game like 1920s Cthulhu, where racism would have been quite prevalent. Imagine the players are in an urban area, and you have a player of African-American heritage playing a character who looks like them. Do you;

1. Have some establishments displaying signs that say they aren’t allowed in? This is historically accurate, doesn’t ignore an important struggle but could alienate and other that player.
2. gnore this entirely and let the players move around without the historical barriers to access? This seems like a comfortable experience for the player, but maybe they feel like you’re sweeping a real-world struggle under the carpet.

The obvious answer seems to be ‘keep an open channel with your player’, but sometimes players feel differently about what side of things they fall on. So you’re going to have to keep the dialogue open with all players.

This can apply in lots of ways too. Some players may want a world where they are freed from the struggles having a certain protected characteristic brings them in real life. Others may want a place where having that characteristic brings them conflict with close-minded individuals, their environment or life – but that they overcome.

It’s important to keep the player in mind. Work out if they want things to be challenging or not. Inclusivity is about listening to people and believing their lived experiences. And the player will let you know. I know I am saying it over again, but I’ve heard enough horror stories where people just sling slavery or racial slurs into their fantasy adventure without thinking about it. I feel it needs to be re-stated.

Pedestalling Difference

Ok, so years ago, I read a sentence in the Marvel SAGA RPG that left me with very complex feelings. The game was trying to educate me about its take on disability (not that it was the games place to do that, but still). It is as follows ‘Charles Xavier is interesting because he struggles against his wheelchair, not because it defines him’.

On the one hand I applaud what the game was trying to say – a person with any kind of characteristic shouldn’t be defined by that characteristic alone, we touched on this in the last article. But in defining a character by their struggle with their characteristic is basically the same thing. When we touch on people who are differently-abled, it’s easy to see them as people who mainly struggle against something.

We can turn a difference into a ‘special trait’ which means that we other them in a different way – more like a circus attraction. And this is easy to do. Because we want to have positive representation. Charles is a generous and intelligent person with an idealistic dream. But if he was just a patron saint character who ‘struggled against’ this one thing, we run the risk of labelling him as ‘brave’ and being patronising. Some of Charles’s best traits are not hampered at all by his lack of mobility. He didn’t have to struggle to be smart. Not everything about him relates to his legs.

Imagine Charles as a PC; we can see why that’s important to recognise. Charles is a fully rounded-individual. Yes, he is brave and smart and paralysed. He’s also controlling, stubborn and uses his position in the mutant community to make decisions for others – whether they want him to or not. This is the sort of thing you should aim for when making a setting inclusive.

Avoid a characteristic making an NPC good or bad – it’s just another part of who they are. Being blind or gay or asthmatic doesn’t make you holy or anything. It’s disingenuous to assume so and puts expectations on people.

Story Conflict Vs Stereotyping

Let’s finally talk about some stuff that is quite difficult to parse. We have to be careful when using villains who have a protected characteristic.

It can feel quite truthful and honest to have a character of an oppressed or misunderstood people turn to violence when all avenues have closed. And this is a beautiful idea in many ways – a ‘villain’ you heroes can understand and empathise with. One they can maybe feel a little bit conflicted about defeating, who was maybe once an ally. Or someone who has been on the fringes of society forever and now feels like striking out at those who wronged them. But if you do this, you need to balance it out. Show that this way isn’t the only way and that all people of a certain characteristic don’t choose the worst solution. If you do it right, you can really highlight the strength of the people who choose not to strike back.

Recently in a game I ran, the players were trying to negotiate for native rights with a colonial power and had to be called away. They were a bit worried about one of the more radical native leaders because it’s likely if they left him in charge, negotiations would break down. But then someone suggested an NPC they know take over negotiations. This guy is a pacifist ex-soldier who has given up violence and is always cheerful in the face of adversity. Everyone relaxed about a complete breakdown with him in charge. But they are concerned he might give a little more up than the first guy would have. The two native leaders are of the same ethnicity and have suffered similarly but I’ve shown two different paths that could be taken. It’s made the people of this fantasy continent seem deeper and less stereotyped. No one attitude speaks for them all. The darkness isn’t inevitable or linked to their culture. It’s important to stay away from that idea.

Thank you for sticking with me through two very difficult articles to write. I hope you find them helpful and useful. I also hope that you find good ways to help your tables feel more inclusive in their content and let more people feel safe to play RPGs.

Next time we’re gonna move away from the heavy stuff for just a little bit.