Beyond the Binary: Nonbinary and Genderfluid Characters & Players

Sat Oct 13, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Brie Sheldon, DC, Jason Tasharski, Krin Irvine, Venn Wylde
Seminar
California A (Panel)
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Description:

Pronouns, presentation, and perception are all part of the realities nonbinary and genderfluid people work within at the game table, and in game fiction. How do you approach nonbinary or fluid characters when developing NPCs and character types? What are the best ways to approach welcoming new players respectfully and genuinely? Nonbinary and genderfluid people will talk about how they want media to represent them, and how they want other players to treat them, with a few tips on creating a welcoming environment for gender diverse players.

Brie Sheldon is a designer and editor of roleplaying games, a games journalist, and creator of the Script Change RPG toolbox. They have worked on live action and tabletop games including Let Me Take a Selfie, Of the Woods, Firefly Smuggler’s Guide to the Rim, Masks: Halcyon City Herald, and Bubblegumshoe. Their Thoughty site hosts their numerous interviews with game designers, artists, and creators, as well as articles on game theory and design. Their current projects are Turn, a tabletop game about shapeshifters in small towns, and a web series called Leading with Class, teaching leadership using concepts from games. Their work focuses on community, identity, being better – and asking questions.

David (DC) Collins is a game designer with a focus on urban fantasy. Exploring how fiction and reality can learn from one another is their main goal. Their current project, Mutants in the Night, dares to venture through that territory by granting the marginalized the power to fight back with the very mutations that society deems inhuman. DC lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, and focuses their energies on online community growth.

Jason Tasharski is a roleplaying game designer. Their current main project is Stand in Defiance, a game about relationships, desire, intimacy, violence, and the wrath of queer Etruscan gods. Their work relies on fostering players’ creativity and provoking questions about how we view each other and how we relate to power. Jason lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is most easily found on Twitter.

Venn Wylde and Krin Irvine are a couple of nonbinary game designers. They have made some games exploring experiences surrounding nonbinary gender identity, which you can find on their company’s website, Wildvine Games.