To celebrate getting half-way through the March character creation challenge, this is a special entry in collaboration with my amazing wife Hiria Dunning! We created the protagonists from her work-in-progress queer romantasy series The Pirate Queen for Thirsty Sword Lesbians!
I've heard about Thirsty Sword Lesbians but I've never read it or played it before. It's a multi-award winning game about queer drama and swordplay. However, it has a fantastic 'Sapphic Reference Document' which seems to have the complete text of the game, free online! You can find it here: https://poweredbylesbians.com/
Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a 'Powered By The Apocalypse' game, which means it uses set character 'moves' to emulate a specific genre of story. Each move involves rolling 2d6 and adding the appropriate modifiers; a 10+ is a critical success, a 7-9 is a minor success, and a 6 or less is a failure. Characters are defined by playbooks, which are character stereotypes. Instead of being about what a character can do, they're more about shaping a character's dramatic conflicts and story arcs. In addition, TSL has rules for Strings, which are relationship ties between characters. You can use these strings to influence the other character or develop the relationship to gain experience points. In addition, every character can become Smitten with another character, where you have to state why this relationship is fraught with drama! Another feature I really like is how using safety tools in the game, even just checking in how people are feeling, is mechanically rewarded. There's a new tool called the Palette which is about adding the sorts of elements people do want to use, which sounds really good as an addition to the typical X-Card and Lines and Veils.
I've played other games which have wanted to use these sorts of tropes but haven't delivered to my satisfaction. TSL centres character and relationship so effectively, I think it looks absolutely amazing and I want to buy a hard copy ASAP. I'm massively, wildly impressed. (It also helps that we just started watching She-Ra on Netflix at the moment, which is amazing and basically the platonic ideal of a TSL game.)
Character Creation: We created two characters, Kallista Audax and Eugenia Philistos, who are the protagonists of Hiria's stories. Character creation is very simple: you choose your playbook, and then make a few choices or fill in a few details. And since this was a special one, we broke out the glitter pens!
Captain Kallista Audax is the Pirate Queen. She defected from the navy after a fascist and misogynist regime took over the government. Her ship harries the navy and protects those who are no longer valued by the state. Kallista takes too much upon herself, drives herself too hard and holds herself to impossible standards. All of this is a perfect match for The Devoted, which is a sort of paladin-like champion of a cause. We've called it 'social justice' for lack of a better phrase. She also has to define how she struggles with her own ideals. Kallista has problems with establishing healthy boundaries with the crew (she can be too formal), with doing crimes, and with risking her crew's lives for the cause.
All characters choose their Aesthetics, which is their demeanor, attire and sword. Kallista is Commanding, wears a modified naval uniform, and uses a standard-issue sword. We also choose one of two stat-lines and then modify it. Kallista's very good at Daring (sword fights and swashbuckling) but weak at Heart (emotional awareness).
Next, we get our Playbook Moves, which only Kallista can perform. Kallista gets abilities about self-sacrifice and self-denial: she can take Conditions (emotional damage which leads to destructive behaviour, which TSL uses instead of hit points) for other people, and she can give herself a huge bonus when defending the cause (or Geni, with whom she's Smitten - more on that in a moment), based on how emotionally fraught she is. She gets to pick two more Playbook Moves: For The Cause lets her inflict more conditions upon the opponents of social justice (or Geni) in a fight, at the cost of taking conditions herself; The Power of Conviction lets her entice people by talking about how great her cause is, so she can convince people to defect to her side.
Every character also has their Truths of Heart and Blade. The first is about being Smitten and has a question about why this love cannot be! Kallista's is called 'My Heart Is Not Mine To Give' and is about how her duty must come first. In her case, Kallista feels she can't be with Geni because it's a breach of military protocol, even though she's the only person who cares about this (or maybe especially though...) The second has special questions that Kallista can ask someone if she Figures Them Out during a fight. Kallista's are about interrogating someone's convictions.
Doctor Eugenia Philistos is a nun whose order combines spiritual and scientific medical practices to help those in need, especially women. She's travelling the Isles to secretly obtain a herb used as a contraceptive, which has just been made illegal. Geni already has two children, and she's very worried about their futures under the new regime. After she has a one-night stand with Kallista, she winds up being inadvertently abducted when Kallista is forced to flee the authorities, and eventually decides to join the crew.
We decided that Geni is an example of The Matriarch, a playbook from the supplement Advanced Lovers and Lesbians. The Matriarch is responsible for the wellbeing of a community. Geni has two communities - her order, and her family. She can call upon them for help, but she must also track their Needs and will have to divert to aid them - which is exactly what happens in The Pirate Queen. Geni has a strong Spirit, which helps keeps her safe even if she has to deal with the corrupting influences of the government, but she's not a fighter and has a low Daring. She has a Calming Demeanour, likes wearing Practical Gowns, and fights using a mystic 'sword' (she doesn't actually have a sword, or fighting at all, but she does have some magic.)
Geni's mandatory Playbook Move is A Family Is Community, where she can give or take emotional Strings when people help or hinder her family. She also picks Family Recipe, where she can find out about other people's families, and Strong In The Real Way, where she can encourage people and form emotional connections with them.
Finally, there are Geni's Truths of Blade and Heart. She has to say why the person she's smitten with could be bad for her family - Kallista is dangerous and people she loves might get swept up in her revolution and not keep their heads down. (Again, this literally happens.) Her other special power is to ask people about their families and their emotions during a fight.
Final Thoughts: It was an absolute joy creating these characters. We remarked more than once how perfectly the options reflected the characters and their values, choices and emotions: it was like Thirsty Sword Lesbians was custom-made for The Pirate Queen. This game looks so stylish, so focused on exactly what I like in RPGs, so joyful... just so very, very good. I'll be buying a print copy on sight, and I want to run it (or play it!) more than any of the other games I've gone through so far for this series.
You can find Hiria's website here: Hiria Dunning – kaituhi // author, playwright, game writer Follow her on BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/hiriadunning.bsky.social
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