Since the initial publication of Dungeons & Dragons (TSR, Inc.) in 1974, a small but substantial body of academic literature has grown around the phenomena of tabletop role-playing games (hereafter TTRPG/s). Predictably, a portion of this academia has also looked at queerness in TTRPGs: namely, cataloguing how queerness is and has been historically represented in TTRPG sourcebook rules and design. While the quest for representation is a worthwhile endeavour, it is not the only thing that the intersection of queerness and TTRPGs has to offer us. Research is now turning to facets such as queer systems and mechanics, which I’ve contributed to by exploring queer TTRPG design in my Masters (Morris, 2022). Yet, this is still limiting. If we reorient ourselves to understand play itself as a type of queering, as well as how we can queer the action of playing (as Bo Ruberg (2018) writes), then the ways we can understand, study, and play TTRPGs become almost limitless. Like queer players have been doing for decades, academics can wait no longer for mainstream TTRPGs, their designers, and their publishers to become queer: we must queer them ourselves. Queerness becomes not just a noun or adjective, but a verb: a process of always becoming, but also undoing, existing in defiance of, and imagining more than the boxes that TTRPGs and society at large have historically tended to fit queer people and players into.  

In this presentation, I will unpack what it means to queer TTRPGs through play, which encompasses my ongoing PhD research. Using examples from Actual Plays like Dimension 20 and insights from (auto)ethnographic studies, I will discuss how different queer play strategies transform not only the game and play experiences, but have the potential to transform players, parties, and possibly the relationships between them. Drawing from a mix of academic theory and real-world play experiences, this presentation will encourage attendees to not only seek queerness in terms of representation in TTRPGs, but to think more broadly about how queerness and similar lived experiences can manifest in, influence, and ultimately transform both TTRPGs and play itself.  

This seminar will be held in EA120 (Kelburn campus).

About the speaker: Emily Morris (she/they) is a queer designer, academic, writer, Teaching Fellow, tutor, and full-time PhD Candidate at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s Te Kura Hoahoa—School of Design in Aotearoa New Zealand. Their academic interests are interdisciplinary, highlighting queer theory, feminist studies, (tabletop role-playing) game design, play, visual narratives, fan studies, and transformative works, alongside design studies more broadly. Her upcoming games can be found at Splice of Life Games, and her academic blog can be found at Queer TTRPG Studies. 

About the chair: TBC

This seminar is part of a regular monthly series organised by the Rainbow Research Network. For more information or to get involved, please contact us at rainbowresearch@vuw.ac.nz.