Gender Identity as a Role Playing Game

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Hi all. New here.

I 'm making this game; its'    working    title is "Transsexuals: The Transition" and it's just what it sounds like. Kinda tongue in cheek, but it is a fully-fledged game, complete with mechanics, settings and what have you.

I 've started an LJ about its design, here:

http://goblinoperaltd.livejournal.com/

If you go to the first post you 'll see I call it an "interactive social comment" . Interactive in that, it's a game, right? But it's about this emotionally charged topic. So if you play the game, or, rather, just read its rules, and have an opinion on the matter of gender and sexuality (and who doesn't?) you 'll go "uh-huh" a few times, then start pointing things out and criticising it and saying "nope, that's not how things are" and whatnot.

And then you can actually play the game and get into the shoes of its characters and see the world through their eyes, compare it with the view of the world through your eyes and in a way, actively discuss the opinions emerging from the design of the game.

To give you an idea, I make use of Character Classes, which are broken up in two categories: Transgendered and Cisgendered.

Those are:

Transgendered Classes (and their abbreviations):
- True Transsexual (TS^TM)
- Secondary Transsexual (TS2)
- She Male (SnM)
- Drag Queen (DQ)
- Transvestite (TV)
- Crossdresser (CD)

Cisgendered Classes (and their abbreviations):
- Heteronormative (GOON)
- Lesbian (LEZ)
- Gay (FAG)
- Bisexual (BS)
- Eunuch (CUT)
- Chaser/ Admirer (EEK)
- Bigot - Quietly Prejudiced (BIG)
- Bigot- Vocal Critic (PIG)

So right there you already have a world view, a classification of people's personnalities. And the rest of the game's mechanics do the same, they detail a certain world view- mine, admittedly, but it's a starting point.

I 'm not sure if I 'm explaining exactly what that game is about, but maybe I don't need to explain too much; maybe it's obvious and trying too hard to explain it just makes it harder to figure out.

In any case, I would enjoy your feedback.

Er. Um. It's reasonable that you might wonder so, yes, I 'm a trannie. Sorry. It happens. Oh. And I don't have anything to do with that spam about she-male hentai a few posts below. Fer chrissake. They 're called Futanari. Spam, but do your homework, puh-lease!

Ye Goblyn Queenne

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Hi YeGoblynQueene,

I think this is an awesome idea. I have a couple questions.

Can you explain what the difference between Transgendered and Cisgendered is? How do the classes work? Do they have different abilities? What kind of things do you see a character doing? What do players do? What kind of feedback were you looking  to receive?

Also I'm working on a game that called Silence Keeps Me a Victim that's inspired by my childhood sexual abuse, if you're interested theres a couple threads that will pop up if you search, but not the one I want to point at: What is possible with game design? I imagine your motivations may be similiar to mine, and am interested if I'm correct. I also wonder if I can steal the term, "interactive social comment?" That so boils down what I'm trying to do.

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Just two quick additional thoughts:

I'm not comparing being transgendered to be sexually abuse. One is about identity the other about abuse. I'm curious if motivations are similiar, i.e., expressing something forbidden, stabbing cultural values, changing/reclaiming your own life, etc.

Also you might find Annie Rushe's, "House of Horiku" to be useful. It's a really cool roleplaying game about gender identity. In the game you play women who have been expelled from their feudal Japanese village, forcing them to join the House of Horiku. There they learn the ways of Ninjas and choose to develop their feminine or masculine sides, or learn of a more difficult secret path, the true path of the Ninja which requires delicately balancing feminine and masculine sides. It's a great game that can't be over twenty pages, but is so greatly designed that is all you need.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Clyde, hi. Sorry, I took my time to come back to you but I was following your links around the Forge to your game. And then I was trying to find a link to point you to about Cisgendered. Oh boy. If you want an outsider's insight on the world of gender politics, just have a quick look at the Wikipedia talk page for Cisgender... but have an aspirin and a glass of water handy.

No, I didn't think you were comparing being trans to having been abused as a child. They just don't compare. TG people may go through some hard situations in their lives and some become victims because they are TG but child abuse is a completely different thing altogether.

My motivation for the game? Er. Ah. Ho-hum. I 've no idea. I used to discuss all sorts of social stuff with my friends, in role-playing terms, back when we thought AD&D was crap and thank god for Vampire and Wraith... Then I spent a long time writing about transgendered issues on blogs and personnal pages I maintained. Now, TG people have this bad habbit of wanting to put labels on everything, more or less like the music industry does, as if the whole thing was, I don't know, a sort of product that had to be correctly tagged for consumer group targeting purposes. So at some point I joked that, one day, I 'm gonna make an RPG about the whole transition issue, and that I 'd put a Class for each of the TG denominations in it. All the TG character Classes are modelled after the real-world labels the TG community uses to describe its members. Of course they 're my interpretation of them and I added the CG classes- those are not necessarily named as such by TG peeps, but since I was going with classes, I thought, I mise well have enough for everyone. So, I guess my point is to just expound on my theories about gender and sexuality. In a game format. Well, why not?

I 'll publish the game as a PDF for free, at some point, probably around summer this year, once I 'm finished with university exams. If enough people read it, who have nothing to do with gender politics and get an idea of what those are all about, that's a good thing. If enough people read it who have nothing to do with role-playing and realise it's not all about butchering orcs, then that's another good thing. My crystal ball says the role-players will think it's a joke and the TGs will think it's some sort of slanderous joke. But maybe my crystal ball is just being snotty.

Mechanically speaking, no biggy. Everytying revolves around a character's Passing Gauge, which, in short, tells you how well your character can "pass" as a member of the gender they want to be. Some traits tell you how male or female the character is, some tell you how they got to where they are now, in terms of passing, what modifications they 've had to undergo in their physique, mentality and behaviour and some tell you what they think about themselves. Characters with a low Passing gauge have to take continuous "Passing Checks" when they 're presenting themselves as their "destination" gender. If the Passing Check fails, the character is "Read" as a member of their actual gender, and they experience traume which impairs their function, both short- and long- term. Eventually characters may raise their Passing Gauge enough that they don't need to check anymore. Then they might decide that, that's it, they 're complete, they 've reached their goals- or not, and strive for something more besides: love, family, to help others along their way, stuff like that.

Conflict is mostly mental and emotional, I call those "Debate" and "Drama". I want characters to have a motive to participate in both in every turn of their virtual existence. The scenarios I 've thought about usually present characters with the dilemma to wether compromise their personnal principles to grab at a chance to be more Passable, or not. I expect that there will always be some characters on either side of the moral divide, some who would be unscrupulous and ready to do anything they need for that extra body modification, and some who will hold back and think about other people around them and how their actions might affect them. So there will be conflict between those two kinds of character. In real life there's some antagonism between more and less passable transexuals, so I 'd like to generate this too. There is also a great deal of literal debate and drama in conversations between transexuals with different world-views and I 'd likt to integrate those in game play too. However, I 'm not sure that's something I can do purely mechanically- it will have to be left to the description of the setting, the tone of the stories narrated, the scenarios played and the way the players manage their characters too.

Cisgender is a word used by Transgendered people to describe everybody else, really. It's a neologism, it first appeared on the internet and it's used and understood in different ways by different groups. I 'm using it to divide the classes available to PCs from those that are not. So, PCs must be TG, while NPCs can be either TG or CG. As I said, if you want an insight into gender politics and their semantics, read any relevant Wikipedia talk pages, especially the ones under "List of Transgendered- Related Topics, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transgender-related_topics

The feedback I expect? Well, what you did. I 'm not a regular at the Forge and it's a nice surprise for me to see there's other attempts like mine, to use a game as a vehicle for expression and exploration of real-life issues. I 'd like to know more about what the results those attempts had. I 'd also like to hear any suggestions, for mechanics or setting concepts that anyone thinks I should include in the game. Unfortunately, I represent only the TG point of view... I'd like to hear the CG one. 

I 've been much more of a wargamer and cardgamer the last eight or so years, than a roleplayer, so my mechanics may look too action-oriented for a game that is not about killing stuff and levelling up. So, any mechanics ideas are welcome. As I explain on the game's blog, it's supposed to be an implementation of my gaming system, which is not only for RPGs, but that's not imperative. I mean, I have this system and I 'm making the game, so naturally they 'd come together, but if I can find a system that's more to the point of the game, then yeah, why not?

Oh, btw. No, you can't steal "Interactive Social Comment", hard as you try. Ideas don't belong to anyone but themselves- they 're free to do as they please and grow where they choose. (translation: go ahead)

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Hi YeGoblinGueen,

I think I have a much better idea what you are going for design wise. I'm still having a hard time with the actual play portion. I understand that you want there to be drama and debate, and it seems that you also want there to be an overarching goal of reaching a level of satisfaction with self. I'm completely ignorant of Transgendered culture, so I'm not understanding how we would get there if we actually sat down at the table. I understand Iwould be making passing checks, that I don't want to lose, which makes it seems that is a central feature of the game. I find it interesting that passing checks may be very similar to Voice in my game. Can you expand more on what you see characters doing? What might an opening scene look like?

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Let me first say that this is going to be a very traditional game in terms of system. I 'm in a phase, in my life, where I absolutely need to make very task resolution style mechanics (if I correctly understand how the term is used in this forum.) So, if you 've played Vampire, think of the Passing Gauge as a kind of Humanity/The Beast thing. Remember Frenzy checks and how you lost Humanity if you failed them? That's what the Passing test is all about really.

There's two other gauges rating the character's appearance and general presentation as Male or Female. They go up and down when the character succeeds to acquire Modifications, all of them strictly detailed by the game rules.

That might sound horrible, but the point is that it is. That's how we see gender, as something quantifiable. Transgendered people are not much different than non-trans in that respect. Of course that's part of the comment, ie, my opinion.

Now, the actual play. No such thing, really, as I don't expect the game to be actually played. But to be a proper "interactive comment" it has to be playable, in theory, even if it never gets played in practice. So, here goes.

Play starts with the Sob Story. That's a three-part narrative of a character's life, prior to that point in it where the game finds them. Here's my notes about it:

The Sob Story (establishing a background for your character):
- Chapter One: Growing Up In the Wrong Body; where the budding transsexual relates the misery of a lost childhood.
> How did it all start for your character? When did they realise that they weren't just like everybody else? Describe and roleplay through, a defining moment to your character's realisation of their condition.
- Chapter Two: The Moment of Truth; where the character makes a life-defining decision: to live in the gender dictated by their biological sex, or attempt the transition into the one they feel they belong to.
> Characters will have a different start in life depending on their choice, to change or not, as reflected in their Moment of Truth. The Moment of Truth happens at an early age, between 13 and 16.
   >Characters who decide to Change during their Moment of Truth, have an early start in transitioning, represented by the Early Start Ability, bought at Character Creation; it allows them to begin the game with a higher/better Transition Level.    >Otherwise, a character starts at the bottom (unless other Abilities are bought, such as "Sex Hormone Insensitivity" and "Kleinferter Syndrome" and others) and have the Late Onset Ability. 
- Chapter Three: Looking Back Into the Mirror; where the character bitterly regrets their moment of Truth. For every character, the first scene starts with them starting at the mirror and moaning "Why Didn't I Do This Earlier?"[or something?]. Only Characters who chose not to Change in their Moment of Truth go through this.

Each Chapter is narrated through by all players in succession, before proceeding to the next. The players may ask the Narrator (er, that's the name of the GM, I didn't really know it was used in Runequest) or the other players to play the parts of
important people in episodes narrated by the player during a chapter. So, say one player is describing how their character one day ran to his mother and told her "mom, I need to be a girl" and received a very negative response. The player would first describe the scene, then speak a little about the character's mother, give a few hints to guide the mother's roleplayer, then address the Narrator or one of the other players with the words the character used, the Narrator/player would respond and the episode would be played through.

No need for rolls or anything in that part of the game, obviously. Play may stop so that a player narrating their character's Sob Story may adjust another players roleplaying of an important personnage in an episode, if they feel it's important, but I won't provide a mechanism for that, as the important part here is to keep the story going. So it will feel a bit like a first meeting of an actor troupe, where they read their parts and the director gives them a bit of guidance, with the director's role being taken up by the player whose character is going through the Sob Story at each point.

Of course player may as well make a bit of homework before the game begins, wirte a bit on the "parts" of the important people in episodes they want to narrate and pass them around, or give them to the Narrator to pass around, so everyone is a little better prepared to help with each character's Sob Story.

The important figures (er, gotta find them a name) may well appear during the post- Sob Story play. They would normally be played by the Narrator, but if a player enjoys having played one of them during the Sob Story obviously they can ask to keep playing them in later encounters too.

After the Sob Story is done, the game begins. It's the Narrator's responsibility to have a story to tell, in which the characters can be brought together, to face a common moral challenge. That's a straightforward quest, during which the characters will have the chance to find the resources to begin acquiring Modifications.

OK, to give you an idea, I have this scenario idea, where a group of doctors have come up with a bunch of "revolutionary" techniques, as a result of which a man has been successfully transplanted with a uterus and ovaries and then inseminated, by his own sperm- he retains his male anatomy too. This causes no end of protests from just about everybody and their little sister. The "mather" is taken into protective custody by the government (the story takes place in the UK) after religiouis extremists threaten violence against her. The characters are brought in because they 're friends with the mather and the government wants them to convince her to change her mind and not have the baby, or at least get rid of her male genitalia, who seem to be aggravating the religious groups even more. In return, the government offers to grant the characters a special status of recognition of their chosen gender, where they would be given a completely new identity, as if they were in the witness protection programme. There is a strong hint that their actual Modifications, including their Operation, will be covered by the state. Then, a representative of the Curch of England offers the characters some actually altruistic-looking incentives: the church is prepared to allow marriage between a man or a woman who has had sex reassignment surgery (that's the PC term for sex-change) and a partner of the now-opposite gender. That's tantamount to recognition of transexual people's new gender by the church- it's actually a wish for many real world TG people.

So now the characters must chose to betray their friend, for their own good, or for something that might actually benefit the whole TG community (their recognition by the church). They could negotiate further such benefits too. Or they may choose to send them all to hell, stick by their friendship or just stand by her rights to well, womanhood and motherhood I guess.

Now, during a scenario like that, characters will have to go out into the world and interact with people. For some TG people, at some point in their life this is little different than getting ready to go through this big gate at the end of the dungeon, where they know the Lich's throne room is. Like a party who would cast all their buffs and drink all their potions, cross themselves then barge in, those TG people have to go through a lengthy perparation: put on their make up, then their wig, then the day's outfit, chosen with scientific methods (joke); then spend a lot of time checking their appearance in the mirror and rehearsing their mannerisms and testing their voice- stuff like that. This is where the Passing Test comes in. Before "Going Out" a TG character will make a few rolls to determine how well they 've done in all those preparations. Then, the moment they step out of their house, or the moment someone lays eyes on them, they start taking Passing Tests. One every time they 're in a new area, one every time they meet someone new, one every time they speak or otherwise interact with them. Gruelling and as I said, it's not intended to actually be played- it's supposed to convey the feeling of constant anxiety TG people go through at that stage in their lives, where every step they take in the outside world... well, it's a bit like the tale of the little mermaid; they 're walking on knives.

Part of the game should be personnal side-quests for each character. As the main story unfolds, the characters are constantly trying to find access to the surgeries and other treatments (all of them Body Modifications) which they feel they need to present themselves as members of their destination gender successfully - and without having to go through the Passing Test at every point.

That's where they come into contact with the Gatekeepers. They 're the members of the medical community who will evaluate the characters to see if they 're elligible for the various treatments, then administer said treatments. Now that is the equivalent of, well, encounters- the Gatekeepers are the dangerous monsters the character must defeat, in order to reach their goals. I 'd like to expound on that, but this is already running long, innit? It involves Debate and Drama rolls against the Gatekeepers. If the "encounters" fail consistently (and a character may need to meet the same Gatekeeper a number of times before they are allowed any treatment) they are shown the figurative door; then they have to find some other way to get their Modifications, usually illegal ones (like black market hormone treatments, or shady plastic surgeons, or street cutters.) 

Of course, Conflict may happen between the player's characters too. Some TG Classes aren't that well behave towards each other. I might also come up with a way to put some detail about internet forums and chatrooms in there, because they figure prominently in the lives of many TG people.

You 'll have to take my word for it, but all that stuff about the Passing and the Gatekeepers, is part of the standard life experience of the average TG person. The Sob Story too. I 've been in forum discussions where every participant literally goes through that; one starts with "I grew up... " and then the others relate their childhood, and then someone goes "I knew I had to do something when..." and it goes like that.

Anyway, that's that.

No offense meant to you Clyde, but I guess this isn't really people's cup of tea, around here eh?

[YeGoblynQueenne]

No offense meant to anyone, that is. I was looking for the edid button, btw?

[Simon C]

Hey, I just wanted to jump in with a message of support for what you're doing here.  I think you're right in your assumption that "traditional" game mechanics often don't get people very excited around these parts, but speaking for myself, I'm very interested in the idea of what you're trying to do here.  The metaphor you're exploring, that "class" in the rpg sense (with all the difficulties and artificial restriction that implies) can stand in for "gender identity" as it is often perceived (with corresponding artificial restrictions) is apt.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this.  I think that given the themes that you're exploring, using a more traditional style of rules is a design choice that makes sense.  You're not using them becasue you think it's the best way to do it, you're using them becasue of the way they put artificial restrictions on the characters.  Working against the rules is part of the play experience.

If I get what you're trying to do here, it's in many ways a vary non-traditional game. 

I have a question.  When I first read your initial post, I didn't get the idea that cisgendered and transgendered classes were essentially npc and pc classes, and I saw interesting opportunities for "cross class" characters.  Someone who is both transgender and gay? Someone who is transgendered and homophobic? Is this something that you want to explore in your game? I can see opportunities for really challenging the class system in the game, and the system of "labels" that your game is about.

Good luck! Please don't interpret slow responses here as lack of interest. 


P.S. The "Edit" function is disabled in these forums, for reasons perhaps best explained by someone else.

[hardcoremoose]

YeGoblynQueenne (that's one heck of an alias, isn't there another name we could call you by?),

I don't know how much interest this subject holds for The Forge in general...as Simon points out, posting here is slower than in other places, and I sometimes think this forum gets the shaft anyway. I don't think it's because the subject matter is uninteresting.  I'll admit, though, describing your game as Vampire with trannies isn't going to win many admirers here.  It doesn't grab me, and I have a vested interest in the topic.

The fact that you don't actually expect people to play it is probably a mark against you too.  But I think there is a playable game in there somewhere.

You seem to focus on the whole "passing" issue (and paralleling "passing" to Vampire's Humanity is brilliant in a sad, ironic way that people outside the community might not get*).  But on a couple occasions you allude to this notion of pursuing your gender agenda at the expense of everything around you, and to me that's a little more interesting.  It's very real, that's for sure.  I personally have been struggling with my gender identity for the past two years (which partially explains my semi-sabbatical from The Forge), and I know that with each new step forward, there's risk involved.  When I pierced my ears I had to wonder if this was the day the people at work would finally put it all together (they didn't, but I outed myself to them shortly thereafter anyway).  Every foray I make to a public place I wonder if this is the time some bigot jumps me in the parking lot and beats me to a bloody pulp (it hasn't happened yet, although a bouncer at a local club took exception to me using the women's room recently).  And almost every day I wonder if this is the day my wife will have had enough (today was not that day).

Retroactively, we usually say we never had a choice in those matters.  With transsexuals that may be particularly true.  But at each moment, we had a decision to make...we were risking something to get something.  I don't see why a game couldn't put forward a system of rewards that took both sides of the equation into account and made those moments the significant parts of play.  Certainly, things like relationships and jobs and personal safety would be more relevant to a game like this than Strength or Dexterity. And it seems to me that, rarely and with luck and persistence, a character should be able to have his cake and eat it too (Example: Popular TS writer Jennifer Finney Boylan successfully transitioned with only one significant interpersonal loss - her sister refuses to this day to talk to her - but preserved her marriage, her relationship with her children and mother, and her job and career).  But what I'm evisioning here is a radically different kind of design than what you're thinking about.

* It's my stance that "passing" is more important to the trans-community than it is to the public at large.  I'm 6'6" and not graced with a girlish body; I don't pass, yet I make a habit of visiting all sorts of  mainstream places.  Restaurants, malls, salons, bars, clubs, movie theaters...I consider very few venues off limits.  I'm no mindreader and I'm not saying people who see me don't think negative things, but by far the greatest source of prejudice and negativity I've experienced has been from the community itself.  Passing is the barometer upon which trannies judge other trannies, and although this isn't exclusively so, it's generally held that the more passable you are, the better person you are. 

[YeGoblynQueenne]

If I get what you're trying to do here, it's in many ways a vary non-traditional game.

Yes you are and you took it a bit further than I was going with it to boot.

Also as I said, I 'm going through a phase and right now the alternative rule systems that I see are en vogue in the Forge are not my cup of tea. So it had to be my pet system (designed for a wargame originally) or d20. Oh, that would have been a site to behold...

Truth is, for many TG people, life is a constant struggle; so slapping a wargame engine on this made perfect sense to me. Gender and sexuality are a minefield of rules, unwritten and unspoken, but rigidly adhered to by most people, who can get pretty militant about them. This is so not unlike Elves snubbing Dwarfs or Dwarfs hating Goblinoids or what have you. In fact, it's just like that: it's a game that people play; only one that can hurt them bad. So it's not funny and it's very restrictive and it feels unreal from where I 'm standing.

Having Classes is definitely the way to go here, even if everything else should change form the ground up. Classes are character studies based on stereotypes. They are indispensible for what I want to say. They are what I want to say.

That said, you 're right, there should be Class mobility. So what I 'm going to do, is I think, dissolve the two class groups and use something like the Warhammer Fantasy RP Professions, like I mentioned. So each class will have an an exit class, and some will have an entry class too. A character could start as a Heteronormative straight male and eventually become a bisexual She Male. As you imply, there shold be cross-classing too, transexual gays and so on. And I have to allow CG player characters. It will take a bit of reworking, but if I don't do it that way, it's just wrong and incomplete. Oh, and I 'm thinking of changing "Classes" to "Stereotypes" but I want it to be perfectly clear what they are in mechanical terms, so we 'll see about that. Anyway, thanks for the galvanic shock there. Please do it again.

Hardcoremoose. Oh, so that's an easier name, is it :p OK, call me Clarabelle if you must. Just off the top of my silly head, you understand.

Now, first a warning: please tread lightly around me and my game. I intend to express myself in no uncertain terms regarding the stereotypes of the gender comunity and some of my opinions may be offensive to people. Please don't be one of them. Please? It's only a game... (yeah, right)

Vampire with trannies? Well, what about Vampire with shemale lesbians?  Transvestidos Vampiros Lesbos! That's sure to sell. Oh, OK, I 'm being silly again.

I think I know what you mean about choices. Let's see an example. So Sarah is looking herself in the mirror and thinks how she' ll look like a boy; then she touches her blugling belly, thinks of the son she's expecting and fears he might be better of with one dad only and at least one mom. So now she's got to make a choice; if she decides to transition, she's rewarded by realising her gender destiny (kinda weird neologism there). Mechanically, she'd gain some advantages and disadvantages- Passing Tests no less. If, however, she chooses not to transition, she is rewarded with a chance to have her son grow up as any normal baby boy, in a normal family- well, she's rewarded with normality, without unwanted complications, right? Mechanically again, she gets some benefits- for one thing, she doesn't have to take the Passing Tests.

Well, that's really up to the player to decide, isn't it? I don't want to force characters to make particular choices. They should be able to stay part-time, or even postpone their Transition indefinitely. A character could be TG and try to hide it, or even deny it. But of course they would have to pay the price for that too. But nobody has to take a Passing Test unless they are actively trying to pass, that's for sure. 

I was thinking today that this game is not going to work if it doesn't show the characters into real-real life situations, like, what you said, coming out at work, telling your family, all that. I mentioned how characters will try to earn the resources to get Modifications- well, I 'll need to include that too won't I? How TG people get their monies, where do they work, do they lose their job, do they end up on the street, do they fall into addictions or manage to stay on top? The scenarios I 'm thinking of are generally extraordinary circumstances with symbolic value, sort of like parables -and also useful to relieve the players of the misery of the day to day grind, but the grind should be there for the charactes and it should affect their Transition.

The fact that you don't actually expect people to play it is probably a mark against you too. But I think there is a playable game in there somewhere.

I 'm trying to be realistic here. How many people do you actually see playing this? To put it this way, you 're TG and a gamer; of all your friends belonging to either group, exactly what is the crossection? For me, it's 0, where I live, maybe 1 online. So, I repeat: this is going to be a perfectly playable game- only nobody's ever gonna play it. Except me and a friend perhaps...

Anyway, I 'm fine with games designed just for the joy of design. I was expecting this to be more acceptable here. For some reason. Oh, ::shrug::

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Yes and what you say about passing and how tg people use it as a blunt object against each other is spot on and it's a major source of Conflict in my game.

Which needs an actual name, btw.

[Simon C]

I think that whether or not people will play your game is a bit of a non-issue.  The important thing is, as you are currently doing, to design your game as if people will play it.  Beyond that, it's a moot point.

Oddly enough, I think that in some ways your game might be more effective in getting it's point across as a d20 port.  While I understand your desire to use your own system, there are some advantages to using d20.  Firstly, it's more recognizable.  People will pay more attention to it, and the familiar elements of d20 will make what is unique and interesting about your game stand out more.  Second, it gives you a good platform to work with, so you can focus on what you want to do with your game, without worrying about the basic framework.  Last, and I think this is the most important point, d20, I my opinion, highlights the idea you're trying to get across, of being transgendered as a dangerous game, of sterotypes being artificial restrictions on who someone can be.  That said, you'd have to do some major revisions.

The six stats would have to go.  You can replace them with your own stats, what you think is important to TG life.  You might consider what stats affect your "Passing" ability, for example.  You can put some really interesting things here, like "wealth", "social class", "self confidence", whatever you want, but my feeling is the less like normal d20 stats they are, the better.

Skills: This is a very flexible system.  You can write your own skills, and have fun with them.  I suggest writing skills more specifically suited to what you want players to do in your game.  "scathing comeback" would be a good one, or "detect sexuality". Note that "Passing" should NOT be a skill.  It's too important to make optional, like BaB in D&D.

Feats: This would be super fun.  These should be small physical or social quirks that can give a small bonus in some situations.  Perhaps contacts with medical staff, dodgy hormone smugglers or club owners would be good candidates as well.

Class: Here is the "meat" of your game.  The class abilities should be the defining feature of how characters act in your game.  It struck me while making some D&D characters one time that a character could be "crippled" by a poor class selection early in the game.  That one level of sorceror turns an effective fighter into a sub-standard party member.  I think it would be interesting to use class in a similar way in your game.  Certain in game events (such as surgery or taking homones) cause the character to gain levels in the appropriate transgender class.  Perhaps starting a new relationship can casue a character to gain levels too? Perhaps characters can lose levels too? Some levels cause an increase in "Passing" modifier, which is a blessing and a curse. 

Bear in mind this is just me talking off the top of my head.  There are definite advantages to going your own way too, and you should take this as just some ideas to consider.  Also, I'm pretty ignorant of TG issues, so I might be way off base.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

Oh my god. You're just trying to get me stoned to death, aren't you?

Look, I really don't wanna go there. It's so easy. All I have to do is change a few stats. I got Feats in my system too and "Abilities" which are just beneficial and detrimental Skills a-la merits & flaws. And yeah, they 're the fun part. Wig/ Make-Up Use, Outfit Choice, Sex Industry Employment, Intersex, Genderblurr ... you name it. I wouldn't even have to do the work with the Class progression system. Some Classes would become Prestige Classes, and that's about it. So I 'd have to change Attributes. So what? Easy Peasy.

The question is, do I want to go down in history as that ...person... who made a transexual d20 supplement? I have other games I want to design. I intend those to be actually played, but you can imagine what their reception would be like, after my first title:  The d20 TG Player's Handbook or whatever.

I 'm sorry, this might sound so lame of me, and like a cop out. But I 'm not an activist or a militant. As you said, people will pay more attention if it's a d20 supplement. That's fine, but it will be the wrong kind of attention. If I release this as my own game, people will go like "duh that's dumb" and go somewhere else to play. If it's d20, they 'll go like "Oh my god, this is horribly perverted and sick, call the police". I mean, you know how people have this tendency to believe they own something because they really like it- a band, an actor, an IP, a game?

I 'm just saying that it would be biting more than I 'm interested in trying to chew, see?

But, man, would that be fun.

[Simon C]

Heh, I understand.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

I guess it's about time I gave an example of play. Truth is I 'm used to much more tightly structured games and I have no idea how to handle something as open ended as this.

Our play group are, John, who plays the Narrator; Ben, playing Clara, a She-Male; Tim, playing Rob, a transexual preparing to begin his Transition from male to female; and Andrew, who plays Andrew, a Genderpunk lesbian woman.

The group have played a few times already. They have been through their Sob Stories and John has introduced the players to a Story and the characters to each other. Since the players live and meet in Brighton, in the UK, they have decided to set the story there.

The Story is about Evelyn, a young transexual who is having visions of another world, one which looks every bit like the imaginary world she visited when she was a pre-teen. In that world, she was a beautiful princess and had great adventures, involving evil witches, cunning dragons and cute yet heroic boy knights. This world seemed to have faded with puberty, but now it's coming back to haunt Evelyn, with a twist. She's no longer the beautiful princess. She's been cursed by an evil wizzard and transformed to a fat, ugly, hairy ogre. The knights who fought for her now taunt and humiliate her. The evil witches don't deign to imprison or try to poison her. What's worse, Evelyn is expriencing her imaginary world in visionary fits that last for hours at a time and can't snap out of it at will. She's had to leave her job. She won't see a doctor- she's afraid they 'll put he away.

Meanwhile, the player's characters have to deal with their everyday lives. Rob, a bank clerk, is trying to contact a London-based gender clinic to book an appointment with a doctor, for consultation. Clara is trying to find a job as a hairdresser or a beautician, although she doesn't really have any experience; she just wants to stop escort work, which doesn't pay anyway. Andrew is studying interior decoration at the Brighton College; he's breaking up with his girlfriend and is looking for a new place to stay.

The session begins with John narrating how each of the characters has begun their day by reading their email. A mail from Evelyn details her latest visionary trance and asks the characters to meet her at her appartment, in Preston Park. Apparently, she has something really important to say. She'll be there in the afternoon- will they please, please come?

John addresses Tim first:

"You keep calling the Gender Clinic, but nobody seems to be there to take your call. Queen's "I want it all" is playing on your receiver. From time to time, a polite female voice informs you that you should hold the line- you are in a priority queue. This has been going on for half an hour and you 've already been disconnected twice."

Tim pretends to hold the receiver on his ear, while checking his watch. "What the hell are they doing? Are they gonna pick it up today?"

John nods that probably not.

Tim makes a frustrated noise and acts out how he puts his hand on the phone switch.

"Just before the signal is lost, you hear someone pick it up from the other side"

Tim sits up and talks into his hand/receiver. "Hello? Hello! I 'm calling to see Dr. Reid!"

"The line is dead. Too late."

Showing Rob's distress on his face, Tim punches numbers on an imaginary dial "I 'm calling them back, now!" he says.

"You hear the message that you 're on a queue again. And 'I want it all', of course".

"I don't care" Tim says. "I 'll wait. My shift doesn't start until 13:00"

"It's now 10:00." John indicates "You keep trying until it's time to get ready to go to work, but nobody answers"

"Now what's the chance of that?" Tim complains. "I know there's someone there, they picked it up before, they can do it again"

"Try calling them in real life, Tim" he says. "I was calling them last week, to do some research for the game. If it wasn't for that stupid message, I 'd have thought they 've closed down." He shrugs apologetically. Tim harumphs.

"OK, I 'll get ready to go to work" he says. "I might answer Evelyn's mail from there, if I have time".

John nods. He turns to Ben. "It's still 9:00 for you. You 've just read Evelyn's mail. What do you do?"

"I 'll try to find her on MSN to see what's she up to"

"She's Away" John wags a finger "Didn't you have an interview today?"

Ben slaps Clara's forehead "Shit, I forgot. The Star Studded Scissor! It's for 10:00 and it's at the other end of town! I barely have time!" he turns to John "Maybe if I called them and told them I 'll be late?"

John shrugs. He turns to the other two players. "What does the Consensus think?"

"No way" says Tim. "It will make a bad first impression. I mean, you can do it, sure, but it' ll drastically reduce your chances to get the job".

"Oh, come on, it's just a hairdresser's for elder gay men who like to get weird haircuts" Ben complains.

"No, I agree, it doesn't matter. It's still a buiseness; the manager must have seen his share of inresponsible prospective employees too".

Andrew's vote seals the verdict. Clara must make it on time at 10:00, as per her original appointment, or her chances to get the job will suffer.

"All right" says Ben "I 'll get her ready. How long do I need?"

"What are you doing?" asks John.

"The works, mate! I 'm going for an interview, right? I 'll put on the big red wig, the golden dress and the white vinyl knee-boots. And tons of foundation. I got those new false eylashes, they got little sparkly bits on them and..."

Everybody in the table is laughing politely, more or less.

"Ben, scuse me mate, but you 're trying to get her ass off the escort circuit, not find her a job in the bloody circus!"

There's more laughs.

"Oh, shut up" Ben purses his lips. "She's trying to show that she's not a stranger to avant-guarde fashion, that's all."

He smiles sheepishly. "Only, 'm afraid she is, really".

John nods graciously. "All right then. Make your Feats rolls and mark the results" he hands Ben a bit of paper out of a post-it bundle. It's shaped like a strawberry. Ben eyes it suspiciously. "It will take you half an hour to get everything ready."

"Half an hour?" Tim protests. "That's awfully fast, even for a professional, isn't it?"

John waves him away. "You 're just being jealous you can't go out looking that dashing yet, now shut up." Tim guffaws.

John turns to Andrew. "After Evelyn's email, your day has gone from success to success. You 've managed to pour your coffee all over Eva's couch- the white linen one-"

Andrew goes silently "ouch"

"Eva has stomped off and barricaded herself in her room. You can hear her swearing in Spanish, at the top of her voice. You can make out a few words she has taught you: Mother, Milk, Defile and others"

"'Defile'?"

"Well, more like 'fuck'. I was playing the profanity down. It's her tone of voice that tells you she's really pissed off at you."

Andrew scratches his head. "OK, I 'll go and knock on her door".

"You do and you hear a screech like from a rabid banshee. She tells you to fuck off."

"Right, OK, I get the message. Uh. I 'll go for a walk at Churchill Square, wait for her to cool off." says Andrew.

"Yes, you'd better. There's still the matter of the unpaid power bill. You're having a hunch that it's better if you discuss that when she's a bit calmer" says John.

"Shit, I 've messed up, haven't I?"

Ben and Tim nod gravely, in unison. "Yes" says Tim "No way you 're getting back with her. Sorry. You were irresponsible and immature."

"Hey it's his fault" Andrew points a thumb at John "He's the one who insisted I should take an Emotional Strength Check to see if I would fall for that Greek boy."

"Yes, but that's not how your character sees it- or Eva!" says Tim.

Andrew nods. "Fair enough. So I go out. Do I need to make a Passing Test?"

John goes "Yep. It's 9:30. The shops are full of people and so are the streets. What are you wearing btw?"

"Hmm, let's see. From top to bottom, the trademark green-and-fuschia spiky mohawk, piercings and more piercings, a black denim jacket, a torn Burzum T-Shirt patched up with pieces of a Madonna back banner, a pair of stretchy black jeans... er, they 've faded to grey a bit... they 're cut short, just under the knee. You can see my unmatched striped stockings, one black-and-red, the other yellow-and-blue. And my goth spaceman boots. Oh and suspenders. And my lilac tutu."

Ben sniggers "Oh that's so passable. Maybe you should go looking for a job yourself, looking like this."

Andrew winks at him.

"A tutu?" asks John, a bit more seriously. "Are you even trying to pass as a boy?"

"I was hoping the fact that I 'm wearing a tutu would make people think I 'm an effeminate boy trying to pass off as a butch girl." Andrew explains.

The group stares at him.

"Hey, I'm a 'genderpunk', remember?"

John raises an inquisitive eybrow towards Tim and Ben. They shrug and make gestures to show it's OK, let him have it if he insists.

"Allright, you have to make a lot of Passing Tests. Let's start with the crowd on the streets. Give me a roll for the people from your house to Churchill Square."

"Why, what changes after Churchill Square?"

"Nothing, it's arbitrary. There's not enough info on it in the damn rulebook. Now roll!"

Andrew makes his check and fails.

"They know you 're a girl." John declares. "How do you feel about it?"

"Does it really matter?" shrugs Andrew "I 'm a genderpunk!"

John shakes his head "No, you were trying to pass. You even had a cunning plan, Baldric-like. Mark off a point of Anguish."

Andrew grumbles but complies.

"Now give me a Passing Test for Churchill Square. +2 to your Taget Number."

"Huh? Why?"

"There's a primary school visiting the Lego store there." John says. "Some of the kids think you 're Ronald MacDonald. Their teacher is very embarassed and tries to usher them in, but there's too many of them to just herd away quickly enough. One little boy stares at you and goes 'she's aguurll; The other little monsters are gonna take up the chant if you don't pass your Test."

"Failed."

" All the kids start chanting 'she-es -ay - gu-rul'  You get two Anguish."

"Man, that's stupid. I 'm a bloody Genderpunk dammit. I 'm not supposed to care about societal perceptions of gender!"

I hope this helps a bit. I thought I 'd better concentrate on the parts that are unkown quantities -to me, for a start. You 'll notice I don't give an example of Conflict, it's just like Combat, with back and forth between the characters trying to hurt each other, so it should be easly to understand. I give an example of the Passing Test and a hint to how the players will have the power to vote for or against another player's decisions, if they think they 're out of character or improbable. The Narrator has no vote in the matter, but instead, has a veto, so he can keep the players on track with the Story. Er, I 'm sure someone has done this before, somewhere. But, um, who? And how?

I also give a little info on how TG characters Prepare for their trips to the outside world, with make ups and wigs and outfits, as per their individual needs. And tastes, let's not forget. Rob's part, with the endless phone call at the gender clinic is an example of the frustrations some characters have to go through at the beginning of their Transition- actually, throughout it. Normally Rob should have got some Anguish from it (but I forgot it and I was getting in my stride with the EoP). 

I also wanted to hint on how the Stories narrated may sometimes have mystic/fantasy/supernatural themes, but ones symbolic of the whole Transgender experience. In the case of Evelyn, her childhood fantasy is turning on her, to punish her for betraying her dream of being a beautiful and unique snowfl... princess and instead compromising and living in the real world, where she had to undergo hormone therapies and surgeries and all sorts of horrible Modifications; in short, the trauma of growing up in the real world, where' "You 'Re A Man/Woman Now".

I hope this makes things a little more clear. I guess it did to me. It's a nice idea, I 'll use it more in the future. I mean, I didn't really need to do all this when I was just making... er... never mind.

So, um, thoughts?