#in that it can't handle nonbinary as an option

[study-trash-child]

Nonbinary Characters in Polish Dubbings

It's a very short list, there's a LOT more they/them characters in media but for many, I couldn't find any dubbed scenes of, and I can't afford to purchase every streaming service ever just to watch a short scene with that character so-

Onto the topic

I so stupidly enjoy finding out translation differences between languages, and what better topic that Nonbinary characters translated to a language that genders everything.

In Polish, if you say you did something, you change it depending on the gender

I was reading - czytałem (male) or czytałam (female)

I feel like it is becoming more popular to use "o" as a gender-neutral way to say something (czytałom) in friend circles but it's still faaaaaaar from being legally(?) recognized by many many other people and dictionaries.

But more on it later (kinda)

Some examples I found throught the years on how different shows handled the gendered words fir genderless/nb characters in Polish translations.

RAINE WHISPERS - The owl house

One of probably most popular characters here, Raine Whispers.

It's Disney. I think it answers a lot already.

The show already had one queer couple, why make another, Raine throught the show is using male pronouns but was voiced by a woman.

On my own note, I really was not a fan on how they changed things in the dubbing including many of the names (Amity-Anita, Willow-Witka, Flapjack - Franek)

The Collector's official pronouns are He/They but the They was simply ignored. 'Easy as that'

ANGEL and MEREKID - Craig of the creek

Never properly watched it but when we (aka my sibling and me being a parasite) had HBO I tried to find epsidoes with them to see.

There are 2 nb/agender characters in that show as far as I'm aware (for some reason I though there were 3, so sorry if there are actually 3 of them)

For one (Angel) they just used he/him.

Other episode with nonbinary kid (I believe it was merekid) is completly gone from hbo in my country.

(overall HBO has a strong problem with many episodes of shows missing, like Adventure Time missing around 30 episdoes...)

STEVONNIE and SHEP - Steven Universe

They just refer to Stevonnie as two people (we, for version that includes at least one guy. Since there is difference between polish we for only girls - robiłyśmy - and we for either girls+guys or only guys - robiliśmy - ).

SHEP

Well, uh. I believe there is some kind of dubbing for the "future" series but I don't have prime and so on so I can't confirm it as of now...Sorry :/

UPDATE: Managed to find an episode with Shep in polish dub. Shep is dubbed by a woman but the whole episode omits any kind of gendered words ("em" "am") by Shep and everyone else.

FRANKIE STEIN (G3) - Monster High

In the new cartoon and movie they are indeed referenced to as they. Even in polish dubbing Frankie uses "o" when doing something instead of just making them a girl (for both animated show and live action movie)

That's also a part of what I mentioned that the nonbinary way of speaking is becoming more 'common' in Poland.

DOUBLE TROUBLE - She-Ra

I adore them, honestly

Well, quick note or so on, their polish pronouns is He/Him (since thier body is more male presenting)

Also their name in polish is "Kłopotowski" I had no idea till now and I wish it stayed that way, I laughed

BATTLE KITTY - Battle Kitty

I so, so, soooo love this show/game (the ony interactive options is picking where you want to go next. It changes nothing in the story). It's not so popular because it's an 'interactive game' which means that many people didn't give it a chance or just skipped it but I beg you to watch it. Me and friend had a blast honestly. It's a 'game' so your only chance to see it is to watch it on netflix.

The main character Kitty is Agender and uses they/them pronouns which carries over to polish dubbing!

REVERSED EXAMPLE

Huuuuh, that's honestly unusual.

So-

Nimona, many loved it, it's a giant allegory for transidentity/ and gender fluidity. I watched it with my mom (hence in polish) that's why I even know of the change

In english Nimona refers to herself as a she and others refer to her as such.

!In polish though! (I will use Nimona's english pronouns)

While everyone else refers to Nimona as she (including Balister), Nimona refers to herself as they ("o"). Honestly, unusal, it took me a few takes of Nimona talking to herself to even catch that, not to mention be sure that it's an "o". So yeah, polish made a character even more queer! Honestly unusual.

Hope you enjoyed my little, not really insightful post. It's just something that I'm really interesed in thus decided to make this (albeit) short post. There's a lot of overall different language changes, including how polish really tries not to curse in trasnlation (amazing example would be deadpool 2) or other changes that are really random (spiderverse, the amazing digital circus).

Hey, maybe it will spark some interest in you too. Make check langauge differences as well, have fun! Or suffer. Probably the later one.

If you (somehow) have something you'd like me to check out translation vise, let me know and I'll try to do just that

Cheers!

Edit: Small add on, regarding the analisys.

You could probably figure it out yourself but it seema like big studios like Disney will be the ones pushing for characters to be of she/he pronouns. While smaller studios will have a better chance of character still being referenced to as they/them in other languages.

[this-is-exorsexism]

I just saw a post about how transmasc and transfem aren't labels you can "opt out of," how if you transition like this then you ARE transmasc and if you transition like that then you ARE transfem, whether you like it or not. Because it's just a "fact" about your transition, not an identity.

And it just made me so sad. I'm transneutral. Sure, my transition might look binary to an outside observer. Yeah, people might look at me now and see me as far more masculine than I was before I transitioned. But that's other people. Not me.

Does this count as exorsexism? I feel like it does but I'm also worried that they're right, and maybe my identity is offensive and maybe I AM lying for not calling myself transmasc. I don't know. I just feel really bad and insecure right now.

this is exorsexism.

through and through.

i'm assuming this post was by a trans person, because cis people tend to be less educated about trans terminology in the first place, and will often just parrot whatever is popular but not think of it any further.

a lot of trans people, even some nonbinary people, seem to be really invested in upholding the gender binary in its various forms. "these are the two options you have, and you cannot be neither" is just gender binary 2.0.

people want to group especially nonbinary people by our AGAB, because a lot of people can't handle the fact that us simply saying "i'm nonbinary" doesn't give them any information about our AGAB, about "where we came from" the way that "trans woman" or "trans man" does. never mind the fact that some intersex people who were (c)afab are trans women and some intersex people who were (c)amab are trans men, but these people usually aren't just exorsexist, they're intersexist too. if the term "trans woman" doesn't necessarily tell you what gender someone was assigned at birth anymore, apparently the term loses all its meaning, since everything hinges on AGAB... somehow. but i digress.

and people have definitely started using transmasculine and transfeminine as "acceptable" shorthands for AGAB language, whether they admit it or not. if you were afab, your only options are cis woman, trans man or transmasculine nonbinary, and if you're transmasculine nonbinary we treat you like a man anyway, and vice versa for amab folk.

bonus points if it all hinges on transition steps, i.e. if you were amab and take oestrogen, you're automatically transfem regardless of how you identify (and if you don't take enough transition steps you're basically cis anyway - their line of thinking, not mine).

because we're definitely dismantling cissexism by still acting as if hormones are inherently masculine or feminine. we're definitely deconstructing the gender binary by just changing the words from male and female to transmasc and transfem. (heavy sarcasm)

so much of it goes back to people really just upholding cissexism and the binary, probably without even realising it. by saying it's about "what we were born as" or about how we transition, people are just using the same violence on nonbinary people as cis people use on all trans people. just because cis people assume you're masculine, trans people somehow think it's what you want and do it as well.

transmasc and transfem nonbinary people obviously exist. it's part of many people's identity. others actually do just use the term as a shorthand to what they're transitioning from, where they're transitioning to, how they're transitioning, certain experiences of transmisia, etc. and that's fine - if you use it like that for yourself and don't force it onto others.

and people also love framing words that have a heavy nonbinary association as somehow offensive, dirty or otherwise bad. people will go so far to avoid saying the word "nonbinary", they hate the word "enby", in fact, they hate when we have any term that is more specific than nonbinary, and they also hate our trans- terms, be it transneutral, transandrogynous or the many others. they really hate when we're actually somewhat equal.

[eveningrelics]

This pride month, here is a reminder to the younger queer people out there or anyone who apparently needs the refresher:

Games that depict transphobia and homophobia realistically are not bad.

Games that refuse to pull punches when dealing with triggering material are not inherently bad.

My name is Robin. I am nonbinary, 32, game dev sensitivity reader and script editor for multiple titles, but today we're talking about one dear to my heart:

Mare is an RPGMaker Horror game about trauma.

It is covered in trigger warnings and tells you each of them extensively. On the game page, when you start. And in the read me.

Horror games about trauma will depict trauma. Feels self explanatory, no?

Well, last night, someone went across my sister's social media pages, telling her to die, because she depicted transphobia in the game.

Some major spoilers, but they'll be brief.

At the climax of the game, the Pov shifts to show that the events of the game transpired due to a suicide attempt by a transwoman named Chiyo.

In this brief gameplay segment, you have the option to interact with her PC where you can see online hate she has received, one of which is "a tranny is still a tranny".

This segment was co-written by myself and fully vetted and approved unanimously by all of us, a team composing of multiple queer and trans individuals. We are all horror fans and the realistic depiction of our struggles and the abuse we face was cathartic, but as a result, we also made it clear to not interact with the game if you could not handle heavy subject matter.

This was, ironically, the tamest version of the scene I suggested but the best one, I believe.

I should note, this scene is five hours in. After multiple child deaths, suicides, abuse, etc.

But someone came to my sister, @zmakesgames and told her she should die for including a Trans main character and portraying that they deal with transphobia.

This is not okay.

If you don’t find this type of media cathartic, that's okay, but you don't have the right to police those of use who do, especially when it's coming from an ally inspired in part by listening to the struggles of her older sibling and friends and trying to help give them a voice.

If you can not handle triggering content in your media, do not engage with media that contains those triggers, but it is never, ever acceptable to stalk or tell a dev to kill themselves because you willingly engaged with media you knew would be harmful to yourself.

If you got through this, hi, @zmakesgames is the kindest person I know and all her games are a flavor of rainbow because she is also a lesbian. Please support your queer game devs this June and all year.

Thanks.

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

why did I play wayhaven chronicles book 3

A list of grievances and observations as I played this heck of a game

Spoilers for all of it because I don't care and you shouldn't either

How is the writing getting worse. HOW IS THE WRITING GETTING WORSE. DON'T YOU HAVE EDITORS? BETA TESTERS? AUGH.

there's so much stage direction it's unbearable. people smile, smirk, chuckle, roll their eyes, shrug, scoff, groan, all of it, always, often for no reason, often to just fill word count, often so unnaturally it reads like they're all robots.

descriptions and dialogue are repetitive as fuck, and the prose quality is so poor. i feel like you could write a better game faster if you just had a better editor. or AN editor, really.

It really is a game that bit off more than it could chew so it didn't chew anything at all and just spit this back out.

I encountered like 3 major bugs in my first playthrough that would've broken the plot/game, if any choice actually mattered and the vampires didn't just swoop in to save my ass no matter what I did, so I guess no harm done ????

MAKE A SMALLER GAME THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY BOTHER TO PLOT OUT AND CODE

You can't keep bragging about how much you loooove adding variation when seemingly no or very few options actually impact anything

No seriously, the amount of times player agency is discarded just because nothing is allowed to matter is staggering (why couldn't the detective confess their love for Mason? well because it would change the dynamic uwu!)

Speaking of Mason, look how they slaughtered my boy!

I refuse to believe M is this fucking stupid, they clearly know enough about romance to realize that some other people might want more than they can offer (in fact they say this exact thing if you reject sex in book 2) so like ?? why wouldn't they be able to recognize or even entertain that that's what's going on? sorry i get not realizing initially but the longer it goes on the more annoying and less realistic it becomes

But that's a non-issue right? Because the romance develops in this book? Sure, it does, and that's one of the few good things about it, that there's visible romantic development with M at least, but it also just completely doesn't care how you approach the romance at all. If you try to approach M's romance as a slow burn, it's not taken into account. Because the game doesn't seem to track which kiss is actually your first, ANY of them could be, so they're all written as equally important, meaning none is allowed to be more important than the others

Same goes for the sex scenes. You're waiting until the best in-character moment to fuck M? Well fuck you. it'll be the same as any other. This was the first time? cool cool, the game doesn't care. headcanon your own emotional weight of the moment, asshole. first time my detective had sex with Mason was written with pretty much the same weight as any previous ones I read, and we didn't even get a morning-after scene when Mason ditches their ass. I'm sure your slow-burn, slow-to-trust, emotionally motivated detective is tottally chill with their lover leaving in the morning after they finally brought their guard down and let Mason in, right? no? well fuck you. it's a week later now and they have no comment to make.

"oh but it's sooo hard to code alll of these variations! you can't expect the writer to take your headcanons into account!" they're not headcanons. i can reject Mason's advances at every step of the way, but the game doesn't care about this beyond the next page where the rejection actually occurs. anything else plays out like it does regardless of whether it's your first time doing anything or not.

Here's a simple, cure-all solution to writing choices that are too complicated for you to handle: don't! just don't put them in if you don't honor them! DON'T FUCKING PUT THEM IN IF YOU DON'T HONOR THEM.

Speaking of fuck you, if you're playing as a nonbinary detective and you have sex with M? congrats on having ghost genitals. your "detailed" intimate scenes are so vague and noncommittal that it's difficult to tell who's doing what with what body part. it's all so vague and bland that there's really no point in picking the option at all. Pro tip, cissies: nonbinary people have genitals, too. I know! Wild, right?

What's funnier, you always get to pick if you "initiate" or not (I assume this is code for topping). But if you're NB, regardless of what you pick, you don't really find out what your character is doing, even though Mishka gave herself a perfect out to write player-based variation. Everyone's got holes, man. It's not that hard.

Basically the game insists you have sex with M ASAP because there's no material reason not to, but if you dare to be nonbinary and fuck M, good luck on figuring out that sex scene, bitch!

Rebecca is still getting so many excuses and second chances that it's getting genuinely triggering to read at times. Your character keeps having to confront her about their relationship and it's like it wants you to forgive her because it's #feelgood. Plus, if you decide not to work with her at one point, you get a shorter climax where you're a cringefail idiot who can't do anything right. If you work with her, everything works without a hitch and you get to waltz out being all cool and badass. huh? huh ? huh ???? i hope this is just something me and my pals who played this are missing and maybe there's more variation??? but man oh man the Rebecca stanning going on in the narrative is so uncomfortable :')

We really peaked with Falk. This new villain is barely a presence and doesn't even get named until like halfway into the story. We meet him once and then he's defeated.

Sin, who got a lot of hype and buildup ... is not of any consequence. He just leaves.

You don't even find out what his deal is if you go the combat training route. Oh you thought this was vital info that would be delivered to you regardless of your personal character choices? fuck you.

Addie, the face of the victims of these gruesome kidnappings? comes back at the end as a non-speaking character you never even talk to personally.

The whole entire kidnapping+human/supernatual trafficking thing is just so ... bad. It's all so poorly constructed and not thought-out at all. Why would you go here with your silly vampire detective romance? Who thought this was the place to do that?

The detective's emotional breakdown is triggered by a random nameless victim who never comes back into the story again

The detective's emotional breakdown involves them being naked in a shower with their LI. This is (in M's case, at least) never brought up again and barely has any impact on the romance (because you can avoid it, so it can't matter too much<3)

The blood drive that was set up as being a potential major issue and would maybe tie back into the alleged "main plot"? Easily avoided, explicitly in-universe boring, and literally of no consequence

After all this, after three books of being dumb as shit for no reason other than idk cringefail cheap angst? Mason confesses his love for the detective via a NEVER-HAVE-I-EVER DRINKING GAME.

NO REALLY. I'M FUCKING SERIOUS DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME I AM 100% TELLING YOU THE TRUTH RIGHT NOW

This is, of course, not touched upon at all and the detective (who, at this point, is pretty much aware they're in love with M) barely reacts at all

THE FAMOUSLY EMOTIONALLY IMMATURE HORNY SLUT CHARACTER, WHOSE REALIZATION SHOULD ALLOW FOR SO MUCH ANGST AND JOY IN ANY GOOD ROMANCE, CONFESSES THEIR LOVE VIA DRINKING GAME

honestly it wouldn't be so bad if it were acknowledged or discussed afterward or if it had any fucking effect on anything ever but it's barely even played as a joke so we can't have that! Why????

Because the book is over. if you're an M-mancer the book ends with a drinking game indirect love confession and you don't get to react to it at all

But here's a cheap stinger about the detective's relative who's totally evil and will totally be a main antagonist eventually!

did you have fun??? no?? well fuck you.

[victoriadallonfan]

hiii so english isn't my first language and i'm learning more about gender and trans stuff and if i might be trans or something (i've been told i sound agender?? but that feels wrong), and something that confuses me, so i'm asking around abt it… "woman" used to simply denote afab, right? like a body type of ppl with a biological (not surgical) vagina & estrogen puberty. like a female dog. ppl say that it reduces women to their genitals, but what about with other animals? like female cat, female horse, etc, just bc we say "oh she's a girl" or "oh i have a male dog" doesn't mean we're saying they're only their genitals in that case, right…? a bitch is just a female dog, that's why it's a misogynistic word. misogyny is based on how ppl see someone without a penis as lesser, bc they don't have the power to forcibly penetrate and feel genital pleasure for it, they can't impregnate, they're "just a hole" etc. like so much of misogyny is just body-specific. the misogyny transfems experience seems terrible but also conditional? bc if they're found out to be amab they're treated as creepy men, so they then stop experiencing misogyny, they just face usually homophobia. meanwhile bio women (and transmascs who don't transition) have no exit door to the misogyny unless they transition and pass perfectly as male or something, and historically that wasn't an option. to me man & woman have always been neutral body types until i came across trans stuff, and i think the idea of gendered brains sounds sexist af. like gender seems like bullshit, i see me being a woman as just like being a female cat, i don't have ~womanly~ vibes in my brain, i was just born female and that's the least important thing about me, but male society made it weird. why should gender continue to be a thing? what does gender actually mean, if sexism was to be eradicated? is it bad if i view my womanhood as just a body type? most cis people i've talked to view their "gender" like this, as just a body type, like any other animal. they don't "feel" like one, they just have the body and aren't dysphoric about it. they might not always like it, but they don't have dysphoria about it, so they just… are. is that transphobic? i've heard mixed thoughts about it from trans ppl & activists, i'm just curious. feel free to ignore this lol ;;

Oh Anon, I am not REMOTELY qualified to tell you how to feel about yourself, beyond the very obvious “refer to yourself how you prefer, refer to others how they would be preferred”.

Language is ever evolving and growing at a very fast rate, especially with internet culture as a whole. Gender stereotypes have changed and been challenged, and many institutions struggle to handle the growing community’s understanding of personal identity.

If you have the time, maybe see if you can find help with these websites below:

If you do need someone to talk to, please feel free talk with me.

But I think these would help you more than I ever could, or better yet, someone who has experience as a trans individual or agender individual.

[vodika-vibes]

Ok first of all, I love Yuu already. They're great. Second of all, may I introduce my own nonbinary Senate OC, Fionnwaru Hantaji?

Fio, as they're called off their home planet, is a Pantoran and Senator Chuchi's chief aid. And in my head (and maybe on paper some day, le sigh), they're in a secret relationship with Commander Thire, who got a massive respect boner, and maybe real boner, for them after they told off Lot Dodd for mistreating a corrie who was part of his security detail for an upcoming diplomatic mission.

Fio had to take a day's suspension, but it was totally worth it to them.

Anyway, Fio comes from a rich family on Pantora, but unlike them, Fio likes to work for a living. I could definitely see Fio and Yuu hitting it off and also bonding over the fact they're both dating clone commanders.

Aww, thank you! Yuu's great! My only problem is that I can't use a picrew to make them because none of them have the right hair options. And, normally, picrews aren't properly androgynous, lol.

And I can see Yuu and Fio bonding over both being non-binary. Yuu likes to bitch about how Palpatine still calls them "she" and "her" and "my dear". This means Anakin also refers to them as "she" and "her" because obviously, Palpatine knows what Yuu's preferred pronouns are better than Yuu does.

Although, Yuu would think it's hilarious that Fio is keeping their relationship with Thire a secret. Because Yuu's done everything shy of standing on the roof of the Senate building and screaming that they're in a relationship with Fox.

What are they gonna do? Decommission him? Please, Yuu handles all of that paperwork for Palpatine anyway, so the order will just get quietly shredded...just like all of the other decommission orders. They protect the Corries in their own way.

Generally by making them invaluable to Coruscant. Fox, as Marshal Commander, is now the leader of the largest battalion in the GAR...because he now leads the Coruscant Fire, Coruscant EMT, and Coruscant Police. (Not to mention Coruscant Animal Control and Coruscant Child Protective Services).

Anyway! I hope Fio likes going clubbing because Yuu loves it. They love the lights and the music and dressing up in outfits that make Fox choke on his drink, and they really love dancing. And they'll dance with anyone who shows enough interest.

[aretheywlw]

welcome to aretheywlw! 💕⚢

name is pretty self-explanatory! you just vote on whether you see xyz character as sapphic/wlw or not. GROUND RULES:

do not start shit. just don't. i will nip any kind of discourse, bait, or unnecessary conflict in the bud to the best of my ability. you come at me being rude and/or accusatory for any reason? blocked, deleted. you start acting aggressive to others over the polls, or say inflammatory shit in the notes? blocked, deleted. at the end of the day this is my blog, not anyone else's, and is just one in a sea of many others like it. if you can't handle something then i advise you to block and move on as well.

submit through the askbox! all i need is the character's name and the media they are from. attaching a canon image of the character is appreciated, but not required (but please let me know if there ARE no canon images of them). adding "propaganda"/evidence for them being wlw is appreciated, but not required. anonymous asks are off to minimize assholery, but i will answer character submissions privately and won't reveal who sent submissions unless i am asked to @ you in the post.

when i say "canon", what i roughly mean is explicit, word-of-god confirmation and/or no intentional evidence to the contrary. i am fully willing to admit that the matter of "canon" can definitely get shaky, that this definition isn't perfect, and that this is more of a guideline i'm quickly setting for clarity than what reflects the entirety of my beliefs regarding character identity status

you can submit characters who are canonically any gender! it doesn't matter if they're a woman, a man, or even nonbinary in canon. note that plenty of nonbinary people are sapphic/wlw, and i trust that any submission of nonbinary characters is meant in good faith. i will not tolerate actual attempts to misgender or erase nonbinary characters.

THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THE ABOVE is characters who are CANONICALLY transmasculine, and/or nonbinary in a way that CANONICALLY excludes womanhood (nonbinary with specifics just not given is okay, for example kris from deltarune). please don't submit characters who these apply to!

characters who are canonically lesbians or bisexual women shouldn't be submitted as every single poll option but one would become redundant. however, characters who are canonically sapphic/wlw but NOT specified as either lesbian or bisexual are more than welcome!

depending on the canon identity of the character, some options may be removed. for example, a character who is canonically sapphic/wlw will not be given a voting option that says they aren't attracted to women, and a character who is canonically transfeminine will not be given a voting option that says they aren't a woman.

if a character is NOT canonically transfeminine, you can still specify that you are submitting a transfem reading/version of the character, and i will specify this in the poll and treat that particular submission the same way i'd treat a canonically transfem one. this is different from just submitting a canonically male* character without specification, as the latter leaves room for disagreement while the former focuses entirely on the transfem version of the character - "hey, do you guys agree this character could be a wlw trans woman?" VS. "let's say this character IS a trans woman, is she wlw?" (*canonically female but not canonically transfem characters can still be submitted as transfem readings, this is just the more common scenario in my experience)

if i ever unknowingly disregard a character's canon identity in a way that breaks the rules i have set, please let me know! i never intend to do this and i will always verify as best i can, but mistakes happen.

whatever submissions ultimately go through are up to my discretion, and i don't have to justify myself. this shouldn't really be a problem, though. if i find that i don't want submissions of a particular character or series, i will simply write a clarifying post and update this point.

i am not very motivated and i have a lot to deal with and prioritize in general, so my posting schedule may be quite inconsistent. don't worry about that at all, i will always get to it eventually!

that's all for now! thank you for stopping by 🫶

sapphic divider by @aquazero! last updated: 11/14/2024

[thessalian]

Thess vs Yet More Disability Issues

Look, y'all know that I struggle with this fibromyalgia shit. With everything else, it seems almost churlish to get grumbly over how it affects my ability to play video games. But then again, video games are part of the stuff I don't have to do. Complaining about how much working flat-out because my co-workers can't be arsed to speed up and insist on leaving me with the difficult stuff? Well, all that does is depress me because my PTO is limited and an entity's got to eat. Household chores? It still has to be done; no sense in complaining about it for the exact same reasons. But, like ... I miss just going, "It's a nice day; I want to go to Camden" - or Borough Market or wherever - without assessing what kind of pain day I'm having and how over-exertion will influence the next week or so. And I miss when I could just sit down and play a fucking video game.

Eh, to be fair, some I can. I can sit down and play TerraScapes or Logic Town or even Baldur's Gate 3 for a good long while. The problem comes with a game that wants more of me than that. Quick reflexes, specific key combos, or even just too much clicky will give me issues. Hell, my one problem with BG3 is literally travelling from point A to point B because it involves moving the camera and clicking where I want to go, usually multiple times as I scout ahead and plan a route but often have to change that planned route midway through because I thought of some better order to do it in or I spotted some balsam or whatever. At least games like DA2 spare me that because I can WASD my way around the place.

But then you have Silent Hill. That's ... taxing. Hell, my current game is modded out the ass. Honestly, it's thanks to @fauxfire76 finding me a mod that allows me an invulnerable James that I've been able to pick that one back up at all and play it for any length of time. But even then, I still can't play it for too long. Why? Because stress causes fibro flares, and unfortunately, "fear and paranoia, even self-induced" has the same approximate reaction on the body as stress does. Seriously, I pre-ordered the fucking thing to be able to play it on my week off and I barely got anywhere with it because I was so wrecked, and then I had to restrict my playing to 45-60 minute chunks - partly to mitigate the fibro flares ... but mostly because it takes awhile to wind down and I still have to work.

Aaaaaaaaaand then there's Veilguard. The reviews have said it's good. ...Mostly. I think they were a little less careful with the handling of some of their inclusivity this time around. (I like how they handled Krem - didn't use the word "trans", but spelled it out very well for all that - but am not sure about anyone in Thedas literally using the word "nonbinary", as Taash apparently did. But then again, TAASH IS NONBINARY YAY.) But mostly, it's talking about the action. The action is very frenetic. When mages hit a combo, it looks like a rave. Quick-flowing fast-paced combat.

So ... fibro flare, migraine flare, fibro flare. Got it. This game will fucking kill me.

I mean, maybe it's not that bad. And no, I can't tell from streamers or let's plays because even the first gameplay trailer covering the game's prologue combat gave me a fucking migraine. Let's Plays do that more than even playing the thing does because I'm not controlling the speed and direction of camera movement so ... yeah, anyway, point is that I won't know if I can play it until I buy it. I literally will not know. Because I'm managing Silent Hill 2 with invulnerability (which I'm aware Veilguard gives us the option for) and being able to kill monsters in one hit with a melee weapon (which has come in handy for the fucking mannequins, let me tell you - at least as long as I can hit first because I can't dodge for shit in that game). So maybe I could? But what if I can't? Do I want to spend £50 on a game I can't play?

I know, I know, I've been whingeing about this for weeks, and I do feel guilty about it. I'm just having a major indecision moment, I guess. On the one hand, Dragon Age was such a help in dark times and introduced me by removes to some lovely people. It got me into fandom again, and I never thought I'd risk that again. So I want to buy the game. But if I can't play it because they went so far into the action RPG space that I'm standing here being Samwise Gamgee going, "Don't go where I can't follow!"... It's just going to be even more depressing.

So ... I either risk it and potentially find I literally can't play it ... or I don't risk it, and always wonder if I could? So ... frustration or FOMO, and depression either way.

Yeah. This is a "FUCK FIBROMYALGIA" sort of day.

[makangerous]

Visual Novel Gush #1: Gnosia

I downloaded Gnosia on a whim mostly based on that cover art, because some part of me loves well-drawn psychos trying to ruin my day. What I found was a hidden gem that, while a bit rough around the edges, finally scratched an itch I've had since finishing the Zero Escape series. Time loops, a host of colorful characters who wouldn't be out of place in one of those games, a story evolving from deceptively simple gameplay, Gnosia has it all.

The premise of the game is that you, along with your crewmate Setsu, are onboard a starship that faces an imminent threat: several crew members have been infected and had their minds taken over by Gnosia, insane aliens that will kill everyone on board until they are the only ones left. There is no quick way to tell if someone has been infected, and anyone with the means to identify them is targeted quickly. Therefore, your crew is basically playing Werewolf (or as it was called in my area, Mafia) to try to determine who the Gnosia are and put them in cold sleep. No one is safe, not even Setsu or you.

However, this is more than just a Werewolf simulator (though you can play it as such, and it's pretty fun). You can take on a variety of roles besides just a crew member: cause chaos by being Gnosia yourself, take on roles traditional to Werewolf such as Guardian Angel, or try out some interesting new roles that seem specific to this game. One role in particular competes against both the crew and the Gnosia, though will likely ally with one of those sides to achieve their goal. Gnosia calls itself a "social deduction game", and this is because unlike Werewolf game generators you may find online, your crewmates have consistent personalities and their own sets of tactics, and learning these is just as critical to winning as logical reasoning is. For instance, one character is obsessed with rationality and is very strong there, but they have a tendency to be so rude and abrasive, the crew is quick to vote them off. Another loves to use devastating emotional pleas to deflect suspicion back onto you.

Your crew starts small, but grows to a total of 15 including you. The first handful of people you meet seem relatively normal, but as more crew members are added in new loops, they become increasingly bizarre. I won't spoil it for you, but some of them really push the definition of "human" (a recurring theme in this game). They are intriguing people, though, and even after beating the game, I found myself wanting to know more about them. You can choose to collaborate with one of your choosing, as long as you gain their trust. Some of them will be your favorite allies, and you'll be mentally shouting "noooo" when they get killed or put in cold sleep. Others seem custom built to annoy you, and you'll cheer when they go away for the round.

As for the player character, you can select your name and gender: male, female, or nonbinary. (A quick aside on this game's handling of NB: your main ally and implied love interest, Setsu, is NB, and at least one other crew member also is. I'm not NB myself so I can't speak to how good the representation is, but besides one instance of misgendering and one instance of body type phobia that are both shut down quickly, the crew widely accepts the NB members' identities. However, there are a couple romantic events (for two female crew if playing as male, two male crew if playing as female) that are pretty small, but I've read you won't get at all if you're NB. They should've added an option for choosing which gender(s) you are romantically interested in.) You also choose a star sign which is mostly aesthetic, but behind the scenes slightly affects characters' affinities for you. Most important are your stats: Charisma, Intuition, Logic, Charm, Performance, and Stealth. For instance, Intuition and Logic are great for being a detective: sussing out lies and proving your point with evidence. Meanwhile, high Charm can help keep you out of cold sleep. You do have to build yourself a certain way to gain access to all debate skills, but you can reallocate stats, and in the early and mid game it is fun to play around with your build.

The story manifests itself in the repeated gameplay loops, which you and Setsu are aware of and trying to escape. Once you play through the tutorial loops, your mission becomes gathering information about each crew member, both to get to know them better and to find a way out. These tidbits are called Notes, and they are obtained during Events, which are cutscenes that play out if certain conditions are met. Some of these notes are fun, while some are dark and disturbing. By collecting these, you get a sense of the world that exists outside your spaceship, who the Gnosia are, and the motivations driving your crew. Some of these notes require protecting certain characters, or even acting against your own interests, but getting them is usually worth it.

This gets to the game's biggest flaw: finding Events, especially during endgame. I would highly suggest using a spoiler-free walkthrough once you get stuck on finding the last few notes. There is an Event Finder in the game that will tweak your settings to make it more likely for Events to occur, but there are issues with it. 1) It does not tell you which Event it thinks it found for you or the initial pre-requisites, even if it's one you've started before. 2) It does not guarantee the involved characters will have the roles you need, or take the action you need them to do to trigger the event. 3) It does not guarantee that you or the involved characters will last long enough to complete the event, so you may fail them due to the RNG being out of your control. I think this is the main reason this game isn't more popular, especially since you will likely need 100+ loops to complete the game. My suggestion is to not restart the loop, even if you fail it, because I've noticed the game starts putting some guardrails in place if you trigger then fail the event multiple times, like having the Guardian Angel always choose to protect you or outright removing the requirement to view an initial scene you've already gotten.

Overall, I'd recommend giving this a try if you like mystery, sci-fi, logic puzzles, or even just playing Werewolf.

[cosmicredcadet]

Monkie kid headcanons for fun

Red son headcanons:

Red son has bad memory and he only calls MK and Mei Noodle boy and dragon girl because he legit cannot remember their names to save his life.

Red son's glasses are shades, which aren't normal for prescription glasses which makes me think he actually uses them to control light intake due to his pupils not adjusting to light properly.

Red son has chronic pain but doesn't even realize it because He's lived with it for centuries so it's basically just the norm for him. His pain is mostly centered in his back and joints.

Red son has neurodivergent swag. Idk what kind but he sure as hell has it.

Red son doesn't like being touched. He probably has to be the one to initiate the touch to feel comfortable. (You could read this as him being touch starved but tbh i don't really read him one way or another :P)

Red son has the nonbinary swag. Source: trust me bro.

Red son can't cheat on anything. he legally is not allowed to cheat. this may or may not be related to the fact he feels the need to prove himself. Source: he tried to win the great wall race fair and square instead of just stealing the peach or cheating to win.

Red son just genuinely finds racing fun. Source: His truck literally turned into a race car before he ever had to race. he just likes going fast and building cool cars. also the fact he chose to race in the great wall race when there were other options to get the peach.

Red son has low empathy.

Red son isn't very good at comforting and instead is someone who tries to find a solution to a problem. He struggles to realize that sometimes there is no solution and some people just need comfort.

Red son is non-partnering aroace. He used to just say that romance got in the way of his work because he didn't realize that romantic interest wasn't just something you could turn on or off at will.

Red son actually doesn't have any bull-like features and he is rather self conscious about the fact he doesn't look like his father at all.

Red son is a cat person. Cats tend to flock to him due to being a living heater and he just accepts his fate and gets buried in them.

Red son doesn't know how to handle compliments or people being nice to him so he usually mistakes his confused feelings towards them with anger.

Red son is able to get "burnt out" in which he uses too much energy and his fire dies out for a while, in which he is only able to produce smoke. Usually after resting he is able to use his fire again.

His fire responds to his emotions. It can become hard to control when he is emotionally unstable.

When angry or stressed Red son turns to work. usually he will lock himself up in his room or workshop until he's calmed down or finished what he's working on.

Red son talks to himself and thinks out loud often. he finds it easier to work through his thoughts when he is able to verbalize them out loud as compared to them floating vaguely in his head.

Red Son doesn't really have a filter and will reply bluntly with his exact thoughts. he struggles to take into account how his words could upset others which has made him come off as rude.

The only time he is aware of what he is saying is when speaking to his parents. Source: Red son will seem to speak without filter until his parents show distaste in what he said in which then he will backtrack and try to change what he said to make them happy. (the "I have made it's power my pow - our power" scene in the pilot)

Red son doesn't eat beef because of his father being a bull. (more of a silly headcanon rather than serious)

Mk Headcanons:

Mk has the transmasc swag. Source: trust me bro. Also just him mentioning how he used to go by something before MK, how he wears a shirt when swimming, and how much he screams about being a monkey MAN. Very transmasc of him.

Mk has ADHD. He is SO ADHD you guys have NO IDEA. Source: IMPOSSIBLE DELIVERY THAT IS THE ADHD MOOD ALL THE TIME.

Mk cries over movies all the time. It's basically expected that every emotional scene in a film will end with him sobbing.

Mk is Gay AroAce. I imagine him being Demi or gray aro and then just plain ace!

The more power MK uses the more he shows monkey-like features.

Mk was actually decently strong even before he got monkey king's powers. basically he's got a bit of muscle on him.

Mk has a war form like Wukong, he just hasn't activated it yet :) (iirc Wukong's "war form" is really just Wukong's power to multiply his limbs so MK can do that too)

Mk will make weird noises as he does things, usually as sound effects to the task he is currently doing.

Mk can't swim. Source: He has monkey floaty :)

MK is sensitive to sound and uses his headphones to help control that. He often uses music as a stim and to help him focus. Source: he wears headphones a lot. also trust me bro. it's the adhd

MK talks to himself a lot, usually as a way to sooth his nerves to talk his way through a problem. He will also talk to plushes and other inanimate objects as a way to talk thought his thoughts as they get all jumbled in his head.

He tends to stay up incredibly late, even when he is tired. He can't ever seem to go to bed at a reasonable time.

MK is unmedicated for his ADHD. Not for lack of trying he just keeps forgetting to go get it prescribed.

MK can't drink coffee has it has the opposite effect on him in which it causes him to crash intensely. he tried to use it as a sleep aid once to go to bed earlier but instead it made him late for work as he slept way longer than expected. source: very common for ppl with ADHD to consume caffeine and become sleepy instead of energized. ofc this isn't how it is for all ppl with ADHD but it's common enough that i put it on MK ;)

MK tends to snack as a stim. He often will find himself missing full meals because of hyperfocus and his snacking stim making him forget he's hungry.

Mei Headcanons:

Mei also has the ADHD swag sorry I don't make the rules.

Mei is Lesbian Ace. I feel like she is either Demi-Ace or Gray-Ace.

Mei has a physical dragon form as well as the energy dragon. The energy dragon is a lot easier to summon compared to turning into a dragon - plus takes less energy.

While Mei likes cats, She is more of a dog person overall.

Mei used to be pretty shy as a kid mostly due to her trying to fulfill her parents idea of her. She only really came out of her shell when she became friends with Mk. Hence why Mei's parents, specifically her mom, didn't really care for Mk all that much. if anything they found him to be a bad influence for a while. also why Mk was never invited to Mei's house until S1E3

Mei has a better relationship with her father as compared to her mother. While both her parents are more traditionalists her father always was a bit more lenient and supportive of his daughters eccentricities.

Mei met Mk when out in town with her family. She saw him trying to win a crane machine and ended up helping him get the monkey plush he wanted...even if it was cheating the system. (also yes the plush he is seen with I headcanon to of been won by Mei and gifted to him)

Mei was a late bloomer when it came to her dragon powers which just added to the stress she had of being the family disappointment.

Mei often speaks without a filter when around the rest of the monkie kid group as she feels like she can truely be herself with her friends as compared to her family where she feels constantly stifled.

Mei is a variety streamer. She most often streams video games but sometimes will do vlogging streams along with MK as they go around the city. She has definitely streamed MK fighting a demon before.

Mei has raced illegally at least once and she totally WON.

Mei made the upgrades to her bike herself, such as the ability for it to come to her when she calls it. It made it easy when she has the sudden burst of motivation to drive it.

At first Mei was incredibly polite when meeting Pigsy and Tang, not fully coming out of her shell right away. At first Pigsy thought Mei would be a good influence on MK - he was proven wrong when Mei became more outgoing and starting causing mischief with MK.

Mei definitely crashed through MKs window while in her dragon form at least once (she was probably trying to visit him while he was grounded lol). Pigsy was not impressed.

Mei went to private school when she was a kid meaning that her and MK were only able to hang out after school. Though as she got older she had a tendency to start skipping class to go crash MKs classes instead.

Some mixed headcanons that don't belong with one character or another:

Mei and Mk are literally the only friends each other has. MK always struggled to make friends due to kids finding him obnoxious. Mei struggled to make friends due to her upbringing along with her ADHD making her rather abrasive.

[beechbloom]

Genderfluid Wanderer headcanons

Was originally going to make a banner for "Wanderer with a Genderfluid s/o" but quickly realized it looked more like Wanderer was genderfluid and thought oOoo so I wrote it lol

Happy pride month!

Tw: heavy dysphoria, binding injuries, the t-slur, mention of needles, aggressive speech, him being a little mean to other trans people

There's this feeling of gender… chaos? he gets when he can't be bothered to figure out his gender for the day?

He embraces it

Walking gender chaos 24/7

What gender is he? He sure as fuck doesn't know

And if you know of his genderfluidity and try to assume anything...

Well,, hope you can handle being shamed by his scathing tongue

"You really think you can just tell? As if your perception is so good as to see straight into my innermost thoughts and feelings? Hah! You must really think highly of yourself, huh? Or maybe you're just stupid."

If someone doesn't know of his genderfluidity though then he's typically fine with people thinking he's just male

He's afab

But he passes VERY well as a man, so no one can really tell

Not like he would willingly let anyone know his birth gender either

He prefers he/him pronouns… most of the time

They/them doesn't resonate with him very often

And she/her makes him dysphoric

Of course neopronouns are an option but 1. none of them feel completely right 2. he doesn't want to deal with people forgetting his pronouns all the damn time and 3. half of them would make him sound like some kind of fairy

So the few times he/him or they/them's not feeling right he just… doesn't want to be refered to with pronouns

From the few times he's actually tried to pay attention to which genders he's switching between, he's figured out he occasionally feels agender, demiboy, or some kind of bigender, but mostly male

He never experiences any feminine genders

So almost boyflux but not quite

Honestly he's not too big on the term genderfluid

He prefers transmasc, even if it doesn't fully encompass his experience

Does not feel like the terms nonbinary or genderqueer are right for him either

Especially avoids genderqueer because queer has some history of being a slur and he'd rather not attach a slur to himself

That's also the reason he'd avoid the term "tranny" for himself, even if a lot of trans people use it

Though he could still use it for others "What are you, some kind of tranny?" he's evil and controversial please cancel him

Definitely experiences dysphoria

To him it's very sharp and noticable

If someone calls him "she" it's almost like they just jabbed a knife into his chest

Some things could moreso be compared with needles (e.g. seeing his hands out of the corner of his eyes and noticing how feminine they look)

Other times it makes him feel like he's being crushed alive

Enough to make him spiral into a breakdown

Binders help though. They're his savior

WILL injure himself from wearing them too much :(

Dysphoric little gender man

[menstits]

Penus wenus

The other day i met a different gynecologist because my period has been delayed and out of whack again and like. I mentioned that the previous gynecologist i saw said that i likely have pcos and after the checkup and shit she was like yeah you definitely have pcos and went on to say that like... It's just a thing i have that i was born with as much as having brown eyes is and that like the way in which i decide to handle it is up to me and idk. That really stuck with me like both my mom and the previous gynecologist kept talking about me potentially having pcos with like a mixture of pity and disgust so having a doctor show like basic respect and decency to me about it was almost surprising and like. I'm not saying that having pcos made me trans because that's a ludicrous claim obviously but i feel like having an intersex hormonal condition did affect the way i navigated gender way before it even became an issue or i knew that i had it because like. I HAVE had multiple pcos symptoms throughout my puberty especially like body and facial hair that i got relentlessly mocked for as a teenager but it only became like An Issue when my period randomly didn't happen for 5 months straight cause that's kinda concerning in itself but whatever about that like i just feel like years and years of failing at being a girl by virtue of being intersex probably did play a part in me realizing i didn't HAVE to try and fail at this and that there were other options. Like idk i have a bit of a confusing relationship with gender like i feel secure in the fact that I'm a guy & labels like nonbinary or bigender don't really describe me either but I'm also . Shaped by having grown up as an undiagnosed intersex girlthing as well. And to some degree it does still sting that i was doomed to fail at performing gender how it was expected from me from the start and it does also sting to have some weird kind of dysphoria both ways like 🧍‍♂️ I'm happy and comfortable as a guy and I don't even dislike like... Having more body and facial hair either really it's actually a trait i like. It's more like the knowledge that when i choose to be a gnc trans guy I can't do it the way someone who doesn't have some kind of hormonal condition can and the knowledge that a lot of the things i got mocked about throughout my life were literally outside of my control and just like . 🧍‍♂️

[katyspersonal]

On my own end, I've been feeling this way for a while. I've distanced from having real communication with other queer people and especially 'communities' because the infighting and attempts to police each other's identities was jarring... AND because my identity was "not good enough".

I've had a period where I was getting nervous upon realising that I've been "liking too many men recently", even when it was just fictional, and so I tried to downplay and censor that. Because it DID feel like it was "sinful", and that people were judging me as "impure" if I didn't "pay the tax" of showing attraction to women as soon as possible, even if at the moment in time there was no girl in my mind. And before that, when I've been having stronger gender confusion than I do now (figured that it stemmed from something else), I was desperate to finally fall into nonbinary or trans man side, but especially strongly so if I was attracted to a man at the moment. Because I could not handle the idea that I'd like a man as a woman. I wanted to scream that it was "wrong" and could not explain why! I did not resent my male love interests for being male, but I did resent myself. And matching my gender to a "more queer" option felt like a cure, so I just kept tossing my gender and staring at it like a spinning coin, hoping it'd land on the "right" side, and I'd stop feeling so dirty for some reason. I say bias should NEVER intervene with self-searching, and yet it has been.

And it's fucked that not my trauma by a man did that. Not being mistreated when irl people found out I liked any gender in real life did it. It was other women and other queer people in the internet (and a couple irl ""feminists""). I think what really completed the puzzle was when a trans achillean man gave me the "well I did all that crap towards you and everyone who was within ten yards of your heretical presence because that's what queer people do uwu". Like, admission that I am just not "enough" to count as queer too, and that like I suspected, "all animals are equal but some are more equal". I am really happy that more bi women and women-leaning people start seeing the correlation between how conservative Christians make queer people ashamed of who they are. This should be addressed. People who are shit to bi women can't use the excuse that they were hurt by those conservatives and thus automatically are unable to perpetuate their mindset and attitude. The hunted becoming the hunter as soon as they have a chance to is the oldest flaw in the history of human civilization.

Just saw a TikTok where this bi woman was like,

‘I’m a woman-leaning bisexual and you know what pisses me off? The fact that I’m dating a skinny white man and I love him and I’m happy, like what the fuck.’

And I just have to say. What pisses me off as a bisexual woman is that TikTok.

This is the Woke version of ‘my wife is the ol’ ball and chain, doesn’t it suck to be married,’ jokes. It’s not funny. Your queerness is not negated or tarnished by opposite-gender attraction, dating men isn’t inherently worse than dating women.

Love your partner.

Cherish them.

For fucks sake.

[polymorphic-starsender]

Does anyone else get a hole in their chest when they date men?

Like to explain I'm a lesbian; I identify that way due to not having a more appropriate term that feels like me. I love femmes, neutrals and mascs but theres a border on mascs. Butch lesbians who go by he/him are gorgeous and handsome but a trans man who is pansexual I couldn't date unless they were a nonbinary trans man who said that he had days where he loves the feminine parts about himself and didn't feel like 'just a dude'... Like I don't know if I could handle dating a man, trans or otherwise, who outright hated the other side of the buffet of expressive options!

But the thing is men are for a FACT pretty and gorgeous! The only problem is I would never have sex with them unless I felt a deeper connection to them and its hard to love them beautiful bodies and personalities in all when theres a deep fucking pit in my chest asking me if its even right.

I used to identify as pansexual but I genuinely don't know. The vibes could be there! THEY COULD BE ALL THERE but like I just can't get with a dude. And it sucks because back when I was dating dudes I genuinely LOVED some dudes but when I would give them affection it wore off past 'puppy love' but not like a more mature love like with my wife but more like... Genuine guilt and pity.

[gascon-en-exil]

What sorts of kinks would you like to see in a future dating sim?

Mostly what I'm looking for in dating sims is variety, especially those that boast dozens of sex scenes as one of their selling points. Obviously developers can create love interests with a range of ages, races, and/or body types to help with that, but there are ways to improve creativity in the scenes themselves. Not everything I've listed here is a kink, but I still think they fit the theme.

More body hair: related to body types, but there aren't enough bears, otters, and other animal designations in most gay dating sims. I imagine that this is at least partially because drawing (much less animating) body hair is a long and tedious process, hence why smooth guys are much more common in animation in general. Still, it's worth the extra effort. Armpit and pubic hair should be standard, at the very least. Speaking of which...

Musk/watersports/raunch: these are tough kinks to include in a visual medium, because most of their appeal lies in smell and taste which can't really be conveyed adequately in words. They are nonetheless reasonably common and would not be difficult to implement, with only piss play being a line that some might not care for and that might need to be cordoned off with a more vanilla alternative provided.

Rimming: not remotely a kink, but nonetheless underutilized as a type of foreplay. It even partially accommodates the tendency of these games to skip on the artificial lube, particularly when paired with blowjobs.

Actual edging: I've seen some games that refer to edging, but it's always within the context of a single scene. A character doesn't have to orgasm at the end of every encounter, and having someone deliberately prolong the experience for greater effect later on would be a good way to disrupt an otherwise predictable rhythm of sex scenes.

Uncut men/genital piercings: it's quite odd to me that the overwhelmingly majority of guys in these games are circumcised. This might also be a matter of simplicity for the artists like body hair, because it's easier to draw dicks without foreskins especially if they're going to go from flaccid to erect during a scene. Having uncut men adds variety however, along with opening the door for docking if that can be arranged. Ditto piercings as another simple way to make dicks look distinct from one another. I was pleased to see that Jock Studio has several uncut options as well as one love interest with a pierced head.

Trans men: pretty obvious, but a trans male love interest would open up various new options for sex scenes. This is one of many, many things that Dream Daddy screwed up.

Feminization: may seem to violate the exclusively M/M content of these sorts of games, but kinky genderfluidity is a thing and there are ways to work in crossdressing and related dirty talk as a form of roleplay. That's not even touching on the possibility of a nonbinary or trans female love interest, either; I praised Full Service for its handling of a trans/genderqueer NPC who came to realize her identity in part through her sexual relationships with men, and I think that's something that can still fit within the boundaries of stories like these. (I don't consider either of these options inherently better than the other, by the way, but I do think they're both possible.)

Actual BDSM: games like these are already rife with what I think of as casual bondage: someone ties someone else up, maybe they get gagged or collared, might be a butt plug in there...that kind of thing. What would be interesting would be a love interest who's actually involved in the lifestyle and could guide the (habitually clueless) main character into a role he finds he enjoys. Taken more hardcore, this could potentially allow for exploring darker kinks in a context where it can still be understood as part of a healthy, consensual relationship: humiliation kink, sensory deprivation, pain play like CBT, etc.

Costume roleplay: trivially easy to do but still not utilized much, and opens up all sorts of possibilities including pup/pet play, uniform kink, medical kink and other profession roleplay, feminization, etc. Camp Buddy and Scoutmaster Season are both pretty creative with this one.

Size difference: comes down to body type mostly, but if there's a strong contrast it can be fun to play up. The same goes for age gaps and daddy kink, but that may come off as more taboo (despite being somewhat regular in hookup culture).

Furry and furry-adjacent kink: Dear Monster went there, but even in a mundane setting there's a bunch of kinks that could work this in. Have a guy wear ears and a tail, engage in pup play or pony play, do some fantasy cosplay event with orcs or elves or whatever, get all Greek mythology with it like guys into satyrs and minotaurs and merpeople aesthetics. Alternatively, you could just do actual furries - although I'm aware that several games like that already exist.

[notyourmartyr]

Book(s) spotlight: Keepers Trilogy by David Dalglish

I want to preface this by saying I may be a bit biased here. If you saw my post about planning this, I mentioned befriending an author on Twitter, getting to read some of his books before they were published, and getting to play test his choose your own adventure game for a series.

That's David. Keepers was the first series of his I read, and I fell in love. It's high fantasy with a wonderful Ensemble cast, LGBT rep, handling of trauma in ways that made me thank him.

Finishing book 2 was really the start of our friendship, because I reached out to ask him if I could homebrew one of his monstrous races for D&D. He said yes.

One of the things I really loved about Keepers was that the main character is A HERO in his own right, but he's still humble, down to earth, makes mistakes, and ultimately a vehicle for the true hero to come forth and do what needs to be done.

From beginning to end, I was enchanted, and I can't wait to see the final product of his choose your own adventure - because yes, it's for this series (and, he's implementing nonbinary options for the MC of the story).