Butch Femme Planet - View Single Post

Allison W · 11-12-2014, 09:32 PM

Over in the misogyny thread, I've posted a lot of bad news from the gaming world, particularly that whole "Gamergate" thing. So over here I'm going to post some good news, feminism-wise, from the gaming world. Tabletop gaming rather than video gaming in this case, but still.

First off, the Night Witches kickstarter. Description from the page itself:

"There was a night bomber regiment in World War Two composed entirely of women. Natural-born Soviet airwomen.

"These 200 women and girls, flying outdated biplanes from open fields near the front lines, attacked the invading German forces every night for 1,100 consecutive nights. When they ran out of bombs they dropped railroad ties.

"To each other they were sisters, with bonds forged in blood and terror. To the Red Army Air Force they were an infuriating feminist sideshow. To the Germans they were simply Nachthexen—Night Witches.

"Night Witches is a tabletop role-playing game about women at war. As a member of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, you'll answer the call of your Motherland in her darkest hour. Can you do your duty and strike blow after blow against the Fascists? Can you overcome discrimination and outright sabotage and rise above your sexist comrades? Are there limits to patriotism - or endurance? Play Night Witches and find out!"

It's only open to pledges for a few more days, should you want to take a look and maybe kick in (I did, in no small part as a way to vote with my wallet for pro-woman games and against anti-woman voices in the tabletop scene like James Desborough), but it's already made several times the original goal, so it's doing quite well. It's by Bully Pulpit Games, whose previous works include such titles as Grey Ranks, which was about teenagers in the Warsaw Uprising, and which has received multiple awards and also the praise of the Warsaw Rising Museum.

Next up is an article from Go Make Me a Sandwich, which describes itself as "a (mostly) humorous look at how not to sell games to women." The article itself is about the portrayal of women and people of colour in the artwork of the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook. It includes a lot of direct reactions to particular images in the article, so most of it doesn't "quote" well, but I'll give you a taste that communicates the tone of the article and the author's feelings about the artwork fairly well:

"WUT. Fully-clothed, actively posed, heroic looking women? Brown people? Heroic looking brown women? NO BOOBPLATE??? [swoon]"

11-12-2014, 09:32 PM	#11
Allison W Member How Do You Identify?: TG Femme Preferred Pronoun?: She Relationship Status: Loner Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 366 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,414 Thanked 1,195 Times in 319 Posts Rep Power: 12203815	Let's see if I can get the ball out of the sand trap Over in the misogyny thread, I've posted a lot of bad news from the gaming world, particularly that whole "Gamergate" thing. So over here I'm going to post some good news, feminism-wise, from the gaming world. Tabletop gaming rather than video gaming in this case, but still. First off, the Night Witches kickstarter. Description from the page itself: "There was a night bomber regiment in World War Two composed entirely of women. Natural-born Soviet airwomen. "These 200 women and girls, flying outdated biplanes from open fields near the front lines, attacked the invading German forces every night for 1,100 consecutive nights. When they ran out of bombs they dropped railroad ties. "To each other they were sisters, with bonds forged in blood and terror. To the Red Army Air Force they were an infuriating feminist sideshow. To the Germans they were simply Nachthexen—Night Witches. "Night Witches is a tabletop role-playing game about women at war. As a member of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, you'll answer the call of your Motherland in her darkest hour. Can you do your duty and strike blow after blow against the Fascists? Can you overcome discrimination and outright sabotage and rise above your sexist comrades? Are there limits to patriotism - or endurance? Play Night Witches and find out!" It's only open to pledges for a few more days, should you want to take a look and maybe kick in (I did, in no small part as a way to vote with my wallet for pro-woman games and against anti-woman voices in the tabletop scene like James Desborough), but it's already made several times the original goal, so it's doing quite well. It's by Bully Pulpit Games, whose previous works include such titles as Grey Ranks, which was about teenagers in the Warsaw Uprising, and which has received multiple awards and also the praise of the Warsaw Rising Museum. Next up is an article from Go Make Me a Sandwich, which describes itself as "a (mostly) humorous look at how not to sell games to women." The article itself is about the portrayal of women and people of colour in the artwork of the 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook. It includes a lot of direct reactions to particular images in the article, so most of it doesn't "quote" well, but I'll give you a taste that communicates the tone of the article and the author's feelings about the artwork fairly well: "WUT. Fully-clothed, actively posed, heroic looking women? Brown people? Heroic looking brown women? NO BOOBPLATE??? [swoon]"