Designing playbooks/character sheets to challenge the default

#1

I’m just making some final tweaks to Bite Me! before it goes to copyediting and I’m just adding some lists of Looks to move away from the default of cis/white. I think I’m pretty there on gender presentation and pronouns but as a white person I’m really working on race.

I’m using @MagpieMark 's list from Urban Shadows as a starting point - because I love the way it changes the base assumptions. But I wondered if the conversation had moved on from then and whether as a UK-based person I should be looking at this from a different angle - for example should there be an option for people who are mixed-race.

I’m not looking for a perfectly representative list - just something that challenges the default in the best way (given the space constraints on a playbook) - but I suppose I’m asking if there an obvious improvement to the Urban Shadows list.

For reference the Urban Shadows list is:

“Asian, South Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, Middle Eastern, White, [space to write in]”

Although the game of Bite Me! is setting agnostic - it could be set in space or pre-historic times but most games will be modern (ish).

Can you please state in your reply what part of the world you are from so that I have some context - for example in the UK Asian would refer to South Asian people (that was the first thing I noticed when I read the US list).

Thank you

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#3

There was an interesting thread that covered a wide range of topics including race in pick lists early last month… There might be some useful data in there:

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#4

Did you ever see the AW Dark Ages stuff? I seem to recall that It took a very straightforward approach to look, like “Pale, light brown, brown, dark brown, very dark”. A big part of that game was defining different “peoples” if I recall correctly.

(Edit to add: that list is from memory, and might not be right.)

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#5

My takeaway from a few years of feedback is that the list is far from perfect and a bit USA-centric… but it’s probably an okay list given those constraints and caveats. In my experience, it definitely gets people thinking about racial defaultism, but it’s a far cry from achieving any sort of equality or making white folks feel totally comfortable playing another race.

We’ve always had the attitude that you can circle as many as apply, so folks like myself might circle “White” and “Hispanic/Latino” to indicate that we’re biracial.

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#6

The one thing I would be aware of is to have the options using the whole singnifier and to stay away from fractions and percents. For example I am Japanese, Scottish, and American. I’m not half Japanese and 30% Scottish and 20% Northern European.

Some mixed heritage folks do specify those things for themselves, but it looks less good when it is a system having them specify it.

I’m trying to remember where I got this from. I did some quick searching but couldn’t find it. I will instead say it was probably from NPR’s Code Switch or from James Mendez Hodes.

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#7

For me those lists are confusing and limiting. I saw them first at masks, and it took me time to figure why they were there limiting the options while they presented themselves as expanding them…

in a Bite me I would put things like “Race: it does not matter, pick anything you want, you are a wolf anyways.” End of story.

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#8

I think the lists aren’t supposed to be exclusive. I believe they’re just meant to get the conversation started and to explicitly state that you don’t have to play the default white straight cis guy PC.

Still, you have a point in that no list can’t cover every option.

Would it make sense for the list to include a place for write-ins (something like “______”)? I think that would challenge assumptions and explicitly allow for other choices?

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#9

I would suggest reading the other thread @shane linked above. There was a discussion about how it was both limiting, but also how it might force some specific conversations and behaviors that might otherwise be ignored.

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#10

I think it’s fairly similar to the name suggestion areas, and pretty much no one thinks “well, these are my only name choices. I’ll pick Hrothgar Murderblade, I guess, but I really wish I had more choices.”, Especially so if there’s a blank or wording to clarify you should pick your own.

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#11

Sorry if it isn’t clear in my OP but the Urban Shadows list does have a write-in option.

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#12

Thanks for all the suggestions - I like the idea of race over a skin colour descriptor because not all racial features are skin related. But I can also see how just skin colours makes it more setting agnostic.

I shall do some more thinking!

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#13

I played in @Agatha’s Urban Shadow’s game a few months ago - she laid down the challenge not to play white Dresden Guys. Beyond the shift on the playbook look, it did require some real thinking on how the playbook archetype could be subverted (specifically the demon) not to be a stereotype and do some thinking about what that playbook meant in a different culture.

Specifically for the UK angle to your question - yes there should be a more nuanced look at race (West Endian, East African, West African, windrush, 2nd gen, 3rd gen, mixed race) have different challenges and perhaps a different lens of post-colonialism?

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#14

Whilst I’d love to get that nuanced - but space constraints on the playbook seriously limit it. I don’t want to get deep into the detail of something that isn’t core to the game - just prompt people to pick something other than cis/white/man as their default.

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#15

OK - then what about framing questions instead? And tips for the MC to frame this created by someone with a sensitivity background?

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#16

What about removing white but leaving the write-in blank? That really would flip the default dynamic?

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