‘Thirsty Sword Lesbians’: The Indie RPG Title That Says It All
Swords cross and hearts race with Thirsty Sword Lesbians, a uniquely colorful game of adventure, fighting, and those complex frenemy feelings.
In October 2020, the Kickstarter for Thirsty Sword Lesbians kicked off with a $19,999 production goal. And one successful campaign- just shy of $300,000- later the team was able to realize their dream of creating the tabletop roleplaying game centered around angsty love, adventure, and disaster lesbians with swords.
Thirsty Sword Lesbians
It seems like this is a game for an incredibly niche market, but with the runaway success of shows like She-Ra and The Princesses of Power and more than eight thousand unique backers, it’s clear that this incredibly niche market was waiting for this incredibly niche game to happen. And really, after you break through the kitsch and the LGBT-specific themes, Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a much less narrow game than you may think.
This is a Powered By The Apocalypse game, and more than that, it’s a game that draws its inspiration heavily from the tween superhero game, MASKS. MASKS centers around young adults in tense situations, making in-game situations a perfect storm for interpersonal drama and shifts in the social hierarchy. Thirsty Sword Lesbians saw this organized and itemized approach to all of the wonderful and awkward parts of personal relationships and decided to take it to the next level. This made for a game whose main focus includes social interactions, roleplaying, and, of course, feelings with a slightly more understated approach to the battle aspects of your typical adventure game.
That isn’t to say that battle mechanics are completely overlooked. These are thirsty SWORD lesbians, after all. But the thirsty part is much more prevalent than in other games. For reference, think of the equal parts flirt and fight dynamic that Adora and Catra had or the Revolutionary Girl Utena dynamic of fighting for love and-also-to-save-the-world-I-guess. If those franchises are your jam, you’ll love Thirsty Sword Lesbians.
Character Creation and Gameplay
Mechanically though, as a Powered By The Apocalypse game, Thirsty Sword Lesbians is one of the easier games out there to pick up quickly or teach your friends. A collection of playbooks helps you design your character in minutes and easily lays out most of your moves and abilities.
Players need just two D6, and the game master generally won’t need to roll at all. In true Apocalypse fashion, these playbooks are fun, dynamic, and colorful with options like The Chosen (a character possessed of great power and destiny), The Infamous (a character who was a bad guy in the past but is learning to move forward and earn redemption), and The Nature Witch (exactly what you think and absolutely delightful).
So, How Well Does This Game Actually Work?
Pretty well! You can lean fully into the LGBT elements of this game. But this is a game that is very welcoming of anyone who is willing to be cool and wants to have fun. Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a flirty game about exploring queer spaces and relationships, but it’s also a game that focuses on consent and comfort, both in the game and at the table. If you’re not having fun, the game doesn’t quite work, so it finds a way to be fun for anyone willing to give it a shot.
But overall, this game does work. And it seems a decent amount of success over the past few years. In May of 2022, they even released a second book Advanced Lovers and Lesbians.
If you’d like to check out Thirsty Sword Lesbians for yourself, you can find more information on the Evil Hat official website.
Have you played Thirsty Sword Lesbians? Do you enjoy Powered by the Apocalypse games or would you rather see other systems? Which Thirsty Sword character from popular media would you most want to base your character on? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
