farflung rpg, kink adjacent character concepts
I picked up Farflung, which self-describes as an 'after-dark' scifi RPG recently and I have a lot of thoughts on it (many of which are like, criticisms I have about many PbtA games) but like I really feel like any of the nuances I could get into about it are kind of overpowered by the fact that it's an explicitly horny RPG with playbooks for doll girls, plant people, hiveminds, shapeshifters, mind control powers, sapient spaceships, and AI holograms
farflung rpg, kink adjacent character concepts
Like, is it a good idea to have the 'bottom' stat determine your ability to let other people get their way? Not particularly, but I have several different options for AI characters, so
farflung rpg, kink, sex, essentialism, long and buzzkilly
The stated premise behind 'bottom' as a stat is that you are like, letting other people get their way, which is kind of a weird thing to map to bottoming and plays into a lot of the essentialism around queer sex that, while sometimes fun, doesn't exactly lend itself to healthy concepts of sex when it's as prevalent as it is
What it actually appears to be in practice (because it's an RPG that you roll your stats in to try and get things you want) is just, like getting what you want non-confrontationally, which is like, almost worse? The idea that bottoming means not communicating your desires is, like, kind of a problem in queer spaces, especially ones where sex is actively pursued. Obviously as a conflict resolution in an RPG it doesn't apply to the same sort of situations but conflating the two is like, not great
Like I know what they're going for, I get it, I just don't want it 100% of the time, and it's like... the stats you use. Not avoidable, really
I know it's a silly horny space RPG that doesn't take itself seriously but like, this is the kinda thing that makes me not want to play it
farflung rpg, goof
Also tbh anyone who thinks stealth in games is some kind of like, demure shying away to avoid confrontation has never watched a queer person play a stealth game
video games, queerness, goof
Stealth games are queer power fantasies and should be developed as such (put cute queer people in your stealth games and let me smooch them it's all I fucking want please god)