The PbtA ruleset in TSL isn't fit for the kind of sandboxy 'universal system' that the game attempts to be. For the 36 pages dedicated to 'settings', it should have gone entirely to 'one' unique setting that complements all the different playbooks available. But instead it go's on a whistle stop tour of 6 different settings so each 'setting guide' tends to be no longer than 8 pages and just lays out a bare minimum rough draft for that setting. And even with the 'adventure' given for each one, it's barely 3 additional pages. Usually forcing each setting to boil down to "(insert pop culture thing) but gay", in a way that feels less like a hand crafted experience meant to play out one's LGBTQIA+ fantasies, and more like someone filled in a page of Mad Libs and said 'there, have your TSL setting'.
And even some of the things that 'are' in there are... questionable at best. Like the "Lesbeans CoffeeHouse" setting having an adventure suggestion where, to deal with a bunch of straight people 'invading' the coffeehouse speed dating night. Its suggested that you 'show them enough magic to awaken any latent queerness in them.' Which... are you like, magically spiking their drinks? Cause magic is real in that setting, and they say that the coffee 'has' magic in it. So its not 'metaphorical' magic like being 'really hot' to question one's sexuality. Like the setting distinctly says they are straight, not 'questioning', not 'curious', but straight. So its just... 'fine' to try and convert them or something by lacing their drinks with gay magic. And this isn't the only one that has this weird disconnect. ((An all straight empire called Hetronormia, they could have been creative but they decided to use naming conventions akin to the Care Bears))
It feels like only surface level care was given to any of this, or if there was care, there wasn't enough room to properly elaborate on it as it would feel weird to have 6 different settings, but while all of the others have 6 to 8 pages worth of content, one gets 20 pages.
The same also go's for the playbooks, as it 'says' it has 9 playbooks but in reality due to the breadth of vastly different settings, you only really feasibly have 6 available options for each setting as a good chunk of them are very setting dependent. But the settings don't really have 'suggested playbook' lists so its assumed they should all be compatible. But they are not.
And due to this vague 'cover all' approach, only two, maybe three playbooks have any proper synergy. And unfortunately one of those is "The Chosen" which is in no uncertain terms, a dedicated 'protagonist' role. Which is a bit of a faux pas when it comes to PbtA games as it renders the rest of the party as 'side characters'. This doesn't help that PbtA by it's very core doesn't allow players to run the same playbook as someone else. It also doesn't help that the strings system isn't implemented in any interesting way, with most playbooks having unique ways of 'gaining' strings, but no interesting ways in 'spending' them, and even when they 'do' gain strings its more of a fun 'bonus' they get for rolling well.
This wouldn't be nearly as unfortunate if Monster Hearts didn't exsist, but it does, and effectively does everything TSL tries to do, but better. One great dedicated setting instead of a handful of light mediocre ones, every playbook meshes with each other in fun ways that promote romantic and sexual self discovery, with a bit of messy self destruction.
To be honest, you could remove all mentions of queer identity and gay pride from TSL and all it would do is turn it into a mediocre Soap Opera PbtA game. Which... if they leaned into it being a schlocky Soap Opera experience, would have probably made it into a better functioning game that would still get all the same romantic thrills they aimed for.
Also, to those who say they enjoy playing the game, good for you. I suggest giving your GM a big thank you cause they had to do a lot of work to make this game interesting. And for the GMs, thank your players for providing fun character building experiences and creativity having to work around the rules. That's the rub with TTRPG's, even a bad game can be fun with a good GM, but a good game makes being a good GM 'much' easier. If you enjoy TSL, might I suggest next time taking a setting you like and homebrewing it into Lasers & Feelings, you'll be having a similar amount of fun with a fraction of the rules and upkeep. Or maybe look at MonsterHearts, or Masks, there are plenty of PbtA styled games that can scratch a similar itch.
MonsterHearts also has a "The Chosen." It's not about being the main protagonist, it's about being the emotional turmoil that comes with being the "Chosen One" for better or worse.
"Soap Opera" is a great way of putting it. I'm sorry your play experience was mediocre, but it openly says that's a TTRPG about narrative drama with flirting and zingers. The system has you pull at each other's heart strings for bonuses, the point is to create complicated interpersonal conflict intermixed with physical. There's a reason the setting suggestions are at the end, it's for telling open-ended Soap Operas with Violence like how the Blades is for telling open-ended Heist and Gang dramas. The Dusk is less important than the Engine.
Thanks for your kind words! I'm working on the third TSL book, "Falling Deeper," along with Alexis Sara (author of Yuisa Revolution in the core book and The Matriarch playbook in Advanced Lovers and Lesbians). It'll have new variants, playbooks, adventures, and ideas for your adventures!
Thirsty Sword Lesbians is such an incredible, inclusive, enjoyable game. Easy to pick up and with a great combination of emotional and combat mechanics mean that you can explore meaningful characters with real depth. We'd absolutely recommend this to any queer lover of ttrpgs!
I am struggling so don't have money to pay for my hobbies, so you can imagine how touched I would be when I saw free copies of this game. The Evil hat is truly the kindest hat in the world.
I recieved a copy of it through the trans and Ukraine relief bundle. Only got around to checking it out today and I nearly cried happy tears after seeing the trans-affirming messages, storylines, etc. I haven't even looked at the rules and I adore this game. As a transfem, thank you for making this <3
Got this and Advanced Lovers And Lesbians for my birthday and running a magical girl champaign with it currently. It’s fun! Though a lot harder to gm than it looked like. Mostly as someone who often prefers and runs slower games it feels like I’m doing something wrong whenever I sit down and play it. The players like it though so that’s a win <:)
Picked up a physical book at Gay Pride in St. Louis. I am in love. Happen to have a friend that is running a PBP game so super excited about that. This is my first foray into the PbtA system, and anything other than D&D. We have just scratched the surface with char creation and we all love it so far. Looking forward to more!
Second, I am preparing to run it and I was wondering if there is a text/doc version available anywhere because I find it much easier to parse, reference and run the game in markdown format through Obsidian. Thanks :)
We recommend downloading all the files. They include the book (Thirsty Sword Lesbians EHP0069E.pdf) and the character sheets (in standard PDF and Form Fillable versions).
seems like it would be worth 15 bucks. LGBTQ game on itch.io, which we see a lot, but has a unique plot and game style, while also being in a bundle that is raising 2,000,000 dollars for the Ukraine
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Hi! Thanks for the Community Copies, they allowed me to write a review of the game (in French) : https://www.jeuxderole.com/thirsty-sword-lesbians/
FANTASTIC game! So much fun.
I hope you make an audiobook of the rules one day! ^3^
TLDR: Just get Monster Hearts
The PbtA ruleset in TSL isn't fit for the kind of sandboxy 'universal system' that the game attempts to be. For the 36 pages dedicated to 'settings', it should have gone entirely to 'one' unique setting that complements all the different playbooks available. But instead it go's on a whistle stop tour of 6 different settings so each 'setting guide' tends to be no longer than 8 pages and just lays out a bare minimum rough draft for that setting. And even with the 'adventure' given for each one, it's barely 3 additional pages. Usually forcing each setting to boil down to "(insert pop culture thing) but gay", in a way that feels less like a hand crafted experience meant to play out one's LGBTQIA+ fantasies, and more like someone filled in a page of Mad Libs and said 'there, have your TSL setting'.
And even some of the things that 'are' in there are... questionable at best. Like the "Lesbeans CoffeeHouse" setting having an adventure suggestion where, to deal with a bunch of straight people 'invading' the coffeehouse speed dating night. Its suggested that you 'show them enough magic to awaken any latent queerness in them.' Which... are you like, magically spiking their drinks? Cause magic is real in that setting, and they say that the coffee 'has' magic in it. So its not 'metaphorical' magic like being 'really hot' to question one's sexuality. Like the setting distinctly says they are straight, not 'questioning', not 'curious', but straight. So its just... 'fine' to try and convert them or something by lacing their drinks with gay magic. And this isn't the only one that has this weird disconnect. ((An all straight empire called Hetronormia, they could have been creative but they decided to use naming conventions akin to the Care Bears))
It feels like only surface level care was given to any of this, or if there was care, there wasn't enough room to properly elaborate on it as it would feel weird to have 6 different settings, but while all of the others have 6 to 8 pages worth of content, one gets 20 pages.
The same also go's for the playbooks, as it 'says' it has 9 playbooks but in reality due to the breadth of vastly different settings, you only really feasibly have 6 available options for each setting as a good chunk of them are very setting dependent. But the settings don't really have 'suggested playbook' lists so its assumed they should all be compatible. But they are not.
And due to this vague 'cover all' approach, only two, maybe three playbooks have any proper synergy. And unfortunately one of those is "The Chosen" which is in no uncertain terms, a dedicated 'protagonist' role. Which is a bit of a faux pas when it comes to PbtA games as it renders the rest of the party as 'side characters'. This doesn't help that PbtA by it's very core doesn't allow players to run the same playbook as someone else. It also doesn't help that the strings system isn't implemented in any interesting way, with most playbooks having unique ways of 'gaining' strings, but no interesting ways in 'spending' them, and even when they 'do' gain strings its more of a fun 'bonus' they get for rolling well.
This wouldn't be nearly as unfortunate if Monster Hearts didn't exsist, but it does, and effectively does everything TSL tries to do, but better. One great dedicated setting instead of a handful of light mediocre ones, every playbook meshes with each other in fun ways that promote romantic and sexual self discovery, with a bit of messy self destruction.
To be honest, you could remove all mentions of queer identity and gay pride from TSL and all it would do is turn it into a mediocre Soap Opera PbtA game. Which... if they leaned into it being a schlocky Soap Opera experience, would have probably made it into a better functioning game that would still get all the same romantic thrills they aimed for.
Also, to those who say they enjoy playing the game, good for you. I suggest giving your GM a big thank you cause they had to do a lot of work to make this game interesting. And for the GMs, thank your players for providing fun character building experiences and creativity having to work around the rules. That's the rub with TTRPG's, even a bad game can be fun with a good GM, but a good game makes being a good GM 'much' easier. If you enjoy TSL, might I suggest next time taking a setting you like and homebrewing it into Lasers & Feelings, you'll be having a similar amount of fun with a fraction of the rules and upkeep. Or maybe look at MonsterHearts, or Masks, there are plenty of PbtA styled games that can scratch a similar itch.
MonsterHearts also has a "The Chosen." It's not about being the main protagonist, it's about being the emotional turmoil that comes with being the "Chosen One" for better or worse.
"Soap Opera" is a great way of putting it. I'm sorry your play experience was mediocre, but it openly says that's a TTRPG about narrative drama with flirting and zingers. The system has you pull at each other's heart strings for bonuses, the point is to create complicated interpersonal conflict intermixed with physical. There's a reason the setting suggestions are at the end, it's for telling open-ended Soap Operas with Violence like how the Blades is for telling open-ended Heist and Gang dramas. The Dusk is less important than the Engine.
i saw the physical edition of this at my local game store this weekend.
it made me so happy to see how far its come :)
Gay and sweet style, best game ever
I don't even know what to add to these comments, TSL is already proven its quality as a big names of the "powered by the apocalypse" scene of TTRPGs.
I can only wish evilhat (studios ?) a great future, earned by the upmost quality of their work.
Aaa I love this game! Are there any plans for starter kits, playbook expansions, or other supplementary materials? I’d buy the hell out of any of it!
Thanks for your kind words! I'm working on the third TSL book, "Falling Deeper," along with Alexis Sara (author of Yuisa Revolution in the core book and The Matriarch playbook in Advanced Lovers and Lesbians). It'll have new variants, playbooks, adventures, and ideas for your adventures!
Thirsty Sword Lesbians is such an incredible, inclusive, enjoyable game. Easy to pick up and with a great combination of emotional and combat mechanics mean that you can explore meaningful characters with real depth. We'd absolutely recommend this to any queer lover of ttrpgs!
If you're looking for more info before you pick it up, we have a full review here: https://www.rollplusheart.co.uk/blog/thirsty-sword-lesbians
And an actual play starting here: https://roll-plus-heart.captivate.fm/episode/thirsty-sword-lesbians-part-1
Who's the artist? Is it Dejan-Delic? Looks like him!
Kanesha Bryant is the amazing cover artist and you can find her on socials as TheVeryWorstThing
"no facists or bigots." DAMMIT. how do i play now??
ha. ha. ha. ha. ha. ha. ha.
I am struggling so don't have money to pay for my hobbies, so you can imagine how touched I would be when I saw free copies of this game. The Evil hat is truly the kindest hat in the world.
I jumped out of bed when i saw there was community copies up
I recieved a copy of it through the trans and Ukraine relief bundle. Only got around to checking it out today and I nearly cried happy tears after seeing the trans-affirming messages, storylines, etc. I haven't even looked at the rules and I adore this game. As a transfem, thank you for making this <3
anyone have an idea for supplementing this game to not need a gm? I want to play together with just my gf :P
Got this and Advanced Lovers And Lesbians for my birthday and running a magical girl champaign with it currently. It’s fun! Though a lot harder to gm than it looked like. Mostly as someone who often prefers and runs slower games it feels like I’m doing something wrong whenever I sit down and play it. The players like it though so that’s a win <:)
Picked up a physical book at Gay Pride in St. Louis. I am in love. Happen to have a friend that is running a PBP game so super excited about that. This is my first foray into the PbtA system, and anything other than D&D. We have just scratched the surface with char creation and we all love it so far. Looking forward to more!
Hey, first of all I LOVE THIS GAME
Second, I am preparing to run it and I was wondering if there is a text/doc version available anywhere because I find it much easier to parse, reference and run the game in markdown format through Obsidian. Thanks :)
The first PbtA game that made me super excited to play a particular progression of playbooks.
what's the max and min number of PCs
There isn't a hard cap, but generally 2-5 players works best.
This game is super silly and super cute. Thanks for including it bundles!
bro i had my mom buy the ukrane bundle was it really nessisary to have this game on top of the list :|
xD
yes
what's wrong with it? Cover is also badass looking
The fact that most of eastern europe is not in favor of queer folk.
too bad so sad. don't download it then
rip bozo
lol
THE SAME THING HAPPENED WITH MY DAD MAN
Yesss
Kinda appropriate give the situation in Ukraine.
Valid: You
A wonderful game I am very proud to have kickstarted <3 so happy to see it here!
We recommend downloading all the files. They include the book (Thirsty Sword Lesbians EHP0069E.pdf) and the character sheets (in standard PDF and Form Fillable versions).
seems like it would be worth 15 bucks. LGBTQ game on itch.io, which we see a lot, but has a unique plot and game style, while also being in a bundle that is raising 2,000,000 dollars for the Ukraine
And it's also apparently in a trans rights bundle! :)
yep picked it up in that one
Very excited to play haha, the name alone got me hooke
I found it as CC-SA-BY
So I translated the key rule part to Chinese
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uRrNEp5taokwapJkLYtQzbRimkAgz3jmpiohsRDoir0/...