D&D and queerness emerging

     In the last couple of years, namely 2018-2020, there has been a significant increase in both Tabletop Roleplay Game usage, as well as an increase of Queer-identifying people playing Dungeons and Dragons. In many ways, Dungeons and Dragons is an escapist tool meant to get away from daily life and live out your adventurous dreams in a fantasy world where you can be anything your imagination creates. With the recent growth of resources that open the gates for more people to have access to playing Dungeons and Dragons, among other tabletop roleplay games (TTRPG), there has been a surge of welcoming communities bent on creating a fun environment for new players of all creeds, colors, and backgrounds. with the growth, comes the inclusion of diversity. 

    In the early days of D&D, many saw the game as belonging to the straight white nerds of game stores and nerdy activities. It wasn't until recently we saw massive growth in not only player diversity, but as well as in-game character diversity. This was not by an accident by any realm of imagination. With the introduction of the game's 5th edition of the game by "Wizards of the coast", the players were exposed to new gender and sexuality devices that may have been inaccessible to the players in the years before. In some of the prewritten adventures, some of the main characters the players can interact with are identifying outside the human gender binary and go by they/them pronouns or even use androgynous terms for themselves. There are canonical characters that have sexual preferences and open the world for players to seduce, romance, and befriend characters of all kinds of definitions. 

    The ability to find games where one can feel welcome and allowed to express their gender or identity has also gotten more accessible. A new surge of online games and game platforms that allow the playing of TTRPGs has opened the door for queer folks to find games where they can play for a time, see how they feel, and even jump groups and sessions to find the playgroup they mesh the best with. At any time, one can take to the forums of the internet, the website Roll20, or discord chats, and find a game to play in. To incentivize a new player, many DMs (game controllers or "Dungeon Masters") will create accommodations to allow for play to change between sessions if need be or allow changes to character to make the player more comfortable. 

    Whatever you're seeking, Dungeons and Dragons has a group waiting out there for you to roll up a character and begin not only exploring a fantastical fantasy world but also explore yourself and how you express yourself through a character you create (maybe in your image).