Cover art for Otherlings

Otherlings

itch.io
Queer
Avg rating
10.00
Bayes rating
--
Weight
--
Players
4-6
Playtime
--
Ratings count
2

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🏳️‍🌈 Why it’s here

What we found
  • Queer themes
    According to the game’s rulebook
    “Otherlings is a game that explores the non-binary experience through analogy.”
  • Tagged queer by its creator
    According to the creator’s own tags on itch.io

🤝 Inclusive design Inclusive design is separate from a game’s queer labels. It marks games whose design is deliberately inclusive even when not queer-themed: romance or marriage mechanics with no gender constraint, character creation without a forced gender binary, gender-neutral rules language, or table safety tools. Each marker shows where we found it.

  • Safety tools (X-card, lines & veils, session zero)
    According to the game’s rulebook
    “The purpose of a debrief is to help process emotional content of a larp, with the aim of minimizing unwanted bleed afterwards.”

Description

Otherlings is a game that explores the non-binary experience through analogy. This game takes a broad, philosophical view of what “non-binary” can mean: outside of binaries, not trapped by false dichotomies, un-constrained by dualistic thinking. In any situation where someone says, “you must be this, or that”, there could always be a third option. Often, there’s a fourth, fifth, and still more. Embracing a non-binary experience in our minds can help us embrace the complexity of the world, rather than trying to force it to be simple. The game is set in Alteria, a temporary waiting area for beings whose friends and family never knew or understood some important part(s) of them. It appears as a plain white conference room with tables and chairs, whose windows overlook the interior of a train station. Once in a while, beautiful and distant voices can be heard singing. There’s also a door to the train station, but it won’t open until the end of the game. Souls who come to Alteria cannot move on to their next phase of existence, until another soul accepts and names who and what they are. Like ghosts, otherlings have a deep need to resolve some of the unfinished business from their former lives. Whoever runs this place has only left you a cryptic sign, suggesting that getting to know each other will help speed things along. Once some of everyone’s truth is revealed, you can all move on to another afterlife, reincarnation, or eternal slumber. Somewhere, unlike here, where you can find a new home.

Mechanics

None recorded

Themes

None recorded

Publishers

None recorded

Designers

None recorded