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Creating a Trans-Inclusive Environment at Your D&D Table
- Rayne Bakcheious
- Jul 17
- 6 min read
If you’re a cis game master who wants to help the trans community feel more welcome at your tables — thank you! We need more allies like you in the TTRPG community. As someone who didn’t transition until later in life, I understand how overwhelming the trans and gender expansive communities can be to an outsider, and I’m here to help you get your footing.
Making your table and settings a place that trans people are comfortable being themselves isn’t a long or complicated process, and it will probably change very little in the way your games are played. I’ve broken it down to 5 steps:
#1 Ask about pronouns.
This is a quick and easy way to set an inclusive tone right at your player sign-ups or when greeting people to your table.
In Person:
If you’re running public one-shots, I recommend providing either stick-on name tags or name placecards (even just a folded piece of paper), to help players get to know each other. Ask players to add their name and pronouns, and if there’s room, their character’s name and pronouns as well. Don’t forget to add your pronouns as an example.
Online:
If you play over Discord or another VTT that allows custom names, ask your players to add their pronouns to their usernames. When I’m running or playing in games, I usually use the format of:
DM | Rayne (he/him)
Tweezer (they/them) | Rayne (he/him)
If you have a questionnaire that your players fill out at sign-up, you don’t need to ask about their gender, but you should ask about what pronouns they use. Typical phrasing for it would be:
What pronouns do you use?
She/Her
He/Him
They/Them
Other
Prefer Not to Say
#2 Get serious about your safety measures.
Whether or not you have trans players at your table, using defined safety measures ensures that everyone has a good time. One of the most popular protocols is called “The X-Card Card”, which simply empowers players to pause the game and ask for a change if anything makes them uncomfortable or crosses into inappropriate territory. You can find free assets for this tool here.
If possible, you may also want to check in with players before you play about their known triggers, phobias, or areas of discomfort. This is especially important for games in the horror or romance genre. I use this fillable PDF for my games, and delete them after the game is over.
Whatever safety measures you choose, having something in place during player sign-up and when starting the game is a signal to trans players that they’re in good hands. If you’re running games in a public setting where the players are all strangers to each other, it’s also a good idea to have a statement (written or spoken) that makes it clear that bigotry won’t be allowed at your table.
For my public games, I made this card to give out as everyone is getting their characters ready:
#3 Educate yourself on trans stereotypes and discrimination.
You’ve probably been exposed to a lot of media that used some pretty harmful stereotypes when portraying trans people, and even if you don’t mean to, it’s easy to reproduce these insults in your worldbuilding or roleplay if you’re not aware of them.
So, before you add any trans or gender nonconforming characters to your worlds, spend some time educating yourself on trans culture and how media has gotten it wrong in the past. As a starting place, I highly recommend Lily Simpson’s YouTube series on trans representation in media. She does a great job of breaking down how you can do a better job with both trans characters and storylines.
I also recommend searching your favorite social media platform for compilations of “trans joy” or trans memes if that’s how you (like me) prefer to absorb culture. It’s a fun way to get to see the day-to-day happiness that the media often overlooks when it portrays the trans experience. You’ll also see examples of subtle and natural ways you can bring trans NPCs to life.
#4 Experiment with gender in your worldbuilding.
Once you’ve absorbed enough trans culture to understand the importance of Blåhaj, you’re probably ready to start adding trans NPCs and other less binary aspects of gender into your game.
When creating trans NPS, use subtlety in your descriptions, and understand that their transness may be something the party never figures out. Unless there’s a bard involved of course, an NPC’s transness probably won’t affect the story at all (just like in real life!).
One of the keys to avoiding stereotypes is to use variety in how you depict trans NPCs, that way there’s no “token NPC” that’s responsible for representing all of us. You can hint that they might be trans in their initial description, but make sure it’s not the only thing you mention about them.
Here’s some examples of descriptions of trans NPCs.
The bartender is a tall human woman with colorful tattoos. The ends of her hair are a fading blue, and she’s wearing a thin black choker. It takes her a moment to get over to you as a couple of regulars stop her to say hello as they enter the bar. She introduces herself as Willow and asks if you’d like anything to drink.
The boxer you’re up against, Kai, is a human man with an attitude in the ring like he’s been doing this a long time. His movements are precise as he warms up with his trainer. He’s a little shorter than you, with a wiry build. There’s a wide set of scars across his chest, and it looks like his nose has been broken a few times.
The innkeeper is a human with an ambiguous gender and a wide, friendly smile. One of their children is weaving flowers into their thick black beard as they welcome your party to the inn. Their dress is the same deep burgundy as the wine their vineyards are famous for.
And you can always make things weirder. Trans and cis people alike will appreciate the creativity and thought you’re putting into the world. When you’re establishing the foundations, ask yourself questions like: “Do warforged even have gender?” or “How does this fantasy language use pronouns?”. You get to make the rules, and there really is no reason that other ancestries should have the same expressions of gender that humans do.
As with any part of your game running, let players know that you’re always open to feedback — especially in situations where you’re bringing in elements of other identities. Have fun and be respectful with it, and your trans players will feel much more welcome to bring their whole selves to the table.
#5 Play with trans DMs.
If you’ve never played D&D with any openly trans people, you can search for trans DMs running games either in your neighborhood or online. Look for DMs that are running in homebrew settings, especially those that advertise their games as being safe spaces for trans and other LGBTQIA+ players.
Be mindful of taking up space for queer players only, and if you’re not sure, it never hurts to reach out to the DM. More than likely they’ll be happy to have allies at their table (though they may reserve some games for queer folx only).
If you’re looking to play in a trans-friendly space online or in the Chicago area, reach out today! I run public one-shots in a variety of Chicago-area venues and private events. I also run free one-shots over Discord every month with TTRPG Pickup Con.
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