Happy Pride, ‘Finders!
Each year, the United States celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June in honor of the protests that took place at the Stonewall Inn, a queer club in NYC. The first Pride was a riot, and every Pride going forward is a protest. We’re here, we’re queer, we have always existed, and we will always exist.This year’s theme for Pride Month is “Reflect. Empower. Unite.” with a focus on coming together as a community, standing up for ourselves and each other, and learning from the trials of our predecessors. Support has always been a central pillar of queer communities, and as we face new waves of bigotry and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, lifting each other up is more important than ever.
We’ve invited LGBTQIA+ Paizo employees and contributors to share their words with us for this community blog!
Also, Paizo is proud to be participating in Seattle Pride this Sunday, June 30th! If you’re in the area, come to the parade and cheer on the Paizo kobolds in the parade!
Zigvigix (they/them), host shirren and faction leader of the Advocates.
Alex Speidel (he/him), Organized Play Coordinator
be gay form unions
that’s it that’s the submission. what more can I say.
Avi Kool (they/he)
Hi all, I’m lead editor at Paizo and a nonbinary trans man. Being queer has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, even if I didn’t have words for it when I was young. As time has gone on, being queer exposed me to the world of social justice and activism, and I am a firm believer that no one is free until we all are free. Queer people are actively under attack in our current political climate. This is why it’s so important to me to center queer experiences in my work. At Paizo, we have the opportunity to spread awareness of queer identities to a large number of people, as well as making queer people feel seen in our books. So Paizo will continue to be queer as heck, and I’m proud to be part of that.
Basil Wright (he/they/xe)
I know that the fight for equality, freedom, and safety by my Indigenous community in the States is being echoed elsewhere, whether it’s in Palestine, the Congo, Sudan, or in the United States of America. As Juneteenth goes by, I am reminded about the power of community, of the strength of those who stand beside you and uplift you and work towards a common cause. We are all stronger together. More often than not, I have found community with Indigenous creators, with Black creators, with queer creators (and many of us holding all these identities together, such as myself). I want to continue to create games and stories that highlight the importance of community, of belonging, of togetherness. We are better, together.
If you’d like to support my work, two of my games best exemplify the theme of community: Mouseia and Well Wishers, which you can find on my Itch.io page (https://kobanya.itch.io). I also have a Ko-Fi (ko-fi.com/kobanya).
Kofusachi (he/him), the pansexual god of joy and prosperity.
Carlos Cabrera (he/they)
In honor of reflecting over this past year, in 2023 I wrote that it gave me strength/I was jealous that my World of Darkness character was doing multi-gender polyamory better than me. This year I am happy to report that we are now equals! I would like to give a very special thanks to my partners for giving me their love and their time whenever able.
Looking at the year ahead, you will be able find my upcoming work as developer for the Welcome to Night Vale RPG by Renegade Game Studios. Things are about to get weird.
Caryn DiMarco (she/they)
I’m Caryn DiMarco (she/they) and you can find some of my recent work in books like Lost Omens Highhelm and Howl of the Wild. I’m proud to be a contributor to those books, and to a world like Golarion where LGBTQ+ stories, themes, and characters are the norm. TTRPGs have always been an escape for me, and seeing my identity and experiences reflected in the pages of my favorite gaming system is a comfort and a joy.
Thank you to all my fellow authors, our wonderful devs at Paizo, and the many gamers I share tables with for coming together to show that diversity is natural and equality is attainable. Our real-life magic may be the stories we tell together, and our real-life dragons look more like bills and endless to-do lists, but the possibility of a better world is not a fantasy. Sitting down to play (or run) games with my community always reminds me of the potential within every one of us.
Hao Jin (she/her), asexual sorceress.
Connie Chang (they/he/she)
Happy Pride, Paizo! Connie Chang here (they/he/she). I wrote Quain for the Tian Xia World Guideand a flash fiction about gay Grandmasters. Outside of Paizo, I’m the Game Master for Transplanar RPG, an all-transgender, people of color-led dark fantasy actual play channel telling stories in a noncolonial, antiorientalist multiverse. Transplanar is an ENNIE-nominated, CRIT Award-sweeping channel that has been featured in Polygon, Dicebreaker, and Gizmodo and discussed on NPR, The New York Times, and Dropout TV.
I’m thrilled to announce Transplanar’s first-ever IN-STUDIO series, GODKILLER: LAST HOPE! LAST HOPE is a two-person, eight-episode show about Litany, the titular Godkiller forged for a single purpose: to slay the Immortal Emperor of Heaven—and their mother’s sister. After a monumental failure, Litany teams up with a heroic cultivator and travels across a richly layered fantasy world inspired by my diasporic Chinese heritage, learning what it means to truly become.
LAST HOPE utilizes my original holypunk duet game, GODKILLER, which is being published by Evil Hat Productions. If you’re a fan of Tian Xia’s Asian fantasy setting and/or queer interrogations of divinity, then tune in June 29 for the premiere of GODKILLER: LAST HOPE on Transplanar RPG’s Twitch or YouTube!
Behind the scenes images from GODKILLER: LAST HOPE.
David N. Ross (he/him)
Being a gay man has always been important to my experience of RPGs. Not only has gaming been an activity I shared with my gay friends and even my now husband, but living outside gender and relationship norms has been a common experience connecting me to many fellow game designers.
My most recent Paizo work has yet to be announced, but you can get the 5e version of the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path now. Outside Paizo, I have recently been bringing adventures for Tom Cartos and the DM Lair to Pathfinder rules, and collaborating with my husband on a cooperative storytelling card game under the working title Pax Ad Astra.
Honora Tren (she/her) and Zupisha Loralu (she/her), lovers and New Valor Defense Force Guardians.
Dustin Knight (he/him)
Pride is a protest. All love is valid. Nothing I expose here can come close to supplanting these powerful words, but in the past year I’ve felt such a deep connection to these two ideas as I’ve grown to learn more about what I am and what it means to be a part of both the LGBT+ and Paizo community. You must learn to love yourself before you can properly love another. And that means being proud of yourself and your accomplishments, even though it feels like you are fighting a voice deep inside you that hates you for what you are. All love is a valid form of protest. And learning to love yourself despite what the world’s hate has planted deep inside is the ultimate act of defiance, and one I have only been empowered to face thanks to the unity of this incredible community.
Proud to Love Myself.
James Beck
Hello! My name is James Beck, I am a freelancer whose work you’ll primarily find over on Pathfinder Infinite, where I have several Infinite Masters titles with Eldritch Osiris Games. One thing that I absolutely love about Golarion/the Pact Worlds is how much I can see myself in it. I love seeing fellow LGBTQ+ people that populate the world! I’ve been out and proud about my identity since 7th grade and one of the big draws of Pathfinder/Starfinder has always been how welcoming it is to me. Not only have the universes of Paizo been welcoming but so has the Paizo community, from fellow freelancers to Paizo staff and the broader community at large. I wish everyone across the world a happy pride! Be yourself!
Link to Eldritch Osiris Games: https://www.eldritchosirisgames.com
Arshea, Spirit of Abandon. Nonbinary deity of freedom and sexuality.
James Jacobs (he/him), Pathfinder Narrative Creative Director
The previous 12 months since last year’s Pride blog have been busy as we’ve navigated the frenzied switchover of Pathfinder from OGL content to the Remastered rules. That’s mostly all behind us now from an in-house production standpoint, and it’s a relief to be back on track exploring brand new stories. One of those tales I’m really delighted to see hit the shelves, though, isn’t an adventure or even a game. I’m talking about Liane Merciel’s upcoming novel, Godsrain. It’s the first novel Paizo’s published in a long time, and it’s helping to kick off the War of Immortals plotline, but the part I’m delighted most by is that my favorite iconic Merisiel and her wife Kyra are front and center to the plot. Bisexual representation is something I’ve been passionate about since the start of Pathfinder, with Merisiel being my chosen heroine for this quest. I can’t wait for you all to see what adventures she and the others up to while they’re also saving the world!
Katina Davis (she/her)
Representation is important year-round, but during Pride month I feel especially compelled to step forth from the shadows like a bisexual vampire to celebrate queer stories. I don’t always feel qualified to speak on queer topics because I’m married to a man and could easily be mistaken for straight. Then I remember how I once felt under-represented and less sure of my identity, and how isolating that can be. It’s taken me years to understand myself enough to find peace and joy in who I am. If I can reflect that queer joy back to even one person who might feel lonely and confused, that’s worth it to me. Just imagine the power of entire communities full of that energy!
My years working and freelancing for Paizo have been instrumental to my queer identity because they’ve introduced me to a diverse and supportive group of people that I’m incredibly grateful for. It makes sense given that we’re all tied by our love of a cooperative game—this community is one big adventuring party. We roll initiative together.
You can find my freelance credits, social media, and other links here: https://katinadavis.carrd.co/
Wat Ryshel (he/him), trans ysoki butler.
Kendra Leigh Speedling (she/her)
Hello, all! I’m Kendra, frequent Paizo contributor. You might have spotted my name most recently on Howl of the Wild and Treasure Vault. I’ve also got two Adventure Path volumes coming up that I’m excited to see hit people’s tables: Singer, Stalker, Skinsaw Man for Curtain Call and Destroyer’s Doom for Triumph of the Tusk. Part of what helped encourage me to be open about being queer was seeing others in the TTRPG community do the same, especially those whose identities more easily fly under the radar. “Unite” is the last part of the blog theme for this year, and every time I see (or write!) a queer NPC in an adventure or lore book, it gives me a sense of belonging. We’re here, we’re not going away, and as in any good adventuring party, it’s important to have each other’s backs. Happy Pride!
Kyle Raes (he/she)
My name is Kyle Raes (he/him, she/her) and I’m pansexual and bigender. I’ve been contributing on and off again to Pathfinder for years alongside maintaining my daily blog that analyzes the various options available to characters in both Pathfinder and Starfinder.
It was seeing the sort of community that Paizo has attracted through these games that actually helped afford me the self-reflection to realize my own preferences and identity.
This community, both the players and even the writers and other staff at Paizo stayed true to themselves even with pressures out there trying to deny them that, and for that I am forever grateful, rocky times and all.
Right now, I’m between major projects, but I just this past month published my first submission on Starfinder Infinite!
Elemental Experts is a book with five archetypes for Starfinder giving both casters and non-spellcasting classes a way to go all in and specialize in a particular damage type as masters of that element! The book has all commissioned art by absolutely brilliant artists!
You can find my blog at https://dailycharacteroption.tumblr.com/
My Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/Kyle_Raes_Daily_Character_Option
And also check out my very first published homebrew on Starfinder Infinite! Elemental Experts – Paizo | Starfinder Infinite
Tiya/Tiyo Stories (she/he), genderfluid legendary wayang storyteller.
Lynne M. Meyer (she/they)
It’s impossible to talk about my queerness without talking about games, because they’ve been interwoven from the outset. I was introduced to TTRPGs by an actor friend (now spouse) who’s been playing and running games since the 1980s. Sure I’d love it, he invited me to join his upcoming campaign. I was hooked almost immediately.
I was alsostarting to come out to myself around this time.
All the characters I’ve played have explored queerness in some fashion. As I say in Thom James Carter’s book They Came to Slay: The Queer Culture of D&D, games—specifically, inclusive games with good queer rep—gave me a safe space to figure myself out and unpack years of comphet.
Icon Marsha P. Johnson said, “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.” This month, I’m part of Queer Games Bundle 2024—a bundle of nearly 500 games, software, and zines from 271 queer creators across itch.io. The organizers put it best: this bundle is a direct action that you can take right now to support queer people in a life-changing way, and help nurture the diverse queer games community.
Find me on Bluesky (@lynnemeyer.bsky.social) and Twitter (@Lynne_M_Meyer).
Ixthia the Unbreakable, the nonbinary faction leader of the Exo-Guardians.
Rue Dickey (they/he/xe), Marketing & Media Specialist
It’s me, your friendly local nonbinary circus goth! Over the last fifteen years, I’ve cycled through a variety of labels—nonbinary lesbian, ace lesbian, nonbinary bisexual, trans man, nonbinary trans man, the list goes on—but through all of that change, I have had the love and support of my partners, my close friends and family, and my community. Queer community is vital—in some cases, it is literal lifeblood when bigotry causes institutions to abandon us.
Love is powerful. Love in a world that tries to shame you and hide you away is a protest. And love is a fire that cannot be snuffed out.
Last year’s Pride blog was one of the first projects I took point of here at Paizo, and I’m proud and elated to have continued the tradition through our various community and culture blogs full circle back to Pride. Even “small” acts of solidarity like this give hope and voice to people who have historically been silenced.
Keep up with me on the internet: https://twitter.com/ilananight13, https://bsky.app/profile/ilananight.bsky.social, and http://ilananight.space!
And, for a special Pride preview, have a sneak peek at one of the items coming in Player Core 2: the Elixir of Gender Transformation! This item was written by Avi Kool, Lead Editor.
Elixir of Gender Transformation Item 1+
Alchemical, Consumable, Elixir
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Activate [one-action] (manipulate)This clear, bitter liquid can be ingested to change certain secondary sex characteristics. Different formulations create different changes—for example, one variety might cause the voice to deepen and promote body and facial hair growth, while another might cause fat redistribution around the hips and the growth of breasts. These changes tend to be accompanied by shifting of the fat in the face, sometimes dramatically or sometimes more subtly changing the user’s appearance. Changes from this elixir take place gradually over the course of months or years, depending on the type.
Type lesser; Level 1; Price 1 gp
The elixir must be taken every week, and changes occur over the course of a year or more.Type moderate; Level 3; Price 8 gp
The elixir must be taken once a month, and changes occur over the course of a year.Type greater; Level 6; Price 35 gp
The elixir must be taken once, and changes occur over the course of 6 months.From our tables to yours, happy Pride from Paizo!
Read more at this site