Scan barcode
A review by house_of_hannah
They Came to Slay: The Queer Culture of DnD by Thom James Carter
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
(I will be using the word "queer" as the book does; as a word that encompasses all of the LGBTQIA+ community)
As someone who has played D&D for several years now, and is also a part of the queer community, I felt that this book was more geared towards those who are either new or just interested in D&D, and/or may only be starting to discover who they are. As a "veteran" of sorts I finished this book not feeling like I learned anything new.
You can go into this knowing nothing about D&D and be completely fine. There is quite a lot of explanation on how the game works, and what's important to know. (Hence why I said what I did above) When it comes to the queer aspects of the book though, I found it to be incredibly repetitive. Just looking at the title of the book my first thought was, "Oh, this is going to talk about how important character creation can be for queer folks !" and that's it, that's the book. Almost every chapter is just that sentence explained again. Due to this I thought the book was a little surface level, as I think I was expecting something a little more analytical. Instead, the vibe of this book definitely feels like reading a friend's blog post.
My favorite chapter ended up being Chapter 7: Raise a tankard to the homebrewers, creators, and community. There are a lot of names dropped in this chapter, but since they are all queer D&D content creators I am interested in looking up every single one.
There is actually a sentence in this book that I feel really brings down the equality that the queer community strives for. It is located on page 72 and is as follows, "Maybe all queer people are viewed as powerful beings and held in higher respect than cishet folk." This is in reference to creating your own worlds within D&D. I had to do a double take when I read it, because what ? Personally I do not believe anyone should ever be viewed as "better" due to their sexuality, or gender they wish to present as (or not). I would not participate in a campaign with this element. We don't want the reverse, so promoting this feels quite icky to me.
Overall, I am happy that there is more literature about D&D, and it's a huge bonus that it's so queer-centric. I do look forward to checking out some more of the 404 Inklings series, and will be keeping an eye on future titles as well.
As someone who has played D&D for several years now, and is also a part of the queer community, I felt that this book was more geared towards those who are either new or just interested in D&D, and/or may only be starting to discover who they are. As a "veteran" of sorts I finished this book not feeling like I learned anything new.
You can go into this knowing nothing about D&D and be completely fine. There is quite a lot of explanation on how the game works, and what's important to know. (Hence why I said what I did above) When it comes to the queer aspects of the book though, I found it to be incredibly repetitive. Just looking at the title of the book my first thought was, "Oh, this is going to talk about how important character creation can be for queer folks !" and that's it, that's the book. Almost every chapter is just that sentence explained again. Due to this I thought the book was a little surface level, as I think I was expecting something a little more analytical. Instead, the vibe of this book definitely feels like reading a friend's blog post.
My favorite chapter ended up being Chapter 7: Raise a tankard to the homebrewers, creators, and community. There are a lot of names dropped in this chapter, but since they are all queer D&D content creators I am interested in looking up every single one.
There is actually a sentence in this book that I feel really brings down the equality that the queer community strives for. It is located on page 72 and is as follows, "Maybe all queer people are viewed as powerful beings and held in higher respect than cishet folk." This is in reference to creating your own worlds within D&D. I had to do a double take when I read it, because what ? Personally I do not believe anyone should ever be viewed as "better" due to their sexuality, or gender they wish to present as (or not). I would not participate in a campaign with this element. We don't want the reverse, so promoting this feels quite icky to me.
Overall, I am happy that there is more literature about D&D, and it's a huge bonus that it's so queer-centric. I do look forward to checking out some more of the 404 Inklings series, and will be keeping an eye on future titles as well.