The Courtesy Modules

Over the past few years, the RTR community has been part of the larger discussion on how to make gaming more inclusive, equitable, and welcoming to people from marginalized groups. Last year, several folks stepped up to begin working on this, but the pandemic has put several of the community-building ideas on hold. 

One thing we are able to move forward on, however, is a response to questions that have come up about how to be the sort of community members we need to be. These include:

• How can you avoid hurting or alienating people different from yourself through ignorance or misunderstanding? 
• How can you play a character or an NPC that is representative of a real-life culture or marginalized group without resorting to stereotypes? 
• What’s the difference between cultural appropriation, appreciation, and exchange? 
• How can you support someone with disabilities in your game respectfully? 
• What should you do if you misgender a player or their character? What if you do it again? 

In short, how can we extend and receive the basic courtesies we all deserve to make our community feel both safe and welcome? We’re beginning to answer those questions with a series of small, accessible, introductory modules to increase RTR membership’s awareness and allyship of marginalized groups called The Courtesy Modules. Each module will have a short response survey (not a quiz), and you will receive 1 free, unrestricted reroll applicable to any RTR-sanctioned game (subject to any limitations put on by the GM) for each module completed.

The Courtesy Modules can include both broad and more specific topics such as: LGBTQ+ and subsets, racism and subsets (i.e. experiences or stereotypes associated with a particular group), ethnicity, antisemitism, Islamophobia, ableism, sexism, ageism, immigrants, mental health, Latinx/Hispanic identities, neurodiversity, and many more. In fact, we’d love to hear from you if there’s anything specific you’d like to see covered this year! 

As we begin this series, please keep in mind three very important things:

1. The information presented will be based on both the lived experiences of members of the marginalized group and materials from recognized advocacy and outreach organizations. None of the material will originate from RTR leadership or members; none of the emotional or intellectual labor will be expected to come from any member of RTR that is part of that marginalized group, though any insights they wish to share are very welcome. 
2. These modules are extremely short, being 30-40 minutes long, and are designed to cover the most basic courtesies any player or character should expect to be given, which means they are going to be by necessity very limited in depth and breadth. Each module will have at least one link to a site that can help a participant learn more on their own, but that isn’t what RTR is doing with this series. These are covering basic etiquette, the equivalent to not standing on someone’s foot or slowly shouting at a person who speaks a different language. 
3. As such, this is not comprehensive or representative of either the community as a whole or any individual in it, so if someone from that community says they prefer you to do something different, then it’s expected that you do what they ask. If you are part of any group represented and have some resources you’ve found helpful, please feel free to let us know!

The Courtesy Modules will be essentially based on the format below, though we’ll be incorporating helpful suggestions and feedback from participants if needed: 

1. Introductory videos from the perspective of X group – lived experiences (2-3 videos, mix of serious and fun)
2. Accessible article/FAQ on the basics of X group, and how to be an ally, from X global, national, and local education and advocacy groups 
3. Activity/Action to take while learning how to be an active ally to X group (game, educational quiz, sharing an experience related to X, etc.)
4. Links to creative works done by X group members to explore (to see how some creators from X group design and present characters, plots, etc.) and gaming tips, if available, on how to portray a character from X group accurately and respectfully. 
5. Post-module Survey

We’ll be starting out the month of October with our first module on the LGBTQ+ subset of Trans and Nonbinary Identities, which will then be followed by Cultural Appropriation vs Appreciation. 

In many of our games we have players, characters, NPCs, and settings based on a wide variety of cultures and gender identities, and two of the most common concerns we’ve heard expressed are how to engage with them  respectfully and what to do when you’ve screwed up without making the situation worse. Again, we’re all learning as we go because nobody is going to be fully aware of what to do in every situation, so the expectation here is honest effort, patience, and humility on all our parts. 

As the RTR leadership is juggling so much while dealing with the unique challenges of the year, this series is being headed by Marisol Asselta Castro and Spencer Dawson. You can reach them on our Discord server. We hope the modules will be both helpful and enjoyable, and if anyone would like to become a committed volunteer for the series, please reach out and let us know! 

RTR Courtesy Module 1:
Trans And Nonbinary Identities (LGBTQ+)

1. Trans & Nonbinary Introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSuJ70OMo3I
   1. Trans Female Experiences (Comedy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKcPsKXsdrY
   2. Non-Binary Pronouns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U_BBpiKsDA
2. National Center for Transgender Equality guide to allyship: https://transequality.org/issues/resources/supporting-the-transgender-people-in-your-life-a-guide-to-being-a-good-ally
3. Practice with Pronouns Game: https://www.practicewithpronouns.com
4. Creative fiction by transgender authors: https://bookriot.com/transgender-fiction/ Gaming and GMing tips: https://www.monsterdarlings.com/blogposts/portraying-trans-and-nonbinary 
5. Post-module Survey: https://forms.gle/mc6BrQAWJvpPGpBLA