May 2017 Update: Pelgrane Press has picked up #Feminism and is publishing a second edition, PLUS a PDF of six excellent new games. You can pre-order here: Pre-order from Pelgrane here: http://hashtagfeminism.games
Update: Here's an unformatted preview of one of the games in the collection: Restrictions by Frida Karlsson Lindgren and Sofia Stenler. You can download it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jfzqb73olok0q2m/Restrictions_Final.docx?dl=0
Julia Ellingboe also wrote an great essay about her experiences writing her entry, You've Come a Long Way, Baby here: http://leavingmundania.com/2015/12/29/julia-ellingboe-on-youve-come-a-long-way-baby/
Update: Our "News Stand" pickup options now include GeekGirlCon and Camp Nerdly (VA), in addition to Solmukohta, Fastaval, Big Bad Con, Gen Con, Origins, DEXCON, and Living Games Austin! If you live in London, you can also select this option if you're willing to visit a pickup spot at one of our contributor's offices in Central London.
Update: Stretch goals!
If we reach 5500 we will upgrade the photography and print more copies, some of which will be donated to academics and underserved gaming communities.
If we reach 7000 we can upgrade the paper and afford to reward our writers, copy editors, and editors with something special. They’ve been doing everything out of the kindness of their hearts, and we’d like to thank them more properly.
Welcome to #Feminism, an anthology of 30+ feminist nano-games produced by a collective of feminists from 10 countries.
There are so many feminist games to write, and so little time. This collection is our solution to the problem--we're writing them shorter, sweeter, and sometimes funnier than we'd be able to if we wrote longer games.
We're running this campaign to help us pay for the cost of printing the book and shipping it to various gaming conventions around the world. If we're able to exceed our financial goals, we will improve the print quality. And if we REALLY exceed them, we will use surplus funds to help some of our participants travel to conventions.
What's a nanogame?
For our purposes, a nanogame is an analog roleplaying game that lasts less than an hour. Our games are for 3 to 5 players, and are playable with simple tools like paper, pens, paperclips, timers, or other things you can find in the bottom of your bag.
All of the games deal with contemporary feminist issues important to our participants.
What sort of games can I find in the collection?
We've got 33 games written by participants from about ten countries.
Agata Świstak/Poland/Flirt
"Flirt" is an attempt to deconstruct the game almost everyone is playing - game of hook-ups, crushes and scoring!
Ann Eriksen/Denmark/Tropes vs. Women
Explore well-known movie clichés and tropes about women in a fun and not to serious way.
Anna Westerling/Sweden/Willful Disregard
A love story.
Cathriona Tobin/Ireland/First Joyful Mystery
Players examine the impact Ireland's prohibitive abortion laws have on people who find themselves pregnant.
Dominika Kováčová/UK/Stripped
A game about stripping off the stigma.
Elin Nilsen/Norway/6016
In 6016 the only historical source of the 21st century is a collection of clips from the soap opera "Love, lust and lack of trust."
Elsa Helin/Sweden/My Sister, Malala
A game about freedom of thoughts and ideas for girls in Pakistan.
Emily Care Boss/US/Ma, Can I Help You with That?
A game about family, age and the gendered nature of care-giving.
Evan Torner/US/Something to Drink with That, Sir?
A woman flight attendant performs emotional labor to serve three different male passengers.
Frederik Berg, Rebecka Eriksson, and Tobias Wrigstad/Sweden/Flesh
A physical game about the objectification of women or how women’s bodies are butchered into parts.
Jason Morningstar/US/Shoutdown to Launch
In this game about gendered interruption, a bunch of engineers need to fix a problem with a rocket engine in the dwindling time before launch. It won't go well.
Julia Ellingboe/US/You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby
A game about gender, cultural, and ethnic representation in the movies.
Kaisa Kangas/Finland/Lipstick
Sofia is hesitating about whether to wear lipstick for a TV debate on feminism.
Kaisa Kangas/Finland/President
The war-waging Akhaian empire has elected its first female president, a very successful lady general, and feminists with conflicting agendas are trying to draft a press statement together.
Kajsa Greger/Sweden/Three Games About the Body
Dances with Vulvas: A silly warm-up game about the taboos around women's anatomy.
Dying for a Cup of Coffee: A playful scene about the terror of being deprived of coffee at your workplace.
Just Put Some Salt on It: A story about what happens when you put period stains on your mother in law’s white sofa.
Karin Edman/Sweden/Spin the Goddesses
A kissing game of lesbian witches.
Kat Jones/US/Glitzy Nails
Glitzy Nails is a freeform scenario about intersectional feminism, interactions between women, and nail salons.
Katrin Førde/Norway/First Date
A game about a date gone wrong and a rant about the orgasm gap.
Kira Magrann/US/Selfie
An intimate game about feelings in images.
Laura Simpson/US/Driving to the Reunion
An intergenerational game about four Black women trying to understand each other, as they drive back for college reunion.
Leïla Teteau-Surel and Baptiste Cazes with Laura Guedes/France/Family Planning Clinic
A game about women’s health where players will play short scenes from the daily life of a French family planning clinic (inspired by real stories).
Livia von Sucro/Brazil/GIRL: A Game for Boys
A small exercise about empathy, designed for cis gendered men to take a glimpse of what it feels like to be a victim of violence against women.
Lizzie Stark/US/Manic Pixie Dream Girl Commandos
A military unit undertakes its last whimsical mission before retiring to civilian life.
Moyra Turkington/Canada/Tour of Duty
A freeform nano-scenario about the what it’s like to serve and defend as a woman in the US Military.
Muriel Algayres/France/A Friend in Need
A nano-game about street harassment, victim-blaming and friendship. After a bad encounter on the street, can Ella get over victim-blaming with the help of her friends?
Rowan Cota/US/Her Last Tweet
A microgame exploring being a potential victim of a campus shooting event.
Sarah Bowman/US/Curtain Call
A larp about the experiences of a woman in the music industry over the course of four decades.
Siri Sandquist/Sweden/The Grey Zone
A larp about the grey zone between rape and consensual sex in a relationship.
Sofia Stenler and Frida Karlsson Lindgren/Sweden/Restrictions
A non-verbal game on how we are and aren't allowed to move together, as two genders.
Susanne Vejdemo/Sweden/So Mom I Made This Sex Tape
Different generations of feminists argue it out about sex, porn, and what the main point of feminism really is.
Tora de Boer/Denmark/Catcalling
A catcalling situation feels different depending on whether bystanders support the target or the cat caller.
Who are the organizers?
The project managers are Anna Westerling, Misha Bushyager, and Lizzie Stark. Our designer is Shuo Meng. Our publisher is the Swedish nonprofit Fëa Livia.
Lizzie Stark is the author of two nonfiction books, Pandora's DNA (Chicago Review Press, 2014), about the so-called "breast cancer genes," and Leaving Mundania (Chicago Review Press, 2012), about live action roleplay, or larp. She designs freeform games and blogs about larp on her community-supported blog LeavingMundania.com.
Previously, she served as an editor of the successful Indiegogo book project Larps from the Factory, a collection of 20+ Norwegian larpscripts, and has published a monograph Pocket Guide to American Freeform, about the emerging format.
Misha Bushyager plays, runs, and writes games. She's a database analyst, mom of two, award-winning baker, and former Jeopardy! contestant. When not working, parenting, or gaming, she finds time to quilt, crochet, sew, design clothing, edit, craft, and code.
Anna Westerling is the main organizer of the Stockholm Scenario Festival, a convention of freeform games held in Sweden. She was the designer and producer of the larp A Nice Evening With the Family (2007). A member of the Vi åker jeep collective, she designs freeform games. She also produced the Diana-Jones award-winning Nordic Larp book, as well as Knutpunkt 2006 and Knutpunkt 2010.
Shuo Meng is an art director with over ten years of experience in print design, branding, marketing, illustration, and user experience design. She loves playing and playtesting roleplaying games, assembling tiny foods, and making terrible / wonderful puns.
Fëa Livia is a Swedish roleplaying nonprofit that published a larp magazine between 2000 and 2005, along with the Nordic Larp book.
