Jaclyn Lewis

Imagine Queer Worlds

At a Glance

Solo (1 player), Duet (2 players), and Small Group (3-5)Medium (1-2 hours), Long (2-4 hours), and Campaign (Multiple sessions)Ages 13-17 (Teen) and Ages 18+ (Mature/Adult)Mechanics (System): Journaling (Custom)Genres: Inspiration, Fantasy, and CozyComplexity: Beginner

A Thoughtful Guide to Inclusive Worldbuilding

You live in a world, a culture, and a place where there are particular ideas and norms about gender, sexuality, and attraction. These are valuable and important ideas, but they are just that: ideas.

Seeing them as such can free your creativity to build something original and unique. You get to choose which elements from your own world to include in a world you create. Just as it's interesting to imagine a species that’s a silicone-based lifeform, a culture where the rich invest in cybernetic modifications, or a place where food can grow in the palm of your hand, it’s interesting to imagine a species with three fluid sexes, a culture where each gender wears a different metal, or a place where sexual attraction to multiple genders is considered the default. On the other hand, it can be interesting to place realities and concepts from your own world into an entirely different context so you can examine them in a different light. 

With modular gameplay built for different numbers of players, levels of worldbuilding, and experience with queer terminology and ideas, a game of Imagine Queer Worlds slowly increases in complexity, as you craft the details of a world in the realms of Bodies & Biology, Gender & Expression, Relationships & Attraction, and Sex & Sexuality.

The game takes creators on a journey to imagine how the fictional societies, cultures, and environments they craft engage with the personal questions of sex, gender, attraction, and more – and how those ideas and norms shape the characters who live in them. 

Get the zine and companion Imagine Queer Worlds Cards together in the Imagine Queer Worlds Bundle for a special price.

Zine Contents 

  • Dedication
  • Contributor Credits
  • Worlds and Worldbuilding
  • Using This Book
  • Supplementary Tools
  • Prompt Selection (Dice, 52-Card Deck, Rider-Waite Tarot Deck)
  • Definitions
  • Bodies & Biology Prompts
  • Character: Bet
  • Gender & Expression Prompts
  • Character: Abdastartus
  • Relationships & Attraction Prompts
  • Character: Aisling
  • Sex & Sexuality Prompts
  • Character: Avey
  • Further Reading
  • Citations

26 pages, 8.5 in x 11 in, full color, staple bound zine

Includes access to digital version