GMing the Game

The GM is a player with a special role, one that is usually a lot of fun. As GM, you should help provoke dramatic situations for the PCs and be able to introduce others to the rules. It’s okay to learn as you go, too. The core of Thirsty Sword Lesbians is in the basic moves and the playbooks, where the information you need is at your fingertips.

As you run the game, a few simple principles will help you tell enjoyable and compelling stories with the other players.

Be Excited about the PCs and Their Stories

Help the PCs shine. Throw serious obstacles their way because you want to see how they’ll handle it, how they’ll rise to the challenge and share dramatic moments, not because you want to trip them up. Ask questions often, to flesh out the characters and their relationships and to shine a spotlight on the things that matter to them. When the PCs contribute to the narrative, particularly on an up beat, make sure that those contributions matter; move the story, have NPCs react, and make sure the PCs are active participants in the story.

Make the World Action-Packed and Perilous

No matter what tone you pick, the world has to be dangerous enough that serious consequences are on the line. This doesn’t mean that death is on the line. Instead, stakes can be things like being rejected, having a political alliance fall through, or disappointing your mentor. These consequences have to feel like real possibilities.

Make Adversaries Appealing

Now is your chance to tell the story you wanted when you shook your fist at the TV screen and shouted, “Make it gay, you cowards!” Thirsty sword lesbians may get into a lot of sword fights, but those sword fights often end with making out or with mutual understanding rather than bloodshed. Include adversaries who are appealing and relatable. Give them believable motivations, emotional attachments and conflicts, and have them poke at the PCs’ existing emotional conflicts. An adversary who represents one prong of a PC’s central emotional dilemma can be very powerful. The history of queer-coding villains and villainizing queers provides a trove of tropes to work with. Reclaim those lesbian vampires and stylish spinster villains.

Create Space for PCs to Feel Their Feelings

The PCs are going to be emotional, volatile, caring, heartbroken, and everything in between. Make sure the players have time to explore this. The mechanics will help, prompting them to Emotionally Support one another and to roleplay their Conditions, but you can also help by making sure you don’t drive the action so relentlessly that these scenes are lost or rushed. If your players aren’t leaning into this aspect of the game, you can nudge them along by choosing to dish out more Conditions as consequences for moves or simply by asking, “How does that make you feel?”

Make the Story Vivid and Personal

Describe intense scenes where people feel intense emotions. Engage all of the PCs’ senses, not just sound and taste but intuition and feelings. Combine intense descriptions with NPCs who tend towards escalation and rash action. The core excitement of Thirsty Sword Lesbians is seeing how personal relationships develop. In a fight, the game asks how the characters’ relationships will change, not who is better at swinging their sword. In an investigation, the questions are about who is involved, their motivations, and who is using the situation to their advantage. Be generous with clues and with success in general to move the story to the next interpersonal moment.

GM Moves

As the GM, you never roll dice. Instead, it’s your responsibility to pose difficult choices to the PCs and to adjudicate which GM move to use as your down beat when a PC rolls a 6-. You can also intervene with a GM move and complicate the PCs’ lives whenever the table gets quiet and players look to you to figure out what happens next in the story. Finally, make a GM move whenever a formidable NPC suffers a Condition.

A down beat means a narrative setback for the character, but it should be fun and move the story along; it may even delight the player. Being a fan of the characters doesn’t mean you want them to get everything they desire effortlessly; it means you’re invested in their personal conflict and goals and storyline.

Likewise, a 6- on a roll never means that “nothing happens.” It means additional drama or consequences. The character may even succeed at their immediate task, only to find that things are not what they seemed, or by terrible coincidence they’ve stumbled into new trouble.

The character triggering the down beat doesn’t need to be the target of the GM move you make, but in general the target shouldn’t be a different PC. Of course, the GM move may target NPCs that the PC cares about, or affect the world in general, or affect all the PCs, or the triggering PC plus all those who Influenced the roll with Strings. This guideline simply suggests that the PC triggering the down beat shouldn’t escape consequences. One exception would be if the PC is specifically hoping to save another PC from a threat; the triggering PC is clearly emotionally invested in the outcome, so having that threat come to fruition is a perfectly good GM move.

Tailoring to the PCs' Emotional Conflicts and Relationships

At the start of the game, make some notes about each PC’s personal conflict, especially if you already have an NPC who embodies one side of that conflict. Making a GM move is a great opportunity to pull the PC in one direction or another. The Devoted might receive orders they don’t wish to follow, or the Chosen might see the consequences of denying their destiny. The Trickster might get burned by a previous moment of vulnerability, pushing them back into their shell.

PCs who have become Smitten have given you a gift by signaling a part of the narrative that they want to bring into focus. The Smitten move will prompt them to share a fear or complication that you can and should use when you get the opportunity. You can also introduce additional complications: What goal does the Smitten character have that is at odds with a goal of the other person? What third party might be upset with the PC for pursuing their feelings?

Menu of GM Moves

The following lists are here for inspiration. If you have a neat idea for how to continue the story and complicate the PCs’ lives, go for it!

Narrative GM Moves

• Highlight an adversary’s appeal
• Make them face temptation alone
• Poke their dilemma
• Offer what they want at a high cost
• Threaten their attachments
• Offer conditional love
• A rival grows in power or standing
• Their love earns them a new enemy
• Create misunderstandings and doubt about attachments
• Give them an ultimatum
• Escalate the stakes of a conflict

Mechanical GM Moves

• Take a String on them (describe why)
• Inflict a Condition (work with them to figure out what makes the most sense)
• Make them Stagger
• Offer them XP to make an unwise decision (and potentially inflict a Condition if they don’t)

All GM moves are narrative in a sense, but some focus on introducing story twists and complications while others directly interact with the game’s mechanics. Always start with the narration. Don’t just say “They get a String on you” and move on; describe how the NPC reaches out a single finger to tilt the PC’s chin up towards them, cracks a knowing smile, and departs without another word. Then take the String.

GM Moves for Each Playbook

Each player has chosen their playbook because they’re interested in exploring its themes. When in doubt, the following suggested moves can help sharpen the conflict each character faces.

Beast

• Show them the consequences of failing to conform
• Punish their friends for tolerating them
• Describe the collateral damage (physical and otherwise)

Chosen

• An admirer or challenger brings them trouble
• Fate contrives to thrust their Destiny upon them
• Judge them for associating with the lowly (or vice versa)

Devoted

• Surface the problems with their Devotion
• Give them a hard choice with their Devotion at stake
• Present them with fanatics amongst allies and enemies alike

Infamous

• Judge them by their prior affiliation
• Remind them of past misdeeds
• Show them hypocrisy that will go unpunished

Nature Witch

• Betray their foolish trust
• Threaten the natural world
• Take them out of their element

Scoundrel

• Show how they’ve hurt someone
• Tempt them with a dangerous lover
• Have the consequences catch up with them

Seeker

• Present an uncomfortable demand from the Authority
• Create a contradiction between two Commandments or two Convictions
• Show them the importance of a Commandment

Spooky Witch

• Introduce a plea for help from a monster
• Judge them for their weirdness or their friends
• Judge their friends for associating with them

Trickster

• Reveal their secrets, or threaten to
• Show them someone being vulnerable and suffering for it
• Threaten the things they won’t admit they care about

Formidable NPCs Trigger GM Moves upon Taking a Condition

To make conflict with dangerous NPCs more dynamic, the GM can make a GM move whenever that NPC takes a Condition. Try to make it fit the emotional theme of what they’re feeling. For instance:

Angry

• Lash out and hurt a bystander
• Break something that makes the battlefield all the more dangerous, like a structural support, a dam, a magic circle, or a power core

Frightened

• Deploy a new defense or tactic, such as triggering a trap or taking a hostage
• Force the PCs to choose between letting the NPC flee versus some other disaster occurring

Guilty

• Call out the PCs’ misdeeds
• Target bystanders to eliminate any witnesses

Hopeless

• Offer a deal
• Call in reinforcements

Insecure

• Escalate the violence to a new level: from words to weapons, or weapons to lethal intent, or lethal intent to a disregard for their own well-being or collateral damage
• Call out the PCs’ own insecurities

GM Moves and Advice for Specific Story Elements

Thirsty Sword Lesbians helps you tell melodramatic and queer stories, and some common elements and options can help set the tone.

Relationship Triangles: Each PC has at least one dilemma facing their character. If each prong of the dilemma has a character pulling the PC in a conflicting direction, it’s an excellent recipe for drama. These triangles can be love triangles, but don’t have to be. When crafting a plot, consider creating triangles around key NPCs and pulling them in different directions, too.

Couples with Obstacles: Sometimes the tension in a romance isn’t whether two people will choose each other, but how they can overcome the obstacles that seem to make their love impossible. This will frequently arise for PCs, given that the Smitten questions are designed to inspire such obstacles. It can also be a very useful plot element for two NPCs. PCs will frequently want to help NPCs connect by removing obstacles to their love—be those obstacles external or internal to the characters.

Relationship Anarchy: Thirsty sword lesbians aren’t necessarily monogamous, and don’t necessarily exist in a society that demands monogamy. It’s up to you to establish what expectations and norms your characters and societies hold, and conflicting expectations are a rich source of melodrama. The PCsmightbe mature and have clear, vulnerable conversations about their needs and expectations, but, let’s be real the PCs are usually disaster lesbians.

Mystery: PCs have many tools for getting at NPC motivations once they’re face-to-face, and some PCs have other tools for gathering information. Don’t hesitate to reward these moves with juicy information! On the other hand, these tools mean that a villain who did the wicked deed because they’re Bad is going to make for a boring mystery. Give the culprits complex and sympathetic motivations and to add interest and conflict to the mystery. The Sword Lesbians of the Three Houses scenario (page 185) contains an example of this kind of story.

Intrigue: Strings are critical for a game of behind-the-scenes intrigue and maneuvering. Take some extra time to describe how Strings are acquired and spent in narrative terms, and consider awarding Strings on NPCs when the PCs dig up useful blackmail material. Structure your political scenario so that PCs have multiple options for which factions and individuals to ally with to achieve their aims, so they have agency in steering the story. If you’re ever stuck on coming up with a suitable down beat, disgrace an important ally or have them betray the PCs—perhaps unwillingly, perhaps not. You can also adjust the scale of this intrigue; social dynamics in a commune or local organization can be just as narratively rich, if not moreso, than those in the halls of great power.

Celebration: Sometimes a lighter mood is what a group needs. Make problems personal—very important to the people involved, but not world shattering. PCs are very good at setting up the NPCs they want to see together and breaking down barriers to their love. And in the worlds of Thirsty Sword Lesbians, a sword fight or two doesn’t dampen the mood of a celebration in the least. This kind of plot can be a good way to reinforce the communities to which the PCs belong.

Utopia: It can be healing and inspiring to imagine better worlds—and to explore the ways that they succeed or fail. In a utopia plotline, the status quo is pretty good. The PCs could navigate challenges to making the utopian society work, or could defend it from internal Toxic Powers or other dangers that could cause it to unravel. Many of the GM moves for an invasion can apply to threats to a utopia as well.

Invasion: The invasion plotline contemplates one or more Toxic Powers attempting to establish new dominance over a free people. They might move overtly, with superior weapons, or they might corrupt the free society, or orchestrate or take advantage of a seemingly impersonal affliction. As with the revolution plotline, the tone here can vary between power fantasy and a focus on realistic tactics and approaches. It’s also helpful to establish some factions within the free society that have rivalries and differences the Toxic Powers can exploit.

Revolution: In a revolution plotline, one or more Toxic Powers dominate the people of the setting, and the story revolves around ending that domination and building a better society. You can tell this story as one of exceptional heroes doing larger-than-life deeds, or you can take a grittier approach and try to explore how a humble band of sword lesbians could more realistically go about trying to change a toxic world order by building community and coalition. Both approaches are valid, and it’s useful to get on the same page with your group about which approach you take.

Use the advice in Setting the Tone (page 108) to slide the scale from power fantasy to punk underdogs as desired. It’s also helpful to come up with multiple interest groups involved in the revolution, with some aligned goals and others that are divergent. Give each group at least one NPC who acts as the face of that group with the PCs.

Setting the Tone

Your selection of GM moves can change the feel of the game. Try to get on the same page as the players about what the tone will be, and be sure to check in during play.

By default, the game assumes you’re going to use a mix of gentle and more forceful GM moves and that serious consequences will come after foreshadowing, or an opportunity to Defy Disaster, or when the PCs leap headlong into those consequences. The game encourages brash, bold, adventurous play by making characters competent, but also expects that characters are taking Conditions and giving away Strings—these consequences arefun!

If you lean more towards gentler moves, the game will feel more like a power fantasy or escapism. The same is true if you give PCs many opportunities to Defy Disaster before drastic consequences land.

Conversely, if you lean into harder moves and supply harsher consequences for down beats, the tone will be more dire and intense.

In addition to setting the overall tone of the game, you can also increase the danger posed by a particular threat or situation by shifting these levers. In a climactic encounter, a PC might have to Defy Disaster or even Stagger to get the right narrative positioning to use an effective move. For instance, either move might be appropriate if the Avatar of the Goddess of Conquest is at the center of a lightning aura and the PC has to get close to seduce her.

Varying Story Focus by Choice of GM Move

The GM’s choice of move also affects the focus of the story. The GM may focus on actions, feelings, plot, or another aspect of the story, while the severity of the move sets the tone. The overall tone should be fairly constant, so that players can know how risky their actions are, while the story focus can change from moment to moment to fuel the drama and provide variety.

The following are multiple options for narrating a GM move in response to the same down beat rolled by a player. These options are first sorted by what story aspect they focus on, and then range from soft moves that create the most heroic tone to hard moves for a more grim or challenging tone. If your players want to face serious setbacks and adversity, opt for the harder moves right away. Otherwise, start with a soft move that signals imminent danger and follow up with a hard move on a second down beat or whenever the danger has already been clearly established.

Narrative Positioning and Setting the Stakes

The term “narrative positioning” refers to the current state of the story that players are collectively telling at the table, especially in relation to what possible next steps in the story might be. Nothing in the moves tells you that you can’t sword-fight someone on the other side of the planet; that’s a matter of not having the narrative positioning to start that fight without inserting some other story beats first. The moves trigger when you do something in the fiction, and narrative positioning determines when you can do that thing and trigger the moves, as well as what the range of consequences might be. One role of the GM is to fairly adjudicate narrative positioning, informed by the principles of the game and the tone of your story.

The game principles tell the GM to be excited about the PCs and to make the story vivid and visceral. The GM shouldn’t be stingy with narrative positioning, but should push the PCs into positions that require them to take risks. Above all, the GM should treat the players fairly with respect to one another.

If a player starts to have a sense that their understanding of their PC’s capabilities isn’t the same as the GM’s, that can be extremely discouraging. This might be a disconnect about the character, or the two people might have very different imaginations of what kind of approaches are effective when overcoming obstacles or interacting with people.

In general, if something is either plausible or in-genre, allow it. If you’re not sure how it would work or how the character learned the skill, be curious and ask. This isn’t a game where every cool thing about a PC needs to be justified by something written on their character sheet. Likewise, your players have different experiences and abilities from you, the GM. Do not tell the wheelchair user (or anyone else) that their wheelchair-using sword lesbian can’t duel as well as any other character.

Whenever adjudicating narrative positioning, err on the side of saying “yes” when you’re able to, even if it means you need to add a caveat or tweak the stakes. A few flavors of “yes” to try out:

• “Yes, and that doesn’t require a roll, you just do it”
• “Yes, roll your move”
• “Yes, if you’re willing to climb onto that precarious branch to get a better angle”
• “Yes, if you do it that way you don’t need to roll, but it will be really loud”
• “Yes, roll, but if you get a down beat it’ll be really bad, since you’ll be exposed to the Sorceress”
• “Yes, but doing this will make the Martian Champion much less interested in helping you”

You can also ask questions to get on the same page as the players and highlight elements of the PCs’ stories:

• “How do you picture that working?”
• “What are you trying to achieve?”
• “Where did you learn how to do that?”
• “Do you think the Sorceress taught you to do that when you were her apprentice?”
• “Was this kind of dancing forbidden by the Authority when you were growing up? Why were you willing to risk it anyway?”

If you have to say “no” to remain true to the characters or the agreed-upon tone, say “no.” This might come up if someone is confused about the state of the narrative, in which case it’s a simple matter of clarifying what has already been established.

You might also need to use “no” if players try to treat NPCs as dolls to control instead of as people. An important safety tool built into the rules is your authority as GM to determine that an NPC won’t go along with a player’s will, or an XP bribe, or the lure of clearing a Condition. In general, NPCs are open and vulnerable with PCs inThirsty Sword Lesbiansto help build stories about connection, but the ability for an NPC to say “no” or “not unless you do X first” or “never in a million years” is important to telling those stories in a meaningful, non-creepy way.

Using Countdowns to Build Tension

Some plot points are so dire that it would feel unfair to spring them on the story as the result of a single down beat. But the threat of such dire consequences can be important to create tension.

In these circumstances, consider a countdown of two or more steps. A countdown tracks the progress of a long-term process, usually a threat. On the first down beat, the GM might narrate how the threat is revealed, signaling future danger. On subsequent down beats, if the PCs don’t address the threat, then more steps of the countdown are checked off, with increasingly dire consequences, until the threat comes to pass.

Show the players how many steps there are and what’s at stake, so the countdown can build tension and so they know, when they’re one step away from disaster, that any down beat could mean they must reckon with the catastrophe that has been looming.

When the PCs take steps to defeat the threat, either erase the countdown if the threat has been dealt with, or add more steps to represent how serious of a setback the PCs have dealt.

To create a more grim tone, write several countdowns so the PCs have to choose which disasters to avert and face the consequences of the others, and of their choices.

Structure of Play

Structure of a Session

• Introduce or recap
• GM takes generic Strings
• The PCs react to events that call for heroes or proactively pursue their own goals
• Build to a climax
• End after a satisfying encounter or on a cliffhanger
• Resolve the End of Session move
• Debrief

Step 1: Introduce the game, if you’re playing for the first time, or invite the players to recount generally what happened last time. This is particularly valuable if any of the players missed a session. If this is the first session, consider using the Game Start Guide (page 210) available for free at SwordLesbians.com.

Step 2: The GM takes generic Strings equal to the number of PCs.

Step 3: If the PCs have a clear direction in mind, they can begin pursuing it. If not, the GM should provide plot hooks—events or situations that invite the PCs to intervene to solve problems or take advantage of opportunities. When in doubt, look to the agendas of your Toxic Powers.

Step 4: Escalate the action or the emotional stakes of the story, honoring the narrative contributions of the PCs.

Step 5: When you have about an hour left in your session, work towards a dramatic moment that can serve as a climax for the session. A sword fight is classic, but a heated reunion, a daring heist, or a confession of love while fleeing the authorities are just a few other options. If you run out of time, end on a cliffhanger instead, but ideally you can resolve the climax and have a moment to breathe before you end the session.

Step 6: Resolve the End of Session move. This will likely trigger some Advances, which can be resolved now or between sessions.

Step 7: Finally, take a moment to take stock of how you feel and how the other players are doing. Think about what went well and what was challenging. If anything emotionally difficult came up, see if people want to discuss it. Remember not to pressure anyone to discuss or justify a boundary. Some people will feel put on the spot if asked to speak privately, others will not want to discuss with the entire group, and some might only later realize that they need to course-correct something that happened in the session. Remember also that the relationships between characters don’t represent the relationships between the players. In-character flirtation doesn’t mean another player wants that to translate into real life. Likewise, getting angry and frustrated in-character can be fun, but getting angry and frustrated with other players is a sign that the group should check in or otherwise work through the issue as compassionate human beings, rather than trying to use the game mechanics as a proxy. Hopefully, all went well during your session and you have new stories to tell about the exploits of your thirsty sword lesbians!

How Many Sessions to Play

Thirsty Sword Lesbiansis a game with natural arcs of emotional development for each character, and the players have a great deal of control over how rapidly that emotional development occurs. It’s certainly possible to have a satisfying character arc in a single session, but emotional conflicts can also be complex enough to take far longer to explore. Additionally, characters can Advance to a new playbook and continue developing, facing a new emotional conflict and growing through it.

The important thing is to communicate your expectations about roughly how long you’ll play with a group of characters, so that everyone can calibrate their story progression accordingly. When you start to feel your plot threads and character arcs wrapping up, that’s a good time to call for a dramatic final session or scene to conclude your story.

Pacing

Pacing a Short-Term Game of One to Three Sessions

In a short game, go hard on romantic entanglements and playbook dilemmas. Focus on existing elements and a simple scenario. You can tell a complete story in a single session ofThirsty Sword Lesbians, lasting about 3-5 hours. To make this work best, come prepared with a scenario, a flexible plot, and NPCs. The Worldbuilding Worksheet (page 222) will help you generate all the elements of the setting that you need, or you can use a pre-written adventure like the ones in this book. For playbook elements such as the Seeker’s Authority or the Infamous’s villainous past, encourage a choice that connects the PCs to existing elements of the world instead of creating new organizations.

For your plot, figure out what the NPCs are after, and what would happen if there were no PCs to get in their way. Come up with a handful of situations where a dramatic confrontation is possible (potentially with swords). Then, develop a simple plot hook or two, and be flexible about how the PCs pursue what’s going on. Any dramatic confrontation can act as the satisfying climax of your story in a one-shot game. Bear in mind that players probably won’t engage with all the material you prepare, and they’ll also probably take significantly longer than you expect when they do.

Pacing a Long-Term Game of Four or More Sessions

For longer play, you have more opportunities to build your story off of the specific dilemmas and entanglements of the PCs. Use the narrative GM moves to introduce obstacles and complications. After a few sessions, start shifting the focus to existing plot elements, working towards a season or series finale. Push hard to complicate romances, but also let characters have their joy. The mechanics will help you; down beats and certain moves like Fight take a toll on characters, encouraging those tender moments of support, friendship, and love.

How to End the Game

When you collectively feel you’re done with the story you wanted to tell, or when you’re running out of time, plan for a climax in the action and time for some reflection afterward. Give the players an opportunity to narrate an epilogue for their characters, covering either an overview of their life after the story or a particular scene that takes place shortly after the events of the story.

Advanced GMing: When the Dice Go Rogue

Dramatic narratives benefit from a mix of narrative beats. In general, the randomness of the dice contributes to this mix, but every group will eventually have a session where the PCs defy probability. This is okay.

First of all, the game provides some tools to facilitate dramatic comebacks: PCs gain XP on down beats and dangerous NPCs trigger GM moves upon taking a Condition.

Second, players can spend Strings to Influence rolls and seek the tone they want.

Third, as long as you are making sure that your down beats and up beats both move the story in new directions, even a series of the same kind of beat can be satisfying. Keep raising the stakes or force agonizing choices. Every PC is conflicted or struggling, every NPC has reckless choices they can make.

The risk of a streak of down beats is that it can be a downer, but PCs can still be heroic even when it comes at great cost. Just don’t let events stagnate by narrating down beats that fail to move the story forward. In particular, character failure as a down beat poses a serious risk of stagnation. Consider escalations, complications, dilemmas, and costs instead.

A streak of up beats poses the risk that the narrative will be unsatisfying because the PCs overrun any obstacles to their goals without any of the difficult moments that reveal their inner conflicts. In this case, the GM can introduce opportunities that force PCs to make difficult and character-revealing choices. Make them choose between two good options, such as sticking to a plan that’s going well or leaping into danger because they have a rare opportunity to achieve something above and beyond what they expected. The GM should also honor the contributions that PCs make with their up beats and ensure that their choices matter.

Long-Form Example of Play

This example highlights the principles, mechanics, and safety concepts that help you tell fun stories celebrating queer love and power.