Diversity of Voices

I don't want "Familiar" to be filled with stereotypes, or "diversity tourism" where the struggles of real people are filtered through the lens of a "male, white, middle class, able-bodied, english-speaking, suburban" author.

Of course the problem here is the fact that I am a "male, white, middle class, able-bodied, english-speaking, suburban" author. Hence my desire to get the ideas out there, to get input from people outside this specifc demographic that controls much of the narrative in western society. I want this to be a game for people from different backgrounds, and want this to have input from people from different backgrounds.

Over the years I've seen a few calls to authors from diverse backgrounds. In some cases it's been heavy handed... "we want authors, but not if you're cis, white, and male". In some cases it's been met by massive backlash from "cis, white, male" authors who cry foul about not being given a voice. But, like many things, as time has gone by many of those callouts have been less heavy handed, and have recieved less backlash. Are gamers becoming more inclusive? Am I being insulated by an increasingly powerful echo chamber?

I could say it really doesn't matter. But it does. For years I've been saying that gaming can help people, and it needs a wider audience to gain traction, and now we're seeing D&D being more popular than ever with podcasts and live-plays, and positive mentions in popular culture. It's just a shame that the flagship game for our hobby has a lot of issues and baggage. It's very colonialist in it's attitudes, and the way it's played in a lot of circles is still very problematic. The OSR isn't doing us any favours here, especially when this seems to be the biggest net for catching the D&D overflow. Every other month we get a new story out of that crowd where someone has been horrible in one way or another... and it seems to invariably be "cis, white, male" folks at the centre of the issues.

Enough rant for the moment...

What I'm after are a range of voices from varying backgrounds... Do you fit the bill? Do you kow anyone who does?

If you're wonderng what prompted ths rant... t's the news about the impending Dune RPG.