Big Bad Academy: Intersectionality at the Table

The rise of Actual Play has deeply diversified the broader cultural understanding of TTRPGs, confronting what Aaron Trammell (2023) has termed "white geek masculinity" that is pervasive throughout hobby gaming. This panel provides a history of how the study of TTRPGs has sometimes reinforced racial, sexual, class, and gender exclusions, as well as providing new ways of thinking and playing against this tradition in both Actual Plays and TTRPG game design. Doctoral researchers Austin Anderson and Ria Sommer join creators in TTPRG for a lively conversation about the overlapping legacies of TTRPGs and white hetero-patriarchy. We hope to explore how game designers and AP performers can continue to challenge the problematic traditions of TTRPGs, joining wider conversations at BigBadCon about TTRPG/AP criticism and the potential TTRPGs and APs offer to break down and question constructions of race, class, gender and (dis)ability.