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Handbook of Erotic Fantasy: The Games of Chaos, Part 8/8 (Patreon)

Published:
2021-05-20 16:44:29
Imported:
2021-09

Content

Session 45:

Dear Diary,

We won! We actually won! Fighter and I worked hard and used teamwork and defeated all comers in the Games of Chaos, thus proving that we are destined for one another and also the most compatible couple ever. Eeeeeee!

You should have seen my beloved’s face when Mr. Tarley read out the quest rewards: “Upon completion of the Games, the winner shall receive a new corporeal form of their choosing. (No lawful forms allowed. Praise be to the divine principles of Change / LOL Random.)” I could see Fighter’s whole character arc playing out in her eyes! First there was joy and delight. She could hardly believe that we’d done it! Then the doubt set in. Was she being selfish? Could she really ask me to change myself to better suit her personal preferences? She bit her lip and got all introspective, but then turned those big baby blues towards Inquisitor, who gave her this subtle little nod of approval. You could just see her coming to the realization: I wasn’t doing it for her. I was doing it for us. Then she gave me this weak little half-smile, and there were tears in her eyes, and I started to cry a little too, and I can only hope to be that good one day!

It was a masterful performance, and I continue to learn more about roleplaying every time Fighter and I adventure together. If we level up from the Games, I might put my very first rank into Sense Motive, if only to better understand how she does it!

Anyway Diary, it went pretty much like you’d expect after that. Mr. Tarley’s warpwave struck, I felt one of those glowy Beauty and the Beast transformations coming on, and next thing you know Fighter and I are laughing and hugging and I may have got a little too enthusiastic. Mr. Tarley warned about angering some entity called The Censor, but my beloved and I were both so lost in the moment that not even obscure splatbook deities could pry us apart!

The only downside is that there’s a hard limit of one transformation per winning couple. Apparently any more than that would ‘put The Games of Chaos over budget,’ whatever that means. But the reason it’s unfortunate is that Fighter is one of these girls who’s always complaining about her appearance. My boobs are too big. My skin is too soft. I hate the way my butt looks in scale mail. I only hope that she can read the subtext in my eyes: You’re perfect just the way you are. I love everything about you. Never change.

Thanks for encouraging me to get out of my shell, Diary! I was scared at first that I’d get hurt by pursuing a romantic arc. But honestly? If the worst obstacle in my path is the sudden need to buy new and better-fitting pants, I can’t picture myself ever getting hurt by love!

See you on the next adventure, Diary! Don’t wait up for us.

--Ranger

Files

Comments

Danger Dan

I'm so glad they can be happy together.

Jayne Lindgren

The exciting conclusion! I've enjoyed this storyline a lot~ It's been interesting to watch both Ranger and Fighter go through character development. (*ahem*) I'm going to talk about Real Shit now! "Genderbender" stories are sensitive, because while it's a classic comedy trope, you run the risk of minimizing the dysphoria someone who's in a body that doesn't match their gender identity can experience. Or making that experience out to be a joke, rather than potentially crippling and alienating. Many genderbender stories also downplay the social aspect to gender and cultural assumptions, with the newly minted girl (let's be honest, 99% of the time genderbender is MtF) being pressured to act "girly" and it being played for laughs if they resist. On the other hand, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a real soft spot for genderbender stories. x3 Looking back now, I can see why I was attracted to them- as a trans-woman who didn't yet know she was trans, genderbender stories offered a "safe" way to look at the MtF experience, with the "cover" of being comedy. The protagonists rarely asked to be turned into women, so I didn't have to admit what I secretly wanted. I could pretend to empathize with the guys "cursed" to become girls, even while in my heart I was going, "What the hell are they complaining about? I would be so happy!" When it comes to the Handbook of Heroes and its spinoff, the Handbook of Erotic Fantasy, we've got two main genderbent characters. Wizard, who transformed in HoEF and eventually in the main comic; and Fighter, who's "femme" form is contained in HoEF (for now!?). Both changes stem from HoEF, with Fighter kicking off the whole thing being cursed by the classic Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity, which eventually inspired more "Rule 63" (when a male or female character is drawn as the opposite sex) versions of the party. "Femme" Wizard, of course, eventually made the jump to HoH canon, first utilizing a female transformation as part of a quest, then making it permanent when the quest reward (a robe) turned out to be for a woman. Both transformations are, of course, played for comedy, since HoH is a comedy comic and HoEF is a *sexy* comedy comic. Is that problematic, given what I've said so far about how genderbending can paper over real problems of dysphoria, dismorphia and mental health? I can only answer for myself, but I'd say it's mostly OK, for a few reasons. The first, and most personal and subjective, is that because both transformations are MtF, I'm still more inclined to be jealous/intrigued/aroused by Fighter and Wizard's situations than view them as something negative. I'm also attracted to women, so having two more sexy ladies in the comic(s) definitely isn't a problem for me! ;D Not the most noble of reasons, but it's the truth. I might be more inclined to read a FtM situation more critically, either because it doesn't appeal to me or because the separation from the emotions of it lets me be more objective. The second reason is that HoH and HoEF are comedies. So for the most part, a lot of things that otherwise would be played for drama can be seen as harmless/fun/funny, since comedy as a genre is often about taking serious things and laughing at them. In a non-comedic work, Fighter being stuck as a sex and gender he obviously doesn't identify with would be a very serious situation and "jokes" about him struggling would be, at best, in poor taste, and at worst come across as transphobic, minimizing the real mental anguish people can experience. It also helps that Fighter is an unpleasant, somewhat sexist person. We're usually more willing to laugh at bad things happening to people we don't like, since it can be seen as a just punishment rather than cruel. Since Fighter is a pig toward women, seeing him "forced" to experience life as a woman is ironic comeuppance. Third, both HoH and HoEF have in general been pretty LGBTQ+ positive and affirming. There's only so much narrative you can pack into a one-panel comic, but we can see that these characters, originally ciphers for RPG player character archetypes, have identities and experiences that are treated as 100% valid and real. Thief is canonically bisexual, Cleric is (as far as I can tell) gay, Warlock is bi as well, Inquisitor and Magus are in a lesbian relationship, etc. It's unlikely, given all that, that Colin and Laurel would be setting out to mock transgender or gender nonconforming people. Indeed, even if it wasn't originally planned that way, Wizard and Fighter (and, now, Ranger) can be seen as fulfilling other parts of the queer spectrum. It's unlikely that, for example, Wizard was designed with the idea she'd transition MtF at some point, but that's now a part of her character, and it's hard to imagine her ever going back to her original gender identity. This is who Wizard is, now. So can you call Wizard transgender, if she wasn't intended to be and didn't transition for its own sake? (remember, the canon reason she became a woman was so she could wear a dress for its stats) I'm going to say yes. Whatever the motivations were, Wizard's story is one of identity and transition. We see her dealing with her friends' reactions to the "new her" (note Fighter's discomfort at being confronted with the reality of the situation), worries about whether her relationship with her partner will surivive (happily, Thief is bi), and has to deal with different societal expectations on her. Unlike Fighter, she also pretty much immediately starts wearing dresses and embraces the chance to explore new sides of herself (*ahem*). That could just be a joke about how elves are often androgynous, but I think it also works to subtley show how Wizard is content in her post-transition life. So, if Wizard is trans, then what about Fighter? This one's tougher, for a lot of the reasons I already mentioned. The biggest being, Fighter explicitly doesn't embrace their situation...at least out loud. Fighter is basically "Murderhobo: the Character," but they're also a particular brand of toxic masculinity. And their determination to return to normal smacks less of "I hate being female" than "I can't let anyone think I'm less than 100% male." I think there's room to see Fighter as a genderfluid person, who can and does move between masculine and feminine, but who is trapped in a toxic mindset that doesn't let them explore that side of themselves, even in their own head. I admittedly know less about the genderfluid experience, so forgive me if I say something inaccurate. (about this fictional character written by someone else and the even more fictional motivations and emotions I am ascribing to them) That also affects how they view attraction toward men; is Figther only interested in women, or are they (at least slightly; it's also a spectrum!) bisexual and can't admit that because of the toxic masculinity? Fighter has had sex with at least one man, but most of the rest have been women (with either vaginas or penises). We have now reached the point where I get tired of writing and need to wrap up! x3 Long (loooooong) story short, I think it's fascinating how a "joke comic" about people in a D&D-inspired world can be so complex and true to life in all its messiness. I think that's a real credit to the clever writing and wonderful artwork, and I think Colin and Laurel deserve a lot of praise! I'd like to apologize to them personally for this self-indulgent rant; I know it's silly, but I've been thinking about writing this for a while, and I truly am impressed at just how much your guys' work inspires me. :) So even if all of this is just speculation, I still look forward to reading about these characters and their adventures for a long time to come, and I hope that other people feel the same way. Because what are roleplaying games about, except to inspire us to reach beyond the world that is, and see the world that might be? <3

laurelshelleyreuss
>>60245136

Thank you <3<3 It means so much to me that we can tell a 'joke' story like Handbook and still manage to be responsible and sensitive to the feelings of others. It's a really fine line to walk and I'm often not sure if we manage 100% of the time, but we really do try not treat the subject of genderbending solely as a comedic issue since it can be such a difficult thing for others. Fighter is not a 'good' person, so as you said, toxic masculinity is a part of his character arc, but I really wanted to have Wizard's transition be healthy and non-problematic if at all possible--Wizard is happy with who she is now, and we have zero intent of ever having her be anything but a woman from now on. I don't want to speak for Colin, but as someone who is part of the LGBTQ+ community myself, representation is important to me and I want to do these relationships justice while also telling a funny story about a bunch of idiots with bad perception scores.

AsimovSideburns

“I might put my very first rank into Sense Motive” don’t do it! Sense Motive only ever brings suffering! But also...... 👀👀

Michael Zemancik

Very nice. While I would’ve liked to have also seen Paladin and Necromancer going through the rounds, their egos at odds with their libidos, this was all still great sexy times.

laurelshelleyreuss
>>60273512

I think we need to do a Paladin/Necromancer centric arc in the near future! We've got some stuff planned that we need to polish up a bit...

Michael Zemancik

This does raise the question. If Ranger is picked for a future pinup, would we just get this futa version, or would we futa and a non-futa pic?

Nate Wright Jr.

Ohhh. I'm looking forward to seeing where these two end up in the future HoeF stories. I'm also happy to see what kind of situations Ranger can get into in particular >.>

Anonymous

Is it bad I want Fighter to like, come to terms and accept herself, and Ranger? And anyone who wants in...

Anonymous

Just so I'm clear, is Ranger a transmale or do they just also have a dick now?

Anonymous
>>64871573

Its a temporary enchantment. Which is why there are sparkles around the shaft. Not the first time its happened in this series.