Thirsty Sword Lesbians

Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a narrative roleplaying game that takes the form of a conversation. The GM describes the situation the characters find themselves in, and the players describe what they do.

When certain situations arise in the story, you pause the conversation to roll dice. This is called making a move, and each move has a different trigger condition. Each PC has access to the same basic moves, plus a few moves and features that are specific to the playbook they choose. Whenever you roll, roll two six-sided dice and add them up, for a number between 2 and 12. You often add a stat, like Daring or Grace. This is denoted by “roll +Daring” or “roll +Grace.” So if your Daring stat is 1, roll +Daring means roll two six-sided dice, add them up, and add 1. Each move gives different results depending on whether you roll a total of 10 or more (10+), 7–9, or 6 or less (6-). A 6- is also known as a down beat, 7–9 as a mixed beat, and 10+ as an up beat. These terms refer to the narrative tone that follows from each result. In this game, there is no roll result that means “nothing happens.” Something interesting is going to happen—you roll to find out if it’s good or bad for the PCs.

As you play, you might gain "strings" on characters, a resource representing emotional influence over them. It might be an infatuation, favors and debt, or information you have on that character. Strings can be spent for bonuses on rolls against that character, and when another moves allows you to spend them. When you get into fights and action scenes, you might also take conditions, which are high and powerful emotions that make it more difficult to use certain moves, imposing a penalty until the condition is cleared by either working through it with another character, or taking dramatic (and often destructive) action to express it.