Writing trans characters in Honor Bound and future projects

28 Jan, 2026

A year ago I slipped and accidentally wrote a huge post elsewhere about how I wrote trans characters in Honor Bound. Then I wrote this up and never posted it. Here's an expanded and edited version.

I'm coming to this with a focus on long-form interactive fiction with customisable player characters, of the kind that I publish with Choice of Games, but it's applicable to other kinds of narrative game too, or worldbuilding in general.

Marked vs. unmarked gender and transness

For my games before Honor Bound, I treated nonbinary PCs' and NPCs' gender as unmarked because I wanted to demonstrate that gender and being nonbinary wasn't a big deal. I still think that's a decent way of doing it; for me it helps show that a setting isn't sexist, homophobic, or transphobic. But while I allowed players to choose pronouns and enter custom ones, I didn't allow players to state that their PC was trans.

Sure, they can headcanon, and I never write assuming that a PC is cis. I've had wonderful feedback saying trans players have felt good playing my earlier games.

But: it's unreasonable for me to expect players to trust that I won't turn around and write their headcanoned trans PC as cis. I've had that experience myself: a writer leaves the question open, I've gambled on it being possible to headcanon a trans PC, and then I've bumped into something in the game¹ that makes it clear that I'm wrong.

So I wanted to allow players to specify: partly so I could include reactivity to it, and also so players could be certain that I won't contradict their perception of their PC.

Introducing specifics

Once I introduced that choice, I wanted to allow for more detail about the PC's gender for trans/nonbinary characters rather than leaving all gender (cis or trans) unmarked as I had before. So there are some conversations with other characters, mostly though not exclusively with trans ones, about where they're at. There are also conversations with trans NPCs relating to their gender - varying depending on whether the PC is cis or trans.

There were then a lot of decisions to make around what assumptions (if any) NPCs might make about the PC's gender, whether a coming-out conversation is necessary/desired or whether to elide it, whether or not characters should notice that a PC is trans without asking, what words to have characters use about their gender and experiences, and so on.

For Honor Bound it was pretty easy to figure out a way of framing the choice: the PC's returning to their hometown after years away, so encountering someone after such a long time gives a good opportunity for the player to specify.

Their gaze flicks to your collar. "$!h{b}_{t}itle\dots$!{hb_surname}?" they say. They're a short, slightly-built person with deep brown skin. Their hair's bobbed to their chin; it's black shot through with silver. The mayoral robe is a little crooked; they correct it as they talk. "It is you, isn't it?"

The mayor has a keen eye and a good memory. And they got your name right.

• Even though I'm @{hb_age older|a fair bit older|a lot older} than when I last saw them.
• Even though I barely knew them back then.
• I'd already started transitioning when I left, but I have changed a lot since then.
• Even though I look different. I transitioned after leaving.
• I'm not surprised. Everyone remembers everyone here, no matter how much they've changed.

I don't use the word "nonbinary" in Honor Bound, though I do use the word "trans" and "transition" on occasion because I wanted there to be no doubt in anyone's mind. I'm not completely happy with how I did it, and I don't think there's ever going to be one perfect way, but at least it's clear what the characters are talking about. It's possible to write these things so poetically that it's hard to parse, especially if you're not trans yourself and/or you're not tuned into specific ways of referring to trans people.

Writing trans characters

The subject of writing trans characters is too wide-ranging for easily-encapsulated advice (simply put, write them with humanity and thoughtfulness, and don't be weird about it). But if you're thinking about writing trans/nonbinary characters and worldbuilding in IF in a way that goes into more detail than treating them as unmarked (which is also OK! Heart of Battle and many other CoG games do this and do it well), it's worth considering the below:

What's it like to be a trans person in this setting?

• does medical transition exist? If so: what healthcare is possible or not possible? If not: why not? Sometimes fantasy settings include shapeshifting/physical augmentation/etc, but provide no opportunity for medical transition: that can feel like an oversight, especially if the setting isn't explicitly transphobic
• if medical transition exists, how do trans NPCs interact with it?²
• how do your trans characters personally feel about their gender and how do they express that, if at all? (it's a good idea to think about this for cis characters too! Do take some time to consider this, especially if you're not writing in a gender-neutral setting!)
• how do trans characters refer to themselves - with modern real-world terms, historical ones, or something invented? (in The Sacred Dark fantasy book series by May Peterson, slang for trans men is "tomking", for example)
• do you want transphobia to exist in the setting, and if so, how does that manifest? (tip: if your setting includes transphobia, it doesn't mean there are zero trans people around, or that they have no opportunities for community or joy! more on that below) How does that interact with other social norms or prejudices, such as sexism or homophobia?
• if you're writing in a systemically transphobic setting how much do you want to depict that? Is it something you want to elide entirely or explore?

Choices around trans PCs:

• how is a trans PC's transness handled? Is it solely via a pronoun/anatomy combination and the concept or word "trans" isn't mentioned? Is it solely during sex?
• how do you want to explore dysphoria, if at all? If you're writing in a transphobic setting, is transphobia something that will directly affect the PC?
• if a trans NPC comes out to a trans PC, can a PC mention that they're trans too? Are there other specific interactions trans PCs and NPCs can have?
• if medical transition exists in whatever form, does the PC have the chance to have accessed it, or to access it during the game?
• do you want trans PCs to have coming-out conversations, for other characters to notice they're trans, or for that question to be elided and left up to the player to imagine? (note that even a kind coming-out conversation with a nice NPC can feel unintentionally fraught or patronising: see this article's response to Rook's "I'm trans, just so you know" line in Dragon Age: the Veilguard)

And general things to consider:

• it's lonely when the PC is the only non-cis character, or when all the major characters are cis or unspecified: consider adding trans NPCs
• if you include nonbinary or trans NPCs who are all shapeshifters, aliens, robots etc, this still applies
• when writing erotica scenes that refer to anatomy in detail, keep trans PCs in mind³
• I wrote this post assuming readers would want to do this anyway, but: don't invoke tired or transphobic tropes; don't write in a way that exotifies or others them. They're as human as cis characters: treat them as such

The Earth Has Teeth and transness

Writing in a new fantasy setting, I've had the opportunity to make fresh decisions about how I want characters to see themselves and interact with the world, gender-wise. It's really fun!

In Honor Bound, I played fast and loose with the science and technology available in an early-20th-century-Europe-ish setting: there was definitely wish-fulfilment in imagining what medical advances a non-transphobic, non-sexist world might have made in that area. So trans healthcare tech is roughly equivalent to that available in the 21st century.

In The Earth Has Teeth, there's some analogous healthcare, particularly an equivalent to HRT. Some surgeries are available for the PC. I've been thinking about how different characters relate to that, and what's been accessible to the PC that isn't to others.

When writing Chapter 1, I also figured out words and descriptors that demonstrate worldbuilding elements too. As babies, people are presented ceremonially to their tiger god Vastan to make them known to her and receive her blessing. Cis people are known as "once-blessed"; a trans person is "many-blessed"; when they realise they're trans they are presented, or present themselves, once more to the god. This could happen multiple times if things shift: the whole thing is like giving Vastan a little life update so she knows exactly who she's caring for.

For me it's a hard sell to make misgendering the PC, or "confusion" about gender into an interesting moment. In previous games I just had other characters know what gender the protagonist is without note, which is a perfectly fine way of handling it. In The Earth Has Teeth, I also made some linguistic stuff explicit, where the "I" pronoun is gendered so that when speaking about themselves, someone can express their gender (or lack thereof). Linguistic gender expression is in the PC's hands, therefore, and others follow the speaker's lead.

While developing NPCs, I've also been thinking a lot about how all the major ones feel about and express their genders, cis and trans alike. This was a really useful part of preparing to write Honor Bound, and I'm looking forward to discovering and pinning down more about the characters as I develop them further.

Writing about the real world

A different project my wife and I are working on is set roughly in the present day of this world and some of our decisions go in another direction. Early on we realised it felt disingenuous, and it didn't quite ring true, to ignore some aspects of living in the UK as a trans person. At the same time we didn't want to subject people playing trans characters to constant dysphoria or hate, or suggest that being trans or queer dooms you to misery.

Thus there are points at which some of those realities, along with sexism and homophobia, and some other prejudices, are touched upon. There are also multiple characters with the same or overlapping identities: including a variety opens up chances for moments demonstrating solidarity and shared experience (and differences as well), for everyone involved. And there are points at which the PC's transness can bring them pleasure, insight, or joy. (The latter is something I've enjoyed writing in Honor Bound and The Earth Has Teeth.)

Every so often I see IF writers asking "is it OK to write a setting that includes homophobia/transphobia", which for me isn't the most relevant question. Write what you want, I'm not your dad. But if you're interested in writing fully-realised queer characters in a bigoted setting, take time to imagine their lives and interiority. Imagine chances for them to find each other under these difficult circumstances, whether that's on a one-on-one or small-group scale, or as a wider community. Whether their relationship with other queer people is healthy for them, less so, or somewhere in between.

Greater specificity makes a ton of room for greater richness, and it all becomes far more interesting than "queer people are all constantly sad, alone, closeted, and tormented in this setting, is it OK for me to write a queer PC to be going through this by default".

I'm interested to see how this different approach lands with this project. Once more of it is drafted I'll be seeking feedback from other trans people about how it makes them feel, because we're not a monolith. It's a delicate thing, especially in interactive narrative with open-ended protagonists and a lot of choices about their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. But I like a challenge.