Lucian Kahn

Writing and Design

Kahn wrote and designed the tabletop role-playing games Dead Friend: A Game of Necromancy,[3][4] Visigoths vs. Mall Goths,[5][6] and the boxed trilogy If I Were a Lich, Man.[7][8] All three games started out self-published as indie role-playing games, then were reprinted by Hit Point Press in 2023 after the Canadian publisher's kickstarter campaign for If I Were a Lich, Man raised $84,590 in two weeks.[9] Jess Kung for Polygon named Dead Friend the best game they played in 2022.[10]

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths lets players play LGBTQ people in 1990s goth subculture[11] with a focus on bisexual people,[12] and uses both classic RPG and dating sim game mechanics.[13] The art for Visigoths vs. Mall Goths is by Los Angeles artist Robin Eisenberg. Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was endorsed by Kieron Gillen.[14] Justin Joyce for Polygon recommended it as one of 4 games to try from Indie Press Revolution.[15] Banana Chan for Dicebreaker listed it as one of the best games of 2020.[16] Linda Codega for Gizmodo recommended Visigoths vs. Mall Goths as one of 26 queer games to play for Pride Month.[17] Trin Garritano, Games Digital Outreach Lead at Kickstarter, named Visigoths vs. Mall Goths their favorite kickstarter-funded project of 2019.[14]

Kahn wrote the setting "Gaylords" for the Thirsty Sword Lesbians expansion Advanced Lovers & Lesbians (Evil Hat Productions).[18] It is about gay male warlords and was the first of 50 stretch goals unlocked for the Thirsty Sword Lesbians kickstarter, which raised a total of $298,568.[19][20][21]

Editorial

Kahn co-edited the LARP anthology Honey & Hot Wax (Pelgrane Press) with Sharang Biswas,[22] which includes work by nine designers, including Alex Roberts (game designer). Author Cecilia Tan called Honey & Hot Wax “a fabulous collection of ‘let's pretend’ games.”[23] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kahn produced Hibernation Games, a collection of one-player journaling games by five designers including Jeeyon Shim, with themes of winter and solitude.[24]

Awards and Museum Exhibitions

The indie role-playing game edition of If I Were a Lich, Man won the Indie Game Developer Network award for "Most Innovative" in 2020.[25] Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was part of the exhibition "Game Play: Between Fantasy and Realism" at the Museum of the Moving Image.[26] Honey & Hot Wax received 2 grants from the Effing Foundation.[27]

Honey & Hot Wax was nominated for an IndieCade award in 2020[28] and an Indie Game Developer Network award for "Game of the Year."[29] Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was nominated for the ENNIE Awards for "Best Writing" in 2020[30] and the Indie Game Developer Network award for "Best Setting" in 2021.[31] Dead Friend was nominated for an Indie Game Developer Network award for "Most Innovative" in 2019.[32] Kahn was on the production staff for the anthology You & I: Roleplaying Games For Two,[33] which was also nominated for an Indie Game Developer Network award for "Most Innovative" in 2019.[32]

Kahn was the singer, songwriter and electric guitar player for the Brooklyn queercore punk band Schmekel,[34] which explored his identity as a gay, Jewish, trans man through comedy. Hugh Ryan for The New York Times compared Kahn's songwriting to gay punk band Pansy Division and Jewish singer/songwriter and satirist Tom Lehrer.[35] According to the Jewish Music Research Centre at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Kahn wrote the lyrics and punk chord progressions on the guitar for songs like "I'm Sorry, It's Yom Kippur," then electronic keyboard player Ricky Riot altered the chord progressions to make them sound cantorial.[36] Eddy Portnoy wrote that Schmekel was an unsurprising development in Jewish culture because there was evidence of transgender people in the shtetls of early 20th century Europe, and connected the band to "Queer Yiddishkeit."[37] In describing his performances with Schmekel, Kahn said, "Comedy is sacred to me, which is a pretty Jewish sentiment, isn’t it?"[38]

Kahn spoke on the game designer panel "Playing with Identity: Tabletop Role-Playing Games and the Queer Power Self-Definition" at Flame Con 2019, discussing the impacts of queer identity on game design and play.[39]

Dr. Judith Kegan Gardiner at the University of Illinois at Chicago cited Lucian Kahn's statements on Schmekel's website as an example that trans men "report their masculine identities as fundamental," quoting: "he claimed his sex was male, his gender was 'a guy,' and his 'weirdness' was '100% my own personality' though 'the type of guy I am—you know, genderwise—is not special'."[40] Dr. Avery Brooks Tompkins at Transylvania University in Kentucky criticized Kahn for negatively characterizing cisgender people who are "interested in trans people's transness, specifically," arguing that accepting the erotic appeal of transness is needed for sex-positive trans politics.[41]

Kahn appears as the lead singer of Schmekel in the Tales of the City novel The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin, being flirted with by the character Amos.[42] Kahn was interviewed with Schmekel in Original Plumbing magazine.[43]

Game Design Credits

Songwriting Credits