Diversity-inclusive Blue Rose relaunching

According to ENWorld, the Blue Rose romantic fantasy RPG is set to relaunch in a new system.  Green Ronin of Advanced Bestiary fame will be the publisher and it will use the Dragon Age rules.  The ENWorld article notes that this is important because, "the game tackled a number of diversity and inclusiveness related issues, and those issues are very much the subject of intense - and often unpleasant - debate and conflict today."  Given the issues going on with Monte Cook Games right now, there's no better time for a debate about where RPGs draw the lines between incorporation and exploitation.

I'm unfamiliar with Blue Rose, but will be keeping an eye out for it when it drops on Kickstarter next month.

In other diversity related news:

Venice appears to be the source of the only successful conversion therapy in the history of GLBT-kind.  They basically put a bunch of female prostitutes on a bridge and had them bawl at homosexual men.  Doubtful this worked, but as the original article notes, "at least we got a bridge out of it."  (h/t io9).

And, to remind everyone that diversity isn't just about race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, and gender identity issues, here are some GMing tips that one man learned while running a game in prison.  In general, what does he advocate?  Well,

• Use a point buy rather than rolling - let the PCs power levels be pretty evenly matched
• Use appropriate CRs for encounters
• Notes, notes, notes
• Don't throw magic items around willy-nilly - holding back even non-magical gear gives the PCs something to work towards.  I really like this idea to control the smorgasbord of alchemical items that exist in Pathfinder.  In 13th Age, it's a non-issue.
• Don't be afraid to create long quests (treasure hunts) without having decided what the treasure will be
• Make custom prestige classes (my favorite on the list!)
• Giving tiny boons can help a player feel his character is unique.  AND MOST IMPORTANTLY,
• Don't let needing to peruse the books get in the way of good fun!