In a recent Dungeons and Dragons adventure I ran, I wanted to instill a sense of unease in the players. Something Cthulhu-esque were the very space the characters traverse makes them feel unwelcome. To that end, I added different details in the descriptions, including: the uncanny size of steps, unusually high, uncomfortable to walk down on. However, the adventurers of the party were of different heights: Humans, Dwarves and Elves have different typical body shapes.

This prompted the design question: In diverse towns, where Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Goliaths, Halflings/Hobbits, and Elves share amenities, how are stairs built? How deep are the steps? How high? And follow-up questions: How high are door knobs, chairs, ceilings? How long are cutlery handles, beds? How heavy are lanterns, pots and pans? How tall are door frames, windowsills?

In Middle-Earth, the Prancing Pony hosts Humans and Hobbits. Conveniently, the Hobbit rooms, somewhat modelled after the fashion of Hobbit-holes, are located on the ground floor: separate furniture, separate accesses, etc. This is simpler for design (make separate versions of everything), but it’s costly and segregates Hobbits from Humans.

How then, to design inclusive amenities?

Another Fantasy setting is the Zootopia movie – or Zootropolis depending of your locale. In this setting, animals live peacefully with one another: rabbits, foxes, wolves, giraffes, bears, hamsters, etc. And there are some attempts at inclusive design.

The train that carries Judy Hopps to Zootopia stops very close to the platform, allowing small-legged animal to board. Escalators carry Giraffes, Lions and Rabbits alike. At a drink stand, the barista places a to-go cup in a “drink elevator” so a Giraffe can grab it easily. Near the station entrance are benches of different sizes placed side-by-side allowing an Otter, a Pig and a Bear to seat close-by.

That being said, the town has mostly non-inclusive amenities and even entirely segregated neighbourhoods – e.g., Little Rodentia houses mouses and other rodents.

Obviously, during a game of Dungeons and Dragons, there are more engaging things to give to the player than description of how this town solved the problem of stairs made for people of greatly varying height. But, I think it is useful to root the adventure into a more poignant world. It can add depth to the setting.

Moreover, it can add to the atmosphere of the adventure. For example, it can make the party feel welcome when a barkeep gets out differently sized glasses for the different adventurers. Or it can make them feel unwelcome when they are refused an audience to the Gnome Queen and dismissed with a haughty “you big folks wouldn’t fit through the door of the palace anyway.”

And so, even though it shouldn’t be the central feature of the party’s adventures, concerns for inclusive design matters.