When everyone’s colors, especially South Asians, have shown orientalism in board role-playing games (TTRPGs), and in Realistic play sessions like Crucial Rolesthe palpable backlash. Some fans kicked the player’ representation concerns in category. But Desis & Dragonsa mostly South Asian tabletop role-playing community founded in India, is working hard to bring their experience to life on the gaming table — and in the process, they are creating a space safe time for everyone, especially vulnerable groups, to come and Phat.
Part of that job is to actively protect their community by preventing bigotry of all kinds. Indrani Ganguly is the co-founder of Desis & Dragons, and she does the community, marketing, social media, and public relations work for the project. She points to the harmful stereotypes in standard Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, which have existed since the game’s creation, as part of the reason the community needed a fresh start — one built specifically built by the marginalized.
Orcs are a group of bloodthirsty “barbarians”, Drow are black “evil” elves, and more recently, Hadozee in the expansion Spelljammer: Adventures in Space D&D, are caricatures of Black people and references to slavery in the game, all of which are examples of The origin of the franchise needs to be re-imagined. Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons and Dragons publishing company, sorry and promised it would edit Hadozee for future releases to minimize these caricatures, but for some players the damage has already been done.
These setbacks don’t stop Ganguly from realizing its goal of creating a better gaming environment, one that features gameplay or world-building mechanics that showcase people of color and especially South Asians. under a more positive, nuanced light.
“D&D used to have issues with how they portrayed people of color or took from our culture,” says Ganguly. “These things change when people of color are in the room making decisions. If I shut myself down, or if publishers shut down communities of color, it looks like the same things will continue. I’d rather speak with a South Asian accent, or a stranger [and transgender] voices — from those who were once marginalized in history — take the space and showcase what it really looks like. “
Desis & Dragons’ priority is more than just hosting live sessions. The team is also involved with other TTRPGs and aims to build an entire community of thoughtful, inclusive role-playing gamers. Ganguly said, “We have an open table with 30 to 40 players Mask. We host weeklong events and play 20 different TTRPGs. We have themed weeks such as Powered by Apocalypse and a week of old-school renaissance. “
Ganguly even mentioned Halloween themed sessions, which caught me off guard as India doesn’t celebrate Halloween, but many newcomers also join the Desis & Dragons community because of Netflix’s popularity Strange things in India. “We talked about Dungeons & Dragons sessions, but the majority of that session wasn’t really about Dungeons & Dragons. This is 30 or 40 TTRPG, if you want sci-fi, modern day, cozy core. “
Ganguly felt that Desis & Dragons should not be included in a particular game. So instead, she and her community set up care and resource packages for new players in the community. their Discord server with a list of options, aimed at people looking for a variety of campaigns and settings. “Dungeons & Dragons isn’t the only TTRPG,” she reminds us. “It’s one of many.”
