I never considered myself a person who was really into games, whether on a table or on a screen, until I learned that Dungeons & Dragons exists. Now, I’m peeved at my past self for not getting into it sooner, particularly for games such as The Wagadu Chronicles, which has the potential to broaden the horizons of, and create greater empathy in, its players.
First, a bit of context for anyone who’s not specifically a gaming nerd: Due to the recent gain in popularity of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPG), even if you’re not a big gamer, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has probably brushed across your periphery once or twice. But for the uninitiated, D&D is a roleplaying game where you get to play a hero and basically tell a story with your fellow players. It’s a great way to spend time with your friends and be creative, and with the game’s current popularity, no one’s going give you a wet willy for it.
The great thing about TTRPGs is how diverse they can be – you can play in a variety of different worlds and genres, and the only restrictions are those of your own imagination. However, just like a lot of dominant culture in the U.S., D&D is far from perfect, and, unfortunately, carries a lot of colonial baggage from its swords-and-sorcery roots. As such, the most prevalent form of the game right now tends to be very Eurocentric and doesn’t pay a lot of conscious attention to people of color or the LGBTQ community in its game design, putting much of the onus on individual players to expand their imaginations and bring those elements into the game themselves.
But recently, a lot of great indie companies have begun writing settings and games that fully embrace and celebrate these underserved communities, allowing more diverse stories to be told and for people outside of those cultures to learn about and appreciate them. One of these games includes The Wagadu Chronicles.
The Wagadu Chronicles is an Afrofantasy setting and eventual online game that transports players to the world of Wagadu, a fantastical place inspired by and shaped from the many cultures, people and mythologies of Black culture. Created by the independent company Twin Drums, the gameplay setting and game itself is meant to “place diversity, and especially blackness and queerness, at the center” of their story telling.
Twin Drums is a relatively young company that was only founded in 2019 by Allan Cudicio, a Berlin-based game designer. But their youth hasn’t stopped them from putting their money where their mouth is, as Twin Drums doesn’t just use their mission statement as a talking point. They put their diversity mantra into practice by making sure half of their core development team is black and that a third is queer, ensuring that the same people they’ll be presenting their work to are the same ones at the design table with them.
As for Wagadu, it’s an absolutely fascinating world and they’re not even done with the game yet. Twin Drums describes Wagadu as a wild, purgatory-like landscape where people aren’t born, but fall from a place called the Upper Realms. After literally dropping into Wagadu, adventurers are then left to survive in a world riddled with gods, spirits, ancestors and monsters.
To join the game, players get to create one of these new ranks of heroes from the Upper Planes, choosing what lineage they descend from (instead of picking race, such as an elf or a dwarf) and what role they fill in this dangerous world (as opposed to merely choosing a class, like a warrior or a wizard. Though don’t worry, there’s versions of all your favorites available). All the lineages and roles have been adapted to draw inspiration from and work with Black culture, creating a wholly new experience for even those familiar with tabletop roleplaying games.
Twin Drums ran a successful Kickstarter to fund their online game and offline D&D setting (which has closed, but you can still follow their developmental updates), or follow them on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. But while we’re still waiting on the release of the MMO game, the company has graciously released a lore book for Wagadu that contains everything tabletop players need to understand this new world and create characters for their own adventures. Pus, there’s even a pre-written story for first-timers to run as well. Oh, and they released the lore book for free. So, you know. That’s cool, given that your average D&D book can cost somewhere between $30-$40 a pop.
Twin Drum’s founder, Allan Cudicio, explained their decision to provide all 200 pages of Wagadu free of charge because he wants “to change the perception of fantasy and role-playing, give visibility to Black aesthetics and African ancient mythology as it has never been done before within our collective imagination.”
This says to me is that Cudicio has an intimate understanding of the educational and equalizing power of storytelling in culture, thus creating a gaming space with a more inclusive imagination.
If that’s something you’re interested in, let’s take a trip to Wagadu, fight some monsters, and drink an unhealthy amount of soda.
