I had the opportunity to interview Derik Dunning, who discusses how his Asian Indian heritage influenced the production of British Raj: A Masque of the Red Death Guide to British India for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.
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CHARLIE DUNWOODY (CD): You work on RPGs as passion projects. What prompted you to write RPG supplements and how did you get started?
Derik Dunning (DD): How it all started was when my older brother finally taught me how to play Dungeons and Dragons when I was ten years old in 1990. During the 90’s I noticed that the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in AD&D 2nd Edition times was starting to expand into different non-European culturally inspired areas like Kara-Tur, Zakhara and the Hordelands; but no significant coverage in a land like India. Growing up with part Asian Indian heritage I found it strange that many cultures were represented but not my own. At first I thought it was just a D&D deal, but when I was exposed to other RPG game systems and settings, I found out to my chagrin that the lack of Indian inspired fantasy or RPG settings was a widespread problem. After coming to this realization during my late teens and early twenties I realized the only way to fill these holes in product coverage for me would be if I myself created supplements to fill these niches. During the recession of 2008 one of my buddies and I were talking about how cool Call of Cthulhu Dark Ages (Cthulhu Dark Ages 3rd Edition) supplement was for Chaosium, but we both noted how they were missing out on rules and information about the Crusades period of history. We both knew about the monography writing program over at Chaosium- that is what started me on my first passion project.
CD: Your most recent work is British Raj A Masque of the Red Death Guide to British India for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. After working on the best silver seller Dark Crusades for Chaosium and The Dragonborn of Kara-Tur what prompted you to work on this project?
DD: A combination of conversations with my buddies over the years about the lack of Indian positive cultural representation in RPGs in general and an amazing DMs Guild project by Jeremy Forbing called Masque of the Red Death Player’s Guide which allowed you to play to in Ravenloft gothic earth setting using 5E rules. Masque of the Red Death was originally a Ravenloft campaign setting set in gothic earth during the 1890’s originally written by William W Connors and team of RPG designers for AD&D 2nd Edition. This has always been one of my most favorite D&D settings of all time, so when I read Jeremy’s guild article, I was convinced that I could write a supplement specifically to encourage people to play the cool setting Jeremy has revived as well as serve as something new by introducing players to Victorian India of the 1890’s. In some small way I hope people use this product not only for gothic India, but perhaps even its Bestiary or Magic Items sections to support their fantasy games.
CD: British Raj tackles the difficult and painful subject of colonialism. How did you approach what might be a controversial topic in a sensitive way while keeping the work an interesting RPG supplement?
DD: Yes, colonialism is a mature subject that can be both horrific and painful to discuss. I approached this by prompting DMs to have an open discussion with their groups about the content or subjects of their games in colonial India. Some of the more traumatic or darker chapters of real-world history may not be appropriate for all game groups. I also direct both players and DMs to useful resources when dealing with potentially problematic issues. One item that bears mentioning here is that Gothic Earth resembles the real world closely but is still largely governed by a fictitious evil entity that has a distorted reality called the Red Death (meaning the DMs and the players should feel free to alter or ignore problematic parts of the realm world for the sake of group enjoyment). Lastly, I took great inspiration from the RPG book Harlem Unbound 1st Edition (Harlem Unbound 2nd Edition) written by Chris Spivey when talking about gaming with respect when it comes to race and cultural sensitivity. Like Chris I strongly believe and encourage others to play Indian characters even if that is not your genetic heritage. With my guidelines and perhaps some small discussion with your game group if necessary, I strongly believe playing characters from a different cultural perspective can be a respectful and rewarding experience.
CD: What RPGs do you play and what are some of your favorites?
DD: I play Star Trek Adventures, Pulp Cthulhu, Dungeons and Dragons 5E, All the 40k Role-Play games and a miscellaneous collection of Savage Worlds games in Deadlands. Some my current favorites are D&D 5E, Pulp Cthulhu and Call of Cthulhu and any version of 40K RPG but currently Wrath & Glory is my favorite.
CD: You include several interesting new monsters based on Indian folklore. Do you have a favorite and do you feel any of these monsters bring something new to D&D?
DD: My favorite is the vetala. It is a compelling spirit that sucks the blood of the living like a vampire and possesses corpses and can see into the future. Additionally, many of these spirits from Indian folklore made those who they possess go mad. In addition, I have included an optional Possession Madness rule in the Bestiary section.
CD: You include an option for a historical setting with no magic or monsters. Do you prefer a more fantastic India or does the historical setting appeal to you more? Why?
DD: Historical settings have always had a great appeal to me personally and I feel that there are a lot of untapped stories and unexplained events in history that could be great fodder for game stories. I am a big fan of the “secret history” genre, which theorizes alternate causes or motivations to historical events. For example, perhaps JFK was assassinated because of what he knew about a government conspiracy run by rakshasas disguised as humans?
CD: Do you have plans for any future RPG work?
DD: I am hoping if British Raj is popular perhaps to either create an expansion to it or perhaps create a bestiary based on mythic India for D&D 5E. But like in the words of Jedi master Yoda, “always in motion the future is”.
CD: Any final comments you’d like to share with the readers of EN World?
DD: This supplement was crafted out of love and appreciation for this fine hobby of ours. I am very to new writing supplements and if you happen to purchase this work of mine or any others please leave comments or reviews so that I know how I can improve on the current or future works. Thanks to the wonderful people who play RPGs and write about them at EN World!
Art is public domain art from WikiCommons
CHARLIE DUNWOODY (CD): You work on RPGs as passion projects. What prompted you to write RPG supplements and how did you get started?
Derik Dunning (DD): How it all started was when my older brother finally taught me how to play Dungeons and Dragons when I was ten years old in 1990. During the 90’s I noticed that the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in AD&D 2nd Edition times was starting to expand into different non-European culturally inspired areas like Kara-Tur, Zakhara and the Hordelands; but no significant coverage in a land like India. Growing up with part Asian Indian heritage I found it strange that many cultures were represented but not my own. At first I thought it was just a D&D deal, but when I was exposed to other RPG game systems and settings, I found out to my chagrin that the lack of Indian inspired fantasy or RPG settings was a widespread problem. After coming to this realization during my late teens and early twenties I realized the only way to fill these holes in product coverage for me would be if I myself created supplements to fill these niches. During the recession of 2008 one of my buddies and I were talking about how cool Call of Cthulhu Dark Ages (Cthulhu Dark Ages 3rd Edition) supplement was for Chaosium, but we both noted how they were missing out on rules and information about the Crusades period of history. We both knew about the monography writing program over at Chaosium- that is what started me on my first passion project.
CD: Your most recent work is British Raj A Masque of the Red Death Guide to British India for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. After working on the best silver seller Dark Crusades for Chaosium and The Dragonborn of Kara-Tur what prompted you to work on this project?
DD: A combination of conversations with my buddies over the years about the lack of Indian positive cultural representation in RPGs in general and an amazing DMs Guild project by Jeremy Forbing called Masque of the Red Death Player’s Guide which allowed you to play to in Ravenloft gothic earth setting using 5E rules. Masque of the Red Death was originally a Ravenloft campaign setting set in gothic earth during the 1890’s originally written by William W Connors and team of RPG designers for AD&D 2nd Edition. This has always been one of my most favorite D&D settings of all time, so when I read Jeremy’s guild article, I was convinced that I could write a supplement specifically to encourage people to play the cool setting Jeremy has revived as well as serve as something new by introducing players to Victorian India of the 1890’s. In some small way I hope people use this product not only for gothic India, but perhaps even its Bestiary or Magic Items sections to support their fantasy games.
CD: British Raj tackles the difficult and painful subject of colonialism. How did you approach what might be a controversial topic in a sensitive way while keeping the work an interesting RPG supplement?
DD: Yes, colonialism is a mature subject that can be both horrific and painful to discuss. I approached this by prompting DMs to have an open discussion with their groups about the content or subjects of their games in colonial India. Some of the more traumatic or darker chapters of real-world history may not be appropriate for all game groups. I also direct both players and DMs to useful resources when dealing with potentially problematic issues. One item that bears mentioning here is that Gothic Earth resembles the real world closely but is still largely governed by a fictitious evil entity that has a distorted reality called the Red Death (meaning the DMs and the players should feel free to alter or ignore problematic parts of the realm world for the sake of group enjoyment). Lastly, I took great inspiration from the RPG book Harlem Unbound 1st Edition (Harlem Unbound 2nd Edition) written by Chris Spivey when talking about gaming with respect when it comes to race and cultural sensitivity. Like Chris I strongly believe and encourage others to play Indian characters even if that is not your genetic heritage. With my guidelines and perhaps some small discussion with your game group if necessary, I strongly believe playing characters from a different cultural perspective can be a respectful and rewarding experience.
CD: What RPGs do you play and what are some of your favorites?
DD: I play Star Trek Adventures, Pulp Cthulhu, Dungeons and Dragons 5E, All the 40k Role-Play games and a miscellaneous collection of Savage Worlds games in Deadlands. Some my current favorites are D&D 5E, Pulp Cthulhu and Call of Cthulhu and any version of 40K RPG but currently Wrath & Glory is my favorite.
CD: You include several interesting new monsters based on Indian folklore. Do you have a favorite and do you feel any of these monsters bring something new to D&D?
DD: My favorite is the vetala. It is a compelling spirit that sucks the blood of the living like a vampire and possesses corpses and can see into the future. Additionally, many of these spirits from Indian folklore made those who they possess go mad. In addition, I have included an optional Possession Madness rule in the Bestiary section.
CD: You include an option for a historical setting with no magic or monsters. Do you prefer a more fantastic India or does the historical setting appeal to you more? Why?
DD: Historical settings have always had a great appeal to me personally and I feel that there are a lot of untapped stories and unexplained events in history that could be great fodder for game stories. I am a big fan of the “secret history” genre, which theorizes alternate causes or motivations to historical events. For example, perhaps JFK was assassinated because of what he knew about a government conspiracy run by rakshasas disguised as humans?
CD: Do you have plans for any future RPG work?
DD: I am hoping if British Raj is popular perhaps to either create an expansion to it or perhaps create a bestiary based on mythic India for D&D 5E. But like in the words of Jedi master Yoda, “always in motion the future is”.
CD: Any final comments you’d like to share with the readers of EN World?
DD: This supplement was crafted out of love and appreciation for this fine hobby of ours. I am very to new writing supplements and if you happen to purchase this work of mine or any others please leave comments or reviews so that I know how I can improve on the current or future works. Thanks to the wonderful people who play RPGs and write about them at EN World!
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