On the bones of Batala : exploring the colonization of the Tagalog Region through tabletop role-playing game design : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

The collaborative narrative space of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) can create opportunities for the TTRPG designer, the Game Master (GM), and the players to engage in conversation about real-life issues such as the impact of colonialism in the Philippines. It can also be a vehicle for counter-hegemonic narratives (Scherff iii–iv) by allowing marginalized players to engage with their culture and folklore through anticolonial play within a fictional environment. Growing up in Metro Manila, Philippines, which historian William Manchester described as the second most destroyed Allied city after Warsaw and “one of the greatest tragedies of World War II” (413), I found little space for Filipinos to discuss colonial violence and trauma specific to the Tagalog region. This project provides an avenue to address that need thereby offering the potential for creative expression and collective healing. Reimagining the colonization of Metro Manila and the Tagalog Region through a folk-horror TTRPG allowed me to navigate and process its violent and traumatic history while offering an outlet for other Filipino players to explore their own feelings about colonialism. On the Bones of BATALA positions players as Katauhan, the human survivors in an alternate-history folk-horror setting. They survive on the Rotting Isles, an archipelago built on the corpse of the Tagalog supreme god, Batalang Maykapal, who was slain by the god-like colonizers. The game’s development was guided by the question, “How do I recontextualize my experiences with colonial violence, trauma, and hegemonic narratives through tabletop role-playing game design to enable Filipino players to regain agency over their own experiences through play?”