Episode 18: Colonialism in Gaming, Part 2

Show Notes

This week, the Session Zero duo have a Special Guest! Join us while we speak with James Mendez Hodes about colonialism in gaming and its impacts on the worlds we build. In this second part of a two-part Mendez special, we explore what colonialism looks like in traditional fantasy and cyberpunk, and investigate what games to play and what players can do if they want to have a decolonized experience at the table.

CW: Discussions of racism, frank discussions about colonialism, discussions of socioeconomic class, violence

Steve Discont can found on twitter at @bearlynormal, and Porter Green at @DagmarRugosa.

Our guest James Mendez Hodes can be found at his website at www.jamesmendezhodes.com or at his twitter at @lulavampiro.

You can go to the following URLs or research articles to learn about some of the topics discussed in this episode:

Wikipedia page on Colonialism

Sohn, S. H. (2008). Introduction: Alien/Asian: Imagining the racialized future. MELUS, 33(4), 5-22. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20343505

@CaseyExplosion discusses Cyberpunk with media examples on twitter: https://twitter.com/caseyexplosion/status/1138085340735070209?lang=en

Sita Sings the Blues, based on the Indian epic Ramayana

“Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part 1: A Species Built for Racial Terror” by James Mendez Hodes

“Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part 2: They’re Not Human” By James Mendez Hodes

Avery Alder’s Monsterhearts

Catherine Ramen’s Red Carnations on a Black Grave

Catalyst Game Labs’s Shadowrun

Robert Bohl’s Misspent Youth

Onyx Path Publishing’s Scion

Liwanag Press’s Dog Eat Dog

Jason Morningstar’s (by way of Bully Pulpit Games) The Blue Way

Julia Bond Ellingboe’s Steal Away Jordan via Indie Press Revolution