Kala Mandala Playbook

Spices, rivers, magic, gods. 
More gods than people, more monsters than gods. 
And very few shoes. 

Kala Mandala is a 44 pg rules-lite, flavour-heavy fantasy roleplaying game centred on medieval Southeast Asia. 

Foundations

1. Centring on Southeast Asia, leaving Eurocentric fantasy.
2. Exploring the region's shared histories and fluid identities, departing from ethno-nationalist narratives.
3. Bolstering imagination and fun, beyond tokenism and representation.

Featuring

• Meddling as adventuring: Join a Meddling guild! Fulfill your irrepressible nosiness, monetize your busybodyness. You might even help people along the way.
• Skills as progression: Learn from NPCs you help, levelling up is organic and contextual. Be a dick and you might miss out on some cool stuff.
• Art, Dance, Food and Culture: Actual in-game utility to the Really Big Things in this region.
• Prayers and Rituals: Magic, ghosts and deities are everyday realities in Kala Mandala. Prayers are equally real and important too.
• Lineages and Heirlooms: You are always connected to something — immediate family and extended relatives, personal histories. Heirlooms are physical representations of such connections.

Including

• Character Creation, Skills, Weapons, 6d6 Spells and more.
• Over 60 illustrations of Southeast Asian fantasy, bringing the world to life.
• Writing, art, and layout by Munkao.
• Additional writing, consulting, and editing by Alia Ali (Food), Elizabeth Gimbad, and Mabel Ho. 

Kala Mandala is a work in progress (V 0.13a) built on the original rulesets of Cairn RPG and Into the Odd. Inspired by Mausritter, Liminal Horror, Runecairn, Maze Rats and Troika.