A4 2B D6, Vol 1, Issue 1: People edited by Aaron Lim

I am high key obsessed with this inaugural magazine issue about roleplaying games in Malaysia. Aside from its decidedly and unapologetically local flavor, it provides a pretty terrific sampling of all the different kinds of RPGs currently being played in the country, from traditional tabletop games to story games, solo journaling games and more. Perhaps more crucially, this magazine shows how these games are being experienced by people whom you wouldn’t necessarily think of when you imagine the average gamer. It’s excellent representation that underscores the universality of the desire to play games of the imagination.

It’s also a terrific statement of community. I would’ve killed for this back when I was living in Kuala Lumpur, but the closest I got to RPGs back then was sitting in on a sole Dungeons & Dragons session and reading some books out of context (and attempting to clandestinely run Top Secret without the books for my seatmate when we were both bored in class.) I read a lot of comics and flopped a lot of cards — mostly Magic the Gathering, but a little Legend Of The Five Rings — but could never find an actual RPG group. This was also well before solo games became A Thing, because I would definitely have been all over those. The fact that this magazine exists now feels very vindicating to my past self, who is thrilled that there is finally a Malaysian community large enough to support a publication dedicated to RPGs.

Munkao’s cover perfectly encapsulates my teenage dreams, as a Malaysian schoolgirl leads a trio of fantasy characters in a determined march forward. There’s your typical high elf with a sword behind her, but the other two figures are distinctly more Southeast Asian-inspired, giving the viewer a pretty good idea of the content you’ll find inside.

Being a person who gravitates towards fiction, one of my favorite parts of this magazine was Atikah’s hilarious chronicle of her Pathfinder 2.0 character’s adventures in Moondew’s Diary. I didn’t even know what a leshy was before reading it but I was super ready to ride to Moondew’s aid by the end. There were also great guides to getting more involved in RPGs as a player, whether via exploring character creation in Allyson Tan’s article or learning how to play solo games in Mayamin Taufik’s autobiographical essay. There are also tips for the Game Master, whether in learning how to flesh out villainous non player-characters in Valiant Dorian’s guide or by gaining inspiration from Atika’s comic. You also get not one but two indie games here: Samuel Mui Soon’s single-player Hyperparasitiosis and Valis Teoh’s Memoir Of The Forgotten, a hybrid live action role-playing and lyric game for 2-5 players.

But perhaps the best parts of this magazine were very specifically Malaysian in matters both practical and imaginary. Nicky Chong’s Creatures Of Malaysian Folklore is a terrific bestiary that adapts several local monsters for D&D: an expected and highly satisfying part of this magazine. What was less expected — but even more absorbing — was Joe Wong’s interview with Malaysian professional GMs. It was so fascinating to read of how they got their starts in RPGs and how they turned that into actual profit, with plenty of pointers for anyone wanting to follow in their footsteps.

I’m so excited to see how this magazine continues to develop. Aaron Lim has done a terrific job of curating and editing this inaugural issue. Physical copies might be hard to obtain outside of Malaysia, but you can grab your digital copy on itch.io.