S1: I had this event , I had a player come up to me at the end of it. He's like , hey , can I talk to you? He's like , yeah , what's up? Um , he's like , I just really wanted to thank you for writing this. I was like , oh , that's thank you , I appreciate that. Thank you so much.
S2: That's Dorian Couto. He's a dungeon master here in San Diego for Dungeons and Dragons or D&D , the tabletop role playing game.
S1: But he's like , um , my partner and I just had a miscarriage , and I haven't had the opportunity to parse that yet. And like , sitting here and playing through this and all these bits and pieces of this adventure , um , let me kind of experience that in real time in a , in a space that I knew was safe , um , with people who I knew , like , yeah , were playing a game , but this became so much more than a game to that person.
S3: Thorium is talking about a D&D adventure he created based on Dia de Muertos.
S2: He never expected a hobby to have such a profound impact on someone. He wants all of his players to feel included , that regardless of their background , there's a space for them where they can be seen and validated.
S3: But it wasn't always like this. We first met Dorham a few months ago , when we went to San Diego Comic-Con and joined the thousands of people who make the yearly trip to the pop culture event. We were there on a specific mission.
S4: Something is coming. Something. Hungry for blood. What is it? The Demogorgon.
S3: Ever since the Stranger Things series ended , we were curious about Dungeons and Dragons and tabletop role playing games.
S2: The streaming series features the game heavily , with D&D influencing many of its characters , themes , and plot points. The game is extremely popular. It's full of fantasy and draws in European medieval inspired archetypes Dragons , Knights , Paladins. Sorcerers. Monsters. Orcs. Elves. You get the gist.
S3: The game has been around for more than 50 years and yes , we are barely catching on.
S2: So we wanted to see what the Dungeons and Dragons world looked like up close.
S5: Natalie , we're , uh oh. You're recording. Great. 945 wow. July 3rd 23rd at Comic-Con. We're in the convention center. How do you feel? We made it.
S3: Walking down the halls of the San Diego Convention Center. Through the crowds of artists , vendors , and people in cosplay. We found it. Room 68. We were at the tabletop role playing games room. Some of the areas read D&D , dagger , heart , vampire , among others.
S2: We saw people rolling dice , eyes glued to their tables. Then suddenly someone would jump up swinging an imaginary weapon or making a hand motion as if casting a spell. Cheers and smiles were everywhere.
S3: Then we heard someone speak in Spanish. Our ears perked , so we went over to say hello.
S6: El tiempo y Los ninos and nuestros. Storytelling.
S2: That's when we first met Dorian. He was one of the many dungeon masters , or DMs. The people who guide players through the story helped shape the world and enforce the rules. In addition to leading games , he was there to assist Spanish speaking players.
S3: Dorian creates beginner friendly dungeon crawls for curious players at conventions. His mission is to spread the gospel of role playing games.
S6: Whether they played one time muchas veces or semana um entra nosotros y siempre se van algo.
S2: Everyone is welcome from beginners to the most experienced players , he says. Everyone will have a chance to feel like the hero.
S6: Whoever is sitting for us. Barcelona para hacer el hierro.
S3: He wasn't the only dungeon master there to assist Spanish speaking players.
S7: Yo soy Tamaulipas de Reynosa. Si si si. Vivo in Irvine , orange County. Si.
S3: La casa urban base to Maria de Leon , a native of Reynosa , Tamaulipas in Mexico , was there specifically to lead Spanish language games at the convention. Given the time constraints , he had to get back to leading games. We couldn't stay in June 1st , but we agreed to meet on a later day.
S2: We were left wondering , why do people love this game so much? And how did it make its way across the border into the Spanish speaking world? And what does that look like?
S3: Spoiler it's big and it has taken a whole different life of its own.
S2: From KPBS. This is Port of Entry.
S3: Where we tell cross-border stories that connect us.
S2: I am Alan Lilienthal.
S3: And I'm Natalie Gonzalez. You're listening to. Port of entry.
S2: Word got around the station that we were doing a Dungeons and Dragons episode , and it turns out there's a KPBS Dungeons and Dragons Guild. It was explained to us that their campaign was already pretty far along.
S3: So unfortunately we couldn't just join or could we?
S2: We approached some of the guild members , but many were reluctant to even talk about it , except for our homie web producer , Leslie Gonzalez.
S8: Let's get some questions for you.
S9: I don't know , I don't like where this is going. All right. I don't like questions.
S8: We heard through the grapevine that you are part of this very covert , secretive KPBS Dungeon Dragon.
S9: Who told you? Who have you been talking to?
S3: And yes , she confirmed that we couldn't just join. Or could we?
S9: Unfortunately , we're a little too full right now. something we can do is you and the rest of the team can join in our own personal T&E game , and I can show you what it's like right then and there.
S8: Wait , so you're going to put something together for us?
S9: Oh , yeah. Absolutely. I can make it happen. Schedule it. Name the date.
S8: All right , we'll figure it out. Leslie. You're real. Bro.
S9: Bro. Julio.
S2: We were stoked. And by we , we mean our producer , Julio.
S10: Hi , everybody. I'm Leslie. I am a web producer at KPBS. And I am your dungeon master.
S2: The day finally came , and when we met Leslie in one of our conference rooms , we saw she had pulled out all the stops miniatures , dice , maps , picture books , music box , and of course , snacks. We also invited a few more folks from the station to join us.
S11: Hi everyone , I'm Andrea Cash and I am an executive assistant here at KPBS.
S12: I'm Ryan , I'm the social media student assistant.
S3: Then , of course , your usual suspects. Cool.
S12: Cool.
S13: Natalie Gonzalez.
S14: I'm excited to play Dungeons and Dragons for the first time ever.
S3: Alan was clearly very excited.
S10: To induct you all into this cult that is Dungeons and Dragons. You were going to walk into this and go , why have I never played this before? It's so much fun. You may either love it or absolutely adore it. I think you'll love it. Let's jump into it. There are two ways you can make a character sheet.
S2: From there , Leslie took us through what many experienced players considered one of the most exciting aspects of the game. Clearly , I'm not experienced because creating your own character was very long.
S10: So when you come here to build your character and create a character , you're going to choose your species.
S8: So I see Dragonborn , dwarf elf , gnome , Goliath , interesting halfling , human , orc and tiefling.
S3: Then there were the classes.
S8: So there's barbarian , bard , cleric , druid , fighter , monk , paladin , Ranger , rogue , sorcerer , Warlock or wizard?
S3: Allen's creativity was in full drive.
S15: Can you be a human?
S10: Yes , you can be humanoid. Humanoid , right?
S8: Can you talk about being boring.
S16: In a world in a world where you could be anything?
S3: But he was surprisingly quick to select his character.
S15: But the Bard is pretty cool. An aspiring magician whose power echoes the conviction and charisma.
S10: If you don't know how to play a good bard , they actually are a really pretty good troubadour of the party. They can inspire people for an additional dice roll.
S8: They have charisma , bro.
S15: Come on , be bard. I'm gonna be a bar.
S8: Yeah , yeah.
S11: Bards are fun.
S17: Too , huh?
S2: Once you pick your species and class , you roll to distribute attribute points like strength and intelligence and create backstories and personality traits and choose feats and equipment.
S3: For us , there was a lot to take in , but Leslie was there to walk us through.
S2: Two hours later , our guild was ready.
S3: I was a halfling sorceress called Soto madre. Small but powerful with the ability to manipulate lightning. Allen was a Dragonborn bard. A three foot tall reptilian with musical prowess.
S2: Andrea was a noble tiefling barbarian , basically the meat shield and sugar mama of the bunch. Ryan was a halfling rogue , kind of a stealthy ninja. Giulio was a human paladin with a problem with booze. Holy papi dude , and you said I was the uncreated one.
S15: DM is the enemy.
S10: DM is both your friend , your enemy , and basically your setting.
S16: She's the world creator , so she creates the world. She creates the NPS she calls God. Yeah , essentially.
S10: I'm the world God. Yeah.
S16: Yeah. So you have to be very nice to her because she could do something that could essentially either kill or severely damage your character , um , or bless your character.
S10: So that's insanely cool and creative and go along. That was so badass. You get in an inspiration point.
S2: This in D&D and in other tabletop role playing games is what is called the rule of cool. If you impress your Dungeon Master , then you might get favors thrown your way.
S10: Let's say you're a new player and you do something that's out of.
S16: Like , character.
S10: Out of character , not character in terms like , but like descending left field. That's creative , but takes me like , oh , that's a really cool , like thing that you did for your character or something. That was really cool for the game. I'd be like , role for advantage.
S16: Role with advantage.
S10: Role in advantage because the situation calls for it. You know what I mean? Yeah.
S2: After getting our feet a little wet , we wanted to continue our mission to find out how deeply tabletop role playing games like dad had taken hold in the Spanish speaking world , and how that happened.
S18: I run a lot of RPG games. Dungeons and Dragons are hard at conventions , and I also run them online. I do this in English and Spanish.
S3: That's a mori de Leon , the other Dungeon Master we met at Comic-Con.
S18: I'm drawing a lot of these games in Spanish at conventions like Comic-Con , GenCon , WonderCon to try to create a space for Latin American people to go and play these type of games at those type of places. I'm from a town called Reynosa in Mexico , where these type of games are not very popular , and this was back in the 90s.
S2: He got into the game when there was a real social cost to playing it. He was in his late teens , early 20s in college when the stigma was high.
S18: There was some kind of stereotype that people that used to play these games , probably they didn't take showers or stuff like that , right? It was a very bad reputation. The people that used to play , uh , tabletop games back then , a lot of us would not tell anyone they were playing at tabletop games , right? I mean , I even recall that I , I mean , my my girlfriend , I will tell her that I was going to go to a bar and just get drunk or something like that. I would tell her that then , then tell her I was going to pretend to be a goblin , A whole bunch of dudes , right?
S3: What got me hooked was the virtual , limitless creativity players could bring to a campaign.
S18: And it's a story that you're building or for people. And the game , the dungeon and the game master. And it's never the same , right? I mean , it's always something unique because everyone will start giving a little bit of a of our creativity to the story. And I think that's what I like about the game. Right? You can do almost anything in , in , in a Dungeons and Dragons thing. Right? There's very few limits of what you can do. You can be extremely creative on how to solve issues. So I really like that Liberty.
S2: Emotes love for the game , and his background inspired him to create new opportunities for the Spanish speaking players who love D&D , but aren't comfortable playing in English. So he approached convention organizers with a bold idea.
S18: There's a lot of people that go to your conventions that are from Mexico , right? I mean , because we're pretty close to to to Tijuana And I know that a lot of people from Mexico would like to play the Northern Dragons , but they are not comfortable doing it in English. Right? And that's what I've been trying to do for the last four years. Right. I mean , going to these conventions and try to offer a space for people to go in and experience these , uh , these , these games in Spanish. And I have and I have a whole bunch of players from Mexico. I have had players over here from the US that they want to play in Spanish. Right. So that's that's what I'm trying to do.
S3: This year , five Spanish language games were played at Comic-Con. Amaury led three of them with about 13 Spanish speaking players.
S2: Despite the game being popular in Latin America , it hasn't reached the mainstream as it has in the US. Amaury has identified a few pain points as to why.
S18: Some of the translations. I mean , the books , the actual Dungeons and Dragons books , the books they're not. Not all of them are translated into Spanish. I think you have the Player's Handbook , like the three core rules rule books. Probably 1 or 2 adventures are in Spanish. But yeah , it's not , uh , it's I mean , but not all the not all , all of the adventures are translated.
S3: That's been a major obstacle.
S2: And that's where people like Miguel Ballesteros , a Mexicali native , and his wife , Claudio Sanchez , come in.
S19: José Miguel Angel boisterous Como , Mike Baez.
S3: Miguel goes by Mike Baez. He's a game writer , designer and promoter from the Borderlands.
S20: Yo , Claudio Sanchez , yo soy de Guadalajara y tengo una de carrera hispanica. Basicamente literatura y espanol porque siempre escritura.
S2: Claudio studied Spanish literature and wanted to become a writer. Then she discovered tabletop role playing games.
S20: Esto es lo mejor. Qué puede ser mejor Q escribir novelas. Entonces empezar a trabajar poquito con diseno y editorials de juego Hugo's.
S2: Playing role playing games changed the course of her writing career.
S3: Like Mike , she's a game writer and designer , as well as an editor and translator for other projects.
S20: Yo , Rita , a estamos trabajando en una traduzione.
S2: Through their two decades of involvement in the tabletop role playing game community , they've seen a shift in the cultural landscape of personas.
S19: Cabron en espanol , known in Mexico , in Latin America , en Estados Unidos también es muy , muy altos.
S3: Being a border Islander , Mike would cross to El Centro and get a hold of tabletop role playing game material. He knew there was a large Spanish speaking player population eager for more material , but access to it was limited.
S19: Muy limited. Por lo porque Los ojos no Indian , no Los entrada pero tampoco Los distribution.
S3: Language was a huge obstacle , says Mike.
S2: They were among the people who stepped in to help publishers translate more material for Spanish speaking audiences , or simply playtest those games.
S3: Then something changed.
S21: Critical role.
S22: Critical role. Critical role. Critical role.
S23: Welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role , where a bunch of us nerdy ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons.
S2: Mike credits a popular cultural phenomenon from the US for helping fuel interest in the Spanish speaking world.
S22: A critical.
S19: Role for Como para la cultura de rol.
S2: Critical role is a hugely popular actual play show in which a group of actors and voice actors play D&D campaigns.
S19: Personas quieren muy porque trabajar haciendo voces para video juegos , peliculas , caricatures y mas.
S3: A meme became a bigger part of how people consume media. Shows like Critical Role became gathering points for players around the world , and helped energize the role playing game community. Almost every guest in this episode mentioned critical role at some point.
S2: For bilingual players across Latin America. The show helped bring the game to life in a way that was easy to watch and share. The Borderlands were fertile ground for this.
S19: Six streams in Mexico empieza a nice idea. Cuando llega el viento no todo lo Q teen Q ver con pandemia.
S3: Mike says streaming in the mid 20 tens.
S2: And later , the pandemic , when people were looking for ways to connect from home.
S3: Helped push interest in Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop role playing games even further.
S2: Along with some friends , he helped lead a D&D tabletop role playing game community , where he ran games much like Amadi.
S19: Super Common , para nosotros en México , no no no se qué esto , pero encanta.
S3: People tuned in from across the Spanish speaking world and shared their enthusiasm and eagerness to play.
S19: También mismo tiempo las editorials estaban viendo un potential muy , muy grandiose , Mike says.
S2: Spanish language publishers started noticing the trend as the audience grew.
S19: Perdida muy muy grande de ellos Como negocio pero también Como comunidades Como.
S3: He helped bridge the gap by promoting games with publishers during his streaming sessions. Editorials.
S19: Editorials. Es un principio empieza a hacer estos muertos donde tienen dia cero mientras esta planning para el dia. Uno tener el juego en inglés. Qué también existe en espanol porque hay una audiencia ya fuera.
S2: Mike has seen more publishers follow that trend in the last 5 or 6 years. He says more games have been translated into Spanish , with some publishers planning Spanish editions at the same time as the English versions.
S19: By Saca esto en millones y desde el principio , el dice mucha de mi audiencia en espanol en Los libros , la historia de las novelas donde estaba a juego. Yo quiero qué desde el primer dia. Estamos trabajando para el mismo tiempo alguien.
S2: Mike cites the example of Kazmir , a tabletop role playing game based on Brandon Sanderson's fictional universe. He says its record setting Kickstarter raised $11 million and that Spanish language material was planned alongside the English release. You're listening to. Port of entry.
S3: Mike Baez had noticed another shift not just greater access to the game via more translations available , but more room for different and alternative narratives.
S19: Porque todo tiene caballeros Siqueiros y de mas.
S3: Why does everything have to be about knights or wizards? Mike asked himself.
S19: Mexico tiene mucho Latin America tiene mucho a proyectos q lo an identificar.
S3: Mexico and Latin America are rich with their own narratives and mythologies. So why keep playing the same archetypes?
S2: That was the question Mike and another collaborator , Miguel Espinosa , began exploring. They were frustrated by Eurocentric fantasy and by what they saw as shallow takes on Latin American cultures.
S24: I want este muy pobres Como Como el mundo , el setting de mystica. Qué es Como pre-Hispanic? Como una mascara de. Azteca. Con Mayas y todas vuelta.
S3: In 1991 , Dungeons and Dragons introduced magica , a fantasy setting inspired by Mesoamerican cultures.
S24: Estaba hecho muy bien las culturas no.
S2: Miguel says it missed the mark from tone deaf depictions of Aztec and Mayan cultures to character options based on conquistadors or stereotypical tribal fighters and mages. The game often reduced Mesoamerican traditions to watered down Eurocentric versions of Mexica eagle and jaguar warriors.
S3: For Miguel. It was evident that it was written by someone who knew very little about those cultures , yet that wasn't the only issue he identified.
S24: Okay , pero en el asiento del otro del extrano , cuando pues esto es lo mio You prefer a ver a ver participle desde una cuestion mas interna y sin todo este ruido de nuevo dia de conquista. No.
S3: Why should I have to play the outsider or conquistador in a story about my own culture?
S2: Unsettled , Miguel asked himself.
S3: Why do I have to relive this whole difficult chapter of my history?
S24: Por el mismo yo , Leo , una novela grafica operacion Bolivar de un de un esta na na grafico mexicano Edgar Clement.
S2: Around the same time , Miguel encountered Operation Bolivar , a graphic novel by Mexican artist Edgar Clement. The story reimagines the aftermath of the Spanish conquest in the modern day Mexico.
S24: Entre Angeles y Brujo , Nogales.
S2: The story imagines a post-conquest conflict in modern day Mexico.
S3: Between supernatural beings known as angels , who arrived with the Spanish during the conquest , and the descendants of Nogales.
S2: Shapeshifters tied to Mesoamerican traditions.
S24: Pero no fue posible para no fue posible FA y la historia sigue menos Como la conocer.
S2: Yet nowadays they hunt them down as a commodity.
S24: Ahora se Angeles. Pero para vender ellos Como una Como cidade este in si la la carne de las tacos basicamente.
S2: To make them tacos lol.
S3: Years later , Miguel contacted Edgar Clement to pitch the idea of turning the graphic novel into a tabletop role playing game. It wasn't easy to get in touch with him , but when he did Edgar Clement.
S2: Edgar Clement gave Miguel permission to use the artwork from Operation Bolivar for the game.
S3: All of it.
S24: Todo el arte de todo el arte. El libro de arte de Dakar. Clement del este. Comics y médico. Hasta luego algunas cosas cu yo la. Encourage me to assert esto estoy esto y lo hizo asi original para el juego.
S2: And Eddie God created additional artwork specifically for the game at Miguel's request.
S24: Yo yo yo no on cuanto de Como funciona igual y Los poder?
S2: The two became creative collaborators. Miguel would ask questions about the Operation Bolivar universe , and Edgar's answers helped him build the game. And in turn , Miguel's question would help Edgar build the graphic novels universe. Digo.
S24: Digo. Déjame lo pienso y two sigue cosas. Porque también me Servian me para lo cu yo para esto Universo qué estoy. No , no.
S3: And that's how Nahuel was born. It was an alternative game with different mechanics and attributes that filled the gaps some players felt when playing standard fantasy Dungeons and Dragons.
S2: It's still tabletop role playing games built around dice and fantasy storytelling , but its characters and setting are rooted in contemporary urban Mexican culture and Mesoamerican traditions. Identification.
S24: Identification. Con la con las Pinas y las personas , Los jugadores tienen tienen una conexion con el barrio dentro de las reglas.
S3: Players recognize their own neighborhoods , families and cultural references in the game.
S2: Latinos know when Miguel launched the Kickstarter , he set out to raise $5,000. He ended up raising 13 times that amount in a matter of days. Dollars?
S24: Dollars? $65,000.
S2: $65,000.
S3: And then something else happened.
S24: The one in the chat is the Guillermo del Toro Kickstarter.
S3: Guillermo del Toro shared Miguel's Kickstarter.
S2: Guillermo del fricking Toro.
S3: Guillermo is a long time admirer of Edgar Clement's work and has praised him publicly when it got a shirt. Miguel's Kickstarter. Guillermo shared it too.
S2: The game has since attracted interest beyond Mexico. Brazil.
S24: Brazil.
S3: Otros de Miguel says people from around the world have reached out to him about. Adapting the game into other languages like Portuguese , Russian and even Korean.
S24: Las jugadores qué no saben inglés jugar juego Como cuando yo in inglés de juego. Mis jugadores el yo haciendo lo mismo con sus jugadores tan cuando en Korea.
S2: Just as Miguel translated games for Spanish speaking players who couldn't play in English , he says players in Korea were doing the same thing for their communities. The dissatisfaction felt by players like Miguel isn't only about the words and cultures represented in traditional games. It can also show up in the way characters are portrayed in mainstream fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons. Personas.
S20: Personas. La mujer fuerza jugadores un personas mas colina.
S3: Claudia remembers being dumbfounded that in some fantasy role playing systems , female characters would start with lower strength points than male characters. Fantasia.
S20: Fantasia. Por qué cosas tienen sentido?
S3: High fantasy is supposed to be limitless. Claudia asks. Why limit yourself there?
S2: That frustration has led some players to reinterpret what already exists , and rework it in ways that make the game more inclusive , and a lot of that power ultimately falls to the person running the game , the Dungeon Master.
S22: So a lot of people talk about creating.
S1: Space for people. I am very thankful that I am privileged to be well-spoken. I understand that my gender gives me some privilege. I understand I have these privileges built into me , and so I don't have to struggle very hard on a lot of things.
S3: Durham sees that power as our responsibility.
S2: When we had him in the studio , he explained what motivates him to write for diverse audiences.
S1: What I also have the privilege to do is to understand that other people don't have these things. I understand that other people don't get to overcome these struggles by being well-spoken , well-educated , by being born with a specific sex. I get it , and for me , it's so important not to create space , but to hold a space and respond when I can. If someone tells me like , I don't understand why women have a lower hit point average , I'm going to say , okay , yeah , no , you're still right. That's dumb. Scrap it. That's my power as a dungeon Master , right? As the person running the game I have full control over like that's stupid , I agree. What would you do instead and not me? Solve the problem. Ask the person who's being targeted by the issue how they would solve the problem and work together to find a medium.
S2: One example is the Dia de Muertos adventure he adapted , which had responses he wasn't expecting.
S1: It was my first time writing it and I got to write this really cool. Like , here's like why this thing matters and here's why names and here's why. Like , we use everybody here instead of this thing. And the person I was working with on that project was like , people don't care about that. Bummer. But that for me and for people like me and for people who are searching for themselves in the space , that informed me , like , cool , I have to make it matter to people who want it to matter.
S3: And that set down the path of writing his own culture and other intersecting identities into the games he plays.
S1: I think that there are more and more people people of color , queer folk , people of who are differently abled , making their way into the hobby and making the hobby more inclusive. And I don't think that takes away anything from anybody who's been here.
S2: That sort of effort exists as adaptations of the game. They are known as home brews , custom content rules , worlds or adventures created by players and dungeon masters rather than coming directly from the official books.
S3: You can tweak existing mechanics , build a new map or setting , create new characters and classes , or completely reinvent a story. Dorham has also adapted stories from outside the traditional Dungeons and Dragons world , too , including Dia de Muertos.
S1: I write history and folklore through lens of fantasy , because there's so many cool moments and cool cultural aspects that you don't get to explore when somebody outside the culture writes it.
S2: That commitment to authenticity and inclusion is part of what keeps big conventions like Comic-Con calling Dorian back.
S1: Um , I decided I wanted to do a D&D event , and I always do an event for Dia de Muertos. So I produce de and Dia or de and Dia de Muertos , which is a D&D game inspired , where it's a D&D game where I buy out at either an entire restaurant or an entire venue. I hire DM's. We each take tables of 5 to 6 players and we run an adventure. The adventure is always something I wrote inspired by the material. This one , obviously the Muertos and um , we incorporate either food or we make cocktails or some kind of beverage , you know? But that event was kind of my like. This is the thing I'm doing because I wrote about La Llorona and the mythos of La Llorona , who drowns her children in the lake because X , Y , z different reasons or the river. But it depends on which story you're going from. But that's that's her story. She drowns her kids and then regrets it. It's she has this whole experience and I want to talk about like , well , let's talk about La Llorona as this matronly woman and why she's always grieving and all this thing. And so I was like , well , in writing this , like , what can I do to incorporate somebody who's not tied into Latin culture? I was like , okay , what's the second? What's my subtheme here? And so I started talking about grief and the stages of grief. And so this dungeon , this adventure that was focused on , like you begin at the celebration and the festival or whatever , and suddenly I'd be here , here in Los Angeles , those are here. And then suddenly something's happening and the children's spirits are vanishing. And now you're chasing the Liberty head because you're going to LA , you're going to LA ofrenda. And each step along the way was , okay , here's your stages of grief. Here's your denial. Here's your bargaining. Here's your depression. Here's your anger. Here's your finally resolution. Write your acceptance. And I was so scared bringing this up to people Because I was like , I am just a dude who writes fantasy. Right.
S3: And that brings us back to where we started this episode. The player who had a miscarriage. The game meant more to the player than Dorian ever imagined.
S1: It's so rewarding when either a story you write or a story you tell , or a game you run just changes somebodys experience for 20 minutes , 30 minutes , an hour. Um. I am so thankful that I had this experience to do all this.
S3: Cultural phenomena don't always take everyone into account. They can carry the biases and blind spots of the people and places that created them. And when they travel across borders , languages and cultures , those gaps become easier to see.
S2: Some players respond by tweaking what is already there. Changing rules. Rewriting settings. Reimagining who gets to be a hero. Others leave the old systems behind and build something entirely new in tabletop role playing games. Both paths matter because at their core , these games ask us to imagine new worlds and ourselves within them. But that invitation only works if people feel welcome at the table.
S3: What we found in the borderlands is that players are not just translating these games , they are transforming them , bending systems born elsewhere toward their own stories , histories , humor and magic.
S2: And maybe that is the real power of these games. Not that they remain untouched , but that they can be questioned , reshaped , and made meaningful in places their creators may never have imagined. And maybe , just maybe , the greatest adventure is realizing the story was never fixed to begin with.
S3: This episode of Port of Entry was written and produced by Julio César Ortiz Franco.
S2: Adrian Villalobos is technical producer and sound designer.
S3: Our editor is Chris Yuen. Yo soy Natalia Gonzalez. Nos vemos. Pronto.
S2: Pronto. P.S. we couldn't include our full campaign with Leslie in the episode , but here are some highlights.
S10: So that's ten plus four. That's 14. So you all together , you go in and you slash and this light r like a comet comes down on your weapon and slammed into the creation creature. Blood and viscera comes off of its back and crack the height of it at the lobster like plating. It's really , really , really hurt. You got this. Right.
S16: Right.
S10: The lobster. Weight.
S25: Weight. Which one.
S8: Drops to.
S10: The 2020 so that the one with the most sights on it. There you go. I'm gonna take this.
S8: Finish her off. Finish her off.
S10: Come on. You got this. Eight plus seven plus seven.
S8: That's a hit.
S10: That's a hit. That's a mistake. Okay.
S26: Okay , okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
S8: Okay. So I.
S10: I will say this because this monster is so incredibly hurt. And the words of Matthew Mercer from Critical Role. How do you want to do this? How do you want to fit? How do you want to kill them? Yes. A a in graphic detail , please. Okay. Yeah. You are using the guiding bolts to dispute this creature. It is a massive bolt of energy made out of the electricity's creatures from the water. Okay , so imagine how do you want to fillet this fish? How do you want this energy to expel from your body and destroy this creature horrifically? Okay. First , I'm.
S13: Gonna say. I.
S10: I.
S13: Am your mother. Yeah.
S27: Yeah.
S26: And then.
S10: I love. It.
S13: It. The lightning bolt is gonna. It's gonna fry her , and she's gonna end up being fried fish and we're all gonna eat it.
S10: Your eyes start to glow in this surgical power. Like electricity starts skittering over your shirt.
S8: Like you levitating.
S10: Your hair goes up a little bit , and you point right with your finger , as it kind of like , pinpoints to this ball of electricity and going , I am your mother. I am like an explosion of pointless.
S8: Just do it , do it , do it , do it now.
S10: For mine. So.
S13: So.
S10: It cooks and the entire creature's head explodes. Viscera , blood and chunks. Bone marrow flies everywhere , reigning over in blood. Gush over the over the townsfolk and yourself. You guys are covered in smears and spattered blood all over your face. And with that , the creature makes one less haunting , warbling sound and collapses on the ice. The ice breaks in her body , floats down to the to the sunken deep of the ice lake. You have completed the combat. Oh! God!
S28: God!
