Muslims in Tabletop Role Playing Games

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worldofdarkness

One could not have easily guessed that there would be so many references to Muslims in tabletop role playing games. I certainly did not know about the extend of this phenomenon until I was enlightened by Jabir Lee a few years ago. Here is a list of such games, quoted here verbatim from brother Lee, and the Islamic/Muslim references in these games.

World of Darkness:

Veil of Night, (Vampire: The Dark Ages)

A sourcebook for playing Muslim vampires during the crusades.

Clanbook Assamite, Clanbook Assamite Revised, (Vampire: the Masquerade)

A sourcebook about modern vampire assassins. The first is almost exclusively ethnic stereotypes about terrorists, the revised edition recasts Muslims as sympathetic rebels trying to escape an inhuman
“Old Man in the Mountain.”

Lost Paths, (Mage: the Ascension).

Book about modern Muslim mages who split from European magicians due to colonialism.

Ars Magica:

Blood and Sand

This is the only RPG supplement written by someone with an academic specialty. Niall Christie of the university of Vancouver, who’s specialty is on Muslim responses to the crusades. It’s about Muslim magicians in the levant.

Shadowrun:

Loose Allegiances (3rd edition)

This is a book about organizations that might hire the player characters. It details three Islamic groups – a conservative leaning unity movement, a left-leaning reform movement, and a terrorist spinoff run by a demon possessing a guy.

Sixth World Almanac (4th edition)

This is a world-guide for Shadowrun 4th edition, portrays the middle east as overwhelmingly intolerant and bad compared to it’s portayal in Loose Allegiances.

Street Magic

Street magic is the 4th edition magic guide, has rules for playing “Islamic tradition” mages and includes a write-up of a group of monster-hunting Muslim monastics.
 
GURPS:

Ottoman Empire, (Castle Falkenstein).

This is a supplement for victorian fantasy roleplaying game “Castle Falkenstein.” Includes rules for playing Jinn, most of the book heavily leans on the “Sick Man of Europe” portrayal of the Ottoman Empire.

Transhuman Space

GURPS Sci-fi supplement, this book has a “Reformed Caliphate” made up of “moderate Sunni nations.

Banestorm

The GURPS fantasy setting. The premise for the setting is that elves accidently summon both sides of the crusade into a fantasy world. Roughly half the nations in the setting are Muslim.

Arabian Nights

This is probably the one RPG supplement about the Arabian Nights that actually focuses on Islam. Roug guide on running fantasy adventures set in the post-Jahiliyya middle east.

Infinity

Infinity is a miniature wargame. One of the playable factions, “Haqqislam,” are Muslims who are forced to flee earth and end up founding a nation in space.
In Nomine Satanis has two books, but they are in french. They are mostly about Islam being founded by rebel angels who go rogue and decline to turn in their badge.

3 Comments

  1. We’re getting our daughter into D&D (actually I’m friends with the Gygax fam) and would really love to beef up her islamic history knowledge. Infinity and Arabian Nights sound pretty cool, but do you think they could be adapted for kids?

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