An RPG community in Iraq takes their first steps outside D&D

As in most Arabic-speaking countries in West Asia and North Africa, Friday is the weekend in Iraq. So every second Friday, Board and Beyond try to organize RPG meet-ups in Baghdad. They find a swanky cafe that’s willing to host them from around 11 am to 4 pm. They put the word out on social media, and then they play games. Usually around 15-20 people show up and they get divided between the 5 or so regular dungeon masters — Dungeons & Dragons is their default game. 

“We have a very guided system,” said Mustafa, 26, to Rascal News in an interview. “The new players come to me. I'm the newbie guy. I teach them about roleplaying, how to enjoy the game in general, and how to not be afraid of making decisions.”

Once you’ve played a game with Mustafa, your next game is probably with someone else. “When they know the rules to level 3, they go to a different DM called Noor,” said Mustafa. “He's not a RAW [Rules as Written] guy, but he's the magnificent adventure guy… really big enemies and grand adventure.”

“People who just want to have a laugh, we send them to Maitham,” he said. Maitham is 24 and the founder of Board and Beyond. He’s the one who made the connections with the cafes and put the current group of DMs together (and the one who answered my messages to conduct this interview).

After that, you might get sent to Kevin. “Kevin, he knows a lot of the rules and he teaches them the consequences of their decisions,” said Mustafa. “Mostly, he kills them.” 

 At “almost 40”, Kevin is the senior citizen of the group or, as Mustafa puts it, “the big brain guy”. He’s the one with the most experience playing RPGs. Like a lot of people, he discovered the game through actual play videos on YouTube. “It was High Rollers,”  said Kevin, in the same interview. “And I got interested in the game. So, I messaged some of my close friends, and we started playing. We played through two campaigns, over a year each. That was about nine years ago.”