Anti-colonial Dungeon
This blogpost is a finalist of the 2026 Bloggies in the Gameable category! Thank you to those who voted for it!
A few days ago, my friend Habeeb, made his first Tabletop RPG blogpost: the default dungeon is colonial. We have been talking about Colonialism and Tabletop RPG for a while now ever since I shared Zedeck Siew's Decolonising D&D, so I am glad that Habeeb made something out of our talks. If you haven't checked it out, please read it first. I won't be summarizing it here, because I believe more people should read his blogpost.
(Additional Note: Another friend of mine, Har, made a follow up post, Embracing Colonialist Dungeon. Check it out!)
His writing prompted me to finally publish this blogpost that had been in my draft since August. I wanted to write something about 80 Years of Indonesian Independence and the legacy of colonialism, and how it's shaping what I'm making. For over three and a half centuries, the islands now known as Indonesia were shaped by foreign rule (sometimes assisted by local kingdoms who sold their own people and land, or others), with Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, British, and Japanese powers each exerting influence at different times. Sometimes they would ally themselves with local kingdoms. Most notably under the Dutch and later the Japanese during World War II. Independence after the war was hard-won, requiring years of conflict with returning colonial powers before Indonesia finally secured its freedom.
Historical map of the East India Islands, Malaysia and Melanesia, and Dutch East India, inset showing Papua New Guinea, from the 10th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, 1902.
The colonial legacy still exists to this day in various forms of exploitations done by the government, private sectors, and even foreigners. The latest example is the 2025 Sumatra floods and landslides. Yes, Cyclone Senyar caused this catastrophe. But it wouldn't have been this damaging if deforestation and illegal logging didn't happen in such a massive scale.
Going back to Habeeb's post, he states that the default dungeon is colonial. I agree that by default it does feel colonial/exploitative. You're trespassing into this area with denizens that you can kill and treasures you can take. But I also agree with what Zedeck says, it's fucking fun.
So how about we make an Anti-colonial Dungeon instead? It's not colonial/exploitative, but I'm sure as hell it's going to be fucking fun.
(Side note: If you prefer hexcrawls or open world exploration instead of dungeons, you should check Counter-colonial Heistcrawl. Or use the Counter-colonial Heistcrawl as inspiration for the overworld and the Anti-colonial Dungeon for the sites!)
I know that dungeons like this exist. It's a noble's castle, a military fortress, an aristocrat's manor. If we assume the setting is in colonized regions (e.g. Global South, Third World Countries) and the players are playing as natives, then the default dungeon should be a colonial government building/infrastructure.
A colonial government building/infrastructure is ideal because:
- It's built on occupied land
- It's designed to control movement, resource, and people
- Actively hostile without needing monsters
- Full of "treasure" (e.g. weapons, exploited resources that can be given back to the people, vital information, hostages to be freed, etc)
- Will always be inhabited, unless totally destroyed
Jakarta (capital of Indonesia) has lots of buildings that can be used as references for Anti-colonial Dungeons. Take Jakarta History Museum for example, which used to be Dutch East Indies' Batavia City Hall.
But what's inside an Anti-colonial Dungeon?
I'll be using the Dungeon Checklist from Goblin Punch. A dungeon should have:
- Something to Steal
- Something to be Killed
- Something to Kill You
- Different Paths
- Someone to Talk To
- Something to Experiment With
- Something the Players Probably Won't Find
Let's see how this checklist translate to an Anti-colonial Dungeon!
1. Something to Steal
In the "default dungeon", treasure is the thing to steal. It is the motive for the adventurers. But treasures can come in many forms. An Anti-colonial Dungeon would have various forms of "treasures", which tells the story of the dungeon and the anti-colonial setting.
Examples:
- Exploited resources that can be returned to the people
- Weapons for the revolution
- An official seal that allows movement through checkpoints
- Census records to track colonial figures
- Shipping manifests revealing trade routes
- A single letter that can blackmail an administrator
They function just like treasures in the "default dungeon". They motivate players to enter the dungeon, they advance the campaign, and they tell a story about the dungeon.
2. Something to Be Killed
The "default dungeon" has monsters who roam the place. They might even live there. The monsters in the Anti-colonial Dungeon are agents of colonization.
The easiest example should be colonial guards or soldiers, who protect colonial government building, interment camp, plantation, docks. There can also be native collaborators. Those who sold their own people or others to the colonizers for profit.
What can be killed in this dungeon tells what kind of history this Anti-colonial dungeon has.
Examples:
- Overseers with whips, pistols, and authority
- Guard patrols with dogs and whistles
- Foremen promoted to enforce quotas
- Local collaborators armed and uniformed
- Spirit of the land trapped by the colonizers
3. Something to Kill You
Other than monsters, traps are another thing that will most likely kill the player characters. For an Anti-colonial Dungeon, I personally believe it would be pretty straightforward. But thematically, it should be something that feels oppressive and shows the inhumane condition of colonialism.
Examples:
- Flood Channels to drown certain sections of the grounds
- Guard Towers with spotlights
- Moat filled with sharp stakes to discourage guerilla troops from scaling the perimeter
- Steam Vent Release from a steam engine at a factory
- Pressure plate that opens kennel doors to release guard dogs
4. Different Paths
Paths and routes in an Anti-colonial Dungeon should reflect hierarchy, status, and power.
Examples:
- Fields: open, filled with forced laborers, heavily watched
- Servant Corridors: narrow, only known to the workers
- Governor's Veranda: elevated, visible, political
- Forest Edge: concealed, trapped, patrolled
5. Someone to Talk To
In an Anti-colonial Dungeon, NPCs are either part of the colonial system, trapped inside the system, or victims of it. These NPCs should offer Complicity, Resistance, Silence, Misinformation that are all related to colonialism.
Examples:
- A laborer planning escape, terrified of reprisals
- A cook controlling rations
- An elder who remembers before the plantation
- A clerk who hates the regime but feeds their family with it
- A spirit who originally resides in a shrine, now trapped in the colonial stones
- A prisoner whose release would collapse a department
(Side Note: If you want monsters in the game, I recommend that you check Throne of Salt's post on how to give more nuance and depth to monsters other than just something to be killed. Hence why I put this side note in this section.)
6. Something to Experiment With
Goblin Punch explains that these are the unexplainable, the weird, and the unknown. But for an Anti-colonial Dungeon, they should be something clearer and have connection with the colonial system. Interaction should have an impact to the dungeon and the world around it. It's not just problem/puzzle solving, but it should affect the colonial system in certain ways.
Examples:
- The work bell (ringing it at the wrong time causes chaos)
- The irrigation gates (flood fields or cut water supply)
- The ration system (redistribute food, create unrest)
- The shipment manifests (delay exports, provoke retaliation)
7. Something the Players Won't Find
These should be secrets that give more details on how deeply rooted the dungeon, the setting, to colonialism. They reward curiosity for those who look further than just "treasures".
Examples:
- A mass grave mislabeled as a drainage pit
- Proof the colony was never meant to succeed
- A contingency plan to blame locals if the building burns
- Evidence showing a revolt was attempted, and crushed
Closing Words
Remember: In an Anti-colonial Dungeon, the colonizers are the monsters to be defeated. Their colonial buildings are the dungeons to be looted. The treasures are the resources, relics, and everything that is valuable for the natives that should be returned to them.
I want to explore more about these elements of Anti-colonial Dungeon. Maybe write an example. Spark Tables, perhaps. I want to write more about this to prepare myself for my own Anti-colonial adventure/setting/game: ODDIPELAGO.