Kala Mandala - A Review

A wonderful game that is filled with love~

Kala Mandala won me over as soon as I saw the typical “adventurer” nomenclature throw away and replaced with “meddler.” You are a meddler. You meddle. Your first objective, your first rule is that you “must get involved. It’s for the best.” Which sets the stage for this rules-lite game of Southeast Asian adventure in a way that makes me excited to play it. I want to meddle! I mean, like, that’s my entire reason for being. Bring on the meddling. At the back of the book, Munkao takes a moment to talk about the reasons behind the game, and mentions that “Meddling as Adventuring” is a tribute to all the “busybody aunties” who would make excellent TTRPG players, which, as a sentiment, brings a little tear to my eye.

It’s that kind of small touch that is finger-imprinted all over this PDF and it’s proof of the love baked into every page (slow, in the over, 325 degrees over twenty minutes). This is a work of love, of pride, and of joy for a place and space that the average American, indie, TTRPG enjoyer (like me) has never experienced. Where a lot of games that are coming out right now explore a dark, uncertainty that is permeating the world, Kala Mandala takes your hand and spins you into the most beautiful dance, dotted with illustrious words and delicious art from Munkao.

The world building is where this project shines. This is one of the few modern OSR-adjacent games that understands the maxim that everything is world building: how you talk to the reader, how you talk to the player, what words in particular you decide to use, and even how you talk about the book itself. All of it is important, and by a master stroke of skill (and, again, Love) this book is a thrumming ecosystem of world building. Every sentence draws you further and further in, makes you feel at home, doesn’t frighten you or overwhelm. It’s a sweet new space to play, full of monkey-folk, oxen people, and maybe a few otter girls if you’re lucky. It’s got gods (a metric ton of them), it has rules for praying to them (even if you do it non-piously), and it’s rooted in its communities (where else would you meddle, hm?).

If you’ve ever had an interest in the OSR before, you’ve definitely come across “A Thousand Thousand Islands,” a series of zines illustrated and co-created by Munkao, which were about, well, a thousand, thousand islands in a fantasy interpretation of Southeast Asia. To say they are legendary within the indie OSR crowd is an understatement, and that is in part to Munkao’s illustrations. Sadly, after a dispute between the two creators, the project was ended and both have went on to other pastures, and it’s a relief to see that those pastures still include tabletop games.

I mention that because Munkao has been part of the TTRPG community (as nebulous a concept as that may be) for a long while, and Kala Mandala wears its influences on its sleeve. Things like Into the Odd, Troika!, Cairn, Liminal Horror—old and new OSR-adjacent games. Munkao is participating in the OSR communities oldest hobby; diving in and borrowing from the games that came before you, the games that inspired you, while also giving that community something new, a majestic and beautiful tapestry from which they can pull from in return. The OSR has always been this ouroboros of inspiration, into sampling, and back into inspiration. A game about communities being made communally? Fitting.

Kala Mandala is not finished though. It’s a game that isn’t making some big, sweeping promise, but instead is opening the door to a new setting, a new world, and a different vibe of play. It’s asking you to step in. It’s asking you to grow through community (you level up by learning skills from the folks you meddle with), and it’s participating in that community. I guarantee that if you accept its invitation you will leave with ideas for your own game, or with a character you rolled up and an urge to ask your favorite meddlers to tag along.

I demand that Kala Mandala sticks around. Mostly because I haven’t gotten to talk about all of the other little bits of love in this project, like, the idea that something becomes an heirloom simply by being passed down! You are creating magic and power through life and death and sharing and, as someone who cherishes all of the tiny objects that have been gifted to me through my own meddling, I think that’s a beautiful way to celebrate life, and it’s just ONE SINGLE PAGE in this glorious book.

But also because it’s unfinished and I want to see it complete. I want to see the full vision, whether it’s adventures, or more rules, or simply a physical version of what we have today. This is a very human book. I want to play it. I want to be inspired by it. I want it to stand the test of time.

Kala Mandala is available on itch.io on a pay-what-you-want system.

You can find Munkao on bluesky.

To support writing like this, there’s my patreon or my substack (where you’re reading this). I’m on bluesky as well, for less-words and more-posts.