An Interview with Romani TTRPG designer Penny Blake

A photo of Romani TTRPG designer Penny Blake

I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Romani TTRPG designer Penny Blake and chat about Romani and Traveller culture in tabletop roleplaying games.

I first met Penny on Bluesky, where she is regularly found cheerleading new releases and projects by other TTRPG creators. Penny also posts often about her Romani culture.

Wobblerocket: I’m going to start off by saying that I know next to nothing about Romani or Traveller culture. We don’t have large communities of either down here in rural Alabama. Is there a difference between the terms Roma / Romani / Traveller? What’s your connection to those communities?

Penny Blake: So, to answer your first question – we tend to use the terms Roma / Romani interchangeably within the community these days, with some preferring one term or the other. Essentially the word Rom means ‘man’ / ‘person’ similar to the use of the word man in English, so when we say Roma / Romani we’re literally saying ‘our people.’

There are many kinds of Travellers all over the world and in fact most Romani people do not Travel, nor has it ever been a part of their culture to do so. Romani people are a displaced diaspora of India who fled as refugees from war hundreds of years ago. It’s only some clans / families – for example Romanichal’s here in the UK – who adopted a Travelling lifestyle which was convenient for seasonal farm work and trade.

Although that lifestyle is historically similar to Irish, Welsh and Scottish Travellers and Tinkers, we are distinct ethnic groups with very different cultures, languages and ways of life. So, coming back to your question, some Roma are Travellers but most are not, and as the Travelling lifestyle becomes less possible here in the UK due to changes in law and policing over the years, less and less people are able to live a Travelling lifestyle regardless of their ethnicity.

For myself and my own family – we are Romani; mostly Romanichal, but some families from Eastern Europe have married in as well. My father’s generation were horse traders and blacksmiths and did fortune telling as well, but were forcibly settled around the time of WW2. He managed to get back to a Travelling life and I was born in a van on the beach in Southend but I grew up living half-Travelling and half-static.

My aim has always been to go back to the Travelling life, but having been left homeless now several times and trying to live on the road with a large family, the laws and system don’t make it possible any more. They try to force you onto static sites which are just awful, or into council housing which, again, is not great for a family.

Discriminatory Police Action Against Romani and Traveller Youth In Manchester

In late November, Penny shared some disturbing videos of police action against Romani and Traveller people that occurred in Manchester, England. I asked Penny to share a summary of what happened.

Penny Blake: What happened in Manchester has shaken both the Romani and Traveller communities to the core. A group of Romany Gypsy and Traveller children meet up every year to go with their mothers and grannies to the Manchester Christmas markets. The men don’t go, it’s just an event for women and children to go shopping and enjoy the lights etc.

However, when they went this year, they were met by a large number of police officers who wouldn’t let them into the market. Instead the children were forcibly and violently separated from their families and forced onto trains without being given tickets or any indication of where the trains were going. This left children traumatised, with bruises and other injuries, and eventually left stranded and alone – one little girl was found 100 miles from her home with no family with her at all.

Romani and Traveller Youth Herded Onto Trains

In the following video, Romani and Traveller children and teens descend a stairwell, where they are met by a wall of officers in yellow jackets. They are herded and physically shoved onto trains by police.

At one point, a young man shouts “I don’t know where I’m going! I don’t know where I’m going!” At another, a young girl narrowly escapes injury when it appears her boot gets stuck between the platform and the train.

Penny Blake: Fortunately, the children had the good sense to video what was happening on their phones and send it to their family and friends. This meant the community was able to act quickly and they were all eventually reunited with their families. In response, the Romany Gypsy and Traveller community has held protests in Manchester and London, demanding to know why this happened to our children and representatives have now met, on Friday, with Manchester Police to demand an independent inquiry.

In response, Manchester Police have claimed that they received ‘protected intelligence’ which they couldn’t divulge, which told them to expect heavy drinking, planned fights and organised crime.

However, they weren’t able to provide any evidence of this intelligence, or any explanation as to why their plans didn’t change when it became evident that all they were dealing with was a group of little children visiting a fair with their mothers.


“It’s hard to describe the feeling of coming across yet another hurtful and humiliating depiction of yourself and your family in a game that you love as a small child. There aren’t really words to tell someone else what that feels like.”


Police Brutality Against Romani and Traveller Youth

In the following clip, a young man grows frustrated with officers after they deny him access to the Manchester Arndale shopping center. Behind the officers and the young man, dozens of other shoppers are allowed access into the shopping center.

At one point, the young man questions “What has that got to do with me? What have I done wrong?” An officer touches the young man’s hand. When the young man asks the officer not to touch him, he is tackled to the ground by three officers, one of whom shoves his face into the wet concrete. The young man is then handcuffed and carted into the back of police van. The incident happens about 2:23 in the video below.

Penny Blake: Luckily my own children weren’t there – Manchester is a little too far for us and the fair we will be going to, hopefully, is in Blackpool. But it has left my own children – and many others in the community who fortunately weren’t in Manchester on that day – feeling scared and apprehensive about going to any festive events this year; something that children should never have to experience.

Wobblerocket: That’s absolutely horrible. I know in the US we have some laws like the Freedom of Information Act that require public entities to release information to the public when asked, although it can be notoriously difficult to get agencies to comply (especially for police, who often use ‘it’s part of an ongoing investigation’ as a scapegoat).

I hope an independent inquiry happens to find out the truth of why the police were there and why they treated these children and parents like that at what should have been a fun festive occasion.

Penny Blake: I really appreciate the support that has come from people like yourself outside of the two communities, and especially the anti-fascist movement who’ve stood shoulder to shoulder at the protests as well.

You’re absolutely right in that the police are using the classic ‘ongoing investigation’ clause to prevent the freedom of information rights, but we will continue fighting for an independent inquiry and a formal, public apology to the children and their families as well.

How this Romani TTRPG Designer Incorporates Her Culture Into Games

Cover art for "Light In The Lantern." On the left is a collection of colorful flowers on a black background. On the right is a silhouette of a deer-like figure on orange background. A colorful skull and bones and flowers fill the silhouette. An example of work by Romani TTRPG designer Penny Blake.

Wobblerocket: You’ve written some indie TTRPGs about your culture. I know Light in the Lantern is one of them. What can you tell me about that game?

Penny Blake: Yes, most of my games are inspired by the folklore and culture I grew up with – there is so much false information, lies and superstition online and in books that has been written about my people, so I guess this is my way of both combating that by making sure that what is out there is authentic, and also just celebrating and taking a pride in our rich and beautiful culture.

Light in the Lantern was written for the Crafted in a Shell SRD game jam run by Innocent Goblin.

I designed it specifically with both Romani and Traveller children and families in mind as a way of celebrating and passing on the stories of our people. In the game, you take the role of Muxli – a deity tasked with keeping your lantern burning as you guide lost Travellers through the autumn wood. As you journey, you meet characters from Romani and Traveller folklore, mythos and history who can help or hinder you on your quest.

The character of Muxli is based on a similar entity to the more commonly known ‘Willow the Whisps’ – tricksters who can guide Travellers to safety, or lead them astray – these were very popular folk stories around the fire when I was a child.

Wobblerocket: Proceeds from Light in the Lantern go to support a Traveller charity, right? What can you tell me about that?

Penny Blake: All money raised from the game goes to support the charity Traveller Pride who do amazing work with LGBTQIA2S+ Traveller community – people who face intersectional discrimination, often from both without and within their communities.

At present, they’re working to fund an exhibition at Todmordon Folklore Centre.

Romani and Traveller Culture in Dungeons and Dragons

Wobblerocket: I think Light in the Lantern was the first game of yours that I came across. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but I think I’m going to sit down with it this weekend. I noticed the game uses Tarot Cards as a mechanic.

I’m not sure how familiar you are with Dungeons and Dragons, but the Ravenloft setting has a Romani-inspired culture called the Vistani who use a “Tarokka Deck” containing cards like “Miser,” “Beast,” and “Wizard” to tell fortunes, which seems to draw heavily on tropes and stereotypes about Romani people.

How do you feel about these kinds of depictions in the TTRPG space?

Penny Blake: I started playing D&D around 1988 I think? It was 2nd edition back then and one of the first published modules we came across as kids was the Ravenloft campaign. The Vistani were unapologetically based on racist stereotypes of our people – things that as kids we experienced daily from both children and adults around us directly and also in media in general.

It’s hard to describe the feeling of coming across yet another hurtful and humiliating depiction of yourself and your family in a game that you love as a small child. There aren’t really words to tell someone else what that feels like.

Wobblerocket: Has there been any progress to improve the depiction of the Vistani?

Penny Blake: Since the racist portrayals in 2e and the later version ‘Curse of Strahd,’ Wizards of the Coast have attempted to create a better version of the Vistani in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft and so have other non-Romani writers like Oliver Darkshire and Beth the Bard, however all these portrayals are still grossly inaccurate and offensive, with some leaning into romanticised stereotypes which can be equally as harmful as negative ones.

While the original and 5e versions explicitly portrayed us as evil aligned drunks, thieves and baby-snatchers, able to innately use dark magic and curse people using the evil eye, the newer version still kept much of this flavour implicitly and did nothing to separate the fictional Vistani from the harmful stereotypes of the real life Roma they were based on – continuing to draw on damaging cultural misrepresentation and even using some of our language to maintain the unacceptable bridge between the two.

Even the statement made by Chris Perkins, D&D’s principal narrative designer at the time, was apathetic and didn’t really express a desire to make the drastic changes fans – and especially Romani fans – were demanding.

We wanted to clean that up a bit and remove some stuff that the fans didn’t particularly like in terms of representation and how they were depicted,” he said, clearly failing to grasp the extent of the harm and outrage such portrayals in fantasy fiction cause for real life people and communities.

A book cover for Welcome to Windsong. The cover art shows several treehouses with lighted windows and lanterns set in a dark forest. Welcome to Windsong is a setting by Romani TTRPG designer Penny Blake.
Welcome to Windsong, a Romani-inspired setting for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition.

Penny Blake: The drive to see my people portrayed with authenticity and respect in the game I love, lead me to create the Welcome to Windsong setting for 5th edition. Instead of trying to replicate harmful stereotypes, Windsong presents the complex difficulties faced by refugees and outcasts as they try to find sanctuary and preserve their faith, culture and dignity in a hostile world. This is not just the authentic experience of my own people, but of all refugees.

Wobblerocket: Welcome to Windsong sounds like an amazing product! I can’t wait to dig into that one.

Penny Blake’s Welcome to Windsong is available FREE on Dungeon Master’s Guild.

Romani Visibility Through #DikhloDecember

Wobblerocket: I know this month on Bluesky and Youtube you’ve been working on a project called #dikhlodecember. Can you tell me about that?

Penny Blake: It was sparked by many things – not just the events of Manchester, but also Leeds GATE over the summer and the fact that none of this kind of violence and prejudice against us is new; it’s been happening since I was a child and since my Dad was a child and right back throughout history from the moment we left India as refugees of war. It has never stopped.

When a group is persecuted like this from one generation to the next, often we’re taught or feel the personal need to hide as many ethnic markers as we can – to try to blend in and hide our ethnicity or culture, not because we are ashamed of it, not in the slightest, but because we are terrified of abuse, of attack, of hatred from both public and institutions.

Penny Blake: But when I heard my own son turn to me and ask “Can we just hide?” …the weight of this generational wound really felt unbearable and I wanted to shake it off – for the sake of the next generation – because no child should ever have to feel the need to hide who they are, and with the rise of the political Right so many groups are going to feel the pressure to do so.

The word dikhlo comes from the word ‘to see’ and literally means ‘he sees’ or ‘only he can see’. The ‘he’ in this sense is God, and so to wear the dikhlo in one sense is to be boldly seen as Romani, but in another sense is to create a sacred space, a sanctuary for yourself.

So that is what #dikhlodecember is all about: wearing the traditional Romani head covering, the dikhlo, with pride as a way of saying “we are here, we are standing up, Romani and Travellers are not going away, no matter what you do.”


More From Romani TTRPG Designer Penny Blake


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