To steal a phrase from Critical Role, I can’t prove this is allegory. It’s unlikely that the Dungeons and Dragons design team released a new module just to make a political statement. But, boy, is it hard not to read into Project_Lamordia. D&DBeyond’s new scifi Ravenloft module has some eerie parallels to the real-life labor issues at Wizards of the Coast.
Last week, D&D and MTG staff announced plans to unionize. A public petition announced their wish to join United Wizards of the Coast, a union formed by MTG Arena employees in partnership with Communication Workers of America. MTGA staff successfully voted to unionize in June, and now this new team wants Wizards to publicly recognize their union – something, as October 14, the union says Wizards has refused to do.
The union petition states many goals for United Wizards of the Coast. Participating staff seek fair wages, job security, remote work, protection from crunch, and accessible healthcare. They also call for “protection against the encroachment of AI” (which, given how often Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks espouses its usefulness, seems entirely fair), as well as “full ownership of what we create outside of work”.
Bear this in mind while I summarize Project_Lamordia.
“The pain will be temporary,” the doctor says, “but your contributions to science shall be everlasting.”
This is a digital D&D module that reinvents Lamordia, a popular Ravenloft domain, as a modern scifi horror. Mordenheim Kinetics, a research facility from a place called Gothic Earth, is a cutting-edge tech company. It was once a playground for egotistical scientists, corporate leaders, and their rich investors. However, the Mists of Ravenloft have turned it into a maze of ruined, haunted labs and offices.
The Darklord at the heart of all this is CEO Viktra Mordenheim. She’s a top expert on AI, cybernetic augmentation, and memory transplants. She also, according to the module, “forced her employees to work long hours and under increasingly unsafe conditions”. Her quest to find immortality led to the deaths of many, including a former lover, who reported her unethical labor practices – and was murdered for his efforts. Adam, an animatronic with some of his memories, now roams the halls.
Viktra is still served by a few unlucky employees who became trapped when the Mists rose (in fact, Viktra locked the gates and refused to let any of them leave). Among her retinue are the von Aubrecker siblings, three high-level scientists who have augmented themselves beyond humanity. Each of them is a bastion of corporate malpractice. Take, for example, this quote about Rudolph von Aubrecker: “In his singleminded pursuit of his research, he has committed countless atrocities-and he will surely commit more.”
The entire adventure has an underlying theme, and it’s a lack of autonomy. Viktra and the Aubreckers have filled their abandoned lab with Echoes and Created, automatons who contain the neuroprint and memories of a real person. The creation of these creatures is a brutal, painful process, and they’re prone to confusion and dangerous malfunction. They’re also unable to leave Mordenheim Kinetics.
I won’t say much more, because I don’t want to spoil this adventure for those that want to play. It’s a well-written Gothic tale with a lot of interesting new ideas, from a new Survivor player mode to additional feats and monsters. The horror of Mordenheim Kinetics hits hard, because we can all relate to the fears it taps into. The world kind of sucks, and we’re pretty sure AI is making it worse instead of better – that’s as true anywhere else as it is at Wizards of the Coast.
Project_Lamordia credits Patrick Renie with its game design, with additional design provided by Joey Haeck and F. Wesley Schneider. Haeck is among the staff that have publicly supported union efforts, as is Project_Lamordia producer Vanessa Hoskins.
You can support the union efforts by signing United Wizards of the Coast’s petition. If you’d like to talk more about D&D, you can also join the conversation in our official Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
