Cartographers of Mali

The Cartographers of Mali is a tabletop roleplaying game with a focus on exploring the past through direct player interaction with historical figures and events. In the player’s guide, players will find a wealth of information about the west African civilization of the Empire of Mali. This civilization was instrumental in the educational advancement and economic growth of Africa throughout much of the 13th - 16th centuries but is barely taught in schools. For this reason, Cartographers of Mali takes place in and focuses on this setting. While exploring this historical setting players will undercover historical locations both through the game’s 'current' time period in the 16th century as well as through flashbacks which can take players as far back as the early 13th century when the Empire of Mali was created. While exploring these locations players use a variety of skills, 32 in total, within the categories of vocational, mental, social, and physical skills. 

Though this submission is centered around the Mali Empire of the 13th-17th century, the game can easily be adapted for any ancient civilization through its intuitive gameplay mechanics and easy-to-use character creation and skill customization. Players and Game Makers (GMs) alike will develop proper historical understandings to gain insight into the past, making this game an excellent tool for educational use. With this purpose in mind, the player's handbook also includes a section focused on instructing teachers and educators on how to run Cartographers of Mali in an educational setting and a list of example questions to test student's knowledge.

Our team interpreted the theme of ‘ruin’ quite literally. For us this word evoked thoughts of crumbling societies and the window into the past these ruins often provide. This led us to the idea of having players explore the ruins of a once-great civilization in order to uncover information about its people, culture, religion, and the series of events that triggered its downfall. For this game, we wanted to focus on having an impact on our players by encouraging historical education and cultural understanding. That being said, we wanted to choose a civilization that isn’t widely taught yet had a highly significant historical impact and for this purpose, the Empire of Mali was the clear choice. This empire was home to legendary historical figures including Sundiata Keita, the original ‘Lion King’ and the hero of the famous African Epic of Sundiata, and Mansa Musa, the richest man to ever live as well as centers of learning such as Timbuktu’s great libraries which housed over 700,000 manuscripts. For this reason, we could think of no better setting and since the Empire of Mali thrived from the 13th - 16th centuries it is now almost entirely in ruin.