Death2Divinity is an upcoming TTRPG Dungeons and Dragons campaign premiering on Jude’s Twitch channel, known online as MermaidRoyal. The campaign’s Game Master (GM) will be Katie Mae, who is known in the D&D world for projects like “Dungeons, Dice, and Everything Nice.” The two teamed up to create what is potentially the first all fat, all queer broadcasted Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Jude, Samantha, Molly, Lyrica, and Keda will participate in an epic quest that Katie Mae has created for them, and viewers get to tag along for the ride.
Death2Divinity has released a lot of lore teasers via Twitter, but the most revolutionary part of the campaign may not have anything to do with the overarching plot or backstory. Every single PC in Death2Divinity is unapologetically fat, which isn’t something that happens often at TTRPG tables. Marginalized creators are often kept out of Dungeons and Dragons tables and campaigns, inadvertently or otherwise, so Death2Divinity and its all fat, all queer participants have made this space for themselves. In an interview with Game Rant, Jude and Katie Mae discussed the importance of Death2Divinity being a proudly fat and queer campaign.
Death2Divinity will run for fifteen episodes on the MermaidRoyal Twitch channel, and those who want early access to behind-the-scenes things can become a patron on the Death2Divinity Patreon page. The inspiration for Death2Divinity started with a tweet from Jude saying that there should be an all fat Dungeons and Dragons campaign that Katie Mae should GM, and the plan was set in motion. Prior to the Death2Divinity planning, Katie Mae said they had a dream they were playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons with Jude and comedian Nicole Byer at the table. Both Jude and Katie Mae say Nicole has an open invitation to join any and all of their Dungeons and Dragons projects.
The roster for Death2Divinity includes Jude, Molly, Lyrica, Keda, and Samantha, all of whom are fat, queer, and femme. Katie Mae remarked that each player has their own relationship to their fatness, which is interesting because viewers will get to see “what it means and what it's been like for them.” Even more liberating and exciting is the knowledge that all characters (Adrielle, Brine, Current, Gideon, Winona) will have the freedom to exist as fat people without the influence of fatphobia or anti-fat bias. So viewers can look forward to seeing three spellcasters and two martial class PCs existing as fat and queer in a way that isn’t merely tolerated but celebrated, according to Jude.
“We just get to go to parties and balls and eat what we want and not worry about it and not worry about people making snide comments about what we're eating, how we're eating it, how we look, how we're being perceived; at least in that way. Which to me is so liberating but also really sad because it's just, for so long in a world that's made up—D&D is made up! It has rules but it's made up!—and we drew the line at people being fat.”
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Both Katie Mae and Jude acknowledged that fatphobia and anti-fat bias are not only accepted in society, but an active weapon used against fat individuals. Jude has a background in body liberation work, so they know all too well the intrinsic ways that fatphobia is harmful, especially in regards to people of color. All player characters in Death2Divinity “will be desired and desire others,” rather than being fetishized. All of Death2Divinity’s characters are allowed to take up as much space as they need, according to Katie Mae — as long as they don’t talk over each other and mess with the audio.
“That's the thing is fat people, disabled people, people of color, are constantly told, 'You are taking up too much space. You have already taken up too much space. You have angered me because you have taken up so much space already.' The thing about D&D is I ask you to take up as much space as you can. That's the difference.”
There’s also something to be said for the design of the Death2Divinity logo and how it impacts the players. Katie Mae said the logo is her “Harley Quinn moment” because autonomy and the relationship between the characters and the world around them will be crucial to the central theme of the campaign. Jude added that there’s something with the “messiness” of the logo, saying it’s fun because often femme-presenting people are pushed into being “very much label on the package,” which won’t be happening in Death2Divinity. The upcoming Dungeons and Dragons campaign will encourage its femme players to be messy and emotional and loud, something Katie Mae said femme people aren’t often allowed to be in the real world.
“I know I keep saying the word ‘autonomy,’ but it matters so much these days. Being able to step into a world where you can change it is one of the biggest things I can give people right now, just as a person. And so, that was why I gave it a Harley Quinn moment because I was like, ‘I want them to have that freedom of self as aggressively as she did.’”
Death2Divinity is shaping up to be a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that viewers shouldn’t miss out on. The Death2Divinity roster includes Jude as Adrielle, Samantha (TheVerbalThing) as Brine, Lyrica (LookItsLyrica) as Current, Molly (Bearzerky) as Gideon, Keda (kedapalooza) as Winona, and Katie Mae (okkatiemae) as the GM. More information about the campaign can be found on the Death2Divinity Twitter, along with Patreon and merchandise links.
Death2Divinity premieres on July 16 at 8:00 p.m. EST on the MermaidRoyal Twitch channel.
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