D&D's short-lived LatAm Ambassador Program

In late February, Wizards of the Coast announced they would stop production of all Portuguese language products—effectively cutting off legal distribution of Dungeons & Dragons (and Magic: The Gathering) to Brazil, one of the largest tabletop markets. However, this is only the most recent development in a nearly three year long descent for Dungeons & Dragons’ presence as a trusted brand in South America. 

Last year Argentinian tabletop journalist Federico Müller (who writes for the Latin American TTRPG outlet Dado Manija) conducted a detailed investigation into WotC’s Latin American ambassadorship program. His investigation uncovered that the program was, more or less, a marketing and recruitment model for a WotC-run Facebook page. According to contracts obtained by Müller, this program depended primarily on the unpaid labor of content creators from across the continent. The program lasted for one year (2021-2022) before being unceremoniously discarded. 

Wizards of the Coast did not respond to a request for comment from Müller during his initial investigation. When Rascal reached out to the company with a series of questions regarding claims made in the Dado Manija report, we received this statement from a company spokesperson, “This was an experimental program that never got off the ground. As an expression of gratitude to early members, we sent some promotional product. We look forward to finding new ways to serve D&D communities in Brazil and across the world.”

While I initially sat down to speak with Müller about the census he organized for Argentinian TTRPG players and build connections between our international communities, his reporting into this program became central to our conversation. He is sharing this reporting with Rascal to provide additional context for the results of his census, and to bring more attention to a large, underrepresented community in a largely English-language dominated industry.