DAI Bans Pathfinder Tabletop Game
This article was originally published in the Mule Creek Post out of Mule Creek State Prison. It won third place for Best Sports & Recreation Reporting in the 2026 American Penal Press Contest.
This summer, incarcerated gamers of California found their attempts at gaming and pro-social recreation stymied. As of June 2, 2025, the popular tabletop roleplaying game Pathfinder found many of its source material books banned by the Division of Adult Institutions (DAI).
Pathfinder is an enjoyable alternative to — and generally more morally encouraging and carceral-friendly than — other roleplaying modules such as the original Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). However, with Pathfinder on the chopping block, few related materials are safe, and opportunities for recreational roleplaying activities within Californian institutions have become more difficult to attain.
The DAI has many responsibilities across the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), one of which is declaring which books, mediums, and content are permissible within carceral settings. Typically, an inappropriate book may be flagged by an officer and sent to the DAI for review if the incarcerated person contests the book being withheld. If the DAI disapprove of the book’s contents, they forward their verdict to the institution and update their findings to the DAI’s centralized list of banned content for all institutions. Much of what constitutes this list is content that violates the California Code of Regulations, Title 15, specifically its rulings for obscene content as detailed in subsection §3135. Content that violates this regulation include those that, “taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,” “contain explicit sexual conduct,” or, as cited by the DAI concerning Pathfinder, present “a serious threat to facility security and safety of incarcerated persons or staff.”
While these are acceptable enough criteria for books within a carceral setting, the criteria have been applied loosely in order to declare Pathfinder “obscene content.” It is not sexual or pornographic in nature, and there has been little documented evidence to show how it poses a threat to safety and security. As for its literary or artistic value, the Pathfinder source books encourage critical thinking, social skills, and collaboration with others to overcome trials and plan for the future. Pathfinder, along with many other roleplaying games, present additional options, perspectives, and variety to help players cultivate teamwork, problem solving, and cooperation; skills that can particularly help incarcerated individuals reintegrate into society. Players must often use their real-life experience to determine how their fictional characters will interact with their environment. There is even research proposing that the opportunity to practice these skills and values is important for a person’s personal, mental, and emotional health and development in any setting, skills just as important in reality as they are in an imaginary world.
A number of citizens of the Mule Creek State Prison population have expressed their irritation concerning the ban. They asked that their full names not be used, as they are challenging the DAI ruling.
Dominique B. said he feels “frustrated they’re taking away our outlet, belittled because of what they’re saying about what I enjoy, and dismissed because what we think about it doesn’t seem to matter.”
“Not just Pathfinder, but roleplaying games like D&D as a whole are supposed to be positive, not obscene,” says Chris B. “We have roleplaying in groups like AA and NA for real situations, but doing it [recreationally] encourages those same [positive] values, too. I don’t see why they banned it.”
A number of individuals are appealing this decision and are hoping to see change come soon.
