diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/role/definition.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/role/definition.py
index 0cb1e45760d..d46bca6b2e9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/role/definition.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/role/definition.py
@@ -55,8 +55,12 @@ class RoleDefinition(Base, Become, Conditional, Taggable):
         raise AnsibleError("not implemented")
 
     def preprocess_data(self, ds):
+        # role names that are simply numbers can be parsed by PyYAML
+        # as integers even when quoted, so turn it into a string type
+        if isinstance(ds, int):
+            ds = "%s" % ds
 
-        assert isinstance(ds, dict) or isinstance(ds, string_types)
+        assert isinstance(ds, dict) or isinstance(ds, string_types) or isinstance(ds, AnsibleBaseYAMLObject)
 
         if isinstance(ds, dict):
             ds = super(RoleDefinition, self).preprocess_data(ds)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/playbook/role/include.py b/lib/ansible/playbook/role/include.py
index b063aecc350..93cf0e21794 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/playbook/role/include.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/playbook/role/include.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ from six import iteritems, string_types
 import os
 
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleParserError
+from ansible.parsing.yaml.objects import AnsibleBaseYAMLObject
 from ansible.playbook.attribute import Attribute, FieldAttribute
 from ansible.playbook.role.definition import RoleDefinition
 
@@ -42,7 +43,8 @@ class RoleInclude(RoleDefinition):
 
     @staticmethod
     def load(data, current_role_path=None, parent_role=None, variable_manager=None, loader=None):
-        assert isinstance(data, string_types) or isinstance(data, dict)
+
+        assert isinstance(data, string_types) or isinstance(data, dict) or isinstance(data, AnsibleBaseYAMLObject)
 
         ri = RoleInclude(role_basedir=current_role_path)
         return ri.load_data(data, variable_manager=variable_manager, loader=loader)