I remember going to GenCon around 2003-4 and having someone say, “WHY should we care about gamers of color?” Well, I never thought we’d see folks getting a chance to really talk about it anytime in my generation.
Drop a bit if you can!
Help send I Need Diverse Games to GenCon
I Need Diverse Games has been doing some pretty amazing work over the last couple of years with analysis, awareness, interviews, and game criticism. If you have a bit to spare, they’re trying to keep functioning while the last paperwork for going non-profit is finished up.
If you can, please spare some funds for their GoFundMe page.
While I haven’t been able to game as much as I’d like, between my new career, long term health recovery and most of my game circles undergoing similar life shakeups this last year, I’m still sometimes hearing about a lot of cool game things to check out and pick up.
One thing I try to do is promote a more diverse space of game creators, and so, here’s a couple of new projects, and old ones, that I think could do with boost:
Laura Simpson’s Companions’ Tale is an RPG that plays with the hero’s journey except from the viewpoint of the companions to the main hero. You create the world as you play, create the map, and define more of the hero and the companions as well. (Kickstarter, currently funded)
Tales of the Warrior Princesses is a set of 11 D&D adventures based around fairy tale princesses… as the heroes of their own tales. (Kickstarter, could definitely use more funding)
The Watch is a short campaign RPG set in a world where an evil force is possessing people, forcing an uneasy and desperate alliance between different clan groups to survive. It’s built on the Apocalypse World Engine. (Kickstarter, could use more funding).
Liam Burke’s Dog Eat Dog is a game I’ve posted about before – an amazing game about surviving colonialism and the scars it leaves upon society and identity itself. It feels even more relevant right now as we watch people play out “Whose country is this?” by identity rules they never realized they’ve been indoctrinated with… (PDF, pay what you want).
Quinn Murphy’s Community Radio is another fun, but timely game. Super inspired by Welcome to Nightvale, this game is a fun short one that you can make your own, weird, bizarre world, as narrated through your radio station. Right now as we’ve been told that news reporting is “the enemy” of our governing body, maybe it’s time for games about uncovering unspeakable evils… (PDF, $2, or more if you’d like to pay more).
Laura Simpson is creating a really neat storytelling game and a very different take on the Hero’s Journey:
K. Tempest Bradford has been running “Writing the Other” workshops for authors for some time now, providing useful advice, exercises and examples to help people expand writing great, believable characters, and avoid the pitfalls of stereotypes and tropes.
This go around focuses on games – bringing in Monica Valentinelli, who has worked on games for Steve Jackson Games and White Wolf Games.
If you are a game designer, publisher, or freelance writer, this is a chance to get in on some valuable insight and understanding to improve the work you create and make a better hobby.
I Need Diverse Games is starting a great initiative to help diverse game creators:
Found Loot is an initiative inspired by and modeled after Fund Club (created by Ashe Dryden ofAlterConf and Shanley of Model View Culture) to help fund gaming & gaming related projects by diverse creators. Funding is provided by members who agree to a $50 per month donation directly to the organization or group that we pick each month.
Found Loot is needed among a lot of other initiatives to fund gaming projects, diverse work and creators. There’s a lot of diverse, game related projects that don’t quite fit into a Kick Starter, IndieGoGo or Go Fund Me campaign.
Sometimes creators need a little extra to cross the line from idea to fruition, to make the difference between a prototype and a finished product coming to the masses. What we want to do is help those folks who need that lift to continue their work.
If you wish to donate, you can join here.
If you’d like to apply for funding, you can fill out the forms here.
K. Tempest Bradford just hipped me to the Writing the Other workshop coming up this Sunday. The workshop is aimed at giving creative tools to writers on how to approach creating characters in ways that are human, respectful and broadening beyond the creative pitfalls it can be easy to stumble into.
And, if you’ve been reading my blog or writings for any time, you know that a lot of times I’ve seen perfectly decent game design get mixed with horrible portrayals and hateful messages. If you’re a designer and actually interested in broadening your creative tools and doing better, it might be worth your time to check out.
Are you afraid to write about characters whose racial heritage, sexual orientation, or religion differs from your own? Do you think you’ll get it wrong or cause offense?
In this renowned workshop, basis for the classic text Writing the Other: A Practical Approach, authors and editors Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward teach you to write sensitively and convincingly about characters of diverse backgrounds.
Appropriate for all fiction writers, Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Differences for Successful Fiction combines lectures, discussions, and writing exercises in a safe, supportive atmosphere.
PLEASE NOTE: This is an introductory workshop for the concept and practice of writing the other, and it is the basis for the writing handbook Writing the Other. If you have read the book, this workshop repeats the information given there in a different format and offers students the opportunity to do the exercises and get feedback from the instructors and your peers. It is different in scope from the 6 week and weekend intensive workshops.
The class will cover:
- Identifying differences from the unmarked state that are, in this culture, considered to be deeply significant differences
- The Dominant Paradigm
- The Marked and Unmarked States
- Parallax
- Categorical Thinking
- Congruence
- Resonance
This workshop is appropriate for all writers (fiction, plays, comics, screenplays, and games included) from all backgrounds and any skill level. Technical requirements below.
