This is a ramble, as all my work is, as my brain works a specific way. I hope that things are coherent enough to convey my message, but if not, I apologize, but I can’t change my brain.
It’s been quite a month. A lot has happened this Black History Month. A very present through-line in the month has been a reminder to black people on how America, and the world views and treats us, but that really isn’t specific to this month. That said, that isn’t what I aim to focus on, though it can’t be fully ignored. I want to talk about the reminders and events (within the scope of the TTRPG community, as best as I can), that remind me why I love black people.
I saw this month the continued ingenuity and community, in which black people continue to shout to a world that tries to knock us down, that we aren’t going anywhere, and will make our own seats, and even our own table if need be. Three specific people have been at the forefront, though of course not the only ones, who have been putting in the work throughout the month to support black people in the TTRPG community. We have Misha (@BGGameWorks), launching #28DaysofBlackRPGs, to highlight specific black members of the community. In the same vein, we had TK Johnson (@tkjoinsthefray) doing the same work, with a thread highlighting various awesome black people and their work in the community. Last, but certainly not least, we have just another instance in a long line of direct action from one DC (@DungeonCommandr), with the public release of a project to help push for better compensation for PoC in general in regards to freelance work and convention guest attendance.
These three moments are perfect examples for the kind of actions that can help shift the landscape of the TTRPG community and help break up the public homogeneity of things. These actions remind people that we are part of the community and doing wondrous things. Things ranging from blogs to podcasts, actual plays to game creation. All that work continues, but also needs the constant support of non-black people, in terms of helping get all the wonderful work that black people are doing in the TTRPG community in front of others, and supporting the work tangibly. I’ve said it before, but the hard work is already being done, so all that’s left of others is the easy stuff. Retweet black creators, support their work however best able, be it buying their creations, or hyping the hell out of it to everyone you meet.
⚡️ “#28DaysOfBlackRPGs” by @BGGameWorkshttps://t.co/2IZBR6trM5
— Misha B ❤️🧡💛🖤💚💙💜 (@BGGameWorks) February 28, 2019
I reached out to Misha to get some insight about this hashtag. It was inspired by the hashtag #28DaysofBlackCosplay , an initiative to highlight black cosplayers as a push-back against the constant marginalization and racism they face. With the same motivation, Misha made this hashtag, to highlight black people in the TT/RPG community. While compiling the list, Misha informed me that finding 28 black people in the community was a difficult process, due to the lack of direct information regarding people identifying as black in the community. It’s not that we aren’t there, but more the fact that we aren’t as well known.
Misha’s hopes, and mine, for the future of the hashtag is wider use and a larger number of black people highlighted. I hope that we can reach a point in which the hashtag can be used by multiple people to highlight black creatives in the community, without any overlap.
Hello, my dearest darlings!
Black History Month is starting up in a couple of days and besides r/ting for the 28 Days of Black Cosplay, I want to highlight Black creators and streamers in the TTRPG community. I’m gonna be threading them with this tweet every day of February!— 💀TK Johnson💀 (@tkjoinsthefray) January 30, 2019
I had a brief chat with everyone’s favorite Horror Auntie about their choice to make this thread, and it was welcome information, even if the information wasn’t new to me. As is the case with basically all the work done by the three people mentioned in this, myself, and so many other PoC, this was inspired by the lack of seeing black creatives highlighted to the same extent as white creatives. We are constantly out there doing the work, but so little recognition, and this was an effort to help change that. While Misha’s work focused on more game developers, this thread expanded out to include those also putting in the work of streaming and putting the work directly in front of people. Speaking with TK, the number of people they planned on highlighting, while more than 28, was not that large a number. Unfortunately, due to personal matters, they weren’t able to finish out the thread, but have stated that they hope to pick it back up in a couple months. Looking at the overlap between the two projects is a reminder that more work needs to be done to help bring in more black people into the community, support them, and help make sure they are known.
A few months ago I worked with other PoC in the TTRPG space to come up with and refine a list of fair compensation rates and business expectations based on
A. The immense amount of work we currently do for free
B. The unresolved question of how to allyhttps://t.co/13No6LZbmd— DC [THEY/THEM] (@DungeonCommandr) February 23, 2019
DC was able to take a break from their hectic schedule and constant work to help give some clarity on this project. They let me know that this project started after others were discussing industry standards and how lacking they were. They agreed and knew they could do better, so they discussed things with a few others and settled on this current document. I agree with them in regards to their statement of how best to support this initiative, by making use of it, and pushing things to a point where failure to adopt these standards deprives a person or company of talented creatives and knowledgeable PoC. DC eyes a future in which these standards are the industry standard alongside unionization, though they accept that it might be later rather than sooner. This work is important, as it helps solidify the established worth of the constant work done by PoC in the industry/community, and ensures that we are compensated accordingly.
Racism isn’t a thing of the past, and even then, the past racism, in conjunction with the racism of today continues to affect black people. It affects every aspect of our lives, and we are constantly fighting back against it, while trying to just live, and it is tiring. We fight to be recognized, not just as creatives in the community, but far too often, as just human. We are forced to validate our lives and humanity in every fandom we engage in. So work like this is a balm on a constantly reopened wound, and the work always falls to us to support ourselves. The work I’m trying to do is aimed at helping move things to a point where black people, and other PoC/marginalized people, no longer have to constantly validate our presence and we can just be.
In summation, support black people.
If you are looking to support the work, here’s how you currently can.
linktr.ee/PoCinTTRPGs
PoC in TTRPGs