The Roll20 Team
Eight months ago, Roll20 made a commitment to put action behind our statement that Black Lives Matter. Today we bring you our first update of 2021, with an announcement about some new opportunities for Black creators in the TTRPG space.
As a reminder, In June 2020, we committed to:
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Lift Black voices
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Support Black content creators
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Add artwork and games by Black creators to the Roll20 Marketplace
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Create change internally
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Match $50,000 in community fundraising.
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Hold ourselves accountable.
Here’s the latest on what we have done to work towards those commitments:
We launched our guest blog series, in part, to create a space for Black members of the tabletop community. We’re actively working to recruit more writing from Black creators, and we’re always open for pitches. Our latest guest blog is a piece from Justin Miller about the benefits of cooperative storytelling which you can read here. As always, writers can still apply to be a part of our guest blog series through this link.
We are proud to support the launch of a new Kids on Bikes series led by Shareef Jackson. We are also excited to offer ten new sponsorship openings via our Spotlight program specifically for Black-led gaming content - actual plays, tutorials, and community content of all types. Through the Roll20 Spotlight program, we continue to support Black GMs, streamers, and content creators. We are accepting new applicants and we encourage you to apply here.
Our team has budgeted hours devoted to converting and marketing artwork and games by Black creators for the Roll20 Marketplace in an effort to minimize the barrier to entry for Black-created content on our Marketplace. So far, we have added tiles such as Esper Genesis and Companion’s Tale. We are always on the lookout for more creative Black talent, and invite you to apply today.
As Roll20, our community, and our industry continue to experience immense growth. We recognize THIS as an opportunity to build systems that are equitable and inclusive. In November of 2020, Jose Artiaga, CDE joined Roll20 as Director of People & Inclusion to help us bring focus on how we grow. We have partnered with several organizational and DEI consultants who are focused on how we work. We look to ensure that equity and inclusion is something we bring to every aspect of Roll20, from how we hire, to how we help our people succeed. It remains our intention to ensure that Roll20 is a workplace where Black professionals thrive.
Our Tiltify campaign to benefit Code2040, an organization that shares our goal of fostering racial equity in tech, is still ongoing and will continue until we hit our goal. You can read this post to learn more about it, and you can donate here. In addition to the funds raised during Roll20Con, we created Rollvember, a holiday-themed streaming event to further our efforts and reached $26,000. There will be more to come this Spring, and until then you can catch our previously streamed events on YouTube.
We’ll post again in a few months to let you know what’s next. It’s been wonderful to see the support from the tabletop community for these ongoing efforts, and we look forward to continuing to grow with you. We’ll continue our work now and into the future as we stand behind the fundamental belief that Black Lives Matter.
As always, thanks for playing with us.
