Our current board members are:

MISHA BUSHYAGER

WRITER, EDITOR, MARKETING MANAGER

Misha is a longtime gamer and GM working on raising the next generation of geeklings. She’s written for multiple games including Chill: SAVE, Lovecraftesque,and Dead Scare and was an editor of the award winning #Feminism collection of nanogames. She blogs gaming inspired fiction at BlackGirlGameWorks.com

JERRY D. GRAYSON

WRITER, PRODUCTION MANAGER

Jerry has designed and published games since 2002. Flattered that others find his small efforts amusing, his proudest industry works are GODSEND Agenda, HELLAS: Worlds of Sun and Stone, and ATLANTIS: The Second Age. When not creating games that have all uppercase letters in the title, Jerry works on becoming a better human being through acts of civility and kindness to others. Jerry has been writing books set in and around Africa for years. And the books he’s written are fun, bold productions filled with awesome art and great characters. A little known fact; If tickled Jerry will hiccup cinnamon and glitter.

ELOY LASANTA

WRITER, GENERAL MANGER

Eloy is an ENnie Award winning game designer, having created many of his own worlds, like Part-Time Gods, The Ninja Crusade, and AMP: Year One along with several custom systems to power new ways to play games, like the Pip System Corebook. He has a philosophy of using games to bring people and families together, leading to a combination of family-style and traditional games being available from his company, Third Eye Games. Eloy is prolific and enthusiastic about the future of gaming, which is why he’s almost always smiling.

 I have a lot of “ifs” floating around in my head.  I’ve been around long enough to see a lot of great independent publishers come and go. Many had great products but couldn’t sustain the pace of making games and gassed out. The only reason I’m still around is that I’m too foolish to quit. Its hard work, but I love it.

Eloy made an invite to a community forum of People of Color RPG designers and talents. Seeing so much talent there working so hard gave me an idea. Actually, I’ve had this idea for a while marinating in the back of my head, but I never voiced it in the open.  I suggested a teaming up, combining all our collective expertise, and creating something more significant than the collective whole. If we all could go it alone, imagine what we could do together, what if we formed a proverbial black Voltron?!!  For my small indie offerings, I’ve done it all, writing, art direction, layout, art, marketing, etc. What If we all shared the collective burden and put our heads together? What if we brought together diverse talents, with diverse voices to make games that spoke to people not usually seen on an RPG cover? What if we took a cue from FUBU, and Def Jam, and Milestone Media.

There were a lot of ifs.

To my surprise, a lot of designers were receptive to my ifs and added a few buts. What I hope to do here is make jazz, cook gumbo, and riff and vibe off other creative talents moving in the same direction. I want to share their burden and make something better than I could ever do alone. I feel right about the future of diversity in gaming. I feel good standing shoulder to shoulder with men and women that not only share the same collective goals.

What if we tried to change the paradigm of the RPG industry, what would happen? If I invited you, would you come along for the journey?

I know the questions you all have. “What is this new website?” “Why are you starting a new company?” And to answer that I have to take you back to the 2017 ENnie Awards (I know — oh, so long ago).

I got up on stage and was honored to accept an ENnies for my game The Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition. It was a labor of love, and it was a great night with lots of heart racing and excitement. And when it was over, a person came up to me. He said:

“I’ve been coming to the ENnies now for 14 years, and that was the first time I saw a brother accept an award.”

He said it hit him hard, but that realization also struck me as well, and it kind of put me on a mission. I wanted to see more black people and other people of color up on that stage. I think that the RPG publishing community would like to see that too.

So I started a G+ community for black game designers and artists, and found out that there really aren’t that many of us. I think we number around a dozen at this point, and it’s helpful to have a place to talk with people experiencing the same things as you.

Then, the idea came up that we could do even more. I’m all about activism and pushing the envelope on this idea. I have a mission after all, right? A few of us got together, we’ve had several meetings, have created infrastructure, and are now launching a new publishing venture. One owned and operated by people of color with a mission of widening the voices and experiences available to the RPG community.

I’m putting myself front and center. I’m showing up for duty. There is a new agenda for the future, and I’m a part of it.

-Eloy

Thanks for stopping by and keep an eye on this space. Exciting things are coming!

–Misha