D&D Charity Game: The Ones Who Endure
About a month ago, I got DM from Keith Amman who I’d met at PAX Unplugged and have been social media mutuals with for a while. He had an excellent pitch for a charity game. “I got the idea this week that I think I want to hold a fundraising stream for nonprofits that stand in opposition to ICE.”
He didn’t have to ask me twice, I was in. Additionally he invited people from cities that are affected by this administration’s horrific actions, disrupting the lives of our neighbors, making people afraid to go to work, to school, and to feel the freedom that has been a core tenet of our nation.
So we had cast members from Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Portland, each of which has been targeted by this administration’s petty lies and propaganda, each of us also raising funds for a local organization focused on immigrant rights.
What resulted is The Ones Who Endure: a D&D Charity Stream in Support of our Neighbors’ Rights and Dignity.
It doesn’t take much for me to say yes to a charity stream. If I have the time in my schedule, it’s almost always yes. And I hadn’t played in a game with any of the others even though we were all aware of each other, but being in different cities, different time zones, different kinds of work in the industry, our paths hadn’t really crossed professionally.
The game was an absolute blast. I brought my “multiverse” Dragonborn Bard Sylvester who I like to use for one-shots because he is a team player, is over the top and larger than life, but is very supportive of his party, his friends, and doing the right thing.
Even so, Keith didn’t pull any punches, narratively or combat-wise, and he kept our party on its toes.
You can see the full game on Twitch or YouTube, I won’t spoil the adventure but I promise it’s a fun time. The dice were telling as much of a story as the DM, and our particular blend of character personalities had some really fun interactions.
Cast and crew follow and most important, links to support our individual charities. We raised over $1000 across all four charities and the links are still active. If you’re local and your community is affected, donate if you can. Otherwise if your home city is also being affected, look around and see what immigrant rights groups can use your support.
DM Keith Ammann (he/him): the ENNIE Award–winning author of The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, How to Defend Your Lair and most recently Making Enemies: Monster Design Inspiration for Tabletop Roleplaying Games.
Psalm played by Lexi McQueen (he/she): a professional game master, screenwriter, musician and improviser that wrangles dragons in Chicago. She’s most well known for GMing the all-Black, HBCU-inspired Strixhaven campaign and using his magic to create realities where the good guys always win.
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Shakka played by Jeff Mueller (he/him): a lifelong East Coaster who now calls Portland, Ore., home. A tech worker by day, he spends his free time teaching martial arts, acting, producing films, writing for several TTRPGs, and championing for a more equitable and compassionate world.
Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization
Saraeli played by Jen Kretchmer (she/they): an award-winning game designer, author and consultant, as well as a Los Angeles–based actor and television producer. Jen is also the creator of the Art Description System for TTRPGs, pioneered in MCDM’s Draw Steel, and the Accessibility in Gaming Resource Guide.
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Sylvester played by Brian Gray (he/they): a Black Queer writer, foodie, streamer, TTRPG player/performer and (sometimes) GM. Best known for playing Virgil on Rivals of Waterdeep, running a Golden Girls–themed one-shot and playing in charity one-shots to do some good for others.
Central American Resource Center
And a very special thanks to our Producer: DC Lasair and our Donation Tracker: Shu Qing Tan. DC handled everything from building our overlay to stream setup, keeping an eye on production and throwing appropriate commands in chat, while Shu Qing was legit an MVP keeping track of incoming donations since none of our charities were on Tiltify.
After we wrapped, Keith let us know that there was more of the adventure that we didn’t get to. So I can’t rule out the possibility of a part two, and the way things are going in this country… I think there may still be a need for people willing to do some good in this world. So… stay tuned!
