π¨π¨Who's ready for an announcement!? π¨π¨
I'm really excited to announce Into the Mother Land, a new Sci Fi RPG, funded by @Twitch, created by me & an amazing all Black & POC team of devs, cast & crew. Here's @BDaveWalters our lead developer with info!
Now that the cat is out of the bag, meet the crew that's putting this together with me and get the full info at that little ol' link below
There's a lot of cool folks, so it's gonna be a few tweets!
First up is... me! I'm the Creative Director & part of the streamed cast of our show. #ItMLRPG is a collaborative effort between myself, our development team, crew and cast! It's exciting to be able to build out a story from the ground up, & to work with such brilliant folks!
Next up is our Lead Developer, @BDaveWalters who many of you know from @LAbyNight#ADarkenedWish comic and AP streamed show & a lot more! He's leading development of worldbuilding, lore and adventure modules!
Next is the super talented, funny and wickedly smart @SharangBiswas who's writing some of our cultures and lore! He's also doing editing of our streamed adventure!
I'm so hype and glad that @GabeJamesGames is on the team! You know him both from his amazing cosplays but also the CMM tool for 5e, his newly announced work on Lost Omens and more! He's worldbuilding & working on our Core book.
I'm super excited that @ThatBronzeGirl is on the team! Y'all may know Jasmine from Relics and Rarities, also Vampire the Masquerade or her daily Twitch streams! She's writing our streamed adventure!
I'm happy to have another Rival in the group! Our fave Arakocra Monk @LaTiaJacquise is writing up another adventure to be offered up to folks who want to go play in our world!
Making our stream and characters look great, is the one and only @pleasantlytwstd You know her work from our overlays on @RivalsWaterdeep & on her own streams!
When you all can get your hands on the Core book of Motherlands RPG, the fantastic art of @blackoni will grace the cover. You've seen some of his work on Snoop Dogg and BigCheeseKit's channel emotes.
On the other side of the camera is @GlossandGadgets who's going to keep the stream running smooth and crisp when we launch! You know her work over at @GoldhartG
Here's our amazing cast that will bring our world to life every Sunday starting on October 4th at 4pm PT/5pm MT/6pm CT/7pm ET at twitch.tv/cypheroftyr
Our tale will be told by the wonderful @DMJazzyHands who you know from The Last Refuge, Dragon Age as Zallanas and his work for D&D 5e & other places. I can't wait to see where he takes us.
It's a dream come true to work with one of the best people I've got the honor to know and a dear friend @KrystinaArielle who you can see as Bob in @dimension20show's Pirates of Leviathan in a few days!
After running the streets of Dunwall together, getting to know and deeply respect the fam @DeejayKnight I'm giddy to say he's joined us on this venture! Enjoy his streams on Twitch for absolute joy & shenanigans.
Last but absolutely not least, we have the super talented @MichaelCrits rounding out the cast. He's DM'd over at Encounter Roleplay, and continues to do so over at Looking for More Network.
I'm so excited, and honestly more than a little emotional that I not only get to put together this world and bring it to you all, but to work with such amazing, talented folks in the RPG and streaming space. This game, this world and project is happening due to collaboration.
We even set up a twitter account for the project, @MotherlandsRPG where you can follow for updates, teases and more. If you want to reach out, and are press, or after we've premiered; drop a note to motherlandrpg@gmail.com
To cap this lengthy announcement thread, a special thanks to @Twitch for funding this project. For believing in this vision, for giving an all Black & POC crew the resources to make this happen. Please congratulate everyone involved & see you in a few weeks!
AND ANOTHER THING!! I was remiss in noting that our adventures are powered by @cortextrpg
So let's unpack this... cause it's just going to repeat as long as racists get in their feelings. π§΅
One, they're wrong. We're not making a MMO. YOU go make an MMO with 7 developers, I'll wait.
Two, some of y'all stay with "GO MAKE YOUR OWN!" in your mouth when we talk about wanting representation. But when we do? We get this shit.
You can't have it both ways.
Also, there are fifty-eleven-hundred RPG shows with an all white cast, all white crew; but yet when one show, ONE is in production with all Black & POC cast, some folks hop up with "but you're excluding us!" HOW DARE YOU?
People make me entirely tired. I've seen a few comments about Mother Lands that are... it's not D&D so I GUESS I'll support it.
I'm just here like... you guess? Also, why QT or reply with that.
If you gotta be half assed about supporting something cause it's not D&D? That's a you problem. Spoiler, there are plenty of other games out there. If you're not sure, watch, not your thing? Dip and go about your day. This hmm, I guess energy? Y'all can keep it.
But there's also that purity test energy that Twstd brought up the other day. Like the Black & POC folks can't ever stumble, slip, fall or make a mistake or it's tacked on your forehead FOREVER. You can't get past it.
I know I retweeted all of this yesterday but this is still on my mind. This idea that some folks deserve more than others, or donβt deserve anything else cause they βmade itβ
Except how are we measuring success? Whatβs the metric for βmaking itβ? Is it pulling Dr Lupo kind of numbers? Being able to live off just streaming on Twitch? Making Partner or Affiliate? Itβs subjective
Some people start to stream & think Affiliate is out of reach. Or they think Partner means itβs all wine & roses, big money, and partnerships, free products, etc. Itβs not.
I think about doing a sub-athon on occasion. But I'd need 2600 points to unlock a new Tier 1 emote slot. Side effect of the wave of oh shit Black people exist wave some of us got in June. If I could maintain around 2500 subs? I could do Twitch full time.
But ... do I want to? Even after I wrap projects that I'm on til' the end of 2020? That's a whole lotta energy, time and work. Also, hyper aware that I even had that many points is due to the "discovering" of Black creators after George Floyd's murder.
So it's a thought, but do I wanna try for the moon when I'm not anywhere near the cloud line? It's a lot, it's on my mind as I ponder a lot of things tonight before trying for sleep in a bit.
See, now I'm fucking annoyed. Y'all want to start that someone is a partner so they don't deserve anything else ever again line of fuckery? Let's go, I'm gonna make time for y'all today.
If you still out here thinking that getting Partnered on Twitch is the be-all, end-all accomplishment of your streaming career? Do I have some bad news for you. Ready? Buckle up.
It is not, I repeat it is not THE PINNACLE. Sponsorships, deals, subs, bits, do not fall in your lap once that checkmark is active. In fact, you gotta work harder because now you've gone from the river to the ocean of creators who also got that check mark.