Maybe you’re self-quarantining due to actual fears of having COVID-19 or you’ve just been given the mandate to work from home, or maybe you’re just home because your state has cancelled schools and the kids ain’t gonna watch themselves. You’ve seen the news all over the internet; conventions are cancelling left and right.
Maybe you’re sad, because you hoped to attend Emerald City Comic Con. Maybe you were finally gonna make it out to GaryCon, Who’s Yer Con, Save vs Hunger, WonderCon, or any number of spring conventions that have put out announcements so far. But you know who is really sad? Creators. Many authors, artists, vendors, and game designers rely on the income that they generate in the annual convention circuit.
What can you do to help you say? Look up who was going to be the guests, artists, vendors at whatever show you hoped to go to. BUY THEIR THINGS. Yep. Go online, commission that character art you always dreamed of. Look on creator groups and hire someone to edit the adventure you’ve been kicking around for months. Join up on some collaborative writing projects and help get content out the door. Buy those dice or tokens you wanted!
A lot of those creators are active on social media. If you don’t have steady income right now and can’t buy their things, follow them. Retweet their posts, tag them when people are looking for the skills they have, share their creator pages. IF YOU LOVE THEM, HYPE THEM.
I was living that freelancer life until this past Tuesday. The timing of my contract job starting has been exceedingly lucky. I have an income source for now. I can pay my bills. A lot of your favorite creators, they cannot. They need to eat, to pay rent, to care for their kids that can’t go to school right now. If you have it, toss that coin to your friendly freelancer. They will appreciate it.
I’ve been on Twitter, so I’m gonna link some folks below that I’ve seen put out the call. I encourage you to share any others you might know of in the comments. We’re a community and we all thrive by helping one another. That’s why I love my chosen family, my gamers.
https://twitter.com/ChloeMStA
https://twitter.com/madpierrot
https://twitter.com/Miss_Jess03
https://twitter.com/AliciaFurness
https://twitter.com/timbannock
https://twitter.com/LuciellaES
https://twitter.com/MisterWillow_
https://twitter.com/CurseofSebs
https://twitter.com/Lynne_M_Meyer
https://twitter.com/greenleafgeek
https://twitter.com/DandyBeyond
Sorry if you posted to Twitter and I’ve missed you. It’s been crazy here in Chicago. Ping me and I’ll add you!
While not applicable to all creators, one option for those with dmsguild modules is exporting your module in a format friendly for online gaming. Like FantasyGrounds, or Roll20. It doesn’t take that much effort when you already have all the content in hand. Then you can add that to your existing module and promote its new suitability for our COVID-19 social distancing spring.