Inspired by the ongoing thread by @payn involving Black History Month and Musical Artists, I thought I'd start a separate thread with an appreciation of Black contributors to this hobby.
Given that I'd like this to be a thread for people to contribute to, I'm only going to start with two people that should be fairly well-known, and I am hoping that others will add more. Both of these individuals have been acknowledged by induction into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame, so here's a quick primer on them-
Michael Pondsmith- The primary developer at R. Talsorian games, he had an amazing and varied career that tracked a lot of the RPG industry in its early days. This included working in the video game industry (for the Apple II). He is primarily known for the Cyberpunk series of games, and was involved in the videogame adaptation Cyberpunk 2077. I honestly can't do justice to his full contributions in a brief blurb, and suggest looking at his Wikipedia Page to get a full overview of his many contributions to the hobby.
Eric Lang- One of the most well-known board-game designers, if you don't know the name you should. Again, look at the list of credits on his Wikipedia Page. He stepped away from his corporate position in 2020 to focus more on activism.
That's two to start with. Please add others in the comments- or, if you have personal stories about either of the two I already started with, please feel free to include those.
EDIT- @Voadam points out in Comment #5, below, that DriveThru currently has a Black Creator spotlight.
Given that I'd like this to be a thread for people to contribute to, I'm only going to start with two people that should be fairly well-known, and I am hoping that others will add more. Both of these individuals have been acknowledged by induction into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame, so here's a quick primer on them-
Michael Pondsmith- The primary developer at R. Talsorian games, he had an amazing and varied career that tracked a lot of the RPG industry in its early days. This included working in the video game industry (for the Apple II). He is primarily known for the Cyberpunk series of games, and was involved in the videogame adaptation Cyberpunk 2077. I honestly can't do justice to his full contributions in a brief blurb, and suggest looking at his Wikipedia Page to get a full overview of his many contributions to the hobby.
Eric Lang- One of the most well-known board-game designers, if you don't know the name you should. Again, look at the list of credits on his Wikipedia Page. He stepped away from his corporate position in 2020 to focus more on activism.
That's two to start with. Please add others in the comments- or, if you have personal stories about either of the two I already started with, please feel free to include those.
EDIT- @Voadam points out in Comment #5, below, that DriveThru currently has a Black Creator spotlight.
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