In response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine, a coalition of more than 60 creators from TTRPGTok – whose collective followings on Tiktok total over four million – organized a fundraising effort for the people of Gaza.
“Like a lot of people, I’ve felt so powerless to do anything to help the people of Palestine,” said fundraiser organizer Ryan Mossbarger (known by his username RunDMG). That feeling of powerlessness is difficult to combat, especially in the face of a government who continues to fund and enable the humanitarian crisis. Since October 7th, nearly 1.9 million Palestinians (about 85% of Gaza’s population) have been forcibly displaced by the Israeli bombing campaign. Death counts vary, but at least 25,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, with over 10,000 of those murdered being children.
“I called my senator, my representative, I signed petitions and nothing positive has happened. It honestly makes me feel sick. I’ve always told myself I was a person who would do something, if I could do something. The charity drive is that something. Luckily I have a lot of friends that felt the same way! We may not have any political power, but we can raise money to help save lives.”
Their initial goal was to raise $1,500 for Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres, which provides emergency medical aid and supplies to crisis zones across the globe. They broke that goal in 24 hours.
At the time of writing, the drive has raised over $11,000 through the efforts of well-established figures in the TTRPG Tiktok community to fund essential medical aid for those suffering.
“Any part I can contribute, even just fundraising from my silly interviews, could help save lives in Palestine.” said Jordon Brown. Brown is known for his playfully controversial takes to drive traffic towards his monthly fundraising efforts and his interviews with members of the Dropout production team. “What is the point of having a platform if you don’t use it to help people?”
The drive contains a number of rewards for donating towards the effort, including game pdfs, workshops, privately run one-shots, and podcast guest spots. “I’d been feeling like I wasn’t doing enough,” said professional GM and Game Designer V.J. Harris, echoing a sentiment many of us currently feel. “I’ve been advertising and offered up a three hour, one-to-two shot for four people for anyone that donated $80. It’s still available but we are blowing through our goals.”
This is not the first such drive by the community. When this round of Israeli bombing began in early October, Esther Wallace of Oak Grove Games organized over 140 game designers to create the Games for Gaza bundle, which raised over $365,000 for the organization Medical Aid for Palestinians.
“The TTRPG world is amazing in how much everyone stands up for each other and shows strong support and solidarity,” said Diana Fay, streamer and podcaster known by her screenname DianaoftheRose. “It’s so wonderful to see everyone coming together so readily to back a cause like Doctors Without Borders, especially in times like these, without hesitation.”
The fundraising drive will be ongoing until January 31st, on tiltify.com. Free Palestine.
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