RPG Writer Workshop Scholarship Program
This post was originally published in July 2020. Updated for our fall 2020 workshop.
Hello friends! Registration for the fall Write Your First Adventure course opens next week and we wanted to share some information regarding scholarships — contributing to our scholarship fund and applying for a scholarship!
The upcoming WYFA workshop is the sixth one we’ve held and we’re glad to continue our tradition of offering scholarships to the community. Please read the following information about how this works. As always, we’re open to your thoughts and feedback! hello@rpgwriterworkshop.com.
First of all, we do get many questions often about why we don’t offer the Workshop and its courses for free. This is an independent project run part-time by two people, alongside a group of folks who help us out (like modding in the Discord channel), and it does cost quite a bit of money to run — most of the money goes toward hosting costs but also compensating instructors and pep talk authors throughout the year. Additionally, we strongly believe that creative work is work and must ensure that our instructors are compensated for their time and efforts in developing educational content. That said, we work hard to offer as much free and valuable content and programming as we possibly can! Our fall workshop will once again offer a premium and a free path.
Contributing to the scholarship fund
To make things easier for people to contribute to our scholarships, we’ve created a Ko-Fi page and set a goal of raising funds to offer 50 scholarships, which the Workshop will match for a total of 100 total scholarships. Whatever we raise beyond this goes toward offering more scholarships! If you donate three or more scholarships (at $35/each), you’re a Friend of the Workshop and we’ll gladly display your logo on our course homepage. Please contact hello@rpgwriterworkshop.com with a link to your logo and proof of your contribution and we’ll get you set up. If your scholarship donation is on behalf of your organization or you’d like to support a specific cause, please let us know so we can add that to the scholarship submission form.
How Workshop revenue is delegated
This year, we have 17 instructors producing content for the summer workshop. 70% of the workshop revenue is split among the instructors and 30% goes toward administrative costs. (Administrative costs include the website hosting, design/stock assets, compensating pep talk authors, and any other costs that arise as they inevitably do. We also save some money from every workshop to purchase the new titles published by our community!)
Applying for a scholarship
To be considered for a scholarship or to nominate a friend, please submit here: https://forms.gle/UBCQVq22X5yZinPS8
Scholarship applications close on October 19th to give us enough time to contact the recipients and get them set up for the course.
What is the criteria for receiving a scholarship?
Historically, we’ve given scholarships based on the requests of donors and also on a first come, first serve basis. This year, our instructors are working as a committee to sort through applications and ensure that any donated funds are properly delegated. We also welcome you to participate with us if you are interested: email hello@rpgwriterworkshop.com
We consider every application and offer general scholarships, in addition to four funds we can offer this year thanks to generous donors:
#BlackLivesMatter: Supporting Black ttRPG creators
ttRPG Creators for Pride: Supporting queer ttRPG creators
Uncaged Anthology: Supporting emerging voices in tabletop
DOTS RPG: Supporting accessibility in ttRPGs
If you’d like to contribute to a specific fund, please note that on your Ko-Fi donation.
We also have a new scholarship we’re offering this year: eight $200 art scholarships generously donated by Dungeon Masters Guild, for use in commissioning custom art for your adventures! Consideration for these art scholarships is included on the application form. Recipients will be selected by the DMs Guild and RPG Writer Workshop teams.
An ongoing commitment to our Black and LGBTQIA+ creators
The goal of the Workshop is to help aspiring narrative designers become empowered to publish, find creative success, and enter the industry. We stand firmly with #BlackLivesMatter and Pride, with the acknowledgement that the ttRPG community has not always been welcoming, inviting, or respectful toward Black and queer creators. The RPG Writer Workshop is a global community and we can always do more to offer tangible support through mentoring, donating to organizations, promoting the work that comes out of our community, and recommending our community members for job opportunities.
Providing Workshop content to non-profits and schools
The Workshop is happy to provide our educational content at no cost to non-profit and educational organizations! Please email us, hello@rpgwriterworkshop.com, so we can work with you.
We’ll be sending information about how to register for the fall workshop next week. Thank you for being a part of our community! We can’t wait to join you on your writing journey this fall.
Cheers,
Ashley Warren, M.A.
Director, RPG Writer Workshop
