IGDN Metatopia Scholarship 2017

Hey there!

We're the Indie Game Developer Network , a collection of 60+ small press designers who support indie game developers making, publishing, and promoting fantastic games. The IGDN brings together a wide variety of developers–-including pen and paper, card game, and board game designers-- to share resources, sharpen ideas, and take collective action.

For the past three years, we've administered a Metatopia Sponsorship to expand the diversity in the indie tabletop game community. In essence, we bring new designers to Metatopia , securing a badge and a room for them and paying their travel costs to make it affordable to join the largest gathering of tabletop game designers in the country.

Our Previous Scholarship Recepients

In 2014, we sponsored Sarah Richardson, a designer who had never been to Metatopia before but had a number of exciting projects that we thought deserved more attention, including her game Bluebeard's Bride.

"I went there with a sense of feeling exposed but left feeling pretty comfortable,” Sarah said about her experience. “And apply for the IGDN scholarship! I honestly thought I had no chance of winning. I figured there would be someone with more experience, better games, something. A real game designer, if you will, but that was nonsense. I had a game to playtest, and had an incredible experience.”

Since then, Sarah and a team of other female game designers went on to raise more than $100,000 on Kickstarter to make Bluebeard's Bride a reality. You can read more about Sarah's experiences via her post on Women Write About Comics: http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2014/12/05/con-diaries-metatopia/

In 2015, we sponsored a total of four designers : Alex Helm, Kimberley Lam, André La Roche, and Jay Sylvano. That year, we raised over $1,000 on GoFundMe to help make the scholarship a reality!

And in 2016, we sponsored 7 designers:  J. Derrick Kapchinsky, Darcy Ross, Kiel Chenier, Vivian Paul, Krissy Bullock, Jeremy Alva and Roe Nix.

"I enjoyed my time at Metatopia 2016 immensely. The environment, the attendees, and the support were all top-notch. Having the ability to speak with so many talented people, from all aspects of the RPG publishing industry, was an invaluable experience to have and helped me grow as a new designer. Without the IGDN scholarship, that simply would not have happened. I live in the southwest, where there are not many opportunities for our community to gather like this, and my ability to attend conventions is limited. So I am deeply appreciative of the IGDN for giving me the chance to attend Metatopia."
-J. Derrick Kapchinsky

"Metatopia was a transformative experience for me not only as a game designer, but as a player. As a designer, having a dedicated group of players ready to try something in progress and provide useful feedback was invaluable. As a player I had a blast trying out new things, getting new ideas, and seeing early drafts of games I've since seen go on to be published. Metatopia is definitely a game convention like no other, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to go."
- Jeremy Alva

"As one of the few people who ran and playtested traditional TRPGs at Metatopia, the experience was valuable and informative. I got an amount of playtesting and critical feedback that would have taken weeks accomplished in just a couple of days!"
-Kiel Chenier

"As someone new to gaming, gaming conventions, and game design, Metatopia was an entirely new experience. It was an honour to be chosen as a sponsorship winner. My favorite part of winning the sponsorship was spending time with my cohort- I loved the opportunity to bond with a diverse group, and I hope to see all of them again in the future. I learned that I really enjoy being on panels, which is something I never would have had the opportunity to explore without Metatopia. The playtesting provided some very helpful feedback for developing my game, but the best part of the convention was meeting so many wonderful people and being part of so many engaging discussions- which I never would have been able to experience without the Metatopia sponsorship program."
-Krissy Bullock


For 2017, we want to bring 8 new members of marginalized communities to Metatopia. Having a cohort of 7 last year worked really well and we need your help to make it happen. The IGDN is happy to fully sponsor one applicant, but we need to secure additional funding to reach our goals. 

If we can get $1,500 of funding, we'll be able to send 4 new designers to Metatopia.

But, if we can get $3,000 of funding, we'll be able to send 8 new designers to Metatopia this year: four selected from our traditional application and four directly from our partner organizations across the country.

These new designers will get to playtest their games and network with designers new and old at one of the best conventions in the world for game design. They'll get to experience all of Metatopia, and they'll walk away with new ideas, connections, and skills that will help them succeed in our industry.

Join us and make this year's scholarship program better than ever! 

100% of funds donated go directly to bring designers out to the convention.  

If you don't know how much to give, here are some suggested donations:

$25 pays for a checked bag on a long-distance flight.
$75 pays for one night in the hotel for one designer.
$100 pays for a lunch for the whole cohort.
$200 pays for half of one designer's travel.
$225 pays for a designer's entire hotel stay.
$400 pays for one designer's complete travel.
$450 pays for hotel rooms for two designers.

Applications for the program will go live in mid September, once we know how much support we have this year and how many designers we will be bringing. Sign up here to be notified when it goes live.

Thank you! Your support is making great things possible!