Jonaya Kemper

Completely forgot to mention that I will be giving a whole ass workshop at GDC on Transformational Game Design and running my game Nightmare High, which was made especially to introduce teens into tabletop role-playing. ✨ You'll see me mostly running around with @bananachangames.bsky.social.

I think this every fucking time I see them.

A person with brown eyes and tan skin in a green velvet robe.

They asked me to NPC for them, and I got to die dramatically. The world is a mess, but I always have hope for the future when I let my students do weird shit. Tomorrow I have two more groups!

My students are running their first larps today and tomorrow and I am actually *crying* in pride.

I think I've said this before, but this time I bought a larp mallet.

a close up of a cartoon character with pigtails Alt: a close up Harley Quinn, of a cartoon character with pigtails. She raises her eyebrows unimpressed

Every Day I get closer to being Harleen Quinzel. Every. Day.

Design Mentors!

Make a Scene provides its authors an experienced mentor for one-to-one feedback, advice, and support. Anyone can benefit a sympathetic person to bounce ideas off of, and first-time larp designers are especially encouraged to apply!

Submit your pitch for a scenario by March 9.

I keep seeing job talk that are like, "Teaching is a stable way game designers can earn money while designing." And whoo boy is that a complicated and mostly untrue thing to say.

Wild thought for the timeline but if you don't like teaching and you're unwilling to give students what they deserve you shouldn't be a professor. If I didn't love teaching I absolutely would not in a million years be doing this job.

Tickets on sale now! Dive in, connect with others, & fuel your passion. gdocexpo.com

GET HYPE! 🎉

Game Devs of Color Expo returns September 22-25, 2026.

✅ Submissions are now open for panels, speakers, interviews, and games.
❌ No exhibition or submission fees.
💰 Speakers are compensated and all participants are considered for a grant.

You in? Tickets: ti.to/GDoCExpo/2026

It should also be pointed out that WGA representation can't be just for Video Games. People who make ttrpgs are literally creating games that studios want for IP. SFWA values us, if WGA takes us in, the Union only gets stronger. 🤷🏾

Every once in a while I have to use Tumblr for fandom research and I always come away with the feeling that maybe some of their thoughts should be inside thoughts not post it on the internet thoughts.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but teachers (ECE- graduate school) are fucking exhausted right now and have to keep teaching during *points to world*. It's rough normally, it's been extra rough for years, and right now it's basically boss levels rough. Don't beat yourself up, fellow educators.

Ash is correct! Consider learning how to be a street medic, you can also do childcare, conflict de-escalation, food distribution. There's a wide variety of ways to be useful to your neighbors.

Many many moons ago I specialized in photojournalism and often brought my camera everywhere. It's extremely important to get tools and training (or at least have advice) to keep you safe and secure as you report.

Freedom of the Press Foundation Defending press freedom for the next generation

Are you doing a journalism in this time? Consider talking to Freedom of the Press. Especially if you are not a trained journalist. ✨ freedom.press

Galaxies Like Islands, Islands Like Galaxies: Envisioning Futurity In Seascape Technologies Author(s): Furtado, Nicole | Advisor(s): Raheja, Michelle; Minch-de Leon, Mark | Abstract: Galaxies like Islands, Islands like Galaxies: Envisioning Futurity in Seascape Technologies examines Indigeno...

And if you're interested in Indigenous Futurisms and Nicole's work...

escholarship.org/uc/item/8dc0...

Not me weeping into a burrito after reading this.

Example: Palantir is a company actively invested in fucking up the world. Palantir is also the name of that weird crystal ball from Lord of the Rings. It's important for us to dream better futures so that someone behind us can go, "This dystopia will not come to pass."

Indigenous futurism and Afrofuturism are seeds for hope. They are writing about resistance in the future and actively work against colonialism to broaden our imagination. Cyberpunk is uniquely dystopian. The corpos have won. But why? We discussed that what we create impacts the real world.

Thanks to the work of Nicole Furtado, I taught my students about Indigenous Futurism and its connection to Afrofuturism, the fetishistic treatment of Asian cultures in cyberpunk, and the connection between California missions, oppression in Oceania, Japanese internment, Slavery and the Holocaust. ✨

Oh I'll pitch with lights in mind. ✨

Guess it's time to write that Goth Club larp.

Frankly this is the type of shit I wanna see in AP. Give me some fucking improv musicals. PUT IT IN MY VEINS.

This is excellent, thank you! I'm a bit spoiled having a theater department behind me, so I can call colleagues to NPC/play as well. But yes, all of these can be folded into the first few weeks of class to also teach basic ideas around larp in general. Mechanics, social theory, magic circle, etc.

This is exactly what I'm thinking of! We have an amazing outdoor focused campus so this is a super viable idea.

Guess who's adding, "Create an hour long boffer larp as a teaching tool" to their research fund requests. 🙂‍↕️ The children crave the foam.

Okay that's hella cool. I wonder if there's like a 200 word rpg style boffer dungeon that can be made this way.

A lot of my students are interested in the form, but I realize since they're so long normally we may not have one shots? But now you've given me an idea about creating an entire class that has a one hour at a time continual boffer larp attached. ✨

Are there hour long boffer larp examples? If not I think my spring class is going to get a custom bespoke boffer larp I have to make. 😅