Tanya DePass

Tanya DePass

Head-and-shoulders image of Tanya DePass

Tanya DePass (she/her) is a Hugo Nominated Editor (for Fireside Magazine), award-winning games content creator and developer, and creator of the Into the Mother Lands RPG.

Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming and wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone. She is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. She was part of the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play stream from its inception, and is the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a new sci fi afro-futurist RPG developed with a team of all POC and Black creators. Tanya often writes and speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics online, at conventions and as a public speaker.

Biography

Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization which is based in Chicago and dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers, enabling attendance at the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, and assisting with attendance at other industry events. Tanya wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone. She is part of the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play stream and a partnered Twitch variety broadcaster.

Tanya has contributed to publications at Green Ronin, Paizo and Monte Cook Games and is co-developer for the Fifth Season RPG based on N.K. Jemisin’s three-time Hugo award winning Broken Earth trilogy. She is also the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a new sci fi afro-futurist RPG developed with a team of all POC and Black creators; live streamed on her twitch channel, /cypheroftyr. Additionally, she is a Senior Annenberg labs Civic Media Fellow at USC.

Tanya was named as one of The Game Awards Future Class 2020, a diverse group of builders, thinkers and dreamers whose voices elevate and diversify the video games artform. She was also named as one of the Gamers of the Year 2020 by Kotaku. She was invited to the Xbox MVP program in February 2021. Tanya’s work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in the documentary Game Changer, directed by Tina Charles.

Tanya is the programming & diversity coordinator for OrcaCon and GaymerX. She also serves on the Board of Directors for OrcaCon and was named the Chair for Take This in January 2023. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications. She is the editor of Game Devs and Others: Tales from the Margins (2018, CRC Press) and contributed to The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox. (2019, CRC Press).

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