Here’s a non-exhaustive alphabetic list of people who are from the Valley who also make a living creating interesting things. All of them would probably appreciate your business. Not only that, they’ll probably wind up tossing most of what you provide them back into the local community! It’s a win-win.
We’ve tried in all cases to link to the artist’s store because we’re pretty sure they make the most money that way.
Is there someone NOT on the list you’d like us to add? Just let us know!
Is there some really awesome thing that these people have done/are doing that we didn’t link to? Just let us know!
Meguey Baker: RPG Designer best known for Dogs in the Vineyard and 1001 Nights.
Vincent Baker: RPG Designer best known for Apocalypse world and hence the whole sweeping universe of games Powered by the Apocalypse.
Batjeepster Rings: Makers of extremely neat rings, mostly based upon the various characters of DC comics!
The Mother of Beasts: Best known for creating extremely cute hand-crafted familiars, ghosts and ghoulies. Right now they’re available from approximately 12:00pm – 12:01pm every Saturday on account of them always selling out immediately, so be quick!
Emily Care Boss: Best known for incredibly cool RPGs about things like kisses and cool relationship drama, as well as tons of really thoughtful speaking and writing about RPGs and LARPS.
- Black & Green Games
- Shooting the Moon
- Under my Skin
- Last Chance Noir
- Lots more
- VNW Interview
- Patreon
James L. Cambias: Science fiction writer best known for the novel Corsair, about near-future pirates who hijack shipments to Earth from space.
Chris Collins: Best known for the webcomic/physical comic Paranormal Petunia, about a person who sees ghosts and lives in Northampton while solving problems for people.
Gina Damico: Best known for the CROAK trilogy and other darkly funny YA fiction. Her newest book – Wax – is coming August 2016!
Rob Daviau Best known for working on the fantastic Legacy series of boardgames as well as the classic Betrayal at House on the Hill and the a personal favorite of ours, Risk 2210!
Tony Diterlizzi: Best known for the runaway hit series of children’s books The Spiderwick Chronicles.
KC Green: Best known for that one meme of a dog in a house on fire saying everything’s fine. Also known for just… just a billion comics that are generally great.
- Gunshow
- Anime Club
- Video Game Cheats and Beatums
- Back
- He is a Good Boy
- Patreon
- Probably we’re forgetting a lot
John Thomas Jessop: Best known for the successfully kickstarted zombie RPG “Fear the Living”.
Bryant Paul Johnson: A spectacular cartoonist with a distinctive style and a ton of really neat work that you can peruse on his website!
Pat King/Woodpenny Games: Best known for organizing the Pioneer Valley Game Developers and founding Woodpenny games, also creator of recent crowd-funded VR music sensation Vanishing Point.
Anna Leue: Comic creator best known for the webcomic Half-Man, about a special operative in a war against alien people that have a face on both sides of their heads!
Hazel Newlevant: Comic creator best known for the anthology collection about female gamers, Chainmail Bikini.
Joshua A.C. Newman: Best known for the interesting RPG Shock: Human Contact and the real fun LEGO miniature robot fighting game Mobile Frame Zero.
Pat Nietupski: Best known for the webcomic Legends of Fomora, a cute but also intense comic about kids questing in a terrifying fantasy world.
Epidiah Ravachol: Best known for Dread, “that horror RPG that uses Jenga”, and Worlds Without Master, a really cool adventure/fantasy/RPG/short story magazine.
Evan Rowland: Best known for Questlandia too! Also working on really neat sounding computer game Goblin Diplomat!
Holly Rowland: Best known for TopatoCo and being the driving force behind TopatoCon.
Jeffrey Rowland: Best known for the webcomics Wigu and Overcompensating, as well as the webcomic merchandising sales empire TopatoCo.
Hannah Shaffer: Best known for Questlandia, an innovative collaborative storytelling RPG, and 14 Days, an innovative RPG about migraines! Just innovative in general.
Rebecca Slitt: A former professor of Medieval History who got into the game-design business, and is currently working on something really cool for Choice of Games.
Small Beer Press: Best known for just being a publishing house, only they’re local.
TESA Collective: Best known for creating the co-op boardgame about organizing for change, Rise Up: The Game of People & Power.
Mo Willems: An author of delightful children’s books, best known for his Elephant and Piggie books.
Aaron Wood: An artist best known for his stylish posters in the style of old propaganda and travel art. Great for walls everywhere!
Lisa Yee: An author of books for children and young adults, currently writing the DC Superhero Girls line!
There are likely a bunch more people who are not yet on this list! We would love to hear about them, because we want to make sure that people lavish our local notables with praise and cash so as to keep them producing the greatest works they can possibly manage to produce.
THE VALLEY NERD WATCH 