We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melanie Green a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Melanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I have always been a creative person and wanted that to be a part of my life. Like many art school graduates, my art had to take a back seat to a job that could pay my bills. I spent close to a decade working in the restaurant and bar industry, all the while creating comics and illustrations on the side to satisfy the creative need. That was fine for a while but I began to feel frustrated working 12 hour shifts and the stress from bad bosses and horrible customers was becoming too much. Around that same time, my partner Sean and I joined a group of friends for a weekly Dungeons & Dragons game. I quickly became fascinated with creating my own story for people to immerse themselves in. My time writing and illustrating comics was a wonderful gateway into designing a world and interesting characters and the story that drives players to continue exploring. With encouragement from my partner I decided it was time to step out from behind the bar and pick up my paintbrushes and pens permanently. Jumping into the “older male” industry of TTRPG making full time was a terrifying risk as a one-woman show but I am so glad I made it. I became the writer, artist, publisher, printer, and sales rep all at once. I dedicated every spare minute to my work. It was a struggle to navigate the new community I jumped into with both feet but with research and playing any TTRPG we came across provided a nice foothold. Forming relationships with other independent game makers and seeing the interest in my games quickly made me feel welcomed into the community. I am proud to be a part of breaking the stereotype of the TTRPG industry and helping it become a welcoming place for any one who is interested in a TTRPG no matter their level of previous experience. By taking this one risk I have been able to spend my days using my creative core to create games that provide experiences to all kinds of people.

Melanie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For those unfamiliar with me I am an illustrator, painter, writer, graphic designer, printer, and publisher. I am the founder of Meldar16, a Tabletop Role-Playing Game creator. Along with my partner Sean Moran, we create games for weirdos, newbies, and general dice goblins. We have been creating games for a little over 4 years and every step in the process is done in house. I am truly a one woman power house in a mostly male dominated community.
For fans of fantasy, we have the Atera Redux zine series and adventure books. The zine series are usually things like mounts, monsters, or cursed items that can be integrated into existing games and have stats available for multiple popular gaming systems. We understand that there are so many TTRPG systems out there and try to include them when we can. Our adventure book Our Lady of Chaos is filled with political intrigue, classic monsters, and a cult hoping to bring about the rule of an ancient chaos goddess. This is the first in a trilogy and the sequel Our Lady of Order should have a late 2024/ early 2025 release date.
We also have our own gaming system called DIE versus DIE with a number of games. Catered towards those who love hoarding dice, the rules are easy to learn and even easier to enjoy. I Got a Knife is our most recent game for this system and is a whodunnit murder mystery type game. We try to make our games simple on the rules so that anyone can enjoy them. Beans Beans the Flammable Fruit is a perfect example of this. It’s a silly dungeon crawl about using the power of farts to escape a dungeon and the evil bean lich that resides in it.
Whether you are an old veteran of tabletop role-playing games or never even picked up a d20, we have an entertaining game for you!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

As many creatives know it has been a rough time for us and our work. There are many things threatening to destroy our places in the community and it’s quite scary to think about. For some strange reason there has always been a stigma around being a full time creative and society doesn’t seem to understand how important a thriving creative ecosystem is. There is a large population that views Artist as an illegitimate career choice and a large population that doesn’t understand how a creative’s products are priced. If society is able to take the time to understand and give due credit to all that we contribute they may begin to realize we are a keystone of culture. We would benefit from tossing the out-of-date prejudices against creatives and acknowledging our important contributions.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Creating TTRPGs is an extremely therapeutic experience for me. Yes, there is a lot of stress in making them, but being able to express in both imagery and text the weird stuff in my head (and there’s a lot of it) feels like a feat. Shaping and forming an experience for others to enjoy and then seeing how it connects with them is a wonderful feeling.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meldar16.com
• Instagram: meldar16
• Other: https://linktr.ee/meldar16