Hello, world.

D&D Beyond is, well, beyond proud to be a supporter of Jasper’s Game Day, and as fans of D&D and tabletop roleplaying games, their annual Woodstock of RPG goodness, Jasper’s Game Week, can’t get here soon enough. 

Jasper’s Game Week is a who’s who of the TTRPG community coming together to roll some dice on multiple streams- many of them proudly hosted on our Twitch channel- in support of this great cause of suicide prevention and mental health awareness, and you can bid for seats at their tables right now until Sunday, April 18. If you’re not able to bid, there are still plenty of opportunities to support- because your donations can make direct impacts on the games themselves in the form of helpful rerolls, penalties for players, and whatever other madness the DMs have planned for their games. For instance, if you want to tune in to my game on May 5th at 12:30 PST, you can donate to create your own NPCs to drop into the story! 

I’m getting ahead of myself. What is Jasper’s Game Day? What’s this cause we’re all rallying around?

Jasper’s Game Day (JGD) started in 2017 after founder and President Fenway Jones lost two close school friends in the span of ten months to suicide. Everyone who knew these young people were deeply affected, and this pain is what JGD is about preventing. JGD began as a one-time Dungeons & Dragons gaming event organized by Fenway and her father Aaron, and the response to the event was incredible. People from the tabletop roleplaying game industry and community contacted them to support JGD to use their influence to spread the word and help more people.

Today, JGD is continuing to spread the message of suicide awareness and prevention at national gaming conventions, facilitating events for local gaming stores to raise donations for their local crisis centers, and online game streaming. They strive to reduce the stigma around talking about mental health so the world can start to treat it equally to physical health.

Suicide leaves a mark on all of us. When I joined D&D Beyond, Adam Bradford discussed the partnership between our company and Jasper’s with me, and I just felt proud to be joining a group that was prioritizing this fight. As a part of Honest Trailers, ScreenJunkies, and the larger ‘online movie nerd’ community, I’ve seen the painful marks it leaves on a community, whether those we lose are acquaintances, friends, listeners, family, spouses, or partners. We do this for Re. We do this for Donald. We do this for our friends and loved ones that carry the pain of these losses.

Per the latest official final data published by the CDC, for 2018, 48,344 fatal suicides occurred in the United States, making it the 10th-leading cause of death. Among people ages 15 to 24, suicide is the second-leading cause of death. That is an average of one person every 10 minutes. Attempted suicides number 1,208,600 per year, or one every 26 seconds.

Based on these statistics, it is estimated that there are 290,000 loss survivors a year, which amounts to one of every 61 Americans who has been affected by suicide. Jasper’s Game Day’s mission is to trend these numbers downwards by reducing the stigma around talking about mental health and raising awareness about suicide prevention through the TTRPG community.

JGD’s mental health industry partner in suicide awareness and prevention is the American Association of Suicidology (AAS). AAS provides resources and training for mental health and public health professionals, researchers, crisis centers, schools, suicide survivors, suicide loss survivors, and anyone else interest in suicide prevention. They also provide funding to suicide prevention programs across the country. More detailed information about AAS can be found at www.suicidology.org.

AND YET: Despite the statistics, and the sting- in the spirit of JGD’s efforts to destigmatize suicide and mental health awareness, Jasper’s Game Week will be about what tabletop roleplaying is at its best- about joy, and about healing. About coming together as a community and creating something wonderful. We can be a mess of competing channels, personalities, companies, and content at times, but this is the rare special occasion where we can be the best version of what a community looks like.

Please take a moment to learn more about Jasper’s Game Day through these links. Take a look at the Jasper's Game Week schedule and make some time to join us. You’re a part of this community. You matter. We’re so excited to see you at the table.  

Website: jaspersgameday.com

Twitter: @JaspersGameDay 

Discord: https://discord.gg/MWfwpc9

YouTube: tinyurl.com/youtubeJGD

For general questions and press inquiries, please contact Aaron Jones, Director of Development, at aaron@jaspersgameday.com.