Mentor Program

TGDA runs Mentor Program sessions regularly throughout the year. Please check back later for the next session dates.

Education at a Personal Level

The TGDA mentorship program is designed to be flexible and to support the Australian tabletop designer community. It can cover all aspects of designing and self-publishing games, as well as other aspects of the business. Mentorships are coordinated through TGDA, and then it is left to the mentor and mentee to decide how to approach the relationship. Do you want a one-off session with feedback provided one month later? A monthly check-in on how your business is growing? Maybe you have a big project or convention coming up and you need input and advice.

A typical mentorship lasts for about 3–5 hours, which can be spaced out over a period agreed on between the mentor and mentee. If the mentorship continues for longer, participants might want to consider sequential mentorships. We ask for a $50 fee from the mentee, which is split between the mentor and to support the ongoing development of the mentorship program.

To apply for a mentorship or if you want to be a mentor (or both):

Please fill out this form

Take care to provide enough detail for us to find an appropriate mentor! One of our volunteer coordinators will contact you when we have matched you with a willing mentor/mentee, and allow you to discuss terms of your mentorship between the two of you. Once the mentorship is over, we ask for feedback so that we can improve the program for future participants.

Mentors

We think everybody has something to share. The nature of the tabletop developer community is such that a lot of us are forced to become jacks-of-all-trades, whether through early steps as a designer (before finding a publisher) or through self-publishing.

The members who make up this community also come from a wide variety of creative jobs, with eclectic experience in all kinds of things.

If you think you can dedicate the time to helping a fledgling designer, or to teach an old dog new tricks, you should consider signing up as a mentor.

Mentees

It can be hard to get a start in this industry. From home-cooking some radical new idea and playing it with friends, to promoting and playtesting that idea on the convention circuit and in local stores, to eventually seeking to turn that idea into a marketable product, we all need help sometimes.

Even established members of this community may wish to expand on new skills, seek better ways to market their products, or find their first steps in a new area.

If you are looking for a bit of assistance in any area to do with tabletop game design (that includes roleplaying games), you should consider signing up as a mentee.