Sarah Moore | @SmooreAD
she/her
Sarah is a DM, host of Community Cleric and founder of Girls Run These Worlds @girlsruntheseworlds , a brand new women-owned, women-run production studio. Their mission is to uplift all women in the TTRPG industry and we are so excited for everything they have planned!
It was so great to speak to Sarah about Girls Run These Worlds and lots more. Enjoy!
What has the TTRPG community come to mean to you?
I first started streaming a little over a year ago, just myself, on my Macbook, playing minecraft. I quickly realized that solo streaming wasn’t for me. I was playing a lot of home games of D&D, mostly as DM, and then I saw a post by @VancouverByNight casting for a D&D show. I messaged them and got cast! That opened my eyes to the world of TTRPG twitter. I found myself playing D&D on a World of Darkness channel, and all the sudden I had these crossover relationships with amazing artists, performers, and storytellers. It quickly became a passion, and from there I just started connecting to more and more people!
Now I know I can go on Twitter and find a curated piece of social media that has people uplifting each other, calling each other to be the best they can be, and for me specifically- I have a feed dedicated to uplifting women.
How did the Girls Run These Worlds team first come together?
I started Community Cleric in January. It has a different woman every single week that I can interview 1 on 1, going deep on why they’re a nerd, how they got into their passions, and who inspires them. I wanted to amplify women across TTRPG- and I wanted to know more amazing women for myself too!
It has gone really well and it got me thinking about putting together a whole channel who just puts the priority on women. If women are the focus and the mission, I wonder how many amazing stories could be told?
I approached Jazz (@Zulmanee) who listened to the little speech I prepared, and she said yes, to my surprise. (She will tell you that she always says yes when I ask her to do something, but she said no to doing taxes, so that’s not true.) Jazz is a skilled business advisor, so in my mind, it made sense to have her on board!
I had recently worked with Ryu (@RyuPlaysGames) and I was so impressed by her divergent way of coming at the game, making cinematic moments, and embodiment of her character that I knew I wanted her too. I also knew that she had a campaign that she was waiting to run and a ton of technical capacity for streaming and podcasting productions. When I asked Ryu, she actually didn’t even let me finish the question. I will never forget that she interrupted my speech and said “Sarah.. Sarah… SARAH! Yes. Um. Yes. Let’s do it.”
Finally I went to Nahjra (@NahjraCreations) who was my first guest on Community Cleric, and had been playing my streamed game since the beginning (Phandalin By Night!). She has run her own costuming shop, she’s a trained designer, and brings a calm, level headed, cool girl energy to my no-chill impulsiveness. She said no, at the beginning. She told me running a group project was hard and someone needed to be in charge- but came to the first meeting anyways.
I anticipated having a 1 hour meeting just to pitch the idea and get feedback. 4 hours later we all left with our first show, a calendar, and a trello with executive titles and jobs to do.
Our weekly check ins are often 3-4 hours of work and also just vibing and getting along with each other.
What's coming up on Girls Run These Worlds that you can tell us about?
We have a full slate of productions coming up!
Our anchor campaign is Roll 4 Luck, helmed by the incredibly talented Ryu! Set in Amalgarth, a homebrew world, the current adventurers are a bunch of chaos gremlins! Some of them are sapphic sword wielding ex-pirates (from opposite ships!) and it’s a LOT of fun! The beautifully diverse cast is all Femme, and makes a strong statement about our values as a channel!
Starting on May 19th is my personal project- Community Cleric which is a one hour interview Thursday evenings with an amazing woman in TTRPG and gaming- we go deep into how they became a nerd and the focus is uplifting them and the things they love!
We also have a number of limited run series and one shots:
- Regency Remixed: Welcome to the Matriarchy which is a genderbent Good Society game facilitated by Anne @XO_GirlWonder. Premiering May 24th!
- In Nomine Satanis: a demon one shot ran by @NahjraCreations set in her hometown in Colombia on May 22
- The Tilleyvayle Community: a British Murder Mystery 5e setting by @YvrisDMs
- Monster of the Week: When Death Calls a special series by Sade @SadeAmbyEdwards premiering June 6
- Lancers: Love in the Time of Mechs; a mecha romance game with @JCDarcy_ in the pilot’s seat premiering June 8
- Claws of Kausvena: a homebrew D&D 5e series by Fooz @Foozca Premiering July 11
- Bluebeard’s Bride coming this summer with Sara @MCDiabeats
What safety tools do you use at your table? And what difference did their introduction make to your games?
Safety is a founding principle for us. We require safety forms to be filled out before Session 0 links are sent. We also require participation at Session 0. If you can’t make it, then we would love to work with you in the future, but Session 0 is a mandatory safety expectation. As for casts and shows we use a combination of lines, veils, and invitations; and also red/yellow cards in a variety of settings. When we have shows that use a map they place the red/yellow dots out of ‘camera’ view on the map but anyone can click on them to signal a stop or hold on the play. We also train our DMs and players that if a red card is thrown, the DM immediately throws to intermission whether it’s 5 minutes into play or only 5 minutes left. Red card means immediate stop.
Another safety piece that we have revolves around building relationships- it’s hard when you aren’t a friendship group, and are producing something for entertainment to ensure that the cast feels confident and close enough to talk to each other when things get difficult. We require everyone to be on the call at 30 minutes before air and to stay on after for 30 minutes. This serves a dual purpose because it gives our tech team time to set up the stream and creates the expectation that there will be ‘character bleed’ both good and bad and we want our DM/ST and casts to talk through the good, the bad, and the new boundaries that may have arisen during the game!
Finally we do 2 survey styles. Our DM/ST’s do an anonymous check in at the halfway point for a limited series, or monthly for anchor campaigns; where they gather feedback to share with the whole table. Anonymous means players can speak their minds without being judged or railed against. We also do a channel check in that bypasses the DM/STs and comes straight to the founders, in case we can step in and provide extra support for the table if something is going on. It also lets us see as a channel what is going well and isn’t, and gives us some accountability in the people and content we’re platforming.
What would be your dream project?
As a channel we’ve been very clear- the whole goal is to meet Aabria. All 4 founders have their reasons for what she means to each of us.
My personal dream project would be to do a series of streamed D&D one shots for people who don’t normally play- actors, politicians, business people, artists, teachers, waiters, just anyone to show how RPG gaming is beautiful, theatrical, and collaborative! My first cast would be Pej Vahdat (actor), StressMonster101 (Minecraft Youtuber), AOC (American politician), Angie Thomas (author), and John Green (author).
We want to say a huge thank you to Sarah for speaking to us and giving us the inside scoop on all thing Girls Run These Worlds. If you don’t yet, make sure you go follow Sarah and GRTW right now for so much amazing content, celebrating the amazing women in the TTRPG community.
Image description:
Sarah is taking a selfie in a car, wearing a heathered grey top. She has long, light brown curly hair and is smiling to the camera.
