Update: Sadly Jennell passed away Jan 10, 2024. Jennell Jaquays, one of the founding creators of this hobby, needs our help.

[darjr]

Update: please see this news thread about her passing.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/industry-veteran-jennell-jaquays-passes.702020/#post-9238808

Few names hold as much weight in the world of RPGs as Jennell Jaquays. From near the beginning of the hobby her trailblazing work has influenced generations, she created one of the first RPG magazines, "The Dungoneer" published the same month as Dragon #1. She wrote designed and created the art for the first megadungeon, the H.G. Wells nominated "The Dark Tower". Her work appears in the pages of Dragon magazine. Outside of RPGs her activism and work with the Transgender Human Rights Institute in Seattle helped change the world.

She needs our help now. She's been diagnosed with a debilitating disease, looking at weeks in the hospital and months of rehabilitation. She has stabilized but the situation has remained dire.

Rebecca Heineman, Jennells wife, has setup a gofundme to help offset expenses. Please donate if you can.

Donate to Jennell Jaquays has a long road back, organized by Rebecca Heineman

I’m fundraising to help offset what is going to be heavy medical costs for Jenne… Rebecca Heineman needs your support for Jennell Jaquays has a long road back

gofund.me

​

 

[doctorbadwolf]

She created many of the ideas and methods of this hobby we take for granted now. Please help if you can.

Donate to Jennell Jaquays has a long road back, organized by Rebecca Heineman

I’m fundraising to help offset what is going to be heavy medical costs for Jenne… Rebecca Heineman needs your support for Jennell Jaquays has a long road back

gofund.me

Is this a new thing or a new thread for the house thing from a while ago? Just curious.

I don’t actually know much about her, but certainly this hobby seems to owe her some help.

 

[darjr]

Is this a new thing or a new thread for the house thing from a while ago? Just curious.

I don’t actually know much about her, but certainly this hobby seems to owe her some help.

The house thing? Are talking about Darelene?

Or did I misremember that?

Anyway this is new.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Hey all- I came across this news on the Mothership Discord. Jennell Jaquays is very ill, facing a long recovery and significant medical costs. There’s a GoFundMe set up to assist with the medical bills.

Jennell Jaquays GoFundMe

I expect a lot of folks here are fans. She’s had significant impact on the hobby. If you can spare a few dollars, please consider donating.

Hopefully she’ll have a full and speedy recovery.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The house thing? Are talking about Darelene?

Or did I misremember that?

Anyway this is new.

Oh maybe idk.

 

[Marc Radle]

The house issue was for Darlene

 

[Alzrius]

Donation made. Jennell has made numerous incredible contributions to our hobby; here's hoping she recovers quickly and completely!

 

[Blue Orange]

A lot of your old-school memories, particularly non-TSR ones, probably have her fingerprints on them somewhere. She did a large number of very early D&D modules, most famously Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia, for Judges' Guild, one of the first big third-party publishers of D&D material back in the 1e era, as well as a bunch of other non-TSR publishers like Chaosium, West End, and Iron Crown. She then moved into video games, and was a level designer for iD, though she went back to illustrate for TSR shortly before they got bought out.

Jennell Jaquays - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Clint_L]

As a Canadian, these threads that keep popping up are horrifying to me - I have trouble wrapping my head around how this can happen in a country as rich as the US. I’m contributing and wish her well; she’s given a lot of joy to our hobby and now needs our support. I know that artists and other independent creatives are particularly vulnerable to lacking health care in the US so I hope that if one other good thing can come of these gofundmes it’s that folks consider expanding healthcare coverage.

 

[Charlaquin]

As a Canadian, these threads that keep popping up are horrifying to me - I have trouble wrapping my head around how this can happen in a country as rich as the US. I’m contributing and wish her well; she’s given a lot of joy to our hobby and now needs our support. I know that artists and other independent creatives are particularly vulnerable to lacking health care in the US so I hope that if one other good thing can come of these gofundmes it’s that folks consider expanding healthcare coverage.

At the risk of running into politics territory, there is plenty of demand for a better healthcare system coming from citizens. The problem is that politicians get too much funding from the pharmaceutical industry, which incentivizes them to keep healthcare expensive.