Meet Dare Hickman | Tabletop Game Designer & Content Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dare Hickman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dare, why did you pursue a creative career?
I know this is probably said all the time, but I always wanted to do something creative, even as a toddler. My first dream job was designing video games, but that required a lot of computer skills and math that I didn’t have the time or concentration to do (Yay ADHD). From then on I always found myself pursuing the arts in some capacity, whether that was writing poetry in my room alone, making music, even when all I had was GarageBand on my phone, or playing D&D with friends to share in the passion of collaborative storytelling. 2020 provided me (and the rest of the world) with a lot more freetime to focus on things I liked, and tabletop games were one of the big things that occupied my time already, I just never thought there would be any sort or money or space for me to pursue it, but I managed to find the niches that I can shine in.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
So creatively a do a lot, but it all revolves around the same space, gaming. I’ve been in love with gaming of all types since I was a literal toddler (my first console was the SNES at three, Aladdin was not easy for me). I spend the majority of my time in the space as a Game Designer, Editor, and Performer, with occassion video game streaming on the side. I love making games because I treat each one as a piece of my soul taken from that moment of creation. A lot of my games are designed in one to two sessions, so I don’t get bogged down by conceptual bloat or perfectionism. Each one of my games takes something very core to me and gives people a way to play in those spaces, and understand what I felt or how I feel in my life, whether it’s a game about how quickly romance can come and go in your life, dealing with that sense of frustration at the end of a year about your own art, or even navigating things like the fear of dying. I’ve continued to write and perform in ways that both reflect my background, both emotionally with my life experiences, and my lived reality as a Black Trans Woman, I’ve never strayed away from the uncomfortability that comes with deeply personal art, and that has helped me build a solid space and community in the greater world of Tabletops.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I think about this a lot, my job has made me a lot of friends around the country and i’m always on the look out for places I could show them when they come to visit, so I have soem fun ideas in mind! A lot of my friends are like magpies, they need small, shiny little baubles and trinkets. It almost feels like a cop-out to say Manitou is one of the first spots to show them on a sunny day, but like, most of my friends would love it. Old Colorado City has this lovely bead shop where we could make little bracelets to have a permanent reminder of the visit, as well as Carnelian Coffee, a cute little shop full of vegan treats. We’re spending an enitre day just driving around, exploring the wide amount of record shops to see what treasures we can find and listen to while we enjoy beautiful weather with the mountains in the distance. I think the final days we’re going out to places like Ivywild for some good food/weird atmosphere and finishing things off with a concert at Vultures and some late night drinks at Burrowing Owl.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I think I would like to thank my lovely Fiancee’s Deimos and Jude for always being my rocks when it comes to supporting me creatively. Being Bipolar and having ADHD means I’m really prone to letting the mania take me, and while that can lead to incredible art, it also has left me burned out and overcommitting more times than not. Those two have always been able to reel me in when I get too close to my own ideas, too polite to say “no” when I try to take a third meeting on in one day, and patient enough for me to use our bedroom as my space to write and perform before we had ample space to have a separate office. I love them dearly, and I couldn’t be half as adjusted without them.

Website: https://linktr.ee/Dare2dreamrpg

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