Ajit George is an Indian-American activist and game designer. He is the director of operations of Shanti Bhavan Children's Project, an international nonprofit organization based in

Bangalore, India Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, that provides free education to socially disadvantaged children from the age of four until they graduate from college. George is known in the gaming industry for his role as co-lead designer and author of the Dungeons & Dragons adventure anthology ''

Journeys through the Radiant Citadel ''Journeys through the Radiant Citadel'' is an adventure anthology for the 5th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Each adventure was created by an author of color. Additionally, this book introduces a new locatio ...

'' (2022) which was nominated for the 2023

Nebula Award for Best Game Writing The Nebula Award for Best Game Writing is one of the various Nebula Awards presented each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy game writing, defined as "an interactive or playable story-d ...

, the 2023

Diana Jones Award The Diana Jones Award is an annual award for "excellence in Role-playing game, gaming". The original award was made from a burned book encased in lucite. The award is unusual in two ways: first, it is not an award for a specific class of thing, b ...

for Excellence in Gaming, and 2023

ENNIE Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...

for Best Adventure and Best Product. In 2022, George was awarded the

, an annual award for "Excellence in Gaming".

Early years

George, the oldest son of Mariam and Abraham M. George, grew up in New Jersey, United States.

Career

Education and Professional Life

George is a board member of the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media, a postgraduate school of journalism and media, founded in 2001 and based in Bangalore, India.

Shanti Bhavan Children's Project

In 2008, George became the Director of Operations for Shanti Bhavan Children's Project. He was brought onto the team in response to the 2008 financial crisis to help Shanti Bhavan deal with its own financial crisis. George changed the financial structure of the organization, taking it from being funded privately to a

501(c)(3) nonprofit A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 501 ...

. It is now supported by individual donations, corporate and

nongovernmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

(NGO) partnerships, and grants. As of 2022, George oversees all domestic and international fundraising, volunteer and teacher recruitment, media relations, strategic partnerships, and the mentorship program at Shanti Bhavan Children's Project. He commutes between the United States and India multiple times per year, spending three to four months at the school working with Shanti Bhavan students and the surrounding impoverished communities.

Writing and game design

George is the creator, project co-lead, and writer for ''

'' (2022), the “first anthology of D&D adventures to be written entirely by Black and brown authors". He was previously a contributing writer on another ''Dungeons & Dragons'' sourcebook, ''

Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft ''Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft'' is a sourcebook that details the Domains of Dread from the ''Ravenloft'' campaign setting for the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons#Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, 5th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy ...

'' (2021). The committee of the

in 2022 highlighted that George "has been the first writer of Indian origin to write Indian-inspired material for a number of games, including Dungeons & Dragon's ''Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft''". ''Journeys through the Radiant Citadel'' was nominated for the 2023

, the

for Excellence in Gaming, and

for Best Adventure and Best Product. George has also written for a variety of

indie game An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

companies including

Bully Pulpit A bully pulpit is a conspicuous position that provides an opportunity to speak out and be listened to. This term was neologism, coined by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, who referred to his office as a "bully pulpit", by which he mea ...

, Thorny Games, and Monte Cook Games. Along with being a writer, George is a diversity consultant, speaker, and activist in the gaming community. In 2016, George helped Gen Con expand its Industry Insider Speakers program. And in 2019, he created a POC training and mentorship program that connects game industry experts with POC professionals new to the industry. George also organized and led the first POC networking event at Big Bad Con in 2019.

Awards and nominations

Media

* George and Shanti Bhavan Children's Project were featured in the 2017 original

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

documentary series '' Daughters of Destiny: The Journey of Shanti Bhavan'', written, directed, and co-produced by

Vanessa Roth Vanessa Roth is an American filmmaker who writes, produces and directs non-fiction films. She has won a number of awards for her films, including a 2008 Academy Award for Best Short Documentary for ''Freeheld''; an Emmy Honors Award for Social I ...

. * George presented at TEDxUNC in 2014, and at TEDxCollegeofWilliam&Mary in 2016. * George presented

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

s' first-ever award for "Outstanding Game Writing" in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Ajit Living people American people of Indian descent American video game designers Diana Jones Award winners People from Morristown, New Jersey Role-playing game designers Year of birth missing (living people)