Vincent Baker

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Vincent Baker
BornUnited States
OccupationWriter, game designer
NationalityAmerican
GenreRole-playing games
SpouseMeguey Baker

David Vincent Baker is a designer of tabletop role playing games and the owner of Lumpley Games which also hosts the archives of The Forge. His most notable games are Dogs in the Vineyard and Apocalypse World.[1][2]

Dogs in the Vineyard was the 2004 Indie RPG Game of the Year and won the Innovation Award and was one of three games shortlisted for the 2004 Diana Jones Award[3] and Most Innovative Game.[4][5] Apocalypse World won Game of the Year, Best Support, and Most Innovative game at the 2010 Indie RPG Awards,[6][7][8] 2011 Lucca Comics & Games (Apocalypse World for Best Role-Playing Game)[9] and was 2011 RPG of the Year at both the Golden Geek Awards and Lucca Comics & Games.[10][11]

Career

Vincent Baker is the designer of the Indie role-playing game Dogs in the Vineyard (2004), one of the first indies to be notably successful, both financially and sociologically.[12] This game was the story of God's Watchdogs, trying to preserve the faithful on the hostile American frontier of the 19th century, and introduced the idea of "say yes or roll".[12] Baker also designed kill puppies for satan (2001), Mechaton (2006), Apocalypse World (2010), and other indie role-playing games. Apocalypse World is a post-apocalyptic game co-designed with his wife, Meguey Baker, published through Lumpley Games. Apocalypse World won multiple awards such as the 2010 Indie RPG Award for "Game of the Year"[6] and the 2011 Lucca Comics & Games "Best Role-Playing Game" award.[9] Powered by the Apocalypse, the game design framework created by the Bakers for Apocalypse World, has made a lasting impact on role-playing game design.[13][14]

He also co-designed with his wife both Firebrands (2017), a romance TTRPG in a sci-fi setting focused on mobile frame pilots,[15][16] and Under Hollow Hills (2021), an RPG about fairytales and a traveling circus.[17] Jay Dragon, for Polygon, wrote that "Under Hollow Hills is a game about how we treat each other when times are good and how we treat each other when times are bad — between its gorgeous prose, fascinating imaginative characters, countless treasures, and natural flowing play style, Under Hollow Hills is the future of tabletop role-playing games, a unique and impossible treasure".[18]

Baker and Emily Care Boss are attributed as formulating the Lumpley Principle (a.k.a. Baker-Care Principle)[19] which states "System (including but not limited to 'the rules') is defined as the means by which the group agrees to imagined events during play." Further development of the Lumpley Principle described player contributions as being assigned credibility by the other players in the game.

Lumpley Games

Main article: Lumpley Games

Baker's publishing imprint is called Lumpley Games. He began using "lumpley" email addresses and URLs in kill puppies for satan (2001); he had used the name on various online systems, and it would quickly become the name of Baker's indie publishing company too.[20]: 176  Baker produced 40 or 50 copies of the game and sold them all, which would give them the money for his next project; Baker says that he hasn't put a dime into Lumpley since that initial investment.[20]: 176  The Cheap and Cheesy Fantasy Game (2001) was the first game by Baker that called itself "a lumpley game."[20]: 177  Lumpley Games published Baker's Dogs in the Vineyard (2004).[12]: 411 

Personal life

Baker lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He is the father of three children and is the husband of fellow roleplaying game designer Meguey Baker.[21]

Bibliography

Role-playing games

  • kill puppies for satan (2001)[20]: 175–176 
    • cockroach souffle (2002)[20]: 176 
  • The Cheap and Cheesy Fantasy Game (2001)[20]: 177 
  • Matchmaker (2001)[22]
  • Dogs in the Vineyard (2004)[12]
  • The Abductinators (2003)
  • Mechaton (2006)[23]
    • Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack (2012)[23][24]
  • Poison'd (2007)[25]
  • In a Wicked Age (2007)[26]
  • Apocalypse World (2010)[14]
    • Apocalypse World 2nd Edition (2016)[27]
    • Apocalypse World: the Extended Refbook (2019)[28]
    • Apocalypse World: Burned Over Hackbook (2019)[29]
  • The Sundered Land (2013)[30]
  • The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions (2013), a supplement for Lamentations of the Flame Princess[31]
  • Firebrands (2017)[16]
  • Murderous Ghosts (2017)[32]
  • Under Hollow Hills (2021)[33]

References

  1. ^ Guest of Honour profile at Fastaval 2013
  2. ^ Guest of Honour profile at Ropecon 2013
  3. ^ "INDEPENDENT GAME OF THE YEAR, 2004". The RPG-Awards Site. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
  4. ^ "INNOVATION IN A ROLEPLAYING GAME, 2004". The RPG-Awards Site. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
  5. ^ "The Diana Jones Award 2005". The Diana Jones Award committee. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  6. ^ a b "Indie Game of The Year, 2010". Indie RPG Awards. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  7. ^ "Best Support, 2010". Indie RPG Awards. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  8. ^ "Most Innovative Game, 2010". Indie RPG Awards. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Best of Show: i vincitori". Lucca Comics & Games 2011. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  10. ^ "2011 Golden Geek Award Winners! | Geekdo". BoardGameGeek. November 21, 2011. Retrieved 2021-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ RPG Geek page
  12. ^ a b c d Appelcline, Shannon (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 411. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  13. ^ Berge, PS (2021). Mitchell, Alex; Vosmeer, Mirjam (eds.). "Monster Power. Rebel Heart. Gay Sword: Queer Structures and Narrative Possibility in PbtA Tabletop Roleplaying Games". Interactive Storytelling. Cham: Springer International Publishing. 13138: 179–192. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-92300-6_16. ISBN 978-3-030-92299-3. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  14. ^ a b "Powered by the Apocalypse: How an Indie RPG Is Still Changing the Industry". CBR. 2020-10-04. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  15. ^ "4 Powered By Apocalypse TTRPGs for Romance Fans". CBR. 2020-12-06. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  16. ^ a b "Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands | Lumpley Games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ "Under Hollow Hills | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ Hall, Charlie (2021-12-13). "The best tabletop games that we played in 2021". Polygon. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  19. ^ "Emily Care Boss | Board Game Designer | BoardGameGeek". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  20. ^ a b c d e f Shannon Appelcline (2014). Designers & Dragons: The '00s. Evil Hat Productions. ISBN 978-1-61317-087-8.
  21. ^ "D. Vincent Baker | Board Game Designer | BoardGameGeek". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  22. ^ "anyway: Matchmaker". lumpley.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  23. ^ a b "Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack Miniature Wargame Uses LEGOs". Technabob. 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  24. ^ "This Game Lets You Battle It Out With Lego Robots". PCWorld. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  25. ^ "Review of Poison'd - RPGnet RPG Game Index". www.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  26. ^ "In a Wicked Age (2007 Lumpley Games edition) - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  27. ^ "Apocalypse World (2nd Ed) | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  28. ^ "Apocalypse World: the Extended Refbook | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ^ "Apocalypse World: Burned Over Hackbook | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  30. ^ "The Sundered Land". RPGGeek. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  31. ^ "The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions - Lamentations of the Flame Princess". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2022-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  32. ^ "Murderous Ghosts: a Party Game - lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2022-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  33. ^ "Under Hollow Hills | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

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