Vincent Baker

David Vincent Baker is a designer and theorist of tabletop role-playing games and the owner of indie role-playing games publisher Lumpley Games, which also hosts the archives of The Forge. He and his wife Meguey Baker designed Apocalypse World, the first game in the Powered by the Apocalypse system. Apocalypse World won Game of the Year, Best Support, and Most Innovative game at the 2010 Indie RPG Awards,[1][2][3] and was 2011 RPG of the Year at both the Golden Geek Awards and Lucca Comics & Games.[4][5] Baker also designed Dogs in the Vineyard, which won the 2004 Indie RPG Game of the Year and Innovation Award and was one of three games shortlisted for the 2004 Diana Jones Award.[6][7][8]

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

Games

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.[9] 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".[9]

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"[1] and the 2011 Lucca Comics & Games "Best Role-Playing Game" award.[10] 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.[11][12]

He also co-designed with his wife both Firebrands (2017), a romance TTRPG in a sci-fi setting focused on mobile frame pilots,[13][14] and Under Hollow Hills (2021), an RPG about fairytales and a traveling circus.[15]

Theory of Games

Baker and Emily Care Boss formulated the Lumpley Principle (a.k.a. Baker-Care Principle)[16] 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. Emily Care Boss discussed Baker's mechanical contributions to role-playing games in her chapter "Key Concepts in Forge Theory" in Playground Worlds: Creating and Evaluating Experiences of Role-Playing Games.[17] C. Thi Nguyen further discussed Baker's contributions to improvisational systems in the chapter "Creativity and Improvisation in Games" in The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Improvisation in the Arts.[18]

Bibliography

Role-playing games
  • kill puppies for satan (2001)
    • cockroach souffle (2002)
  • The Cheap and Cheesy Fantasy Game (2001)
  • Matchmaker (2001)[19]
  • Dogs in the Vineyard (2004)[9]
  • The Abductinators (2003)
  • Mechaton (2006)[20]
    • Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack (2012)[20][21]
  • Poison'd (2007)[22]
  • In a Wicked Age (2007)[23]
  • Apocalypse World (2010)[12]
    • Apocalypse World 2nd Edition (2016)[24]
    • Apocalypse World: the Extended Refbook (2019)[25]
    • Apocalypse World: Burned Over Hackbook (2019)[26]
  • The Sundered Land (2013)[27]
  • The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions (2013), a supplement for Lamentations of the Flame Princess[28]
  • Firebrands (2017)[14]
  • Murderous Ghosts (2017)[29]
  • Under Hollow Hills (2021)[30]

References
  1. "Indie Game of The Year, 2010". Indie RPG Awards. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  2. "Best Support, 2010". Indie RPG Awards. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  3. "Most Innovative Game, 2010". Indie RPG Awards. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  4. "2011 Golden Geek Award Winners! | Geekdo". BoardGameGeek. November 21, 2011. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  5. "Best of Show: i vincitori". Lucca Comics & Games 2011. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  6. "INDEPENDENT GAME OF THE YEAR, 2004". The RPG-Awards Site. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
  7. "INNOVATION IN A ROLEPLAYING GAME, 2004". The RPG-Awards Site. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
  8. "The Diana Jones Award 2005". The Diana Jones Award committee. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  9. Appelcline, Shannon (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 411. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  10. "Best of Show: i vincitori". Lucca Comics & Games 2011. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  11. Berge, PS (2021). Mitchell, Alex; Vosmeer, Mirjam (eds.). Monster Power. Rebel Heart. Gay Sword: Queer Structures and Narrative Possibility in PbtA Tabletop Roleplaying Games. pp. 179–192. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-92300-6_16. ISBN 978-3-030-92299-3. S2CID 244882412. Retrieved 2021-12-31. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  12. "Powered by the Apocalypse: How an Indie RPG Is Still Changing the Industry". CBR. 2020-10-04. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  13. "4 Powered By Apocalypse TTRPGs for Romance Fans". CBR. 2020-12-06. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  14. "Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands | Lumpley Games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  15. Hall, Charlie (2021-12-13). "The best tabletop games that we played in 2021". Polygon. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  16. White, Bill (2010). "Blurring the Boundaries: Structured Freeform in the Indie RPG Design Community". In Eagar, Amber (ed.). Journeys to Another World: Companion to the 2010 LARP Summit at WyrdCon. Costa Mesa, CA: LARP Alliance. pp. 17–24.
  17. Playground Worlds: Creating and Evaluating Experiences of Role-playing Games. Edited by Montola and Stenros. "Key Concepts in Forge Theory" by Emily Care Boss. Ropecon, 2008. pp. 233-240
  18. C. Thi Nguyen. "Creativity and Improvisation in Games." In The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Improvisation in the Arts. Routledge, 2021.
  19. "anyway: Matchmaker". lumpley.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  20. "Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack Miniature Wargame Uses LEGOs". Technabob. 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  21. "This Game Lets You Battle It Out With Lego Robots". PCWorld. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  22. "Review of Poison'd - RPGnet RPG Game Index". www.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  23. "In a Wicked Age (2007 Lumpley Games edition) - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  24. "Apocalypse World (2nd Ed) | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  25. "Apocalypse World: the Extended Refbook | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  26. "Apocalypse World: Burned Over Hackbook | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  27. "The Sundered Land". RPGGeek. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  28. "The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions - Lamentations of the Flame Princess". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  29. "Murderous Ghosts: a Party Game - lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  30. "Under Hollow Hills | lumpley games". DriveThruRPG. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
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