Emily Care Boss is an indie roleplaying game designer, theorist and publisher. She was a foundational member of The Forge, an early leader in the

indie role-playing game An indie role-playing game is a role-playing game published outside traditional, "mainstream" means. Varying definitions require that commercial, design, or conceptual elements of the game stay under the control of the creator, or that the game ...

movement and is considered the creator of the American Freeform genre of roleplaying games, which combine indie RPG principles and mechanics with Nordic freeform and American chamber

live action role-playing A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of two unique feature ...

techniques. Her game, ''Under My Skin'' was winner of the Audience Choice Award at Fastaval 2009. She has been referred to as the "Dean" of the North American school of structured freeform game design.

Career

Emily Care Boss got involved with role playing games while at college in the 1990s, playing ''

Ars Magica ''Ars Magica'' is a role-playing game set in 'Mythic Europe' – a historically grounded version of Europe and the Levant around AD 1200, with the added conceit that conceptions of the world prevalent in folklore and institutions of the High Mi ...

'' using a shared world setting created by friends. She credits talking with other users at the Forge Forums during the early 2000s with helping her to get involved in design and self-publishing. Her first game '' Breaking the Ice'' was published in 2005.Designers & Dragons: The Planinum Appendix p. 19 In 2009 and 2010 she published two volumes of ''RPG Zine'', which stood for "Role Playing Girl". Boss and fellow Forge theorist

Vincent 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''. ''Dogs in the Vineyard' ...

are co-credited with formulating the Lumpley Principle (a.k.a. Baker-Care or Baker-Boss Principle), 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 describes player contributions as being assigned credibility by the other players in the game. She authored ''Dream Bear'', a game about exploring dreams and symbolism. She also coined the concept of " bleed" at Ropecon 2007 and defined it as the emotional transfer between player and character, in either direction, during a role-playing game. In addition to her design work, Boss is the founding owner of Black & Green Games, which is best known its romance-themed indie games, ''Breaking the Ice'', ''Shooting the Moon'', and ''Under My Skin''. The three have been collected into one volume as the ''Romance Trilogy'' in 2016, which was nominated for the

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 in 2017. Many of her games have been noted as being adept at handling narratives of romance and sex, and Boss has been outspoken about the handling of love and sex in the design of RPGs and LARPs. Boss was a contributor to the role playing journals ''Push'', ''Playground Worlds'', the Knutepunkt publication ''States of Play'', and the companion publications for WyrdCon in 2012 and 2013. She organized the JiffyCon series of indie roleplaying game (RPG) mini-conventions in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Her game ''Last Chance Noir'' is a LARP game inspired by the Intercon LARP convention she attends every year. From 2005-2009 she co-wrote an RPG theory and design blog ''Fair Game'', with fellow designer

Meguey Baker Meguey Baker () is a roleplaying game designer, independent publisher and quilt historian. She has been a guest of honor at Lucca Comics & Games, I-CON, and was scheduled to be one at Arisia in 2014. Career Game designer Baker is the found ...

. She was a contributor on a panel that wrote ''The Wyrd Con Companion Book 2012''. She was on the programming team for the Living Games Conference in 2014, helped in 2016, and chaired the conference in 2018. She assisted with judging in the second "Golden Cobra Challenge" for LARPing in 2015. Her game ''Bubblegumshoe'', a

Gumshoe System The Gumshoe System (stylised as ''The GUMSHOE System'') is a role-playing game system created in 2007 by Robin Laws, designed for running investigative scenarios. The premise is that investigative games are not about finding clues, they are abou ...

Teen Noir setting, written with

Ken Hite Kenneth Hite (born September 15, 1965) is a writer and role-playing game designer. Hite is the author of Trail of Cthulhu and Night's Black Agents role-playing games, and lead designer of the 5th edition of ''Vampire: the Masquerade''. Education ...

and Lisa J. Steele, won the 2017 Gold

ENnie Award 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 ...

for Best Family Game.

Personal life

Boss graduated from

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

with a bachelor's degree in Social Thought and

Political Economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...

and a master's degree in

Forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

. Boss resides in

Greenfield, Massachusetts Greenfield is a city in and the county seat of Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Greenfield was first settled in 1686. The population was 17,768 at the 2020 census. Greenfield is home to Greenfield Community College, the Pioneer Val ...

and is married to fellow game designer, Epidiah Ravachol. She is a forestry consultant in the woodlands of western Massachusetts.

Roleplaying bibliography

*'' Breaking the Ice'', nominated for three Indie Game Awards in 2005, including Game of the year. *''Fluffy Bunny'', 2005 *''Heart of the Rose'', 2007 *''Shooting the Moon: All is Fair in Love and War'', 2008 *''The Colour Game'', Tiny Tales of Romance, 2008 *''Sign in Stranger'', 2009 *''Under My Skin'', Winner of the Fastaval 2009 Player's Choice award. *''Dread House'', a boardgame for children and adults, 2010. *''MonkeyDome'', 2010 *''Playing With Intent'', a system to structure freeform games, 2012 *''Misericord(e)'', 2013 *''Remodel'', an American Freeform game about women's experience in mid-life, 2013 *''Blood on the Snow'' collaborator including a live action system for

Robin Laws Robin D. Laws (born October 14, 1964 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing games as well as an anthologist. Career Robin D. Laws ...

's DramaSystem

Hillfolk ''Hillfolk'' is a tabletop role-playing game designed by Robin Laws and published by Pelgrane Press. It was initially launched via Kickstarter in 2012, with the funding being sufficiently successful that a second book called "Blood on the Snow" ...

, 2013 *''Girls Elswehere'' collaborator, a supplement for Josh Jordan's game ''Heroine'', 2013 *''King Wen's Tower'', premièred at Fastaval, 2014 *"Ma, Can I Help You with That?" nano game in ''#Feminism: A Nano-Game Anthology'', published by Fëa Livia, 2016, and

Pelgrane Press Pelgrane Press Ltd is a British role-playing game publishing company based in London and founded in 1999. It is co-owned by Simon J Rogers and Cat Tobin. It currently produces GUMSHOE System RPGs, '' 13th Age'', the Diana Jones award-winning '' ...

, 2017. *''Bubblegumshoe'', designed with

Kenneth Hite Kenneth Hite (born September 15, 1965) is a writer and role-playing game designer. Hite is the author of Trail of Cthulhu and Night's Black Agents role-playing games, and lead designer of the 5th edition of '' Vampire: the Masquerade''. Educati ...

and

Lisa Steele Lisa Steele D.Litt. (born 1947) is a Canadian artist, a pioneer in video art, educator, curator and co-founder of Vtape in Toronto. Born in the United States, Steele moved to Canada in 1968 and is now a Canadian citizen. She has collaborated ex ...

, published by

Evil Hat Productions Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. Chief among them is the free indie RPG, ''Fate'', which has won numerous awards. History Fred Hicks had been working with Lydia Leong, Rob Donoghu ...

in June 2016.

Publications

* * *

Honours and awards

*Guest of Honour at Ropecon 2007 *Guest of Honour at Fastaval 2009 *Winner of Fastaval 2009 Audience Choice (Under My Skin)

References

External links

Emily Care Boss's page on RPG GeekBlack & Green Games
Boss's independent publishing company. *
Fair Game
Boss's design and theory journal co-authored by Meguey Baker.
Push
a roleplaying periodical containing Boss's article, ''Collaborative Roleplaying: Reframing the Game''
Voice of the Revolution Podcast
Interview with Emily Care Boss about Breaking the Ice, Shooting the Moon and Sign In Stranger
Knutepunkt 2012 book, States of Play including Boss's article ''Beyond the Game Master''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boss, Emily Care 21st-century American women American game designers American women game designers Indie role-playing game designers Live-action role-playing game designers Living people Role-playing game designers University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences alumni Year of birth missing (living people)