David Vincent Baker is a designer of tabletop
role playing games
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
and the owner of
Lumpley Games
Lumpley Games is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements.
History
Vincent Baker began using "lumpley" email addresses and URLs in '' kill puppies for satan'' (2002); he had used the name on various online sys ...
which also hosts the archives of
The Forge. His most notable games are ''
Dogs in the Vineyard
''Dogs in the Vineyard'' is an independently published role-playing game loosely based on the history of the Mormons. It was written by D. Vincent Baker and published by Lumpley Games.
In the 2004 Indie RPG Awards, ''Dogs in the Vineyard'' w ...
'' and ''
Apocalypse World''.
''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
The Diana Jones Award is an annual award for "excellence in 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, but can be awarded t ...
and Most Innovative Game. ''Apocalypse World'' won Game of the Year, Best Support, and Most Innovative game at the 2010 Indie RPG Awards,
2011
Lucca Comics & Games
Lucca Comics & Games is an annual Comic book convention, comic book and gaming convention in Lucca, Italy, traditionally held at the end of October, in conjunction with All Saints' Day. It is the largest comics festival in Europe, and the second ...
(''Apocalypse World'' for Best Role-Playing Game)
and was 2011 RPG of the Year at both the
Golden Geek Awards
Game of the Year (abbreviated GotY) is a title awarded by various magazines, websites, and shows to a deserving game. Many publications award a single "Game of the Year" to a single title that they feel represents the pinnacle of gaming achievemen ...
and
Lucca Comics & Games
Lucca Comics & Games is an annual Comic book convention, comic book and gaming convention in Lucca, Italy, traditionally held at the end of October, in conjunction with All Saints' Day. It is the largest comics festival in Europe, and the second ...
.
[RPG Geek page](_blank)
/ref>
Career
Vincent Baker is the designer of 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 gam ...
''Dogs in the Vineyard
''Dogs in the Vineyard'' is an independently published role-playing game loosely based on the history of the Mormons. It was written by D. Vincent Baker and published by Lumpley Games.
In the 2004 Indie RPG Awards, ''Dogs in the Vineyard'' w ...
'' (2004), one of the first indies to be notably successful, both financially and sociologically. 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". 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
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 ...
, published through Lumpley Games
Lumpley Games is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements.
History
Vincent Baker began using "lumpley" email addresses and URLs in '' kill puppies for satan'' (2002); he had used the name on various online sys ...
. ''Apocalypse World'' won multiple awards such as the 2010 Indie RPG Award for "Game of the Year" and the 2011 Lucca Comics & Games
Lucca Comics & Games is an annual Comic book convention, comic book and gaming convention in Lucca, Italy, traditionally held at the end of October, in conjunction with All Saints' Day. It is the largest comics festival in Europe, and the second ...
"Best Role-Playing Game" award. Powered by the Apocalypse
Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game ''Apocalypse World'' and later used for '' Dungeon World'', ''Monsterhearts'' and numerous other RPGs. ...
, the game design framework created by the Bakers for ''Apocalypse World'', has made a lasting impact on role-playing game design.
He also co-designed with his wife both ''Firebrands'' (2017), a romance TTRPG in a sci-fi setting focused on mobile frame pilots, and ''Under Hollow Hills'' (2021), an RPG about fairytales and a traveling circus. Jay Dragon, for ''Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
'', 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".
Baker and Emily Care Boss
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 movement and is considered the creator of the American Freeform genre of r ...
are attributed as formulating the Lumpley Principle (a.k.a. Baker-Care 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 described player contributions as being assigned credibility by the other players in the game.
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. 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. ''The Cheap and Cheesy Fantasy Game'' (2001) was the first game by Baker that called itself "a lumpley game." Lumpley Games published Baker's ''Dogs in the Vineyard'' (2004).
Personal life
Baker lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. He is the father of three children and is the husband of fellow roleplaying
Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing as ...
game 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 ...
.
Bibliography
Role-playing games
* '' kill puppies for satan'' (2001)
**''cockroach souffle'' (2002)
*''The Cheap and Cheesy Fantasy Game'' (2001)
*''Matchmaker'' (2001)
* ''Dogs in the Vineyard
''Dogs in the Vineyard'' is an independently published role-playing game loosely based on the history of the Mormons. It was written by D. Vincent Baker and published by Lumpley Games.
In the 2004 Indie RPG Awards, ''Dogs in the Vineyard'' w ...
'' (2004)
*''The Abductinators'' (2003)
*''Mechaton'' (2006)
**''Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack'' (2012)
* ''Poison'd'' (2007)
* ''In a Wicked Age'' (2007)
* '' Apocalypse World'' (2010)
**''Apocalypse World'' 2nd Edition (2016)
**''Apocalypse World: the Extended Refbook'' (2019)
**''Apocalypse World: Burned Over Hackbook'' (2019)
* ''The Sundered Land'' (2013)
*''The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions'' (2013), a supplement for ''Lamentations of the Flame Princess''
*''Firebrands'' (2017)
*''Murderous Ghosts'' (2017)
*''Under Hollow Hills'' (2021)
References
External links
*
Lumpley Games Forum
on The Forge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Vincent
American game designers
Indie role-playing game designers
Living people
Role-playing game designers
Year of birth missing (living people)