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Meguey Baker (/mɛˈɡeɪ/) is a tabletop role-playing game designer, independent publisher and quilt historian. She and her husband Vincent Baker designed Apocalypse World, the first game in the Powered by the Apocalypse system.
Meguey Baker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1971 Upstate New York, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Hampshire College (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Game designer, curator, and historian |
| Notable work | Apocalypse World, Powered by the Apocalypse |
| Spouse | Vincent Baker |
| Awards |
|
Game design
Baker's most prominent work is Apocalypse World (2010). Apocalypse World is a post-apocalyptic game co-designed with her husband, Vincent 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.[4] 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.[6][7]
Baker is the founding owner of Night Sky Games.[8]: 185 A Thousand and One Nights (2006), published through Night Sky Games, is a role-playing game based on the collection of Arabic stories The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.[8]: 185 [9][10] According to games scholar Evan Torner, A Thousand and One Nights includes systems for telling stories within stories, establishing and developing jealousies between characters, and reflecting upon metatextuality.[11]
Baker has also designed other indie role-playing games such as Miss Schiffer's School for Young Ladies of Quality (2006),[12] Psi*Run (2012) and Valiant Girls (2013); the latter were Night Sky Games' third and sixth publications respectively.[8]: 185–186 She co-designed with her husband 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][16] Chase Carter for Polygon compared Firebrands to adventure romance television shows Bridgerton and Our Flag Means Death.[17]
Baker and Emily Care Boss wrote Fair Game, a blog-style design and roleplaying theory journal, from 2005 to 2011.[18]
Textiles and quilting
Baker is a quilter and quilt historian, particularly interested in how the history of non-dominant voices gets transmitted in objects and oral tradition rather than the official written history.[19] Baker collects and restores antique and vintage textiles, as well as creates new works.[19][20]
Baker is a Collections Assistant for the Hatfield Historical Museum and is part of the curatorial team for the Historical Society of Greenfield.[21][22][23]
Baker studied American History at Hampshire College with a focus on early American textile history and material culture.[24][19] Baker highlighted that her first quilt block was hand sewn at four years old; she wrote, "I checked with my mom. She says I was 4 because my sister was a newborn and sewing helped me keep quiet while she was napping. I'm guessing I did about one seam per nap".[25] Baker and her husband Vincent Baker have three children.[26]
In July 2023, Baker was diagnosed with breast cancer.[27][28] CBR reported that a crowdfunding campaign on Meal Train to support Baker "was set with an initial goal of $2,500 and has since shattered that sum with a current total of over $22,800 [on August 26, 2023]. [...] In addition to financial contributions, many TTRPG Game Masters, players, and fans have taken the opportunity to voice their admiration for Baker and all that she has inspired".[29]
Role-playing games
- A Thousand and One Nights (2006)[9]
- Miss Schiffer's School for Young Ladies of Quality (2006)[12]
- The Girl Effect
- Apocalypse World (2010)[7]
- Psi-Run Revised (2012)[33][8]: 185
- Valiant Girls (2013)[8]: 185
- Firebrands (2017)[14]
- The King Is Dead (2018)[34]
- Run For Your Life (2019)[35]
- At the Stroke of Midnight (2019)[35]
- Haunted (2019)[35]
- Does It Fit the Mission (2019)[35]
- The Ghost of Eunice Williams (2019)[35]
- A Branch of May (2019)[35]
- Bless the Seeds (2019)[35]
- In the Company of Birds (2019)[35]
- Nine Pins (2019)[35]
- The Sundered Land (2019)[35]
- The Journey of Half-a-Fool (2019)[35]
- In Dreaming Avalon (2019)[35]
- Murderous Ghosts (2019)[35]
- Space Station Home (2020)[35]
- Unknown Country and Undiscovered Home (2020)[35]
- The Lost Spells of Venus (2021)[35]
- How the Story Ends (2021)[35]
- Towns Like Ours (2021)[36]
- Under Hollow Hills (2021)[16]
- The Wizard's Grimoire (serialized: 2021-present)[37]
Other
- Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters (2014)[38]
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