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 by individuals or small press publishers, in contrast to games published by large corporations. Indie tabletop role-playing game designers participate in various game distribution netwo ...

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 character (arts), characters.(Tychsen et al. 2006:255) "LARPs can be viewed as forming a distinct category of RPG because of ...

techniques. 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 Mid ...

'' 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 Boss and fellow Forge theorist

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 ...

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 were collected into one volume as the ''Romance Trilogy'' in 2016. In 2009 and 2010 she published two volumes of ''RPG Zine'', which stood for "Role Playing Girl". 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. From 2005-2009 Boss co-wrote an RPG theory and design blog ''Fair Game'', with fellow designer

Meguey Baker Meguey Baker () 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. Career Game design Bake ...

. She was a contributor on a panel that wrote ''The Wyrd Con Companion Book 2012''. She was a contributor to the role playing journals ''Push'', ''Playground Worlds'', the

Knutepunkt The Knutepunkt is an annual role-playing game conference held annually in the Nordic countries since 1997. It has been a vital institution in establishing a Nordic role-playing identity, and in establishing the concept of "Nordic larp" as a uniqu ...

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 ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Her game ''Last Chance Noir'' is a LARP game inspired by the Intercon LARP convention she attends every year. She assisted with judging in the second "Golden Cobra Challenge" for LARPing in 2015. She was on the programming team for the Living Games Conference in 2014, helped in 2016, and chaired the conference in 2018. Awards, Nominations, and Honors ''Under My Skin'' won the

Fastaval Fastaval is an annual gaming convention in Hobro, Denmark, with focus on role-playing games, live action role-playing games, board games, miniature wargaming and collectible card games. The first many years was held in or around Aarhus but the 2011 ...

2009 Player's Choice award. ''Bubblegumshoe'', a Gumshoe System 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''. ...

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. '' Breaking the Ice'' was nominated for three Indie Game Awards in 2005, including Game of the year. ''Romance Trilogy'' was nominated for the

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 ...

for Excellence in Gaming in 2017. Boss was the Guest of Honour at Ropecon 2007 and Fastaval 2009.

Personal life

Boss graduated from

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

with a bachelor's degree in Social Thought and

Political Economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

and a master's degree in

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

. Boss resides in

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

and is married to fellow game designer Epidiah Ravachol, creator of '' Dread''.

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

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'', 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 (pen and paper), 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'', ...

, 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''. ...

and

Lisa Steele Lisa Steele (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 exclusivel ...

, published by

Evil Hat Productions Evil Hat Productions is a company that produces role-playing games and other tabletop games. They are best known for the free indie RPG system ''Fate'', '' Blades in the Dark'', and '' Thirsty Sword Lesbians'', all of which have won multiple awa ...

in June 2016.

Publications

* * *

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.
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)