Keith Baker (game designer)

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Infobox writer

Keith Baker is an American game designer and fantasy novel author. In addition to working with Wizards of the Coast on the creation of Eberron, he has also contributed material for Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Green Ronin Publishing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, Baker and Jennifer Ellis co-founded the indie tabletop game company Twogether Studios.<ref name=":9" />

Personal life

Baker lives in Portland, Oregon. He has a tattoo of the Greater Mark of Making on his right arm.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is married to product designer Jenn Ellis.<ref name=":9" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Prior to working in the role-playing game industry, he worked in the video game industry with Magnet Interactive Studios and a Colorado company, VR1.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Keith Baker started as a freelancer known for his work at Atlas Games.<ref name="designers">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp His Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting of Eberron was chosen as the winner among the 11,000 submissions to the Wizards of the Coast Fantasy Setting Search in 2002.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Baker designed the Eberron Campaign Setting (2004) book with James Wyatt and Bill Slavicsek, the first book to focus on the background of the setting.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp

Baker has been a role-playing game designer across multiple systems besides Dungeons & Dragons, including systems such as Pathfinder,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 13th Age (2012)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana (2015).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Essays by Baker on role-playing design and other game features have been published in the Kobold Guides series - including Adventures (2008), Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design (2012), The Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding (2012), and Kobold Guide to Gamemastering (2017).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Eberron

Baker continued to be a game designer on several 3.5 edition supplements for the Eberron setting such as Sharn: City of Towers (2004),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Secrets of Xen'drik (2006),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Secrets of Sarlona (2007).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Baker also wrote The Dreaming Dark trilogy of novels set in the Eberron setting, which was published by Wizards of the Coast from 2005 to 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Baker wrote a second trilogy, the Thorn of Breland series, of Eberron novels for Wizards of the Coast from 2008 to 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Baker was a designer on the Eberron Campaign Guide (July 2009)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and a consultant on the Eberron Player's Guide (June 2009).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 2017, Baker joined the podcast Manifest Zone which explores the world of Eberron including lore and official products. His co-hosts were Wayne Chang and Kristian Serrano.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

For the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Baker was the lead designer of Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron (July 2018) which was an official Wizards of the Coast supplement published as a PDF on the Dungeon Masters Guild.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1" /> The Dungeon Masters Guild, owned by OneBookShelf, is an online store that hosts official Wizards of the Coast products and acts as "a platform for players to publish lore, maps, character designs and adventures based on Dungeons & Dragons intellectual property".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Utilizing the Dungeon Masters Guild, Baker then published two non-official Eberron themed adventures in 2018 and a non-official 5th edition Eberron supplement in 2019.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

Baker was also one of the lead designers of the first hardcover 5th edition Eberron sourcebook, Eberron: Rising from the Last War (November 2019).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the following year, Baker released two new non-official 5th edition Eberron products on the Dungeon Masters Guild: a campaign guide, Exploring Eberron (July 2020),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a supplement, Eberron Confidential (November 2020).<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2020, Baker announced two upcoming Eberron projects which would also be released on the Dungeon Masters Guild in 2022: Frontiers of Eberron: Threshold and codenamed Project: Fool's Platinum.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":8">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":11">Template:Cite web</ref> In November 2022, Baker announced that Frontiers of Eberron: Threshold had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was now scheduled for release in 2023. However, the release of Chronicles of Eberron (2022) was not delayed and was published in December 2022.<ref name=":12" /><ref name="Chronicles of Eberron release tweet">Template:Cite tweet</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In January 2023, Baker wrote that he was considering a shift away from creating third-party Eberron products and instead concentrating on expanding aspects of Threshold that are unconnected to Eberron's fictional canon, allowing him to release it as his own intellectual property.<ref name=":13">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsletter</ref> In June 2023, Baker announced that his third-party Eberron publishing imprint KB Presents would be shutting down and Visionary Production and Design would take over the stewardship of the Eberron products published on the Dungeon Masters Guild. As part of this handover, a final Eberron product – Frontiers of Eberron: Quickstone – was also announced;<ref name=":13" /><ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> the Player's Handbook (2024) compatible sourcebook was released in September 2024.<ref name=":14">Template:Cite web</ref>

Twogether Studios

In 2014, Baker co-founded a new an indie tabletop game studio with his wife, Jennifer Ellis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":9">Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2015, Twogether Studios launched their first game, Phoenix: Dawn Command, on Kickstarter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and raised $67,284.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Phoenix: Dawn Command is a card-based roleplaying game where players become "more powerful each time they fall in battle".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2016, Twogether Studios launched their second game, Illimat,<ref name=":9" /> on Kickstarter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and raised $418,628.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This set collection game was designed in partnership with the band The Decemberists and illustrated by Carson Ellis. Steve Haske, for Inverse, wrote: "Last year, the band’s Chris Funk got in touch with Portland-based Twogether Studios, in order to bring Illimat into the real world via a Kickstarter campaign. With game designer Keith Baker (co-founder of Twogether), the two designed a relatively simple game played with cards, a few tokens, and a rotating box — the Illimat itself, that changes the 'seasons' of the gameplay — so appropriate to The Decemberists’s old-world aesthetic that it has a fascinating sense of authenticity".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Twogether Studios has launched two more successfully funded card games on Kickstarter: Action Cats! (July 2017, raised $17,086) and Action Pups! (February 2019, raised $7,273). Both games feature photos of pets that Kickstarter backers submitted.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In September 2019, it was announced that Twogether Studios was working with the McElroy family to create a cooperative storytelling card game adaptation of The Adventure Zone called TAZ: Bureau of Balance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After its release in 2020, CBR called it "a great way to bring the joy of The Adventure Zone to the table and get in on the action".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Io9 highlighted that it "is a great card game for folks wanting to try out (or get back into) RPGs, or more seasoned players who want a cooperative storytelling experience that takes out some of the legwork and guesswork for an afternoon. It’s not going to give you all the thrills and chills of a traditional RPG, but it does enough to simulate the experience".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2020, Twogether Studios worked with Podium Audio to release the Ascend Online Roleplaying Game, "a micro roleplaying game", based on the audiobook series of the same name by author Luke Chmilenko.<ref name=":10">Template:Cite web</ref> Io9 reported that "Ascend Online is about a group of friends who’ve gotten more than they bargained for in an immersive fantasy video game" and that it is "a mix between Ready Player One and Sword Art Online"; the free "micro RPG lets players create a party and explore the series’ world, creating their own collaborative adventure along the way".<ref name=":10" />

In July 2025, Darrington Press announced that Baker and Ellis are creating a "new world" with player options for the tabletop role-playing game Daggerheart.<ref name="Gen Con 2025 PR">Template:Cite press release</ref>

Awards

Baker has won an Origins Award twice, first in 2004 for Best Roleplaying Game Supplement as part of the team for the Eberron campaign setting,<ref name="Origins2004">Template:Cite web</ref> then alone in 2005 for Traditional Card Game of the Year for Gloom, published by Atlas Games.<ref name="Origins2005">Template:Cite web</ref>

Baker was part of the design team for the Pathfinder campaign supplement The Inner Sea World Guide which won 2011 ENnie for Best Art, Interior - Gold Winner and for Best Setting - Gold Winner. The book was also nominated for: 2011 ENnie for Product of the Year, 2011 Golden Geek Best RPG Artwork/Presentation, and 2011 Golden Geek Best RPG Supplement Nominee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Two of the Kobold Guides anthologies Baker has contributed to have won ENnie awards: Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design (2012 ENnie for Best RPG Related Product - Gold Winner) and The Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding (2013 ENnie for Best RPG Related Product - Gold Winner and for Best Writing - Gold Winner).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Baker contributed design to the 13th Age Core Book which won the 2014 ENnie for Best Rules - Silver Winner and was nominated for 2013 Golden Geek Best RPG Artwork/Presentation Nominee, 2013 Golden Geek RPG of the Year Nominee, 2014 ENnie for Best Game.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Selected role-playing game credits

Eberron

Accessories

Adventures

Other

Fiction credits

Eberron

The Dreaming Dark trilogy

Thorn of Breland trilogy

Short stories

  • "Death at Whitehearth," in Tales of the Last War (April 2006, Template:ISBN)
  • "Principles of Fire," in Dragons: Worlds Afire (June 2006, Template:ISBN)
  • "Shadows of Stormreach," online serial story.

Comic books

Other

Short stories

  • "...And Weave The Spider's Web" - Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero (February 2012, Template:ISBN)

References

Template:Reflist

Template:D&D topics Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Keith_Baker_(game_designer)&oldid=644630"