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 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]
Personal life
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]
^ abMikcs, David (25 July 2011). "Seduction Unending". The New Republic. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
^Caruso, Giovanni; Fassone, Riccardo; Ferri, Gabriele; Gualeni, Stefano; Salvador, Mauro (2016). "Games on Games. Game Design as Critical Reflexive Practice". G|A|M|E Games as Art, Media, Entertainment. 1 (5). ISSN2280-7705. Archived from the original on 2023-08-22. Retrieved 2022-01-02. Meguey Baker's 1,001 Nights is a playable critique of the encased narratives found in Arabian Nights
^"About". Night Sky Games. Archived from the original on 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2022-01-02. In other aspects of my life, I am a sex ed teacher, a textile artist, and a conservation specialist at the local museum.
^Baker, Meguey (November 16, 2015). "Extraordinary clues in ordinary places". Hatfield Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2023-08-22. Retrieved 2021-12-31. Meguey Baker studied early American textile history and material culture at Hampshire College. She is a member of the Mohawk Trail Quilt Guild, a volunteer textile conservation specialist at Memorial Hall in Deerfield, and does textile repair and conservation for private clients.
