R. Sean Borgstrom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rebecca Sean Borgstrom (Born: March 3, 1966?) is a roleplaying game writer. She is the author of Nobilis and The Game of Powers (the LARP version of Nobilis), as well as co-author of several source books for Exalted, the Weapons of the Gods RPG, and other works. She currently resides in Seattle, Washington.

Borgstrom graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science in 1988, and from Johns Hopkins University with a doctorate in computer science in 2000.

She is also credited as R. Sean Borgstrom, Rebecca Borgstrom, and Sean Borgstrom. In contexts where she is well known, such as mailing lists centered on games she has authored, she is often referred to simply as "RSB."

Borgstrom writes Hitherby Dragons, a blog-style ongoing story or collection of stories. She posts a new entry Monday through Saturday. The collection is comprised of legends and histories. Legends are performances put on by a girl named Jane, her brother Martin, and other recurring actors. Histories are actual events in Jane's world. They are marked by numbers after their titles, such as "1 of 2". For more information, see Borgstrom's own explanation at What is Hitherby Dragons?. Readers can comment on entries, and there is usually a lively discussion of what each entry means and how they fit together. In content, Hitherbies tend toward the surreal and fantastic, are often humorous, and incorporate elements of philosophy, computer science, and pop culture.

With respect to her roleplaying works, many view her texts as beautiful and displaying technical precision within an artistic framework, while some feel that they are dense and inaccessible to a wider audience.

[edit] Roleplaying bibliography

Nobilis

Nobilis: A Roleplaying Game (1st edition) ISBN 0-9673180-1-7
Nobilis: The Game of Sovereign Powers (2nd edition) ISBN 1-899749-30-6
The Game of Powers: The Live-Action Supplement for Nobilis ISBN 1-899749-36-5

Exalted

Exalted: The Sidereal ISBN 1-58846-669-8
Exalted: The Outcaste ISBN 1-58846-671-X
Exalted: The Fair Folk ISBN 1-58846-678-7
Games of Divinity ISBN 1-58846-659-0
Savant and Sorcerer ISBN 1-58846-675-2

In Nomine

In Nomine: Superiors 1 - War & Honor ISBN 1-55634-409-0
In Nomine: Ethereal Player's Guide ISBN 1-55634-430-9
Liber Castellorum: The Book of Tethers ISBN 1-55634-365-5
Liber Servitorum: The Book of the Servants ISBN 1-55634-369-8

Others

Denizens of San Angelo ISBN 1-890305-14-6
Ex Machina ISBN 1-894938-01-1
Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game - Manual of Monsters ISBN 1-58846-070-3
Weapons of the Gods ISBN 0-9710642-6-1

[edit] Trivia

Rebecca Borgstrom appears as a player character in the scenario "And I Feel Fine," by Geoffrey C. Grabowski, which was published in the One Shots sourcebook for Unknown Armies. This fictional version of Borgstrom lives in a trailer and is described as "a single mom making her good way in a bad world." Another roleplaying game author, Rich Dansky also appears as a player character in the same scenario. In real life, Grabowski and Borgstrom are known to be friends.
In the RPG.net community, the term "Borgstromancy" is occasionally used to refer to the ability to understand and enjoy her fiction writings and rule sets along with sylistically similar works (i.e. baroque, detailed and complicated), such as parts of Unknown Armies.