Heed the Call of Adventure!
RISE began as an adaptation to popular table-top role-playing games. However, it quickly became apparent that adding rules to standard class-based systems would lead to a swamp of appendices and rules that would be too particular for the majority of players. From the ashes of frustration and a vision of full character design control, RISE was founded as a modular rule set, where options could be included and excluded to create the game each playgroup most desired, using characters truly designed with a single player in mind.
The team first consisted of Jonathan and Amanda, but quickly included multiple play-testers and editors, who enjoyed the "become what you play" aspects of the rule set. With art direction based upon the vivid fantasy of masters of bygone eras and years of play to support the system, Rise is ready for you to enjoy, crafting one-of-a-kind characters that reflect the intersection of each player's imagination and in-game choices, rising above typical RPG tropes.
RISE's mission is to reveal ourselves through our imaginations, synchronizing fantasy with truth.
Jonathan W. Boyd, MD
Author and Creator
Shelby
Production Assist-cat
Amanda Weldy, Ph.D.
Copy Editor
Designing Rise in the late hours of hospital residency, Jonathan wanted a game that could match exactly what a player wanted from a character: unique, fun, and capable of facing a world of adventure. Jonathan worked to make the many options of Rise form together, making character creation and development as engaging as actual play.
A constant companion and literal armchair commander, Shelby pawed through manuscripts and rules with ruthless efficiency, until a final product was worthy of publishing so that it may be laid upon.
With her advanced degree in English literature with an emphasis on theatre careers, and experience teaching the epics of Milton and Chaucer, Professor Weldy contributed her passion for resonance and style to RISE, creating choices that invoke player creativity and reward niche goals, such as active character faith, synergistic skills, and of course, the ability to delve into lore and education.
Kalyn 316
Artist
Adding original art for the enemies of RISE, Kalyn316 is a special education teacher with an eye for manifesting the surreal through pen and pencil.
Neil Aitken
Principal Editor
Neil holds a PhD in Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Southern California and an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Riverside, as well as a BS in Computer Science with Mathematics minor from Brigham Young University. He has collaborated with a number of talented music composers, including Juhi Bansal, Brandon Scott Rumsey, Jeffrey Parola, Zhou Tian, Zhao Zixiang, and Daniel Gall. He also co-wrote the narrative poem used as the voice over script and of course, is an avid table top rolplayer with his home campaigns stretching over the North American continent.
Jennifer Keniston
Art Director
Jennifer Keniston was “drawn” to art at an early age. As a teen, she attended the Young Artist Program at the San Francisco Art Institute. She was later accepted to the Byam Shaw School of Art in London, followed by the Camberwell College of Arts, part of the prestigious University of the Arts, London, where she earned her BA (Hons) in Fine Art Photography. Jennifer’s photographs, jewelry, and linoleum block relief prints have been exhibited in California, New Mexico, and London.
To balance her right-brained creativity with left-brained methodology, Jennifer has spent fourteen years working and volunteering as an arts administrator in commercial art galleries and museums in Orange County and Los Angeles. She holds a certificate in Museum Studies from Northwestern University, and a certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University.