Finding your people, the ones that make you feel grounded and happy, is a huge part of life. Wayfinder, for many people, has been the place where they find their people. And that was just the case for Ruby, or as she is known around camp – Grub. “I met my long term partner, lots of friends, and my business partner at Wayfinder.” She started attending in 2004, first as a camper, then apprentice and ultimately staff member. She spent most of her time as a staff member in the production spaces, writing Adventure Games and serving as a member of our Story Board for years.
Grubby and a Wayfinder friend, Jay, formed an awesome small business. To hear about it in her words, “I am, by trade, a book designer, but for the last five years, I have been running a small press tabletop role playing game company called Possum Creek Games. Our big flagship title is Wanderhome. It was nominated for a Nebula a couple years ago, which is my biggest brag of all time.” Their games are now considered some of the best in the biz! Many people find out about Wayfinder through them so a bonus for us as well!
As for the challenges, we here at Wayfinder can very much relate to them. “Don’t start a small business. It’s a nightmare!” Grub advises. “But if you must, do it with someone that you enjoy working with a lot. My business partner and I met at camp. Our particular brand of creativity really meshes. When we were on the Story Board, we became tight about creative work and producing at a high standard. When she wanted to kickstart a TTRPG called Sleepaway (which is based on Wayfinder) she asked if I would do the layout for it. And we’ve been collaborating on everything ever since.”
How does one prepare for the trials of running their small business, when you are the type of person who needs to make sure everything gets done? Practice, of course. Though some people have to wait until later in life for these opportunities to practice, Wayfinder participants get that practice in a low stakes and safe environment, which is running Adventure Games. Grub says, “I’ve been talking about this a lot recently. I ran my first Adventure Game when I was 14. It’s a crazy thing that we [Wayfinder] do to let teenagers run these games, because we put in a lot of time and money and people’s efforts and creative work and trust. But as a creative teenager, it is the most empowering experience that you can get.” And that is a huge part of why we do it! At its heart, Wayfinder is a place for people of all ages to feel empowered!
“As someone who now does big projects and event management with lots of planning and logistics, running an Adventure Game 100% prepared me. I ran a couple Games over the years, and it feels exactly the same as running a big convention or kickstarter. I don’t know that I’d be able to do it, if I hadn’t run Games as a teen. I know that other people who ran Games very young that totally feel the same way. I love that.” And so do we!
So what was this infamous Game that helped Ruby grow these life long skills? “My first game was about Atlantis but, at fourteen, I didn’t really integrate the sinking of Atlantis into it at all, plot wise. So at the end of the Game, a staff member bravely improvised a vision quest where everyone goes under the waves.” One of the most important things about the Adventure Game is that we all have each other’s back. These days, when teens are running Games, the Story Board makes sure to go over every piece of the game before arriving at camp, so our young story writers don’t have those “oh no! I didn’t write that part” moments.
Though Grub has written a number of great games over the years, the Sets & Props department is her true home at Wayfinder. “As a graphic designer, I love to make paper props–I love to make scrolls and maps and posters. I also love to make a ritual scene that is just like rocks stacked ever so perfectly with candles, that’s really juicy for me. I love incorporating nature into the scene. When I’m going into the woods to build a scene, I don’t want to carry that much stuff–I want to maybe have one tote and then walk it out into the woods and add ferns and flowers as I find them.” Whenever she has free time she enjoys “arts and crafts. But that’s kind of a gimme. That’s why I’ve been a sets and props person my whole life. I also really like to cook and make little fanciful drinkies–I’m an alchemist!”
Another lifelong takeaway from camp that Ruby has integrated into her life and relationships is “the language of play.” It is essential for her and her partner “because Wayfinder is where we grew up together” and she says the secret to their happy relationship is “to tell half an hour of jokes every morning.” Though they had known each other for years, they got together after working on an Adventure Game. “That was a wonderful and intense creative process. It’s so nice to do big creative work with someone you love.”
Ruby’s advice for young artists who are wondering how to make it out in the “real world” is “you have to do art that is your own specific brand of crazy. Find people that you love working with and do fully crazy art with them.” And we agree! After all that is what LARP is, crazy, playful, beautiful art.
Written by Trine Boode-Petersen March 2025, from an interview in 2024