How it began:
Sun Sailor Productions began as a dream by two talented nerds who were lucky enough to find one another. Not by fate, but by an algorithm initiated by Callie who, in desperation, typed the word “nerd” into the search bar of a dating platform. To make a long story short, Mr. Saylor and Ms. MacDonell became Mr. & Ms. MacSaylor. Through this union Sun Sailor Productions was born.
What is Sun Sailor Productions?
Sun Sailor Productions is a small indie game development and game service production business started by the husband and wife team, Callie and Ashton MacSaylor. It is also the parent company of Story Tables which facilitates interactive storytelling exercises, camps, and after school programs. In 2018 we successfully produced “The Good, the Bad, and the Undead”, an interactive fiction novel with the help of Jamie Thompson and Fabled Lands LLC. It was soon obvious that by combining Ashton’s interactive fiction and tabletop role playing game knowledge with Callie’s visual art and performance skills, we could create a business that was in line with our passions.
In 2019 we released a set of one sheet adventure modules for Dungeon Masters Guild, a marketplace to release content for the now open-source Dungeons and Dragons IP. Our first release “City of the Swamp Kobolds” quickly became a Silver Best Seller. “The Magister’s Tomb” was released not long after. Currently we are set to launch our most ambitious project yet, “Caul of Winter” which supplements D&D 5th edition's adventure book Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden with an all-new starting quest, over 40 minor encounters to add dynamism and life to Ten Towns, and expanded story background for Auril, the Frostmaiden herself. Due to be launched November 23rd, 2020.
In addition to supplements, Ashton MacSaylor has created two unique game systems. One of which, “Isles of Mist,” he has been successfully running as an after school program for five years. The other, “Aces and Spades”, was originally created as a backer reward for the Kickstarter launch of “The Good, the Bad, and the Undead.” Though neither of these systems are available for purchase as of yet, we are actively using them as a rule set for our service business, Story Tables.
What is Story Tables?
Sun Sailor Productions is the parent company of Story Tables, a live action tabletop role playing game program with two branches. One branch is focused on ttrpgs as tools for team building and company engagement. We call it “Team Tables” and this branch targets working professionals. The other branch is for school aged children called “Youth Story Tables.”
Story Tables was created out of Ashton’s extremely successful after school program which he had been running for five years. Callie too was running “Isles of Mist” after school but, in summer 2020 we both decided to go independant. Currently our summer camps and after school programs are online until the end of the pandemic.
You can read more about Story Tables here.
Who are we?
Ashton MacSaylor is an interactive fiction writer, game designer, and high school English teacher with over twenty years experience playing and running tabletop roleplaying games. He is a multiple Windhammer prize winner for short interactive fiction and author of the interactive fiction novel “The Good, the Bad, and the Undead.”
Callie MacSaylor is a professional artist who has worked in video games, animation, and illustration. In 2013 she graduated with an MFA in visual development. She has over six years of ttrpg experience and loves being a game master for their service company, Story Tables.
How its going:
Reception of our modules has been more than we hoped for and Story Tables continues to grow. In addition to our baby business, we had an actual baby three years ago. So, we think, it's going pretty great!