A shared studio.

Ian is a writer, narrative designer, director, and programmer with over a hundred titles to his name, spanning games, interactive television, film, publishing, education, larp, and themed entertainment. He’s contributed code, writing, or design to IPs from Fireman Sam to Vampire: The Masquerade.

In 2016 he founded the narrative studio Talespinners, where as Story Lead and sole writer on Frictional Games’ Amnesia: Rebirth he was nominated for the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s Best Writing in Videogames Award. He has since been Narrative Director at Ubisoft Stockholm, Narrative Specialist at VR and MR studio Resolution Games, and is now Narrative Director at the award-winning studio The Chinese Room.

Beyond games, Ian’s work includes musicals, theatre, horror and action films, and children’s books about Cthulhu. He has written, designed, and directed larps since the early 90s, and founded Crooked House, an event team known for high-concept immersive games.

He consults on story and narrative design across all forms of interactivity, runs story workshops, and lectures at universities and conferences.

Rachel co-founded The Cuckoo’s Nest larp organisation at Glasgow University in the early 90s, and spent years playing and running Lorien Trust events. She wrote for Profound Decisions’ Empire before the game tempted her back into larping as a player.

She is a founder of Crooked House, which has run acclaimed high-concept, high-budget events since 2002, including the 1950s Christmas ghost story God Rest Ye Merry, the pulp adventure Dick Britton and the Voice of the Seraph, and the musketeers event All for One.

She discovered Nordic larp through Fairweather Manor and College of Wizardry, and has since played events across the UK and the continent. Her wider interests span escape rooms, storytelling, and interactive narrative in all its forms. She has organised science fiction conventions, photographed music festivals, independent films, and burlesque shows, and performed in cabaret and theatre.

Rachel writes on Medium about larp production, the economics of larp, and interactive narrative events. She also built and ran a successful veterinary business, sold to a national group in 2017 for a seven-figure sum, and still works in the veterinary world, bringing a thorough grounding in business, logistics, problem-solving, and communication.