Interview: How Role-Playing Games Blend Literature, Ethics, and Imagination with Anna Featherstone, Vee Hendro, and Hayley Gordon

Nov 12, 2025

Join Vee Hendro and Hayley Gordon, the creative minds behind Storybrewers Roleplaying, as they share their journey from law to game design. Discover how they blend narrative storytelling with game mechanics, creating immersive experiences like Good Society and My Late Father's Correspondence. They explain the importance of balancing literary elements with gameplay and the DIY spirit of indie publishing. Plus, learn about accessibility, inclusivity, and the tools they use to bring their imaginative worlds to life!

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ANECDOTE

How They Began Making Literary RPGs

Vee and Hayley began making RPGs after playing for fun and wanting stories beyond combat-focused games like D&D.
They taught themselves design and production through DIY research and community conversations.

INSIGHT

Games As Storytelling Scaffolds

Role-playing games are scaffolds that provide inspiration and structure for collaborative storytelling.
Games supply character prompts and formats (like letter-writing phases) that shape how stories are told.

INSIGHT

Design From Character To Mechanics

Start design by defining the

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How do you turn a literary world into a collaborative storytelling experience? In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Anna Featherstone talks with Vee Hendro and Hayley Gordon—the award-winning duo behind Storybrewers Roleplaying—about producing their book- and card-based role-playing games, including Good Society: A Jane Austen Roleplaying Game and My Late Father's Correspondence. Together, they explore how indie creators can merge writing, design, and ethics to craft imaginative, inclusive, and immersive books.

Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-Publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally.

Sponsor

This podcast is proudly sponsored by Gatekeeper Press — your partner in premium independent publishing. Empowering authors with expert guidance, 100% rights, 100% royalties, and global distribution. From editing to marketing, their all-inclusive services help you publish professionally and confidently. Gatekeeper Press — Where Authors Are Family.

About the Host

Anna Featherstone is ALLi's nonfiction adviser and an author advocate and mentor. A judge of The Australian Business Book Awards and Australian Society of Travel Writers awards, she's also the founder of Bold Authors and presents author marketing and self-publishing workshops for organizations, including Byron Writers Festival. Anna has authored books including how-to and memoirs and her book Look-It's Your Book! about writing, publishing, marketing, and leveraging nonfiction is on the Australian Society of Authors recommended reading list. When she's not being bookish, Anna's into bees, beings, and the big issues of our time.

About the Guests

Vee Hendro and Hayley Gordon are the award-winning designers and married duo behind Storybrewers Roleplaying, an Australian studio known for emotionally rich, character-driven tabletop role-playing games that explore history, literature, and queer narratives. Their work has earned multiple honors, including two ARPIA Game of the Year awards, Best Tabletop Game at SXSW Sydney, and back-to-back wins at the PAX Aus Indie Showcase. Based on Gadigal land in Sydney's inner west, they live with their dog Holiday and a rotating crew of foster cats. More at linktr.ee/storybrewers.