Creator Spotlight - Luke Miller GrayCastle Press

Luke Miller is a writer, game designer, and software developer who lives in sunny California with his husband and their two corgis, Luna and Sol. He has had a lifelong passion for fantasy and science fiction and has recently discovered a love for tabletop roleplaying games.

After exploring the world of TTRPG’s as a player and game master, Luke was struck by the game design bug and quickly jumped into the creation of his first game: Journey. Through this process, he learned many lessons on what to do (and, more importantly, what not to do), and looks to take these learnings into the next game.

In addition to designing his next games, Luke is writing content on the Graycastle Press Journal and his blog Lukemade, talking about running tabletop roleplaying games, concepts in game design, writing fiction, and more.

“I love to build and create, especially things that other people find useful. Between my solo worldbuilding game Journey and my TTRPG deal hunting app Deals of Opportunity, I've seen recently how the things I'm passionate about and interested in can also make an impact for folks. The act of creating something new and seeing people engage with it and get value out of it is immensely gratifying.”

“TTRPGs are just such an amazingly creative tool, and discovering how much I love them and how many areas of my passions they touch on was really eye-opening. To be able to express so many parts of myself with these games (both in-game and out) is consistently mind blowing, and there are so many creative people doing new and innovative things. It's truly an impactful place to build.”

“When it comes to my games and TTRPG books, I try to approach creative processes in new ways and use TTRPG mechanics to help find new ideas and inspiration. Journey itself was born from a creative worldbuilding process I've used for years to "step into" my worlds. I say that Graycastle Press makes "creative tools for creative people" for that reason. Much of the work I have planned for release this year falls very much within that realm, and I expect they will help people build new worlds and create new stories.”

“Not knowing how to work WITH my multipotentialite/rainforest mind style of brain, and spending so many years working against it. I've been spending more time reading and learning about how my mind operates, and working on adapting my life to fit that mode of operation has been immensely helpful, even if just to help me relax and get more done from time to time.”

“So a "multipotentialite" is someone who can attain proficiency / mastery in a variety of skillsets, kind of like a generalist (versus a specialist). Something I learned about recently that resonated really strongly with me, and carries its own set of challenges.

A rainforest mind is another one I learned about recently, often an alternative way to refer to someone who might otherwise be called "gifted", which I struggle with as I think it implies a level of brainpower "greater than" others, which to me isn't really true.

Basically relating to a highly sensitive mind and one that works in a slightly different way”

Of course, I did a deep dive into this later and discovered that psychotherapist Paula Prober coined the term and describes it like this “The client with a rainforest mind is the most complex: multilayered, intense, overwhelming, colorful, highly sensitive, full of complicated creativity, and misunderstood.“ 1 (Prober)  It’s definitely a deep dive that I highly recommend you go on if this interests you at all. You can find bits everywhere on  multipotentialites, this bit is from wikipedia, “when multipotentialites are supported and encouraged to embrace their diverse skills and experiences, they’re able to tap into their super powers: idea synthesis, rapid learning, adaptability, big picture thinking, relating to and translating between different types of people, “languages,” and modes of thought. 

The ability to draw from and integrate a range of diverse ideas makes multipotentialites particularly well-suited to solving complex, multifactorial problems. And, their unconventional backgrounds help them develop unique voices and contribute fresh perspectives wherever they go.“ “ 2 (Wikipedia)

I can relate to your struggle of learning how to work with your special abilities rather than against them, and fitting into the way society likes to ”mold us. As a neuro-divergent myself, I have spent years embracing the way my mind works and using it more as a superpower than a hindrance. Though I do think that requires a lot of extra spell slots, and most people don’t recognize it as a positive attribute which can certainly be challenging to work within the constructs of the neurotypical world. It’s great that you’re finding ways to adapt. I’d recommend meditation as well as a tool to step outside of your mind and allow it to freely travel. It can be a challenge at first but well worth it to help find balance and open new ideas. And now I need to do more research on both of these. But let’s move on.

Journey is my best selling solo worldbuilding game that allows you to step into your fictional worlds. Whether a game master, writer, or other creative, Journey will allow you to look more closely at the people, places, and things within your world and come away with new stories and inspiration to take back to your work.

Tome is a series of creative session journals for both game masters and players, providing weekly inspiration for session prep through creative journaling prompts. You'll examine your characters, world, and playstyle each week and find new ways to step ever more deeply into your games.

Deals of Opportunity is my free web app that lets DriveThruRPG and Dungeon Master's Guild users add their wishlists and get automatically notified when anything on those lists goes on sale. You can even see historical pricing data for titles to better understand whether the current discount is a good price. Best of all, it's automatic, simple, and FREE.

“Honestly, my favorite thing about any of my projects is that they're out there! I'm not the best at completing projects, as there are always more ideas buzzing around, so getting my projects out into the world is a consistently amazing process.”

“I'm just a lil guy making things. I love getting feedback (good or bad) on the things I make, but it's still absolutely surprising when someone messages me to tell me about how much they've loved playing Journey, or how Tome has benefitted how they approach their games. It's simultaneously helped and sharpened my occasionally crippling impostor syndrome (depending on the day), and I somehow both feel incredibly proud of what I've created and terrified that someone will somehow realize what a fraud I am. It's... a work in progress lol”

“Pasta. It's flexible, can be eaten in so many ways, and it's just so GOOD. I could eat pasta every day of my life. If it's noodle-based, I'm there.”

Luke can be found on the socials @graycastlepress pretty much everywhere and you can visit his two websites here: https://www.graycastlepress.com and https://www.dealsofopportunity.com/ 

You can also drop questions in the chat for Luke when he joins me on Creator Spotlight coming up on twitch.tv/imaginifmedia June 4th. My twitch channel is to support those who create, play, and heal and we appreciate the follows and subscriptions.

Thanks for reading this Creator Spotlight and I wish you the most magical of days.

Works Cited

1 Prober, Paula. “Counseling Gifted Clients: Journeys through the Rainforest Mind.” Psychotherapy.net, https://www.psychotherapy.net/article/the-rainforest-mind. Accessed 16 April 2024.

2 “Multipotentiality.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipotentiality. Accessed 16 April 2024.