While the theming of The Sylvan came from some wonderful people in my personal life, I want to be sure to acknowledge the brilliant game designers  who developed mechanics that are so important to what The Sylvan now is. 

I have been playing tabletop RPGs for over 40 years and it is my opinion that M Veselak is one of the most exciting game designers ever.  If you have not yet played Wickedness, go right over to her Itch.io account (https://nightling-bug.itch.io/wickedness) and get you a copy.  You won't be sorry.  The mechanics are elegant and compelling and the way she's managed to weave them into the story that gets told is just... clever.   I have absolutely borrowed and reshaped mechanic ideas from her pages and I hope one day to gush at her in person.

And as Wickedness is inspired by mechanics in Sleepaway, I also want to acknowledge Jay Dragon (and by extension Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum).  Sleepaway, Wanderhome, and Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast (found here: https://possumcreekgames.itch.io/) are exactly the sort of games that have been missing from tabletop RPGs.  Jay is also tangentially responsible for the decided lack of pronouns in this book.  I grew up in the age of "he and she are the pronouns someone not yourself" but I now have a kid whom I love fiercely and unconditionally who is non-binary.   In learning new ways to see the world, I got thinking about writing prompts that leave space for people to tell the stories that feel right to them.  Jay does not use any pronouns and I wondered if I could write a whole deck of cards worth of prompts and not specify the gender of any of the characters introduced.  It turns out, I can!  I hope that it makes this game comfortable for everyone who plays and enables the player to see the characters presented in the way that feels best.