Atramentis Games

James Vail is an independent game designer and artist known for his first book, Xas Irkalla and Strain, an original hardcore rule system.

Atramentis Games aims to create free adventures for Strain, an expansion for Xas Irkalla, and has outlined his second book, "The Call of the Wretched Sea", which will focus on historical whaling, one of James's fascinations. Its title was inspired by doom metal band Ahab's album of the same name, used with permission.

James has always had an interest in game design; remembering creating custom maps for StarCraft, Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights, and more as a child. After being introduced to tabletop RPG's, James soon began writing and GM'ing his own campaigns. It didn't take long for James to want to customize his tabletop experiences. Though game design is James's passion, he also enjoys video games, hiking, extreme metal, and playing guitar. He has always had an appreciation for gothic and scifi themes in artwork, books, movies, games, and even music.