These are some of our top contributors on the ground and behind the scenes. We appreciate their work and efforts, which make Gary Con a success that can return year-after-year. Thank you Gary Con Staff!
As the son of Gary Gygax, Luke has been slinging dice at the gaming table since he was four years old. He helped his dad playtest and design adventures and games as a young person and has kept gaming as a pastime throughout his life. He helped craft GW1, The Legion of Gold, created the Bullywug, collaborated on the design of the Barbarian class for AD&D and created the spells Melf’s Acid Arrow and Melf’s Minute Meteor. He has designed numerous game accessories including The Lost City of Gaxmoor and more recently The Oculus of Senrahbah modules compatible with 5e available at fine retailers and FLGS.
For him, it is a distinct honor to organize and run Gary Con every year with the help of his loving family, good friends, fellow gamers, and the entire GC Team. He enjoys talking to people at conventions and swapping adventuring tales, so if you can catch him while he’s available, feel free to walk up and say, “Hello!”
He also wants every con-goer to know that he appreciates them for coming and being a part of the celebration to remember his father and celebrate “A life well played!”
Bouchra met Luke Gygax in 2002 while earning a Master’s degree at UW-Milwaukee. Luke took her to GenCon and had her help promote his new module, The Lost City of Gaxmoor. After he saw how many copies she sold while talking to gamers—he proposed to her. The rest is history.
Dave Conant
Exhibitor Relations Manager, Special Advisor
Dave had the good fortune of growing up in Lake Geneva at just the right time to be one of those geeky high school kids hanging out at the Dungeon Hobby Shop when D&D was first created. Since he didn’t go to college, getting a job at TSR in 1979 was a no-brainer (working from 79-83) where he quickly settled in on managing GEN CON (the Kenosha years), GEN CON South/East, and all the mini-conventions with his good friend Skip Williams. After falling victim in one of the waves of TSR layoffs, he still ran the GEN CON Auction all through the 80s and eventually returned to TSR a second time in the early 90s to manage their Pre-Press Department until the company moved to Seattle. Choosing not to follow, he finished his career working outside the gaming industry and retired in 2017. Dave is busier than ever in his “retirement.” He has the honor of helping to run another great convention, Gary Con and has formed a business partnership with life-long friend, Tom Wham (Tom Wham Games). The two are publishing as many of the games Tom has on his shelves (of which there are many) for others to enjoy.
Dave seldom plays D&D anymore, but was blessed to be a regular player in the campaigns of two great DMs in the 70s and 80s—Skip Williams and Frank Mentzer. Playing that game with those masterful DMs as well as the other players in those early years will always recall wonderful memories for Dave. These days, he is fortunate to play online board games with a couple lifelong friends every week as well as attend an occasional convention. Whenever the opportunity arises to sit at the table, however, any Tom Wham game is high on his list to play.
Dave has a wonderful wife (Sue) of over 40 years who he loves dearly and who indulges him with the many hours spent working on both Gary Con and Tom Wham Games.
Thomas first met Gary in 1983. Through the years, no other writer has had more of an impact on his life than Gary Gygax. He is honored to help out at Gary Con.
Rev. Derek W. White, The Geekpreacher, is an ordained United Methodist minister who is best known for his work on three documentaries on Faith & Imagination. His latest project, The Satanic Panic and the Religious Battle for the Imagination won Best Gamer Film at GenCon in 2022. Derek is the chaplain for the Gary Con Gaming Convention and leads ecumenical worship services at various other gaming conventions around the country. He works as a professional Dungeon Master/Game Master where he uses tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons to teach others how shared storytelling may be used for spiritual formation, community building, and social skills training for speaking out on issues of social justice.
The D&D Game and Skip Williams share the same home town—Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Somewhat more than 35 years ago, he noticed an article in the local paper (The Regional News) that featured model tanks in battle. The article was about an early GEN CON, which had taken place the week before. By the time GEN CON was next held, he was there, dice in hand. Between then and now, he’s done a few things to get noticed in the gaming community—such as running GEN CON for several years and co-authoring the D&D 3rd Edition, to name a few. He’s a co-coordinator for events at Gary Con, taking on the task with school chum and fellow GEN CON veteran, Dave Conant, and events team new-comer, Josh Popp. Skip also does double duty as a GM and VIP Featured Guest.
His parents kept talking him out of playing D&D in the 80s because he “should be out playing sports” or something. Now that he has his own kids, they play D&D together and have a blast. GC12 was supposed to be his first RPG convention where he would meet up with all his online Greyhawk friends, but alas, plans changed. So, he threw himself into virtual cons where some know him as Zarathon, using the Zardoz image as his avatar.
Natalie was introduced to D&D (3.5) in high school but it was really in her freshman year of college with her sci fi/fantasy club, where she learned she loved it! She has been playing any and all RPG systems for about 20 years. When she is not helping with Gary Con, she volunteers at local area conventions and attends all sorts of conventions when able. She also loves cross stitch and crochet, famously stating, “I have an old lady soul in a nerd body.”
Garner started playing D&D back in the early 80’s with his best friend and a ready-made gaming group with his brother and their two best friends—and he has been an active RPG’er ever since. He’s even suckered all three of his children into playing. He’s enjoyed many MMORPGs like EQ, EQ2, Age of Conan, and many others. His spare time (when not gaming) is spent either in his woodworking shop, trout-fishing, or serving others through the Lions Club.
Matt Everhart, who also goes by “KC Rift”, has been playing Dungeons & Dragons (among many other role-playing games) since receiving the Red Box from his uncle back in 1983. Even then he was dreaming up new worlds and new adventures for his characters and those of his friends to journey through. While his family, including his wife and four children, and his military career take priority, Matt is nevertheless constantly writing and creating RPG content in his free time. Matt published his first sourcebook, The Deductionist, for the Pathfinder 1st Edition RPG under Total Party Kill Games, LLC. Since then, he has been publishing several other source books and adventures including: Winter’s Grim Tiding, The Shadow Boys of Telflamm for Forgotten Realms, Long Was the Night, Dance of the Pumpkin King, and The Trouble with Truffles.
As a writer and contributor for Gaxx Worx, Matt is currently working with Luke on the Oculus of Senrahbah series and launching his new campaign setting “Strange & Grim” – a new dieselpunk setting compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5e, using the Everyday Hero RPG engine by Evil Genius Games!
From his introduction to D&D back in 1981, Jimmy became a big fan of RPG games. Whether playing a game in person or on a computer, he has always been obsessed with fantasy gaming and storytelling. Computers have also been a major part of his life, seeing him develop a successful career in consulting in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Jimmy took a small break from consulting to study feature film making in New York City in the late 90’s. With several years of filmmaking under his belt, Jimmy combined that knowledge along with his technical skills to start the TTRPG community, Praetor’s Rejects, in 2016. The focus was to broadcast “live” D&D and other RPG rule systems game sessions across multiple streaming platforms. During that same year, he met Matt “KC” Everhart and together they formed, Praetor and Rift’s Astral Menagerie – a production company focused on providing virtual programming to the gaming convention business market. With the onset of Covid, they were approached to produce content for GaryCon, Luke Gygax’s memorial convention celebrating the life of his father Gary Gygax (you should know what he’s famous for)!! And as the saying goes, there’s still more to come…stay tuned!!
JD’s first gaming memories are of his older brother’s gaming group letting him pretend to play when he was four or five years old. His mother owned a used book store when he was in junior high school that carried comics and games—and he was the 12-year-old dungeon master that gave everyone a Vorpal Sword. He also got into Car Wars and MERP (although he never played it). Both of his boys were raised rolling dice and playing games, which is how they stayed connected as a family. It led to his wife and him buying into Saltire Toys & Games to help show people the importance of play and how games bring people together.
Austin stepped up as Volunteer Coordinator for Gary Con XVI, as such he works with volunteers, staff, and attendees to help ensure Gary Con functions smoothly and is a success for all.
Eric started playing D&D in Ravenloft at around age 10 and has played through all the different editions of D&D since then, detouring along the way for Pathfinder, Cyberpunk, Star Wars, and many other TTRPGs. He started running D&D games as a GM with 5th edition. He met Luke through a 5e game with friends, and when the need for additional Gary Con support arose, Eric stepped in to help respond to all the incoming emails—so if you’ve ever had a question for Gary Con, you’ve probably already chatted with him.
Lindsey got lucky enough to have a nerd for a dad who has inspired her to be who she is and do it shamelessly. He suckered her into playing D&D and she has been absolutely hooked ever since. She graduated in May 2023 from the University of Georgia and has been living in the D&D and Gary Con chaos ever since. When not playing D&D, she is usually doing art, designing characters, playing video games of all different kinds, or helping operate the Pixels & Dice Lions Club.
Anna is one of the fantastic Featured Guests regularly in attendance at Gary Con. She kindly dedicates some of her time and efforts to improving Gary Con with our Art Team.
Lee staggered into Gary Con with just enough skills, know-how, and a general can-do attitude that someone took pity on him, brushed him off, got him a cup of hot tea, and put him to work crafting some of the new branded materials and imagery you’re seeing Gary Con this year.
As a dedicated Gary Con volunteer turned staff, Courtney “Kat” Mason has taken over website management for Gary Con. In addition to website development, she assists with TTE event tasks, registration, and other miscellaneous work that needs accomplishing. Giving back to the Gary Con community is Courtney’s small way of paying tribute to her favorite hobbies.
Gary Con is one of her most highly anticipated events to attend each year, because she loves to socialize with all the other game enthusiasts and like-minded people she meets. As an avid gamer, she’s always willing to learn a new game or system. Be sure to invite her to play at your table if you see her and she’s not actively gaming!
Beyond Gary Con, she is happily married to her spouse, Dylan, as well as an engaged parent in her kids’ lives as both a member of local Parent-Teacher Organizations and an active Girl Scout volunteer and leader.
