Special Guests

Alex Kammer is a lawyer, a freelance adventure/game designer, and is the Director of Gamehole Con, the largest tabletop gaming convention in the upper Midwest.  Alex has numerous published titles to his credit from an array of publishers. His most notable releases include the […]

Alexander Stangroom is Chief Operations Officer at the ENNIE award-winning tabletop roleplaying publisher Kobold Press, best known for the Tales of the Valiant RPG and the Tome of Beasts monster book series.  When he is not toiling with the kobolds in the warrens, Alexander is a TTRPG designer […]

Alicia Marie is an actor, Hollywood professional costume artist and writer who turned her love of fantasy, sci-fi, comic books, video games and art into a creative career. Alicia, a self-professed “compulsive maker,” creates costumes and character looks for global media companies like Disney (Star Wars, Marvel), NBC, Netflix and […]

Alyssa Faden has been a professional cartographer and GenCon panelist since 2012. She is best known for her incredible cityscapes and stunning details, often inviting viewers of her creations to see stories-within-stories for years after. Her clientele includes Monte Cook Games, Kobold Press, Profantasy […]

Amanda Hamon is a Senior Designer working on Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast, where she builds, leads, and supports 5th Edition books from conception through publication and beyond. An award-winning tabletop game designer, developer, writer, and editor, Amanda has designed games […]

Amy Vorpahl is a comedy internet nerd, actor, and game designer known for laughing a lot. You might have seen her on various Dropout TV shows including “Breaking News,” “Um, Actually,” and “Parlor Room.” Her extensive background in sketch and improv makes her Dungeon […]

Anjali Bhimani is an award-winning actor whose career spans across Broadway, feature films, television, video games, animation, and digital content. As a globally recognized talent in the gaming industry, she has been celebrated for her work in AAA projects as well as indie games. […]

Anna B. Meyer is a professional Fantasy Cartographer specializing in visualizing fantasy worlds using the latest digital tools and an artistic eye. Her goal is to create a vision of your world in the form of maps and images that inspires and guides you […]

Arthur Loftis is an art director at Titmouse Los Angeles, currently working on the record-breaking Kickstarter success, The Legend of Vox Machina. Since the first days of development, Arthur has worked with the creative executives of Critical Role to forge an animated adaptation which […]

Banana Chan is a game designer and screenwriter living in Seattle. She is also the owner of the publishing company, Read/Write Memory. Her most notable work has been on Forgery, Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, Betrayal at House […]

Bill Fawcett has been a professor, teacher, corporate executive, college dean, and board and computer game designer. He designed role-play and board games as a partner in Mayfair Games. As a book packager, he created and edited over 400 books for major publishers. He […]

Brendan J. LaSalle is a staff writer for Goodman Games who has been writing and publishing in the game industry since 2002. He has written for Goodman Games, Fat Dragon Games, Troll Lord’s Games, Legendsmiths, Savage Mojo, Pandahead Publishing, and Hand Made Games, among […]

Brent is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and has produced art for a multitude of media including cover paintings, interior illustrations, collectible card art, cartography (maps), graphic design, page layout, t-shirt designs, miniatures paintings, concept art and commercial photography for a […]

Brian David Judkins is the executive producer and DM for the Wizards of the Coast’s TV Show, Encounter Party. Based out of Chicago, Brian works as a television producer, writer, and voice actor aimed at bringing gaming entertainment to the silver screen. Brian also works […]

Brian has written over twenty products for Paizo, Kobold Press, and Legendary Games since breaking into the industry in 2014. A lifelong gamer and Wisconsin resident, Brian grew up just down the road in New Glarus. He’s proud to be one of the few […]

Forty-seven year old husband, father, producer, author, designer, and painter; if it has anything to do with the gaming industry, Bryan has made it his goal to try his hand at it. He has been a gamer for thirty plus years, industry professional for […]

Charles Urbach is an award-winning writer and colored pencil illustrator with 30 years experience in design, publishing, and illustration. His hand drawn Prismacolor pencil artwork pushes the boundaries of what’s possible with colored pencil, resulting in drawn artwork that has the visual depth and […]

Chris Arneson is a freelance illustrator who grew up with a love for Dungeons & Dragons, especially its art. He has currently been doing much freelancing for Joseph Goodman, of Goodman Games, including work in many of their OARs, Original Adventures Reincarnated, on such iconic […]

Chris Prynoski is an award-winning producer and entertainment executive, and the founder and president of Titmouse, Inc., a multi-hyphenated animation studio and pop culture brand with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Vancouver. Prynoski began his career in New York City directing and […]

Dakota Krout is an author known for fun, punny, and clean humor. With multiple best-selling series—including “Cooking With Disaster”, “Divine Dungeon”, “Completionist Chronicles”, and “Full Murderhobo”, Dakota’s work earned a place as one of Audible’s top 5 fantasy picks in 2017, a top 5 […]

DARLENE is the first woman artist for TSR (1977), openly signing her first name to her art instead of hiding her gender behind her initials—which was a recommended practice at the time for women artists. Through the Wizard-head logo, stationery for TSR and its […]

David S. LaForce is one of the first generation artist for Dungeons & Dragons. LaForce started his career in 1979 with TSR where he was initially hired in the shipping department. Catching the eye of David Sutherland, (head of TSR’s art department) who had […]

David formed Kenzer & Company with six other stalwart RPG enthusiasts in 1993, later teaming up with Jolly Blackburn in 1996. He is responsible for publication of “Knights of the Dinner Table” (of which Jolly is editor in chief) as well lead designer of […]

Doug Kovacs grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, playing Dungeons and Dragons and other RPGs . He drew his way through High School, avoiding involvement in most things but art class, where he cultivated a love for all forms of painting and […]

Douglas Niles discovered Dungeons & Dragons in 1979, when he was a high school teacher in Clinton WI and happened to have Heidi Gygax (Gary’s daughter) in his class. She gave him a copy of the D&D Basic Set on a Wednesday and he […]

Ed is Elminster.  He was the original creator of the Forgotten Realms, writing about it in Dragon Magazine beginning in 1979.  He’s published over two hundred articles in Dragon Magazine and Polyhedron Newszine, is a lifetime charter member of the Role Playing Game Association […]

Ed Stark has been working as a game designer for more than thirty years in both the tabletop and computer industries. Ed started his career at West End Games where he worked as the Paranoia Line Editor, lead designer for ShatterZone and MasterBook, and […]

Erik Mona is Editor Emeritus of Dragon, Dungeon, and Polyhedron magazines. He co-founded the Living Greyhawk organized play campaign and edited the Living Greyhawk Journal. After leaving Wizards of the Coast, Mona co-created the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and its Lost Omens campaign setting, founded […]

Erol Otus is an artist and game designer, best known for his work in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role playing game. He was a member of TSR’s art department from 1979 to 1981. After TSR, Otus worked on computer games at several studios […]

Gavin Stenhouse is a professional actor trained at London’s prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he studied classical theatre techniques and voice work. He was introduced to D&D 3.5 edition during his drama school years, beginning a lifelong love of collaborative storytelling.  […]

Born in the deep dark south in the mid-sixties. Brom, an army brat, spent his entire youth on the move and unabashedly blames living in such places as Japan, Hawaii, Germany, and Alabama for all his afflictions. From his earliest memories Brom has been […]

After playing his first D&D game at the age of six at Gen Con, he became enamored with role-playing games. Greg has worked on products for every edition of Dungeons and Dragons and written too many adventures for organized play campaigns to count. He […]

Jason Charles Miller is a critically acclaimed and highly accomplished singer/songwriter. His music has been featured on such TV shows as True Blood, The NFL Today, The Deadliest Catch and Critical Role. Jason has written songs with Billy Ray Cyrus, Rickey Medlocke [Lynyrd Skynyrd], […]

Jay Foster is a Welsh-born Game Master, Writer, and Strength & Conditioning Coach. Most known as the Game Master for the OOPS! All Himbos!™ TTRPG live play group. Jay also leads Level 20 Training; a health, fitness, and nutrition coaching company aimed solely at […]

Jeff Butler has worked professionally as an illustrator, comic book and video game artist for over 40 years.  Jeff broke into the comic book field in the early ‘80s, helping writer Mike Baron create The Badger for Capital Comics. He spent 5 years in […]

Jeff graduated from Murray State University with a BFA in Painting. Working briefly as a freelancer, he joined TSR and then Wizards of the Coast from 1982 until 2003, which included the creation of a LOT of cover art with which many of us […]

Jeff Grubb is a best-selling author and award-winning game designer. He’s written novels, short stories, and comics, and has designed computer games and roleplaying games. He’s a co-founder of the Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms campaign settings from TSR, as well as designer of […]

Jeff Richard is the Creative Director for Chaosium, publisher of Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, RuneQuest, and other games using the Basic Roleplaying System. Jeff has worked on numerous roleplaying games, computer games, and board games over the last twenty years. He was the lead […]

Red is a 15-Time #1 International Bestselling, award-winning, 30-year creative professional of 120+ indie- and traditionally-published works. The USAF Veteran Arabic Linguist leads writers’ tracks around the country and guests with Origins Author’s Alcove and Gen Con Writer’s Symposium. As Jeri Shepherd, she pens sci-fi, genre […]

Jim Zub is a writer, artist and art instructor based in Toronto, Canada. Over the past twenty years he’s worked for many gaming companies, including Wizards of the Coast, White Wolf, and Paizo on projects including Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus, Rick and Morty VS […]

Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as ‘spoiling cats.’ When not engaged upon this worthy occupation, she writes fantasy and science fiction books and short stories.  Before breaking away from gainful employment to write full time, Jody worked as a file clerk, […]

Being a child in the 1950’s exposed a young boy to toys and TV shows that inspired the call to heroism: Marx playsets, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, The Adventures of Robin Hood (with Richard Green), and all the movie reruns of Flash Gordon, Captain Blood, etc. Re-enacting adventures with toys […]

Jolly Blackburn is best known as the creator of the comic strip Knights of the Dinner Table.  He launched a gaming magazine called Shadis when he was still serving in the Army.  Knights of the Dinner Table was a strip in the back of Shadis in the tradition […]

Jon Peterson is a role-playing and wargaming historian. He is the author of Playing at the World (2012), The Elusive Shift (2020), and Game Wizards (2021), and provided the images and commentary for Wizards of the Coast’s The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons (2024). He is also co-author of the […]

Jon Pickens is an American game designer and editor who has worked on numerous products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR and later Wizards of the Coast. Jon Pickens was born in Mishawaka, Indiana. In 1968, he was introduced to […]

Keith Baker is best known for creating the Eberron Campaign Setting for Dungeons & Dragons and the storytelling card game Gloom. He’s produced a host of games, novels, and TTRPG supplements. He’s recently released Chronicles of Eberron on the DM’s Guild and the second edition of Illimat with his own company, Twogether Studios. Keith […]

Kelsey Dionne is a critically-acclaimed new and old-school TTRPG designer who founded The Arcane Library in 2017. Her modernized take on OSR gaming, Shadowdark RPG, launched on Kickstarter in 2023. Visit The Arcane Library to find out more and explore her work at: https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/

LaTia Jacquise is a Community Manager for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast, and a Community Review Board member for the nonprofit TakeThis.org, which focuses on decreasing the stigma surrounding mental health and wellness in the games industry and gaming communities. A […]

Best known for the Dragon Dice game and Dark Conspiracy role-playing game, Lester Smith began his game design career in 1985. Since then, he has written or contributed to more game products than he can remember, on project lines from D&D to Star Wars, collecting five Origins Awards, a ZigZag Junior Editors’ award, and […]

Luke Gygax is the son of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) co-creator Gary Gygax, Ennie Award winning designer, and founder of Gary Con®, a memorial convention held in honor of his father every March in their hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Luke literally grew up at […]

Margaret Weis was hired by TSR, Inc as a book editor in 1983. One of her projects was to work with game designer, Tracy Hickman, on a new project known as Dragonlance. She and Tracy wrote the Dragonlance Chronicles novels to go with the […]

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 […]

Matt Finch is a writer and co-owner of Mythmere Games. He was the initial author of OSRIC, the 2006 retro-clone of first edition AD&D, and Swords & Wizardry (based on Original D&D). He is also the author of Tome of Adventure Design and the upcoming additions, Tome of World Building and […]

Matt Forbeck is an award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author and game designer of over thirty-five novels and countless other books and games. His projects have won a Peabody Award, a Scribe Award, and several ENnies and Origins Awards. He also runs the Diana Jones […]

So far in 2025, Merle appeared during a live “Zoom” Interview with Don Semora on February 16, 2025. He can be heard on “This Ol’ Dungeon Episode 50! Our “Golden Anniversary! Interview” with Luau Lou on February 1, 2025. In 2024, Nicholas Seidler mentions […]

Magazines, radio, podcasts, development, and localization: Michael Croitoriu has been in the RPG industry for decades and has done it all. He also created serious games for L’Oréal and Danone, and the Wakfu TCG for Ankama. Now, as the Head of Edge Studio, he […]

Michael Curtis is Director of Product Development for Dungeon Crawl Classics at Goodman Games, overseeing the DCC, Mutant Crawl Classics, Xcrawl Classics, and other product lines since 2021. Before taking on this role, Michael spent more than a decade as a freelance writer and […]

Michael first became involved in wargaming back in early 1972. A friend of his in Boy Scouts invited him to join a tabletop battle game at Don Kaye’s house. That Saturday they played Chainmail on Gary Gygax’s original sand table that had been moved […]

Michael Witwer is a New York Times bestselling author known for his work on the Hugo-nominated Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana, the critically acclaimed Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons, and the bestselling Heroes’ Feast: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cookbook. His most […]

As a teenager, Mike began gaming with the International Federation of Wargamers (IFW) in the 1960s.  He created the game “Fight in the Skies” (FITS), also known as “Dawn Patrol”, and self-published it at the recommendation of Gary Gygax as part of the IFW’s […]

Mike Mearls is the executive producer for roleplaying games at Chaosium, focused on the RuneQuest line. He led the creation of D&D 5th edition and continues to tinker away on TTRPGs of his own design. He has designed award-winning board games, worked on Magic: […]

Malix is a gamer, game designer and game master who has been involved with the hobby for more than 40 years. During his time as a professional designer he worked in-house for TSR, FASA, and Mayfair Games on lines such as D&D, BattleTech, Shadowrun, […]

Mike Reese started miniature wargaming in 1962 using HO scale armor models, 20mm plastic troops, and S scale model train buildings. He first met Gary Gygax through a postal player section in The General, heading 20 miles out to play with Gary and introduce […]

Pat Kilbane was bitten by the roleplaying bug in 1979 with the Holmes D&D Basic Set and has been playing ever since. He has a penchant for the science behind RPG rule mechanics (which led him to create the web series RPG Science) and […]

A long time ago, in the mythical land of Ohio, a nerdy young woman named Penny played role-playing games and dreamed of working for the company that made them. She helped out at conventions and made many friends, both famous and not. Eventually her […]

Rick is the President of Chaosium. His career in the gaming industry started in the mid 90’s when he moved to the UK and helped with the layout for Tales of the Reaching Moon magazine. His Gloranthan and RuneQuest roots stem back to the […]

Roger E. Moore was added to the ranks of TSR, Inc., by Kim Mohan, of blessed memory, in May 1983. From the staff of Dragon Magazine, he wrote articles, novels, short stories, and edited magazines and game products for 17.5 years. His greatest accomplishment […]

In 1977 Rose Estes became the 13th employee of a small company in a small town in Wisconsin called TSR Hobbies. She thought of it as a temporary position until she found another job as a journalist. But things kept happening and time passed. […]

Ross Maker was the first person to play a Dwarf Character in an RPG. He played that same character for roughly 40 years. As part of the Blackmoor Bunch, Ross witnessed the invention and evolution of Arneson’s fantasy campaign. In his real life career […]

Sarah Babe is a long time gamer, actor, public servant, lifelong Wisconsinite, and dice goblin who really wants to know if she can pet your dog. Her most recent projects include playing Ulavina on the official D&D television show, Encounter Party, being a cast member […]

Sarah Moore is the host of Sarah’s Table on GenConTV where she spotlights RPGs created by indie designers and small publishers. She embodies her philosophy of Joyful Gaming by emphasizing safety and comfort at the table while encouraging people to be vulnerable and tell […]

Meet the Harper, Sir Andrew Scott, Co-Creater and Chief Designer – Founders & Legends Tournament. Andrew Scott is proud to represent the Guilds of WARP as their Dungeon Master and founder of the club in 1976. Andrew Scott has held the reins as WARP’s DM […]

Skip Williams is a Wisconsin native who hails from Lake Geneva, also the birthplace of the D&D game. As a kid in school. Skip rubbed elbows with many of the people who developed and influenced the original Dungeons & Dragons game, especially Gary Gygax. […]

Stefan Pokorny is a classically trained painter and sculptor who began running 1st edition D&D games around the age of 14 years old. In 1996, he founded DWARVEN FORGE, a first of its kind modular miniatures terrain company that would go on to fund many […]

Stephen Chenault is the current CEO of Chenault & Gray Publishing & Troll Lord Games. He is an author best known for his work on the world of Aihrde, Castles & Crusades game system, and short fiction. In 1999 he co-founded Troll Lord Games […]

Stephen D. Sullivan is the award-winning author of more than sixty books. But before he turned to writing novels, he worked on DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Basic & Expert, TOP SECRET, and countless other TSR products. He also helped found Pacesetter, creators of CHILL, WABBIT WAMPAGE, and more.  He still dabbles […]

Dr. Monty Martin along with longtime friend Kelly McLaughlin are the Dungeon Dudes. Together they produce video guides and live play series for D&D and more, drawing on three decades of collective experience running and playing tabletop games. MONTY MARTINMonty holds a PhD in Drama, Theatre […]

Todd is an actor, writer, dungeon master. His roles as Captain Liam Shaw in Star Trek: Picard  and Deacon in 12 Monkeys,  he will also be starring alongside Paul Bettany in the upcoming Marvel’s VisionQuest on Disney+. He’s currently co-writer on the video game Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra with […]

Tom Wham is best known for creating whimsical board games that feature his unique artwork.  However, his first design credit is actually a miniatures wargame called “Ironclad”, with Don Lowry, in 1973. Tom worked for Guidon Games when Gary Gygax asked him to run […]

Troy Denning is the New York Times bestselling author of more than forty novels of fantasy and science fiction set in a variety of popular game and movie worlds, including Halo, Star Wars, Dark Sun, and the Forgotten Realms. He began his career directly […]

David “Zeb” Cook joined the TSR design staff in 1979, as employee #24 and through the dint of persistence rose employee #2 or 3 (in senority only) the time he left in 1994.In those years he designed such things as X1: The Isle of Dread (with […]