Gary Con 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 epic length adventures, Sea King’s Malice and The End of Everything. […]

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 whose credits most recently include More Prepared! by Kobold Press, as well as Dreams […]

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 Warner Brothers; gaming and interactive studios such as Netherrealm (Mortal Kombat), Gearbox, Riot […]

Best known for C2: Ghost Tower of Inverness, Allen Hammack has contributed to over 100 products as author, designer, editor, or developer. He writes often on using myths and legends of the world in gaming: three books on the subject, the Viking Gods boardgame, and was a chief editor of Dungeon Masters Guide and Deities […]

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 Software, Gygax Magazine, Golden Goblin Press, Troll Lord Games, and Frog […]

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 for numerous publishers, including Wizards of the Coast, Modiphius, Paizo, and […]

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. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Symmetra in […]

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 and your players, or readers, to experience your world in ways […]

Antonio Canobbio is the Chief Creative Officer of Titmouse, Inc., a multi-hyphenated animation studio and pop culture brand with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Vancouver.   As the CCO, Canobbio oversees the creative direction of all Titmouse projects including Star Trek: Lower Decks, The Legend of Vox Machina, Venture Bros., Scavengers Reign and Big […]

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 both honors the source material and introduces new viewers to the […]

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 on the Hill: 3rd Edition and Chucky: The Board Game. She […]

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 has collaborated on the Mycroft Holmes, Ian Fleming, and Madame Vernet […]

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 others. He has written many adventures and RPG source books, including […]

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 as a part-time illustrator who has worked for companies such as […]

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 writers who has written official products for all editions of the […]

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 over two decades, with over two million published words across numerous […]

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 creating hit shows for MTV such as Beavis and Butt-head, Daria […]

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 Divisions, column art for The Dragon, ads, calendars, as well as […]

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 award winning RPG games including HackMaster, Aces and Eights, the Monty […]

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 began DMing his first campaign the very next weekend. In 1982 […]

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 (RPGA) network, and has been Gen Con Game Fair guest of […]

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 a designer for many TORG and Star Wars projects. He also […]

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 the Pathfinder Society Organized Play program, and is the Chief Creative […]

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 including MicroProse, Hasbro, and Toys For Bob/Activision; notable titles include Star […]

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 is currently the Creative Lead for Legends of Greyhawk and the […]

Jason Charles Miller is a critically acclaimed and highly accomplished singer/songwriter and an award winning voice actor. As a voice actor he has appeared in hundreds of productions such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, Attack on Titan, The Outer Worlds 2, Star Trek Online and many chapters of the Final Fantasy series. His music has […]

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 the TSR Art Department (the creators of Dungeons&Dragons.) At TSR, he […]

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 are familiar. Some of Jeff’s notable works include the cover art […]

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 Al-Qadim, Spelljammer, Manual of the Planes, and the original Marvel Super […]

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 designer for the current edition of RuneQuest with Greg Stafford, Steve […]

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, book-keeper at a small publishing house, freelance journalist and photographer, accounting […]

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 graduated to playing wargames, first with Milton Bradley’s Battle-Cry!, leading to Avalon […]

Jon Peterson is widely recognized as an authority on the history of games, best known as the author of Playing at the World, The Elusive Shift, and Game Wizards. He also co-authored Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana, Heroes’ Feast: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cookbook, and Heroes’ Feast Flavors of the Multiverse. He has contributed to academic anthologies on games, including […]

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 can be found online at Twogetherstudios.com, or on Twitter as @HellcowKeith.

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 TTRPG enthusiast to the bone, she’s had past lives as 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 a Games 100 Best along the way.  Since his “retirement,” Les has published […]

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 the gaming table with the designers that laid the foundation of […]

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 D&D game adventures. They celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Dragonlance this […]

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, […]

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 Award Foundation and is the father of five, including a set […]

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 Merle Rasmussen in Zepo Publishing’s first book, “How to Celebrate Your […]

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 supervises all things RPG-related for Asmodee. Legend has it that 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 designer in the gaming industry. Michael is best known for his […]

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 from 330 Center St. into Don’s garage. Sometime in late 1972, […]

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 Wargame Inventors Guild (WGIG) in 1968.  FITS was later published by […]

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: the Gathering, and is still pretty amazed at how lucky he […]

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, DC Heroes, Chill, Underground, and Role Aids. As a freelancer he […]

Appearing as a mild mannered game designer, Mike Pondsmith is in reality a Time Lord from the Far Future, here to warn all of us of a reality involving Giant Robots, cyber-enhanced Boostergangers, and an Invasion of Teenagers From Outer Space. When not involved in his day job of Saving The Future of Humanity, he […]

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 him to WWII skirmish gaming. During this time Reese developed his […]

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 dream came true, with an offer to work for TSR, Inc. […]

Rick Meints is the President of Chaosium and the head of its Nostalgia Department. Rick started playing D&D in the 70s, along with Gamma World and Boot Hill. He started playing Chaosium’s RPG in the late 70s, first with RuneQuest, followed by Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer. An avid collector of Chaosium’s games, he is the author of […]

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 he has been a game designer and computer programmer. As a […]

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 on Theatre of the Mind Players actual play, and her new […]

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 a collaborative story. Sarah is a contributing writer on The Vanishing Lands, […]

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 since the beginning of 1978.  He has DMed an unbroken campaign […]

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. After college, Skip did a stint with TSR, Inc. organizing the […]

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 hugely successful Kickstarter campaigns. Game Tiles were the FIRST modular 3-D […]

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 with his brother Davis Chenault and longtime friend Mac Golden. He […]

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 in game creation—including DR. CUSHING’S CHAMBER OF HORRORS RPG and an upcoming DINOSAUR RPG—and comics, […]

Tom DeSanto is the founding writer/producer behind some of the biggest franchises in movie history (Transformers, X-Men). DeSanto’s films have grossed over $6 billion dollars worldwide with billions more in licensing, merchandising, and video games. The proud owner of more than 40,000 comic books and a self-described pop culture junkie, DeSanto dreamed of bringing the […]

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 the auction at Gen Con IV.  A few years later, in […]

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 the late Tom Moldvay), the D&D Expert Set, Oriental Adventures, the AD&D 2nd […]