January 21-23 Cincinnati, Ohio
Special Guests
Alan Bahr
Alan is an RPG and tabletop game designer, life-long gamer, voracious reader, and professional intellectual. He owns and operates Gallant Knight Games and works with other companies, writing, designing, and producing games. He is best known for creating the line of Tiny d6 games, such as Tiny Dungeon 2e, Tiny Supers, and Tiny Cthulhu, but has also created the Zorro RPG game among many others. Alan is currently working on his magnum opus, Salt-Wolves of the Whale-Road, which is a game based on Viking community.
Clinton Boomer
Clinton J. Boomer, known to his friends as 'Booms,' resides in the quaint, leafy, idyllic paradise of Appleton, Wisconsin.
- The 'Team Murderhobo' tweets
- Eve of Dreams & the AWAKE
- STREETS ARE FIGHT!!!
- Uber Alles: The Occult Masked Resistance of Nazi-Occupied London
- Splintered Godhood
- The Hole Behind Midnight
- Coliseum Morpheuon
- Bloodlines & Black Magic
- Twists of Obscenity: Esoterica of the Baali
- The D&D PHB PSAs (on YouTube)
- the Hellcrashers setting
Bill Bridges
Bill is a writer and game designer, most known for developing White Wolf’s World of Darkness setting and the Fading Suns science-fiction universe.
Bill lives near Atlanta, GA, wondering how in the world he survives the humidity. When he’s not playing RPGs or reading comics, he serves as a Fellow at Atlanta’s Mythic Imagination Institute and sits on the boards of the C.G. Jung Society of Atlanta and the Broadleaf Writers Association.
As one of the original crew behind the landmark World of Darkness property, Bill helmed the Werewolf: the Apocalypse line of books and games. He served as Senior Content Designer on CCP Games’ World of Darkness MMO and was the lead designer of the award-winning Storytelling system rules for White Wolf’s Chronicles of Darkness. He created the Mage: the Awakening and Promethean: the Created settings and developed numerous books in the Mage: the Ascension game series.
Bill also serves as the lead developer for Ullisses’ Fading Suns setting, featured in Segasoft’s Emperor of the Fading Suns computer game, a line of RPG books, fiction anthologies, miniatures games, as well as the forthcoming PC game, Noble Armada.
His fiction works include My Time Among the Stars for Fading Suns, and The Silver Crown, The Last Battle, and The Song of Unmaking novels for Werewolf. Bill contributed to world design for Segasoft’s Emperor of the Fading Suns computer game and co-wrote the scripts for Viacom’s interactive horror movie Dracula Unleashed and Interplay’s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
He’s still waiting for his owl-mail invitation to a hidden wizard school. In the meantime, he consoles himself by reading all manner of esoteric writings, as well as the wizardly works of C.G. Jung.
Phil Brucato
Satyros Phil Brucato (he/they), aka Satyr, has been publishing professionally in various media since 1989. Best-known to gamers as the co-creator of Mage: The Ascension (including Mage 20th Anniversary Edition), Mage: The Sorcerer’s Crusade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Vampire: The Dark Ages, Changeling: The Dreaming, and Wraith: The Oblivion – as well as the creator of Deliria: Faerie Tales for a New Millennium and Powerchords: Music, Magic & Urban Fantasy – Satyr co-created the urban fantasy film series Strowlers, and has written for Weird Tales, Realms of Fantasy, Steampunk Tales, Witches & Pagans, newWitch Magazine, a variety of RPG publishers, and a host of anthologies, websites, newspapers, and blogs. Under the name Cedar Blake, they’ve also released erotica, paranormal romance, and metaphysical nonfiction through several publishers.
Classically trained as a Method actor, Satyr incorporates theatre techniques and experience into their RPG work. With their wife and business partner Sandra Damiana Swan, Satyr owns Quiet Thunder Productions and releases a variety of multimedia projects.
Sam Chupp
Sam is a writer and game designer living in Atlanta. He co-created Wraith: the Oblivion and Changeling: the Dreaming and contributed to the design of Mage: the Ascension and Werewolf: the Apocalypse. He is also known for writing the biblical verses in "The Book of Nod." Sam publishes several system-agnostic sourcebooks for fantasy games through SamChuppMedia.com. His latest release is "The Book of the Kiss" featuring art by the Hugo-award-winning Elizabeth Leggett. A pan, polyam, UU Skepti-Pagan, he shares his life with his two partners Psyche & Fae, and their four cats. He is currently designing a PBTA game called "Silken" which is a fantasy game of romance & intrigue.
John J. Cobb
Chicago-born and Cincinnati-raised artist, John J. Cobb, was among the first wave of White Wolf illustrators with his work in the 1991 release of “Ashes to Ashes” which was the first adventure module for “Vampire: The Masquerade.” From there he was very prolific throughout the 1990s and early 2000s across all of the “World of Darkness” titles but was most noted for his work in Wraith as well as the 1995 release of the “VTM: Clanbook: Tzimisce.” Considered one of the more sketchy, quirky, and whimsical of the early White Wolf artists, some people loved it while others not so much. More recently he has contributed to various editions for Onyx Path’s 20th Anniversary World of Darkness publications.
Aside from White Wolf, he was also very active in the 1990’s Cincinnati music scene creating art for bands, in particular, the regionally popular Satanic jug-band “Hogscraper.” In the past few years, he has enjoyed painting in mixed media and selling his work at regional folk art markets. You can check out some of his recent work on his Facebook page “Art of JCobb.”
Rich Dansky
With two decades’ experience in video games, Richard Dansky has contributed to over 40 titles in iconic franchises like Ghost Recon, Might & Magic, Splinter Cell, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, His most recent credit was on Tom Clancy’s The Division 2.
Richard Dansky worked for four years as a game developer for White Wolf, Inc. where he was a developer of games such as Wraith: The Oblivion and Vampire: The Dark Ages. He also worked on the Mind's Eye Theatre, Kindred of the East, and Orpheus game lines. He has written, designed, or otherwise contributed to over a hundred role-playing sourcebooks. He is also credited with creating the humorous t-shirt which reads "Don't Tell Me About Your Character", a reference to the habit many role-playing game enthusiasts have of talking at length about their player-characters. His writing has also appeared in sources such as the Green Man Review and Lovecraft Studies.
Richard is also the developer of the 20th anniversary edition of the acclaimed tabletop RPG Wraith: The Oblivion, and has published seven novels and one short story collection, including Clan Novel Lasombra and the Trilogy of the Second Age for Exalted. A former executive of the IGDA Game Writing SIG, he serves on the advisory board on the Game Narrative Summit at GDC.
He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his mathematically improbable collections of books and single malt scotches.
Raven Evermoor
Hi, I’m Raven and I’ve worked as an artist on many projects with companies such as Fehu Games, Frog God Games, and Pacesetter Games, to name a few. I’ve also worked with many wonderful individuals on personal projects and logos for businesses, including the lovely Ice & Dice logo this year!
Andrew Greenberg
Andrew Greenberg, executive director of the Georgia Game Developers Association, has been making his living as a game developer since 1990. Best known for designing computer games and roleplaying games, Andrew is lead developer on the recently released Fading Suns: Noble Armada video game. Andrew co-created the “Fading Suns” roleplaying and computer games and was the original developer of White Wolf’s “Vampire: The Masquerade.” He has credits on more than 50 White Wolf products and more than 20 HDI books.
He has also worked on products with other roleplaying game companies, including “Star Trek Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine.” His computer game credits include Dracula Unleashed, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Emperor of the Fading Suns, Warhammer 40K: Final Liberation, Merchant Prince II, Mall Tycoon, Dungeon Crawlers, Dungeon Lords, The Virtual World of Kaneva, Railroad Tycoon Mobile, and the Global Agenda MMO.
A fellow with the Mythic Imagination Institute, Andrew is also the organizer of the Southern Interactive Entertainment and Games Expo (SIEGE). He chairs the DeKalb Entertainment Commission and serves on the board of the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Office.
Jason M. Hardy
Jason M. Hardy wanders the moors late at night, slipping soundlessly through the mist, accompanied by blood-chilling moans that may come from him or may just be the way the air reacts to his passing. Legends say that if you approach him on the night of the new moon, holding a bundle of dried rosemary, a lock of Aleister Crowley’s hair, and a bottle of powdered shiitake mushrooms grown from a dead tree decomposing over the remains of a martyred saint, he will tell you the secrets of the universe, though experience has shown he usually just recites the solution to that day’s Junior Jumble.
He also has developed the Shadowrun role-playing game for Catalyst Game Labs for more than a decade, and he designed the Our Cartoon President game for Redshift. He has published six novels, dozens of short stories, and a resource guide for aliens stranded on earth. He has another role-playing game in the works that he hopes will be announced before the convention occurs.
Jesse Heinig
Jesse "Jess" Heinig is an American game designer best known for working on the Mage: The Ascension series of games in the early 2000s, including development for Mage: The Ascension Revised Edition until 2002. In addition to Mage, Jesse has written material for over a dozen other White Wolf books. Since then he has worked on several other role-playing games and served as a programmer for Fallout 1.
David Hoffrichter
David is an illustrator and art director for 2 Kings Games who resides in Pennsylvania just outside of Philadelphia. He works primarily in Oil paint and loves to create imagery of medieval fantasy themes that deal with myth and legend. He finds inspiration from the Golden Age of Illustration from such artists as NC Wyeth, Howard Pyle, and Jessie Wilcox Smith, to name a few.
Mark Jackson
A staple of the gaming industry, Mark’s illustrations have appeared in White Wolf’s “World of Darkness” game line, Isaac Asimov’s “History of Ibotics”, H. P. Lovecraft’s Mythos card game from Chaosium, Holistic Design Inc. Games and Robert E. Howard’s “Black Reaper” from Millennium comics.
Chantel Jones
One of the biggest things I dislike in life is when someone says, "So tell me about yourself." Then one day Randy comes to me and says, "Hey, can you tell me about yourself?" and I say %Q#$%^.
Whenever I jump into a new gaming group or on Discord--when the server has an introduction--I fall back on, "Hi! I am Chantel and I wear miniskirts to play and write D&D." My other response is, "I am just a gay lady that wants to play D&D." But something tells me Randy wants more than that so here it goes...
Hi, I am Chantel I am (you never ask a woman her age) years old. I play all the D&D’s and yes that includes the one we won’t talk about. That being said 1e is home and I have been playing it since 1989 when my dad, uncle, and best friend all played at Tracy Hickman’s house. Now, I write my own adventures for all the D&D’s and other RPGs.
Keith Kappel
Keith Ryan Kappel is a regular freelancer for Fantasy Flight Games/Edge Studio on their Star Wars and Genesys Tabletop Roleplaying Games, and has a BA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago. Outside his writing career, Keith served in the United States Navy as an Intelligence Specialist (97-01) at both Naval Space Command and onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Now, the only thing Keith serves is a cold drink at the neighborhood pub in Rogers Park, Chicago.
Tim Kask
Tim Kask was born and raised in Moline, Illinois, on January 14, 1949. At age 11, he became interested in Avalon Hill's board wargame D-Day, and played it frequently for three years. During a four-year stint with the US Navy (1967–1971) during the Vietnam war, he often played 1914, another Avalon Hill game. He married his wife Cheryl in 1970, and they have a daughter, a son, and many wonderful grandbabies and great grandbabies.
After leaving the Navy, Kask attended Southern Illinois University’s campus in Carbondale, Illinois. While there, he was introduced to miniature wargaming, including Chainmail. Tim phoned Chainmail author Gary Gygax with some questions about the game. This developed into a series of long late-night phone conversations about miniatures rules that eventually resulted in Gygax's invitation to Tim to come to the Gen Con gaming convention in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. There he finally met Gygax in person for the first time. At the time, Gygax was co-developing the rules for a new type of game that he called "The Fantasy Game". Tim sat in on the two sample sessions that Gygax offered, thereby becoming one of the first people outside of Gygax's family and friends to play what would become Dungeons & Dragons.
Shortly after that Gen Con, Gygax hired him as the first employee of TSR, Inc. in 1975. After editing some of TSR's early D&D publications, Tim became editor of The Strategic Review, which later became The Dragon, and then Dragon Magazine.
In 2006 Tim was a celebrity auctioneer, with Frank Mentzer, at Gen Con Indy. He joined Mentzer as a special guest at the Lake Geneva Gaming Convention in 2007 and 2008.
At the KC Game Fair in November 2010, Kask announced his return to the games industry as one of the founders (with Mentzer, Jim Ward and Chris Clark) of Eldritch Enterprises, which would publish a variety of general works as well as new creations for role-playing games.
Tim currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife, Cheryl.
Adam Lake
Adam is a Cincinnati native who gave AD&D a try as a young teenager but THAC0 was “wacko” and picked up a copy of Vampire: The Dark Ages and the rest is history.
He is an educational sign language interpreter by day and vampire geek extraordinaire by night! Adam is an RPG streamer on Weave the Tale, ZweihanderRPG, and TTRP Theater. Hosting actual plays of Sinners & Saints, Vengeance & Vaulderie, The Nuadan Chronicles: The Lost Ilse of Mist, Van Helsing 1776, The Vampire Interprets Talk Show to name a few. Catch Adam at Ice & Dice Gaming Convention where he will host World of Darkness alumni in a Q&A Panel. Don’t miss it!
Ian Lemke
Ian Lemke is a game developer for Green Ronin Publishing and is responsible for The Expanse Roleplaying Game line. He has written for The Expanse line since the core rulebook and has also contributed writing to Blue Rose. Ian has been developing games (both tabletop RPGs and computer games) since 1993. He’s worked as a writer or developer for many companies including White Wolf, FASA, Modiphius, Zenimax Online, and more. He got his start running Vampire LARPs and ran a fantasy LARP for 10 years and loves all things sci-fi and fantasy.
Ian lives in the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, with his wonderful wife (who secretly gives him a lot of his best ideas), a dog named Shakespeare, a rabbit named Marlowe, and several chickens.
Carlos Lising
carlos a.s. lising is the lead game designer and owner of casl Entertainment®: A role-playing game publisher located in Painesville, Ohio, producing adventure modules, supplements, and other RPG-related products across an ever-expanding number of systems and genres. He was reportedly last seen in the World of Greyhawk, but has agreed to plane shift to the Prime Material Plane, in order to attend Ice & Dice.
Jenna Marie
Jenna Marie hails from Madison, Wisconsin, and has been playing tabletop role-playing games since she was 8 years old. Jenna is a professional podcaster and artisan dice maker. Jenna plays characters on Crumpets and Kerosene and The LostLorne Chronicles and often co-hosts on the Maximum Roll Entertainment podcast. Jenna is the owner of Chaotic Click Clacks which specializes in crafting handmade, artisan dice and other geek crafts. In her daily life, Jenna works as a mental healthcare provider and is working toward becoming a certified Therapeutic Dungeon Master with the goal of providing RPG-based therapeutic interventions in her community.
Andrew Marlowe
Andrew Marlowe placed in the Top 16 of RPG Superstar in 2012 and 2014, one of the few contestants to get that far in the competition twice. He has contributed to many Paizo and third party Pathfinder products, including the Pathfinder Player Companion line’s Dirty Tactics Toolbox. He is currently publishing original settings and live streaming under Marlowe House and contributes to the Know Direction Network.
Monica Marlowe
Monica Marlowe is the 2015 Paizo RPG Superstar. Winning the contest launched her freelance game designing career. Her winning adventure, "Down the Blighted Path" and PFS scenario "Captive in Crystal" are available through Paizo. She’s publishing additional gaming materials under Marlowe House and through 3rd party publishers. Monica’s driving goal is to help and encourage all gamers, veteran and new, to find their voices, tell their stories, and feel empowered to create inclusive content.
Tadd McDivitt
Tadd has been playing role-playing games for over 40 years. In that time, he's done almost every aspect of the business from writing White Wolf and D&D products, to being behind the counter at a local game shop. He's done demonstrations for new games & content at conventions and has playtested a LOT of rules before they are sent to print.
Owner of "Hollow Hills productions" a LARP production company that has run massively inclusive Live-action role-playing games at conventions and other events along the southeast. He lives in Marshall, North Carolina with his wife Simone, and his son Demian. When not musing game-related subjects, Tadd is a Paranormal investigation researcher, and operates "Haunted Asheville Ghost tours", telling legions of tourists about the ghost stories and other supernatural folklore of the Smokey Mountains.
Jeffrey McDonald
Jeffrey is an international-selling artist. Splitting his time between the US and Africa. Incorporating inspiration from his travels into the fantastical realism paintings that he creates.
Lloyd Metcalf
Lloyd is CEO of Fehu Games (Formerly Fail Squad Games), Apple Con, Maximum HP zine, art director for Gary Con, staff artist for NTRPG Con. He has illustrated and written for a long list of third-party-publishers in the RPG industry.
Chet Minton
Chet Minton is a freelance Illustrator and Graphic Artist specializing in Fantasy, Science Fiction, Steam Punk-Gothic Art, and Adult Coloring Books. Classically trained, he is able to work both traditionally and digitally with more than 25 years of publishing and printing experience. From whimsical, light-hearted anthropomorphic animals to the more intense, serious role-playing game drama, his fantastical images have embellished works by top gaming companies such as 2 Kings Games, casl Entertainment, RPG Crate, Fireside Creations, WOTC, and many more.
Jonathan G. Nelson
Owner of AAW Games, Jonathan is an award-winning author, game designer, and publisher. History includes being a drummer/songwriter in a professional touring rock band produced by Michael Barbiero with a video on MTV, a chef in local Seattle restaurants, and a father/step-father to four amazing kids.
NERDARCHY
If Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games is what you are looking for than - Welcome to Nerdarchy: For Nerds. By Nerds. We discuss many aspects of storytelling, world-building and game mechanics, game master and player tips, and even answer viewer questions about your game through our GM 911 series. Collectively, we have nearly a century of gaming experience and we've always loved discussing the RPG hobby- now we're just doing it in front of a camera! We've made over 1,000 gaming related videos and there's no end in sight with 2 videos uploaded Monday-Friday, tabletop RPG game plays on the weekends and a weekly wrap-up on Sundays to point you in the direction of anything you may have missed from last week- subscribe and you can notified when a new video is posted. So buckle-up your armor, sharpen your sword, and join us in Ted's basement!
Brian W. Parker
Brian grew up in Alaska, then Mississippi, and has always been in love with storytelling in every medium. He earned a BFA in graphic design & illustration and an MA in writing & publishing. Brian now spends his days working in youth publishing (so cool, right?) through his company, Believe In Wonder, which he co-owns with his wife, Josie. He is the author of Crow in the Hollow, You Can Rely on Platypi, and co-author of Obi The Changeling, The Epic of Nicholas the Maker, and The Wonderous Science.
Nicky Rea
Named for two queens of England, Nicky Rea was born much smaller than she is today in western North Carolina. She was adopted at age 3 months. She chose the first name of Nicky (short for nickname) when no other nicknames seemed to fit. As a rebellious kid, she ran away from school in the first grade, so it’s no surprise she eventually got a college degree in Drama.
She moved to Boston where she worked for Harvard and played in several rock bands. After one humongous snow too many, she moved back to her western Carolina mountains where she played in rock bands, folk-rock ensembles, and traditional Irish and British Isles bands.
She also wrote for various TSR® lines such as AD&D, Spelljammer, Al Qadim, and others, as well as for White Wolf® (Mage, Vampire, Wraith, Werewolf, and most notably Changeling, which she also developed for a time). She has also written for numerous other gaming companies, co-designed the Mage Tarot, and co-developed Ravenloft for a time. Nicky eventually admitted she was just a gaming slut. Many of her works were co-authored with Jackie Cassada, gaining them the title “the dreaded, two-headed Asheville freelance monster.” Their last writing partnership was the fourth book in the Immortal Eyes Trilogy, Cup of Dreams. (yeah, we can't count). After the death of her partner of 57 years, Jackie, from COVID, Nicky still lives in western North Carolina with many memories and seven demanding cats. Her current work (soon forthcoming) is Seasons: the Fae of Aeralon for 2 Kings Games.
Mark Rein-Hagen
Mark is an award-winning roleplaying, card, computer, and board game designer, best known as the creator of the roleplaying game Vampire: The Masquerade and the World of Darkness and its associated games, including Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Changeling: The Dreaming, and Wraith: The Oblivion. Rein•Hagen is also the co-designer of award-winning Ars Magica. A TV show Kindred: The Embraced based on Vampire was produced by Aaron Spelling and shown on Fox TV with Rein•Hagen serving as a writer/producer. He was on the board of directors of Wizards of the Coast when Magic: The Gathering was released to the world. He founded Atomoton and created Z-G, the first collectible action figure game, and helped create a virtual reality game VRZ: Torment. An advocate for the use of games as teaching tools and their integration into academic curricula and corporate training, and high school teaching, he designed a board game called Democracy: Majority Rules. Mark is the CEO of Make Believe Games, publishers of I Am Zombie, and Sigil & Sign (a Lovecraftian RPG where you play the monster), and he is also the CEO of Lostlorn Games and the creator and creative director of dark fantasy setting, Lostlorn: The Accursed which will start with a swashbuckling adventure game called Badlanders and follow up a vampire game called Fangknight. Mark lives in Tbilisi, Georgia where he works as a political and media consultant with his wife and three children.
Jaye Sonia
Owner of Storm Bunny Studios, Designer of the Rhune world, and Bloodlines & Black Magic. Author of the World of Alessia world book, and a guest writer at various RPG publishers.
Daniel Vance
Daniel is an artist, writer, and educator. Originally from South Dakota, he is a long-time gamer, who cut his teeth on 1st edition AD&D back in the seventies. He currently writes 3rd party adventures for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, such as Temple of the Hamster, Escape from the Demon Inn, Mother’s Maze, and Arawn’s Challenge.
Jim Wampler
Jim is the head guy at Mudpuppy Games, the writer and creator of Mutant Crawl Classics RPG for Goodman Games, and the author of the Marvin the Mage comic strip.
Kevin Watson
Kevin is the owner of Dark Naga Adventures which is a small publisher focused on 5th Edition adventures based in Memphis, Tennessee. He has been gaming since 1980 when he played a cleric in a heavily home-brewed version of AD&D at a boy scout event. Moved to Basic D&D early the next year and behind the screen more or less permanently with the release of the Moldvay boxed set later that year. Over many editions, and many side treks into other genres and systems, he returned to Dungeons and Dragons just before 5th Edition started to playtest under the title “Next” and began publishing for 5e in 2016.
Kelly Williams
Kelly Williams, BS., is an entrepreneur, podcast executive producer, and host. Kelly is also the CEO of Maximum Roll Entertainment LLC. A Podcast Network. Kelly is also the Chief Operations Officer of Lostlorn Games. Kelly is a professional Dungeons & Dragons Game Master and storyteller and has been playing tabletop role-playing games for more than 33 years.
Podcast Host and Editor: Crumpets & Kerosene, Maximum Roll Entertainment, and Legends: New Tales of The Ascended Core.
Podcast Producer: Babies & Broadswords, Constructed Chaos, and Lostlorn Chronicles.
Travis Williams
Travis Williams began his career in entertainment in 1990 as one of the co-creators of Ars Magica 3rd Edition and the World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage). As a game producer, Travis has produced diverse products: popular fighting games (Super Street Fighter II Turbo, X-Men Children of the Atom), award-winning Adventure games (Hell, Bureau 13, Sanitarium), Massively Multiplayer Online Games (The Matrix Online, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, DC Universe) and Social gaming (PAIN) on the PlayStation 3. Travis recently served as the Vice President of Gaming at Lightstorm Entertainment Inc., where he was responsible for Titanic, Alita, and Avatar game franchises across all digital media (PC, Console, and location-based entertainment.) He is currently the Head of Third Party Production for Oculus VR.