Category: Gaming Guest (Page 1 of 2)

Dr. J. “Cal” Baldari

March 29, 2025 / ravenchair

Dr. Cal Baldari is a retired U.S. Army Sapper and military instructor turned professor of ethics. His research credits include alternative military ethics, Aristotelian excellence, moral conflict in literature, implicit bias mitigation, modern heroics, RPG morality, and many others. He has published both academically and creatively, with author credits in short military science fiction and fantasy, as well as philosophy. As an avid table-top role-player, Cal has run games for over a dozen systems professionally, and many more for fun. He also runs BEC Ltd., which provides expert services for authors, game designers, and comics writers; advising on ethics and consequences both within the stories they write and the effect it has on the reader. Finally, Cal is firmly entrenched in the battle to bring diversity and inclusivity to fandom. His work on implicit bias often references the broadening of “geek culture” and the awesome efforts many geeks have put forward to make this hobby one in which everyone, absolutely everyone, can enjoy it with impunity.

James E. Deeley

March 23, 2025 / ravenchair

Jim Deeley is the founder and lead writer at Apotheosis Games & Publishing and also publishes his own work under the impression of Apotheosis Adventures. A passionate fan of fantasy, science fiction, and history since his early boyhood days climbing castle towers all across England, Jim’s life was forever changed one fateful autumn night in 2000 when he was invited to join a game of Vampire: the Masquerade at his local comic book shop; over the 20+ years since then, he has been trying to run the perfect role-playing campaign. While Jim hasn’t managed that yet, he has developed a series of panels on writing and running tabletop RPGs that he is working on turning into at least one book if not a series. Jim has also written for a number of game publishers both great and small, and has recently quit his second job to become a full-time professional Game Master, running games almost every night of the week—doing what he loves and getting paid for it! Jim Deeley holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Christopher Newport University with a minor in Theatre Arts, with graduate work completed in International Studies at Old Dominion University, all of which informs his writing. When he’s not working for The Man by day and Living the Dream by night, Jim enjoys reading and writing fantasy and historical fiction, video games, comic books, bad sci-fi and fantasy movies, anime, hacking/slashing/shooting arrows at stuff in the backyard and attending comic book conventions, Highland Games, Renaissance Faires, and Pirate Festivals with his beloved, equally nerdy wife—in full kit, of course.

You can follow all the things Jim is up to at linktr.ee/renaissnceman.

Harry “Jack” Heckel

March 11, 2025 / ravenchair

Harry Heckel started writing role-playing games as a freelancer in the ’90s and never looked back. Today, he co-authors two series of novels as Jack Heckel and co-authors Warhammer 40k books as Lee Lightner. He can usually be found at RavenCon carrying a stuffed dragon named Magdela. He’s also Vice-President of the Virginia Writers Club. You can find him at HarryHeckel.com.

Frank “Uncle Grayhawk” Huminski

March 10, 2025 / ravenchair

Uncle Grayhawk originally hails from south-central New Jersey (not far from Philly) and is a former professional theater technician who now makes a living as a senior Windows admin for a secret branch of the federal government that resides within the walls of NOAA.

Or something like that.

More than forty years ago, Uncle Grayhawk opened a Christmas present to find a blue and white box sporting a picture of a dragon, bearing the title of “Dungeons & Dragons”. This jump-started a long time love affair with TTRPGs, with much of his time spent in the DM’s chair. In the early 90s, he was introduced to fan conventions and began volunteering, mostly in the realms of gaming, Security/Public Safety, and Operations.

Now, nearly three decades later, Uncle Grayhawk has served on the demo teams for several game companies, helped run more conventions than he cares to remember, amassed what can only be described as a ridiculous number of board games and TTRPGs, and acquired an equally absurd repertoire of stories that he uses to entertain and educate. He has contributed to a few RPG supplements, playtested several board games, and dabbled in podcasting. He holds a BA in Communications & Theater Arts from McDaniel College, is the parent of two adult geeks, and runs a weekly online D&D game.

You can find his ramblings on the web here: linktr.ee/unclegrayhawk.

Jonah Knight

March 7, 2025 / ravenchair

In early 2025, Jonah began exploring the supernatural in a new way: a storytelling magic show. In The New England Spirit Sessions, Jonah travels throughout New England telling true ghost stories augmented with magical effects. He will be performing a selection from this show (including the story of Edgar Allan Poe’s ghost, frequently seen in Providence, RI) as well as a number of other bizarre magical tricks.

Jonah is also a published ttrpg writer. Most recently he has a campaign published for the game Brindlewood Bay. His actual play podcast, Roll to Meddle, has featured Brindlewood Bay for the past three years. He will be GMing a game or two here at the con.

He also loves escape rooms, having designed and built one himself. You might find him hanging about the RavenCon escape room.

Aaron Laniewicz

March 5, 2025 / ravenchair

Creator, Innovator, Putterer, Cat Dad, Pajama Pants Enthusiast

We can make it better, faster, funnier. I just need to make one more prototype first. Maybe two.

Favorite Quote/Family Motto: “Once again, I snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Orthane Productions

February 27, 2025 / ravenchair

Orthane Productions is a tabletop role-playing game studio creating The Kingdom of Keshanar. This is a fantastical re-imagining of what ancient Egypt could have been in a TTRPG world where the magic, the gods, and the monsters are real. Brought to you by an international crew of writers, game designers, artists, and historians, this D&D 5e campaign setting is even vetted by a PhD Egyptologist. Find out more at Keshanar.com.

Carrie Jo Patton

February 27, 2025 / ravenchair

Carrie Jo Patton hosts the Unicorn Company Podcast, a BattleTech focused miniatures gaming podcast and YouTube channel. Her YouTube channel focuses primarily on miniatures, miniature games, and BattleTech fiction reviews. Her podcast covers a variety of topics, from BattleTech lore and technology, to the intersection of the LGBTQ community and gaming. She has also helped to playtest a number of rulebooks and supplements for Catalyst Game Labs, including the Alpha Strike Commander’s Edition and PseudoTech: Arcade Operations. In addition to her tabletop gaming experience, she is an established commission painter having won local awards, and placed in convention painting competitions. She is also an experienced 3D printing enthusiast, having worked with both FDM and resin printing.

In her personal life, Carrie enjoys reading, trying to paint original art on canvas, spending time with her partners, petting cats, and of course painting little plastic stompy robots. She has a interest in military history, going back to her childhood, when her parents bought her an over 400-page tome detailing the events of Pearl Harbor. Carrie has played everything from modern miniatures and board games to Avalon Hill games such as Victory in the Pacific, she also has a history of fundraising, having organized fundraisers for the Trevor Project, and having raised over $15,000 dollars to help at risk LGBTQ youth.

Pushing Dragons

February 26, 2025 / ravenchair

We are Pushing Dragons, a Dungeons and Dragons live play with a twist. We take elements of cosplay, live action role-play, and improv to create a hilarious and interactive D&D adventure. Using a stripped-down version of 5th Edition, the audience rolls on behalf of the player characters and can influence the player’s actions.

Unlike other live plays, we don’t sit around the table. Our game is performed on a stage with the players and monsters often venturing into the audience. It is an exciting and energetic experience with a lot of audience participation.

Sean Devereux and Brad McMurran are the creators of Pushing Dragons: An Improvised Dungeons & Dragons Adventure. When they aren’t playing Dungeons & Dragons they can be found performing at the Push Comedy Theater. The duo have been performing sketch and improv comedy for nearly 20 years. Both studied at The Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater in New York City. In 2014, they opened the Push Comedy Theater in Norfolk, VA where they just celebrated two years of sold-out shows. The show has also made appearances at the Virginia Beach Funny Bone, MarsCon, Tidewater Comicon, and our own Dragon Faire.

Jack Valentine

February 19, 2025 / ravenchair

Jack is the Vice-Chair of the Modern Enigma Society Board of Directors. He has more than thirty years of gaming and LARP experience. Having been a storyteller since he was a little kid, about fourteen years ago he began putting his work on paper. In addition to working as a freelance editor, he returned to his childhood dream of being a writer, and has now written more than fifty short novels, many of them spicy romances, under his pen names, available on Amazon.