A Huge Welcome to our Special Guests!
Aaron Burkett
Aaron Burkett (he/him) is a writer hailing from Houston, Texas. These days he's also the Line Manager for RIFTS for Savage Worlds. His work dwells on apocalypse, opportunity, self-righteousness, and the sins we did for a dollar.
Mark Carroll
Mark Carroll (7th Sea, World's Largest Dungeon, Mutants and Masterminds, CAIRN, Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, John Carter, Star Trek Adventures, Hammer & Stake) is a freelance writer and designer living in Austin, Texas. Being taught to game by a roving band of ex-convicts playing Pacesetter's CHILL horror RPG has forever dominated his path. His current project is New Horizons, an epic setting book for the Prowlers and Paragons superhero RPG.
He lives with his wife and two cats, none of whom are surely plotting against him. His players might be, though.
Preston Dubose
Preston DuBose has been writing for the TTRPG industry for more than twenty years. He has written and edited a number of titles for the Savage Worlds game system, most notably East Texas University (co-authored). His body of work also includes short fiction and comic book scripts, and he is currently working on his first full length novel. He is a native Texan and has been attending ChupacabraCon since its second year.
Robin English-Bircher
Robin English-Bircher celebrates 10 years working with TTRPGs and playing for 40. In those 10 years, she’s worked on a variety of Savage Worlds products, as writer, editor, designer, and line manager. She wrote for Wiseguys, Rippers (Expedition Amazon), Starbreaker, and Interface Zero. She overssw product lines as writer and editor for Savage Rifts (Blood and Banes, Arcana and Mysticism, and Empires of Humanity) and Freedom Squadron (Friends/Foes, Field Manual). Partnered with her husband Sean, she designed The King is Dead and Dawn of the Daikaiju. Most of the time, she is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and even teaches specialized Freshmen Composition courses focused on game design. She finds some time to write about Texas wine, having spent the last 10 years with Texas Wine Lover; she also has a WSET Level 2 certification. When not working, writing, playing games, or drinking wine, she cares for the 5 cats of the Bircher clowder.
Karl Keesler
Karl Keesler is an award winning Art Director that started in the gaming industry in 2002 with United Playtest. He was the “Layout Guy” on Gaming Frontiers, a d20 magazine. From there he partnered up with the guys at Dog House Rules and took his passion for graphic design and gaming and turned it into a Gold ENnie in 2004 for Best Electronic Product for their flagship book, Sidewinder: Recoiled.
Karl has taken his love for gaming and graphic design and has worked with companies like Just Insert Imagination, Atomic Ninja Studios and Pinnacle Entertainment Group; in which he did the Trade Dress for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition and most of their settings and companion books. Karl was also the lead graphic designer for Pinnacle’s Pathfinder for Savage Worlds which garnered them an Origins Award in 2023 for Best Graphic Design in a Game.
Karl and his Dog House Rules partner, Chris Warner, also had the opportunity to be on the developmental team behind Pathfinder for Savage Worlds with Pinnacle Entertainment Group. For Dog House’s 20th anniversary in 2024 they reimagined Sidewinder: Recoiled into a successful Kickstarter campaign for Sidewinder Recoiled for Savage Worlds.
Over the past years, Karl has designed and ran many unique conventions games such as his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen adventure series, Goonies meets the Ghostbusters, Mystery Men and Trailer Park Shark Attack! to name a few. He likes to make his games eye-catching and exciting with custom designed maps, one-of-a-kind miniatures, custom terrain, specially designed character sheets and original Benny ideas.
When he isn’t working on his next art project, gaming or creating props he is enjoying life in sunny South Florida with his wife Kathy.
Home - doghouserules.net DriveThruRPG
Eloy Lasanta
Eloy Lasanta is the owner/operator of Third Eye Games, bringing unique experiences to every gaming table. His perspective cannot be found anywhere else in the RPG Industry, and this has led him to win the ENies Judge's Spotlight Award in both 2017 and 2018 for his dynamic personality and approach to gaming. He has designed over a dozen games, including Part-Time Gods Second Edition, The Ninja Crusade Second Edition, Sins of the Father, and the Pip System. He has even contributed to other well-known properties like the Firefly RPG, Vampire: The Masquerade, and Into the Motherlands. He is a creative chameleon and has produced quality work for comedy, sci-fi, and horror... whatever the game, Eloy has a unique take on it to make the material engaging and original. For years now, he has also taken his professional career to the next level, becoming an Industry Expert and teaching RPG game design through Central Michigan University and becoming a narrative designer in the video game industry on Subetrrain: Mines of Titan (Pixellore, Inc.) and Dream Tactics (Spectra Entertainment).
Michael Nystul
Mike “Malix” Nystul is a teacher, storyteller, performer and game master who has been designing games since the earliest days of the hobby. As a professional designer, he has worked in-house for TSR, FASA, and Mayfair Games on D&D, BattleTech, Shadowrun, DC Heroes, Chill, Underground, and Role Aids. As a freelancer, he has worked for companies such as White Wolf, Steve Jackson Games, Hero Games, and West End Games on lines such as TORG, GURPS, Champions, Fantasy Hero, and In Nomine. Under the banner of Pariah Press, he published The Whispering Vault, an offbeat horror game that has become a cult classic. He is now self publishing as Nystul Game Forge. His first game under that imprint is NUkED, a post apocalyptic tabletop role playing game of “mutants, magic and mayhem in a world gone mad”. The rules are easy to learn and encourage fast moving, immersive play in a setting that is equal parts intense and irreverent.
Jennifer Shinefeld
While Jennifer has been in the worlds of theater and education for over 40 years, and the world of gaming for about 30, she only became the head of Mobius Worlds Publishing in 2022. Blending those arenas gives her a unique focus as she invites players from all walks of life to find the hero within.
Connor Smotzer
Wyrdwarp: Cryptid Multiverse, produced by Wyrms Codex
President, Developer, Writer
A horticulturist monk from the spirit world, Connor plants his seeds of knowledge and boundless wisdom to infuse his creativity with pen and ink within the expansive worlds of the Wyrdwarp Cryptid Multiverse to bring to life our games into the living quarters and gaming rooms of this corporeal realm. As President of Wyrm’s Codex, he seeks to use his knowledge of plants and the natural world to take over the planet, one Cryptid at a time. Connor currently resides in Boerne, Tx with his wife, dog, two cats, and a plethora of arachnid and arthropod animals.
Jared Twing
Jared Twing hails from the far flung suburbs of sunny Austin, Texas where he lives with his wife, teenager, and three less than sane felines. When not trying to beat the heat poolside or hanging out with his family, he is gaming. A video game developer and roleplaying game writer, he is always found running, playing, planning, or making games. From RPGs to wargames to video games and board games, gaming is infused in most aspects of his life. Growing up an army brat, Jared used his love of games to connect with others around the world, and knew at an early age that gaming was his passion, but credits his family for the support and encouragement that has allowed him to turn his hobbies into his professions.
Ed Wetterman
Ed discovered TTRPGs in the late 1970s and has been playing ever since. (Yeah, he’s an old dude). He worked with the RPGA in 2000 writing for the Bandit Kingdoms and in 2003 started 12 to Midnight to develop modern day horror games and adventures. He helped design the Pinebox, Texas setting and wrote many adventures for it. In 2010 he cowrote East Texas University and Degrees of Horror for Pinnacle’s Savage Worlds RPG. His many other writing credits include cowriting Agents of Oblivion and writing for Realms of Cthulhu for Reality Blurs. He has written for several Savage Worlds (Pinnacle Entertainment Group) lines including Flash Gordon. He has written numerous articles on gaming, edited many manuscripts, and has written several short stories including The Witch of Linda Lane in Pinebox Tales and Hellfighter for the Weird West. He and his writing partner, Preston Dubose, recently completed East Texas University: Fresh Blood, written a graphic novel soon to be released (@@@REDACTED@@@), and much more. He lives in Caldwell, Texas, is a teacher of history in College Station, and enjoys fishing, football, war games, video games, and TTRPGs. He is married with two grown sons, David and Kevin. (Also gamers!)
Cory Williamsen
Cory has been gaming since he was 9, starting with the old Choose Your Own Adventures. His first foray into tabletop RPGs came just a few years later with Palladium’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, quickly followed by Heroes Unlimited. Of course, D&D was not too far behind.
Cory’s love and fascination with Live Action Role Playing started just as early. His 6th grade Art teacher, one of the first Magic: The Gathering artists, Dan Frazier, would create latex and paper mâché medieval fantasy projects like helmets and dragon head puppets. Though his real start was with Vampire the Masquerade parlor LARPs in the 90’s.
For the last 20 years Cory has led various initiatives to organize and participate in Organized Play, in both the Tabletop and LARP parts of the hobby. From club standards such as WOTC’s Living Greyhawk, and international clubs such as what is now the Modern Enigma Society, Cory has organized events to bring players together to enjoy a larger shared experience.
MWP is proud and grateful to have him at the helm of Chief Operations Officer.
Dustin Wright
Projects! Propaganda! Customer Service! Distributor & Retail Support!
Chaosium's customer support and order processing specialist Dustin works out of his home in hot, humid Mudport on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Chaosium dude since 1996. Contact Dustin for questions about convention prize support, volunteering to run games at conventions, retailer & distributor support, information on upcoming titles, Chaosium news, offers of free whiskey, etc.
dustin[at]chaosium[dot]com
Dustin enjoys tiki culture, corgis, all things zombie, whiskey, ridiculously fruity rum drinks, and post apocalyptic fiction. He is currently in an abusive relationship with his treadmill.
