A Huge Welcome to our Special Guests!
James Fielder
James "Pigeon" Fielder, Ph.D. joined Colorado State University as an Instructor after retiring from the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and Associate Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Dr. Fielder researches emergent political behavior through tabletop, live-action, and digital gaming as natural experiments. He also has almost three decades of experience designing, executing, and assessing training exercises and wargames, from small-group tabletop discussions to multi-day exercises engaging 5,000+ participants, most recently a crisis communications exercise for Adams County, Colorado. He is a managing editor of Active Learning in Political Science, associate editor of Simulation & Gaming, on the editorial board of The MORS Journal of Wargaming, was a TEDxMileHigh speaker on games, and has been interviewed on game-related topics by Reuters, USA Today, and NBC News. Pigeon has published and presented academic studies on EVE Online, Vampire: The Masquerade, Dungeons & Dragons, and Coyote & Crow, and his co-edited book Short Games and Active Learning in Political Science: Beating the Clock is forthcoming from Routledge in March 2026. He is also serving as a German Army Wargaming Center Fellow, a Marine Corps University Krulak Fellow for academic years 2021-2026, writes for Mobius Worlds Publishing, and consults on organizational wargaming.
Learn More at:
Web: PIGEON
Web: Mobius Worlds Publishing – Journey With Us!
Than Gibson
Than Gibson is the co-creator of DarkSpace, a sci-fi rules hack for the Shadowdark RPG, bringing over 30 years of storytelling experience to his work while finding constant inspiration in the world around us. As the Head Writer and Publisher of DMing the World Press, Than believes that fiction is rarely created in a vacuum; he advocates for exploring the history, culture, and real-world origins of narratives to craft adventures with profound depth and meaning. His focus is on empowering DMs and worldbuilders to use these foundational elements to build more resonant stories rooted in appreciation of their sources.
Malcolm Harris
Malcolm Harris is an award-winning writer, artist, game designer, and screenwriter from Dallas, Texas—and the creator behind the Relentless Fiction multiverse. He writes across comics, novels, and tabletop RPGs, with a substantial catalog on Amazon and a long-running series of 5E-compatible releases under Relentless Fiction DnD 5e compatible supplements, which spans more than fifty titles.
His worlds include Youthquake, Princess Lucinda, Witch Girls Adventures, Adventurers Born, and Farsia: The Maelstrom Lands, blending diverse heroes, sharp wit, and big imaginative adventure. A pioneer in indie RPG design, Malcolm also created and led the complete role-playing world Nemesis: A Perfect World, and coined the term “Superpunk.” When he’s not building new worlds, he’s cooking something great, rolling dice at a LARP, or debating geekdom with fellow pro-nerds—anywhere creativity dares to play.
Darrell Hayhurst
Darrell Hayhurst is the Creative Director at Pinnacle Entertainment Group, where he writes and develops Savage Worlds lines including Deadlands, Necessary Evil, the Legend of Ghost Mountain, Lost Colony, the Savage Worlds Companions, and more. Darrell works in Tucson, Arizona, and actually enjoys the weather there. (Madness!) He's always happy to chat with anyone about the past, present, or future of gaming and the industry in general.
Kenneth Hite
Kenneth Hite has designed, written, or co-authored 100+ roleplaying works, including GURPS Horror, Trail of Cthulhu, Bookhounds of London, The Dracula Dossier, Night’s Black Agents, Bubblegumshoe, Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity, Delta Green: Handler’s Guide, The Fall of Delta Green, and Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition. His other works include the two-volume Tour de Lovecraft, Cthulhu 101, The Thrill of Dracula, The Cthulhu Wars and The Nazi Occult for Osprey, the “Lost in Lovecraft” column for Weird Tales, an annotated edition of Chambers’ The King in Yellow, several Mythos short stories, and four Lovecraftian children’s books. An Artistic Associate at Chicago’s WildClaw Theatre, he served as dramaturg for their stage production of The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Half of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff podcast, he lives in Chicago with two Lovecraftian cats and his non-Lovecraftian wife, Sheila.
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.
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.
David Larkins
David Larkins is an ENNIE Award-winning TTRPG writer and editor. Since 2019, he has served as line editor for Chaosium's Pendragon RPG, and has also written for Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, 7th Sea, and even some non-Chaosium titles, including his own role-playing game inspired by 80s martial arts cinema, Action International!. A resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, when not spending time with his lovely wife Desiree, David also runs the actual-play TTRPG podcast, The Esoteric Order of Roleplayers—still going strong after more than 600 episodes.
Derek White
Rev. Derek W. White (The Geekpreacher) lives at the intersection of faith, imagination, and tabletop gaming. An ordained United Methodist elder and certified gaming chaplain, Derek has spent decades building inclusive communities through role-playing games. He is a co-creator of the DarkSpace RPG and has contributed to multiple documentaries exploring faith, fandom, and imagination, including The Science Fiction Makers and The Satanic Panic and the Religious Battle for the Imagination. Derek believes the gaming table can be sacred ground where shared stories shape who we become. Derek has served as an official chaplain at gaming conventions across the U.S., including Gary Con, where he creates spaces for reflection, community, and meaningful play.
John Wick
John Wick is an American game designer and author • has written over two dozen RPGs and won a dozen awards for them, including Legend of the Five Rings, 7th Sea, Cat: A Little Game about Little Heroes, Houses of the Blooded, and his most recent RPGs Banners and Voyager: 2d6 Fantasy in a Far Away World • collects orks, mimics, and cats • plays the drums and tinkers with the piano • suffered the wounds of Hiram Abiff and was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in Culver City, California • in some circles, he is known as "Lord Strange" where his magickal name is "Nullius in Verba" which translates to "Take No One's Word For It" • has died three times • married Wonder Woman • is a Discordian double agent fighting against the nefarious plots of the Illuminati • worships Greg Stafford's Red Goddess • beat the Devil in a game of riddles • met and spoke with characters he created • tells people only the first John Wick movie is canon • and still believes in Santa Claus. He also makes things up for a living.
