2026

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 Edition Rules, the Conan RPG, the Indiana Jones RPG, the Escape From New York boardgame (really!), the Planescape Campaign Setting, and what must have been the personal pinnacle of his career the Bullwinkle and Rocky Party Game. After leaving TSR, Zeb entered the world of videogames where he worked on a lot of things that never saw the light of day and a few that did such as Lords of the Realm III and the City of Villains MMO. He currently works as a Content Zone Lead on the successful and entertaining Elder Scrolls Online MMO.

In addition to RPGs and MMOs, he’s a big fan of historical and not-so-historical miniatures, welding and laser cutters, bicycling, and good beer.

March 3 2025

Brent Chumley

Courtney Mason 2025, 2026, Featured Guests

https://brentchumley.com/

Brent is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and has produced art for a multitude of media including cover paintings, interior illustrations, collectible card art, cartography (maps), graphic design, page layout, t-shirt designs, miniatures paintings, concept art and commercial photography for a plethora of clients. Some of the gaming brands Brent has produced work for include: Dungeons & Dragons, D&D Dragonfire, Shadowrun, Battletech, Leviathans, Legend of the Five Rings (CCG and RPG), Doomtown: Reloaded CCG, 7th Sea Card Game, Metal Magic & Lore, The Vampire’s Codex, as well as his own DragonVerses® line of art. Brent lives in southern mid-Illinois and is available for commissions.

March 3 2025

Stephen Chenault

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

In 1999 he co-founded Troll Lord Games with his brother Davis Chenault and longtime friend Mac Golden. He worked on layout, writing, and marketing until 2002 when Mac Golden stepped down as head of the company. Steve took over the mantel and has run the company since Mac’s departure. He was instrumental in bringing Gary Gygax on board in 2001, oversaw the release of Castles & Crusades, a game that continues to headline TLG’s publishing, added print facilities to the companies’ publishing arms, expanded into the crowdfunding arena, and released the companies content on multiple digital platforms.

He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with his wife Kathryn and children. He is passionate about history and regularly reads books that range from colonial America, native American, 19th century central European history and more. He enjoys a good cheeseburger, and a cold Dr. Pepper (in a can). His recent penchant for UFO studies has sent him on a whole new journey.

March 3 2025

Mike Carr

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 Guidon Games in 1974 and then by TSR in 1976, changing the name to Dawn Patrol in 1982. He also co-authored “Don’t Give Up the Ship” with Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax in 1971.

He joined the ranks of TSR in 1976 at the invitation of Gary Gygax. While at TSR, MIke authored the D&D module “In Search of the Unknown” and served as editor for the Monster Manual, Players Handbook, and Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Mike Carr is the only person who’s attended every Gen Con. His FITS game has been run at every one of those Gen Cons. Mike is still active in the gaming community today though his Aerodrome magazine which he started back in 1969.

March 3 2025

Antonio Canobbio

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

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 Mouth..

Canobbio began his animation career working as a layout artist in his native city, Paris, until Chris Prynoski, who was working at MTV, noticed his unique portfolio drawings showing up on the fax machine (yes, really – via fax!). Shortly after Chris and Shannon Prynoski started Titmouse in 2000, Canobbio joined them in Los Angeles.

Today, Canobbio continues to oversee the visual development and art direction of all productions that pass through the studio.

March 3 2025

Jeff Butler

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 illustrated many D&D and DragonLance game products and was also the primary artist for the Marvel Superheroes Role Playing Game. In 1989, Jeff teamed with writer Ron Fortier to bring The Green Hornet back to comic books. Jeff would go on to illustrate other comics: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Hercules and Xena, Charles Barkley vs. Godzilla, Jason vs. Leatherface, to name a few. Jeff’s comic art career was highlighted in an episode of Wisconsin Public Television’s Wisconsin Life program. His art has been featured nationally in TV Guide and The Children’s Television Workshop magazines, Universal Studios licensing, as well as in numerous posters, puzzles, and coloring books. Jeff also applied his talents in the video game industry as a 2D and 3D character designer and concept artist for Activision. He was the Lead Character Artist for games like X-Men Legends I & II and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. In all, he worked on 12 AAA video games such as, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, and Marvel Origins: Wolverine.

Jeff currently teaches Making Comics with renown cartoonist, Lynda Barry at his alma-mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also teaches drawing and illustration courses. During his ever-dwindling free time, Jeff continues to do freelance illustration and commissions.

You can see Jeff’s art at: www.jeff-butler.com and on Instagram @jeffbutlerart

March 3 2025

John Bobek

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

Re-enacting adventures with toys graduated to playing wargames, first with Milton Bradley’s Battle-Cry!, leading to Avalon Hill’s Tactics II, and others. Then, as a freshman at UIC, sitting through a less than invigorating Physical Science class, a classmate sitting next to John noticed his doodles and invited him to draw some artwork for the monthly newsletter of the International Federation of Wargaming. That classmate was Len Lakofka who was already a member.

This friendship led to hosting Tuesday night wargames through the UIC’s Games Committee, membership in the IFW, and participation in the GenCon conventions, initially at Horticultural Hall. From working the GenCon concession booth, John became active in running games. Bob Mijonovich. During this time, John became friends with Gary Gygax. Gary came to UIC for several games conventions and Gary’s game design talents were expressed in Diplomacy style games such as Indianomacy, mostly played by snail mail. Then, Gary invited John and his Chicago gaming friend, Bob Mijanovich, to come to his house to playtest a new game, Dungeons and Dragons. Gary ran the game crisply so the first-person adventure feel tied all John’s adventure movies and TV shows into a game. The need for timely decision making and the anxiety of the unknown was beyond any game John had previously played. Encountering a room with the ominous warning of FORBIDDEN, John felt that by entering it with Gary’s young son, Ernie, it couldn’t be that bad. John and Ernie were immediately transported to the center of the Earth!

John would go on to run games and write rules for games, often incorporating role-playing drama. In 2007, he combined 39 sets of rules into one rules set, The Games of War: A Treasury of Rules for Battles with Toy Soldiers, Ships, and Planes. This tome covered games from ancients through sci-fi, land, sea, and sky, even civil unrest. John credits his running games and writing rules with Gary’s mentorship. Gary’s life planted many seeds of friendship and creativity.

March 3 2025

Jolly Blackburn

Jolly Blackburn is best known as the creator of the comic strip Knights of the Dinner Table. He launched a gaming magazine called Shadis when he was still serving in the Army. Knights of the Dinner Table was a strip in the back of Shadis in the tradition of Finneous Fingers in Dragon Magazine. Of course the Knights have become a force of their own!

Jolly is also the person who helped Luke name Gary Con at the gathering after Gary’s funeral. When someone commented that Luke should hold a gathering every year in honor of his Dad, Jolly offered the name of “GaryCon” based on the fictional event in the KoDT world run by the character Gary Jackson. Luke liked the name and Gary Con was born!

March 3 2025

Anjali Bhimani

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

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 Overwatch, Rampart in Apex Legends, Medusa in the Grammy-nominated Stray Gods, the Fallout series, Starfield, and many more.

Having voiced characters in eight video games released in 2025 alone, recently, Anjali joined the Call of Duty universe as Priya Zaveri, the newest Guild operator in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Earlier this year, she also brought her talents to Avowed, Obsidian’s highly anticipated first-person RPG, as Yatzli, the first Orlan wizard and a major companion character. Additionally, she voiced the Game Master and every NPC in Sunderfolk, DreamHaven’s critically acclaimed tactical couch co-op RPG released in April, as well as Bathsheba in Date Everything, Mayor Shiva Vega in Mindseye, and additional roles in Borderlands 4, Outer Worlds 2, and Dune: Awakening.

A familiar face in the world of tabletop roleplaying games, Anjali has also appeared in wildly popular series like Critical Role’s Exandria Unlimited & Candela Obscura, Dimension 20’s The Ravening War, the LEGO x Dungeons and Dragons collaboration Game Night for LEGO and Wizards of the Coast, and more. Anjali also produced and starred in DesiQuest, an actual play series featuring an all South Asian leading cast and set in a fantasy world inspired by India through her production company, Bad Auntie Entertainment. She also published The Malady of Minarrh, a D&D adventure, on the official Dungeons and Dragons platform, D&D Beyond, in early 2025. Anjali currently stars in Tales from Woodcreek, a spooky, mysterious, and completely unique D&D actual play adventure, with new episodes releasing Fridays on The Dungeon Dudes YouTube channel. Additionally, she is co-producing the highly anticipated 20-Sided Tavern Tour with fellow TTRPG star Aabria Iyengar and recently completed a run of shows in Chicago as a guest star. Fans can look forward to seeing her onstage again when the Tour reaches Los Angeles in December and in North Carolina in March 2026.

In 2024, Anjali created, produced, and led The Puppy Roll, a charity livestream event benefiting Petco Love. Inspired by her love for her late dog, Charley, the now yearly event has raised over $61,000 and continues to grow. Anjali was honored by Petco Love with the Love Amplified award at the 2024 HCA Astras for using her platform to spread awareness for animal rescue work nationwide. Both DesiQuest and The Puppy Roll received recognition at the 2024 Anthem Awards for Social Impact, with The Puppy Roll winning three awards across multiple categories.

As Global Ambassador for Games for Change, Anjali co-hosted the Games and SDG Summit at the United Nations, showcasing the potential of gaming to advance the UN’s sustainable development goals. She has also served as a keynote speaker at the Games For Change International Festival and has hosted the G4C Awards multiple times.

Onscreen, Anjali’s long and storied career includes her portrayal of Auntie Ruby in Disney+’s Ms. Marvel, earning a 2023 HCA Astra nomination for her performance. Other notable television credits include Dead to Me, Special, The Blacklist, Grace and Frankie, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, NCIS:LA, Law and Order: SVU, and Modern Family.

Anjali was an original cast member of the Tony-winning Metamorphoses and the Tony-nominated Bombay Dreams on Broadway. She spent years performing across the country in top organizations like Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, and The Goodman Theatre.

In 2022 her debut book, I Am Fun Size, and So Are YOU!, based on her YouTube series, achieved bestseller status on The Wall Street Journal, Amazon, USA Today, and Barnes and Noble bestseller lists.

Anjali is also the executive producer and co-host of the Character Select Podcast along with longtime collaborator Julia Bianco Schoeffling. The show explores iconic games at every stage of creation and development, featuring guest appearances from game creators and performers who share insights on what makes a game truly special.

Follow Anjali at @sweeetanj on IG, Tiktok, YouTube, and X, and @anjalibhimani on Facebook. www.AnjaliBhimani.com

March 3 2025

Banana Chan