Acadecon brings the guests! 2024 edition
Despite our small size, we have a bunch of Special guests from the TTRPG worlds. Podcasters, Game Designers, Streamers and more. Some will be running games (or maybe playing in yours) hosting live events or panels. Here is our confirmed list of Guests for 2024. Watch this space for updates
Jonathon Myhre aka Mr. Dragonbane
Jonathon Myhre, better known as Mr. Dragonbane is a Professional Gamemaster and avid TTRPG influencer / content creator. Born and raised in Louisville KY, Jonathon is always trying to spread the gospel of TTRPG‘s, as President of Nerd Louisville, a local 501(c)(3) in Louisville or as the Chief Gamemaster for The Lurking Fears, a professional group of GM’s that run games at cons across the Eastern US or through his own publishing company, The Midgar Press. Last year alone (2023), he ran over 600 hours of games (500 of those hours being Dragonbane RPG from Free League Publishing) at cons, online, local game shops or for his home group. This is a world that he wants to live and breath so that one day, that‘s all he does. They say, "Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life", well that’s his goal.
When Jonathon (Mr. Dragonbane) isn’t running games or creating content, he is being a bard making TikToks, playing Final Fantasy 7, hanging out with his awesome teenage daughter or watching / reading everything that is STAR WARS!!
Jonathon plans on running a couple sessions this year, possibly a live streamed game with him running for some of our other Special Guests and may jump in or host a panel or two as well!
Rin - Ghostlight Media
Rin is a voice and stage actor, DJ, musician, writer, and avid player of wonderful silly games. Rin voices Jhori Ostiir on Ghostlight Media’s “Imprinted Echoes,” as well as other miscellaneous roles across other Ghostlight shows.
Zann
Zann is the GM of Ghostlight Media’s Numenera actual play podcast, Imprinted Echoes. Running for almost 5 years now, Imprinted Echoes has enjoyed multiple seasons of science-fantasy tabletop adventuring. When not running and playing TTRPGs, Zann is a technical director for a local arts school and spends an inordinate amount of time covered in paint and sawdust in pursuit of building theater sets.
Ryan - Ghostlight Media
Ryan is a proud founding member of Ghostlight Media. You can hear him as Cecil Styles and Jackson Silver on Another Path, a 5e theatrical play. He also is currently one half of By the Ghostlight, a theatre news and education podcast. Ryan can often be found in the theatre as an award winning actor, director, and designer.
Chase - Ghostlight Media
Chase is the creative director of Ghostlight Media, GM of Another Path, and plays Nehemiah on Imprinted Echoes. He was also 1/4 of the founding cast of Shakesbeer, portrayed Arsen on the fantasy audio drama The LaFresian Chronicles, and was a regular contributor to the round-table podcast Crit Chat.
"Jake the GM" Prewitt - The Crittalkers Podcast
“Jake the GM” Prewitt is the GM and executive producer of The Crittalkers Podcast, an actual play RPG podcast and the only one currently in Kentucky. The podcast launched in late July and with the unique audiobook-feel format has had an overwhelmingly successful start. The current campaign uses 5E DnD rules with Powered by the Apocalypse principles and sub systems from other games as narratively appropriate. Jake has taught countless people to play DnD, Pathfinder and other game systems such as Monster of the Week. Jake is a very experienced GM and has sat on a panel with other like minded GMs to discuss how to start a DnD campaign. Recently he has been connecting with local game stores to form mutually beneficial grassroots partnerships.
Jake’s TTRPG experience started with 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and has led him through almost any game system you can name. Jake is an Army veteran and has run campaigns in 3 different countries while serving: United States of America, Germany and Iraq. He has experience running a large variety of systems including: DnD 2,3.5,4,5e, Pathfinder, white wolf, savage worlds, various PbtA games, and fate to name a few. He’s spent time creating a community of Pathfinder players as a Paizo Venture Captain before moving back to his home in Southeastern Kentucky and starting his podcast.
Outside of RPGs he loves Transformers, Fast and the Furious (family) and his family (wife, 2 weiner dogs and 2 cats).
Zack - Ghostlight Media
Zack Tuttle-Robb is the MC of These Silent Secrets (A Monsterhearts 2 Actual Play) and Co-Host of Zack and Griffin’s Multiversal Petshop (a deep dive into mythical creatures and discussion on their viability as pets). He loves gaming deeply and is living proof that there isn’t such a thing as being in too many home games!!
Christina - Ghostlight Media
Christina Guingrich is a proud member of Ghostlight Media, having guested as Professor Addie in Another Path Seasons 1-3, as well as on Shakesbeer‘s Episodes 5 & 6 of Romeo and Juliet. Last year she was honored to have participated in helping run Ghostlight Media’s Mega Game.
Daniel Lane
Daniel "Wyvern" Lane (He/Him) - Professional GM
@Wyverns_Nest
Daniel has nearly 20 years of experience in playing and running TTRPGs from D&D to Call of Cthulhu, LANCER to Daggerheart. He often says that growing up his bedtime stories were not nursery rhymes, but the tales of his dad’s D&D sessions with his friends. Growing up on worlds of inspiring fantasy, it set the universe of his imagination to spin, creating a love of storytelling and worldbuilding. Such exposure from a young age has led him to teaching and running games for people of all ages, from schoolchildren to those with the wisdom of ages.
Over the years, Daniel’s singular goal at the table has become to bring people together and share the joy of gaming around the table. He has found that not only do TTRPGs benefit from accessibility tools, they themselves can become accessibility tools in their own right, allowing people to explore and express themselves in ways they may not be able to normally. As an autistic person, he has found himself benefiting greatly from observing and exploring the kind of social interaction and emotion that people freely exchange while playing TTRPGs around the table.
Having started running games as a GM at conventions in 2021 through groups such as Double Exposure Envoy, this kickstarted a passion for running TTRPGs in the vibrant setting that is a convention. For more than a year, Daniel has been lucky enough to run Daggerheart for Darrington Press, most notably at GenCon in both 2023 and 2024. Beyond TTRPGs, he loves board games of all stripes, resulting in him and his wife amassing a sizable collection. He also enjoys playing videogames, 3D printing and exploring virtual reality.
Rohit Sodhia - Gamers’ Plane
Rohit is the creator of Gamers‘ Plane, a Play by Post RPG website with a particular focus on community. He believes who you game with is as important as the game you’re playing, and wants to connect folks who otherwise wouldn’t get the chance. Still trying to step out of his shell, Rohit will be running a panel on Play by Post gaming, and welcomes any conversation on gaming and improving the world!
Brandon (Rev) Wentz - The Critshow
Brandon (Rev) Wentz is the executive producer at Critshow Studios. He GMs and produces the main feed podcast for The Critshow (internally called The Other Side of the Coin) a Monster of the Week actual play which jumps into other Powered by the Apocalypse games as the characters hop to new worlds. The studio has also creats Let’s Plays for new and newly launching RPGs (where you can learn to play the game by listening to 3-4 one hour episodes) including games like Band of Blades, Agon, Demigods, Fate of Cthulhu, and many more. Rev has appeared on numerous podcasts, live streams, and convention panels - his most recent project being a featured GM on Dice Pool- a newly funded GMing video series by Evil Hat.
Neal Powell
Neal’s TTRPG adventure commenced with the iconic 2nd edition of D&D, where he was initiated into the arcane mysteries by braving The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. It was the unveiling of the 3rd edition that heralded Neal’s ascendancy as a Dungeon Master. He then stepped into the realms of designing and podcasting, a leap that proved to be among the most exhilarating chapters of his odyssey. This new frontier brought with it an array of remarkable individuals and unforgettable experiences, marking the beginnings of an extraordinary tale. Neal continues to forge his legacy in the enchanted world of ttrpgs, where every turn is a new story waiting to be told!
Lewanika Miller
Lewanika, hailing from upstate New York, was raised in a household that embraced nerd culture from the very beginning. Lewanika has had a lifelong passion for Star Trek, starting from a very young age. He has also been an enthusiastic collector of comic books since he was just four years old. Additionally, he discovered his love for tabletop roleplaying games at the age of 11 and quickly became a skilled dungeon master by the time he was 14.
Lewwanika has a wealth of experience in running and playing a wide range of TTRPG game systems. This includes D&D in all of its editions, a variety of Pladium games, Gurps, LastUnicorn Games, FreeLeague, and the 2D20 system by Modpihius Entertainment. With certain campaigns spanning a decade or more.
“The stories we all want to tell are nothing until they become the stories we have shared at the table. That is when our ideas become LEGENDARY!”
At AcadeCon Lewanika plans to run some Star Trek Adventures, perhaps play some Trivia and maybe engage in a RPG style draft with Michael and Chris.
Rhonda Rehmke, Dungeons & Dad Jokes
Rhonda Rehmke lives locally in the Dayton area and is a veteran gamer with more than 40 years at the table. It began with a group of friends inviting her to play D&D, like so many others, and culminated in her involvement in Dungeons & Dad Jokes, a weekly streaming group. Along with playing she is also a GM and loves to create her own worlds and stories. She enjoys playing rogues and druids in a fantasy setting, but also has played in other settings as well (steampunk, post-apocalyptic, and modern world). She enjoys playing other systems outside of D&D, like Pathfinder, and has participated in trying new games like Ahris, a 2d20 system. She shares her love of gaming with others whenever she can and has started doing so at conventions, and has started working on building her own campaign setting. I am looking forward to my first event this year and planning on getting involved in some games and panels, possibly even running some.
Tyr the DM
Tyr the DM (He/Him)
Tyr is a veteran Dungeon Master with 30 years of experience. He was brought into the hobby by random chance and has made a home there. he is a lover of Geek culture and a die hard Warhammer 40k player. He is also a writer, poet, and history enthusiast. Tyr is a proud supporter of the LGBTQ+ Community. Currently he is the Dungeon Master for Will of the Dice.
Will of the dice is an eclectic collective of passionate storytellers who have come together to share our love of the tale. We come from all walks of life and embrace our individuality in our unity for this game we play and these stories we share. We believe that love and inclusion are the torches that will light the way to a better tomorrow. Come join us and be torchbearers We can be found on Twitch at www.twitchtv.com/willofthedice or wherever you consume Podcasts
Find all the related info at WWW.Willothedice.com
Tyr plans to run two D&D 5e events and host an ‘Ask the DM’ panel where attendees can ask questions and get help for their own games.
Chris Skinner
Chris Skinner is the creator of the F.A.S.T. organization that promotes building strong families through gaming together.
Matthew Balogh - Professional GM
Matt is a professional game master with over 30 years of experience. He‘s been telling stories since childhood and has run over 1000 professional sessions for over a dozen campaigns. He and his family operate out of their not-so-underground bunker in Dayton, Ohio, spinning stories and printing minis of future BBEG’s. (And castles made of mimics.)
Kaylee Jung
Kaylee Jung is best known for her work on the Redemption Podcast where she is both the editor and producer, but the voice actor for the twi‘lek Jedi, Karrell. She also can be found on the IDENTECO series Chaos, Inc where she portrays the hacker Ch0wn, on several RPG Academy shows over the years, and on several episodes of the Rook & Rasp "Seriously, Let’s Play!" Twitch series. In her non-interesting, non-gaming life, she works as a Systems Administrator and is mom to two neurotic orange tabby cats named Kyber and Ahsoka.
Michael Waldschlager II (He/Him) - Podcaster/Streamer/Voice Actor
Michael Waldschlager II (He/Him) - Podcaster/Streamer/Voice Actor
Whether it‘s the gravelly voice of his signature character, ’Enssan Tazi‘ on ’Smuggler‘s Blues’, or the even-keeled calm of ‘Maxi’ on IDENTECO‘s ’CHAOS, Inc.’, one thing is certain: Michael lives for playing interesting, three-dimensional characters! The only thing better is meeting wonderful new folks to game with at AcadeCon!
He has a long & wonderful history with The RPG Academy as well, guesting on a number of their productions. This will be his 7th AcadeCon, and he will be hosting this year‘s ’AcadeCon Karaoke Bash’ on Friday and Saturday evening!
Michael can be found at @losermlw on social media, various Discords, and can be seen and heard here:
Smuggler’s Blues: A Redemption Story
http://youtube.com/@SmugglersBlues
http://redemptionpodcast.com/
IDENTECO‘s ’CHAOS, Inc’ Actual Play - http://twitch.tv/identeco
Tubular Teens with Titans Audio Drama https://anchor.fm/tubularteens
Dragon Age: A Time of Masks & Daggers
http://twitch.tv/rookandrasp
Doug Shute
Doug Shute is a professional content creator, podcaster and host. In 2017 Doug founded Victory Condition Gaming, a multi-platform podcast that promotes the hobby of tabletop games with interviews, reviews, and actual plays. Over the last 5 years, he has created content for over 100 crowdfunding campaigns totaling over $20.5M for various tabletop games and projects. For the past 3 years, Doug has also been the Youtube host and video producer for Free League Publishing as well as their representative for North American events.
When Doug isn’t creating content or playing tabletop games, he is usually geeking out about Transformers, G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or debating that frosted raspberry is the superior flavor of Pop-Tarts.
Ghostlight Media
Ghostlight Media is an Ohio-based podcast network that focuses on the nexus of theatre and gaming. With their flagship show, Another Path, launching in May of 2017 they have continued to grow and branch out into different games and topics ever since! Check us out at www.ghostlightmedia.net