Tabletop Gaming Company Founder and Publisher Chris Birch loves the tabletop gaming scene, from roleplaing games to wargames and boardgames; he grew up on Dungeons & Dragons, Steve Jackson’s Ogre and 15mm historical wargames. He loves it so much that he long harboured a dream of making and publishing games. Five years ago, Chris followed his dream …

Tabletop roleplaying and digital game designer Jared A. Sorensen has been a mainstay of the indie scene since the turn of the millennium. He’s probably best know for his roleplaying game InSpectres, about busting ghosts while balancing the budget, but he’s worked across projects across the gaming spectrum. Jared is one of my classic guests. I first…

Game designer, writer, executive and philanthropist Ian Livingstone is one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry. He co-founded iconic games company Games Workshop in 1975 with Steve Jackson, creating hobby magazine White Dwarf and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which soon after spawned the juggernaut tabletop miniatures games Warhammer Fan…

3D character artist Delaney King has worked on a swathe of triple-A video game titles, including Unreal Tournament 2004. She was instrumental in developing the Australian video game design scene by starting professional courses based on her education during trips to the United States. Delaney has also started the brands, King’s Minis and Darkling G…

Narrative designer for computer and video games Evgeni Puzankov works as a freelancer in the video game industry from his home base in St. Petersburg in Russia. After working as an employee doing scripting and production for video games and becoming a lead narrative designer on Suricate Games’ title Panoptes, Evgeni went full-time as a freelancer i…

Miniature model maker Fon Davis has worked on over thirty feature films across a two decade career. He’s an alumnus of the Industrial Light and Magic Model Shop and Disney, having produced concept art and made models for Starship Troopers, Galaxy Quest, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline. Recently, he’s worked on Interstellar, Guardians of…

Voice actor, narrator and RPG actual play podcast Host David O. Steele is one of the crew of the podcast, A Quest for Magic and Steele. In each episode, David and five others create a tale of sword and sorcery, elves and dwarves, using the fifth edition of the Dungeons and Dragons RPG rules. They get paid to play via a Patreon page created in Decem…

Australian science fiction and fantasy author Saffron Bryant has been writing since she could first hold a pencil but only started getting serious in 2011. Saffron’s first book, The Fallen Star, was released in 2012 after Saffron was forced to take leave from her studies in biomedical science at uni while recovering from surgery to remove a brain t…

An audio AND video thank-you from your humble host to all the wonderful folks who made April an unexpectedly massive month – even with the schedule change from weekly to fortnightly!By Rob Farquhar

Australian comic artist and writer Dean Rankine has contributed work to the Dark Horse Comics title Hellboy, the classic UK kids’ comics Beano and Dandy, and the Australian MAD Magazine, but he is best known for his work on the official comic books of the animated mega-hit TV series, The Simpsons, published by Bongo Comics. You can often find him a…

Ryan Schapals, chief minion of the Twitch channel Hyper RPG, talks livestreaming roleplaying games and writing for Open Legend!By Rob Farquhar

An announcement of a schedule change for the Podcast and the reason behind it - making more time to explore GMpreneurship!By Rob Farquhar

Podcaster, voice talent and author Mariah Avix is the creator of the podcast, 600 Second Saga; a space for developing authors to explore the realms of science fiction and fantasy in 10 minutes or less every week. On March 20th, 2017, Mariah celebrated the first anniversary of 600 Second Saga, having released an episode a week for the last fifty-two…

S.R. Ringuette is author/illustrator/cartoonist and educator who, from his hometown of Calgary, Alberta, attempts to use creativity as a secret staircase to subvert traditional employment. His lifelong love of cartooning turned into making comics as an adult and eventually teaching kids and teens to do the same.Sebastien has created a comic series,…

Game director, producer, writer and designer Neil Rennison is the original founder of Tin Man Games, a company that brings the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks of Eighties childhoods back to life as apps. Neil has worked in the computer and video games industry for over fifteen years. He's been involved in over fifty published games including such high p…

Veteran stage and screen actor Tony Bonner is known worldwide for playing helicopter pilot Jerry King in the classic Australian TV series, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Tony's had a long career in the performing arts and continues to appear on TV, in movies, in theatres and on the web today. Earlier this year (and after our chat), Tony was appointed a …

College eSports team coach Zac, a.k.a. The IMP, chats about playing Heroes of the Storm competitively and coaching Texas A&M's Team Maroon though the Heroes of the Dorm 2017 championship!By Rob Farquhar

Host of The YES Effect podcast, possibility hacker and fire captain Shelli Varela talks saying yes to your gifts!By Rob Farquhar

I count the Top 10 Most Downloaded Episodes of 2016 down! Who was your favourite guest?By Rob Farquhar

Cosplayer and game master Kimi is better known as the Golden Lasso Girl, which ought to tell you that she's a full on geek. She absolutely loves Wonder Woman, not just as an arse-kicking superhero but as an icon of feminine empowerment. Naturally, Kimi's enthusiasm for cosplay has led her to attending many conventions in various iterations of a Won…

Professional prop-maker Steven Meissner owns and operates SoloRoboto Industries as a full-time business. He makes custom and replica props, weapons, and accessories for cosplayers and collectors, and has occasionally made trophies for other companies, as well as worked on projects for the odd TV commercial.Steven and I have a great chat about disco…

Veteran video game designer and roleplaying game master Steven Lumpkin has worked for some of the biggest names in the online gaming industry, including Red Storm Entertanment, the makers of the Rainbow Six franchise, and Funcom, the makers of Age of Conan, Anarchy Online and The Secret World, as a level designer. His job was creating the tense act…

Podcaster and creative TDot, also known as Anthony Sargent, is all about helping folk get out and stay out of the nine-to-five rat race and being the best themselves they can be. He created and hosted Bursting Through the 925, a weekly podcast where we interview a different entrepreneurial minded guest to see what they are doing to get or stay out …

Geek collectable company owner Shaun Paulet decided to take a slightly different approach to the collectable market than most vendors. Instead of sourcing all the usual lines of stuff from the producers for the toy and collectable business, Shaun levered his passion for affordable collectibles to create, in conjunction with a collection of top Aust…

Creative Director for Paizo, inc., James L. Sutter, is one of the privileged few who helps us geeks combine board gaming, improvisation and flights of imagination via the hobby of the tabletop roleplaying game. He co-developed the rules for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, which lets players adventure through dungeons and slay dragons, and was rece…

Online fiction authors and multimedia producers Birdy and Mike Diamond follow a concept they call "Fiction Isn't," which they discovered whilst exploring psychic channeling. It's the idea that, when authors say that their characters suddenly started telling their own stories, that's what's really happening: the author has made a mental link to actu…

Cosplayer and YouTube show host Feisty Cuffs has been in love with the cosplay community since her very first convention. She enjoys the creative process of constructing her own costumes and props, and picks her next cosplay projects based on whether she can learn a new technique or skill.Feisty loves attending conventions as a cosplayer, panellist…

Podcast coach and host Scott Doucet loves podcasts. He loves listening to them. He loves making them and helping people make them. He loves them so much that he co-founded and continues to administer a huge community of podcasters on Facebook.And just recently, he's applied his experience and passion for podcasting to launch an all-new show, Podcas…

Business Vision Catalyst and founder of Calahan Solutions, Inc. Stephanie L H Calahan works with busy, purpose-driven entrepreneurs at the intersection of heart and head, to leverage their business and get their message out with power, ease and joy; so they can make a powerfully positive difference in the world, exponentially up-level their profits…

Hybrid paranormal romance author Lauren Dawes writes the Half Blood series, four novels of the Helheim Wolf Pack, and the Dark trilogy, tales of ancient Norse gods living and battling amongst humanity. The Dark series are published by Pan MacMillan, while Lauren self-publishes the Half Blood series.Lauren was born in South Africa to English parents…

Television host and actor Steven O'Donnell is better known to gamers across Australia as Bajo, one of the four hosts of the ABC television show Good Game. Bajo's prestige amongst the Australian geek community has made him a go-to guest and MC for pop culture conventions.Bajo has acted in close to 40 short films and 6 independent features and is par…

Veteran of the acting scene Barry Duffield moved from the UK to Australia with family as a youngster but found acting success after moving to New Zealand, where he studied at the South Seas Film and Television School in Auckland. This led to recurring roles the New Zealand medical drama Shortland Street.Genre fans, though, undoubtedly know him for …

Young adult dark romance author Jacinta Maree considers herself a chocoholic with an obsession with dragons, Japan and video games. Jacinta has created three worlds with which she weaves the stories of her novels: The My Demonic Ghost series, the Immortal Gene series and the upcoming Time Collector series.So far, the My Demonic Ghost series has bec…

Geek event organiser and cosplayer Bernie Bregman is the man to thank for making events that aren't just geek-friendly but outright geek-celebratory! Bernie Bregman is one of the best contest/masquerade hosts on the US cosplay circuit with over a decade of experience and several elite-level shows under his belt. Through his company Nerds Like Us, B…

Author of Science Rhymes and internationally published poet Celia Berrell has a passion for taking science concepts and presenting them to people – children in particular – as poems. Her work is regularly featured in the children’s science magazine of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.Celia and I have a great …

Roll20 co-creator Nolan T. Jones loved playing tabletop roleplaying games with good mates until relocating across the US almost ended his close friendships. Instead, he and his friends looked online for help with playing the games they loved - and when none of the solutions was good or easy enough to use, they built their own.Now, Roll20 is one of …

Veteran podcaster CJ Ripka has been creating audio content for over a decade. He started when it was still just called "audio blogging". His skills as a host and personality have shot up, though, since he started his own shows, Average 2 Awesome and his current show, Raw & Real.CJ has recently expended his podcasting portfolio, joining Ray Rideout,…

All-around geek entertainer Bernadette Bentley is a lifelong performer who never let others crush her enthusiasm. She may be best known for cosplaying Xena: Warrior Princess at conventions around California and the States, but Bernadette is passionately pursuing her dream of enriching lives with entertainment.Bernadette’s nature refuses to let her …

Game designer and writer Monte Cook has worked on hundreds of roleplaying and board game products. He co-designed the Third Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, served as design consultant on the Pathfinder roleplaying game and, in 2012, co-founded Monte Cook Games, LLC. As Creative Director and Lead Designer, Monte co-created the Cypher System roleplayi…

Full-time multi-talent geek Jen Page is a wonderful example of what can happen when we connect the little dynamo of energy inside us to the things we love to do. She juggles a full-time job managing Microsoft's community of casual gamers with acting in indie films and web series, modelling her own fantasy fashion creations and making mermaid tails …

Castle Corsetry owner-operator and cat-lover Lauren Matesic has designed and built hundreds of corsets as well as custom costume orders specialising in expertly tailored spandex suits and impeccable cosplay recreations.As a geeky girl herself, Lauren's enthusiasm makes her work truly exceptional, and fellow geeks have come to know Lauren as the go-…

Board game marketer Brittanie Boe, known to pretty much everyone as Bebo, is an example of paid to play success for those of us who feel like life has locked us into the nine-to-five. She is a single mother and lover of board games who had a day job working in the marketing department of an insurance company.Now, Bebo is the marketer for a board ga…

Independent film maker Travis Bain has been in love with movies and the making of them most of his life. His day job is filming weddings and corporate videos, but he pours his spare time into movies like the indie horror film Throwback, the upcoming disaster thriller Landfall, and a currently in preproduction love letter to the works of H. P. Lovec…

Self-published author of urban and erotic fantasy Kimberley Clark is determined to make sure that every item on herbucket list is crossed off. One of those items was to write a novel – yet after completing that project, Kimberley discovered that rather than moving on to the next thing, she had to keep going as a writer.Kimberley is now the self-pub…

Though she’s only 21 years old, Elle Sommerling has almost ten years of experience behind the microphone, the majority of which is as a working voice artist. She’s soon to graduate university in the United States with a degree is in Education, but her passion lies in voice acting.Elle - who, when this chat was recorded, was still using her real nam…

Tabletop roleplaying game GM Adam Koebel is at the forefront of an explosion of RPG popularity online. Though the creative storytelling hobby of tabletop roleplaying games have been around since the advent of Dungeons & Dragons in the mid-seventies, it’s only in the last few years that people have been able to harness live streaming and YouTube vid…

Sim Lauren is in a position that we wish were less unique than it is; not only does she have two hobbies that she gets paid to play with, but she’s also working at a day job that she quite enjoys!Sim has been a gamer for as long as I’ve known her (since the late nineties), and has turned painting miniature figures for wargames into an income stream…

Technologist for hire Shane Gibson has loved technology since he was a kid, and when he was made redundant from a full-time IT job, he decided to put his skills to work for himself as a freelance consultant, helping folks integrate their computers and electronic gadgets into their lives.Shortly afterward, however, he discovered that the paperwork r…

It’s probably the dream of every comic fan to work for one of the major comics brands, and Brisbane boy Wayne Nichols has made it real; he is a penciler, the person creating the line art that forms the base of a comic book’s pages, who has worked on The Incredible Hulk and the official comics for the Orphan Black TV series. His work is not only cri…

Cosplayer Twerkin Gherkin has been very busy for the past few years. Not only is she a mainstay of the Australian East Coast scene, becoming an invited guest cosplayer to regional conventions, but she was also the first employee of Brisbane-based children’s party entertainment firm, Ever After Parties, where she enjoys bringing smiles to children’s…