Neoncon

Leonard Balsera

Leonard Balsera is the FATE System Line Developer for Evil Hat Productions. He worked as an assistant designer on Evil Hat's Spirit of the Century, which received a Silver ENnie in 2007 for Best Rules, and is the current lead system designer for the upcoming Dresden Files Roleplaying Game. He is also the author of Profane Miracles, a scenario for The Esoterrorists by Pelgrane Press.

Randall Bills

Randall served as the BattleTech line developer, continuity editor, art director, and a primary author/novelist; under FASA he was also the BattleTech assistant line developer. Randall also served as the Mechwarrior: Dark Age continuity editor, working with WizKids to help in the creation of the universe — including its thirty full-length novels — assisted in the writing and crafting of the original MechWarrior community campaigns.

Currently, Randall is responsible for the quality of Shadowrun and BattleTech products as set with Shadowrun Fourth Edition, and the BattleTech Introductory Box Set and Total Warfare. This involves working closely with both line developers to ensure they receive the necessary resources to maintain that quality, while hitting their release dates. This also allows him the flexibility to throw his skills at new games that Catalyst Game Labs.

Andrew Chang, M.D.

As both a gamer and a doctor who treats people with radiation, Andrew is interested in helping game designers better understand the science behind the fiction that drive many of our favorite games.

Doug Daulton

Writer, new media consultant and aspiring game designer, Doug is the co-founder and Executive Director of Neoncon. Every day, Doug helps businesses, large and small, understand how to use social media to connect with potential customers and partners to grow their businesses and brands. Many feel tabletop gaming is on the wane, falling victim to the rapid emergence of computer, console and internet-based games — not Doug.

Print-On_Demand (POD) and PDF distribution make publishing accessible to just about anyone with the talent and desire to run a small press. Social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace make connecting with fellow gamers easier than ever before. More importantly, MMOs and online games lack the personal connection found around the gaming table. The tabletop gaming rennaisance is upon us. Doug can help you seize the day and make the most of this opportunity.

Marcelo Figueroa

Marcelo A. Figueroa is one of few individuals who have participated in every tier of the hobby games industry, first as a consumer, then in Retail (All Star Games), in Distribution (ACD Distribution), as Media (Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer Magazine, Shadis Magazine, Games Quarterly Magazine), and Publishing (Alderac Entertainment Group, Avalanche Press, Playroom Entertainment). And somewhere in there he found time to be a published writer & game designer. His years of experience have made him a respected industry expert in Customer Service, Marketing, Product Demonstration & Sales, including an Origins Award.

Commonly referred to as the "someone you need to know" in hobby games, Marcelo currently works with Sorvent, Inc. as a Talent Manager, helping undiscovered game inventors find publishers for their games, as well as being the Sales Manager for Dan Verssen Games, Warpath Games Distribution, and the Greater Games Industry Catalog.

Joshua J. Frost

Josh is Paizo Publishing's Events Manager as well as a freelance writer, game designer, and photographer. He is currently managing Pathfinder Society Organized Play, Paizo's world-wide RPG organized play system set in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting. His RPG design credits include the bestiaries in Revisited, the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, Sun Dagger's Crown in Pathfinder #17, and Taldor: Echoes of Glory for Paizo Publishing and the soon-to-be-released A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide for Green Ronin. He is also the co-designer of Yetisburg, a comedic American civil war card game released by Titanic Games. His RPG Industry work has garnered him one ENnie award.

Matthew Grau

Matthew has been a professional writer and intellectual property developer since the age of 17. He began his career in the adventure games industry, writing books and designing game rules for such popular titles and licenses as Dungeons & Dragons, Marvel Super Heroes, Frank Herbert's Dune, Star Trek, Star Wars, and more. His most recent efforts put him at the helm of WildFire's ENnie Award winning CthulhuTech. Matthew has been a professional writer and intellectual property developer since the age of 17. He began his career in the adventure games industry, writing books and designing game rules for such popular titles and licenses as Dungeons & Dragons, Marvel Super Heroes, Frank Herbert's Dune, Star Trek, Star Wars, and more. His most recent efforts put him at the helm of WildFire's ENnie Award winning CthulhuTech.

In the late 90's, Matthew also moved into the film and television arena. He has written scripts and directed productions for clients such as Microsoft and Nintendo, and created and wrote the Curiosity Cafe television show and kick-off feature film on a first-look agreement with the Jim Henson Company. He is an award-winning screenwriter with projects currently in the Hollywood studio system.

Jess Hartley

For the last ten years, Jess Hartley has worked as a freelance writer, editor and developer, predominantly in the roleplaying game industry. Jess started working with White Wolf in 2003, when she penned the Exalted novel, "In Northern Twilight". Since then, she has written content for Skinchangers, Reliquary (which she also developed), Midnight Roads and Innocents from the World of Darkness core game line, The Beast That Hunts The Blood (Nosferatu Clanbook) for Vampire: The Masquerade, Free Council, Silver Ladder and Mysterium for Mage: The Awakening, all four of the Promethean: The Created supplements (Pandora's Book, Strange Alchemies, Magnum Opus and Saturnine Night), "Predators" for Werewolf: The Forsaken and "The Compass of the Celestial Directions 1: The Blessed Isle" for Exalted Second Edition. She's also contributed to the Scion line (Scion: Demigod and Scion: God), and was part of the core team that created Changeling: The Lost and Hunter: The Vigil.

One of Jess' latest projects has been helping create Geist: The Sineaters, White Wolf's newest game line, which debuts in August of 2009, as well as multiple electronic projects such as Collection of Horrors, Ready-Made Changeling Characters, and The Rose-Bride's Plight, a Changeling: The Lost Storyteller Adventure System .pdf product, which has been nominated for an ENnie for Best Adventure. For more information about Jess visit www.jesshartley.com. Questions or inquiries can be addressed to jess@jesshartley.com.

Ed Healy

An ENnie nominated game designer and ENnie award-winning website designer, Ed's latest project is War Pig, an internet radio station that plays in local game stores and is syndicated on numerous gaming websites. He also co-hosts and produces three regular shows: Atomic Array, Open Design Podcast and RPG Countdown.

Ryan Macklin

Ryan is an ENnie Award-nominated podcaster and audio producer. Between three podcasts ( Master Plan, This Just In From GenCon and The Voice of the Revolution), Ryan has produced over 100 episodes totaling over 45 hours of audio. He is also the owner and organizer of RPGPodcasts.com, a directory of shows relating to role-playing games.

Juliet Meyer

A Las Vegas resident for over a decade, Juliet Meyer was bitten by the gaming bug in her early teens while growing up on the east coast. An avid video game player, the step towards table top games was only natural. On a dark and stormy night she discovered a D&D book at a neighbor's house and it was all downhill from there. Juliet currently works in radio as an on-air talent, producer and voice over artist. When she's not on the airwaves, she's working for Petroglyph Games on their QA team.

Juliet has lent her voice to several video games, and has written for several online gaming communities including 1up.com, pwned.com, watchusgame.com and girlsentertainmentnetwork.com. When not working in the media or gaming industry she spends time as a LARPer in White Wolf's Camarilla, NERO, Realms of Conflict, and several of the local Las Vegas live action communities.

Boyan Radakovich

Boyan Radakovich is the Origins Award-nominated designer for Shifting Skies Games, the former sales and marketing director for Publisher Services Inc., the founding member of the Southern Arizona Gamers Association, and the convention director for Tucson's gaming convention, RinCon. Not bad for his third year in the games industry.

Prior to his new career in gaming, Bo was a graduate researcher in the field of cognitive neuroscience where he designed an artificial intelligence to simulate how humans interact in social situations. But when you think about it -- categorization, decision making, and memory are all just as important to game design. He will be helping shepherd new designers past the perils and pitfalls of game creation in our Game Lab.

Stan!

Stan! is an award-winning game designer, cartoonist, and author with nearly 100 game products, 15 short stories, 5 novels, and innumerable cartoons to his credit. He has worked on staff at West End Games, TSR, Wizards of the Coast, and Upper Deck Entertainment, and is a co-founder of both The Game Mechanics and Super Genius Games.

Currently Stan! is writing adventures for Call of Cthulhu and designing a setting for Savage Worlds (all to be published through Super Genius Games), doing manga localization for Viz Media, and writing support material for his FREE diceless RPG based on the Harper Collins Children's Books series Warriors.

Stan! lives in Vista, CA, were he hopes to one day be the owner of a Sony Aibo robot dog. Visit him online at Stannex.com, see daily doses of his doodles at Doodle-A-Day.com, and cross your fingers that he'll start telling new stories at StoryTimeWithStan.com again very soon.

Christian St. Pierre

Christian N. St. Pierre began his career in the fine and graphic arts working on commissioned murals, portraits, and re-creations, as well as poster, ad, and logo design. He later expanded into the illustration field creating artwork for role-playing games such as Bulldogs!, Spirit of the Century, Spirit of the Season, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, and the forthcoming Dresden Files RPG. He has worked with Hero Games, Evil Hat Productions, Fantasy Flight Games, and Mongoose Publishing, among others.

Chris has also been involved in various independent comic book projects, providing all artwork for the short-lived medieval fantasy series Grafenveer and inking for the online zombie thriller Devolution. Chris' most recent projects include providing artwork for the pulp section of Hero Games' Hero System 6th Edition and co-creating and penciling the upcoming Bonita & Clyde comic book mini-series. He is currently pursuing other illustration projects and comic book collaborations while developing his own creator-owned properties. To see samples of Chris' art and for news and contact information please visit www.christiannstpierre.com.

Monica Valentinelli

A long-time gamer, Monica Valentinelli splits her time between writing, working in online marketing or filling the role of project manager for acclaimed horror and dark fantasy webzine FlamesRising.com (www.flamesrising.com). Monica has worked on a number of gaming, tie-in and non-fiction projects including: WORLDS OF THE DEAD by Eden Studios, a short story for BURIED TALES of PINEBOX,TEXAS by 12 to Midnight and an essay in FAMILY GAMES: the 100 BEST. Throughout the year, you can often find Monica speaking on panels at several conventions, supporting local writers and gamers or annoying her very spoiled cats, Rimmon and Zakar.

John Wick

John is an award-winning game designer and author, most famous for Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea. He has also designed games for children and families including My Monster and Cat. Find out more about his newest critically-acclaimed roleplaying game, Houses of the Blooded, at www.houesoftheblooded.com.

John won several Origins Awards for his work on AEG's lines. Other writing credits include working for companies such as White Wolf, PEG, NeoPets, Upper Deck and Totally Games. John self-published Orkworld under his Wicked Press banner and later co-founded the Wicked Dead Brewing Company with Jared Sorensen.