Every year at Con on the Cob we offer the opportunity to meet some of the geek world's most iconic creators. Artists, game designers, musicians, and a motley assortment of interesting characters are there for your hanging-out-with enjoyment. We are exceedingly proud to present this year's special guests:

    Shane Hensley has been writing and designing games since 1992. He started writing for West End Games’ Torg line, then went on to work on everything from Shadowrun to Dark Sun to computer games, novels, collectible card games, and miniature games. A extensive list of Shane’s projects can be found at www.peginc.com.
      Shane is best known for creating Deadlands: the Weird West, and the Savage Worlds RPG system, which he runs, plays, and still loves dearly. He’s a frequent guest of conventions around the world, and is fascinated by the different ways people play in places such as Australia, Ireland, and Poland.
      Since 2004, Shane has worked full-time in video games, being a lead on City of Heroes / City of Villains and then working on a Deadlands Massively Multiplayer Online game that was unfortunately canceled when the parent company shut down. Most recently he was the Executive Producer on the Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG Neverwinter with Cryptic Studios, and is now the Executive Producer of Trion Worlds & Petroglyph’s MMORTS End of Nations.
     Shane lives in Chandler, Arizona, where he loves to run in the hottest part of the day (some say he’s part-lizard) and play games with his beautiful wife Michelle and their two sons, Caden and Ronan.




     Legendary miniature sculptor (she sculpts miniatures, she's not miniature herself) Sandra Garrity is just too great to describe in the space I have here. I refer you instead to this wonderful interview wiht her over at Witchhunter.net.



Jamie Chambers, creator of the popular Battlestar Galactica and Serenity rpgs, grew up in north Georgia where he found a love for games and books, but apparently not mild winters and sweet tea—which is why he moved to southeast Wisconsin where he could get away from them and write stories and games for a living. When not writing long, run-on sentences, he is working on various role playing game and fiction projects. He lives in an old, creepy house with his wife and three kids. Follow his latest antics on the web: http://www.jamiechambers.net.




     Sean Patrick Fannon has been professionally involved in RPGs and interactive entertainment for the last 20+ years of his life. Starting in 1988, Sean began writing freelance articles and game reviews for small roleplaying game magazines and fan `zines. He then started writing books for the world-famous Champions RPG (at one point becoming the Continuity Director of the Champions Universe). Sean also wrote for such properties as the Shatterzone RPG and the Star Wars RPG, as well as Shadis Magazine, Adventurer's Club Magazine and Dragon Magazine for TSR.
      Off and on, Sean's spent time in the digital gaming mines; sadly, most of the projects he was involved in went down the Development Hell Hole, but he gained tremendous experience working on them. He also got to see a huge amount of the country, living in such places as Los Angeles, CA; Raleigh, NC; Jacksonville Beach, FL; and Petaluma, CA.
      Sean is the author of the hobby-defining _The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible_, and is the creator and author of all things Shaintar (the epic fantasy setting for Savage Worlds). _Shaintar: Legends Arise_ and an entire series of products in that line is scheduled to come out from Reality Blurs in 2011. Sean also has another major project - the OmniVerse - in development, and this one may change the entire games industry by the time he's done!
      In addition to his writing and development work, Sean's been deeply involved in helping build the business of gaming; he spent a couple of years as the Events Coordinator and Communications Associate for GAMA, and he is now the Marketing & Communications Manager for DriveThruRPG. One of his proudest achievements so far as been his involvment in collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in support for Haiti, Pakistan (via Doctors Without Borders) and Toys for Tots, all thanks to the amazing community of gamers he reaches through DriveThruRPG.



     Silvervine Games is a tabletop role-playing game system, designed to give an unparalleled character based role-playing experience.
     Character Creation is done through a straightforward point buy system that allows players to make the Armored Mage, Sneaky Paladin Ninja, Gun Toting Dragon Riding Badass, Skilled Street Fighting Pickpocket, Ninja Penguin or any character concept they can imagine.
      Players are also given Thematic control over the look and feel of all their character's powers and equipment. Does using a wrench as a weapon feel better for your mechanic character than a light mace? Want to buy high level armor, but keep the unencumbered look? The final paint job and description is in the player's hands.
      Silvervine is built to foster and encourage Cinematic actions, without making them contingent on a die roll or penalizing players for trying them. It does this by giving the players Narrative control in describing their successes and failures. A die roll determines if the action is successful, but you determine why.




     Don Goddard is a self taught amateur sculptor. Original raised in the untamed Montana wilderness, Don learned to entertain himself at an early age by creating crude cave paintings and making action figure toys out of moose droppings. As he grew into an awkward adulthood, he attempted a college education (twice), and uneventful military tour, and a stint in Information Technology which led him to Ohio. thinking that money wasn't enough to make him happy, he decided to pursue his life long passion: sculpting moose dropping action figures. As central Ohio is sadly lacking in Mooses, he eventually turned to various epoxy putties and small scale figurative sculpture. He has sculpted miniature gaming figures for Splintered Light Miniatures, Falcon Figures, Black Orc Games, and Crunchy Frog Enterprises. Currently living as a starving artist with a full time day job, Don can frequently be found teaching miniature sculpting classes at gaming conventions as he tries to spread his love of art and moose dropping to others. Well, except for the part about the moose droppings.




     Scott is far too cool to reply to my repeated attempts to wring a bio out of him, so I'll make one up. As one third of the soon-to-be legendary FrankenSteele Laboratories and a first-rate sculptor, fabricator, and painter of miniatures, props, and various other assorted jazzes he also has orange hair.

     Aaron Aurelio Acevedo is a full-time artist, author, and game designer living in New York. He is most widely known for his work in the Adventure Games industry. He's current working as art director for both Savage Mojo and Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
     Aaron has worked on the Babylon 5, Call of Cthulhu, Deadlands, Game of Thrones, Legend of the Five Rings, Solomon Kane, Suzerain, Warlord, Wheel of Time, and World of Darkness properties, among others, and produces art and design for bands, comics, dvds, films, games, and concept work.
      You can find his work online at http://www.aaronace.com/.


TBA Soon



In his own words:
     I have been creating fantasy and science fiction art for over 20 years. I worked as a staff artist for TSR, Inc. from 1981 to 1987. While at TSR, I helped set the standards of gaming art in the role-playing genre. Besides creating covers for Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D and other gaming books, I may be best known for my work with the world of Dragonlance. Since 1987, I’ve been working as a freelance illustrator, doing covers for comics, computer games, magazines, fantasy and science fiction books and many more projects too numerous to list here.
     My time at TSR, Inc. is best exemplified on the covers of the DRAGONLANCE book series. Since then, I have worked for other publishers such as BAEN books, Bantam, Warner Books, ACE/Berkley, Doubleday, and Del Rey. I am also the co-author of “Runes of Autumn” and creator of the “Sovereign Stone” series. In the gaming and comic industries, I have freelanced for TSR, Inc, FASA, Mayfair Games, Game Designer’s Workshop, White Wolf, Iron Crown Enterprises, Dragon Magazine, Amazing Magazine, Wizard Press, D. C. Comics, First Comics, Eclipse Comics and Frank Frazetta’s Fantasy Illustrated. Miscellaneous credits include: LJN Toys, Mattel, Lucas Films, Tonka, Monogram Models, Western Publishing, Sony Entertainment’s Ever Quest, and various computer game covers.

FANTASY ARTIST ED BEARD JR. HAS BEEN CREATING DRAGONS, MONSTERS, AND JUST ABOUT EVERY IMAGE OF A CREATURE YOU COULD IMAGINE, FOR OVER 25 YEARS.

     The fantasy Art of Ed Beard Jr has been licensed in well over 1000 products world wide over the past 30 years. Ed's works have adorned countless products and are available in just about every language and in most countries world wide. Ed's works are ranked consistently as Top Sellers in each manufacturer's catalogs for the past 9 years.
      Ed's works in Fantasy Art have been created or licensed for such top manufacturers and Publishers as: Hasbro / Wizard's of the Coast, Dungeons and Dragon and over 100 published illustrations with the worlds most popular card game Magic The gathering a Hasbro game and Toy company product. Ed is best known for his works illustrating Dragons, wizards and fantasy art. Ed is also known for his works on Tolkien and Lord of the Rings properties.
      Ed Beard Jr. is the most successfully licensed Dragon and Wizard fantasy artist with the most diverse selection of products using his art in the world. With over 1000 licensed images manufactured by over 100 companies world wide, Ed is a household name in fantasy.


     Dan hails from Kent, Oh. Where he spends his days working as a full time Medical Illustrator.  At night, Dan dons the hat of a freelance Illustrator where he cranks out artwork for an array of Trading Card sets and comics.  Dan has created hand drawn original sketch cards for Marvel Comics related sets for both Upper Deck and Rittenhouse Archives.  Dan also works on Dynamite Comics trading card sets for Breygent Marketing as well as various sets for Cryptozoic Entertainment including the “AMC’s The Walking Dead” set and “Tarzan 100th Anniversary” set.  Dan began his career as a comic book penciler on AC Comics' FemForce #158 and will be penciling books for both AC Comics and What The Flux Comics in 2012.   Dan can be contacted through his website http://www.dangormanart.com  Follow Dan on Twitter @GdanArtist.



   Tony Steele. physician, scientist. Searching for the key to unlock man's potential. When an accidental overdose of gamma radiation....no wait that was other kids. With 15+ years as a professional artist for screen printing industry and 10+ years as a freelance artist for board and card game companies doing illustration in many genres such as Science Fiction, Fantasy, Humor, Horror, Concept Art, our lad is a one to watch. Also he's recently stepped into the world of 3d modeling and prototyping with Scott Frank and Kay Steele in the guise of Frank & Steele. And I or he is a really nice guy, be not afraid of my or rather his hugeness and beard. Both are friendly.




     Heather has been working professionally in the Gaming industry since July 2000. She was first introduced to the world of Fantasy at the age of 14, when a friend gave her the book, “The Sleeping Dragon” by Joel Rosenberg. Just two years later, her life would be forever changed. She picked up the book, “Dragons of Spring Dawning” by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. This was the first time she had ever seen the artwork of Larry Elmore. Soon thereafter she was in awe of other Dragonlance artists, Clyde Caldwell, Jeff Easley and Fred Fields.
      After spending about 4 years gathering a lovely collection of rejection notices she finally received her first freelance project for the CCG Doomtown by AEG. Heather continues to work for AEG today on their CCG Legend of the Five Rings. She has also done work for Vampire the Eternal Struggle and World of Darkness (White Wolf Inc./ CCP NA), Bella Sara (Hidden City Games) and many others. Heather works exclusively in traditional mediums. All of her CCG artwork is produced in oils on gessoed watercolor paper, while her interiors are created using Prismacolor markers & colored pencils, graphite and white charcoal on watercolor paper.
      When Heather has time to create work for herself it tends to have a softer subject matter than her usual freelance work. She often creates works with erotic faeries, faerie mothers and children, or angel mothers/fathers and children. She also enjoys creating items that draw from her Native American Spirituality whether it’s an elaborate oil painting or an authentic Dreamcatcher, Rattle or Spirit Chaser.
      Heather currently resides in Hermitage, PA with her husband Chuck, son Chal, daughter Jaela and three feline minions, Banshee, Lucifer and Thor. She also runs the art show at Con on the Cob.



     Is it lame to make yourself a guest at your own convention. Yes. Yes it is. www.andyhopp.com

     Destini is a rising star in the haunting and enchanted soundtrack and music venue. Destini’s background in vocals started in high school where she excelled as a lyrical Soprano 1 with a 3-4 octave voice. Destini has an emotive sound that mesmerizes all who listen to her. She was and is the youngest member of the world renown Susquehanna Valley Chorale. She enjoys singing for theatrical soundtracks and looks forward to embracing more opportunities in this and other vocal commercial venues.