Artist Guest of Honor – Aaron Bowersock
Hi everyone! My name is Aaron, and for the past few years I’ve been working on a whimsical and vibrant Day of the Dead art mashup project called PopMuertos. What started with drawing sugar skull versions of ALL Gen 1 Pokemon, this project has now branched out into everything else I love- cartoons, movies, original characters, and even my corgi, Pickles! I grew up with these colors and patterns and have really enjoyed incorporating them in fun, new ways. And I hope you enjoy it too! You can find more work at PopMuertos.com or watch me draw, live on Twitch. Hope to see you around!
Special Guests
Misha B. – Misha Bushyager is a longtime gamer and designer working on making sure the next generation of geeks sees themselves represented. She’s a panelist, writer, editor, proofreader, and sensitivity reader for tabletop RPGs and larps. She’s one of the founders of New Agenda Publishing and a curator for More Seats at the Table.
She worked on Orun, #Feminism, Chill:SAVE, Lovecraftesque, Dead Scare, Misspent Youth:Sell Out With Me, Masks:Unbound, and the as yet unpublished larp Nightingales.
You can find her on Twitter @BGGAmeworks or on her website BlackGirlGameworks.com.
Sarah Gulde is a ginormous Trekkie and all-around geek! She has appeared on Trek panels across the country and internationally, and you can also catch her on various Trek podcasts as well as the Deep Space Nine documentary “What We Left Behind”. When she’s not attending cons she’s running “NERD CAMP” in Portland, OR, which is a mini-con with a focus on diversity and inclusion. Her favorites games are Kingsport Festival, Arkham Horror, and Call of Cthulhu.
Graeme Barber is a long time player and GM, and new designer and consultant in the world of RPG’s. He started his blog, POCGamer, in 2013 to address the issues of representation and racism in science fiction and fantasy media, and has since developed that concept further with his video podcast, Lore Diver. He has worked as a consultant for world building and region design, and as a freelance writer, creating the concept and background for a player race in High Level Games’ upcoming Archons of Nikud game. He is currently working on some projects of his own, including a minimalist Sci-Fi RPG, Sojourner, and a rules light fantasy game in the mode of classic 16bit JRPG’s. When not being a blerd, he can be found with his family, working as a GIS Technician, soldiering in the Canadian Army Reserves, or scuba diving.
You can find Graeme on Twitter or Instagram, and see his work on POCGamer.com and on YouTube.
Mike Robles (or TheMikeRobles as he’s known online) is a gaming, comic, and horror enthusiast, as well as a first generation Mexican-American. He has been a Community Manager for some of the biggest games in the gaming industry. He’s worked on Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Minecraft, Killer Instinct (2013) and more.
When he’s not busy being a community manager he’s usually playing video games or board games with his wife and child. He wants his kiddo to grow up loving everything and everyone. You can always chat with him on Twitter: @TheMikeRobles
Lynne Hardy got into roleplaying games thanks to the Seahawks so, even thoughshe’s not watched a game in years, she’s always happy to come to Seattle for OrcaCon. Having originally trained as a biomedical researcher, she got into writing for RPGS after a cheeky letter to Wizards of the Coast. Now, far more years later than she’s prepared to admit, she’s written for numerous companies, including Nightfall Games, Pelgrane Press, Cubicle 7, and Modiphius, and worked as an editor for Green Ronin (amongst others). As well as developing her own steampunk and fantasy games (Cogs, Cakes & Swordsticks; Small Things), she is now employed full time by Chaosium as Associate Line Editor for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. When she’s not doing that, she gives lectures and workshops on historical embroidery techniques.
Emma Larkins is a board game designer, creator of …and then we died, Abandon All Artichokes, and Heartcatchers. She hosts #TableTakes presented by Gen Con, a board game news show on Twitch, and Ludology, a podcast about the thoughtful analysis of game design. She writes about #gamedesigndaily on social media, streams live board game design, and runs a weekly playtest event for the Seattle Tabletop Game Designers. She’s spoken about game design on panels at PAX, PAX Dev, SHUX, DreamHack, and Twitch Con.
Tracy Barnett – I’m Tracy Barnett, and I make games. I’m a queer, non-binary tabletop game designer, and I make games of all types! I’m best known for my work on Iron Edda Accelerated, Karthun: Lands of Conflict, and as the editor of Paper Arcade. I also run TheOtherCast podcast network, producing RPG actual play, and Another Blank Page (with my co-host Kate Bui). This is my first OrcaCon and I’m super-excited to spend the weekend playing and talking about games in the Pacific Northwest.