Industry Guest

Kurt Refling

Kurt Refling holding two flasks.

/*-->*/ /*-->*/ Kurt Refling is an award-winning game designer based in Ottawa, Ontario. Publishing small storytelling RPGs as A Smouldering Lighthouse, Kurt has released over 15 games including Sock Puppets, Here We Used to Fly, and The Hourglass Sings.

Scott Kelly

Cartoon headshot of Scott Kelly

Scott is half of BSGames and also an elementary school teacher. He has been playing board games since he was a child, and is now working on creating his own. Along with Bill Murphy (the "B" in BSGames), he has co-created and published Mathemagician's Duel and Sinoda. Scott has a folder full of ideas and a backpack full of prototypes, and is looking forward to getting more games out there into the world.

Tim W. K. Brown

Tim W. K. Brown standing in front of his most popular games: Wreck Raiders, Quartex, Gridstones, and Order of Invention.

Tim is a multiple award winning board game designer from Stouffville Ontario. His games have been sold in over a dozen countries and have been featured in multiple magazines and podcasts. His published games include Wreck Raiders, Order of Invention, Quartex, and Gridstones. Watch for Tim’s next game “Twin Sisters” in the next Deck Hand Games Kickstarter this Spring!

Derek Gour

Derek Gour standing in front of a forested lake with mountains in the background.

Derek is a Toronto-based game designer spanning tabletop and video games. His goal is to craft thoughtful games that blur genre lines. Games that have influenced him range from roleplaying classics like Burning Wheel and Apocalypse World to computer strategy gems like Civilization and Crusader Kings. Derek is the creator of the Hope Inhumanity tabletop card game, and his new project is Wheat and Wrath, a survival city builder with villagers made of straw.

Spencer Moore

Headshot of Spencer Moore.

Spencer is a co-designer of Dungeon World 2 and the creator of creator Chasing Adventure. He got into roleplaying games in 2012, and since then has enjoyed being a playing, GMing, and designing and many games and systems.

Helena Real

Helena Real wearing fun glasses.

/*-->*/ /*-->*/ Helena Real (she/her) is a Chilean trans writer, TTRPG designer, editor, and translator. She’s the co-designer of Dungeon World 2, the upcoming sequel to the acclaimed PbtA game. She has designed other TTRPG materials for various games and systems since 2015, including 7th Sea: Second Edition, Bluebeard’s Bride, and Avatar Legends, among various others. She also authored two Fate Worlds: The Way of the Pukona and Ngen Mapu.

Chris Tung

Chris Tung.

/*-->*/ /*-->*/ Chris Tung is the co-founder of the anime/gaming streetwear brand Pink City as well as a Producer/Editor/GM of the comedy TTRPG podcast Super Journey Dudes. He is the showrunner of Blink Space Blues, the world’s highest production Lancer RPG show, and Wizards of WUBRG, a brand new roleplaying Magic: The Gathering actual play.

Jason Pitre

Jason Pitre in front of a bookshelf.

/*-->*/ /*-->*/ Jason Pitre (He/Him) is owner and primary employee of Genesis of Legend Publishing. He acts as a game designer, writer, editor, layout professional, and lover of coffee. Jason works as a bureaucrat and law nerd by day, working on games in the evenings. Jason is also the mind behind the RPG Design Panelcast which shares recorded panels and seminars about game design.

Jeff Fraser

Jeff Fraser standing in front of a book shelf of board games.

Jeff Fraser is a rules editor and game developer based in Ottawa, Ontario. He has edited rulebooks for over 100 published games, including Flamecraft, Divinity: Original Sin, and Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and he codesigned The Fox Experiment with Elizabeth Hargrave. As game editor at Allplay Games since 2024, he has worked on a wide array of fresh titles and revised classics, including Container and Sail Legacy (both coming in 2026).