To say Shane has led an interesting life is an understatement, but a lifelong love for adventure, storytelling, and strategy fit very well into the world of gaming.

Axis & Allies was the first board game that proved to him that board games could be more than just dice luck and chance (not his strong points) and his love of RPGs stemmed from original NES games like Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, and Crystalis while his strategic mind made him a nightmare in games like Medieval Total War II…or the Civilization series.

Braden introduced Shane to D&D nearly 10 years ago and he fell in love with TTRPGs instantly; no surprise for a fiction writer and avid storyteller. This table is where he also met Callahan with the two bonding instantly over twisted senses of humor and both having been professional poker players.

Shane is an avid player, DM, and loves creating TTRPG content and worlds. While he still loves great RPG video games, he spends most his time in the cozy farm-sim games like Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and dozens of others you may or may not have ever heard of.

Shane is author of the book My Brother’s Keeper and his gaming articles have also been featured on Level Skip and Hobby Lark, among others.

When I find a hobby I enjoy, I tend to throw myself into it with abandon. As a kid, this involved video games, board games, trading card games, and reading (and I guess it still does). The Goosebumps series were my favorite books, and I’d be clamoring for a chance to go to the library each week to read the new ones and reread old favorites.

When I found out about a chance to meet the author, R.L. Stine, through the Brain Juice Terrifying Title Contest, I jumped at the opportunity, entering the title “Dead Dogs Still Fetch”. A few months later I was paid a surprise visit by the legendary author himself, an experience I was able to relive recently after successfully tracking down lost footage of the event. I’m even still writing to this day.

In the gaming space, no game has quite captured my attention like Magic: The Gathering. I spent several years with the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card games before I found it, but the creativity of the Commander format has been a major part of what keeps me coming back for more.

While my interest in card games evolved as I got older, my favorite video games remained in the 8 and 16-bit eras. I’ve even gotten into speedrunning randomized versions of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in addition to playing retro games on Twitch, so come say hi if you see me online!

Board games have always been a source of joy for Phil, and his love for the medium is contagious. Growing up, family games of Uno, Yahtzee, and Rummy were frequent and competitive, making the progression to more strategic fare like Axis and Allies and Risk in his teen years all but inevitable.

In 2010, Phil began delving into the world of board game design, bringing lots of different concepts to his board game nights. This eventually resulted in the creation and refinement of Castlecomb in 2015, a hex-based tile game where players strategically try to set up the biggest cities possible to score points. In trying to find how to market this light but surprisingly deep game, he stumbled into the modern hobby board game niche and has been happily playing all the games he can get his hands on since.

A dedicated follower of Kickstarter’s board game corner for several years now, Phil is always on the lookout for the next big thing from indie developers and established industry names alike, as well as anything that just looks fun or unique. In addition to playing these games with his fellow Meeples and family, Phil also enjoys reviewing the games he acquires with a critical eye to see how they work mechanically and aesthetically, applying what he learns at the drawing board and game table.

I first cut my chops playing Tripoley with my grandparents in the early 1980’s (and they would take your hard-earned pennies too, make no mistake). I mixed that with other classic games such as Monopoly and Risk, and would willingly spend hours a day every day on such endeavors.

Soon came Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2^nd Edition, and at that moment, I was truly lost to the void of gaming. Games increased in complexity and number over the years, but it was with chess I began to truly appreciate the ability to anticipate the moves of my opponents based on my actions. This eventually led to my playing poker full-time to pay the bills after college. The hours were terrible and my associates were questionable, but I never missed a house payment in 2 years, nor did I during the years I was a poker dealer afterward.

Woodworking and 3D printing have also been major interests over the years, expanding what I can do in the gaming space exponentially (in fact, most shots that you’ll see of us playing board games occur over a solid oak gaming table that I built for Braden). Current/future projects include designing and building wooden board game boxes, printing miniatures (I highly recommend the Elegoo Mars v1 resin printer), 3D modeling of inserts, and writing material for use in fantasy TTRPG’s.