Matt Cushman: International Man of Mystery.
Matt’s Words of Wisdom: Nuclear power is good for asthma.
Luke Meyer: Lucias Daniel Meyer was born in the small town of Hillsboro, Illinois, at the close of the boringest decade in modern history, or so he’s read. He spent his middle school years in sweat pants, as he was afraid of jeans, but got over it in high school where he eventually became captain of the football team. He attended Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, where he received a B.A. in Biology with a double minor in Super Smash Bros. and Starcraft. He later went on to attend the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Optometry from which he graduated in 2005. Later that year he bought a practice and has since been in business for himself.
He has been married since 2005 to his gorgeous wife, Kim, who may never understand his crazy hobbies but supports him nonetheless. They have two dogs, Maeby and Ginger.
Luke has a ridiculously wide range of hobbies in addition to gaming, including homebrewing, playing guitar, fishing, painting miniatures, and occasionally writing. In the future, he’d love to finally pay off all his loans and take an actual vacation. For the moment, however, he’s extremely happy and grateful to be right where he is.
Luke’s Words of Wisdom: Why so serious?
Luke’s Twitter: LuciasM
A. David Pinilla: Adam David Pinilla was born in St. Louis, Missouri, where he has lived for most of the past 25 years. During his high school years, he was involved with drama and choir and was a member of the chess club. In college, he studied Information Systems and currently enjoys working as a programmer.
He has been married since 2002 to his beautiful wife, Melina, a law student, whom he met while they were both working at a local grocery store in their teen years, and whom he will do battle with into eternity. Together, they have three cats, Tsunade, Maia Dow and Kuchiki, all of whom he is very fond.
David is semi-fluent in Spanish. In his free time, he enjoys programming, playing computer games, role-playing games, anime, attending science fiction conventions, anime conventions, podcasting, throwing parties, camping and watching select television shows, such as Smallville.
In the future, he would like to learn fencing, go skydiving, become a published author, solve world hunger, and become a crime-fighter by night.
David’s Words of Wisdom: Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or nation. Oscar Wilde
David’s Twitter: Bafadam
Joe Selby: Joseph L. Selby was born in Columbia, Missouri where he lived until he was 18. He attended Helias High School in Jefferson City and Truman State University in Kirksville where he earned a BA for English (Creative Writing) and Theatre (Playwriting).
As a young adult, Joe moved from city to city, Denver then St. Louis then Nashua, New Hampshire. Joe works for Pearson Custom Publishing, a division of Pearson (the guys that own Penguin and half of the rest of the publishing world), as a media project manager. He lives with his wife, Jen, and their cat, Gizmo. Together they enjoy all the culture of the Greater Boston Area, including local theatre, the Nashua Symphony Orchestra, and numerous other social events.
Joe’s play “Jigsaw” was performed in Sioux Falls, SD in 2000. He co-authored Dangerous Denizens: Monsters of Tellene in 2003, and he wrote 33 adventures for the RPGA’s Living Kingdoms of Kalamar and Living Greyhawk campaigns from 2004 to 2008. He is currently writing his first two novels, Black Magic and Barbecue Sauce and Cause and Conviction.
In the future, he hopes to run for public office, climb Mount Washington, go skydiving, write full time, and live free or die.
Joe’s Words of Wisdom: If you can’t answer, “Why?” you haven’t thought it through far enough.
Joe’s Twitter: JoePolitic
Recurring Guest Hosts
Friends of the Podge stop in from time to time. Here are the hosts we see most frequently:
Andrea Sarbanes: Andrea Sarbanes is the wife of host Adam Pinilla. Law student by day, geeky girl by night. She was part of the Dragon*Con recap and the Women of the Podge episode.
Andrea is currently in her second year of law school at St. Louis University. During the summers she interns for one of the largest law firms in St. Louis, where she will be working permanently as an attorney in the General Litigation practice group after she takes the Bar Exam.
When she is not pretending to be a normal member of society, she loves playing survival horror rpgs, collecting Cthulhu paraphernalia, singing karaoke to a bar full of drunken people, playing music whenever possible (that includes real instruments AND Rock Band!), shopping till she drops, creating costumes for masquerade competitions at sci-fi conventions (and occasionally winning), dancing, going out for sushi, watching Red Dwarf, and spending time with her husband and three cats/supreme highnesses.
Table Saw: Table Saw first appeared in Episode 9: Childish Things. The chemistry between the PodgeCast hosts and Table Saw was palpable. They had similar tastes but differing opinions, sharp jibes and witty comebacks. He was the fifth host they never knew they needed.
Tope Dome: Tope Dome began touring in Episode 44: We Are. Luke on vocals, Matt on Drums, Mike’s mom on keyboards, Table Saw on the lead/bass double-guitar. Tope Dome is coming to a town near you, down by the river. They’re gonna rock your FACE!
PodgeCast Contributors
Andrew Webb: Andrew Webb was born in Columbia, Missouri where he continues to live to this day. A proud alumnus of the University of Missouri School of Nursing, he has been working for MU Healthcare for the past seven years. Of those, he spent four in the SICU/BICU, two in acute dialysis, and in the past year he has settled into his newest role as a transplant coordinator.
Outside of work he spends time with his lovely wife and wonderful son which means he can no longer spend 40-60 hours a week pursuing his various hobbies and gaming interests. Which include reading, painting, exercising, home brewing, along with various video, role-playing, card, miniature and board games.
PodgeCast Resident Artist
James Gabrielsen: Better known as Ghostrunner on the Spooky Outhouse forums, James won our logo design contest. His portrayal of Uncle Jimbone is used as our cast logo, on t-shirts, coasters, bags, and other paraphernalia. He is a genuine artiste.
Kingdom: the Next Generation
We offer campaign recaps for Luke and Adam’s Burning Wheel game, Noblesse Oblige. Here are our guests:
Phil Hicks: Born in St. Louis, MO. Phil graduated high school early and attended several colleges after that. He finished college a few years ago with a BS in computer technology and networking security.
He works for Reputable news agency that has several global markets. He is married to Becky and has one child, age 3 and another on the way. Phil likes to say he is a man of many talents, from art to rebuilding car engines.
He loves anything that gets the imagination going, movies, music, games (whatever’s on his mind).
Francis Horton: Is so lazy that he couldn’t manage to turn in two paragraphs about himself in time for this page’s publication. We’ve decided instead to use this space to mock him. Even Phil turned something in.
Paul Lyons: Paul likes to draw. He likes anime, heavy metal, and hockey. Borderline schizo, sort of fine tits, though.
Fan Roundtables
The Evolution of Dungeons and Dragons
Rich McKee: Born in the magical place called Carolina, Rich grew up to work with the Man, building barricades and other immovable objects to prevent them from being blowed up. Married with children, he’s begun law school so that he might defend the PodgeCast in their eventual legal battles (come on, we all know it’s inevitable).
Stuart Robertson: Stuart is Canadian. Little is known of these magical creatures to the north. Some claim they do not exist at all, but Adam was fortunate enough to get a recording of one during a Fan Roundtable. Some have claimed that the recording is a hoax and that Canadians don’t really exist, but Adam stands by the episode and says he in no way fabricated the event.
Phil Hicks: In addition to his frequent appearances on Kingdom: The Next Generation, Phil took the time to talk for five hours about his massive MMO experience. We were able to edit that down to roughly an hour. He is hoping to find new ways to inflict horrible death on his foes with the remaining content.
Andrew Webb: In addition to his product reviews, Andrew took the time to listen to Phil talk about MMOs, occasionally adding in his own comments. In the future, he hopes to go back to grad school, raise his son successfully, continue to find a little more time to pursue his hobbies, and search for other gamers who share his love for the Gilmore Girls.
Francis Horton: This is Francis. He has no idea why he is here, but apparently people want to know things about him. He is a corporate slave, a student and has been in the Army for eight years, which he incorrectly believes makes him less of a geek.
Francis likes to write, play video games, attempt to date women and keep up with politics. He is easily bought off with Bud Lite and cigarettes. Francis is an Aries
Scott: Blurb
Eric: Eric is an analytical chemist by trade, physicist by education, and obsessive for entertainment. This obsessive nature lends him a great many interests at any given time, including literature, movies, TV – of which he currently believes Lost to be the finest example in history – board games, miniature games, computer and console games, RPGs, theater, writing, painting, and anything else that might catch his passing fancy. Baseball, however, is his religion.
He will frequently present an opinion of something as either the greatest or worst things ever, these statements should be taken in the context of a hyperbolistic attitude. Generally the most damning thing he can say about anything is that it is “okay”. Currently Eric is shopping for a house, taking classes for a Master’s degree in Chemistry, and supporting his wife Monica’s attempts to get her first novel published.
Inside 4e, More Than Just the Tip
Paul Lyons: Paul heart 4e.
Tim White: Tim has been playing role-playing games since 1985, and has run dozens of campaigns in dozens of systems.He also wrote and co-wrote a number of Character Provided events for the RPGA in the 90s.
Tim is a Software Development Engineer for a Fortune 500 Telecommunications Company based in Denver, CO.
Shawn Merwin, Global director of Living Forgotten Realms: Blurb
Michael Mockus, Regional administrator for the Moonshae Isles: Michael Mockus (pronounced moe kuhs) was born and raised in Connecticut, but a born again Jayhawk, living in the Lawrence, Kansas since 1994. Michael spent 3 year in the Army in military intelligence and now works for a technology subsidiary of a major medical company as a Senior Data Consultant.
Michael spends his free time skydiving, motorcycling and role-playing. He organizes gamedays and conventions in the Kansas City area. He has volunteered for the RPGA as an administrator in the Living Greyhawk campaign setting, Dyvers region. He currently is the Point of Contact for the Moonshae Isles region in the RPGA, Living Forgotten Realms campaign.