Verner Entrekin
Celebrating tabletop games, great stories, and the geek culture that brings us together. A lifelong geek’s adventures in tabletop gaming, science fiction, fantasy, and fandom.
Most Current Blog Post
Gen Con Day Three: Ghosts, Books, Dice, and Tornadoes
By the third day of Gen Con, I had settled into a comfortable rhythm. Wake up, grab breakfast, find the next game, wander the exhibit hall, buy something I probably didn't need, and somehow make new friends along the way. It was another full day of gaming, though this...
Who Am I
I’m a lifelong gamer, Game Master, reader, and unapologetic geek who has been exploring fantasy and science fiction since the early days of Dungeons & Dragons in the 1980s. I love tabletop RPGs, board games, speculative fiction, conventions, and the communities that grow around shared stories.
As a Game Master, I believe the best adventures are collaborative, with players helping shape the narrative as much as the person behind the screen. Whether I’m running Dungeon Crawl Classics, Call of Cthulhu, Shadowdark, or introducing friends to a new board game, I’m always looking for memorable stories and meaningful moments around the table.
Here you’ll find discussions about games, books, movies, television, convention adventures, Game Master tips, and whatever other corner of geek culture has captured my attention. My goal is simple: celebrate great storytelling, spark interesting conversations, and help people discover something new to love.
Previous Blog Posts
Gen Con Day Three: Ghosts, Books, Dice, and Tornadoes
By the third day of Gen Con, I had settled into a comfortable rhythm. Wake up, grab breakfast, find the next game, wander the exhibit hall, buy something I probably didn't need, and somehow make new friends along the way. It was another full day of gaming, though this...
Gen Con Day Two: Infinite Libraries, Classic Games, and Neon Nutrias
One of the things I've loved most about Gen Con so far is that every day has been completely different. Day One was all about finally arriving at the convention I'd dreamed of attending since I was a kid reading Dragon Magazine. Day Two leaned into the creativity that...
The Petal High School Chapter of the Illuminati
I've often said that tabletop games teach you things that have nothing to do with rolling dice or moving pieces around a board. Sometimes they teach strategy. Sometimes they teach teamwork. Sometimes they teach creative problem-solving. And occasionally... they...
Gen Con Day One: Mutants, Munchkins, and Making New Friends
There are moments that live up to decades of anticipation, and then there are moments that somehow manage to exceed it. My first full day at Gen Con was one of those days. For years I had dreamed of walking the halls of the convention I first discovered through those...
The Man Who Taught Us to Dream in Dice
Every year on July 27, gamers around the world celebrate Gary Gygax Day. It's a chance to remember a man whose imagination changed not only my life, but the lives of millions of people who have ever gathered around a table with dice, character sheets, and a shared...
A Forty-Year Journey to Gen Con
Some trips take months to plan. This one has been over forty years in the making. Ever since I was a kid in the 1980s, I've wanted to go to Gen Con. Back then, I'd pore over the pages of Dragon magazine, dreaming about all the games I wanted to play and lingering over...
Every Great Adventure Begins Somewhere
If you've found your way here, chances are we already have something in common. Maybe you grew up rolling polyhedral dice around a kitchen table. Maybe you stayed up too late reading fantasy novels with a flashlight under the covers. Maybe you can quote Firefly, argue...