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Guests of Honour and Special Guests 2019

Guest of Honour
Jon Hodgson
(GoH 2019)

Jon Hodgson is a game designer, illustrator and cartographer from Scotland. Hodgson is known in Finland for his illustrations in productions such as Dungeons & Dragons (3rd – 5th editions), Pathfinder, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (1st, 2nd and 4th editions), The One Ring, Beyond the Wall, Warhammer Historical, and Dragon Warriors. Hodgson worked as a designer in Adventures in Middle Earth and as a Creative Director at Cubicle 7. Hodgson has been a popular guest in other conventions, featuring as a Guest of Honour in GenCon for two years in a row.

Hodgson’s latest project is his own publishing company Handiwork Games. Together with Ken Hite, they collaborate with Onyx Path Publishing on productions such as Hellenistika, Beowulf (5th edition) and Scarred Lands. We hear that new projects are also on the horizon – more on that when Hodgson arrives at Ropecon!

For Hodgson, visiting Ropecon has been a goal for many years now, so he is especially excited to finally attend the convention. Furthermore, Hodgson’s spouse is from Finland.

More on Jon and his work:
Jon Hodgson Design
Jon on DeviantArt
Jon on Twitter

Guest of Honour
Lynne Hardy
(GoH 2019)

Lynne Hardy discovered role-playing games at university thanks to – of all things – American Football. A few years later, a cheeky letter to Wizards of the Coast got her into the gaming industry and there she’s stayed, on and off, for the last couple of decades. Over that time, she’s worked for Nightfall Games, Pelgrane Press, Cubicle Seven, Modiphius and Green Ronin, amongst numerous others, either as a writer, editor, or both. She also created her own steampunk pulp adventure game: Cogs, Cakes and Swordsticks.

More recently, she formed part of the team responsible for updating Chaosium’s legendary Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign, and her modern-day Call of Cthulhu scenario, Scritch Scratch, was Chaosium’s 2018 contribution to Free RPG Day. And, as of this year, she is now working full-time for the Chaosium as Associate Line Editor for the Call of Cthulhu RPG.

Lynne has never been to Ropecon before, but has heard a lot of very good things about it and is really looking forward to her first visit.

More on Lynne Hardy and her work:
Lynne’s blog
Lynne on Twitter

Special Guest
John Gardiner-Garden

John Gardiner-Garden is one the most renowned masters of historical dance whose choreographies have been followed in Ropecon for decades. In addition to designing dances, Gardiner-Garden has also created a vibrant fantasy world around his choreographies.

More about John:
Earthly Delights Historic Dance Academy
John on Facebook


Special Guest
Mikko Kamula

Mikko Kamula is an author and a researcher on folklore. Set in Medieval Finland, Kamula’s fantasy novels Ikimetsien sydänmailla (2017) and Iso Härkä (2018) draw from the traditional Finnish folklore and mythology.

More about Mikko:
Gummerus Publishers

(Kuva: Marek Sabogal)