MARK TAORMINO
Special Guest
The founder and primary author at Dark Wizard Games, a small business he started in 2013 after writing his first adventure module, Hanging Coffins of the Vampire Queen. The module quickly developed a large fan base, leading to the publication of about 30 additional modules over the last ten years, creating and completing over twenty successful Kickstarter projects which have raised over $200,000 cumulatively. His work caters to both OSR (1E) and 5E fantasy gaming communities. The main product lines include the Maximum Mayhem Dungeons (fantasy) and Warriors of the Wastelands (post-apocalyptic/fantasy) series.
Mark began playing D&D in 1980 at the age of 11, starting with the Moldvay B/X set and the AD&D 1E hardcover books, and he soon developed a lifelong affinity for the classic “yellow stripe” modules of the 1980s. Before shifting his focus to writing gaming and entertainment modules, Mark spent 30 years as a software engineer, programming PC, Windows, Web, and CD-ROM games (Faery Tale Adventure II: Halls of the Dead, Timeless Math II: The Maya Adventure, The Little King Interactive Storybook) and more.
In addition to his work in gaming, Mark is a working actor, director, and producer in the film industry, having appeared in numerous films (such as Tidy Tims, The Matchstick Flame, Seven Days to Hell), TV shows (Ghost Adventures, Key & Peele, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, For All Mankind, My Haunted House, Seinfeld, Saved by the Bell), music videos (Lil Wayne, Kesha, The Wallows, Conan Gray), and more. He currently lives in California and continues to develop new adventures, with many more planned for the future.