Photo Credit: Brook Joyner

Photo Credit: Brook Joyner

Founder / Guild Master: Josh Unruh

Josh began his adventures in role-playing at the ripe age of 12, when his best-friend's cousin introduced his circle of friends to Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition. After the very first session, Josh desired to sit "behind the screen"; to create the world along with the stakes, threats, obstacles, achievements, and accolades his players-characters are sure to experience in one of his games. Josh has always been about facilitating fun and creating enjoyable experiences for others, making leadership of The Heroes' Guild a natural fit for this gifted storyteller.

Josh is one of two designers behind the Material Components Games - founded in 2017 with the inception of the Heroes Guild RPG, a system developed specifically with young heroes and positive morality in mind.

He is also the owner and operator of Inglewood Armory where he creates beautifully hand-crafted leather goods from belts and wallets to fantastical costuming and everything in-between.

Photo Credit: Ryan Bent

Photo Credit: Ryan Bent

Builder of Worlds: Keith Potempa

A fan of fantasy literature and games in his youth, Keith was destined to lead stories since his earliest days - long before his own introduction to tabletop RPGs. A student of plot and character motivations, Keith's dedication to storytelling gives him a unique advantage among gamers that helps him to raise the stakes and importance of every character's actions as though they were preciously placed words on the page of one of his novels. 

Keith holds an M.F.A. in Popular Fiction from the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast Program, where he studied under Hugo and Bram Stoker award winning authors. Keith has completed three novels to date in the genres of literary, YA, and fantasy. He serves as a teaching artist in Watkins College's Community Education program and the Porch Writers' Collective. Keith is also one-half of Material Components Games where he designs RPGs with his partner Josh (above).

Follow Keith on Instagram for pulpy fantasy art, lattes, and time-lapsed novel outlines.

Master Cartographer: Michael "Shagg" Dement

Shagg has been playing D&D since the early days of role-playing games - when elves and dwarves were classes and THAC0 was simply a way of life. Since his teen years Shagg has been playing and DMing stories, bringing together folks from vastly different backgrounds to share a common bond and blaze high adventures under the banner of friendship.

Shagg just wants everyone to have a good time, a defining trait that carries over to the tables he leads - from his weekly gaming-group of grognards to the fresh faced recruits of The Heroes' Guild - he's sure to leave everyone feeling epic, if not lucky (for their characters) to be alive!

He's also a gifted artist, creating beautifully hand-rendered maps of the Guild's many worlds, and drafting character sketches of our many heroes for our Patreon benefactors.

Follow Shagg on instagram for character art, cartography, and Star Trek memes.