Category: Program

• Games Master: Jodie Starks
• Gaming System: Dungeons & Dragons 5e
• Players: 2 – 6 
• Gaming Time: 3 hours
• Sign Up at the main Registration Desk in the Atrium Lobby

The world is being re-taken by nature called the “Creeping Ruin.” These vines choke out anything artificial…and it’s spreading. Some are fighting back, living in train-cities. The choking vines avoid these cities as long as they keep moving, however, Meltwater is dangerously close to running out of fuel. They are relying on you to search out the fuel and return before the train comes to a stop.

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Meet Jodie Starks, a traveling bard with a real passion of enjoying time with friends and family (a performance really isn’t as much fun by yourself). She remembers the first time she was invited to play D&D, 2nd edition. Her entire family sat around the table and helped her role up her first character: a male, elven fighter with a wolf companion (some of you will know her inspiration for that). From there, she was hooked! After that, she ran games for family off and on for a while.

For the last seven years, she has ran D&D games weekly. In her free times, she runs one-shots for others. Although D&D is her system of choice, she is familiar with several (and have even run games in Pathfinder and 2d20). She enjoys sharing her passion with others and love to see new players get hooked. This last year she has become the GM for the YouTube stream, Dungeons & Dad Jokes.

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Presented by Jessica Lucci

Discover the amazing life of Chicago activist Jane Addams in fiction and fact.

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Jessica Lucci is a poet, steampunk, and historical fiction author who writes about modern issues while maintaining historic integrity. Her book, “Triangle House,” offers a fictionalized version of the greater of Chicago’s Hull House and its valiant creator, Jane Addams.

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Presented by Lucretia Strange

The Totally Complete and Unabridged History of England will take you through 2000 years of history, from cold and damp frontier to cold and damp superpower. See how England’s physical separation from the rest of Europe has influenced its unique development.

Topics include: Another Brick in Hadrian’s Wall, The Century That Vanished, Blame the French, and Victorians Ruin Everything.

Just to make sure I don’t forget anything, we’ll be going century by century, which gives me a comfortable two minutes for each.

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Cassie Beyer (aka Lucretia Strange) has an MA in History, with a focus on Medieval England. She has lectured at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay for several years, primarily on Western Civilization.

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We are thrilled to announce a special collaboration between the Chicago Steampunk Exposition and the Shooting Star Maid Café! This year, the charming maids and butlers of the Shooting Star Maid Café will be helping host an enchanting Steampunk Tea Parties at the Exposition!

Join us for an afternoon of elegance, delightful tea, and captivating conversation in a whimsical, steampunk-inspired atmosphere. Our maids and butlers will be at your service, ensuring an unforgettable experience as we blend the best of Victorian charm and anime-inspired hospitality.

Whether you’re a steampunk enthusiast, a fan of tea culture, or just looking for a relaxing afternoon with friends, this tea party promises to be a highlight of the Exposition!

Don’t miss out—reserve your spot and join us for a beautifully unique tea party experience!

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• Games Master: Derek Zimmer
• Gaming System: Cthulhu by Gaslight
• Players: 3-6
• Duration: 3 hours
• Sign Up at the main Registration Desk in the Atrium Lobby

In just one week, the Columbian Exposition will open to the world. Designed as a ‘city of the future,’ the Fair architects made the decision to light the entire Fair with only electric lights rather than the standard gas lamps. Additionally, an entire building has been devoted to the electrical inventions of the world, aptly named the Electricity Building.

Over the last few weeks, exhibitors have been furiously assembling their breakthrough discoveries in the Electricity Building ahead of opening day. In just the last few days however, the building has been plagued with strange occurrences and machinery malfunctions, with no obvious cause. With reputations at stake, tensions are high to find the source of the problems, and everyone wants to make sure they aren’t the ones at fault. Rumors of bad planning, poor build quality, and even deliberate sabotage have spread throughout both Fair staff and exhibitors.

Most of the large companies have taken to staff at least one employee on site at all times and the Fair has agreed to hire additional security. Even with these increased precautions, the electrical problems have continued and no one has any evidence what is causing the issues. The investigators have all been assigned to the night shift on April 30th, 1893and all have different objectives ranging from protecting company assets to discovering the source of the disturbances.

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Cthulhu by Gaslight is the Victorian incarnation of the classic Call of Cthulhu RPG. Gaslightprovides variations to capture Victorian history and societal norms, but is essentially the same rule system as the original 1920’s Cthulhu RPG. If you are not already familiar with these rules but would like to get better acquainted, click on the cover below to access the free starter kit for the latest edition of Call of Cthulhu.

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Derek Zimmer has played and run various tabletop RPGs including DnD, Pathfinder, and Call of Cthulhu (CoC) for over 10 years. He is a member of Chaosium’s GM program (The Cult of Chaos) which is dedicated to introducing new players to CoC. He has found a passion for running CoC games and teaching the system to new players. Derek is also a community content author who has published CoC scenarios through the Miskatonic Repository. As a resident of Chicago, Derek is interested in the city’s history and was inspired to write “Shocking Sabotage,” which will be debuting at the 2025 Chicago Steampunk Exposition.

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2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Chaosium, publishers of the classic role-playing game Call of Cthulhu and subsequent spin-offs such as Cthulhu by Gaslight. As part of this 50 year celebration, Chaosium has generously donated several books and Cthulhu starter sets to the Exposition. Some of the books will be used for the Exposition’s gaming program (see below), but the rest will be donated to our charity raffle for which we have partnered with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).

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Tabletop Gaming

The Exposition’s gaming program currently has several role playing games on offer over the course of the weekend. Each session is about 3 hours long with experienced Games Masters (or in the world of Cthulhu gaming “Keepers”) and are hosted in rooms 1322 and 1324.

Each game can have approximately 3-6 players and it is not necessary to have already played as our Games Masters will show you how to play as the game unfolds; the main thing you need is imagination to tell a collective story with everyone else around the table and roll dice to see if things went the way you planned. Our current line up of games include:

• Cthulhu by Gaslight (RPG) – “Curse of the Swamp Tentacles” (18+)
• Cthulhu by Gaslight (RPG) “Dead Light” (18+)
• Cthulhu by Gaslight (RPG) “Edge of Darkness” (18+)
• Cthulhu by Gaslight (RPG) – “Eldritch Horror!” (18+)
• Cthulhu by Gaslight (RPG) “The Haunting” (18+)
• Cthulhu by Gaslight (RPG) – “Shocking Sabotage” (18+)
• Dungeons & Dragons (RPG) – “Creeping Ruin” (18+)
• Dungeons & Dragons (RPG) – “What’s in the Swamp?” (18+)
• Mothership (RPG) “Chromatic Transference” (18+)
• Mothership (RPG) “The Haunting of Ypsilon 14” (18+)

Sign ups for games can be found at the Exposition Registration table.

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NAMI Fundraiser Raffle

The Exposition is joyed to continue its charity partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Established in 1979, NAMI acts to help those in need of finding mental health services, to raise awareness about mental illness, to de-stigmatize perceptions of mental illness, and provide hope to those challenged by mental illness.

During Saturday, May 31st, the NAMI table (located outside the Sage/Maize panel rooms) will be selling raffle tickets for the amazing prizes donated by Chaosium, various Exposition vendors, and some attendees. The drawing will occur at 5PM in Sage panel room.

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Presented by For the Love of Steampunk: Lori Schambureck & Belinda Evans

• $20 Session Materials Fee 
• 90 minutes

Customize your own tiny building that light-up, LEDs. Paint and/or decoupage the surface and add glued embellishments like gems, charms, ribbon, stickers and more. Plywood buildings are approximately 6” square and are already assembled. 4 designs to choose from: apothecary, haunted house, black cat cafe, crypt. All supplies included in the fee.

$20 material fee will be collected at the session by the presenters.

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For the Love of Steampunk is a Facebook Page created by Lori Schambureck that provides her own creative ideas, inspiration for projects, completed costumes, and information from world wide events. Lori has a fine art degree and finds steampunk as the perfect aesthetic for her unique style that incorporates up-cycling items. For the Love of Steampunk was created to inspire others to try new ideas and embrace the creative process. Lori is enthusiastic about the fact that Steampunk has no rules or limits to how creative you can be so everyone can have fun.

Belinda Evans is a multifaceted artist with a passion for steampunk! Her art degree, combined with her diverse skills in sewing, jewelry making, and working with found objects, allows her to fully express and explore the unique aesthetic of steampunk. This blend of skills likely gives her a unique perspective and the ability to create distinctive, one-of-a-kind pieces that embody the steampunk style.

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PRESENTED BY: Leanna Renee Hieber

From the notorious Lizzie Borden to the innumerable, haunted rooms of Sarah Winchester’s mysterious mansion, explore the history behind America’s female ghosts, the stereotypes, myths, and paranormal tales that swirl around them.

Bestselling author, actress, and NYC ghost tour guide Leanna Renee Hieber discusses the premise of her new, bestselling non-fiction book about the intersection of women’s history and ghost stories, telling real histories and real ghost stories.

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Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and the award-winning, bestselling author of over fourteen Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy, Supernatural Suspense and Non-Fiction books for adults and teens with publishers such as Tor, Sourcebooks and Kensington Books. A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, co-authored with Andrea Janes, is a 2022 Bram Stoker Award finalist for “Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction”. The book explores the intersection of women’s history and ghost stories.

Her Strangely Beautiful saga, beginning with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards. Tor Books notes Strangely Beautiful as a “foundational text of Gaslamp Fantasy” and new, revised editions are now available via Tor. Darker Still hit American Bookseller’s Association’s “Indie Next List”, was a Scholastic Book Club “Highly Recommended” title and a Daphne du Maurier award finalist.

The Spectral City was a # 1 bestseller across several genres and digital platforms. A 4-time Prism Award winner for excellence in the genre of Fantasy Romance, Leanna’s short stories have been featured in notable anthologies and her books have been selected for national book club editions as well as translated into many languages. She lectures on Gothic fiction and ghostly themes for prominent institutions such as New York University, Miami University and at conventions, libraries and conferences around the country.

A proud member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, Mystery Writers of America, SFWA, Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers and The Dramatists Guild, she lives in New York where she is a licensed NYC tour guide working with Boroughs of the Dead and has been featured on television in Mysteries at the Museum and Beyond the Unknown, discussing Victorian Spiritualism. She tours a one-woman show as 19th century designer Clara Driscoll and is represented by Sara Megibow and Chelsea Hensley of the KT Literary Agency.

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Presented by Kelsey Josephson

Alternate history stories can be found in books, movies, television, comics, games, and more. These reimaginings can range from realistic to fantastical, from serious to humorous, from dystopian to utopian.

In this panel, we’ll discuss some of the most popular and influential works of alternate history in media, such as Watchmen, Anno Dracula, and Loki. We will also explore the themes, challenges, and implications of creating and consuming alternate history stories.

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Kelsey Josephson is a sci-fi fantasy author and member of SFWA and ALLi from the Midwest. She has a deep love for Universal Monster movies, all things related to Nikola Tesla, and iced coffee.

Her work includes Strange Happenings, a gaslamp fantasy series set in an alternate timeline, and Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast, a steampunk fairy tale retelling. You can find more about her work by visiting www.kelseyjosephson.com

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Presented by Kelsey Josephson

Come listen to an exclusive sneak peek of The Clockwork Coffin, a gothic steampunk fairy tale! The Clockwork Coffin officially releases on July 1st, 2025.

Sabeline Vale is a woman who has been dealing with her curse for thirteen long years after her parents broke a deal with a fae. Every day, she has a narrow window of time in which she’s awake and appears to be human. Sabeline uses these stolen moments to attempt to break the spell using alchemy and science before she must return to her coffin. Every midnight, she rises as a monster.

Her aging parents are desperate to cure their only daughter by any means necessary. Unbeknownst to Sabeline, the Vales hire Oliver Abberton, a talented but struggling pianist, to be her tutor. The Vales insist that the musician’s presence is meant to bring comfort to their isolated, music-loving daughter, but Sabeline suspects her parents have ulterior motives…

The Clockwork Coffin is a dark fairy tale retelling of The Princess in a Coffin and will be part of a shared series with other authors. If you love tales with wit, courage, and a bit of spooky charm, this one’s for you!

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Kelsey Josephson is a sci-fi fantasy author and member of SFWA and ALLi from the Midwest. She has a deep love for Universal Monster movies, all things related to Nikola Tesla, and iced coffee.

Her work includes Strange Happenings, a gaslamp fantasy series set in an alternate timeline, and Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast, a steampunk fairy tale retelling. You can find more about her work by visiting www.kelseyjosephson.com

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