Welcome to the first in a series of articles that we're going to be putting together here via OnTableTop. Within our community, we have a neat variety of different content creators and so we thought it would be worth reaching out to them to find out more about what they do, and what got them to where they are.

Check Out SomeDudeOnYouTube On OTT

This will give folks a neat look at some of the people that add to our community and make it what it is. The first of the creators that we're going to be talking to this week is one that will be familiar to a lot of you, SunDancer! You might also know him as PunDancer and SomeDudeOnYouTube (all the in-joke references...).

OnTableTop: Could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you do?

SunDancer (Tim): Hi there! You will know me as SunDancer or PunDancer or maybe even SomeDudeOnYouTube. I'm also called Tim!

I was thrown into a much simpler world in 1975 and am now what some may call "an old fart". But, that's me. Also, where is my coffee?! I was promised coffee! GIB COFFEE!

OTT: How did you get into tabletop gaming?

Tim: That's quite a weird one. Please, sit down and listen to an "old fart's" tale. It was 1997 and some random weekend in September. I was on guard duty (yes, I served four years in the Bundswehr and I do have long hair. Can I carry on now please? Thank you.) and I had gotten bored.

I went to the mess hall/cantina to get something to read and being a military base that meant you had a choice between porn, sports and car magazines. However, there was also one very weird-looking magazine. It was White Dwarf Issue #12 (yes, the translated versions had their own numbering system...would you please let me keep telling the story?).

From there on I was hooked. I would only find out years later that I had gotten it totally wrong altogether. I somehow thought Warhammer 40,000 and Epic would be the same game! How naïve I was. A year later I picked up the 2nd and 3rd edition Ork Codex, the 3rd edition Warhammer 40,000 core set and my girlfriend at the time gifted me the 6th edition rulebook for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I still have that, back in the closet of horrors.

The rest is history. I dove right into Orks in Warhammer 40,000, in Blood Bowl and Gorka Morka. I scratched a few itches with Celtos and other systems that came and went but that was the start of it all.

OTT: What kind of tabletop games do you like the most?

Tim: Oh, short ones. I like the games that you can set up in thirty minutes, play in two hours and put away in thirty more. That means skirmishers, small-scale battles (like Star Wars: Legion) and the like. My current flavour of addiction includes, but is not limited to, Bot War, BattleTech, Blood Bowl, Star Wars: Legion, Frostgrave and Fallout: Wasteland Warfare.

OTT: What kinds of content do you create and how long have you been doing it for?

Tim: I've been blogging since "forever" but the dedicated hobby blog has been live since 2013. At the start of "the event" I started to stream on Twitch just to de-stress and then soon after a gentle giant with a soothing voice joined me on the Unofficial Hobby Hangout. It's handy to have his knowledge of tiny fighting men! Again, from that point the rest was history.

Occasionally, I do random videos on YouTune/PeerTune in both English and German. I had a series where I talked with German YouTubers and a couple of interviews with those folk who make miniatures.

OTT: What’s one of your biggest bugbears about the industry that you’d like to see solved?

Tim: BLEEP the BLEEPING hype train and kill it dead. We need to stop the use of FOMO (fear of missing out) to sell crap faster. We also need to get proper translations for gaming rules and we need to stop using gamers as guinea pigs.

To finish things off, we also need to stop doing Kickstarters just for the sake of getting clicks.

OTT: Where do you see the tabletop game industry going in the next few years?

Tim: I reckon that big systems will be app-driven and use a more closed system than they are right now. I also reckon that small businesses are going to have to work in the sheds behind the house and unfortunately have to raise prices to survive as things become a more "high-class hobby".

I also think most people will dive head over heels into (resin) 3D Printing and those Piles Of Opportunity will get bigger than ever. Oh, and that means even less will end up getting painted!

OTT: What are you currently working on at the moment?

Tim: I am currently painting the contents of the Bot War 2 Turbo Edition boxed set.

I also have various open and dormant projects in the OTT Project system and a "few" Star Wars: Legion and BattleTech miniatures lying around. Oh, did I mention all the unfinished projects?

OTT: If people want to find out more about you, where should they go?

Tim: Folks can find me on...

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sundancerge/
• Pixelfed: https://pixelfed.social/SunDancer
• Hobby Blog: https://www.warmonger.de
• Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sundancerge
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SomeDudeOnYouTube
• PeerTube: https://tube.sp-codes.de/a/sundancer/video-channels

...so come and take a look!

We hope you've enjoyed this look at one of the many content creators we have here OnTableTop. Watch out for future articles talking with even more people that you need to check out.

If you're a content creator who would like to be featured, please email OTT Ben - [email protected]...