About Us
The story of Open Heart Games began in late 2020 as a desire to provide quality gaming experiences and content for a diverse community of gamers worldwide.
Founder, Karington Hess began his journey into the gaming industry in Illinois in 2009. Working as an assistant manager for his hometown hobby shop, he began to cut his teeth on RPGs, playing and later running his first Dungeons & Dragons campaign. In 2013, he moved to Ohio, accepting a position as an Innkeeper for Ravenwood Castle where his duties not only included guest services but running a variety of roleplaying games for his guests, including the then-newly released Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition! It was here that he met the woman who would become his wife. Abigail Hess is now the editor and Vice President of Open Heart Games.
In 2015 Karington accepted the position of General Manager and Head Game Master for Ravenwood Castle’s newly created sister business, The Malted Meeple, Northeast Ohio’s first Board Game Café. It was here, in addition to his regular duties, that Karington really spread his wings and began to soar as a game master. He was the Malted Meeple’s first game master and soon found himself running tables as large as 30 players! At the height of his tenure at The Malted Meeple, Karington was running 4 tables of RPGs per week, most of them in different systems and was “fluent” in over 10 RPG Systems including: Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Starfinder, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, Numenera, and many more! At this point in his career, Karington found himself overseeing the largest cadre of volunteer game masters that the state of Ohio had ever seen outside of a convention! It was also during this time that Karington was first introduced to Extra Life, a charitable organization that raises funds for children’s hospitals and during his tenure with Ravenwood Castle and The Malted Meeple, Karington assisted in raising over $50,000 for Extra Life, including GM-ing annual 12 hour Dungeons and Dragons Live-Streamed Marathons.
In 2018, Karington moved to Virginia to accept the position of Game Center Assistant Manager for the world renown Star City Games where he continues to specialize in events, content, and guest satisfaction. He began running games for his friends and coworkers from his home, but the onset of the global pandemic put a dampener on any in-person gaming sessions. After speaking with some close friends about opportunities on Roll20, Karington decided to form Open Heart Games and lend his skills, honed from years of experience running games for guests and providing high quality customer satisfaction, to provide a high caliber gaming experience for gamers of all walks of life and in a variety of locations. Open Heart Games: Gaming from the Heart!
How we got our name
Founder Karington Hess wanted a name that was personal and close to his heart. As a young child, Karington was diagnosed with a congenital heart disorder known as an Atrial-Septal Defect (ASD) which required him to receive lifesaving open-heart surgery at the tender age of 2 years old at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis Missouri. Therefore, as part of its mission, Open Heart Games will donate a portion of their monthly sales to Extra Life and will participate in events where 100% of the proceeds will benefit Extra Life!