Alumni Profile: Kyle Ott '11

Why Limit Yourself?

By Stephanie R. Leader

Kyle Ott '11 with business partner Riley Parks

If you ask role-playing game (RPG) aficionado, elementary school teacher, and business owner Kyle Ott ’11 what his favorite type of game is, he’ll respond with a simple question: “Why limit yourself?” In Ott’s eyes, you can’t have a favorite game if you haven’t played them all.

Upon graduation from Delone Catholic High School, Ott studied English and history at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., and received his master’s degree in public communications from Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y. “I always knew storytelling was something that I was going to be doing as a profession,” Ott said. “Game design was always an interest and something I enjoyed, but I never would have seen myself doing it as a career.”

Ott’s love of tabletop games started around his time at Delone Catholic when he would play games with his friends, and when he got to college he would play the popular tabletop RPG “Dungeons and Dragons” at the professional level.

Ott’s interest in “Dungeons and Dragons” caught the attention of one of his college professors. “I wound up co-designing a class with him as a junior at Mount St. Mary’s where we taught historybased board games. As soon as that happened, I knew this was what I wanted to do.” Ott recalled.

Ott’s talent and love of storytelling gave him a multitude of valuable experiences both during and after college. “I didn’t know what storytelling looked like, so I did a ton of different internships.” Ott was a political speech-writing intern for a local state representative as an incoming sophomore in college, worked as an editor for a local newspaper, and then ended up in Los Angeles working at a game design studio after graduating from Syracuse University.

“After the Rain”

That calling would eventually lead Ott to meet his friend and business partner Riley Parks, and their journey would take off like they never anticipated.

The endless possibilities of game creation inspired Ott and Parks to start Desks and Dorks, a board game and role-playing game podcast and game design company based out of Spring Grove, Pa.

The Desks and Dorks podcast centers on Ott and Parks bouncing ideas for tabletop games off one another in a “March Madness” style bracket. Armed with the ideas that come from these discussions, new games take shape. As Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Ott describes his role as everything that happens before games hit the shelf like design, storyboarding, and organizing test playthroughs. Ott describes Parks’ role as everything that happens after the game hits the shelf, such as marketing and logistics. Recently, Desks and Dorks released their latest RPG entitled “After the Rain”, which can be downloaded online, ordered, and is now available for purchase in 13 different stores.

For Ott, inspiration comes from everywhere, including inside the classroom. While at Delone Catholic, the humanities, theater, and English classes specifically prepared Ott for what would become his calling. “I like to say that you can’t throw a rock at a table of role-playing game players without hitting someone who was in drama club,” Ott joked.

Ott’s advice for current Squires as they matriculate through high school and further education, take the most difficult teacher you can. “Take the difficult teachers, the ones who will work you hard, because it winds up paying dividends.”

In Ott’s faith journey, he notes that the guidance of Mr. Andy Franko at Delone Catholic was extremely influential. “I remember Mr. Franko telling the class that we need to not just be told what to believe but why we believe it and how that helps other people. I still remember that sentence to this day.” He acknowledges that his faith plays a role in how he thinks up games that different groups of people will enjoy, and how he can be inclusive to everyone.

During the day, Ott is an elementary school teacher in South Western School District. While Ott hopes to be running Desks and Dorks full-time in the future, he always wants to stay connected to education. “Another thing I never thought I would be is a teacher, but now I can’t imagine it any other way. I always want to stay in education in some way, shape, or form and I think educational games are a huge untapped market,” he said.

To learn more about Ott and Desks and Dorks, visit: desksanddorks.org.