Room Escape Artist

Over the years, the team at Room Escape Artist has put a lot of thought into the role that characters play in escape rooms.

Many of Richard Burns’ recent articles have explored characters in different ways:

• Tasks Help Players Connect With Characters In Escape Rooms
• Actors as Puzzles in Escape Rooms
• How To Add Life To Your Escape Room
• The Importance of Feeling Seen in Escape Rooms

It’s something we all think a lot about. And so do Dani Siller and Bill Sunderland, creators of Escape this Podcast. They’ve created more escape room characters than we can count, and they’ve explored lots of ways that players interact with characters. Their RECON 25 talk on the subject was inspiring.

If you want to play more rooms with characters, we have good news for you. Many of the world-renowned escape rooms in Laval have characters at their core. These include Escaparium’s Magnifico and Wardrobe for Sale and Immersia’s The St. Onge Case, among many others. When you come to Laval for RECON, you can play these games, and talk with others about how they experienced these characters.

Come experience RECON concepts in action. Join us for RECON Laval 2026. Tickets are on sale now!

If you want to see the live Q&A that followed this talk, it is available to our Patreon backers at $5 per month and above. Just join our Patreon community to get access.

About this Talk

Give Your Escape Games Some Character: Actors Not Required

The dynamic duo Bill Sunderland and Dani Siller from Escape This Podcast pioneered audio escape rooms and are possibly the medium’s most prolific creators. They are also co-writers of the hit video game Rise of the Golden Idol. Whatever the medium, they play with different ways to build worlds and craft gameplay, adding fun, excitement, and meaning to the player experience. A key way of delivering on that is through the inclusion of characters, and interweaving them into the setting and puzzles in meaningful ways. They will explore what makes your escape room memorable, how to give players motivation, and how to really make it feel like characters live in the world – and not just by having live actors!

About these Speakers

Dani Siller

Dani Siller is the lead escape room writer and game master of Escape This Podcast, having designed and run over 100 escape rooms as audio experiences since 2017. That being said, Dani firmly insists, “I’m not a puzzle designer. There are loads of people way better than me at that. I’m a storyteller.”

After having been a fiction-writing, puzzle-solving enthusiast since childhood, it was a no-brainer for Dani to join the world of escape rooms. (After learning about them from Mum!) Since then, Escape This Podcast has run rooms for some of the world’s biggest podcasters, movie stars, and puzzle industry professionals, and Dani has been commissioned to create content for everyone from private individuals to the Sydney Opera House. Some works are even award-winning!

In 2024, Dani also got to add “video game designer” to the resume, having worked as part of the writing team for Color Gray’s game Rise of the Golden Idol, and co-lead on the DLC The Sins of New Wells. Dani believes anything can be a great story, and anything can be a puzzle, as long as you weave intriguing characters and inviting mysteries into it.

Bill Sunderland

Bill Sunderland is one half of Consume This Media, creators of the audio escape room show “Escape This Podcast” and the murder mysteries of “Solve This Murder”. Both shows involve creating narrative and character driven puzzles/mysteries, and presenting an earnest and engaging attempt to solve these puzzles. As part of these shows, Bill works as co-host, producer, editor, composer, writer, and hapless puzzle solver.

Bill was also part of the writing and development team for mystery-puzzle game “Rise of the Golden Idol”, pops up around the internet on shows like “Lateral”, contributes voice acting for escape rooms and podcasts, and designs table-top roleplaying games like “Gateways”.

RECON 26

• August 16-17, 2026
• Laval, Québec, Canada
• Event Details

If you create or operate escape rooms or immersive games, this is an event you won’t want to miss. If you’re thinking about getting your start in this industry, come to RECON and get connected… to people and ideas. RECON is designed to propel this industry forward, creating sustainable careers, and giving players memorable adventures long into the future. Come be a part of this conversation.

🎁 Use code REA50 to get $50 off a RECON 26 General Ticket. (This holiday coupon code expires on December 31, 2025.)