Draft:Oren Cohen
Oren Cohen | |
|---|---|
 Content creator Oren Cohen | |
| Occupations | Software engineer, writer, podcaster |
| Known for | Founder of Geek Peek |
| Website | theorencohen |
Oren Cohen is an Israeli software engineer, writer, and podcaster. He is best known as the founder and host of Geek Peek, a blog, podcast, and YouTube channel dedicated to tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), gaming, and geek culture, which he ran from 2020 until October 2025, when he announced he was stepping back from the project for personal reasons.[1][2]
Cohen began writing about video games and geek culture in the early 2010s and later published on the blogging platform Medium. A 2019 article about the Dimension 20 season The Unsleeping City led to an invitation from CollegeHumor to interview game master Brennan Lee Mulligan, and those interviews formed the basis of Geek Peek.[1] On the Geek Peek podcast, Cohen interviewed game developers, professional dungeon masters, and other content creators about their craft.[3]
Early career
[edit]Cohen founded the video game blog Alive2Play in 2011 and later worked in quality assurance at the games studio Side-kick Games. He blogged at Geekosmos from 2016 and has worked as a software engineer, including at the Israeli startup Edgybees.[4]
Writing
[edit]Cohen published on Medium, writing about geek culture, tabletop role-playing games, writing, podcasting, and software development.[5] In July 2019, his article about The Unsleeping City, a season of the actual play series Dimension 20, was selected by Medium's curators and featured on the platform's front page under the TV topic.[1]
After Cohen shared the article on Twitter, CollegeHumor's head of public relations invited him to interview a member of the Dimension 20 cast. His resulting phone interview with Brennan Lee Mulligan was published in written form and picked up by the Medium publication Better Marketing.[6] Mulligan's personal website linked to one of these interviews in 2020.[7]
In July 2020, Cohen was interviewed about his Medium writing in the "Medium All-Stars" series of the Blogging Guide publication.[8] He has continued to publish on Medium and on a personal newsletter, and in 2023 authored a book about content creation and interviewing creators.[5]
Geek Peek
[edit]Cohen founded Geek Peek on 6 September 2020, after sharing his interviews with Mulligan on YouTube and seeing the channel grow.[2] The project comprised a blog, a YouTube channel, and, from 2022, a podcast, covering gaming, entertainment, reviews, and TTRPG-related topics.[1] On the podcast, Cohen interviewed game developers, professional dungeon masters, and content creators about their creative processes, and converted his written pieces about tabletop role-playing games into audio episodes.[3]
Cohen interviewed Mulligan for multiple seasons of Dimension 20 and expanded to other creators in the TTRPG space, including Jasmine Bhullar, Aabria Iyengar, Amy Vorpahl, B. Dave Walters, Dimension 20 creative director Orion Black, and Lifeline writer Dave Justus.[1] His Dimension 20 interviews have been cited as sources on fan encyclopedias documenting the series.[9]
In 2023, Cohen rebranded his personal YouTube channel as Geek Peek and created a separate channel under his own name for personal content.[10] Around the same time, Cody Nevel joined the show as co-host.[1] Later guests included the designers of the role-playing game Daggerheart, interviewed at PAX Unplugged 2024, and the Twitch streamer Miorby, whose interview was published in May 2025.[11][12]
Departure
[edit]On 17 October 2025, Cohen announced his departure from Geek Peek in a video titled "Goodbye and Thank You For Everything". He stated that he needed to step back from the channel, describing the decision as a necessity rather than a choice, and declined to disclose the personal reasons behind it. He expressed hope of returning in the future.[2]
Personal life
[edit]Cohen is from Israel and works as a software engineer.[5][10] Since stepping back from Geek Peek, his personal YouTube channel remains his active channel, where he discusses science fiction and fantasy media including Stargate, Mass Effect, Dungeons & Dragons, Dune, and Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere novels.[10] He is also an enthusiast of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[3]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "About Geek Peek". Geek Peek. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Goodbye and Thank You For Everything". YouTube. Geek Peek. 17 October 2025. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Geek Peek Podcast". Amazon Music. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- ↑ "Oren Cohen - Software Development Engineer at Edgybees". The Org. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Oren Cohen". Medium. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- ↑ "A Crown of Candy on April 8!". brennanleemulligan.com. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- ↑ "Medium All-Stars - Oren Cohen". Blogging Guide. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2026 – via Medium.
- ↑ "The Unsleeping City". Dimension 20 Wiki. Fandom. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Oren Cohen - About". YouTube. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
- ↑ "Geek Peek". Podcast Addict. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
- ↑ "His Mother-in-Law Suspected He Was a Serial Killer | Miorby Interview". YouTube. Geek Peek. 18 May 2025. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
External links
[edit]Category:Israeli podcasters Category:Israeli bloggers Category:Israeli software engineers Category:Living people