This piece of fiction was one of the entries to the Deadlands: Hell On Earth contest.

Josh had been on a fishing kick for some reason and organized the trip with a passion I had rarely seen him use for something other than music, certain women, and tearing through Newark traffic at speeds that can–and do–put carjackers to shame. Of course, it fell through last minute and it was just me, him, and assistant art director Frank Fallon–AKA Frankie Bønz.

I think my earlier problems with D&D stem not with the game itself but with the miasma of nerd-taint surrounding it. Too-fat or too-skinny teenage kids with bad haircuts sitting down in their parents basement drinking Mountain Dew and eating cold pizza. Dungeons & Dragons was something that little kids played before they got social lives.

If I had to describe Third Edition in a sentence, Id say that its kind of like some other D&D games youve played in, with extra house rules you may have seen other DMs use to make the system more flexible and give the players more options.

There is no such thing as an Evil Empire. Not the Nazis, not the Communists, not even WotC or GW: only people put in positions of authority. Every day, those people face choices and their ability to abuse the authority theyve been given.

Depending on how you choose to bring the dead character back into the campaign and what you hope to achieve, you may have to delve into the metaphysical nature of your setting. You might find yourself having to answer questions like: What happens when someone dies? Do people have souls? A few games have the metaphysics already in place as part of their milieu, an example would be the World of Darkness games (largely via Wraith and Werewolf) but most others do not, so you would need to consider these carefully. As with most facets of a role-playing campaign, only reveal enough to maintain the suspension of disbelief and the continuity of the story, you never know what you might want to change later.

Addiction, defined as strong motivation towards or desire of something, is not always an unhealthy thing. For example, we dont think of addiction to crossword puzzles, oatmeal, or exercise as unhealthy. But the word addiction is so often used in the context of alcohol consumption or drug abuse, that it has become clouded with negative connotations.

Dean Koontz once wrote that he was ashamed of every book he ever wrote& ten minutes after it went to press. Im not ashamed of Orkworld, nor am I trying to justify it being a bad book (as some are wont to mention). But a whole lot of people often ask me, Why do gaming companies put essential rules in supplements? and Why do gaming companies print second edition books a year after the first printing?

“The Yet is the things a spanner discovers he must do, but hasn’t… yet. Sometimes called the “required Future”, but it may not actully happen farther Up in time, so the term “The Yet” is more effective.”

Games Master. Storyteller. Dungeon Master. Marshall. The list of names for the position is long, but the list of people willing to take on the task is short, and the list gets even shorter when you only include the GM’s who enjoy running games (for the right reasons) and who are good at it. GM’ing is a skill set, a different skill set for the different styles to be sure, but a coveted set of skills nevertheless.