TTA Writers’ Profiles

Deborah Balsam

Deborah Balsam is a newcomer to the roleplaying game industry. She landed her first freelance writing job with Emerald Press in 2004, and hasn’t looked back. Deborah divides her time between running Dog Soul Publishing with her fiancé Sean, raising her two miniature gamers Jack Luis (age 4) and William Robert (age 2), and doing freelance graphic design and writing for several other companies, including Tabletop Adventures. She is also one of the ‘Overlords’ of Emerald Press’s Living Nights Project, an upcoming campaign setting for fantasy d20. Deborah has one word of advice for other parents who freelance: “Naps!” To learn more about Deborah Balsam’s latest endeavors – as well as Dog Soul Publishing – please visit www.dogsoul.net and www.dogsoulforums.squarespace.com.

Christopher A. Field

Chris Field was introduced to RPGs at the point of a Glitter Boy's Boom Cannon, and if you don't know what he's talking about, than you obviously haven't gamed with him enough. After a 4-year stint in the US Navy, Chris established a name for himself as a freelance author. In addition to his work for Tabletop Adventures, Chris has produced sourcebooks, new races, and tons of new content for Expeditious Retreat Press, Behemoth 3, Ancient Awakenings Press, Misfit Studios, and more. Contact Chris at christopherafield@hotmail.com or view his work at any client's website.

Steve Honeywell

Steve Honeywell has been a professional writer since 1991 and a gamer since the late 70s. He has worked with Dog Soul Publishing, Tabletop Adventures, The Le Games, Adamant Entertainment, and has written more than a dozen articles for Pyramid and D20 Weekly. Previously, he worked as a computer and video game strategy guide author and penned all or part of more than 35 hint books. He lives in the heart of corn country in Illinois with his wife, two daughters, and menagerie of animals. Steve is currently finishing his M.A. in linguistics. Visit him and his wife at their website at http://www.ljgraphics.ws/ .

K. H. Keeler

K. H. Keeler combines twenty years role-playing experience as both player and game master with thirty years as a professor of biology (specializing in ecology). Writing for Tabletop Adventures has provided an exciting and unexpected opportunity to combine those skills.

Rodney Lucas

Rodney Lucas has been creating role-playing products since 2002 when he released his Generic Game Master’s Helper (GGMH), a program designed to help the game master add flavor and realism to his campaign. That product has evolved over the years, and is a popular tool for game masters with access to a PC or laptop when they play, which is now available through Prism Hobbies. Since then he has begun to focus on writing, first as a product reviewer for several popular e-zines, and now as a freelance writer, currently working on projects for Tabletop Adventures.

For info on the GGMH: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4125&

Darren Pearce

I work as a freelance writer/author/game developer/reviewer for various companies. I was born in 1969 in England and have grown up immersed in fantasy and science fiction from a very early age. I have always loved the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings and have a fondness for C.S.Lewis’ Narnia books, as well as the dark works of Michael Moorcock and H.P.Lovecraft.

 I was given the D&D Box set at an early age and it did have an impact on  my development, it started me off fiddling with rules and various systems, to adapt it to worlds that I created. It gave me an interest in writing, both from a fiction and from the statistics and rules point of view and I continually hope that I refine this as the years have marched on.

 I joined Dark Quest games in 2001 and produced a number of short stories for them, as well as my own book, which on the whole I was fairly pleased with. Death Guardian of the Gate was written to provide an in-depth look at a deity involved in the Death Sphere and is based on one of my own gods from way back around the time of the Keep on the Borderlands and the Village of Hommlet.

 I have worked for the PC game industry, on games like Breed, Savage and Knights of Honor. I have also written a short article for Mongoose’s Signs and Portents magazine, detailing the City of Port Bax from the Lone Wolf book: Fire on the Water. I have also recently started to submit material and work with the folks from Tabletop Adventures, who are a wonderful group of folks to work with. I still live in England, write a great deal of game related material and fiction (non game related) and work on various books. I have that many irons in the fire, juggling them can sometimes be quite tricky.

 I live with my wife Gill and our pet cat Midnight, who is a troublemaker (the cat) of the highest order and has appeared in one or two of the short stories for Dark Quest games. I hope to continue to write for games for a long time, and if just one person likes/uses what I do – then that’s fine by me.

Greg Ragland

Greg Ragland first cut his teeth in roleplaying with the classic “Blue Book” version of D&D, when his brother used to torment him with unkillable oozes and repeated appearances of “the Wizard.” Since that time he has continued to play D&D off and on for nigh onto 30 years. With the coming of 3rd Edition, he finally got the opportunity to share some of his strangeness with the community at large, first producing The Mother of All Encounter Tables in conjunction with Necromancer Games, and then later contributing extensive new levels and material to the killer dungeon Rappan Athuk in its limited edition boxed set re-release. Now he is branching out, with a series of magical treasure products for Tabletop Adventures. When not playing D&D, he lurks in Oregon, where he runs a medical transcription department and looks forward to growing old so he can whack youngsters with a cane and get away with it.

Martin Ralya

Martin Ralya has been doing freelance writing for the RPG industry since 2004, and has been lucky enough to work with a number of publishers, including Tabletop Adventures, E.N. Publishing and Expeditious Retreat Press. He also writes Treasure Tables, a weblog for GMs (http://www.treasuretables.org), where you can see a full list of his published work, and runs the GMing Q&A Forum (http://www.treasuretables.org/forum/index.php). A gamer since 1987, Martin has a house full of books and a head full of ideas, and he loves to write.

John Walsh

John Walsh has been writing for years and has games-related credits in many fields, ranging from historical articles and settings to dungeon and wilderness descriptions for Tabletop Adventures. He lives in Bangkok with his wife and daughter, having more or less completed an odyssey from the UK to Sudan to Greece to Korea to Australia to Abu Dhabi and then to Thailand. When not writing, he teaches mostly MBA-level students. Some of his material on East Asia may be of interest to gamers. Links to it are available on his website, http://www.geocities.com/jcwalsh102/ .

Christopher Welsh

Christopher Welsh is a writer of fantasy in all its diverse incarnations. Lead by the hand as a child into fantasy worlds by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher quickly decided what he was going to do with his life and went about it without further discussion. Roleplaying games opened his eyes to an entirely new, immersive way to enjoy the fantastic worlds that live just inside the imagination, and he has been a gamer ever since. Freelance writing in the roleplaying industry has given him the opportunity to blend many of his favorite pursuits. He has been thrilled to work with such companies as Tabletop Adventures, TheLe Games, Adamant Entertainment and many others. Keep watch for some original takes on classic fantasy roleplaying, as well as enjoy a story or two, by visiting his website at www.christopherwelsh.com.