Gameweaver and Shad paused before knocking on the door. The old man rechecked the scrawled numbers on the scrap of paper he was holding, He turned it about in his hand and shook his head. "I dunno. I can't read the Bounty Hunter's handwriting, This might not be the right place, Shad."

The gnome looked up at his master and smiled with confidence. "This is the right place alright."

Gameweaver arched an eyebrow. "And just what makes you so sure?"

"’Cause, there's a copy of SHADIS in the mailbox! This has to be Gary Gygax’s house."

Gameweaver crossed his fingers and knocked on the door. It had been a long and ardeous search for the Grand Master of Games. Finally, the first real lead had brought them here, to Loganville, Georgia.

The door creaked open (seemingly of its own accord) and a gentle voice, barely audible, whispered, "Enter or go away, I care not which."

The reluctant pair, stepped through the portal and found themselves in a dark, cluttered office. The morbid sounds of Joy Division's "I Remember Nothing" assaulted their ears and lent a overwhelming air of despair to the surroundings. The small room filled with volumes of books; some shiny and new, stacked neatly on bookshelves while others, old and dusty, lay about in haphazard plies on the floor. The walls were completely covered with posters depicting various horrors from film and fiction. At a cluttered desk, a shadowy figure stared blankly at a computer map of eastern Kansas.

Gameweaver swallowed hard and approached the desk "Uh.. Ummm, Gary, er Mr. Gygax? Is that you?"

The figure raised its head to reveal a pair f moody, dark green eyes His face betrayed no emotion as he stared at the intruders. The room was filled with a tense silence.

"No, I'm not the one you seek, though I know of him. I've been living in the shadow of the spell he cast so many years ago."

His voice split the quiet like a knife as he lit a cigarette and sat back in his black leather chair. "You're those strange guys who interrogate the unfortunate for that magazine aren't you?

Gameweaver nodded, "Yeah, that's us. We've been on the trail of Gary for so long that..."

Shad suddenly interrupted the old man, "Hey! Who the hell are you anyway?"

The figure motioned for the pair to take a seat on the faded green sofa across from him. Again, the room grew silent, the only sounds to be heard were the heavy bass rifts mixed over the shattering of glass as the CD played on.

"I am the one who has summoned you here. I am William Spencer-Hale"

Shad flashed a smile of recognition, "Hey! You re the guy that liked the razor so much you bought the company right?" Gameweaver, promptly elbowed his assistant to remain silent.

"I knew my name was on your list. I want to get t is over with so I can get back to work." He took another drag off the cigarette, filling the room with smoke and giving it the appeal of a graveyard in a 1950's black and white movie.

Gameweaver scratched his chin in amazement. "Why, yes, you are on our list of game designers and writers that we wish to interrogate."

William smiled slightly and, in doing so, broke the tension in the room a great deal. Still, it was very dark and the shadows were very unnerving to the two visitors.

"Please, ask me your questions."

Gameweaver removed a spiral notebook from the fold of his robes and flipped through its pages.

"Let's see - Steve Jackson, Kevin Seimbeida, Ed Stark.... Ah, here you are, William Spencer-Hale. Right." With that, the old man began his interrogation.

GW: Now then, Mr. Spencer-Hale, can you give me a brief rundown of your work in the gaming industry?"

William: Well, my priors are really quite extensive. They include Rite of Passage, Book of the Wyrm, Valkenburg Foundation , Rage Across the Amazon, Werewolf Players Guide, Vampire Players Guide, Mind's Eye Theater: The Masquerade (Vampire Live-action), "The Guardian Stone" for the Drums Around the Fire fiction anthology - all of these were published by White Wolf.

Other credits: "Last Embrace (short story for Legions of Steel Advanced Rules by Global Games), "Musice of My Damnation" (short story published by Blue Blood magazine), Several poems (none of which I care to elaborate on), "A Farewell Kiss" (short story published by While Wolf), and a lot of reviews.

My future projects that have yet to be published are Mind's Eye Theater: The Apocalypse (Werewolf Live-action), "Chains" (a story for Mind's Eye Theater: The Masquerade, to be published in White Wolf Magazine), The Shapeshifter Sourcebook (Hot Tub Dragon), Mage Players Guide (White Wolf), "Monkey on my Back" (short story to be published in the Werewolf paperback anthology, co-written with Mark Rein-Hagen), "Journeys Beyond" (Dark Conspiracy article for Challenge magazine), "The Ties That Bind " (short story to be published in White Wolf Magazine, co-written with Mark Rein-Hagen,), "A taste of Armagedon" (Twilight: 2000 article for Challenge magazine, "Mind Your Own Damn Business" (an editorial on censorship and the evolution of role-playing for White Wolf Magazine), a story for the upcoming Glimpses anthology by Pagan Publishing, and an essay an horror role-playing to be published in SHADIS magazine. I’m also doing some short fiction for the GDW release of Vampire Fleets by Dave and Michele Newton.

GW: My word! You have been busy, haven't you? Would you be so kind as to tell me more about yourself?"

William: Well, I’ve been gaming for about twelve or thirteen years, starting with AD&D and working my up from there. I have been a fan of horror fiction and movies since I was a child (a trait I acquired from my mother, I guess). Some of my earliest memories involve Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr. and various other ghouls. I've always liked things that go bump in the night.

GW: Who, may I ask, are some of your favorite authors?

William: Hmmm... that's a tough ane. My favorite authors are too many to mention, but I have been influenced to a great extent by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe and recently, by the works of such authors as Tanith Lee and Poppy Z. Brite. They take a twisted new approach to the horror genre and, in doing so, add a new life and vitality to it.

GW: What are your major influences in gaming?

William: My influences in the gaming community are easier to define. Gary Gygax started it all with Dungeons and Dragons in the early 70s so all game designers and authors in this field have to give some credit to him (whether they like it or not). Without his inspiration and imagination I would be unemployed and so would a lot of other fine authors and artists. I have always been a big fan of Chaosium so Greg Stafford, Sandy Petersen and Lynn Willis have played a great part in how I think role-playing should be as well as influencing my approach to how I write honor role-playing. Call of Cthulhu is still the standard of the horror genre today, although with games such as Kult being released, they'll have to stay on their toes in the future.

GW: Hear long have you taken an active part in the gaming industry?

William: I have been involved with gaming for some time now. As a teenager, I worked for a major distributor in the Atlanta area and was able to get the inside scoop on the industry. When I returned from Europe and my tour with the army in my mid-twenties, I got to know the White Wolf folks on a personal level and was offered the opportunity to play-test and help design Werewolf: The Apocalypse.The rest is history.

GW: What kind of approach do you take to your writing?

William: When I write, I don’t craft a detailed plan of how I expect everything to turn out. Instead, I create the plot and the main characters, along with any secondary character that I believe will greatly influence the course of the plot, and then I go at it. What happens from there is anybody's guess, but I'm usually satisfied with my work. If I'm not, I simply throw it away and start over. I'm very picky with my work.

GW: What would you say inspired you to become a writer?

William: I suppose that I was inspired to become a writer by all those who came before me. Reading is such a great pleasure for me and I guess that I wanted to give others that pleasure as well. As a career, there is nothing that I would rather do than write. It is my passion. I'm certain that I would do so whether my work was published or not.

GW: What does the future have in store for you?

William: Well, I've started my own company, Quintessential Mercy Studio, and besides my freelance work, I am planning the release of my first game title in the summer of 1995. It will address the modern religions in a manner that will be controversial at times, but it will be a unique approach to horror role-playing with a background that has not been touched upon before. I can’t say too much about it at this point, only that I’ll begin an ad campaign very soon so stay tuned.

GW: Where do you get your ideas?

William: I get ideas for my stories from everywhere. I read a lot so I'm influenced a great deal by other authors. I try to pay attention to the world around me. Even the most mundane thing or event can be sinister and macabre if you let your mind wander. I think about the dark side of everything, especially love. And I watch the news a lot. There is no greater source for horror stories than the nightly news. It’s an evil world that we live in.

GW: How do you feel about the evolution of this hobby?

William: I believe the role-playing industry has only scratched the surface of its potential. There are so many worlds yet to explore and, although some will be considered quite controversial, they should be brought to life nonetheless. There will be those groups and individuals who will object to this; they swear by ignorance, but their objections must be ignored so this industry and its fans can continue to grow. Freedom of expression must be preserved - by any means necessary.

GW: Do you have any last words?

William: I'd just like to say thanks to the editors and developers at White Wolf for giving me a chance and especially to all the fans of role-playing. It wouldn't be any fun if no one cared to read my stuff.

GW: Well, thank you for allowing us to barge to on you.

Shad: Hey do you have any cold Pepsies in the fridge?

William: Goodbye, Gentlemen. Shut the door behind you on your way out.