About eighteen years ago I started playing D&D and as fun as it was gaming was not likely to become a major part of my lifestyle. One day a buddy in my gaming circle needed a lift to the closest book store with gaming stuff. Being one of the few in my circle with his own car I was the go to guy for rides more often than not. While he was sorting through various D&D materials I saw a strange book. It was glossy and presented very differently. The cover was green and had a red rose. It said Vampire. I opened it and didn’t find gothic rural castles of Ravenloft but … well, something very modern.

To say that this was different when all I thought RPGs were Greyhawk or Dragonlance is an understatement. I hadn’t even been exposed to Shadowrun yet.

The book was Vampire the Masquerade, 1st edition. This began a love affair with the Storyteller Game System and World of Darkness. Years have passed. The World of Darkness has been recompiled and rebooted. I now open those old Vampire books and time has definitely passed. The game has evolved. I haven’t stopped playing D&D (at least hadn’t until 4th edition) and have played many other games in addition. Its a list I keep adding to with games such as Shadowrun, Fading Suns, Deadlands, and many, many, more.

But I keep coming back to a few favorites, especially the World of Darkness. Sometime during those early days I decided I wanted my own piece of the world to play in. I’ve never been fond of other campaign settings beyond the occasional stand alone game. Like many I have enjoyed the Cthulhu mythos of Lovecraft and was attracted to the idea of doing something in Arkham, MA. But, it had problems with its own constraints. Khallam was my own phonetic approximation of Arkham and just for fun I moved it to California.  This was year’s before Buffy’s Hellmouth of Sunnydale but the reasoning was very similar to Joss Whedon’s – to provide a contrast between the sunny idyllic lives of people on the surface and make the shadows very deep once you began seeing in them.

I continue to build Khallam, my own playground in the darkness. This blog is that – a sort of serial documentary of a fictional place. I will try to accomplish three things. The first is to please myself. The second is to flesh out the setting of Khallam. Some of this material may be usable elsewhere but I offer no hopes. Finally, where I can I will provide NPCs, bits and pieces that enhance my setting and are easily transferred to others.

It should go without saying that this blog is non-commercial.  But, it seems that the modern age of the Internet has bred a disturbingly casual attitude towards things trademarked and copyrighted.  There will be no advertisements here or any of that.  I’m not looking to make a dime off the creation of Khallam or other musing on the World of Darkness and Storytelling system.  I’m just amusing myself.