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Submission Guidelines

We Want You. Yes, YOU!

For this magazine to be a success, we will need the input and submissions of our readers. While our writers are rarely at a loss for new ideas, the break-neck pace of publishing a magazine tends to wear them out a tad. To stop them from having nervous breakdowns, we'd like as many unsolicited writings as we can lay our hands on. For you, this presents a wonderful oppurtunity. We know that there are a lot of aspirant writers out there. We know you've got a sketch of an article on your hard disk, saved next to your plot outline for Babylon Five, and the first two chapters of your novel. We know you want to be published, but are feeling embarassed, shy, self-concious, hesitant about whether your work is good enough, and terrified that you will be rejected.

How do we know all this? Because all of us here, until recently, were aspirant writers. It was us who used to look at the submission guidelines for other zines and go "Nahhh, they don't need my stuff. It's so crappy, who could want it? Besides, they've got their own writers, who are much better than me." We've been there, we've felt that. But it's lies! Lies Lies Lies! You are a brilliant writer, with a great idea for an aritcle. And we are not some faceless corporation that doesn't care if you live or die. We are a small group of normal gamers who desperately, passionately, achingly desire for you to send us your stuff. So please, forget you self-doubt, and give it a go.

If you would like to experience the incredibly satisfying rush that comes with being published, the joyful knowledge that your work has been accepted, and even now, is being perused by scores of people, all over the world (well, maybe not scores) then send your work to us right now. However, if you do not wish to experience the pain that does come with being rejected, we suggest you follow our submission guidelines. They are just a few simple rules that will rapidly raise your chances of being published.

The guidelines are:

  • Make sure you write about roleplaying. While we know there is no strict definition of roleplaying, articles that are clearly about CCGs, computer games, wargames or any other type of gaming will not be accepted.
  • Make sure you write for the role-playing community as a whole. Do not be too specific, do not cater too strongly for players of any one game or type of game. Do NOT write new rules/stats/adventures for a particular game system.
  • Make sure it has been proofread, and reads well. Do not expect the editors to correct spelling or other langauge errors.
  • Make sure to include a cover letter with your piece. This should contain a few paragraphs summarising the article: its purpose, chief points and basic structure. Please also include a precise word count.
  • Please send your submission as a MS Word or WordPad file, or as plain text. Do not send us html documents. If these formats are not available, mail us and we'll see what we can work out.

That's all we ask. If you'd like to have a better idea of the style of articles we are looking for, please review the "What is PTG, PTB" page, and of course, read the articles in the latest issue! However, do not try and merely duplicate previous works: write about what you care about, what you feel is important.

But most, most importantly of all, just write! Oh, and send it to us, afterwards, of course.

Submit something to the editors. Go on, you know you want to.

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