Update 6/15/2006: About $100 is needed until the goal is hit. Please keep the donations coming.

Last year, many of you reached out with kindness and donated a sum of money to help keep my website, d20 Magazine Rack, operational. After it was all said and done, over $1200 was raised. I cannot even begin to express in words what that gesture meant to me. Thanks to what was raised so generously last year, the need this time around is far less. By my estimates, only about $300 - $400 is needed to cover all of the operating costs for the rest of this year and likely all of next year's too. I've managed to combine and cut some unnecessary costs and consolidate hosting services and domain name into a single source which has reduced what I pay monthly along with domain name registration costs.

Under normal circumstances, I would have been able to cover the $300 to $400 dollars myself with no problems. But in April, a 4-day visit to the hospital for chest pains and ongoing health problems/medical procedures related to that visit has thrown my entire "personal money" budget (which is what I use to finance the website) out the window. I'm now faced with medical bills in excess of 50,000 dollars. Thankfully, the insurance company is covering most of that, but we are still looking at coming up with about $3000 out of our own pockets so far and the medical problems are still ongoing so the bills are going to keep coming. On the positive side, the doctors have determined it is not my heart that is the cause and believe it to be GI-related because of the discovery of ulcers. However, it does not explain the intense chest pain I am going through that can last for hours at a time now. Initial diagnosis is advanced acid reflux disease, but I believe they are calling it that for lack of anything else at the moment. As I said, tests are still ongoing so hopefully I will know more on my next doctor visit.

Unfortunately, unlike last year, this year I do not have a virtual metric ton of prizes to offer from various publishers, including Wizards of the Coast, as a way of thanking you for your donation. At this time, all I can offer is a copy of the soon to be released pdf of Dark Walkers: The Evil Within that was written by myself and Kevin Ruesch. Some of you may remember that this book was originally supposed to be released by Mystic Eye Games before the company went under. I was able to get the book back (largely because neither Kevin nor I was ever paid for the work) and have developed it on my own for release as a pdf product. The book is basically designed as a kind of evil player's handbook and, while meant for use with MEG's The Hunt: Rise of Evil campaign setting, is generic enough to be used in any d20/OGL fantasy universe without drastic alterations. The manuscript, art, playtesting and editing is all complete and it has been sent to layout with an expected final page count falling somewhere between 96 and 128 pages. When the book is completed, I will send a download link to every individual who sends a donation this year before the book ever goes on sale.

There are a couple of pdf publishers that I am going to speak to because they pledged to help in the future if I needed it, so there is a small possibility that I can offer a little more for your kindness once again. As I said in the beginning of this letter, the need is much smaller this year and it is very likely that this will be the last year I need financial help for the site (if everything goes well). Donations can be made via Paypal (ghost.wind[at]verizon.net) either directly or by clicking the link in the upper right hand corner of this page. If Paypal isn't an option, you can also donate by check/money order via the mail to:

Steve Creech
d20 Magazine Rack
7621 Irwin Pines Ct.
Fort Wayne, IN 46804-7855

I want to thank you once again for your donation last year and am humbly asking for a little more help this year in order to keep the website going. I cannot offer much this time around other than a small token gesture and a solemn 'thank you' but know that every little amount is greatly appreciated and goes toward keeping the d20 Magazine Rack a website that you can all enjoy.

Sincerely,

Steve Creech
Executive Chairman, d20 Magazine Rack
http://d20zines.com