In any story, telling Who, What, Where, Why, When and How, or...not telling, is part of the lure of readership. Part of the draw, the "con" so to say, running the game, because any good story you enjoy is just like a Con Job. After all, every good Con Artist is a good story teller. From the two bit "My car ran out of gas, and I just need two bucks to get home", to "Dear Sir, my father, the recently deceased Asst. Secretary of the Treasury for Lower Slobovia...", to the more elaborate financial chicanery we are seeing on Wall Street, they all had to tell a story, and they all had to talk about, with some variation, "Who they are", "What they are doing", "Where they are going", "Why they came to you", "When they need your help" and "How you can help yourself by helping them".

But you can't go too fast. Too fast and you will ruin it. Spook your listener. You can't go too slow. Too slow, they will lose interest. Some stories work better than others. Some emotions play better than others. Some connections are stronger, some weaker, some safer, some more risky. Here's the deal, people love stories. They love the Con. They love the game. But...not everyone loves the same story as the next guy.

So, now we come to Wagonburg. Originally, I called it "The Park", but I could not get that URL. Wagonburg, strangely enough, was available (Ha!), and it had always been the name of the Trailer Park where our story takes place, so it was a natural change.

The story is, to my mind, simple enough. A trailer park suffers some sort of "accident", and the residents of said "Mobile Home Community" are transformed though circumstance, and their humanity, or lack thereof, is laid bare. Pretty basic stuff, I think Rod Serling did it about 200 times on the Twilight Zone. Naturally, we need a protagonist, enter "The Colonel". However, an Antagonist was not so clear in my mind. Slowly, it seemed to evolve that, just as in real life, "The Colonel" had a series of people who served as friends, confidants, allies and occasionally enemies, but nothing dangerous. Nothing, mortal. Just mild inconveniences to an ordered life.

While that is nice, for a time, it is a bit like asking 1000 strangers for $2.00 in gas. There is a reason why stories have a villain, a hero, a goal. People like that. If I had the "Colonel" be a Real Estate agent to mutants for the next 200 episodes, I highly doubt it would have much of a following. So, Wagonburg is gearing up this year and it is time for the big Con. The Sting. The Game. The Grift. The big story, so to say. Don't worry, it won’t cost much but your time...though, if you could send your checking account info to the address listed below, I promise to deposit the entire budget of Lower Slobovia over to you...for only a small fee!

W.R. Printz, April 2009

wprintz (at) wagonburg (dot) com

Old Introduction