Russel Zimmerman Information

Author / RPG Writer
USA

Biography:
Russell Zimmerman is an award-winning freelance RPG writer, an Amazon-bestselling author, a gaming geek of the last twenty-five years or so, and a TSU grad and lecturer in the Social Sciences department!

Russell has been a freelance writer for role-playing games and war games since 2007. He was the lead writer for the skirmish-scale war game Spinespur, had multiple articles published in Privateer Press' No Quarter magazine (for their Warmachine line), contributed on-line content for Privateer's city-smashing miniature game Monsterpocalypse, and then managed to get his foot in the door with Catalyst Game Labs' popular RPG Shadowrun, eventually writing for a game he'd been a fan and player of since the olden days of 1989.

Zimmerman's Shadowrun contributions have been plentiful and popular. He has written in over a dozen products, including solo-writer e-books like Way of the Adept and Land of Promise, multiple chapters of collaborative sourcebooks like Spy Games and Street Legends, and fiction contributions for such books as Twilight Horizon and Conspiracy Theories. His adventure compilation, Elven Blood, was recently awarded 2012's Best Adventure (Collection or Campaign) from Diehard GameFAN. His Shadowrun novella, Neat, received runner-up for Best Game Fiction of 2012 (losing out to the fantasy powerhouse of RA Salvatore and Drizzt Do'Urden salved Russell's injured pride). Neat has spent months on Amazon.com's Top 100 Bestsellers in high-tech/sci-fi, and received universally positive reviews. In addition, Russell is heavily involved in several not-yet-released products for the upcoming Year of Shadowrun, including two new video games, a new edition of the core RPG, plenty of new fiction, and the introduction of a board game, card, game, and skirmish-scale miniature war game (bringing, in a way, his freelance career full circle).

Russell received his BA in History from Northern Kentucky University before coming to Tarleton State as a graduate student. He completed his MA in History, and is now among the latest additions to TSU's Social Sciences department, working as an adjunct lecturer for multiple courses.