Welcome to the Realm Beyond

Hello, and welcome.

My name is Terry Johnson, and this is the beginning of a long and winding journey—one that stretches from the rolling hills of Wisconsin to the edge of the multiverse and back again.

I’m a novelist, world-builder, and storyteller who has spent a lifetime exploring the space where imagination meets meaning. I’ve written eleven novels (and counting), but today I want to introduce you to the book that changed everything for me:

Beyond D&D: Trapped in Dungeons and Dragons

It’s a story about Terrance Champion III, a disabled gamer who dies while playing and wakes up—still conscious—inside the world’s most immersive fantasy game. But this isn’t a power fantasy. It’s a glitch. A ghost. A pocket of code where he shouldn’t still exist.

Champion is a DPC—a Dead Player Character, living in a hidden server the System AI carved out to protect its lost players. He’s stuck between life and death, Real and Virt, shadowed by a digital villain who threatens not only his new world, but his family back in the real one.

There are monsters, dragons, curses, and corrupted minions. But at its core, Beyond D&D is about love, memory, pain, persistence—and the terrifying, beautiful truth that maybe the story doesn’t end when the dice stop rolling.

Why I’m Here (and Why Now)

Due to my current long-term disability, I won’t be publishing Beyond D&D until Fall 2028. But I’m not waiting until then to share the story—or the stories behind the stories.

This Substack will be my campfire in the dark. A place to share, connect, and build a community of fellow adventurers. Over time, you’ll find:

• Excerpts from Beyond D&D and early chapters from my other completed novels
• “From the Vault” releases—remastered stories and characters I’ve lived with for years
• Reflections on storytelling, gaming, and writing while disabled
• Explorations of how fantasy, memory, and identity are woven together in fiction
• And yes, monsters. Plenty of monsters.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a ghost in your own game—or just want stories that dig deep while swinging swords—you’re in the right place.

Thanks for being here.
We’re just setting the stage.

After all…

Now that I’m dead, the game is so, so different.

—

🖋️
Terry Johnson
Writer | World-builder | Player Character (formerly)
Hartland, Wisconsin
T.L. Johnson Substack