Monday Merriment!

I have been lax on postings for the last couple of weeks. I am sure there has been a good reason, and as soon as I can create one, I will pass it on. So, ignoring the groans, here is an update!

The Monday morning Familiar Place Web comic is up!

Sue and I have made very good progress on DS. We have created a better project procedure and we are working on formats for published Guidelines, Encounters, Adventures and Rules. Slowly you will be seeing new DS "stuff" as we get it through the pipeline. We are being patient and working slowly.

For now, Good Night and Good Gaming!

-- Post From My iPad

Christmas Holiday Greetings!

No matter what holiday you are celebrating, they center on the Winter Solstice.

Join with us, and the rest of humanity, in a time of celebration of the things that make us human. Things that make us more than animals. Things that make it possible for us to think, feel, understand and cooperate. It is a time when we can all join together and recognize our mutual humanity, and put aside, at least for a few days, the fear, ignorance and mistrust that separates us the rest of the year.

-- Post From My iPad

Monday and we have News!

We have a new Grandilar Game Podcast. This one should get GM's in the mood for the holidays. This is the link to the Libsyn Feed. Go listen, have some fun.

The Monday morning Familiar Place Free Web comic from our very own Susan Van Camp is up. Just follow this link and you can get caught up.

The Dalmatian Duo Art print has made an appearance in Susan's Etsy shop. What a great time to shop for gifts! You can visit Susan's Print shop here.

Good Night and Good Gaming to you all!

-- Post From My iPad

Working quietly on a series of sets.

Going over the sets, expanding them and making them work as a group is taking a lot of time, but we really are making progress.

I am hesitant to release the sheets before writing the Guidelines for each set. However, I believe you will be able to understand that these are still in flux so you will not be disturbed when the finals are a little different than these sheets.

On the content page, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find sheets to gaze at, and in some cases, drool over. If you make Proxies of these and use them, and we encourage such behavior, be ready to go with the flow and change. This link will take you to the content page. Now scroll all the way to the bottom, enjoy!

I have more, but I have started making errors and that means it is time to stop.

Good Night and Good Gaming!

-- Post From My iPad

Just taking a deep breath

We have been relaxing a little here at the Secret Clanhold, so posts have been slow.

Susan has completed a book cover recently, And you can follow this link and have a look for yourself!

Look for more DS updates in the near future, as long as those pesky necromancers don't interrupt communications again.

-- Post From My iPad

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is a chance for us to thank all of the people out there who support us and love this game.

As we move through this next year together we do know it will be difficult to adapt, to change and even see clearly what we are doing, but we do want all of you to come with us on the journey to tomorrow.

Because Sue and I can not present a final product all at one time we will have to do it over the course of the next year, unveiling it slowly, asking for your input, and recreating a game with the original simplicity of DS, yet keeping the spirit of the game we all love.

This is not going to be an easy task, but we believe, with your support, we can make the game we will all be playing for the next 15 years.

Mark

-- Post From My iPad

Always between Conventions it seems.

We are preparing Sue for Midwest Furfest. Tonya will be our DS front person at the Con. She will have print outs of new materials, Guild Applications, Character sheets and more with her at the con. I even gave a spirit messenger if she needs Guidance from within the Secret Clanhold. Sue will be doing her best to keep up with the Art end of the convention. We really appreciate Tonya's help at this one!

The newest Familiar Place Web Comic has been posted. If you need your Monday Familiar Place Fix, it is here.

I have posted the new Channel Set for Pre-ordering on our market page. There is a link there to the PDF as well. This fine link leads to the pre-order page. Go look, download the PDF, check it out.

Channel and the Great Change.
In the PDF's we are doing on the new cards we do not discuss the cards that are not in the set. It would be confusing to do so in the Set descriptions. What I will be doing is to discuss those cards briefly here in the blog, just to keep you informed.

Fortunatley for all of us DS comes with the handy 3.4 GM rule to deal with blending the old and the new.
Channel Link is being by passed in the new Channel Cards. There are a number of new concepts that we want to explore with you, like the Shroud, that do not work well with an Anchor. We also wanted to open Channel up to the general Stormlands civilians. Elethay Acolyte cast members can be shown in ways that illustrate their community value without the GM having to contrive to get them a Boon. The Channel Link, with it's +1 WIS still has value, but some may want to free up a Boon slot by switching to the new Channel card.
Channel Strike has also been by passed. We have not had good opportunities to test it with the new cards, so we just left it as is.
The point values of the Channel cards has been tweaked. It is very difficult to figure out a good CP value for cards when they should be carried, but may be useless in some adventures. A hard numerical value system does not take that into account. *sigh*
Sometimes it can be difficult to see what we are working at here, be patient, all will be exposed over time.

Well, that is it for today.
Good Night and Good Gaming.


-- Post From My iPad

The Great Change Forms Updated

The new upgraded forms are coming along. Scroll down on the content page to see the current Beta Forms. Download them, proxy them, try them out.

As the game has expanded over the past 14 years the original forms we created for the game have lost power in comparison to the combat skills and equipment of mortals. These upgrades will bring the original forms back to where they were when the game first came out. If our crystal ball had not been out for repairs, we would have made them stronger in the first place.

Since we now have a way to price cards more reasonably we are also taking the this opportunity to make the forms availability fit our original vision of their distribution. Avatars for everyone! Plus a larger variety of forms for most of the shifter races.

Many of the small forms are now IND forms while larger forms still require an Action to activate.

You should also note the terminology change on the cards. We are now using "activate" for abilities. It will help people recognize when abilities (activate), spells (cast), and skills (use) are being played.

We are also working at adding relevant skill bonuses to the different forms and adding attributes that will distinguish the different races. These bonuses are still a work in progress. You will need to read the cards carefully to find the new additions. Whatever causes the most questions we will be able to cover in the different Shifter sets as the cards are prepared for publishing. If we do not cover your questions when we publish, no one asked them for you.

Now that we have a basic series of Forms we can work on specialty cards. This will give us the resources to say card X is meant to work with the following forms. We can also do standard, greater and prime abilities this way. All of the races will be getting special abilities along the lines of the new beta dragon fire breath cards.

The older forms will still work as written, however, they will be out powered by the newer forms. The old forms will be obsolete, but still function. It will cause confusion when an old form that no longer exists is used in games, but I am sure that our GM's can use Rule 3.4 to deal with that. This is going to be especially true with the old Prime Avatar cards. The new Avatar's are all considered Greater Forms. This allows us to create special Abilities for the Prime Forms and balance them. To keep the balance we recommend that all Avatars be considered "greater" for card use, but that will be up to your GM, not us. She knows best.

We are trying hard to both update the game and protect your cards. While we know that many people do not appreciate that effort, we are doing it anyway.

-- Post From My iPad

The GM and Battle Sight

I had a couple of comments from my Pentacon players that they liked how I ran Battle Sight in my games. I thought it would be a good idea to talk about how I do it.

When people are playing I give no more information during a combat than I feel they would naturally get during the chaos of combat.

Initiative rolls: At the start of each round I ask for the initiatives of the players. The characters would have a good idea of which of them is going when, especially if they have an active Link. I do not mention when their opponents will be going. I change that in a subtle way when Battle Sight is operational. If the initiative of my cast is 8, After Battle Sight is active I ask who has an initiative greater than 8. That change in my question gives the characters an idea of when the cast will be going. That change is directly related to Battle Sight.

Combat Damage: When characters strike cast members I simply tell them that they did damage, or not, to the target. When they ask for more detailed information I ask them if they have Battle Sight up. If they say no, then I say they can't tell and move on. When someone does have Battle Sight up I change what I tell the characters. Now I start saying things like "she looks badly hurt" or "he does not seem to be hurt bad". Sometimes I may add phrases like "it looks like it is on it's last legs". These changes in my game descriptions come directly from an Active Battle Sight.

GM's in Dragon Storm are more creative than in most RPG games, and we expect a lot more from them. We also expect more from our players and I was gratified when three of them noticed the change in information when Battle Sight became active.

I rarely turn to a dice roll for Battle Sight. I only make players perform a contest roll if they are asking for very detailed information. This is especially true if their opponent is also running Battle Sight. One observation they may well get from a detailed look is that their opponent is also running Battle Sight and is reacting intelligently to them. They could also realize that their opponents are running a Link for communications. What other types of information would be available to characters through Battle Sight is up to the players. They need to compose specific, relevant questions to ask. The GM just decides if the information they want is available.

GM'ing and playing an RPG like Dragon Storm is an art form rather than a set of firm rules. It can be difficult to be flexible, but it should be our goal.

If players do not have Battle Sight active I allow them to use an Action and make a Perception contest roll. This gets them one piece of focused information. Players need to ask a specific question to get specific answers. If they ask a muddled question that confuses the GM, then they get back a muddled answer. I really do try to make the players be creative. It forces me to do the same.

Good Day and Good Gaming!

-- Post From My iPad

Just trying to get some more sleep

I am moving slowly this week. The last few weeks have been hectic and I am breathing in some fresh air.

I did get the link for the Great Change Forms fixed on the DS content page.
Weekly Familiar Place Comic is up.
Orders shipped today. Got caught up.
New Guild Memberships from the past two weeks will be done this weekend and be mailed Monday. I have 14 to do, three from Pentacon.
People are sending version 1.1 card ideas, those will get posted to the beta page in the next couple of days.
Pre-orders for set 34 have started coming in. Thanks!
I will get more up as soon as time permits. Having to do write-ups with background materials will slow things down, but give a better idea of what we were thinking.

Good Night and Good Gaming!

-- Post From My iPad

Dragon Storm goes to Pentacon

We will be in Fort Wayne on Friday morning. Looking forward to it!

New Beta PDF section on the content page. Scroll down and have a look. Valarian and Bloodkin and more.

Running behind, as usual. See you at the Con!


-- Post From My iPad

Monday and DS, they go together.

I have switched gears here today. Getting set for tomorrows game and I waited some equipment sets to give cast members. I put together a set of them and put them up in the beta downloads. Give them a try, see what you think.

The weekly Familiar Place web comic is up. Number 11 and counting. You can drop in here and see it.

Waiting for Sue to get back from FurFright. Fighting with the leaves. Thinking about Pentacon. Now I think I am hungry. Time for breakfast already? Oh, wait, it is dinner time.. I think I know why my stomach is growling.


-- Post From My iPad

New Channel Rough PDF available

We have got the new Channel set PDF up. The changes should integrate with the new cards as they appear. It also opens several new options to us.

You can go here and get the PDF for yourself!

Mark

-- Post From My iPad

I am just having too good of a time!

I have posted a new Grandilar Game Podcast. If you can not wait another minute before listening, click here and it should play!

If you are set to get the download automatically through iTunes, it should filter through soon. You can also go to the Libsyn feed and download it now!

More later in the day. I hope to add two files to the Beta page today!

-- Post From My iPad

And today we continue

We are now into full convention prep for Sue's foray to FurFright on the east coast. Since she will be doing this one alone Dragon Storm will get slighted. We regret that, but there it is. So, I need to work on her print selection and get everything ready. You can find our convention links here.

I will be spending the weekend pouring over proposed card sets and getting rough PDF's done for as many as possible. I do not know if we will be able to get the final versions done for much more before Pentacon. We will try.

As we get the PDF's done for the sets we will be posting them on the content page in the DS site. You will need to scroll down the page to the Set PDF section. While you are there you can see what else is being posted.

The Shaman Set 31 has arrived at last. I have shipped out the Pre-orders and put up the link to buying the set. You can now buy the set here.

I have put up a couple of the sets we have at the printers to have at Pentacon. You can Pre-order sets for pick up at Pentacon here.
Sets at the Printer for Pentacon:
Set 32, Witchcraft. Replaces the old set 11. If you have Pre-orders in for 11 you will get 32.
Set 33, Elethay Witchcraft. New cards. We finally have more complete information on the Elethay Religion.
Set 34, Jikadell. If we are going to cover Elethay we need to expand their nemesis cult. Gamemasters will find this one both useful and informative.
Set 35, Health. We have wanted to add these for years, but we had card point balancing issues. With the 1.1 update we rebalanced the game to permit these. Have fun!

The PDF's for Sets 32 and 34 are not finished. What I will do is to add a link to the rough draft with the Pre-orders. There will be changes to them yet, so I need to make it clear that these will be the roughs and not the final versions.

Right now I need to head down to the computer and get sets 32 and 34 up for Pre-orders to deliver at Pentacon.

-- Post From My iPad

Elethay Witchcraft Set 33 Talk

The role-playing aspects of being an Elethayist is something that players will have to consider for their characters. Obviously no Dragon Storm player would take these cards for a character who believes in mayhem and murder. The characters who take these will need to exhibit a streak of compassion. They will try to avoid killing, within reason.

These cards will stretch a players role-playing skills, and the GM should reward players who do well with bonus role-playing points.

You can download the full PDF here.

Elethay Spells and Abilities are a sub set of Witchcraft. To be able to use them one needs a crude understanding of Witchcraft and a deep belief in Elethay. This results in some people who can use Elethay cards through training without really comprehending the fundamentals. Witches who become Elethayists have both the understanding and the faith.

It also needs to be pointed out that due to the nature of Elethay's enemies in the Stormlands that they have developed Abilities so that they may operate in enemy territory with reduced chances of discovery. Players will want to help their GM by letting her know the character is using an Ability rather than a spell.

As we worked on these cards we have also been working on the Jikadell Cult. Since this is a primary enemy of Elethay we wanted to show the differences between the two so the GM can use them in games. Jikadell spells are based in Wizardry rather than Witchcraft. This helps create a bright line between the two. The Jikadell GM set will be along In a few days and will also be at Pentacon.

Some questions have also arisen concerning Temple Speakers. These people are Shamans first. They do not understand Witchcraft, but they may use Elethay cards if they have shown enough devotion to Elethay. Therefore a Temple Speaker needs the Elethay Acolyte to use Elethay cards.

We have taken the step of adding the Worshipper, Acolyte and Priestess card images to the bottom of the PDF. They are not being printed with this set, but they will be needed for the set to work properly. With Proxies being accepted players can add these to characters as needed. It should be noted that we brought these cards up to 1.1 so they fit in. At one CP the Worshipper is a very inexpensive add on, but we did include +2 HP for the CP.

Some of the choices we made with this set were caused by prior cards and information. These cards should have had their own three letter code to avoid confusion. That code should have been ELE, but that is the code for Elementalism, so we compromised. We made Elethay a piece of Witchcraft. To distinguish them the card type line says WIT, Elethay.

This set will be available at Pentacon.


-- Post From My iPad

And now the new DS Card PDF's start

It will take a lot of dedicated time for the effects of the rules update to filter through the system, but there is no time like the present to get things started. We will deal with everything, but time is a limiter, so be patient.

We will be releasing a new series of Health Anchors at Pentacon. You can download the PDF with the cards and some background information on the DS Content page. Just follow this link to the page.

The new guidelines make these reasonable. In the past we had to deal with trying to set Card Points for cards under two systems. One progressive from the Guild and one static from the DS rules. The Progressive system means we do not have to do much juggling with the CP, the system makes them more costly to add later.

These can also be handy for players who want to convert their older characters. The Guild had contrived a special set of rules involving Masokian Meditation to gain HP. Now, for about 21 CP you can get the Health 2 and 3 and drop four Boons. That will bring characters closer to the new Boon recommendations and keep your HP too.

Characters with high CP are going to want to use the Grandfather Clause to add most, or all, of these to their characters. This is an opportunity to spread out the characters cards and take a look at your Independent selection. With the new Ten Things limit some strategies will change. As long as you are taking out card points to trade in for Health, you can use the opportunity to drop some Aces you will not need as many of.

I am afraid that Masokian Meditation will become an outmoded card in all of this. In 1996 four HP were more valuable than today. Outmoded cards will all still be valid, just not as useful as they were.

Tomorrow I will cover the Elethay Witchcraft set that you see on the page. That one will be at Pentacon as well.

For those of you who can not get the cards now, our new policy of accepting proxies will come in to play.

Good Night and Good Gaming.

-- Post From My iPad

The October Newsletter has gone out!

When people say it is better to get something done than wait until it is perfect had me in mind. The newsletter has several errors.

Tonya is running games at MidWest Furfest, even though I changed her name to Tony. She will be surprised by her new Shape Shifting Abilities.

The links to the Version 1.1 downloads is in the wrong place, but they are there!

I was supposed to put a room request for Pentacon in the Newsletter:
-Ian Brown (aka, Arashiin) wrote this to us: I have never been to Pentacon (or Ft. Wayne for that matter), but I've heard that there's a very large concentration of players up there. If you know anyone who is going this year, that is also looking to recruit people to bunk-in with them, do you think you could hook me up with them? I'm intent on getting up there, but the prospect of not being able to find a place to stay is rather disheartening.
His email: arashiinwindragon@gmail.com

I started investigating doing a forum for connecting players and rooms at cons. It will not happen now, but it is a real good idea. I will think on it.

This way to the Version 1.1 and Guild Updates.

You can download PDF's of the Newsletter if you have not signed up.

The Great Change Download is here. Check it out!


-- Post From My iPad

Monday Dragon Storm Update

We are back from Con on the Cob. I really want to say that we appreciate the help we got from people at the Con. DS went over well and we created new players!

I am buried in trying to get sets finished to send off to the printer for Pentacon. I am working on the Elethay, Jikadell, Health and Familiars and Companion sets to get done. Four sets, including complete write ups.

The new rules and Guild Guide are going to be uploaded on either Thursday or next Monday with the newsletter announcing them. With the work load stacking up I suspect it will be next Monday.

Now, back to work.

-- Post From My iPad

Next weekend: Con on the Cob!

Thursday afternoon we will be setting up At Con on the Cob for the weekend. I am scheduled for three sessions as a GM. We will be doing Demos as best we can all weekend.

Astounding as it seems the Familiar Place Weekly Web Comic has been on time. You can see it here.

I have begun the rough for our next monthly newsletter. We have gotten four out in a row. If you missed them, they can be downloaded here. We will be announcing the new Dragon Storm Update 1.1 and the new Guild rules with the newsletter.

We have had more player submitted card ideas. You can consider them here. if you have ideas you want to make public, the form link is to the left of the new card ideas. I get them posted as quickly as I can.

The adventures are slowly rebuilding on the DS content page. Follow this link to check for new content.

For more news specifics, keep an eye on the Twitter feed.

Good Night and Good Gaming to everyone.

-- Post From My iPad

October has arrived at the Clanhold

We have a couple of website updates. The main page has been updated with easier linking. I reposted The Capricious Sprite Adventure by Russ Linden.

I have gotten better at posting update links to my Twitter feed. You can see it to the left on this page. There is also a "Follow Me" button there. If you want to see what is happening, and available, in our Web Empire, Follow Me!

The weekly Familiar Place comic strip has a new strip today. The link to Familiar Place is here!

Player Card submissions are coming in. If you want to submit, the form is right here. if you want to see what has been sent in, You can follow this link and read them. I have at least three more to put up and I will be getting to them later in the week.

Sue and I are getting close to both the V1.1 Rules and V1.1 Guild Guides. The very next thing on my schedule is to sit with Sue and go over her rewrites.

Good Night and Good Gaming!

-- Post From My iPad

Yes, we have more updates

We are getting a lot of work done around here. New "stuff" is showing up all over the place.

We will start with the new PDF's of Dragon Storm and Kanchaka Game Master cards. You will need to scroll down to the bottom of the page. Useful reference. I will be picking away at the Player cards next.

The newest issue of the Familiar Place comic has been posted. Here is the handy link to the page. Thanks for spreading the word. We are relying on you guys to spread the word.

We are continuing to get new card submissions. You can read the submissions right here. If you see something that really catches your imagination you can use a blank card from Set 8 and make one to try out. If you like the way it plays, email me and pass on the excitement.
You can also pass on your tested favorite cards. This link takes you right to the submission forms.

Etsy has a new print posted and several prints renewed. The shop is at the other side of this link. any time you want to send friends and family on to the web to buy Christmas, Birthday or any other gift, pass on Sue's Etsy link.





It looks like Monday morning is going to be my Guild update day. New member cards from this past week will be going out tomorrow. Welcome Aboard! The rest of you, keep up the Good Words and let everyone know they can join for free. This is the link to the Guild Site!

I have been covering Daily workings and thoughts on my blog. Susan has been blogging too! All of our links are on this page, just in case you did not know where they are.

Good Night and Good Gaming!

-- Post From My iPad

September Newsletter and Familiar Place

The September newsletter has gone out. I will be posting the PDF version later in the day. If you think you should be getting the newsletter but did not, email me (mark@marksmysteries.com). We had four undeliverable, so not bad. As noted in the newsletter, The DS Content page has been updated. Click here to see. The page for the Newsletter PDF's is here.

The latest Familiar Place web comic from Susan went up today. This is number five. If you are in the Flint area you can read the comic in the Flint Comix and Entertainment paper. It appears there first.

-- Post From My iPad

Short update this week

First, we have a new issue of Familiar Place up. You can use this link to read the comic.

We are working on new rules, new cards, scenarios and a whole assortment of things we have not followed up on previously. It is time consuming and there is very little to show at this time, however, that will start changing as we create new cards and revise some of the old one.

One concern that we are hearing is what will happen to the older cards with the new rules. We have an answer for that:

Older cards will continue to be legal. Players will be asked to track there own cards and use them in the spirit of the new cards. GM's will have 3.4 on their side to make at table decisions. We realize this will cause confusion at times, but we will not abandon the old cards.

Once we get everything firmed up we will sit down with Tim's card list and add a "Card Type Line" column to it for reference.

Good Night and Good Gaming!

-- Post From My iPad

I Play a Dragon.

They say I am just another Greatflame, but they don't understand me.

There is something about being a mortal born dragon that can not be put into words. You can see it in the glint of my eyes. Until Deathday the history of Grandilar was written by the dragons, they ruled this world. That is the heritage of the mortal born dragons. All of the other shifter races share the same draconic blood lines, but only I can be a Dragon.

When a Necromancer sees me shift they point and scream "Dragon". Everything turns to see me, everything wants a piece of me, they all want to steal my magic.

That is the moment that you can see a Dragon smile, because I learned from history. I am a Valarian first, and I brought friends.


-- Post From My iPad

Just a few notes.

We have a new Shaman Set 31 Guide PDF available. A link is posted on the content page, with the set pre-order and You can download it from right here.

I am back to full work and the Guild cards started going out in the mail today. I will be doing a few everyday and should catch up this week.

We are getting a good number of online Guild applications every week. I am glad to hear from a lot of old friends. If you have friends who still have not signed up, Pass this link to them and get them signed up well before the next newsletter.

We are getting a good response from the Newsletter. Thank You!

Good night and Good gaming.

-- Post From My iPad

Second Familiar Place Web Comic Up.

It has now been a week since the First Familiar Place comic was announced in the Newsletter. Now there is a second issue up!
Check out the new Familiar Place Strip here.

Spread the word, send the link to anyone who might enjoy the strip. Get them interested in Susan's work and maybe they will look at DS with different eyes.

-- Post From My iPad

August Newsletter Ships!

That makes three months in a row that the newsletter has gone out. We have added a lot of people to the list and I only got three failed to deliver notices. Not bad. Looks like Mocha typed them in pretty good. If you did not get the newsletter, and should have, you should e-mail me from the address you want our mail to go to and I will make corrections.

If you are not getting the newsletter you can see copies at our newsletter pdf archive. You can also go to the Guild Site and sign up for the Guild and ask to be put on the newsletter list.

Good Night and Good Gaming.


-- Post From My iPad

Guild Clan Roster update and 200 max

High Councilor Ann has sent in a Clan Roster Update and I posted it. You may need to refresh the page if you have looked recently. We are still discussing a fair way to do the Clan Points. Balancing is tough. We want everyone to enjoy and join the clans, we have adventure ideas for the clans.

As I work on the new card design the text area for explaining the card is now at 200 characters* and spaces maximum. The text size is increasing for reading.
*corrected!

-- Post From My iPad

Envision the Coming Storm

Envision the Storm.
It tears the land apart, rending it with malignant Powers.
Imagine the Storm filling the sky, bearing down on you.
The peasants screaming as they pour into the underground Labrynth's looking for safety.
You can make out hundreds of evil madspawn swarming in the storms maelstrom.

Then a voice speaks within your mind.
All Right Heroes, Time to Shape Shift.
We are going in.

Dragons, Unicorns, Gargoyles, Werewolves and more appear all around you.
These are your Allies.

Hell is coming your way, and it needs a good thrashing.

-- Post From My iPad

Back from GenCon, relaxing, doing some updates.

I have completed a Gallery on the GM cards that are wandering about.
This is the link to the new GM Picture Gallery.
I have included the card type, Title, card #, and released in data as part of the title.
You will notice that I have divided up the Features into several types for easier explanations.
FEA, your standard Feature. Does not Purify, it is on there till death.
WFEA, these can be removed by Purification etc.
NEC, Necromancy spells and items.
NECP, Pylos engineered Necromancy spells. If we ever do the Brotherhood officially these will not be available. Sorry, no Madspawn Minions, draining, Toxify, or pure Warp attacks. Just the undead, my friend, just the undead.

The work on guidelines continues. We are making good progress. Some yelling, some cheering, usually about the same things. Just about what you would imagine.

VACATION. Taking one, got to clean out a brain cell or two.

I had some very interesting talks with gamers outside the convention over the weekend. It looks like we have a real opportunity to expand DS right now. What we will need is the support of our players and a cleaned up set of rules. Nothing to it...

In general GenCon was real good for us. Good art sales and Wizards Wagon was happy with the DS sales. It helps that Sam at WW has played and likes DS.

Now that we know the new standard cards are going to work out we are going to go slow and try to assemble sets with related cards. This will take some thinking, care and some new cards to fill everything out to nines and eighteens. I am actually feeling very good about this.

During the transition we will be putting up all of the cards in picture galleries and selling blank cards so you can make emergency proxies, and GM's can use the cards right off of the web.

I am behind on putting up the new card ideas and entering the new Guild members. I am very glad to see some names showing up that are new and some that have been away for a while. It should be fun.

Now, nap time calls me.

-- Post From My iPad

Gencon Prep and more updates

For those of you headed for Gencon Sue and I will be in the artshow somewhere. Dragon Storm will be sold at Wizard Wagon.

We have had a number of cards submitted on the Beta site. Check the July 2010 link on the left for more.
Follow this link.

You can submit your cards on line and I put it in the above list.
This is the link to the submission form.

You will also find some full sheets of cards ready to print in the Beta site. Look at both the Alpha and Beta sheet links on the left.
the main Beta site link is here.

I have gotten Picture Galleries done for all of the Card Sets out there so far.
this is the link to the Set Picture Galleries.

We are continuing to work on the Guild Guidelines. We are also working on both the Guild Guidelines and the Dragon Storm rules in general. I have written up an internal set of rules changes we would like to see to make the Guild and the Game run under the same rules. For the moment Sue and I are discussing the changes with a few people and we will be making an announcement a couple/three weeks after GenCon. We must be careful with what we do. Much is just codifying general practices while others are shifts to accommodate the developments Sue has added to the game over the last 14 years.
This is the Link to the New Guild Site. Keep an eye on it, sign up, join in the coming fun!

-- Post From My iPad

Time to start exploring Change

First, we have more card idea submissions at The Beta Website, visit often!

Second, we are getting more Set sheets up on the Beta Page.
And here is the link to the page. Check out the Health Bonanza Cards.

As long as we are making changes we may as go all the way, so I am releasing some of the Beta notes on the DS Guidelines update. Watch for it on the Monday Blog Post, be there!

-- Post From My iPad

Morning Updates

I want to post these updates on there own so they do not get lost in the longer post later today.

We had another card idea submitted last night and it is up for people to look at and consider. You can follow this link to see what people are recommending as new cards for DS.

the Guild Clan Roster has been updated. The Play to Gain Clan Point system is going in to effect. You play in a Guild game, or run a Guild game, your character earns a Clan Point. We are also extending this to Demo Games run. So, this is the link, have a look.

More later!

-- Post From My iPad

Tim did it! New updated card lists. (Cheering Sounds)

I posted the PDF's that he sent me.
You can follow this link to get the card lists.

I have spent a good deal of time looking over the card set construction. We have several sets that are low or out of stock. It is a good chance to start to apply some of the new lessons we have learned doing these new sets.

So, watch for some changes that are going to make Tim say things about me that should not be said in public.

-- Post From My iPad

And now for more new ideas!

I have added Diseases, Ritual Artifacts and Terrain Warp Effects to the Alpha download page.

In addition to the cards themselves I have added a guideline card to the first set of a series. These ideas come from the "stuff" we do to our players. Embrace the Chaos!

And here is the handy link to the Beta site.

I started running a starter campaign last evening to try to work on a series of "Bootcamp" scenarios for GM's and new players. It was an idea that came from one of our new players who didn't really think they were ready to jump from a demo to a game. Good idea. Sue will run the next bootcamp. In the process of running I tried to track some of the decisions I was making as I GM'd. WOW, do we ever make a lot of on the spot choices. I'll be trying to write up some of these as examples amid guidelines. I love the fact that it was done without rules, but new GM's may need some more guidance.


-- Post From My iPad

Sorting and thunking.

I have gotten two of the out-of-stock sets up on the Pre-order page and one new set for the Shamans.
Link to Pre-order page.

I am still sorting everything from the con and still have to face the paperwork. Our gamers will start arriving in about an hour and a half. I at least have to get enough put away so we have a space to play. It would be handy to write up something for the game, but, well, that is not really necessary.

I had a good time running for the monsters at StormCon. They played smart, especially the Sunday morning group. If they had forgotten the mission, they would have had a good chance of meeting their ancestors in person. They had over 3,000 card points at the table... They did find out that there were two previous offensive incursions to this Pylos world. The first by Valaria, the second by Heliot, both turn out to be heroic defenders of the world.
The third was by Never, Kristen, Narn, Valandia Ravenwing, Koryn, and Rhianon Nightfeather. The path there was cleared by Morgana Orgath, Joshua Mallory, Cel A Dyne, Finnegan, and Jordan Ravenwing. The Quest was completely successful, due to the efforts of these Heroes.

These Heroes did discover that a few Ancient Dragons did have dealings with the Pylos. It looks bad, but the full extent of such treason has yet to be discovered. More will be discovered on the next Quest I run.

-- Post From My iPad

Great Con and Beta site updates.

We are having a Great time here at StormCon, wish you were here!

I am pretty immobile in the mornings and the hotel has good Internet, so there have been some updates to the Beta Site. Added a new category of Beta cards and posted the card idea submissions through this morning. We are getting some good ideas, keep them coming!
This is the link to the Beta Site!


-- Post From My iPad

On Site!

We are here in Westlake awaiting StormCon and relaxing some. We have some people we will be talking to this evening, should be loads of fun.

I am not sure when we will be putting stuff in the game room, but it really does not make much difference. Whenever...

-- Post From My iPad

Preparations for StormCon

I just finished the Guild cards for those who have signed up on line. Their badges will be awaiting them. Hopefully the people going to the Con already signed up, I am looking forward to seeing people there.

Right now it is time to sort and pack for the convention. That will get us out of here early so we can talk to people Thursday night.

Off to the Con!


-- Post From My iPad

StormCon, New Guild, New Beta Site. Oh My!

Getting everything ready for the new Guild has been hectic, but I am happy with both the progress and the help we are getting. If you have not signed up yet, get over there. Thanks!
Link to New Guild

I have also scampered around and set up the Crypt Crawl site as a Beta for everything. Card submissions, proposed sets, new games. The new Beta Devotional Prayers are there.
Link to the Beta Site, Go Now.

And we have StormCon at the end of the week. A great chance to try out those new Devotional Prayers. I am really looking forward to StormCon. Fun it shall be.

Link To StormCon is here. If you can get there, you should.

Sets 28, 29 and 30 are in. Preorders ship in the morning!

-- Post From My iPad

Just Getting It Done.

I got the second newsletter out today. The new laser. Printer arrived so I can get forms, lists and mor printed for StormCon.

Right now I am mulling over a few things to put in the games I will run. I'm smiling, that should worry everyone.


-- Post From My iPad

The Hyarch is Pleased!

I am pleased with the number of people who have gotten to the new Guild site and signed up. Now I want all of you to talk to your friends and see how many people we can get signed up.
This is the link!

Now we need to work on getting GM's in place for StormCon. Even if you only want to run a game or two, sign up now!
Use this link to start your email to Russ


-- Post From My iPad

StormCon and Guild updates

StormCon is coming and things are looking good. Russ needs all of you GM's who want to run a game or two to get in touch with him so he can coordinate the schedule. So, get in touch with him at:
Use this link to start your email to Russ
This is going to be fun!

The new Guild site is working. New member are registering. We want as many people as possible to get to the site and register. It would be really nice to have all of your Guild Clan Characters on the roster and visible before the con. Right now we are updating the list at least daily, watch the growth and nag your friends. I want to spend my time playing and talking, not entering data into the computer. I am sure Ann feels the same about the Clan Roster.
Get to the site and do it, drag everyone you know to the site and get them registered. The more excitement we can create together the more things we can do.
New Guild Site Link.


-- Post From My iPad

New Dragon Storm and Art by SVC Guild Website Opens

We have a new Guild website. It is at:
Use this link and Bookmark the new site.

Everyone should rush over to the new site and rejoin the Guild and get your new member number. Take some time and have a good look around.

As soon as you have your new number you should then gather your characters who are in Guild Clans and fill out the Clan Report Form with the information. High Councilor Ann will then update the roster and we will get it up on the website.

At StormCon we will be signing people up and issuing cards, however, if you have already rejoined then your characters will be on the roster ahead of time.

To celebrate the new Guild we will be having a special. "The Storm Booster Sale. You must be there to believe it! $12.00 Booster Displays!"



-- Post From My iPad

Dragon Storm RPG game theory

The Dragon Storm Game Theory has several component parts. Today I am going to put down some words on our underlying game theory. These are in no particular order of importance.

1. Keep it Simple. Whenever their is a long involved way to determine the outcome of situation and a short way. The short way is best.

2. Embrace the Chaos. Warp and Od cause weird things to occur. No rule, law or belief is absolute in DS, just because it always worked the same in the past does not mean it always will in the future. Deal with it.

3. Make it fun. Players are here to entertain GM's. GM's are here to entertain players. Make sure everyone has fun.

4. The GM/Warden running a game is the final authority at the table. They will offer you chaos and fun, but their word is final. Respect the GM. See rule 3.4, the GM's rule.

5. Creativity and Flexibility are desirable. We want you to try new ways of using the same spells, abilities and skills. Our GM's will listen to you, they are good.

6. When in doubt, it is time for a contest roll, unless a player has a real good idea.

7. Try never to lead players around by the nose. We believe in free will.

I am absolutely sure I have missed something, but this is a start.

-- Post From My iPad

We are working on the Guild for StormCon 3 Con

I am going to let it slip that we are working on the Guild. We are working with Russ to spread the workload out to several people so we will be able to work out more convention games and add a little spice into the cons and Guild.

We are trying to get all the basics in place for StormCon. It should be an excellent Con. We will be starting to add some "Clan" aspects to some games. We plan on expanding these as the year progresses.

The people who will be sharing duties will be the Guild High Councilors. Russ, Tim, Ann, myself and Susan are the people who have volunteered so far to share the work at the top. We are working out our coordination first, we will need to be in sync as much as possible.

We will be issuing new guild numbers and getting registrations filled out. To answer the basic first questions:
1. Membership is free
2. Wardens are still wardens.
3. Old guild characters are still guild characters.
4. Guild cards still work, and will keep working, so buy more from Russ!

Now, let the rumors begin, they are always fun!


-- Post From My iPad

New Gallery

We have a request for a Gallery of Character Backgrounds. Well, I put it up and put the link in the "General" pictures Gallery.

This is the link to the General Gallery page.


-- Post From My iPad

Gamemaster Card Galleries

While we are in transition between Deluxe cards and the new Standard card sets a number of cards will be difficult to get. The first completed set of Galleries is for the Gamemasters. You can find and download what you need in this set of Galleries:
Follow this link to the GM Galleries page!
if you are looking for individual cards from Dragon Storm and Kanchaka you can visit the DS Annex and buy them.
and here is a wonderfully handy link to the DS Annex website.

And now back to your regular viewing...

-- Post From My iPad

New card sets for StormCon!

The first job I had to get done after Origins was to get the sheets created and on their way to the printer to have them for StormCon. I have just sent three sets out to print.

This is the Preorder page link. I also got the picture galleries for each of these sets up. Just use the "Set Picture Galleries" on the right side to see the Galleries.

I also sent the current special order card sheet to the printer, so if you have individual cards on order, they are coming.

Now I can sit down and start trying to put my thoughts from Origins into a form that makes some sense. I came out of Origins excited about the future and looking forward to StormCon.


-- Post From My iPad

StormCon is coming!

I have had a good talk with Russ and we are all looking forward to StormCon. This is going to be fun. We will have a special StormCon only sale at the Con, but you will have to show up to find out what it is. Let the rumors begin!

I will be running three games at the con. Friday Night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday at noon. The title is: That is just so wrong. 400 card points and up. 8 seats per game. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, until it arrives...

Sue is planning on running low card point games, but I have no idea when or how many, nor does she.

Make your plans now. July 23rd is not that far away.

-- Post From My iPad

Home Again, what a wonderful day for a drive.

The weather between Pittsburg and Flint was beautiful. It fits my mood right now. We had two good shows at once, Origins and Anthrocon.

Everything went smooth for Sue at Anthrocon, there we a number of DS games run and she got a lot of commissions. On top of that, she had a good time!

At Origins I really enjoyed seeing and talking to people. I had a good time. There were some rough spots at the con, but not any real problems. The result is I feel darned good and I am looking forward to StormCon.

After talking to people I have blog material for the next couple of days. I just need to do that old fashioned thinking first, then I write.

That is it for today! I go fall down now.


-- Post From My iPad

Origins Final Preparation

We are doing what tweaking we can here at the last moment. All of the new sets (20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27) are being picked up just in time for the convention. I will be bringing pre-orders with us to the con.

I wanted to get all of the set galleries and card lists for the convention, but I kept sleeping at night... So we will just have to do the best we can.

Once more I will mention that if you are looking for a commission from Sue at Origins, you need to see her Thursday. We will be doing, printing and making special cards in the two weeks after Origins. If you are looking for a custom character card for StormCon play, Thursday is your day to arrange it with Sue. She will also have a good selection of prints with her on Thursday. Most of them will be going to Pittsburgh and Anthrocon on Friday.

-- Post From My iPad

BOP. Cat and Dragon meet. New print at Etsy.

Added a new print at Susan's Etsy shop.
And here is the link!



-- Post From My iPad

Card Talk Channel Banish Spirit

There are some very nasty evil spirits infesting Gradilar. If you can find the spirit, and deliver a Shaman to it's home, you may need a big punch to eliminate the beast.

This power is not commonly carried at 8 card points. Most missions that require this card for success will be ones where the characters can take a break and recover/change cards before going in for the kill. Before it really has value, you need to know it is needed.

Now I am going to head off on a tangent. This card points out how important it is for a Dragon Storm Gamemaster to be flexible. If the characters in your adventure find themselves armed with the wrong card selection you need to be able to let them retire gracefully from the field and regroup. The whole idea behind DS is that we have fun first. If your players are smart enough to realize they are in over their heads, they are smart enough to escape and recover. We are not bound by the rules, we bind the rules to our needs. It is a subtle difference, but our GM's and players can do it and have fun.





-- Post From My iPad

Susan's Birthday, and some updates

Yes, it is Susan's Birthday!

I have posted a new Conventions page. It has links to the new Newsletter page and a tweaked layout to include new links. Plus we added the Con on the Cob convention.
Conventions Page Link

And, we have a Newsletter Page. You can sign up, sign off and send in something you would like to share. There is also a spot to find and download the old Newsletters.
Newsletter Page Link

I will be upgrading the other pages in the site to the new layout as soon as time permits. I think we have Cons to prep for :)


-- Post From My iPad

A Newsletter?

Believe it or not I have just sent out a Dragon Storm SVC Newsletter. I have a short list of people who signed up to receive the newsletter. They will probably be scratching their heads trying to figure out when they signed up. It was several months ago.

I will be creating a form for people to sign up for the newsletter and a webpage where I can post older PDF versions for people to see. As with all good intentions all I need is the time to do it.


-- Post From My iPad

Taking a moment to smell the Roses

I have been rather quiet this week. Sue and I are taking a deep breath, relaxing and studying what went right and wrong with our three weeks of conventions. More went right than wrong, so we are happy, but something new to be learned is always around every corner.

Here is a doodle from Sue to ponder:






-- Post From My iPad

Share the Pain card talk

Your GM has the power to do it her way, but I'll comment anyway.

This is the card that saves lives. It does require that characters have an independent action to use. The damage is spread out to those characters who are prepared to help. It never even hurts the original targets. The healing can then be dealt with throughout the party. This is where the archers, wizards and other characters in the back ranks shine. While the big hitters get the glory, without the backup from everyone, they would die.

My truly evil necromancers rarely bother to use this when they can just pass the Pain to one of their slaves, serfs or henchmen. Probably their biggest concern is that they have to carry their own pack after blowing up the Haskalad slave behind them.








-- Post From My iPad

Channel Healing Card Talk

By now you are getting used to saying your GM has final power over how the DS RPG cards work in their games.

Channel Healing was available as a Deluxe card and we have not put it into a set yet. I have put a copy in one of the picture Galleries attached to our market in the Dragon Storm website. For now you should download a copy and use a Proxy. We, of course, hope you will buy a copy when they are available.

Characters in a link can play all of those Vigorous strikes, Dragon Claws and many other cards to boost this healing spell. If they have saved an Independent Action for this they can also add their current STR to the spell. This is really a big addition when the character is in Prime Dragon Form.

Ultimately this card is the most powerful healing card in the game, and one of these least used power cards in the game. High Card point characters usually have one of these babies ready at all times. A healing of 150 points is not uncommon.

As we begin to see the more powerful bad guys, like the Mighty Madspawn and the Pylos, this card becomes a vital asset. When combined with Share the Pain it will keep a lot of characters alive. If you are not using Channel Healing, you should take another look at it, especially if you are a Warmaster determined to keep your troops fighting.


-- Post From My iPad

Gamemasters Rewards Program

Good morning. I am thrilled to see all of your shining faces this morning.

I know that all of you are expecting to hear the news on the big roll out of our Gamemaster rewards program.

We are going to be providing a few perks to those people who step up and help us out by running games at the conventions Susan and I are attending.

First, we are starting to make Gamemaster badges. Each convention will have it's own GM badge. Now, you can collect them all!

Second we are going to provide each GM with a Smiling GM and Unknown Interference card to use during the convention games. You can use them to help ride herd on all of the wild convention attending players out there.

Third up on the list is that GM's will be getting a $5.00 Gift card for each game they run at these conventions. If one of us does not show up at your games to actually present your gift card you should come to our table in the Dealer room at your next opportunity and whimper. These tactics work for our dog (Mocha) and cat (Mac), so they will work for you too!

Fourth, well, there is no fourth yet, but we are thinking really hard on that one, but as I have not had enough coffee yet today I will just have to wait and see.

All of this will begin officially at the Marcon 2010.

Now is the time to let the wild fun begin!


-- Post From My iPad

Channel Strike

As with all of our card talks your GM is the ultimate judge, not us.

Channel Strike is one of the most powerful damage cards in the Dragon Storm game. This is an Independent Card. To be able to apply your characters strength to your teams attack you should use an Independent Action. To be perfectly honest I really only apply this strictly to my cast members. I let the players have an advantage over the bad guys on this.

The STR cards you can add to a Channel Strike covers a wide range. You can even play undrained forms you have in reserve. With that liberal use as a guide you can also add any STR that the character has in play at the time of the Channel Strikes. That would include STR from forms, aces, boons, character cards, and anything I have missed that are in play, only weapons are not added. Having cards like Vigorous Strike allows a Link member to participate viably even if they have no other STR cards.

Channel Strike may be carried and played by anyone in the Link. They do not have to have the Boon themselves, but they do have to be in the Link. This means you can support your allies and friends during the game.



-- Post From My iPad

Gamemasters needed at Marcon

As usual we are running behind, but if we were ever caught up, people would want to know what we did with Mark and Sue.

We have two tables scheduled for 7:30pm Friday night.
There are two tables scheduled at 9am, 2pm, and 7:30pm Saturday.
We also have two tables at 9am Sunday morning.

Gamemasters will get a Marcon DS Badge, something we are just starting. Each con we are at will have it's own badge. GM's will also get a $5.00 Gift card for each game they run.

On Saturday night I will be running a DS open CP game at 7:30pm. There will be six seats and those who GM at Marcon get seats first. Whoever runs games while I do will be getting extra Gifts for running those games.

Yes, we are slowly working on a plan to reward GM's for the kindness shown to us for running games at conventions Sue and I are at. I am not sure what we are capable of offering, but this should give us a good start.


-- Post From My iPad

Channel Link

There have always been a number of questions about how we play the cards that are in The Dragon Storm RPG. As everyone knows the rules themselves make your GM the ultimate judge of the game, not us. Your GM has the authority to overrule anything said here.

In our games the Channel Link bonus of +1 WIS only is added when there is an active link. This represents the Link provider to access some of the experiences of the participants. It also opens the link to the dangers of Tap the Link and Blast the Link in trade for the bonus.

The card itself has no time required rituals for forming a Link nor any indications of the rituals used. These we left open to the interpretation of the players and GM's. Since we lean towards role-playing we need one hour of ceremonies to set up the link. Each player determines the ceremony their character needs to perform to activate the link. We let them describe it.

Channel Link itself is a Universal Boon and is available to even those ugly scum who we call Pylos Necromancers, you know the ones, they want to drain all shape shifters. This gives the Necro access to all of the Channel cards. I use this much less than I should because I am too lazy as a GM to keep track of this correctly. It is also a dangerous power to give to the bad guys.

The card itself also gives only one way the Link can be disrupted. Blast the Link adds another. Blast the Link also sets a precedence that outside powers can break a Link. In our games the GM's have a number of different ways a Link goes down. Some of these actually become the source of adventures trying to eliminate whatever is messing up links in an area. We use Link breaks as hooks for stories etc. However, where the characters have trouble with Links, so do the Necros!





-- Post From My iPad

We Are at Ancon!

We are at Ancon, Saturday morning, trying to wake up.

This is going to be a fun little game con. Unfortunately there are no scheduled DS games, but I am sure Dave and the others running the Con would make arrangements. These guys just want to provide a fun gaming experience.

I am looking forward to a chance to talk to some of "our" people here. It should be a good show for that.


-- Post From My iPad

Using the Waystone Portals from Set 19

Waystone Portal stones are created two at a time and each pair is unique. They are capable of opening a path between themselves which travels through the Astral Plane from one stone to the other. You will note that we have put a pair of these in the set as they are made in pairs. They are 800 gp each.

These stones are being made secretly by newly trained artisans. The texts to train people to make these was recently discovered by a Brotherhood Researcher. The Brotherhood shared this knowledge with the Valarians. It is unclear if Necromancers can also make these, but they have gotten their hands on a few. The Brotherhood Researchers have not discovered how the Waystone Portals function, so variations are not yet possible.

Once these portals are placed they entwine themselves with both the Astral and Physical Planes at their locations and they become extremely difficult to move. Only a Glyphmaster may move the stones once they are activated. The Glyphmasters diversified understanding of magics allows them to feel the power flowing through the stone so that they may safely move the stone.

I need to make it clear here that it does not require a Glyphmaster to place, activate or use the Waystone Portals.



-- Post From My iPad

Dragon Storm Card Sets off to the printer.

We have sent Card Sets 20 (Items), 22 (Valarian and Rogue Organization Cards), 23 (Werecat), and 24 (Tigrean) to the printer. They are now on the Pre-Order pages in our market.

Set 25 will be a set of characters that were only available as Deluxe cards. I have simply run out of time to get them done this week. We will be at AnCon Friday.


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Market and Gallery Updated

Card sets 18 and 19 are shipping. The pre-orders went out and I moved the orders from the Pre Order page to the Standard card page.

Sets 20 and 22 went in to the printer so I put them up on the pre order page. I expect to get set 23 up tomorrow. These new offerings have card lists, galleries of the cards, all for your consideration.

I also did a little reorganizing on the market pages.
this is the link to the DS market.


-- Post From My iPad

ComicCon Convention Wrap Up

It was a good, well run, entertaining convention. We had a wonderful location right across from one of the food concessions. We had two tables and we tried spreading Sue's art prints out on the table. It worked well. Having the prints out that way drew people to the images. The new badges and mouse pads moved well.

Since it was a comic convention we put the DS in a small space. We had the samples book for the card set and we kept the sets themselves behind the table. That also worked very well. What I need to add is a pad of paper people can use to write down what they are looking for. I should check into getting some DS scratch pads done to use at the table and sell. The DS sales were better than we expected. We may even have picked up a couple of new players for the game. Looking good for sales.

We drove the hour to the con from home so not only did we do well we kept expenses to a minimum.

The convention had a large number of Movie, TV and Comic guests (one of whom was Susan Van Camp). The dealers leaned heavily to comics of all sorts. There was also a couple of Anime DVD dealers. A great con for Autograph Collecting. It also had a good number of independent artists with their Independent Comics. Many were doing pen and ink commissions as well. Some really good people at this one.

For Sue and I it is a chance to see people we worked with in comics many years ago.

From a gaming point of view the con is not too good. There was only one game dealer and the entire gaming available was a Magic tournament. So as a gamer the show was poor, but, well, a show can't have everything right.

Looking at this I seem to have written a disorganized review blog. Guess I am just going to have to practice.

Next weekend we will be at AnCon so I will get a chance to practice more.

-- Post From My iPad

Card work continues

Breath of Fresh Air for the Elemental Magics is ready to go. I am thinking that this could be very interesting. I can see the uses for this down at Rodney's Tavern on Thursday night when the miners have the evening off.

It will also force us to consider some nasty air borne bad stuff, while I am sure our creative GM's will be way ahead of us on this one. Hmmm, maybe a nine card set of airborne dangers for the GM? We will see if time permits.

Later I will do a ComiCon update.











-- Post From My iPad

Dave Linnemeier Memorial

Dave was a good man, a friend and a good gamer. We will miss him.
I will pass on information as I get it.

Viewing will be Friday, May 21 at 11:00 am at St. Vincent de Paul church. The address is 1502 E. Wallen Rd., Fort Wayne, IN 46825 at the corner of Wallen Rd and Auburn Rd.


-- Post From My iPad

Burst of Wind Elemental Card

The Burst of Wind card is done and ready to go for the Elemental cards. This one will be in the second set. Since I am prepping for ComiCon starting tomorrow I will make this short.

This is a card that I am expecting to see some very creative uses for. A couple of things have occurred to my mind, but I will let all of you consider what could be put into this wind to obscure the caster or even to be breathed in by a melee attacker. GM's should prepare to be amused and to let people experiment.

I have added the Gallery for the Cards in Set 19 to the Gallery page.






-- Post From My iPad

New Card And Picture Galleries

I am gathering a series of pictures of the Dragon Storm cards to use in articles, this blog, adventures and any other way I can think of. That means I have them in my Iphoto program to use in anything I do. Since that program has a way to easily post the pics, I am using it.

This is the link that will take you to the page with the links to the galleries.

The idea is to provide as much material as we can for you to game with. In the long run it will turn into you guys buying what you want to buy.


-- Post From My iPad

Elementalism Anchor

Like other schools of magic Elementalism has a background (previously posted) and an Anchor that allow characters to learn the skills needed to be an Elementalist.

On these cards is the basic guides for dealing with elementals. The Elementalist may give simple mental commands to a called elemental.

What is a simple command? Kill Him! Very simple, but it may not work out as well as the characters would hope. I am sure we can all envision possible responses by the alien elemental. If the character is portrayed by the player as adding a series of gestures meant to point out the target, it should work. GM's need to be careful not to overrun the player and Players will need to be creative in dealing with commands to an elemental. An occasional problem can be fun, constant problems would be outside the spirit of the game. If the GM determines that the elemental is confused by the order, I would have the elemental do nothing, your GM may have other interesting chaotic ideas.

Keep in mind that sending mental commands is not the same as mind reading. Nothing here indicates that the elemental talks back. The character would only know by the lack of response that the elemental is not functioning correctly. Possibly adding Mindspeech or Mind to Mind would assist in tracking the elemental.

(I have no idea what I would think of if a character were to try to bring an elemental into a Channel Link. It is the kind of situation that I answer based on my mood and the players role-playing effort.)





-- Post From My iPad

Cards as they are complete.

The first of the Elementalism cards has been completed. As you can see, it is the background.

The background card suggests some information about Elementalism. You will notice that the Elementalist background does not have any reading and writing knowledge. That indicates that Elementalism itself is somewhat on the crude side of magics. I am sure that their are scholarly elementalists, but they are not common. It also indicates that elementalism itself is taught by word of mouth, so it will have many unusual beliefs and actions. This certainly leaves the player with a lot of flexibility in creating and portraying the elementalist character. Yes, the incorrect title on the right side has been turned in to us and I have fixed the original file.





-- Post From My iPad

Origins Booth Number

We will be in booth 913 along the right hand wall side of the Origins room, unless, of course, something comes up. You never know for sure what last minute changes could occur, but it means we will be there!

Sue and I are talking about what we can do for people who volunteer to help us out. We need to show our thanks, but it has to be something we, as a small outfit, can actually do without hurting ourselves. These things are not as easy as they look.

If you want to help cover the booth at this show, or at ComiCon, Ancon or Marcon, get in touch. Markharmon@Mac.com would be a good e-mail to use. Even if you have thoughts on a rewards system, I would like to hear it.


-- Post From My iPad

Convention preparation and thoughtful times

We are preparing for the upcoming series of conventions in May. It will start with Novi Comicon, go forth to Ancon and wind up at Marcon. These cons, and links to their websites, are on the conventions page in the dragonstorm.com website. We are looking forward to seeing people, but I am reluctant to leave the safety of the Secret Clanhold and venture out into the world.

During our period of rethinking I have begun approaching the new game from another direction. We have the basic rules in place, but the actual "feel" of the game and the precise expertise abilities the characters will need to deal with the world need to be fleshed out. I am starting by building the bad guys, complete with a description of how that type of creature operates and it's powers. This means starting by presenting a background for the bad guys that we can reflect in the characters abilities and in the world's attitude. I am also hopeful that we can slowly "leak" out the monsters so they can be tested in the DS campaigns, adding both more variety and an understanding of how the new world's guidelines work. The Zombies are the first such monsters I am getting done. They have some "interesting" side effects that will make them have a personality of their own. When I have it squared away I will be posting the PDF of the creatures, and even telling you where they are.

We have also determined that we will have to go at the new game very slowly. We have promoted Mocha and given her new responsibilities, but I have a feeling we simply will not have the time between Sue and myself to do the game justice if we try to move too fast.


-- Post From My iPad

Starting new campaign, New sets arrive.

We got a shipment of sets from the printer. Sets 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 have shown up. I am going to have to figure out a different method for taking pre-orders on sets. With them showing up somewhere between one and six weeks after the order being placed I can't design a regular method for this. I will do some thinking on what we can do and get something going.

I also want to do a newsletter, but the time is an issue. *sigh*

I started running an unusual DS campaign last week. I am using a crossover between DS and Crypt Crawl. The monsters are giving people some interesting moments as these creatures are using the Crypt Crawl rules. Looks like they are not in Kansas anymore. It does appear that Purify Body does prevent the Zombie infection from taking over ones body. They seemed to be especially amused by the torso only granny zombie that crawled up and surprised them...


-- Post From My iPad

Dragon Storm RPG sets shipped from printer!

I have been notified that sets 13, 14, and 15 have shipped to us. I am expecting/hoping they will arrive Monday or Tuesday. When they do I will ship the pre-orders and change the ordering pages. That means that if you want the lower price, you order NOW!

Use this link to get directly to the Pre-Order page.


-- Post From My iPad

Storm Con 3 Convention information.

While the Guild site is going through it's trials and tribulations the information on the con is available and it appears the site is working this morning.

Convention Link


-- Post From My iPad

HomeCon and Flint Comic Con Report

We arrived at Mark Rosenberger's place about 6PM on Friday. The event itself was Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I had an opportunity to actually sit and talk to some people during the evening and got some interesting feedback and commentary from the folks there. I wish we could have been there Saturday as well, but we had the Flint Comic Con on Saturday as well.

I really see why this type of game con has become so popular, it gives a chance for like minded people to meet in small groups to talk, play and in our case, to sell. (Our patrons were generous, and we do appreciate that!) If you have been wondering what all of the HomeCon and Leftover cons at Mark's are like, you should attend. He provides a place to sleep, eat and play when he holds these events. There is the cost of travel, but otherwise it is a real inexpensive weekend.

Because it is such a loose atmosphere Sue even finds the time to run games there. She ran one Friday night for 8 or 9 people and they had a good time.

The Flint Comic Con was held downtown Flint in the historical Masonic Temple, right across the street from Halo Burger. Halo Burger is our areas premier burger joint. Really good stuff. Anyway, the event was surprisingly well attended and Sue sold a good number of prints and made a couple of painting commission arrangements. The organizers will be doing this again next year. It is focused on Flint area Talent. I am wondering about arranging for a "Dragon Storm" room for playing in next year. I have way more desires than I have time to make arrangements. *sigh*

I am running a DS game this evening and I want to try some new ideas out on the players. I will let you know how that goes. With this fine new tool, iPad, maybe I can start to get some of these internal creations out to you guys in a more timely fashion, we shall see. It has always been a dream I have had.


-- Post From My iPad

Good Morning One and all!

AnCon is coming and I have no idea if anyone has sent in events for Dragon Storm or not, but Sue and I will be there! This show is the weekend before MarCon. Marcon is in Columbus Ohio and AnCon is in Cleveland.

Here Is the link to the GameMaster information at the Ancon Webpage.


As you can see, this blog has begun. I will be posting links at the Crypt Crawl and Live Journal pages that will lead here. Cutting down one blog to maintain.

-- Post From My iPad

First Entry, Just to do it.

My originality in posting an immediate "first post" just amazes me, but it does need a test drive.