Before Deathday, and the twenty years of "Scouring", that followed, the world was a very different place. One would expect that a total war that eliminated over 95% of the population would make changes.
I have uploaded the Pre-Deathday Airships as items. GM's can use these as they please in a campaign and players should expect trouble if they get one. It does explain the persistent rumors of great islands inside both Warpstorms and Odstorms. You can download the sheet here.
Mark
First, we have an updated Gryphon Shape Shifter for the players.
You can download the sheets here.
For those of you who are wondering why the Griffon is the first updated optional shifter race, well, I am playing one. For the first time since last summer (2011) I am getting a chance to play. If you want a shifter type done that I am not currently playing, get yourself over to the website and let me know what you think of the current beta cards. If you would rather wait until I play, then update, the other races, that is fine too.
We are not forgetting the GM. If you look on the GM Accessories download page, you will find the new Random Item charts. I included the most reasonable item sets only. More mundane items can be bought easily in General Stores and the more unique Magic Items should be those that players are looking for or the GM wants in the campaign.
For those of you not having your browser alert you of new uploads to the Dragon Storm Website, you should go look at the Items page. The Brooches, Sea Vessels, revised Clan Weapons and more are there.
Mark
You can find the Download here.
Mark
These give players a good selection, when you add in the Shifter specific Boons, Valarian Boons and Channel Link. You can use these to help portray your characters personality.
You will also find the "Negotiated Flaw", Boon Guides and the first of a new type of card we are looking to implement.
The "Battle Moves" Boon is designed to make it a little easier to run a character by folding in some cards into a permanent Boon. In this case it replaces the need for Split Action cards, but it uses up one of a characters limited Boon slots and it costs 8 CP. It appears to be balanced, but we have a limited number of players here. Your responses will guide us to the final card.
The "Negotiated Flaw" card is a card version of the Personalized Flaws and Boons FAQ article that was posted last June. That means that you are familiar with the concept already, so little more needs to be said.
Mark
Follow this Link to the Dragon Storm Page.
I have had to rebuild the card format to be able to print cards in a size that Sue can read. I am taking the opportunity to tweak the cards based on your input through the comments sections of the web page. Check out the Errata section of the page for changes.
At the same time I am working my way through the Betas, updating them and adding new sheets for your consideration.
GM's will want to read the new Universes sheet. (That is a hint).
Our effort to let the players help redesign DS has only been partially successful. We appreciate the help we are getting. I continue to be surprised at how few people want their voices heard.
Health Update: As you know Susan has had serious health issues since last February. The issues are stable now, but recovery has been extremely slow. We are hopeful that she can get eye surgery early next year and recover enough vision to be able to do some artwork again. Most of the eye damage is permanent, so we do not know how that will turn out.
Unfortunately the eye disease is only one of the problems. We are still dealing with the multiple side effects of the life threatening seizures that started all of this. We still do not know the specific cause.
If you have not caught the DS related stories being written for the web (and Role-playing points), it is time you did.
Felupe's Prayer is the newest story. Go read it.
Mark
I am thy GM tonight. All blame, if there is such a silly notion to be had, is mine by Divine Right granted to me by the Chaos I embrace.
Likewise granted to me by the Unholy Count of 3.4 is the power to summarily dispose of those things that interfere with my game, and I have already done so.
All conflicts, silly notions of blame, and this illogical thing called guilt are hereby banished to the Void.
So it is written. So it shall be done.
Now shut up and get ready to play.
Ah has spoken.
As I work to create a set of larger cards that Sue can read and play using I am making some changes in the cards.
These changes are from player commentary. Thanks for passing on your thoughts. Your input will improve the game.
Card Errata page on the website.
Get on your feet, look it in the eye, smile, and say "My Turn".
It has been too hot in the work area to get much done, and now that the weather has cooled down, we had a triple murder last night across the street from us.
Interesting world we live in.
Mark
The original Reavers twisted their Elethay/Reaver abilities into being Jikadell Hags. True they are witch like, but they are a terror in combat as well.
Dersias Kilvan once said that "If you are lucky a Hag will kill you with magic, the unlucky survive the magic."
The true Elethay Reavers became a tiny virtually unknown cult preserving their skills and name.
It is said that on Deathday Elethay herself appeared at their mountain hide away. She spoke to all of the hundred Reavers and laid down her covenant, as reported by Dersias.
"No Reaver shall have authority or power over another individual, be they Reaver, mortal or Bloodkin. They shall work alone, or with others, to protect Elethay's works and gain revenge against the Hags, Necromancers and Jikadell for what was wrought this day." Then Elethay commanded them to go forth, reveal themselves and begin the work.
After Elethay had left, the six Reaver Councilors summoned the community to prepare to go to war. Then the six faced each other, swore fidelity to the covenant, and, facing each other, they slew themselves, leaving the Reavers leaderless.
You may well ask how far can we trust Dersias's accounts. We do not know. Of the man we know nothing. Only bits and pieces of his writing have survived the Dark Times that followed Deathday, so we do not know if he wrote first hand accounts or wrote down the stories as they were told to him. We have confirmed, through spirits, that such a historian existed, but little else has been learned.
It seems to me that the Pylos, or their agents, when they were destroying history, took a special glee in eradicating the works of Dersias Kilvan.
That is all for today, the wrenders shall have to wait for another day, I tire now and would take a few drinks so that I may try to forget the horrors that sobriety bring me. Hmmm, what? Why did the Pylos want to destroy history? That should be obvious. They wanted a blank slate onto which they could write their propaganda and call it history. Now, go away.
Mark
I have made a number of updates on the website.
The Errata, Comments, Feedback section of the site has been expanded. We are pulling the Beta site and the Guild site into the main site so they will be easier to find. It is going to take 3-4 months to get this done. Forms for questions, comments and updates have been added.
We have been posting comments, articles and errata on the site as we go along, but people are not used to it, so few have found it. Things like the link to the Skype gamers, the Article on making your own flaws and more are there.
In Health news we have had another set back. During the seizures and ongoing trauma, Sue has contracted an eye disease. It is now under control, but she has suffered permanent eye damage. This is going to affect how, and what, we do as we go along. For twelve years the income of Susan's art supported DS during the Classic/Deluxe Era. As of the introduction of 2.0 DS became self supporting, and is even making a small income. This is extremely lucky as we are now going to have to rely on DS for our primary income. Your support in the conversion is much appreciated and we need you to continue to support DS 2 and help expand the game. You have our sincere thanks.
So that Sue can read the DS cards I am creating a set of over sized cards for her. To do this I am having to rebuild the cards. I have found a way to make cards that can be expanded and contracted to do this with. This differences are small, so all is well as far as using existing cards. It also means I am going over every card for 2.0 and making small corrections. I am also looking at the comments people have made on the cards and a few are getting changes. I will be listing the changes that affect play in the Errata page on the website. Once we get that done there will be a free exchange program for some cards.
We are looking forward to seeing our DS loyalists at Storm Con in a few weeks.
Good Gaming to one and all!
Mark
Some of the Beta PDF's were not coming up right. I forced a reload to get them up and they seem to be right now. If you check and find something not downloading, let me know.
Well, life continues to mess with our schedule, so here it is:
We spent today chasing doctor appointments.
Susan is on some new medications, we will see how that goes, and what the effects are.
We have an early appointment and we will be arriving at the con during the first gaming session.
We will set up, talk to people, deliver orders and con cards, and be there through the first break.
We will be back early Saturday and stay as long as Sue can.
Mark
This will come as a shock to many of you, but we sent out a newsletter. If you did not get it, you either never signed up, or your email address has changed.
To update your email, contact Tim at tim@kennardweb.net. He is handling the Guild list now.
I uploaded a new Universal Beta 2 PDF. I thought I would add a few thoughts about the cards. As you know, not all Beta cards will ever see print, they are out there for your entertainment and for us to get your opinions.
Battle Moves is an experiment to reduce the number of cards in play. While some of us do not mind keeping track of several active cards, others want it simple. Battle Moves is made to look at some simpler combinations. We shall see how it works.
Shifted Boost is designed to compensate for role-playing choices. As an example, I have a gargoyle who likes rocks. His fists are rocks, he wants to use them. With the current cards I am penalized for making that choice. This card let's me play the way I want without taking a no Melee weapon penalty. The tricky part of this card is that it is meant for actual forms, like Gargoyle, not for being a Tigrean. We also don't see it working for small forms. However, a player may have a good explanation why she should be able to use it in a Pegasus Horse form, so we added "Ask GM" to let role-playing work. Power players will want to abuse this card, so despite the card covering a needed category, it may never see print.
Dual Weapons. In DS 2 we are keeping extra attacks to combat trained people, but anyone could use two weapons. The biggest advantage of having Dual Weapons is that they are harder to defend against. The New version gives a damage bonus most of the time. There is a roll to succeed, although good role-playing may get you the bonus without a roll at all. To make faster games I also added a simplified roll GM's may want players to use.
Totally alert was in the Awareness/Perception set, but it seems like something that should be Universal. Almost more of a role-playing skill than one that would be limited to a specialist.
Nightvision, like Totally Alert, was in the Perceptive type skills, but it should be Universal. Everybody and their sister had Nightvision in Classic DS. We have been looking for a way to limit Nightvision. After several different experiments, we think being a Boon will restrict Nightvision to just those characters who have a good reason for using up a Boon slot.
Keep checking on the Beta's. Keep trying them. I know there should be a form on the page to deal with comments on these and when I can carve out the time I will get that done.
See you at Origins!
Mark
I have just finished the final tweaks on the Shamanism and Wizardry cards and thought it best to explain our use of them in Magics.
Wizardry relies heavily on Wisdom. Since putting a point Value on anything with Wisdom is guesswork, we made a separate +WIS enhancement card for Wizards. This is the magic field a hot shot smart kid would go into. In the rules you are allowed to replace the WIS bonus with Experience (your LLB bonus). A hard working average Wizard will take a lot longer to get a decent bonus, but such is life.
(Insider information. The Prismatic school Anchor will add two Wisdom. Look for the Prismatic Beta cards between now and StormCon.)
We did not add WIS to the Wizardry Anchor. We wanted the card at a low enough CP value to allow a starting character to take the Anchor.
In Shamanism and Witchcraft it is the Experience (LLB) that counts. The rules do not allow you to replace LLB with Wisdom. There is no replacing experience, you have to put in the hard work. Hotshots go into Wizardry.
Doing the LLB and WIS this way gives the magic schools the feeling we are looking for on Grandilar. In addition this will allow us to add WIS through Boons etc. to the Wizards without ruining the feel of Witchcraft and Shamanism. Having said this, rule 3.4 allows a GM to overrule us. Just be aware that we designed the system to work as written. We do not know what such a change will do to the games feel, but it will probably just turn it into a Power game. Everyone will have to be a Wizard, just to keep up, no matter how that affects the role-playing.
Mark
Short commentary:
For those of you who did not catch the changes on the website, well, there have been changes.
Ended the May pre-orders.
Added pre-orders for Origins and StormCon releases. New magic schools have started into production.
Revised and posted Valarian Primes and the new Councilor. To be released at StormCon.
Beta revisions based on input from GM's and players. Added Canid race cards. Revised Orcs.
Origins. We will have the new Bundles at the booth. Available on line now. New Magics start at Origins. We have a sales booth and a Demo booth this year. Despite the vicious Necro attacks, we keep going and growing. Thank You!
Sue's health is still fragile and going up and down. If you want to see Sue at Origins, come early. Sue will not be taking any new commissions at this Con. When she hits her limit we will leave and let the volunteers handle the booth. We do have some great friends!
Hadrian tells about the Spirit World.
Hadrian stood in front of the small group of Valarians. He did not strike fear into anyone's heart, but there may have been a touch of loathing. The elderly Das Karr stood just over five feet tall and looked as though this was not his year to bathe. When the breeze was right you could almost smell him. His back was hunched, his shoulders rounded, and you could clearly see the bald spot on his protruding stomach, it was not a pretty sight.
At last the old fellow seemed to be ready to speak, he quietly cleared his throat and looked around at the dozen youngsters, waiting for them to pay attention. After several minutes he seemed to sigh with resignation.
He took in a deep breath and suddenly his voice boomed out across the clearing with an astonishing volume and vigor. "Shut your freaking mouths and pay attention. The lesson is half over, and what have you learned? Nothing. What have I learned? That I am wasting my time here."
His voice dropped in volume and seemed to crack with every word. "Let us begin. You are hear to learn something about the Spirit World, and I am hear to tell you something about the spirit world."
Several people in the audience were furiously trying to get their ears adjusted, and a couple who had fallen down from the shouting drew themselves up to a sitting position.
"The Spirit World does not conform to our physical worlds rules. Many of the things I will tell you are impossible, yet they are true. To save us both some time I will simply list them. We will not discuss them, they just are. No sense debating what is, at least not in my experience. It is better to just deal with the strangeness and get on about your business."
1. The Spirit World is made up of billions of individual clouds. These clouds swirl and dance around each other. They have within them the capacity to flash colors as they move. Their color flashing is the only light in the Spirit World.
2. It is very disconcerting to have strobe lights constantly operating all around you. Your "sight" is limited to 200 feet. Easy to get lost, stay near your Spirit Walker or you will be lost.
3. The Spirit World has an Up and a down. You will be walking on the "ground". The ground is shaped vaguely like the physical world that it wraps around, but is made of flashing clouds.
4. The Spirit World is 1/4 the distance of the physical World. When you walk a mile in it, you have travelled four miles across the physical worlds surface.
5. Paradoxically the Spirit World appears to be four times the size of the physical World. I told you it was impossible, but there it is.
6. Ranged weapons do not work. Arrows stop when they leave the bow. Thrown daggers stop when they leave the hand.
7. There is nothing for you to eat or drink. Take supplies.
8. There are a fracking lot of spirits, but the vast majority are too busy reliving their lives to bother you. There will usually be 20 to 30 in sight.
9. Warp Storms affect the Spirit and Astral Worlds as well sat the physical world. The storms literally cross the lines between worlds and cause devastation on all three. This has warped a lot of spirits, be careful.
10. There are an unlucky few who have the ability to "see" the paths in the spirit world and can travel semi-safely. Spirit Walkers can do this. You probably can not.
11. When a person on the physical world dies and their spirit travels to the spirit world there is, sometimes, a rip in the spirit world that you can escape through. If you get lost, look for small herds of spirits waiting to greet newcomers. They seem to sense when a newbie is arriving.
12. Shaman spells will regenerate in the Spirit World. Wizard, Necromatic, Witchcraft types, and Pylos Powers, do not regenerate, even if you drink potions, they just do not recharge. Fortunately, shifter and universal skills do regenerate. You do not find many Witches, Elementalist, Wizards or Necros on the paths, and that is a good thing.
13. Spirits have many unusual methods of attack and will use them. Do not think you know what any of them will do. The warp has not helped in this respect.
14. A number of "magic items" from the physical world have been lost in the Spirit World by one method or another. If you are lucky, you may find one. If you are unlucky, you will be sent to retrieve one.
"Ok. That is it for the lesson. Good luck to any of you that find it necessary to be in the Spirit World. May the blessings of all 181 Gods and Goddesses protect you from the dangers of the Spirit World. Hmm, what? Oh, yes, 181, at least that is how many I have heard of or run across. Now, let me get going, they are giving me a free meal!"
Mark Harmon
I have created two Zazzle shops to be able to offer gift items that have Susan's art on them.
One of the features of Zazzle is that if you buy from any Zazzle shop after you go there using our links we get a small referral bonus. If you go shopping on Zazzle, use our links to go. It all helps.
A new Cat shop, with t-shirts, mugs and more.
A new Furry shop, with t-shirts, mugs and art prints.
For Susan's other art prints, you visit Etsy.
*A Susan Update*
Life is going forward, but right now there are a lot of glitches. We have decided that Susan's health comes first, so we are going to cancel out of Penguicon and the Detroit Comic Con. Sue needs the time to recover so we can do Origins, AnthroCon and StormCon this summer.
She is showing progress, but getting the meds leveled out is causing some issues.
Mark
I am getting everything packed for MarCon and we are progressing.
I have packed up the April DS Pre-Orders, Commissions to be delivered, and Prints so far. I have dismantled the displays we have in the house, so we can rebuild them at MarCon.
This will be a good test for Sue. We are planning on limiting her hours, as the meds are having an effect on both her thinking and her ability to focus, but all should go well. Tim and Mala have graciously agreed to handle the booth while we are gone. Right now I am planning on her being at the Con 3-7 Friday, noon to 4 on Saturday and noon to 3 on Sunday. Whenever she starts to get overwhelmed she can slip away to the back room to recover.
Over all I am looking forward to seeing our friends and patrons at the con. It should be fun.
Mark
First on the news today I want to point out the you can now place orders for the May releases.
The Pre-Order Page is Here!
The Bloodlines. These are the new basic one point Bloodline cards. We placed these at a very low cost so young characters could afford to recognize their Bloodline. You will notice that these Bloodlines allow the character to take the cards related to their Bloodline. Those cards are in Beta right now and you can go to the Special Abilities Beta downloads and lay your hands on the proposed cards.
Ranged Weapons. We are in the process of releasing the new Archer cards for 2.0 right now, so here is a good selection of Ranged weapons to go along with it. When we did these we tried to make the bows, crossbows and other ranged weapons go in a series of improving weapons. The one point players should keep in mind is that having the best weapons marks your character. Having the top bow also means you are someone to watch, so staying unnoticed will become difficult. I am pointing this out for the GM's as well. You GM's will know how to reflect the worlds behavior to the rich versus a common archer.
Other Weapons. April will see the blades set, this set brings on the axes, staves and a lot of other weapons.
Marcon. We will be at Marcon. Sue and I plan on being at the booth on Friday from 3-7, Saturday from noon to 4pm and Sunday 12-3. Tim and Mala are covering the booth for us the remainder of the dealer hours. Sue is, and will be, in recovery mode for some time to come. I will be making sure she does not get overworked, or too tired.
We will also have the pre-orders for April with us. You have until Tuesday evening to get the pre-release price on those sets. Getting sets manufactured this winter has been difficult so our inventory is complete but thin. Remember to buy early and buy often.
Mark
Updated Shifter Affinity and more. Tried to put dates on the updates, look around.
Added Night Witch beta in Magics, Orc Betas in Races.
Check out the Betas!
Mark
I have posted the Beta versions of the Bloodline cards that go with the new 2.0 Bloodlines.
Yes, you can have Surge 1, 2, and 3 up when in Prime form.
Universal Beta 2 has a new Boon as well.
Go to Dragonstorm.com and look.
I have uploaded an all new Dragon Storm website.
The old site was getting too difficult to both maintain at my end, and to use from your end. The process of just adding on had been going on for some ten years and needed a new arrangement.
There is a good deal of new information, new "How to Play" section, and explanation of why we did DS 2, and a lot more. There is a lot of new Betas hiding in the Beta section.
Everyone should go through the site carefully, page by page, to find the new information.
We are focusing the site on DS 2.0. We do not have the time to try to maintain two games and we are going to focus on just the game, and the cards, we are using. However, I did hide the entire old site inside the new site. Find the links and you can go to the old site and dig around.
Sue is back in the Medical system. She will be in for about 4-7 days. We did not wait for her to have another near death experience, this time she went in as soon as it became apparent that her meds were failing her. We still do not know for certain what is causing these episodes, but we will find out.
We have every reason to believe that she will recover and get back to normal.
If you are waiting for a commission from her, it may well be late. Be patient, we will get there.
Mark
The newly posted Beta Magics need a longer discussion than will fit well on the Beta Page, so here is the first article. If you have not downloaded the new Beta cards, you can do it here.
Shamans use OD to perform their magics, like all of the magics. The difference is that their focus is on the Spirit World and the Dead.
When we wrote the Shaman Anchor we tried to convey the idea that Shamans are unworldly sentients. Their thinking and visions are rooted in the Spirit World even though they exist in the physical world. This mode of thinking makes shamans different. Their concerns are different. They are concerned with the spirit World as much as the physical world. Normal people tend to give shamans a wide berth.
Shamans are also very important in the daily lives of the physical world peoples. They are the conduit between the living and their spirit ancestors. Those ancestors are the primary source of knowledge from the past. They teach their descendants the family skills and carry the families history in their ever slipping memories. It frequently requires a shaman to establish communication between the living and the dead. They are also the ones you turn to if your ancestors go mad and start haunting you. This means that everyday people put up with Shamans and only seek them out if they have a problem with spirits that they are willing to pay a shaman to deal with it.
Shamans in general do not like Necromancers. Those fellas bring forth the dead. The dead should stay at home. Necromancers create warp. Warp crosses the barrier between the Spirit and Physical worlds. It makes mad and warped spirits. Neither of which is good.
There are, of course, Shamans who approve of bringing the creatures of the spirit world over and trying to make the Physical world an extension of the Spirit world. While relatively rare, these seemingly mad shamans ally with the Necromancers. Shamans of warped races, like Wakana Shamans, are of this type.
The core spells available to the Shaman are the foundation of shamanism. We will be adding specialty schools over time, so if you are looking for Classic shaman abilities and they are not in the Core sets, you can expect them to show up in one of the specialty schools. Spirit Walkers, Undead Hunters, Spirit Channelers, and the pinnacle of the Shamans, the Spirit Dancers, are specialties on the drawing Board.
In the past we have toyed with doing a Temple Speaker, but there is a better way. If you want a Temple Speaker you start as a Shaman. In the fullness of time you work up to an Elethay Acolyte and learn the Elethay magics. You have created a Temple speaker. You could do it in reverse as well.
Shaman Backgrounds. Instead of making a multitude of Backgrounds the new Shaman Anchor is pointed low enough that a character could take it in creation. You take a Farmer Background. You envision this character as hearing voices, having trouble making friends, and just not quite right. Then you spend four points for the Shaman anchor. Doing your characters this way is better than being restricted to just the backgrounds we publish.
Shamans and the law. Frequently the leaders of hamlets, militias and sheriffs will have a deal with a Shaman. Shamans can get testimony from the dead about crimes. They may find spirits who witnessed the crime, or even talk to a dead victim. Dead victims testimony is considered very carefully because they can be lying to hurt someone they dislike.
Spirits and memories. Spirits are like the rest of us. They forget things. They remember things the way they wanted them to be, they are not lying, they just got it wrong. In other words, they are not perfect. Spirits may also lie outright, so be careful.
Remember always to Embrace the Chaos and listen to your GM.
First, I have added links to the May releases at the bottom of the Pre-Order page. Just scroll down below the April Pre-Order sets, and you will find them. The Link is here.. Very shortly, (Friday?) you will be able to start ordering them.
Next, I have put up the beta magics. We are starting with the three core magic sets, Shamanism, Wizardry and Witchcraft. The link to the Beta page is here.
My assignment for tomorrow night will be to write up a blog post doing some Magic Talking. You will want to know that these are just the start. Many of the spells that are not posted will be moving into different schools of magic. Things like Shadow Walk has slid over into the Walker school, or maybe that the Nightwitches are the Witches who go Boom and have all the offensive stuff, or that the Wizards will be getting Fire and Ice schools added in the fullness of time.
The Dragon Storm RPG was created to allow the GM the freedom to create a very chaotic world where nothing is certain. We call this 3.14.
GM's can also use this ability to help players create customized characters that break the rules. Sometimes a player has a character concept that does not fit within the rules. The answer is not to change the character, but to change just that characters rules. Having your character cards as your characters Rulesbook has its advantages.
As an example: A player wants a Warrior character who has all Axes as Favored Weapons, but is so trained to the Axes that she can not use any Warrior cards unless she is wielding an Axe. This concept would require at least three Favored Weapon Boons to create, and would limit the character. It is time for the player to have a talk with her GM.
What the GM can do is to create a personalized Flaw card for the character that breaks the game rules and gives the character a special rule of their very own. After a talk the GM creates the following Flaw card for the player:
"Character X may apply a single Favor Weapon Boon to all Axes she wields. However, when she is not wielding an Axe she may play no Warrior cards, and she will drain ongoing "V" Warrior cards." She, the GM, will then sign the new card. The player, as usual, will be responsible for role-playering his characters new rule.
What we did here was to create a balanced exception to the rules using rule 3.14. When the player gets into a different GM's game they will need to ask permission to use the card. GM's routinely approve cards that are balanced for use in their games.
These custom cards allow the player to create unique characters that both break the rules, and, because of 3.14, are within the rules. We also put the rules enforcement, not on the GM's back, but rather ask the players to play their own characters fairly.
The only rule that a GM should not break is the "Ten Things" rule. As we all learned from experience, having a player with a huge number of Actions and Independents slowed games to the point of boring players right out of DS, and we all want more players, not fewer.
Embrace the Chaos that is DS and have fun.
Mark
We are going to need all of the support we can get from our GM's to create our best Origins results.
We need games in the book and the deadline for GM submissions is upon us. It is March first.
So, if you want to help us at the con, and you are a GM, get over there and sign up to run a DS game.
For the rest of you, we need ambassadors to spread out at the con and get as many people as possible back to our booth to try a demo game of DS. This year we have a demo booth in the retail area and we will be running demos all day long.
If you want to volunteer to run a demo or two over the weekend, get in touch with Tim Kennard and let him know so he can keep track of what is happening at the demo booth.
Also in the news.
Sue has returned home, but the recovery will be slow. If you can help increase the value of our conventions this summer, that would help a lot!
Thanks, Mark.
By now many of you know that Susan was admitted to the hospital last Sunday. She was having seizures and was non-responsive for about 12 hours. At that point she began to respond to treatments and slowly improved throughout the week. Late Thursday she came home.
They have not determined the cause, but we are all optimistic. For the time being she is being kept in semi-isolation as the search for the cause continues. She will be reaching out to people as she is capable to do so. It has been an "interesting" adventure so far.
I expect a complete recovery, but it may be slow going.
I also want to thank all of you out there for your support, prayers, and well wishes. They really do help.
We are going to have to ask you folks for more help at the conventions so we can keep the support flowing. I will talk more about that shortly.
Mark
Just a quick update. Sue is improving, but it looks like this is going to take some time.
Mark
Everything here has come to a halt. Susan is currently in the hospital, so I am dropping everything to help her.
Mark
Shifter Affinity is one of the many beta sets you can find on the Dragon Storm RPG Beta Page. Which, if you have not looked in a while, you can follow this link to take a look.
Shifter Affinity represents the Character learning more about themselves and the body they have acquired. Characters who do not bother to do the research on their shifting abilities will live a happy and fulfilled life without it. However, some character concepts require special abilities not shared by every Tom, Dick and Sandy around the table. It is something you use to personalize a character and build in skills not common to all shifters.
When building a memorable character you will want to look carefully at the cards and consider which ones will enhance your characters.
The first is the Adopted Form. This card allows a character to use forms not normally available to them. For instance, you may be running an Elven Unicorn. The Unicorn can shift into Farilan Elf. You may envision an Elf character who can shift into any Elven form. You would "Adopt" the Haskalad Elf from the Griffon and, with a second Adoption, pick up the Dragons Ebony Elf. Now you have an elf shifter who is different than the other elves.
The second card is Mind-to-Minds. If you have the concept of a versatile leader who deals with many different groups, you can use Mind-to-Minds instead of sharing a Link with the Vermite beggar on the corner. While most characters are not going to consider such an act, your character just might want to. The problem is that you need to know yourself, by having Shifter Affinity, to get this ability.
The third character intensive card is Gender Switch. We have left this a little vague so that players can mold it to their character concept. I have seen characters who switch due to external events that the player envision, just a fun character idea. I have a character who learned this because he is a wanted man in several places and gets recognized. Therefore he has places where he is a she. How, and why, you use such a card is up to you.
Next we have the Form Affinity. With this one the character becomes a quick shifter. In the blink of an eye they can flash to a new form. run into the alley and poof, you are new. If you are wearing common farmers garb and little distinguishing equipment. Well, you just might get away with it.
Affinity Defense is going to be a little more difficult to explain why the character took it. This is something that you may see the blustering tough guy using, another idea is playing in my mind, but I do not see it clearly enough to explain it right now.
Affinity Cloud is something you would look at for characters that spend time scouting out neutral and Jikadell territories where the bad guys would be looking for fresh meat on a regular basis.
This set is still short a couple of cards. So, we will keep our minds and eyes out for more cards that work here.
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I am going to add a small piece of historical information here that is only slightly involved with these cards. In ancient dragon clans a couple would expect to have two children. One as the father and one as the mother. They would switch genders to trade places. The other problem is that a pregnant dragon can not shift until after the birth. That means 30 months locked in to a single form.
The child is born live and after six months is forced in to a Stone Sleep to grow up and be taught by spirit teachers. Depending on the child they will be out of the Stone Sleep in just 50 years as a young adult ready to go. Many mortal scholars have mistaken the Stone Sleep for eggs. Now that the ancient dragon society is gone many mistaken myths have grown up, and there are few dragons around to correct the mistakes. Even fewer care if the mortals get it wrong. Now I find myself wondering why the spirit who told me this keeps laughing. Could this be wrong? We may never have absolute certainty. The chaos unleashed by the Deathday Massacre is a plague to historians.
