Stephen Dove's page

Dear All,

Ordo Draconis is a new Pathfinder and Dragon Warriors focused fanzine that has achieved TOP TEN bestseller status on DTRPG and is also the best selling magazine on Paizo

Our magazine promotes the lands of Legend; a world where magic mixes with a mythic vision of a medieval world.

You can buy Ordo Draconis ($3.50) Here and read reviews about it.

You can find out more about the Lands of Legend Here

and you can preview a lot of the maps and get a feel for the zine content Here

and Here

regards

Steve, Bill and Cameron

We are proud to announce that Ordo Draconis 2 features as the 9th bestselling small press PDF sold on DrivethruRPG/RPGNow for the month of March.

see here DTRPG Besellers

This is a serious milestone for us as DTRPG is the world's biggest PDF seller and we are only a small operation. It is nice to be 'mixing it with the big boys!'

Ordo Draconis has hit the big time! We are 9th bestseller on DrivethruRPG/RPGNow for March.

Come and see what all the fuss is about!

DTRPG Best-sellers

New for EN World Subscribers

EN World Subscribers get another serious freebie this week; access to the latest issue of Ordo Draconis. This fast-selling fanzine is dedicated to gaming in the Lands of Legend, the world originally created by award winning author Dave Morris for the acclaimed Dragon Warriors RPG (recently re-released by Magnum Opus Press). Ordo Draconis is focussed on bringing the Lands of Legend to the widest possible audience and is now creating locales and adventures for Pathfinder and D&D 3.5 set in this mythic medieval world of tangled forests, Fay spirits and brave Knights.

The 97 page PDF can be downloaded by EN World subscribers and is packed with adventures and articles for your gaming pleasure (listed below). For those of you foolish enough to have resisted our subscription drive so far, a preview of Ordo Draconis issue 2 can be viewed here (make a Will save to resist being sucked in)! If you fail your saving throw, you can either become a subscriber (you KNOW it makes sense) or you can shell out for Ordo Draconis 2 by buying it directly on RPGNow or Paizo. For reviews of the Ordo Draconis issue 2, see here and here.

Ordo Draconis issue 2 contents.

* "For Whom the Bell Tolls", a 36-page murder-mystery based around a Cornumbrian abbey, featuring 10, full-colour maps.
* The Thane, a new warrior class for Dragon Warriors (with a Pathfinder add-on coming soon).
* Darbon Barony, an in-depth look at a Cornumbrian fief to bring a flavour of medieval Cornwall and Devon to your games.
* Codex Cryptozoologica, featuring the horrid Buggane.
* Fireside Tales, a spooky story from the Coronach Marshes.
* An 18 page exploration of Eastmarch: a rebellious town set amidst the swirling mists of the Coronach Marshes, including a map of the town and an area map of the Fief.
* Along the Road, a series of mini-encounters to spice up your campaigns.
* The Thuland Campaign, the second in a series relating an epic PBM campaign.
* A review of Magnum Opus' newest release, "Friends or Foes".
* What's in a Name?: authentic Cornumbrian words and phrases.

If you download the magazine, please take a moment to complete Ordo Draconis survey so that they can make each issue even better!

We are proud to announce that we are teaming up with EN World to bring Ordo Draconis issue 2 free to EN World subscribers. So all you Paizo people; get over there and collect if you are EN World subscribers!

See the news page on EN World here

regards

Steve

Just a reminder; if anyone does want to contribute to the next issue of OD, I will need a presubmission outline by this Friday.

Seldriss et al take note!

regards

Steve

Thanks for the kind words GreenGrunt!

The next issue of Ordo Draconis is already in production, with a planned release date in early June. It will be also be dual statted for Pathfinder and Dragon Warriors.

This time we focus on the Khanates; a vast sea of grass that is the home of many tribes of fierce Nomads and their cruel shamanic masters. Adventures, locations and monsters from this region will all be explored, as will the Shaman class.

We will also return to Cornumbria for two adventures; one set in Eastmarch amidst the swirling mists of the Coronach Marsh whilst a second will reprise our visit to the Abbey of St Columba and the perilous catacombs that burrow into the rock beneath the ancient Holy Seat.

We are also still interested in new submissions till March 26th, so if you have an idea for an article, drop me a line at s(dot)k(dot)dove(at)bham(dot)ac(dot)uk

There is no need to understand Dragon Warriors; we accept articles statted for PF and convert them, or vice versa.

Here is a small exerpt from the OD3 concept guide for authors; this is basically a document that I produce to guide authors with respect to the tone and atmosphere that we are aiming for with this issue; in this case it is focussed on how we portray the relationship between the Nomads and the steppe because OD 3 is focussed on the Nomad Khanates.

“My people were born of the four winds, and love the endless sky. Long ago, the earth grew jealous and cursed my kin so that we are doomed to wander the vast steppe or it will swallow us. All that protects us from the spirits of the land are our hearth-fires, the ghosts of our ancestors and the night-songs of my kin. If we fail to sing the night-songs even once, the shadows of the earth shall rise up and slay us. If we walk the land then it will feel our tread and send its servants to claim us. But we are not afraid and do not touch the earth, trusting to our fellow-brothers of the wind; the horse-lords, to bear us over the steppe. The curse has made us strong and none of us fear death. The weak are given to the wolves at birth and we grow mighty where the farmers who till your lands grow fat and slow. One day, we will come to you and take what we wish, and then you will know the power of the Sky-Gods.”

Note that we are working on the above as if it is real and not just a superstition; we are trying to create a vision of the steppe that is actively trying to kill the people who live upon it and is, in some senses, alive.

When you add to this two adventures in Cornnumbria that are both focussed on mythic quests, in the vein of the original adventures, you have a heady-brew that is certainly not historical, though we will try to use the reality of Legend to ground things, much as Tolkien loved to do; at least as far as our talents allow.

Obviously at this early stage things are subject to change, but I hope you can see that issue 3 of OD aims to be firmly in the mythic fantasy mould?

Anyone wishing to submit an article for this issue of Ordo Draconis needs to send me a presubmission outline by Friday 26th of March and be prepared to produce the full article by Friday 30th of April.

If you have an idea for our "Mythic Medieval Mongol" themed issue of Ordo then please contact me ASAP for a writer's guidelines and submission information.

A review from a fellow Pathfinder has appeared on the Paizo website;

see here Paizo Review

Could I also have some volunteers to stat out some monsters for Pathfinder that are already statted for DW; you don't really need to know the other game to do this job?

This ia general call for articles for OD3; we are focussing on the Nomad Khanates in this issue. Our aim is to build a vision of the vast-steppe that does not just re-hash the obvious 'Mongol hordes' type tropes.

We want to build a unique vision of the Khanates for Pathfinder and DW that is different from the Ethergar Khanates type vision that is obvious and easy.

Articles should focus on new base classes, locations, monsters and adventures set in the Khanates.

We would particularly welcome submissions that appeal to players of Pathfinder, as well as DMs. There is no need to dual stat your submissions; we can do this for you. We will also ensure your submission, if published, is support by cartography and art to complement your work.

Please contact me at s.k.dove@bham.ac.uk for further information. All submissions should be preceded by a pre-submission enquiry to me.

regards

Steve

Seldriss; it is a shame your game is in French; let me know if you start something online in English!

I will also look forward to any submissions you want to put in.

I_use_Ref_Discretion: we would welcome people from this side of the game getting involved. Please contact me for further details.

regards

Steve

P.S We are pleased to announce that we are now selling Ordo from the Paizo site here

Ordo on Paizo

There are also reviews of Ordo, just starting to emerge, though they are

review

often written from a Dragon Warriors perspective: we have a few Pathfinders writing reviews of our work from your point of view that will hopefully emerge soon.

Stephen Dove wrote:

Which edition of Ars Magica is your friend into?

Aux told me you had a question... :)

Played 2nd, played and ran 3rd & 4th, and own 5th.

Do you know anyone who runs an online Ars Magica game as I have always wanted to play it?

Auxmaulous wrote:

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

Is Paizo going to start carrying Ordo Draconis?

We are in the process of setting up to go through Paizo to sell Ordo Draconis.

Which edition of Ars Magica is your friend into?

Stephen Dove wrote:

Please drop me a line if you are interested in writing for us Seldriss: you sound like you have the perfect background.

I might be, Stephen, indeed i might be :)

Where should i drop this line?

send me a mail s(dot)k(dot)dove(at)bham(dot)ac(dot)uk

Sorry to write it like this but I have had bad experiences with spam bots.

regards

Steve

I knew Dragon Warriors from before and found the fluff interesting.

It seems it will be even more so now, if it blends with Pathfinder & D&D...

I am particularly interested, as i am running a semi-historical campaign, with many elements inspired by celts, vikings and others.

Please drop me a line if you are interested in writing for us Seldriss: you sound like you have the perfect background.

I am looking forward to your mail mate!

Let me know if there is a problem with the address I sent you.

I also forgot to say that a writer's guide is available and that we will help to 'Legendise' any submission you send in.

Thanks for that Urizen! I hadn't yet worked out how to do that here.

Note that Issue 1 of Ordo Draconis, was NOT statted for Pathfinder and hence is not a fair reflection of our quality!

Also note, that a new editorial team has been put in place since issue 1 and we have increased the page count by a factor of about 3, so OD2 is now 96 pages. We have also increased the quality of submissions by huge margin, as we have now made all authors go through 2-3 drafts before accepting their work. We also playtested some of the adventures.

Please judge us based on the artwork you see in the links section of this post.

Dear All,

Anyone who has a strong desire to write adventures for Pathfinder, then please get in touch (s.k.dove@bham.ac.uk). We are looking for contributions from writers who enjoy the strongly atmospheric and roleplaying sides of RPGs and are not so focussed on heavy combats.

Submissions also have to be compatible with the "Mythic Europe" style setting that our fanzine is promoting, known as the Lands of Legend. Please contact me for more details, including a writer's guide, and see below:

For more about our fanzine: see here http://draconismag.com

See here for details about the Lands of Legend

http://dragonwarriors.wetpaint.com/

For our latest issue see here: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=79261

regards

Steve

Dear All,

In the 1980s, a fantastic game came out in the UK, called Dragon Warriors, that was set in a very atmospheric setting, resembling a magical and richly detailed version of Earth around 900-1100 AD, but without all the historical baggage. The setting was known as the Land of Legend and it inspired Ars Magica's Mythic Europe and many other campaign settings.

We have now got permission from the Publishers to explore that setting in Ordo Draconis, a new e-zine devoted to gaming in the Lands of Legend, but using both the original DW ruleset AND Pathfinder!

You can buy Ordo Draconis here ($3.50)

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=79261

You can find out more about the Lands of Legend here

http://dragonwarriors.wetpaint.com/

and you can preview al ot of the maps and get a feel for the zine content here

http://dragonwarriors.wetpaint.com/page/The+Fief+of+Eastmarch

and here

http://dragonwarriors.wetpaint.com/page/Northern+Cornumbria

We are offering a free issue to anyone who writes a review of the zine and posts it on any major RPG gaming site: just mail me, with the URL of your review, to claim your free issue!

We are also encouraging submissions from fans who can write medieval style adventures or locales set in the Lands of Legend: so get your keyboards out now and get published!!

Happy Gaming and we hope you enjoy the zine!

regards

Steve, Bill and Cameron (Editors).