It’s here! I’m pleased to release the official cover of Welcome to Deadland! I hope you all love it and can’t wait for you to be able to hold it in your hands and dive into it’s pages! I’d like to thank David Drummond for his design work, the awesome folks over at Nerdist, Inkshares, and Girl Friday for their help and input reaching this monumental step! This was a great group effort! 

Thank you all for your support! Only a few more months to go!

-Zac

It’s time now to begin the official MUSTERING PERIOD for Blood Dawn Risk (from this point forward known as "The God-King War").

If you’re thinking of ordering Blood Dawn, then you can help one of our players by pledging your pre-order to them.

You can win prizes!

I will be giving out special prizes to allies based on pre-orders pledged. You are automatically eligible if you pledge your own pre-order to one of the dragons or houses (listed below) playing in the game. From that point forward, additional pre-orders that you pledge count as your pledges as an ally.

These are not competitive prizes. They will be based on reaching a milestone, so no matter what you’ll win if you attain it.

Bronze (10-19 pre-orders)

You can collaborate with me to create a minor character who will appear in Blood Dawn.

Silver (20-29 pre-orders)

You can collaborate with me to create a setting which will be worked into Blood Dawn.

Gold (30-39 pre-orders)

You can collaborate with me to create ANY other thing you’d like (plot, setting, or character) which will be worked into Blood Dawn.

Diamond (40+ pre-orders)

You get to participate with the game winner in creating a part of the Blood Dawn world with me (the grand prize for the dragon or house who wins the game).

*Note that prizes are cumulative, so if you attain gold, for example, you will get the prize for bronze and silver as well. So if you attain gold, you will get to create a minor character, as well as a setting, AND any other additional element.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a summary of the houses you can pledge to. These houses will all play in the game with troop armies, trying to conquer territory and capture dragons:

House Vastaron - one of the high houses in Powrend

House Mastion - one of the strongest, most widespread houses in Powrend

Clan Mynro - a nomadic clan in Ulyria

Clan A’Kyrif - one of the Ulyrian mountain clans

Clan Jodhyn - a clan of the Fifedan highlands

Asfani - one of the seven High Sultanate ranks in Allvara

House Asparone - among the fourth ascendent class of High Dalen

House Shamel - a Lividian house, of the Order of Thistles

Here is a summary of all the dragons who you can pledge to. These dragons will try to evade capture and increase in strength by wreaking havoc on house armies:

Zamisha Zhon - the Old One

Avabazzelaur - this is Manwen’s dragon, the most mysterious of them all

Branakataurai - Vastwing

Azzavani - the Seven-headed

Talaza Parau - the many-minded

Azzavaston - the Crystal-Winged

Lazahalaur - Graceflight

All pre-orders pledged between now and the start of the game will be used to determine the house or dragon’s initial strength when the game begins. For example, if the dragon Branakataurai gets 8 pre-orders pledged to him, he will start with 8 hit points in addition to the hit points he starts with by default. If House Vastaron gets 13 pre-orders pledged to her, then she gets an additional 13 troops.

How do you get pledges?

Simply email me at johnrobinrt@gmail.com after you place your order to tell me who you’re pledging to and you’ll officially be in the game as an ally. I receive an email whenever someone pre-orders my book so I’ll match up your pledge with the confirmation email I get from Inkshares, then I’ll enter it in the spreadsheet I’m using to keep track of everything for when the game launches.

For future pre-orders you pledge, email me to tell me who you’ve pledged and which house/dragon the order is for, and I’ll match that up with my pre-order confirmation email and add it to your pledges as an ally.

How can you get pre-orders?

It’s one thing to tell people to order a cool book. It’s another thing to tell them you’re involved in a cutthroat game where their pre-order will help you contribute to the book by collaborating with the author. Of course, you should tell them about Blood Dawn, have them watch the fan trailer on the page on Inkshares, but the game adds a whole new dimension of fun and likelihood that they might help.

What I recommend is you think of all your friends, coworkers, and family who you know like fantasy books. Tell them about this game and direct them to my Inkshares page, watch the fan video with them. If you’re feeling ambitious, root through your contacts list in your inbox and email people (I recommend one at a time -- that’s usually the most effective), telling them about this game and linking them to Blood Dawn. Make your email short and give them easy to follow instructions.

You can even think outside the box. Two of our players are using Facebook to build a team of helpers. You can do absolutely anything you’d like to get pre-orders, just as long as you tell me who has ordered for you and I can match that with the pre-order email I get from Inkshares.

What if you don’t want to be an ally, but you want to pre-order now and pledge to an ally?

That’s absolutely fine too! All non-pledged pre-orders will be gathered up and used as part of a secret “Easter egg” in the game.

Therefore, ALL pre-orders between now and the game’s end will count toward the game. 

Happy Sunday!