SFR, Inc.

[ddicerc]

I would be interested in finding out all I can about the history of Dragon Dice. Some on this list have been in it from the beginning (or almost the beginning), while others know more about its more recent history. I'd like to get information from anyone who is willing to share it.

I'd also like to contact those who were in on the original concept and execution of the game (like Lester Smith, David Eckleberry, Bill Olmesdahl, etc.). If anyone here knows where I could contact them (online or by mail), and better yet can tell me if they would be likely to respond (I don't want to annoy them or waste their time), please contact me via e-mail.

If I can scrape together enough information, I might write up a history of the game for publication (electronic or paper) so we could have a permanent record of the development of DD.

Anyone who would like to contribute to this effort can contact me. I would greatly appreciaite it. Thank you in advance for your efforts.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[deputyfife]

Lester Smith has a website of his own you can contact him by, I think if you google Lester Smith it will be one of the first results. that's about all I can contribute.

[slcobbs]

Well, I have the original INQUEST magazine that describes the inception of Dragon Dice. I wish this had come a year ago. I have had many discussions with Lester and other original Dragon Dice creators. They had many interesting inside stories, however I have also forgot most of those stories. We also talked with Chessex about the creation of Firewalkers. I will say that they all have some great stories, especially Lester and David Eckleberry. I can tell you the history of how I got involved with Dragon Dice and SFR. I got into the game from the very beginning, thought I knew how to play well. I went to my first convention, I believe it was Origins 95-96. I got my ass handed to me. Of course that was with the original rules, where coral elves completely dominated. Wind walk added 6 manuevers that could add 6 save at coastlands and 6 damage during a charge attack. This was also the time of high magic, so every point of magic doubled. Now the coral elves would charge with 4 or 5 wind walks for 30+ damage with 30+ saves. WOW! So came the first changes in the game. No more doubling all magic, only IDs. Second was how magic spells took affect and what they effected. Now some balance was in the game with the first four races. Then the kickers began to fly out. Firewalkers first, a decent expansion but they were too chaotic for real use, that is except for the fireshadow. Which Chris and Will made into real beaters. I got smacked down by 15 fireshadows real fast. Chris showed me the power of the fireshadow. Next the Undead, a cool idea that needed some tweaking to really work. However, The minor death still rocks. Now comes the race that became my favorite from the instant I busted a kicker, the feral. These guys changed things in the game real fast. Hide and windwalk became the scourge of many of my opponents. I took my favorite race back to Origins 1997 and I come back victorious. So, I decide to try my luck at Gencon 1997 and I qualify for the semifinals, but get beat out (too bad I don't remember by whom). Gencon 1997 is where I met Will Lutz, Mark Wiker, Scott Ostrander, Rob Harland, and David Papay. Through the next year TSR would release magestorm and the mighty Swampstalkers, who changed the game forever. Mutate bacame the most powerful ability in the game, allowing armies to increase their numbers over the standard 36pts. Swampstalkers also introduced the ultra rare monster (The orrmyr had odds of about 1 in 4. Swampstalkers dominated tournament play from that point on, that is until SFR changed the mutate ability. The next race is the ever popular Frostwings wth their own ultra rare monster, but ever increasing rarity (about 1 in 60). They were a great addition to the game putting a special action icon on every die including commons. Fans embraced the race from the beginning and love them to this very day. Finally, the last addition by TSR was the interesting but insanely difficult to collect Scalders with their ultra rare monster, the unseeli faerie which had varied experiences on rarity (1 in 6) my own experience (YES, I got two in one case) to 1 in 160. This was the gem of any collectors eye, an incredibly difficult find and they sold for around $400-800 each. Now came the demise of TSR and Dragon Dice layed in limbo in 1998. Tournaments were still organized and fun was had again, alas I make it to the semifinals and get beat, however I place 4th in the sealed box event. After this convention Sean asked Dave Papay to get a rules commitee to change thing to help the game. Dave asked Rob Harland, Will Lutz, Mark Wiker, Scott Ostrander, Mike Bell, and myself (Scott Cobbs) to join his Smoked Filled Room (An X-Files reference, SFR) to discuss changes of the rules. Thus SFR was formed. We discussed rules through e-mail and hashed out how to fix mutate and other major problems. SO, we started taking over for TSR and running things ourselves. So, I organized Origins 1999 and Mark organized Gencon 1999. We were supported by Sean with Dice and some great prizes and trophy with medals. Gencon 1999 is when Sean suggested that we try and acquire Dragon Dice from WotC, who had just acquired TSR. We thought about it and started to put a plan together. Will Lutz contacted WotC and the first thing we heard was "We will never sell a game.", well then WotC was aquired by Hasbro. And let me tell you that big corporations do not know what they want to do. All I have to say is thank you Cindy Rice, without her we would never have made the deal with Hasbro/WotC. So, now we were in works for the game. It took a year and a half to finally acquire the rights in October 2001. This is when SFR Inc. was formed with the original 8 member (Will Lutz, Rob Harland, Mark Wiker, Dave Papay, Scott Ostrander, Mike Bell, Sean Reynolds, and Myself). We began having weekly meetings over Yahoo IM. We progressed trying to think of how we could move things forward and decide on our company goal. Our one goal we all wanted out of SFR was to create Treefolk, the last race for the game, or at least the last race to finish the two color combinations. So we began planning. However, we needed to get other things done to raise some capital to finance Treefolk. This is where we began brain storming and the first thing that came to mind was, What can we use that we already have available. So, we thought about it and voila. We decided to finish the Dragonkin Champs with the green, black, and the ever elusive gold. We know that collectors probably wouldn't like this but there were distinct differences between the TSR and SFR Gold DKCs. Then I was driving home from my parents house after christmas and I had my own eureka. I thought about the Dragon Masters and Dragon Lords, then how the Dragonslayer didn't have its colored counterparts. So I started thinking about what A colored dragon slayer would do. Thus, the Elemental Dragonslayers were born.
And the rest of SFR and Dragon Dice history will be told later, since this is way too long right now.

Later,
Scott C

[Netherworlder]

David Eckelberry still works for Wizard of the Coast, he can be contacted there.

Sean K. Reynolds has his own gaming company now. His website is: www.seankreynolds.com. Sean is a pretty personable guy and replies to most of the messages posted on his boards. If you want to talk to him, that is the way I'd go.

It has been years since I last had any contact with Bill Ohlmsdahl or Dori Hein. My cousin and I bought their entire collection of Dragon Dice from them. I think they were living in South Carolina at the time (this was shortly after the demise of TSR).

Paul Jacquays was working for ID software as a designer for a long time. Several of the levels in Doom 2 are his work.

As mentioned in a previous post, Lester Smith does have his own website.

As for my own involvement, I saw the ads and decided that I couldn't afford to get into the game. I was finishing graduate school and had two young children. Then I stumbled across the clearance isle at K-Mart where starters were $2 and kickers $.50. I bought out the store and things just spiraled out of control from there.

I did help in some small way with a redesign of the intro rules. Dave Papay and I put together a one-sheet of simplifed rules for demos once upon a time. I also put together a scenario that was chosen for use at GenCon (I do not think it ever was though). It is up on my website if you are interested:

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/8090/Scenarios/kumvartrift.html

Note that I have not gone back and changed the name of the units to teh new standard yet.

[ddicerc]

[chuckpint]

I've also got the Polyhedron article about Dragon Dice. It’s the very original rules, since it talks about 1 point spells. I’ll dig that up.

[ddicerc]

Does anyone have any contact with Bruce Parrello and/or know his current e-mail address? I found some old DDTP article on my old computer (but, alas, not my "Quest for the Mystic Medallions" scenario) which, despite their age, might be of interest to current players. (Anyone remember these: Routing buffers? Things I Wished I Knew...? Points of Effect?) I'd like to post them on their own page (DDTP archive) on the DDRC web site, but I need to get Bruce's permission first.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[Drake the Lesser]

I have no problem with you posting any of my stuff. However, if you win some big literary prize, I expect a cut of the proceeds.


Bruce

[ddicerc]

Hey, Bruce! Good to see you on the forum. I thought that screen name looked familiar...

And don't worry, you can share in any rewards I win for my scintillating work on my web site. Just don't hold your breath waiting for those rewards to roll in.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[Sabredice]

Although my collection of dice is fairly small, I have to confess that Magestorm ranks among my favorites. Weird shapes, great weapons, cool artifacts, they got it all (oh yeah, and the 'Kin!). I think I bought more Magestorm than anything else just to have all those cool dice. What I'd like to know (considering the topic here), is how these dice came to be, and any official "Esfah" history for them.

I've read Chill Wind and really like the author's history for the Magestorm and how the whole thing got started. Did TSR or SFR ever release anything like it? I don't want to be the guy that keeps rubbing SFRs nose about a non-official-fan-based story, but it does beg for comparison.

There. That's the last I'm going to say about it (I don't want Chuck mad at me).
_________________
Ski Kansas!

"Whenever a door closes in your face, look for a window."

[ddicerc]

If Bruce Parrello (or anyone who is in touch with him) wants to check out what I did with his articles, they can try the new link to the "DDTP Archive" from the DDRC home page.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[deputyfife]

I didn't post this before, but to slcobbs in particular, I really enjoyed your post on DD history. Looking forward to the next installment, and if anyone else has any contributions. (hint, hint)

[ddicerc]

While there are many others who are more "inside" than I on the history of Dragon Dice, I am working on a DD history project right now. Do not expect results for quite a while! I've just begun digging up names, dates, and events. I've already found some very interesting tidbits of historical data (such as the Bill "4" Sides legal wrangle-not with TSR/SFR, but another company), and am finding names I haven't seen for a long time. I too look forward to more historical posts, and will warn you now that anything you say on this thread can and will be used against you in the DDRC "Grand History of Dragon Dice."

As an aside, one of the more interesting historical sources I found was---

my old computer.

Yep, I found leftover stuff from the old DDRC that has pointed me to some sources I had long since forgotten about. (Heck, I guess the original DDRC is something of a historic relic itself!) That's what led me to post the Dragon Dice Trading Post archive, for example. Who knows what else lurks in my machines and on my shelves?
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[deputyfife]

[slcobbs]

[slcobbs]

[ddicerc]

The beginning of the DDRC history project is up! OK, so far its just one page of old, outdated, no-longer-official, ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR TOURNAMENT CONSUMPTION (you get the idea) rules, but it will gradually (and I mean very gradually) expand. I'm also looking for input on a Who's Who in Dragon Dice-details there. You can get there from the DDRC main page, http://members.aol.com/DDiceRC. Feedback is welcome.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[ddicerc]

After tiring of waiting for myself to get around to adding more to it, I decided what the heck, and posted my very preliminary and incomplete "Who's Who in Dragon Dice" page on the DDRC web site. Anyone who would like to comment on it, send me suggestions to add to it, or who has a morbid curiosity about the history of the game is welcome to peruse it at

http://members.aol.com/DDiceRC/whos_who.html

As I said, feel free to bombard me with additions and corrections.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[ddicerc]

Thanks to all who replied for the input on the Who's Who. I've also added a little more info from rules folders. (Still haven't decided whether to note "project coordinators" and editors, and so forth. Maybe later.) More feedback is welcome.
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)

[ddicerc]

I had a few minutes to plug through some of my history stuff tonight, and I found some interesting comments about DD dice art from the original artist, Paul Jaquays, made on the old DD mail list, ironically enough exactly eight years ago (Oct. 21, 1997). You might find them intriguing. They've been posted on the DDRC site-follow links to the "Grand History of DD" page, then "Interviews." Enjoy!
_________________
Steve "DDice" Braun
The Diceman's Gaming Pages: http://ddicerc.weebly.com
2014-2015 U.S. National Champion
(Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...)