THE HISTORY:
The initial idea for the system started back in 1994, while role-playing with a small group of friends in my apartment. We were arguing over some inconsistencies in the rules of our current choice of RPG, when we decided to make a few changes to their rules to make them more realistic (something I had been doing with just about every system I had used in the past ten years). After a few weeks of doing this I had compiled a 20 page list of the new rules that we had completely modified from that system. At this point we gave up trying to use their rules and started making our own. Taking these collaborated ideas and combining them with the 100 or so pages of modified rules from other systems and additions I had scribbled or drawn up over my role-playing career: I had created the first draft of what was to be the DeathBlow™  Fantasy Master Rules.

THE TURNING POINT:
My initial plan, at the very beginning, was to create the most incredible RPG ever seen, have it published and then retire a multi-millionaire. Ha! I labored on the system for over a year, writing almost 200 pages of material, not including research notes. On the side I networked with a few people in the business and made a few phone calls to some publishers and printers. I quickly realized three things:
1) It would be near impossible to get any standard publisher to publish an RPG, even if they knew what one was.
2) No current RPG publisher would want to publish someone else's competing RPG, even if it was better.
3) It was incredibly cost-prohibitive to mass-publish anything on my own; short of taking out very large loans. Seeing as I had no real collateral at the time and very little credit, this just was not going to happen.

I almost gave up. As a matter of fact, one of my very close friends, with whom I had been role-playing for almost 8 years, told me to give up. He said, there is no more market for RPG's anymore.

Well, as it happens, 1995 was the year that the WWW exploded. I had been on the Internet (big-I), used Lynx and surfed the newsgroups. But, '95 was the year I discovered the Web. I immediately had the idea to publish my game myself, but through the Web. I hosted the site on a variety of academic servers at the various schools I went to, and then, in 1997, I bought the DeathBlow.com domain. It was a while before I actually got much online. Most of the work was in MS-Works or WordPerfect, which was later converted to MS Word. This meant I had to convert all the material to HTML, not an easy task in the days before DreamWeaver and FrontPage (which had just come out, but I could not afford). Well, it got done, mostly, and the material on this web site is the fruit of my labors. About 80% of what I have purposely written for the game is on this site. However, I still have about 400-500 pages of "rough" notes and research material in several 3-ring binders that have yet to see a digital medium. Most of that is adventure ideas, new equipment, NPC personalities, cities, dungeons, plants, new monsters, etc. This is, however, why I have tried to concentrate on getting as much of the core rules as possible typed up and formatted into HTML for the site. More is coming as I can get it done.

THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS:
At the moment, DeathBlow.com is online and being hosted for next to nothing, which is about how much money I make off of it. The rules are available for anyone to see, read, and download. The system is not open source, or Open Gaming License, or whatever you want to call it. It just is. I am retaining all legal rights to the material that I have written and this means no one has the right to sell any of my material. However, if you want to print any of the material on this site for your own use, go ahead. If you want to make a hundred copies and give them away, go ahead. I only ask two things:
1) do not sell any of my material, unless you want to send me the money, and 
2) leave any copyright or legal notice present on every page.

Role-Playing Game Genres:
  Fantasy RPG-
        DeathBlow™ Fantasy Portal
            Fantasy Master Rules
            Glossary Of Armour
            Glossary Of Arms (Coming Soon!)
            Character Generator (Coming Soon!)
   CyberGothic™ RPG- DeathBlow™ CyberGothic(tm)
   Science Fiction RPG- DeathBlow™ Space War

Discussion Groups:
If you would like to join one of the Discussion Groups for the DeathBlow™  family of Role Playing Games, please go to one of the following for more information:
  DeathBlow Games™ Fantasy RPG
   discussion group
  DeathBlow Games™ CyberGothic RPG
   discussion group

DeathBlow Games™ Online Store:
Looking for a great gift for the kids, wife, or yourself? Check out the DeathBlow Store. I am sure you will find something that catches your eye.

DeathBlow News: What is happening, and what has happened with; the web site, the game system, my computer, ...
  News

FeedBack: If you have any comments or suggestions, by all means let us know.
  The Feedback page

Help Wanted: For those of you who would like to contribute to the cause, please check out the details here.
  The Help List

The Organization: a quick glance at our small, but growing organization.
   Organizational Profile

The Links Page:
  Links

Upcoming Projects: The Products Catalog is a list of the items that are currently in development, their proposed release dates, projected prices, and their intended contents. There are no products, currently, for sale on this site. These products will be sold, for those who wish to purchase a full-color hard-copy of the material. The actual material (text), however, in each of the works will, most-likely, be available on the site for viewing. If anyone would like to work on one of these projects, let me know: [email protected]
Death Blow Master Rules: The Death Blow Master Rules is a compilation of the most advanced and realistic fantasy gaming rules ever created....
Twilight of the Gods: Twilight of the Gods is the definitive reference to the religions of Midgard. ...
Midgard World Book: The Midgard World Book is an overall guide to the world of Midgard. It is filled with maps; descriptions of nations,.
Zoological Guide to Midgard: The Zoological Guide to Midgard is the official encyclopedia of the flora and fauna of the world of Midgard. It contains...
Martial Arts Manual: With a revised HTH system and new rules for melee, the Martial Arts Manual contains all the information you have been waiting for when it comes to hand to hand combat...

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