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Grand Game Pausing (Patreon)

Published:
2025-05-01 03:27:10
Imported:
2026-09
Tags:

Content

Hi all,

From this point on, I'm pausing updates on Grand Game 9 (GG9). There will be no chapter postings on the Grand Game for at least one month (the month of May) as I swap focus to Dragon Mage 3 (DM3).

Starting next week, I'll be posting DM3 content instead, but I'll make sure to keep everyone updated as to when GG9 updates will resume.

Happy reading,Tom

Comments

Scott Lelusche

Enjoy the month break :) soon as i finish my current series i plan on checking out the dragon mage so make sure its a good one :p

Goldfish2

Thx for the info

Rajeev Roy

Leaving it at the cliff is kinda unfair

obiwann

Not really a break

Rod

nice! been waiting for Jamie to make a return, thanks!

David Brewer

To be fair, it's only a semi-cliff. Michael isn't in immediate danger, but yeah. I think I'd have preferred he switch about a week ago so everything was more "stable".

Rajeev Roy

Exactly we were on a plateau then

obiwann

Lmao… he had to wait until the 1st so he had our subscriptions until June!

Ryan Linus

You’re going to love it, it’s my second favorite series behind Accidental Champion. Another book that I hesitated to start because title didn’t grab me…

Ryan Linus

Tom, please consider dropping a few chapters DM3 and we’ll all call it good for your announcing GG pause literally at 12:01 AM after billing our subscriptions for the month. I wouldn’t have paused because I love DM even more than GG. But I’d be pretty pissed if money was tight and I hadn’t read DM yet, or didn’t care for it. Though to all those that haven’t, you’ll almost certainly like it even more than GG even if it starts out kind of cheesy Anyway, I have to think he can’t have done that timing intentionally because it just looks cartoonishly sketchy…

obiwann

More than GG?? Them is fighting words sir.

David Brewer

It's fairly likely he will be dropping one or two chapters (sometimes 3) of Sponsors (DM3) each week this month. I mean given the release date of Jul 1, I'd be somewhat surprised if he didn't have something written already even if just outlines. All I'm saying is the "bait and switch" is only a thing if you really love Grand Game but not Dragon Mage. As I see no reason to think he won't release a "normal" number of chapters, just from Dragon Mage instead.

Tom Elliot

@Ryan Uhm... I'm not sure what you are accusing me of, but this post was made at 5:27 AM my time, which incidentally is neither US nor UK time. Also, this Patreon is set to subscription billing, which means members are charged on the day they joined, and then monthly on that same date. I.E. it doesn't matter when I made the post from a billing/subscription perspective; the impact is the same (unless I gave everyone more than 30 days notice, which in hindsight I should have, but I didn't know 30 days ago that I was going to do this).

mrthorwahl

Finally, been waiting for this for years!

Sean

Just curious any progress on Runeguard?

Ryan Linus

Thought it was billed once when you join and then monthly on the 1st… So I thought if you had announced 30 minutes earlier you would have risked losing some people. If you were switching to God’s Game and I had a more limited budget then I would have considered pausing. Thankfully I’m such a big DM fan if you created a 5x more expensive higher tier that would give me access to the stories tonight I’d upgrade in a second. Anyway, I thought I made it clear that I didn’t think you’d have done something intentionally in bad faith

Grady Perry

Time to reread dragon mage again

obiwann

Just checking something... has anything been posted since this?

Grady Perry

So (correct me if I’m wrong) Tom Elliot is like a co-author of the dragon mage book series right? That or he’s good friends with Rohan. I’m led to believe he’s a co-author by the many hints towards the grand game in these books. The faction being named “the forerunners” is one example. I just wanted to get confirmation on this niggling thought in my brain.

David Brewer

I'll be honest, it's never been 100% clear (to me). But I'd sorta assumed they were pen names (or at least one of them).

Grady Perry

I’m not sure I just wanted to make sure I didn’t have something wrong with my Patreon because no Rohan account popped up for me.

obiwann

In one of his posts he says that Rohan is a pen name.

obiwann

Would be very interesting if Elana is the prime in hiding… and her book was a slightly earlier timeline

David Brewer

It has interesting possibilities, but has the timeline connection between Michael and Elana ever been explained? It does however somewhat beg the question as to why/how she'd be hiding in Sickening Ooze. She isn't Pestilence. Edit: I say this largely based on the fact her ancestral lineage clearly has ties to "The Hatchling Trials." Pestilence as far as we know has no beastkin, so that would be an odd choice.

obiwann

We don’t KNOW its pestilence do we? We think it is based on where they were. And no… I don’t believe the timeline has ever been discussed. I do think it’s interesting that she leveled up so quick in book 1. Michael was worried about being a weak early game player… but damn if she didn’t become a force to be reckoned with quickly. Result of her class stone or no? Random thought…What’s to stop powers from giving masterclass stones to new players to make them formidable later on? Imagine starting with a master… doing your dungeon dives and using all master for all three classes? Crazy

David Brewer

We don't know it's Pestilence Prime true. But given the way the 4th quarter of Nexus became "plague quarter"... it feels reasonable to assume that Pestilence has been waging a war on Nexus for centuries. Likely around or even before the time Sickening Ooze was lost in the expanded salt marsh. And more concerning is given how savage the plagues are in the salt marsh a "normal" player (scion or not) undoubtedly wouldn't find Sickening Ooze habitable. I'd be shocked if rank 7 and higher plagues aren't deeper in the marsh to hide the dungeon. As far as master classes for the first one... can you? Michael's introduction to the Game was horrible so the gouge he was given isn't reliable, but given his class has evolved multiple times (if you consider his attribute class trait he now has 3 master classes...basic = 2 attribute points, advanced = 4, and master = 6) it feels correct that you can't simply apply master class stones into the earlier slots. It's possible the Game doesn't prohibit that, but if you'll recall "good" master classes only come from running dungeons anyway. The Force classes Michael was offered all had no multiplex skills vs Michael's earned classes all having at least one (tri-force, elemental mastery, and his void skills). Edit: This is doubled due to Sire's strain but... "void heritage II (wolf, hidden): +4 Dexterity, +4 Strength, +8 Mind, +8 Perception, +12 Magic." 2 dex, 2 str, 4 mind, 4 perception, and 6 magic = 18 thus 3 master classes. Edit 2: Elana's main advantage was her companion. Her empryean class is still a basic class, only gave 3 skills, 2 attribute points, and no class ability. But having a companion at level 1 means, given how she shares her faith and magic stats with Ada, she gets extra points from leveling and Ada is an extra body to fight with and help her.

obiwann

If you have all of forever kingdom to hide in… ur the last prime… why wage a war no one knows about??? Feels too…. Overt. I'd think the remaining Prime would make efforts to educate as many as possible... not continue on in a manner where the new powers get to control the narrative... all while the general population has all but forgotten you.

Grady Perry

Crazy theory but hear me out. What if the timeline of the grand game and the dragon mage are the same world. In other words, what if Jamie and Michael are in the same world, the forever kingdom, just one is before the split and the other is after. We know that before the split the game was not invented and the world was whole. And we know that Jamie and “overworld” are on a world with multiple continents. So what if Jamie is in the forever kingdom with the primes, we just don’t know because we’ve never seen anyone above level 300 from Jamie’s perspective.

obiwann

Jamies world also has planetary travel though... nothing has been hinted at in the GG about that.

Grady Perry

You mean where the orca came through to earth? How do we know that’s not what happened to Michael because he willingly came so who gave him that choice

David Brewer

I suspect that the individual that is Pestilence "Prime" isn't thinking rationally about that sort of thing. She "accepts" the overt war is over and lost because no one Prime can stand alone against the new Powers... but Pestilence is uniquely suited for a more subtle sort of war. Creating endless diseases and plagues to try and slowly kill them off. Or maybe I'm wrong and the hidden Prime has nothing to do with the infested plague quarter and that's more the consequence of the Powers conquest over Pestilence. I mean everyone admits during the war the Powers (even if maybe they weren't all Powers then) avoided the dungeons. But Sickening Ooze was the home of Pestilence and Kolath was badly wounded early in the war... so it's quite likely someone DID invade that dungeon. Maybe some pet projects escaped then.

David Brewer

It's an interesting theory but I don't think it's feasible. Before the Shattering there was no Game. To clarify the "Elders" of Dragon Mage would need to be the beastkin allies of House Dragon (post game), but in Dragon Mage they clearly created their own "system" not the Grand Game. Yet, at one point House Dragon was definitely mentioned. Now, I'll concede it's possible that they both could be in different portions of the post Shattering universe... somehow. I.e., some of the Dragons fled the Forever Kingdom. But I don't think the Overworld can predate the Forever Kingdom, because while I doubt Dragon was a nobody before... He was merely one among many "Primes". And the basic premise of Dragon Mage is that the elders created the Overworld for... reasons. And nothing in Dragon Mage suggests that oh by the way... Dragon isn't the only "Elder"... look for Wolf, or Serpent, or Lion. Edit: Additionally, the systems of Grand Game and Overworld have one very noticeable difference. Grand Game is almost egalitarian for players. If you can evolve your class you can do anything. But even if you can't nothing prevents you from using magic, or becoming the best warrior, or a crafter. In Overworld... you are literally blocked by your inherent potentials... and if you have no magic. You can't EVER use magic. Honestly, it's more possible to me that Overworld is happening in the same universe as Kyran from God's Game... as that system used a different but similar spark idea to limit a player's capabilities.

obiwann

I read the elana book… there was a reference to “especially her” in reference to her being empyrean vs other primes. Not sure what this means if anything

David Brewer

Honestly, given the fact that apparently her class (a base one no less!) is significantly linked to her presumed bloodline... I mean we don't actually know if she does have one much less which one... it does suggest curious things. But sadly, it's going to be a while before we are likely to learn more.

Grady Perry

Why is no one talking about how captain Tyelin or however you spell it of the ebonguard KNEW that Michael had a bloodline from his class and didn’t mind at all. He didn’t report it to Tartar, he didn’t try to get him killed to prevent him from progressing, nothing. That makes me think that the captain might be a supporter of the ancients return despite being the envoy of one who killed them.

David Brewer

He knows he has a bloodline. But every player has some connection to a bloodline. That's the defining difference between players and "proles". Talon doesn't know what Michael is aware of regarding his bloodline... and definitely doesn't know he is Wolf (awakened bloodline). Edit: More precisely the ability to evolve defines a player and that stems from your connection to a bloodline. Ultimately, the "danger" Michael poses is if he becomes a Prime. At present that seems only possible with an awakened bloodline, and so his class having evolved based on his bloodline is fine. If he had become forcesworn instead of an Anointed Scion he'd be an interesting tool, but as Wolf he's a potential threat. Edit 2: Also, technically we don't know if Talon is aware Michael possesses an evolved class. Not directly something you mentioned but I wanted to clarify that. But as far as him maybe being a supporter of the Ancients. I doubt it greatly. He's bound to Tartar. Even if he worshipped the Ancients it wouldn't matter. Recall this? "Ceruvax, a level 299 were-mage, has offered you unquestioning obedience. He will follow any instructions you issue, both inside and out of combat, and in exchange, he asks for nothing. This Pact will terminate on your final death." An oath akin to that is likely common place for ALL envoys.

Grady Perry

He does know that Mc has a evolved class because he commented on mindstalkers only being possible with a bloodline.

David Brewer

That doesn't necessarily require that. Obviously Michael's class is a result of a class evolution (and that's probably the easiest way), but we can't be 100% certain Michael couldn't have achieved a bi-blend and gotten mindstalker if he'd possessed an original base class that was more appropriate than scout. It's a 90-10 situation I think. As far as I can tell the most likely way to get mindstalker was by evolving his scout class into one of several options (nightstalker being the wolf path)... but given that empryrean is a "rare" base class and seems connected to Elana's bloodline I am unwilling to rule out that Michael could have been given a base class that allowed a mindstalker bi-blend. We simply don't understand the implications of blended classes well enough (imo) to state what is and isn't possible to accomplish without a class evolution. Edit: My comment about not knowing if Talon knows was an observation that while Erebus and Loken both 100% know Michael's class evolved... Talon (as far as we know) can only infer that. At least until he "sees" Michael's powerful Acolyte mark.

obiwann

Man… posts have really been lacking all around… doesn’t matter what book… not a lot going on here anymore :/

Ryan Linus

Could you have a shred of respect for your readers Tom? This is too fucking much.

Ryan Linus

Two full weeks… If this was any other author I support I’d be concerned but not with Tom. With him I’d only be worried something was wrong if he all of a sudden showed a little courtesy and spared a moment to managed the expectations he sets for all of us.

Leonardo De Sousa Cordeiro

Any news on new chapters? I know a lot of people like DM, but personally I prefer if we could go back to Runeguard.

Michael Kantor

While I'm disappointed, it's mostly just because I've been looking forwards to reading the next dragon mage chapter! I'd say 2 weeks is too long. But heck it's been a few years, and I'm still here. Apparently not too long 🙂

obiwann

Is this Tom’s last post?

David Brewer

This is something I've been stewing over but not expressed as yet... but I have noticed that some elites and envoys only have greater marks while others have Supreme marks. And given that Supreme mark of *Force* is one of the necessary conditions for achieving an Ascendant class. Well, it makes me wonder if a player can obtain that mark without an evolved class. It's not directly relevant as Talon doesn't know what marks Michael has (for good reason)... just something related to the topic that I've wondered about. It's also not particularly significant (other than to identify potential powerful Initiate candidates if true) as having the mark doesn't grant anything as far as I know.

Ryan Linus

He has a history of… I don’t know if he is a sadistic piece of shit that enjoys the disappointment of his fans and actively optimizes for it or just is a sociopath that could not care less about us. Can anyone vouch for knowing him being alive in real life so we know that this is simply related to his contempt/indifference with us instead of something more?

obiwann

That’s a bit much. I’ve been here for over a year now… he is usually very good at communicating his intent. Shit does happen you know. Keep in mind this is his job (I believe he is a full time author… but if he is not… then he essentially has two jobs… making this even more difficult / impressive.). you a perfect communicator at work? I didn’t think so. Maybe find a way to communicate your displeasure without being an ass bag in the process?? The thread’s participants thank you in advance for the attempt. 😘

Harley Dalton Jr.

@Ryan. Dude, cool down. You and I have seen this before in the last three years. There are ups and downs but always good stories. Don't turn him off to writing. I would be upset at fans like you, not him, if that happened. Do you really think your comments help? They don't.

Ryan Linus

@Harley and @obiwann Is it really though? Every single one of us would tell him to take all the time he needs if he had taken a minute last week and said something like this: “Well guys, it’s the end of the week. I don’t really want to get into it but the bottom line is I don’t have anything I’m comfortable putting out there yet. It might just be a day or two more but I can’t say for sure I’ll even start posting new chapters next week. I know this is disappointing but [I can’t bring myself to post something when I know I can do better] or [I didn’t have the time due to unforeseeable events]” I wouldn’t have batted an eye if he had told us “It’s not ready. I’ll post it when I’m ready. Fuck you if you don’t like it.” When I say I’m going to do something, I do it. But if I blew a self-imposed deadline I’d have the decency to give a heads up and be more careful of my language in the future to avoid over promising… I don’t get it. How can he treat hundreds of people who love his work so much they pay him just to read it a little early any worse? I don’t want him to quit writing, I want him to just treat us with basic human decently moving forward.

obiwann

^ I don’t think many disagree with this. Quality response without disparaging an author we all like.

obiwann

Random thought for the day as I re-read book 1. What if Loken is the good guy? He mentions to Michael and the end of book 1 that his job was to maintain the balance. What if he led the revolt against the Primes because he needed to? What if the ..adjudicator is the bad guy? I don't remember in which book, but in one of the books it was implied that the adjudicator was a role that was assumed by someone. What if Loken is simply against that agenda, and he isn't actually evil. Maybe it's me just thinking Loken is cool and don't want him to be the big bad lol. Given the silence of our host, doubt we will get much on this in the near future, but it was fun while it lasted. I will keep poking my head in here from time to time. If posts start dropping again someone HMU on the discord channel!

David Brewer

Mm I mean given the apparent disinterest of the Powers to stop the unending conquest of the nether... I would doubt they are the "good guys". This isn't to assert the Primes were either, but when they (the ancient Primes) presumably created the Adjudicator and the Grand Game their intent has somewhat nebulously been determined to be "repairing" the Forever Kingdom and defeating the nether. The Adjudicator at present seeks to restore the Prines (so far as we know) because opposition to the void requires the sort of Power the Primes have, but the Powers don't. If you recall the stygian "ranks": Seed Sapling Young tree Mature tree Old tree Ancient tree Void Fathers Basic reasoning shows that it's not reasonable to assume the Void Fathers aren't at least >level 600 and it's fair to conclude they likely are significantly higher level (my working theory is >level 700). I've never thought Loken is the big bad. Misguided, mistaken, or simply selfish are all possibilities. But the "big bad" has always been the Void Fathers since they were introduced. Edit: Admittedly, my final statement is rather contingent on the details we learned fairly recently to understand how dangerous the stygians are. The Powers are more the "immediate" big bad as our hero is a clear heretic and they'll hunt him like a dog if and when they realize Wolf is Ascendant again. But in the grand scale they pale in comparative danger to the void.

David Brewer

This should have been included in my other response but it only just occurred to me... but the "balance" Loken references? As far as I understand, isn't a drive to change, improve, or even address problems. It's primarily a focus on balancing Light and Dark and maintaining the current status quo. I could be wrong as Loken isn't a reliable narrator and didn't exactly wax poetic on the topic anyway. But that's what it seemed to me... and balancing Light and Dark in the current era is rather like patching a hole in the stern of your ship... after the entire bow was destroyed. Edit: I'll put it another way to clarify. Loken’s "subgroup" of Shadow... not his faction but those who seek to "balance" not rule... are essentially Kalin and his Marauders writ large. They seek to manipulate the outcome of the Game as they believe Shadow is unlikely to win in a direct conflict with Dark and Light. It's not "better", so much as a different way to conquer. Power brokers.

Ryan Linus

DM3 is scheduled to drop in 42 days on Amazon. I know there are strict exclusivity rules that require authors to take down content prior to publishing on royal road, but does it apply to Patreon as well? At this point it would be nice to have some certainty even if it’s that we won’t get anything until at least July 1st if we get into June and within 30 days of scheduled release.

obiwann

He hasn’t taken anything down for other releases. Believe me.. we right there with you regarding content expectations. I haven’t been in this group as long as some… but based on my interactions this isn’t normal and am starting to have concerns about his physical well being. Used to be you could see when he was at least logged in cuz of his discord gaming connections. He’s been dark on some of his social media platforms I look at. Hope he is well!!