Magnificent news! The EPF devs have delivered text for the Strategy Guide / Art Book, and we are in production. It's going fast. Troika Hero pages will be finished today, Nightmares next week, and printing soon after. This is going to be a pretty book. If anyone still needs their copy of Skirmish, we unlocked a crate for Couchcon so some are in stock: https://vivid-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/games/
Putting this Guide together makes me want to play. Once everything is delivered, it'll be time to think about planning some meets or a tournament or something.

Sibu leaping into action for the CCA- a Dreamkeepers commission we posted to Patreon awhile back. Love this OC, it's always a treat when we get to draw her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUcnxPmWeYI Liz put together a video featuring her recent work with fully articulated Plush- here's Vi, with a variety of costuming / expression changes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUcnxPmWeYI

Motor City Fur Con and Couchcon had me hopping this week- so have a belated vote incentive! http://topwebcomics.com/vote/25545 New one up now. High Resolution backers, your 4K version coming in a few minutes.

Emerging from chuckling speculation, this Prelude has been brewing for a couple years. We didn't expect the subject to posthumously explode into the headlines again, but this idea still makes us laugh, so here it is!

We'll be at Motor City Furry Con this weekend, and our dealer table has been extended online during Couchcon: http://www.vividpub.com/couchcon

Skip the line- first Couchcon is this weekend!

http://www.vividpub.com/couchcon

Our dealers go live online with everything you can dream of. Some of them are running special weekend discounts.
We're going to offer some special stuff too:
Commission slots, hand-painted figurine sets, Troika patches and keychains, buttons, original pencil art, Vivid Publishing Sketchbooks, and more- but quantities are limited.

There will be one $180 full-background pencil commission slot. Three $150 1-3 characters polished lineart commission slots. Five $30 single character sketch commission slots. Ten $5 sharpie-doodle commission slots.

And we will be cracking open a case of Skirmish games to be available for sale during Couchcon. Everything will go live in our online store this Thursday night, before midnight. We'll message backers right before we make the items live in our online store, so you have the best crack at snagging what you like. New content will be in the Dreamkeepers / Merchandise room.

https://vivid-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/dreamkeepers/merchandise/

Free bookmark included with every Couchcon order. Thank you to everyone enjoying the story, and helping us carry on. We're excited to bring you more- new Volume 5 page coming to Patreon and Dark Market backers tomorrow.

Last week's vote incentive- we've shot up to the 20's! Busy getting Couchcon reafy, but we're keeping the ball rolling. Brand new desktop for you here: http://topwebcomics.com/vote/25545

Last week's TWC vote incentive- Tinsel lounging. This week, I believe it's Vi art: http://topwebcomics.com/vote/25545 Thank you to the folks who voted last month- we went from nowhere, to hitting the top 50! I'll probably put together some more vote incentives to keep the ball rolling this month, they're pretty fun to make.
And thank you to our March backers! Patreon and Dark Market combined got us to 2,165, 96% of the way to the Full time milestone. Stay tuned for Chapter 14 updates to begin tomorrow, we're excited to share the next page.

Mountains loom as sparks fly between Vanth 'n Harmony. This week's Prelude update: https://www.dreamkeeperscomic.com/Prelude.php Link to the free mobile reading app, for those on-the-go.

Do you ever feel like you’re missing out by missing conventions?

Not anymore. Vivid’s hosting an online convention in 2019- COUCHCON.

http://www.vividpub.com/couchcon

Everything we offer at conventions will be available to you. Skirmish games will be coming back in stock exclusively during Couchcon along with other Vivid merchandise- buttons, sew-on patches, bookmarks, commissions, you name it.

And it’s not limited to Dreamkeepers!

Artists who have missed out on convention space are comin’ to Couchcon.

We’re testing it out April 12-15 with me and possibly a few others. We’ll launch it again during Anthrocon, July 4-7. and we’ll be bringing in big-name dealers like M&T Comics. His 18 years of dealing at Anthrocon was terminated by staff this year- but you can find Big Mike at Couchcon! Any artists who want a dealer’s table in Couchcon, get in touch.

Miss the lines- don’t miss the fun.

See you at Couchcon.

We’re amped to announce the latest comic to sign with Vivid Publishing-

Turn up Garage Band.

http://garageband.thecomicseries.com/

When I reviewed this submission, I immediately had flashbacks to Scott Pilgrim. Not identical, but it has the same punky vibe and graphic feel. Garage Band takes a gritty look at growing up in middle America, and at the core of the colorful style is a raw authenticity that makes me eager for the next issue.

Helmed by Jason D. with the first comic illustrated by Pyanny https://www.deviantart.com/pyanny and colored by Riana Dorsey https://www.rianadorsey.com/.

Looking forward to following this series, and bringing you quality hard copies after the sound-check.

Skirmish: The High Ground

Sage standing tall on a card in Igrath's deck- the mechanic behind this one is fantastic, giving the Igrath unassailable dominion in one of the lanes of play. https://www.dreamkeeperscomic.com/skirmish.html A crate of Skirmish will be unlocked for sale during our test for Couchcon, running April 12-15! Details coming soon.

The new vote incentive is a bit more spicy: http://topwebcomics.com/vote/25545 But I do like last week's! Mace in graphite looking out at a horizon of possibilities. Thanks to folks voting, we've gone from zero, to joining the top 100, into the 60's!

Unmet desires are in the crosshairs.

Readers periodically come to me interested in new shirt & merchandise designs- but I never find the time to draw them.

I’d also love to create the occasional short Dreamkeepers animation, though I can never quite justify spending time.

Plus there’s concept art & lore that would be great to see- a page of springer gun designs, sports logos for the district fallguard teams, all kinds of stuff.

But even if I had the time, what would readers want me to tackle first?

Then I realized, I make time every month for extra art- the Sketch of the Month. So if we gear that towards official Vivid content, everything levels up. More of the official merchandise, concepts, and animations we’d like best.

So Sketch of the Month is evolving to an even more powerful form- now it’s the Vivid Monthly Poll.

To help guide the Vivid Monthly Poll, we’re also forming an exclusive new Discord room, the Drawing Board. The Drawing Board is a creative panel focused on generating the best, most engaging merchandising choices for the franchise.

Current Mastermind backers (From Patreon and Dark Market) have been invited to join. We’ll sound out the Drawing Board for feedback and input on apparel, toys, games, animations, and other enticing possibilities. I don’t often announce flaming piles of ‘maybe’ in public. But in a smaller group, we’ll be free to share productive brainstorms and hone Vivid’s endeavors.

We’ll be actively curating the Drawing Board to ensure it remains an effective and task-oriented room. While Masterminds will be invited initially, we’ll be making judgement calls as we go to ensure we get the best team possible for the job. Nothing personal to those screened out, it’s about the work. Full criteria will be shared with Board Members prior to admission.

Here’s the new Vivid Monthly Poll format.

Mastermind backers will submit design ideas in any of the following categories:

Teepublic / Apparel art 1 second’s worth of Animation stage (rough, cleanup, and color are separate stages.) Concept / lore design Miscellaneous merchandise

Then the Patreon Commanding Vote backers will vote, and we’ll go to work on the readership’s top choice.

Thank you to the backers who make Dreamkeepers possible every day.

Together, the graphic novel series is just the beginning.

Each character deck in Skirmish features original illustrations, and here's one from Lilith's deck. Skirmish boxed sets are currently out of stock, but we will be cracking open a new crate during the first Couchcon this April. More about Skirmish: https://www.dreamkeeperscomic.com/skirmish.html And details for Couchcon coming soon.

Last week's vote incentive, a sketch desktop featuring Lilith.
A brand new vote incentive is live right now: http://topwebcomics.com/vote/25545 And straight from nothing, brand new account, Dreamkeepers is already in the TWC Top 100! Thank you to everyone voting, you're making a splash.

Which direction should Faction War go? The GMs have two options for you.

Because the dust has settled, and Goldenblood is over! Central City Authority players were able to secure victory in a three-way battle against Neon Knives and the Troika players.

The latest version of Faction War saw a range of weaponry, mounts, persuasion tactics, and terrain features deployed. Next game should allow for veteran and new players to join up & play- mods will announce when they’re kicking it off:

https://discordapp.com/invite/uD5AMRb

But first- thank you to the moderators who took on GM-ing responsibilities for the last half of Goldenblood. I had fun developing the Trinity system to this point, but lacking the time to participate with day-to-day gameplay, fine tuning is better left in the hands of capable veterans.

The Faction War mods have presented two pathways for game development:

One:

Add more detail to the game mechanics, and create a deeper roleplay experience. This would require more player time investment in learning the rules, and possibly limit the player count to more manageable group sizes.

Two:

Simplify the mechanics to create more of an interactive board-game experience. It would be easier for new players to jump in, and require less investment to participate, possibly accommodating a larger group. Mechanics would be robust, but the trade off would be mechanical nuance and depth.

How to decide?

I think it’s your call. You folks will be the ones playing, let’s ensure you get the experience you’d like best.

So, fire up that clicker, and vote in our poll!

Should Faction War veer more towards a deep roleplay experience, or towards an interactive competitive board-game experience?

Vote here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/25435300

And after you vote, jump into the Discord and meet some friends. https://discordapp.com/invite/uD5AMRb Contact mods with your own suggestions, and help plan the next scenario.

Faction War mods, get in touch with me any time you need to signal boost an announcement. Now everyone behave, and watch out for NPCs.

For reference, existing Faction War game system:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wGyAQ8AnTLG3DRJ7nPY4xFW0z8l4dCTQTXSMIPrOX5c/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wLBlZH-O3mukpjcW22c9dSjeYsJaugIrFbZeuvbawFY/edit?usp=sharing

Sparks kicking up between Vanth and Harmony in this week's Prelude update.
https://www.dreamkeeperscomic.com/Prelude.php?pg=434

Android users, click the link on that page for a free smartphone reading app! Enjoy Dreamkeepers comics outside the social media shoutosphere. And if you like new free wallpapers, hit us for the new vote incentive: http://topwebcomics.com/vote/25545

Heads up to present & future Patreon / Dark Market backers, an announcement is coming soon!

We’ll share something nice for you to download, as well as a few tweaks to the Tiers. Should result in more fun & content for all.

And while we’re here, quick update about Dark Market.

In addition to Zero Strings, Subscribestar, and Bitcoin, Dreamkeepers can now accept backers in New Project 2, the Patreon alternative created by the legendary Dick Masterson.

We’re happy to bring you art & fun, whichever platform you prefer! Links below:

https://www.patreon.com/Dreamkeepers http://www.darkmarketcrypto.com/

Remember Top Webcomics? We just did!

It’s been so long, I couldn’t access our old account- so brand spankin’ new, starting from zero, we’re back in action.

Each week this month, fresh Dreamkeepers art is packaged into a new desktop for you: http://topwebcomics.com/vote/25545

I’m genuinely curious to see if we can even make the board starting from nothing. Let’s see what clicks, and meanwhile, enjoy the new art!

This week it’s Lilith.

6 foot by 6 foot mashup of Dreamkeepers, Skirmish, and Wayward Astronomer. Geo's taking it on the road! Catch his updated convention lineup on our news page: https://www.dreamkeeperscomic.com/News.html

And if you love the solid reassurance of hard-copies in your life, hit the new Vivid store: https://vivid-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/ Everything except Skirmish is in stock.

The Starfall offers a view of Anduruna like no other. Illustration of the cast during their Volume 2 wilderness adventure, featured in the back of the Volume 1 backer's edition.
Both books in-stock in the shiny new Vivid store: https://bit.ly/2tJwcwP

It's been forever since we had vote incentives- so long, in fact, I had to start our Topwebcomics account up from scratch!
Can Dreamkeepers hit the top 100 starting from absolute zero?
I don't know, but you can absolutely snag a new desktop here: http://topwebcomics.com/vote/25545 I enjoyed working in graphite on this series of desktops, really gives it a tactile traditional feel.

This week's Prelude update- Vanth hits paydirt! Also the world needs more maps in it. https://www.dreamkeeperscomic.com/Prelude.php?pg=433

Sendin' Namah out to spread the good word:  All her books are back in stock in the new Vivid store.  https://vivid-publishing.mybigcommerce.com/