Ghorüm ~ Rev. Dr. E. Z. Willman

As a core-group playtester of Shard/Dárdünah over the last decade and a half I have devoted countless hours of enjoyment to the game. From it's earliest incarnation using the HERO system under it's creator Aaron De Orive, to it's adoption of White Wolf's Storyteller system during the latter '90s, to it's complete overhaul into a proprietary system in the beginning of the 21st century by Scott Jones, it has evolved into what in my opinion is the best martial arts fighting rules-system in any Pen and Paper RPG on the market.

I was a practioner of the martial arts myself in the 90s and posses an experienced working understanding of the theory and practice of martial arts. I also possess an extensive personal library of works on the subject of Martial Arts, it's history, it's legends and myths, and it's practical application.

I have played and Gamemastered over 20 different pen and paper RPG systmes including AD&D, Second Edition D&D, D&D 3.0 and 3.5, Chaosium's Stormbringer and Call of Cthulhu, Palladium Game's Robotech, Rifts, Paranoia and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. R. Talsorian Game's Mekton, Mekton Zeta, Mekton Zeta Plus and Cyberpunk, Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy, Hero Game's Champions, Hero System and Fantasy Hero, TSR's Gamma World and Boot Hill, White Wolf Game's Vampire, Changeling, Werewolf and Mage as well as their lesser known Ars Magica, Twilight 2000, Traveller, BattleDroids, BattleTech, MechWarrior and maybe one or two others I am forgetting.

I have watched well over 1000 martial arts films and owned over 600 on VHS and DVD and am currently in contact with several current practitioners and instructors of various Martial Arts in Texas and California. I like to hope that htis exposure to the Martial Arts and Role Playing Game systems qualifies me to write on the subject with some small level of knowledge, but please take anything I say as merely an educated opinion or statement of personal experience as opposed to any sort of authoritative statement. I do not possess a black belt in any martial art, nor have I ever published my own role-playing game.

That all having been said, I am hoping to gather other like-minded enthusiasts of Shard and Wúxia-genre martial arts stories together to collaborate on a book i hope to submit for consideration as an authorized Shard Supplement Book in the future. I am the creator of the Heaven's Sword, Demon Storm, Shard Storm and Archer's Way martial styles from the upcoming Magic and Martial Arts book and view the role playing of martial arts heroes with the kind of love and devotion to the concept that you normally find only in hyper-enthusiasts like Trekkies.