Thunderhead Gaming
So, Who or What is Thunderhead Gaming?
In 1976, Thunderhead founder Dan Jones and his family discovered role-playing games in the form of the D&D Whitebox edition. Soon after, friends and extended family were joining in the regular group at the Jones household. Through organizations like Metro Detroit Gamers and the Order of Leibowitz, they quickly became connected to a growing and thriving gaming community in the Southeast Michigan area. After attending numerous conventions and spending time at the Detroit Gaming Center on Cass and Willis, the Jones family began to discuss the idea of a gaming center. Not just a hobby shop or retail store with a few tables for gaming. Why couldn't there be a place were gamers could stop by anytime and get into a game and hangout with others that shared the same interests?
Thunderhead Gaming Center was born. Opening in Novi, Michigan, in 1980, it occupied a house that was zoned for retail. With five rooms dedicated to gaming, Thunderhead had the community of a convention and the feel of spending time at a friend's house for a game. Friendships were forged, while new games were tried and tested. Eventually, though, the amount of time and effort to keep the center going lead the Jones family to close it. Such was the impact of Thunderhead Gaming Center, that a group of members formed the Thunderhead Gaming Society and kept the community going for years after the center actually closed.
Flash forward to 2012, when the third generation of Jones family gamers wanted to renew the family business. Instead of opening a gaming center, though, this time they would use almost four decades and three generations of gaming experience to publish their own game system and materials. First and foremost, though, they are gamers, so for the next two years, they put together and polished a system that was designed to achieve their wishlist for a game. Thunderhead Gaming was founded in the summer of 2014, with grandson Paul Jones taking the helm, and the Netherstorm Role-playing Game was released in fall of the same year.
Netherstorm is just the beginning. Having released one adventure module for 5th Editon with Skirmisher Publishing, and two more on the way, we have only gotten started.
