Sneak Peek at Paul S. Kemp’s Shadowrealm
By Matt-M-McElroy | May 9, 2008
When I interviewed Forgotten Realms author Paul S. Kemp recently he gave us the slightest tease regarding the upcoming Shadowrealm novel.
Now, he has offered up a snippet from the book for us to enjoy. Shadowrealm is book three of the Twilight War and is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.
Topics: Fiction | No Comments »
Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Hunters & Slayers)
By Matt-M-McElroy | May 9, 2008
Since we’ve started posting some teasers for the Hunter: the Vigil RPG this week I figured I would keep up with the theme and post about a few of the other monster hunter items that have caught my eye recently…
Comics, games supplements and fiction make up the mix this week…
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World of Darkness: Innocents Now Available
By Flames | May 8, 2008
The World of Darkness Through Innocent Eyes
Monsters don’t just lurk in remote forests, nightclubs, slums and the rooftops of the city. They’re in your neighborhood, watching you as you walk to school. They’re waiting for you in the woods behind your house as you and your friends build your fort. They’re under your bed.
Adults have learned to live in the World of Darkness by ignoring the supernatural, by pretending it isn’t there and going about the lives they have made for themselves. You don’t have that luxury. You see the world through a child’s eyes, and that means you haven’t learned to look away.
Topics: Horror News | 1 Comment »
Midnight Alley Fiction Review
By Flames | May 8, 2008
In the third installment of the ongoing “Morganville Vampires” series, not-quite-seventeen year old Claire has opened a whole new can of worms: she’s agreed to work for the Founder, Amelie, an ancient vampire who has, for some reason been sticking up for her since she came to Morganville. It seems a simple enough exchange at first: Protection (with a capital P) for herself and her friends by promising her obedience. Better yet, her first task is taking advanced classes, and she finds herself with a scholarship to boot. But not all of those classes are the safe, classroom kind: she has an independent study with Myrnin, an old vampire who is brilliant, but seems on the edge of losing it.
Review by Alana Abott
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New Trail of Cthulhu Releases
By Matt-M-McElroy | May 7, 2008
The folks over at Pelgrane Press have been busy with all kinds of new Trail of Cthulhu updates.
Over at RPGNow you can scoop up the Trail of Cthulhu Player’s Guide for $10.95. This slimmed down volume contains everything you need to play in the game. Of course, your GM should probably have the complete book, which is available at Indie Press Revolution (in a mix of options, including bundle deals) and in eBook format at RPGNow.com.
Topics: Horror News | No Comments »
Witch Fire (Elemental Witches, Book 1) Review
By Flames | May 7, 2008
The line between good and evil is clearly drawn in the first Elemental Witches novel. Coven = good. Duskoff Cabal = evil. Mira Hoskins doesn’t know she’s an air witch until there’s a home invasion, where she’s rescued/kidnapped by fire witch Jack McAllister who claims he’s hiding her away for her own good. Jack trains Mira to use her magick until the time comes to move to the Coven in Chicago.
Review by Tez Miller
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Hunter: the Vigil “Light in Shadows”
By Matt-M-McElroy | May 6, 2008
The theme for White Wolf’s new game, Hunter: the Vigil is “Light in Shadows” and this theme is well presented in the advance materials I’ve seen already…
Candles give way to torches, to cells who band together in localized organizations. They pool resources. They provide moral support. They present a more unified front against the denizens of darkness.
And torches give way to raging bonfires as those organizations grow outward globally and backward through time. Ancient groups and modern agencies supply their hunters with potent weapons, some of which are so strange that those who use them can only wonder how
long they can truly maintain their own humanity.
This theme continues throughout the text. Individual Hunters acting as a point of light, driving back the shadows. Together that light shines brighter, those shadows retreat or are destroyed outright by the fire. Still, those shadows never go quietly and there are always more of them creeping their way into the world.
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Gen Con Gears Up for Best Four Days In Gaming
By Flames | May 6, 2008
The countdown has begun and gaming enthusiasts all across the country are planning their annual trek to Indianapolis in anticipation of what gamers everywhere know to be as The Best Four Days in Gaming. With 91,000 turnstile attendees, Gen Con Indy is understandably the place where consumers and the industry come together to see and play all that is gaming. For the sixth year in a row, the event will be held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, taking place August 14 through 17.
Topics: Horror News | No Comments »
Pre-Order Blood of the Dead by A.P. Fuchs
By Flames | May 6, 2008
“Blood of the Dead isn’t what you think it is. Sure—it starts out as a zombie jamboree that drags you through Hell on Earth, but then it goes further . . . a lot further . . . and takes you straight to Hell and back again. This is the stuff of nightmares, boys and girls, with some unnerving and frightening action scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat and haunt your dreams.”
- Rick Hautala, author of The Wildman and Occasional Demons
Pre-Order Blood of the Dead at Horror-Mall.com.
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Hidden Fiction Review
By Flames | May 6, 2008
In 2037 there will be an outbreak (a plague, maybe) that kills a whole lot of people. Don’t say I never warned you.
Excluding the prologue, this novel takes place in 2093. The world is now divided into four parts: the Northern Waste, the Equatorial Band, Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. Born in a laboratory in the icy Northern Waste, Tatiana is now free. But there’s something seriously screwed with her genes, clearly evident when she slices off a bloke’s hand with no weapons other than her own hands.
Review by Tez Miller.
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Pre-Order Houses of the Blooded at IPR!
By Flames | May 5, 2008
The new game by the Origins Award-winning author of Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea!
Ambition. Lust. Revenge. You cannot have one without the others.
Thousands of years ago, the ven ruled the world. They were a passionate people, obsessed with Romance and Revenge, opera and theater, and all the forbidden delights their decadent culture provided. In the end, that which made them beautiful was also the key to their own destruction. Houses of the Blooded is a game about tragic obsession. Set in the fantastic world of ven myth and legend, players take the roles of powerful characters bent on conquering their world, destroying their enemies and possessing all they desire.
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The Resurrectionists RPG Review
By Flames | May 5, 2008
It is curious that Vampire adventures seem to be particularly susceptible to this kind of role-playing when the rules-givers at White Wolf are forever bringing out new rules constraining vampire characters to behave in certain ways and to react to each other based on templates relating to membership of different social organizations and family structures. This seems to be rather un-American to me – no wonder there are so many foreigners in the World of Darkness. Europeans, for example, with their dastardly class-based societies and ability to speak languages. Rafael Pope, a central figure in this adventure, for example, is described as ‘a tall European man, probably Italian.’ Not Scandinavian, then or Slavic or Gaelic. In any case, obviously someone to be watched and subject to the vampiric versions of phone-tapping and having to take his shoes off before being allowed on an aeroplane.
Review by John Walsh
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THUNDER AND ASHES (aka ‘Plague of the Dead 2′) by Z.A. Recht is out now!
By Flames | May 3, 2008
The Morningstar Saga continues in Thunder and Ashes…
A lot can change in three months: wars can be decided, nations can be forged… or entire species can be brought to the brink of annihilation. The Morningstar Virus, an incredibly virulent disease, has swept the face of the planet, infecting billions. Its hosts rampage, attacking anything that remains uninfected. Even death can’t stop the virus, which reanimates its victims as cannibalistic shamblers.
Thunder and Ashes is now available at Amazon.com and Horror Mall.
Topics: Horror News | No Comments »
Postmortem Studios - 100 Dark Places
By Flames | May 3, 2008
Postmortem Studios is proud to present the latest in the ‘100′ series of generic sourcebooks, ‘100 Dark Places‘.
Following on from 100 Planets, 100 Dark Places details a hundred different horror locations, the terrible things that dwell within each one of them and a handful of adventure seeds to get the Gamesmaster’s mind ticking over. Just what you need to kickstart your imagination or to come up with an adventure or campaign for modern horror on short notice.
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Grimm Tales from Nox Arcana
By Flames | May 2, 2008
Once Upon A Time…
Enter the Realm of Fable, where goblins, elves and sylvan spirits dwell in the deepest shadows of the forest beneath the wicked Witch Queen’s spell of eternal darkness.
Nox Arcana invites you to immerse yourself in a haunting soundscape of bewitching melodies, eerie sound effects and pulse-pounding orchestrations as you explore an enchanted land of dark fairy tales and childhood nightmares.
Pre-Order Grimm Tales at Amazon.com
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Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Animated Heroes)
By Matt-M-McElroy | May 2, 2008
This week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews list is going to be a little different…
We talk about a lot of great Horror & Dark Fantasy books, games and other entertainment on Flames Rising and often have suggestions of where to get these great items. This week we’re going to take a look at a few of these online stores and hit the highlights of what makes each of them work for fans of horror…
Topics: Flash Fire Mini-Reviews | No Comments »
Pre-Order Lords of Summer
By Matt-M-McElroy | May 1, 2008
Lords of Summer is a Character Book for Changeling: The Lost
Swear again your allegiance to your Court
take up your knight’s banner and badge once more
The ties between us shall be renewed, and the old oaths fulfilled
We all stand together in summer, the season of war
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The Host Fiction Review
By Flames | May 1, 2008
Welcome to the future, where souls have the options of many planets and species to inhabit. The souls have invaded Earth, creating a utopian society where violence doesn’t happen and money is not an issue. Wanderer is inserted into host Melanie Stryder, after a mighty struggle to avoid the souls. Usually the host fades, though their body is well and truly active controlled by the soul. Mel remains fighting furious, but to reach common goals she has to work together and get along with Wanderer, nicknamed Wanda.
Review by Tez Miller
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True20 Cthulhu Sourcebooks from RDP!
By Flames | April 30, 2008
The contracts are signed in blood, the sacrifices have been made, and mighty Cthulhu has bestowed his blessings. Reality Deviant Publications is happy to announce we are the newest Chaosium licensee! RDP will focus on support of the True20 game system by bringing fans of all things Cthulhu outstanding game supplements which bring H.P. Lovecraft’s deliciously maddening Mythos to life!
“I am so excited about this agreement with the fine people at Chaosium,” said David Jarvis, president of RDP. “I’ve always wanted the chance to write and develop gaming material based on H.P. Lovecraft’s works. To be officially allowed to add our own pages to his legacy is a privilege, one which we don’t take lightly. Fans of True20 and Call of Cthulhu won’t be dissapointed.”
Topics: Horror News | 1 Comment »
The Dead Girls’ Dance Fiction Review
By Flames | April 30, 2008
The Dead Girls’ Dance is not a stand-alone novel. A reader new to the series (like me) can figure out what’s going on with no problem–but the story doesn’t begin here. Nor does it end here. The conclusion leads straight into Morganville Vampires Book Three (which I’ll be reviewing in the near future). Claire has to choose how best to deal with being wanted by vampires, and how best to gain the protection she and her friends desperately need to survive–how she makes that decision and the consequences of her choice are likely to be the plot of the third entry in the series. As a series book, the story is compelling, the characters sympathetic (even some of the villains), and the world that Caine has drawn is easy to sink into, if not pleasant. Her world is one where monsters aren’t just vampires, but humans, where it’s not safe to be out after dark, and where demons lay in wait in dark alleys.
Review by Alana Abbott
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