Jeremy L. C. Jones recently had the chance to talk to Monica Valentinelli about her role as editor of HAUNTED: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, the collection of ghost stories that we published late last year.

Bullet-riddled Etherometers, EMF detectors, tasers, and inconclusive footage of the spooky sort… Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, edited by Monica Valentinelli, features original stories by Alex Bledsoe, Richard Dansky, Jess Hartley, Jason Sizemore, Chuck Wendig, and six other writers. While there are plenty of ghosts, poltergeists, and the supernatural unknown, the stories in Haunted focus, primarily, on the ghost hunters, chasers, or investigators.

Appropriately enough, the collection kicks off with an overview of ghost hunting (and the culture surrounding it) written by veteran hunter, Jaeson K. Jrakman, who describes the collection as containing “spine-tingling stories of phantom horrors lurking in the shadows of long-forgotten abandonments.”

In her editor’s afterword, Valentinelli aptly compares reading the anthology to “meandering into a haunted mansion,” each story a new thrill, a new corpse or growing puddle of blood.

Monica Valentinelli is a writer and game designer who has worked with Eden Studios, Abstract Nova Entertainment, and White Wolf Publishing, among others. She’s written non-fiction for Apex Magazine and Green Ronin Publishing. She writes regular columns for Geek’s Dream Girl and the How to Write Shop.

Her fiction ranges from short stories to novellas. Publications have appeared (or will appear) in Tales of the Seven Dogs, White Wolf Quarterly, Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas, Daily Bites of Flesh: 365 Days of Flash Fiction, The Zombie Feed, Vol. 1, Apexology: Science Fiction and Fantasy, and New Hero Anthology (forthcoming). Valentinelli’s e-book, The Queen of Crows, is available from DriveThruFiction.com now.

This winter and fall, respectively, Valentinelli edited Slices of Fate: The Collected Works of Eddy Webb and Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror, both from FR Press.

Below, Valentinelli and I talk about editing, ghosts, and what scares her most.

What do you enjoy about editing?

I like to edit from time to time because it forces me to exercise a different part of my brain than I normally would. When I’m writing, I’m down in the trenches trying to meet a set of guidelines or my own expectations for what that story or game should be. When I’m editing, the opposite is the case. Editing reinforces my ability to empathize with people who edit all day, all the time. It’s not easy to comment on someone else’s work.

What sort of editor are you–hands on, hands off, something else all together?

It depends on the project and how it’s set up from the beginning. Some projects require me to be hands on if there are time constraints or strict guidelines that have to be followed. Other times? The onus is on the writer to fit whatever guidelines are on the page. If at all possible, I would prefer to be hands off because I’d rather be a cheerleader than an ogre.

On the page or screen, what sort of ghost story scares you the most?

In recent memory, the scariest ghost stories are the fatalistic tales where there is no chance to “save” the ghost and send them on or the more open-ended constructs where that experience can never end. There are some fantastic films from the Far East that highlight the non-redemptive ghost. Ju-On, Kairo, Dark Water. Most of these have been remade for an American audience and they still hold their appeal for me because the stories are more focused on dealing with the horror than rescuing a spirit.

Are ghosts real?

I’ve had many strange experiences in my life that I can’t rationally explain. This helps me sleep at night because it means there’s another mystery left to explore. My world holds much wonder in it. Is it possible that ghosts exist? Yes. After all, energy cannot be created or destroyed. Am I certain without a cliché shadow of a doubt? No.

How did Haunted come about?

Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror was the brainchild of the publisher Matt M. McElroy. He wanted to do an anthology that was more focused on the people hunting ghosts than the monsters themselves.

Was it open submission or by invitation?

Matt decided to do an invitation only for the anthology because he had a select group of authors in mind he knew would do a fantastic job.

What strategy did you use to organize the stories?

I read them out loud and balanced them based on theme, literary structure, and setting. “What’s the Frequency, Francis?” which was written by Alex Bledsoe opens the anthology because it shifts from present to the distant past and back to the present again. My goal was to keep readers turning the page and to make that happen I wanted the stories to flow from one to the other. Where the story took place was just as important as how it was written.

For example, two stories, “We Need Johnny” by Chuck Wendig and “After Life” Nancy O. Green were written in a more experimental fashion. I decided to put the less-experimental story first to help transition the reader and then followed up with a story by Jason L Blair called “It Happened In The Woods At Night,” which he penned in a three-act structure.

Were there any pleasant surprises in terms of connections between stories?

I was surprised to see that the majority (if not all) of these stories are tried and true Americana. While there are a few tales that introduce the question of mistaken identity (e.g. Is this entity really a ghost?) the majority of the ghost’s origins are Western and all the stories take place in the continental United States.

Have you ever been ghost hunting?

Don’t need to. They usually find me.

How did you meet Jaeson K. Jrakman?

I first met Jaeson at a small convention in Milwaukee several years back where he was giving a talk on ghost hunting. As luck would have it, I sent him a lead on a case someone else had alerted me to. Jaeson is a very rational person. That’s one of the reasons why I think he’s a good representation of a serious ghost hunter who wants to prove ghosts exist using science.

What’s next for you? As an editor? As a writer? As a designer?

Not so much as an editor, but as a line developer — which, in my opinion, employs a very similar skillset to what an editor does. And… that hasn’t been announced yet, so never you mind there.

As a writer? I’ve got a few short stories brewing and I’ll be gearing up for the release of Redwing’s Gambit, a science fiction novella for the Bulldogs! RPG. As a designer, Strange, Dead Love, a paranormal romance sourcebook for Vampire: the Requiem recently debuted and I’m also working on [redacted] for White Wolf, too.

There’s always another story to tell and another setting to explore. It keeps me out of trouble!

Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror and other FR press titles are available now at DriveThruFiction.com.

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1. Haunted Reviews and an Award!
2. Haunted: Black Friday Special Offer!
3. New Chapters Available Now at Monica Valentinelli’s Violet War Website!

MAKESHIFT MIRACLE is the hit comic from UDON Entertainment and creators Jim Zub and Shun Hong Chan! The first eagerly-anticipated collection arrives in May as a beautiful high quality hardcover graphic novel with a durable library-quality binding, perfect for teen readers and manga fans alike!

Makeshift Miracle is a new publishing initiative for UDON, best known for their licensed comics, manga, and art books. A completely original story, Makeshift Miracle has been serialized online at Makeshiftmiracle.com to an audience of more than 30,000 visitors since its launch! A steadily growing audience of fans of the work are building up intense interest for this title’s print release, with a built-in fanbase on the launch day!

“The online serialization has been a great way for us to get in touch with new readers and engage a wider audience before the book arrives,” says Erik Ko, head of UDON. “Readers, reviewers and librarians have had a chance to read a bit more of the story each week and see the beautiful art and story Hong and Jim have put together.”

Makeshift Miracle’s fable-like coming of age story focuses on Colby Reynolds, a disaffected teen left on his own for the first time. After an unusual, carefree girl named Iris comes literally crashing into his life, he discovers that she has strange powers and brings magic and menace in her wake! To protect her, Colby must avoid a enter a realm of dream and imagination, where nothing – not even his own sense of self – is what it first appears to be.

“The web-sized images we’ve posted online are great, but they don’t hold a candle to the lush new hardcover graphic novel edition,” says author Jim Zub. “Shun’s incredible atmospheric watercolors have to be seen up close to be believed, and we’ve filled out the hardcover with a dozen pages of new art and background sketches, and even a sneak-peak at volume 2! It’s going to be an amazing package.”

Makeshift Miracle Book 1: The Girl From Nowhere will premiere at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival May 5-6 (Torontocomics.com) before finding wide-release across North America on May 8th from finer comic shops and bookstores.

You can also check out the first two chapters of Makeshift Miracle at DriveThruComics.com!

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ReedPOP, creators and organizers of the New York Comic Con (NYCC), the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), as well as other major events in the popular culture world, and Nerdist Industries, a multi-platform creator of genre and pop culture content, have today announced a continuation and formalization of a relationship that successfully began at NYCC in 2011 with the launch of the exclusive WHITE SPACE B2B conference. This new alliance provides for a wide range of strategic and cross-promotional activities that include Nerdist interviews with ReedPOP guests and a prominent role for Chris Hardwick, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Nerdist Industries, at ReedPOP shows. Hardwick, host of AMC’s Talking Dead as well as Nerdist specials for BBC America, founded Nerdist in 2008 and has nurtured its growth into a multimedia name now spanning blogs, a podcast, television, web-video, live-events and print. Chris will be a leading personality at NYCC, C2E2 and other ReedPOP events.

Nerdist Industries will have a presence on the floor of ReedPOP shows and will be significantly featured in several panels at these same events. Hardwick hosted The Avengers and The Walking Dead panels at NYCC in 2011, and he will emcee similar marquee content in 2012. In addition, Nerdist and ReedPOP will continue to work together to create another WHITE SPACE B2B conference this year as well as develop several live-events, tapings and podcasts at various ReedPOP shows.

“As another nerd leading a group of nerds creating nerd-centric events, I could not be more excited to welcome Chris Hardwick and Nerdist Industries to join forces with ReedPOP,” notes Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for ReedPOP. “Our goal is to deliver great shows for our fans, but we also want to communicate the excitement, innovation and essential inner nerdiness of the pop culture spectrum to the world at large. This partnership with Nerdist Industries is a win-win, providing both like-minded organizations solid ways to amplify what we do through collaborating on new opportunities for our fans, our customers and ourselves. We’re both forces in the pop culture world, and we’re eager to see what amazing things we can accomplish together. I look forward to working with Chris and everyone at Nerdist Industries to make this a great continuing relationship.”

“I am THRILLED to be working with ReedPOP in an official capacity. I attended C2E2 last year, and, while still a young event, I was amazed at how well-organized and fan-friendly it was. Between C2E2, New York Comic Con and ReedPOP’s other events, this partnership makes all the sense in the world for Nerdist Industries. I know this because were we to not be in business with ReedPOP, I’d still be attending these events as a fan,” Hardwick said.

As noted, Hardwick’s first appearance on behalf of the joint promotional relationship with ReedPOP will be at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) which will take place April 13 – 15, 2012 in the North Building of McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL. He is scheduled to appear as emcee for special events on Friday, April 13, and he will also be available for a public autographing session. Specific details of his participation at the show will be posted in the near future on the C2E2 website. Hardwick will then present a live podcast from Chicago’s Vic Theatre on Friday night. Other guests who will be participating in C2E2 include Anthony Daniels, David Finch, Josh Gates, Adam Hughes and Joe Kubert. Many more guest announcements will be made in the coming weeks. For further information about these guests as well as purchasing tickets, please visit www.C2E2.com. For more on Nerdist Industries, visit www.Nerdist.com.

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Merchant princes and trader kings, masters of jade and emperor thieves; salesmen born with the trick of selling fire to the gods; genius tacticians and profiteers, hailed by the Fair Folk for their treachery; the Guild is the greatest roll of mortal merchants the world has ever known. For seven centuries the Guild has dealt in coins, chains, spells, and souls, confounding even the might of the Realm—what will it buy and sell to secure its survival in the Time of Tumult? Will the Exalted become its partners, its masters, or its pawns?

This book includes:

• An examination of the Guild by Direction, from the mammoth caravans of the North to the great merchant fleets of the West.
• Details of the Guild’s commerce with the supernatural, from the hungry Fair Folk to the restless ghosts of the Timeless Order of Manacle and Coin.
• The Creation-Ruling Mandate, a new system for telling large-scale stories of economics, empire, and warfare.

Masters of Jade is available now in PDF and Print formats at DriveThruRPG.com!

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The design essay series continues with Matthew McFarland telling us about Dust to Dust, a new story supplement for Vampire: the Masquerade from White Wolf. Dust to Dust is a story supplement using the Storytelling Adventure System designed for use with Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition, and it acts as a spiritual successor to the classic story Ashes to Ashes.

Dust to Dust: Dirty Secrets

Probably more dramatic than absolutely necessary, but hey. You’re reading it now.

Dust to Dust wasn’t the hardest scenario I’ve ever had to write (that’d be “To Grandmother’s House” for Nights of Prophecy), but it certainly presented some strange challenges. The biggest and most obvious one, of course, was that I hadn’t touched Vampire: The Masquerade since 2004 or so (probably longer, since I think the last Masquerade material I wrote was for the Vampire Players Guide (well, other than the Vampire Translation Guide). The differences between Masquerade and Requiem are real (though much subtler than, say, the differences between the versions of Werewolf or Changeling) and I’d been working with Requiem and the rest of the new World of Darkness for six years. Getting myself back into an old — sorry, “classic” — World of Darkness headspace was harder than I expected.

And, to be honest, I resented that I had to do it at all.

When the 20th Anniversary Edition of Vampire was announced, I was thrilled. Not because I wanted to run right out and scoop up a copy — I didn’t have any plans to run Masquerade or any classic World of Darkness game. But I thought it was a cool idea, a great way to mark how far White Wolf had come and rekindle some of the fire that fans felt for such an influential game. Hearing about the Onyx Path, though, kind of annoyed me. I was afraid that White Wolf was backpedaling, like maybe the occasional Internet chatter (“NWoD sucks! OWoD is better! NWoD doesn’t sell — I was totally in my FLGS the other day and there were NO NWOD books at all! I talk mostly in letters!”) was getting to them. And honestly, too much blood, sweat and tears went into the new World of Darkness, in my opinion, for White Wolf to just give up.

But then I had a conversation with Eddy Webb at Origins (I think — maybe GenCon?) that set me straight. Eddy said that, in analyzing the sales, Requiem and Masquerade were selling about equally well. There was a fanbase for both games. They didn’t have compete.

We didn’t have to choose.

I often tell my daughter, “if someone offers you a choice of two things that you like, the correct answer is both.” Vampire just nicely underlined that.

So once I kind of got over myself, working Dust to Dust was a lot easier. At that point, all I had to do was write a Vampire scenario based on a 20-year-old supplement using mechanics, tone and metaplot with which I was largely unfamiliar. As they say on the Internet, facepalm. Dave Martin and the Wrecking Crew were nice enough to give me an outline to work from. The outline was pretty basic; it just suggested keeping Juggler and Modius (and Allicia, whom I wound up cutting), using Sullivan Dane as an antagonist, and raised the possibility of the “jar of ashes that turns out to be an elder Samedi” as a Macguffin, which I thought was just too cool to ignore.

I was thrilled to see Dane mentioned. I love Sullivan Dane. I used him in a lot of my old World of Darkness games, though I don’t remember him ever actually fighting characters, even in Vampire games. He was one of the first in a long series of Storyteller characters who were nominally antagonistic, but were too well-realized and useful to just kill (plus, my players really enjoyed the accent I used when playing him). He shows up in the very first thing I ever wrote for White Wolf (Giovanni Chronicles IV: Nuovo Malattia), just for a cameo, and I knew I wanted him in Dust to Dust in the same capacity I’d always used him: the unspoken threat. The guy had True Faith 8 in his original presentation, for crying out loud, if he wants a vampire dead, it’s dead. Even with the Faith rules cleaned up a bit for V20, Dane is a badass. The suggestion in the outline was for him to become blood-addicted, but that didn’t make any sense (again, True Faith). If Dane had fallen far enough to become a ghoul, the story would have to be about him to make any sense, and I didn’t want to do that.

So at that point I knew I wanted to use Dane, that I really liked the notion of a dormant elder Samedi in ash form, and that I had to make some kind of use of Gary’s political structure as presented in Vampire: The Masquerade and Ashes to Ashes. This isn’t an easy starting point. Political scenarios are hard to write, because they’re boring to read. Heck, opinion is sorely divided, in my experience, as to whether they’re any fun to play (my own opinion is yes, they can be fun to play if you have a group of players that favors dialog and improvises well, but if your players would rather go see supernatural craziness or have bloody brawls in alleys, politics is a poor substitute). And the other problem with political Vampire scenarios is that they’re slow. I needed a sense of immediacy.

From that need was born the theme that Gary is dying, and the characters aren’t fighting over a vibrant city so much as trying to use every part of the beast, so to speak. I tried to think like a vampire — vampires don’t care whether the city thrives, but they do want people to be in the city, so how to get them there? By increasing traffic, and then feeding off that traffic. The actual residents of the city are incidental.

That conflict let me rope in Modius and Juggler, but I needed, I felt, a good way to bring in my dusty old elder Samedi. Plus I wanted something more overtly supernatural. The notion of a city dying made me think of the idea that cities have souls and identities (very true in the World of Darkness, which is kind of animistic), and so if a city has a soul, it can have a ghost and thus be affected by necromancy, right? I have a soft spot for the Giovanni. I ran the first Giovanni Chronicles for my friends when I was in college, and it was a really awesome experience. I know the clan has some wonkiness about it (really, what in Masquerade doesn’t?), but the fusion of the Mafia and necromancy always seemed really cool. So I fused it with a slick, Los Angeles movie producer would be a good front for a Giovanni. I had her working on a zombie movie, complete with a zombie walk, because I wanted to highlight what vampires have become in the 20 years since Masquerade. Interesting, they’ve become something that the Camarilla might like — they’re sympathetic, non-threatening romantic figures. Sure, we get some threatening or dangerous bloodsuckers here and there (Colin Farrell in the recent remake of Fright Night, I thought, was pretty damned creepy, and though I haven’t watched much True Blood, I think there’s some good inspiration there), but for the most part, mention “vampire” to people nowadays and one of the first things that comes to mind is “sparkle.”

So maybe vampires aren’t relevant anymore? Maybe, as a monster, they’ve been usurped by their dumber, lurching cousins, the zombies? I didn’t want to make it an overt theme of Dust to Dust, but I did want the hint there that, perhaps, it’s time for the vampires to pass the torch. (Do note, though, that the scene following the zombie walk is Jean Lisle bursting out of his prison and killing everyone in the area, which I think is my answer to the question of whether vampires aren’t relevant anymore.)

I recognize that Dust to Dust is busy. Going through it again now, I’m thinking maybe I put a bit too much in the stew. But honestly, that was deliberate — Dust to Dust was meant to be, as the outline from the Wrecking Crew said, a sandbox. A troupe isn’t going to get through it in one session, not if they want to experience everything in it (this is why, when run at the Grand Masquerade, certain elements tended to get excised — I think Dane, sadly, was one of them). I’m happy with the way it turned out, though. As I was writing it, I found my mind separating Requiem (which I’d been running for several months at that point) and Masquerade, and thinking back to the games of Masquerade I ran before the end of the original World of Darkness. I think Dust to Dust is pretty representative of Masquerade rather than Requiem, and that, I think, was really the biggest challenge of the assignment.

Matthew McFarland – 2012

Dust to Dust is available now in PDF and Print editions at the Flames Rising Shop.

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1. Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition
2. Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead Review
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Imagine: A fantasy world, but not one based on Medieval/Dark Ages European culture and myth, but rather on the tropes of the Spaghetti Western and Chinese Wuxia. Add steampunk elements. Mix well.

A fantasy world that mixes the inspirations of Django and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon… The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and House of Flying Daggers… Fistful of Dollars and Fist of Legend.

A fantasy world that’s explored through a book series, a constantly-updated website, a tabletop role-playing game, comics, artwork, webseries and much, much, more.

This is FAR WEST.

Tales of the Far West is the first book in Adamant Entertainment’s Wuxia-Western mash-up, featuring a dozen all-new tales written by critically-acclaimed and award-winning fantasy, science-fiction, horror and adventure authors, including:

“He Built The Wall To Knock It Down” by Scott Lynch: A master teaches an unforgettable lesson in the pursuit of excellence in all things.

“In Stillness, Music” by Aaron Rosenberg: A wandering musician is all that stands between a village and a cattle baron.

“Riding The Thunderbird” by Chuck Wendig: A herd of giant, flightless birds, a young girl, and a sudden lesson.

“Purity of Purpose” by Gareth-Michael Skarka: Who seeks the secret of the Unsurpassed Weapons?

“Paper Lotus” by Tessa Gratton: A strange girl tasks a wounded man to deliver a crucial message.

“In the Name of the Empire” by Eddy Webb: A sheriff is charged with the murder of an Imperial Magistrate.

“Errant Eagles” by Will Hindmarch: A gunslinger faces the consequences of his past.

“Railroad Spikes” by Ari Marmell: A bandit finds that he’s robbed the wrong train.

“The Fury Pact” by Matt Forbeck: An inventor’s son faces the responsibility of his name.

“Seven Holes” by T.S. Luikart: An apprentice learns the true nature of demons.

“Local Legend” by Jason L. Blair: Red Phoenix was dead, and the bounty hunter tells the tale.

“Crippled Avengers” by Dave Gross: A band of fighters seek to take revenge on the steam baron who crippled them.

Tales of the Far West is available now in eBook format(s) at DriveThruFiction.com! For one low price you get the ePub, Mobi/Kindle and PDF formats of this awesome collection!

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After a year of intensive development, the small indie team of Red Wasp Design have announced that their anticipated title, Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land has launched on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The game is a turn-based strategy RPG inspired by the works of cult horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and developed in co-operation with Chaosium, the publishers of the cult horror role playing game, Call of Cthulhu.

The game is now out on iTunes and is a universal iOS app so the same game works for iPhone and iPod Touch both SD & HD and for iPad, and carries graphics optimised for each of those platforms. It is priced $4.99, £2.99 & €3.99 for the full universal app. The game’s designer, Tomas Rawlings said, “We’ve put a vast amount of our time, energy and ideas into this game over the last year. It’s been a long journey for us because we want to get it right. We’re not a huge studio, but I hope that fellow gamers will appreciate what we’ve achieved with The Wasted Land.”

The game features nine 3D levels set in the trenches of World War One. The player controls a team of up to six investigators charged with uncovering a deadly inhuman conspiracy underlying the clash of empires of the Great War. Barbed wire, mustard gas and machines guns will prove to be the least dangerous thing that the investigators will encounter as they venture out into no-man’s land to solve the mystery of the Wasted Land. As the game progresses, the player can build up the skills, weapons and equipment of the team to suit their playing style. As well as the physical danger, the investigators must guard their sanity against the myriad horrors that threaten to destroy it.

To stay in touch with the developers and get updates on the game, help and strategy guides and more you may want to connect to Red Wasp Design on Facebook, Twitter (@redwaspdesign) and on their site at redwaspdesign.com.

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In the near future, on the western coast city of New Metropolis, an evil that has lain dormant for centuries is about to be awakened to the 21st century. Forces of darkness and magic strive to unleash a horror upon the Earth unlike any mankind can remember. The only forces capable of stopping it are rendered impotent by an age-old fear and hatred. Will humanity set aside their differences and stand as one against the darkness? Or will this be humanity’s Final Twilight?

Trinity, the first series, follows a trio of souls whose fates are intertwined. Mark Jarus, the last classically trained mage, fights the good fight as a vigilante in city overrun by crime! Kerra Neil, a young woman and skilled hunter stalking the shadows for murderers and magic-using blights upon humanity! And the enigmatic Charles Faust, whose cool and calm demeanor belie a centuries old heart of darkness and unnatural lust for power!

Final Twilight is an urban-fantasy expandable card game. In it, players take on the role of characters, modern knights and mages, dueling in the shadows, carrying on a war that has lasted for centuries! Players construct their own decks with characters from the setting, each with their own skills, powers, and tactics, in a wide assortment of cards, competing to take back the night or to claim it for themselves!

Final Twilight is NOT a Collectable Card Game! Each series allows players to select just what they want and not buy another thing! Trinity opens with a 2-player starter kit and from there players can purchase Expansion Packs, containing four copies, the playable limit, of an array of cards suited to that theme. Build any deck you can imagine quickly and easily from your own collection or share your collection and duel with friends!

Game Play

Players construct decks around the major characters featured in Final Twilight’s storylines. These characters determine the powers, abilities, and cards the player can utilize. Game play takes place within the city of New Metropolis with a series of Location cards, set up at the start of the game as a game board. Cards are played at a given Location as both players navigate the city in search of their opponent for a final showdown.

Cards are played using a pair of resources: Money, for “real world” allies, effects, and abilities; and Moren, a mage’s life force, for special powers, supernatural creatures and effects, and more. Players start with a base amount and grow and weaken as they play cards and abilities and win and lose in combat.

Combat is performed with a die roll. Modifiers from weapons, armors, ancient devices, and more influence the outcome. Each player tallies their totals and compares results; the winner is the one who deals damage, not just an “attacker”, making combat risky and uncertain and giving even “weak” characters a fighting chance.

The winner is the last player left standing: players who run out of Moren (life) lose, as do players who exhaust their deck of cards. Additional play-modes allow groups of four to play teams or even allows one player to go solo against an opposing character!

Download an Introduction at RPGNow.com!

Find out more about Final Twilight at Kickstarter.com:

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3. The Final Kill

Figure the English Civil War is all about dashing Cavaliers and dour Roundheads? Think again…

Solaris is proud to announce it has acquired Gideon’s Angel by Clifford Beal, due for publication in 2013, which takes the seemingly familiar history of the mid 17th Century but introduces an infernal plot that makes this much more than just a history lesson!

Described as The Day of the Jackal meets The Devil Rides Out, this swashbuckling historical fantasy set in the aftermath of the terrible English Civil War sees science and alchemy as strange bedfellows with witchcraft and magic.

An epic adventure in the tradition of Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane, it is set in England in 1653. Colonel Richard Treadwell, an exiled Royalist officer in the service of Cardinal Mazarin, returns home in secret from France on a self-appointed mission to assassinate Oliver Cromwell, now king in all but name. He quickly learns however, that his is not the only plot in motion.

A secret army run by a deluded Puritan is bent on the same quest, guided by the Devil’s hand. When demonic entities are summoned, Treadwell finds himself in a desperate turnaround: he must save Cromwell to save England from a literal descent into hell. But can he convince the man sent to forcibly bring him back to the Cardinal? A young king’s musketeer named d’Artagnan.

“Not only is Clifford’s novel a rip-roaring blood and thunder horror fantasy,” said Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief of Solaris, “it is also a brilliant historical thriller. His sense of history and depth of narrative really transports you deep into a post-civil war London. It’s always a real joy to discover an accomplished debut novelist, and I know that Gideon’s Angel is really going to make its mark on the genre.”

About the Author
Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Clifford Beal is an award-winning journalist and the former Editor of the authoritative London-based international news magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly. He worked as a defence journalist for over 20 years in both the US and the UK before he began writing books.

Beal is the author of Quelch’s Gold, the true story of a little-known but remarkable Anglo-American pirate of the 18th century who was the first man to be tried in a British Admiralty court outside of England (Praeger Books, 2007).

And writing realistic sword fighting scenes in fiction is second nature to Beal. He began medieval style armoured combat at the age of 17 in the US and later, in the mid-1990s, he organised a group of friends to begin the practical study of renaissance rapier and dagger techniques. This became the Sussex Rapier Society and is now the Sussex Sword Academy in Brighton. Gideon’s Angel is his debut novel.

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The author behind Abaddon’s fastest-selling title of 2011 is set to return with a follow-up novella and a brand new series.

Abaddon is delighted to announce that Chuck Wendig has signed up to write an ebook sequel to the popular Double Dead, as well as create a brand new series for Abaddon in 2013.

An October 2011 release from Abaddon, Double Dead was Wendig’s first original novel and became the fastest-selling Abaddon title to date, with a particularly strong showing as an ebook.

The freshest take on the undead for years, Double Dead saw the vampire Coburn awaken during the zombie apocalypse, only to realise that if he wants to survive he has to protect his food source from the undead hordes.

Now Wendig is set to return to the world of Coburn later this year with Double Dead: Bad Blood, an ebook-only novella sequel. It will be released on May 14th on all e-platforms.

Wendig is also working on an exciting new urban fantasy series for Abaddon Books, bringing gods and monsters onto the city streets in a thrilling new-take on classic genre tropes. The first in this new series is due for release in 2013.

With his prominent online presence, including his popular blog TerribleMinds.com on which he is not afraid to give his opinions on the process of writing and the industry at large.

“It’s wonderful to be welcoming Chuck back to the Abaddon team,” said Jon Oliver, editor-in-chief of Abaddon Books. “He’s certainly one of the most exciting new writers around and Chuck is going to build on the success of Double Dead while bringing a brand new series to Abaddon.”

“The vampire Coburn kicked his way out of my skull and onto the pages of Double Dead,” said Wendig, “so it’s great to be revisiting that cantankerous old bloodsucker. And I’m utterly geeked to be working with Abaddon to help birth this brand new series of gods and monsters.”

Related posts:

1. Preview of Chuck Wendig’s Double Dead

Find out more about SOPA and PIPA:

Sopablackout.org/learnmore

Fightforthefuture.org/pipa

Money.cnn.com/2012/01/16/technology/sopa_wikipedia/index.htm

News.yahoo.com/reddit-admins-announce-january-18-blackout-protest-sopa-062713699.html

NYTimes.com/2012/01/18/technology/web-wide-protest-over-two-antipiracy-bills.html

Flames Rising will resume our regular schedule tomorrow with new Horror & Dark Fantasy Reviews, News and other goodies. In the meantime read more at the links above and spread the word.

-Matt M McElroy

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The zombie apocalypse is here. This is what happens next.

Zombies walk the earth and a father finds food for his daughter in the wasteland. A gun travels from hand to hand. Teenagers make out in a barn while zombies rise outside, and a woman deals with the most important third-date question. Stories of suspense, horror, adventure, and romance meet in this anthology of short fiction.

Gimme Shelter features all-new fiction from Filamena Young, Jared Axelrod, PJ Schnyder, Christiana Ellis, Peter Woodworth, Tee Morris, Mur Lafferty, Rob Wieland, David A. Hill Jr., Phillipa Ballentine, Chuck Wendig, and JR Blackwell.

The zombies are coming…find shelter where you can…

Gimme Shelter is available now at DriveThruFiction.com.

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The design essay series continue here at Flames Rising with a new entry from author Edward McKeown telling about his novel Was Once a Hero.

Reluctant privateer Robert Fenaday searches the stars for his lost love, Lisa, a naval intelligence officer whose ship disappeared near the end of the Conchirri War . He’s joined by the genetically engineered assassin, Shasti Rainhell, whose cold perfection masks her dark past. Both are blackmailed by government spymaster, Mandela, into a suicidal mission to the doomed planet Enshar. Leading a team of scientists and soldiers, they must unravel the mystery of that planet’s death before an ancient force reaches out to claim their lives.

Was Once a Hero

Once upon a time there was a science-fiction fan who loved Andre Norton, CJ Cherryh, Larry Niven, Mike Resnick, Catherine Asaro and many others. He gathered their adventures to him and traveled the star lanes with their characters. But something was missing, a connection that had not been made. Then he realized what it was, however wonderful their visions were, there were THEIR visions, not his. He wondered if he could bring his visions to life.

Well I’m that fan and from the day I realized that I have been practicing and growing in my craft in the art of writing. I began with a blizzard of short stories from what came to be the Lair of the Lesbian Love Goddess series then the Jeremy Leclerc Knight Templar series.

But the novel beckoned and unlike my other efforts it called out to be a story of deep space, of aliens, starships, artificial intelligences and deadly danger. In short I wanted to do what I thought of as a “Planet Story” creating new cultures, worlds and species.

Too many characters in science-fiction are too heroic, too unafraid, and too matter-of-fact about danger. Those of us who have faced danger and triumphed over it usually did it either with our hearts in our mouths, fighting to overcome fear, or it was over so fast that we didn’t have time for panic. There are surely people of steely nerves and endless reserves of courage (check your local Seal Team) but they are not common. Most of us struggle to find courage and apply it. So I decided that my character would be a man, drawn from a more ordinary life, no Captain Kirk, no Captain Sheridan, but someone more like one of us.

This came out of knowing some World War II vets, genial men in the sunsets of their lives, many who seemed like they would not harm a fly. Yet these were the amtrac gunners at Tarawa, the crew in the B-17 from the mighty Eighth, the marine crouching in the darkness at the edge of Henderson Field when the banzai charges came in. But that geniality masked the fact that we ordinary MEN man are capable of deeds that scar the soul. However gentle and kind we are to friends and family, in the right situation we can be the instruments of immense destruction. So this would be a theme that I would explore in my book.

“Was Once a Hero” was born. I introduced Robert Fenaday, the son of a wealthy merchant family, something of an idle playboy in a family business. My character would be flawed, dealing with a domineering father, having not made anything of himself until he found the love of his life, Lisa Brenton, a Confederate Naval Intelligence Operative. The romance is threatened when the Conchirri, a carnivorous alien species bursts into the hitherto peaceful Confederation of Seven Species. Lisa, now his wife, is called to war and Robert stays to run the family shipping line in a reversal of the usual roles. She is James Bond and he is the one left behind. Then Lisa’s ship is reported missing.

This is the seachange for Robert; he will not accept that the universe can dispose of Lisa. He sells off his family business over much opposition and buys a captured enemy warship he names Sidhe, to become a privateer and search the stars for Lisa. But Fenaday is not fitted to the murky and dangerous world he now inhabits. He survives only because of a chance meeting. In the course of his searches, he rescues Shasti Rainhell, genetically engineered assassin. As cold and beautiful as February moonlight, Shasti is stronger and more perfect than humanly possible. Fascinated by his search for his wife, and hiding from her own past, Shasti serves on Sidhe, keeping the privateer crew in line.

The war ends without any sign of Lisa and Fenaday ends up broke on Mars desperately looking for a commission for his ship to continue his search. It comes in an unusual form. He and Shasti are blackmailed by government operative named “Mandela” into a suicidal mission to the murdered world of Enshar, accompanied by ace fighter pilot, Telisan, and the ancient Enshari scholar, Belwin Duna. Leading their crew of privateers and government soldiers, they struggle to unravel the mystery of a world’s death. In the crucible of battle and terror, Fenaday and Shasti Rainhell are driven across barriers both had set in their lives and into a new and deeper relationship.

Was once a Hero is the first of three novels on Robert Fenaday’s search for his wife, and his companion and sometime lover, Shasti Rainhell’s search for her humanity. The trilogy is written so the reader can pick up any of the three books and have a complete SF adventure in hand, yet all three books form an arc on the overstory of Robert’s search for Lisa and Shasti’s emotional voyage of self-discovery.

In writing what I hoped would be a page-turning adventure novel, things turned out somewhat differently then I envisioned at the beginning. Shasti Rainhell was the chief surprise. I originally created that character because I realized that someone from the “corporate world” wouldn’t last long on his own in the quasi-criminal trade of a privateer. He would need someone to watch his back while he learned this new role. I decided to go with a strong female character because the interactions between men and women are vastly more interesting and complex then those just between men. I wanted my female character to be totally believable in her role. Shasti became a six-foot-nine genetically engineered assassin far stronger than a “standard” human with abilities both mental and physical that made her incredibly formidable.

But Shasti would not stay a sidekick, or merely a hired gun. She was so strong that her past began to sneak into the book, her escape from her creator Jalgren Pard, from her homeworld of Olympia, her emotional scars from her childhood. She saw in Fenaday a determined love and gentleness that she had never experienced before. This fascination became the foundation of their relationship.

Ok you may have noticed that we stopped talking about starships and aliens and began talking about love. While Hero is primarily an adventure story, love too is an adventure.

I populated my book with a crew of characters, always careful to make sure that the secondary characters stayed secondary but interesting. Telisan, the ace-pilot from a species with three genders, the kindly Duna, scientist and scholar of the few remaining Enshari, Kyle Mmok the acerbic robot controller and many others. I wrote with a strong visual sensibility as that’s what I like to read, I need to see the movie play in my head.

So in the end I produced what I feel is a strong adventure where sometimes the air is filled with the flash of energy weapons as deadly enemies close in and sometimes two people cling to each other to banish the universe’s terrors with the strength of their emotions. I hope you will join me for the voyages of Robert Fenaday, Shasti Rainhell and the Sidhe, available through Hellfire Publishing with an introduction by Janet Morris of “Heroes in Hell” fame.

See you around the galaxy,

Edward McKeown – 2012

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Star of SyFy’s Destination Truth is First Entertainment Guest Announced for Annual Midwest Pop Culture Convention

Organizers of the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) have today announced that Josh Gates will appear at the annual pop culture convention where he will be the focus of a high profile panel and will also do a signing. Known as the “face of SyFy”, Gates is well-recognized as the host of the hit travel-adventure series, Destination Truth, a huge sensation which has garnered considerable attention and publicity, including an interview for Gates on The Today Show. Gates’ reputation as a pre-eminent Monster Hunter was firmly established when, on the season premiere of season two of Destination Truth, he and his team uncovered a series of footprints high in the Himalayas in search of evidence of the Yeti. Josh also hosts SyFy’s Ghost Hunters Halloween Live and other special events for the channel throughout the year and he has written Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter which was published by Gallery Books in October, 2011.

The Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo will take place April 13 – 15, 2012 in the North Building at the McCormick Place Convention Center.

Convention officials note that one of their main programming objectives is to provide a diverse range of panels by featuring guests from many walks of life with varied backgrounds, interests and accomplishments. “We look for guests who contribute to the growth and evolution of pop culture in its many forms,” notes Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for ReedPOP and Show Manager for C2E2. “Josh Gates is a great example of someone from the entertainment world who also has a huge following in the pop culture arena. We are pleased and grateful that he has agreed to come to our show and I know our fans will be very eager to meet him.”

C2E2 programming officials have also announced (12/14/11) that comic legend Joe Kubert will be a “Spotlight” Guest at this year’s convention. It will be Mr. Kubert’s first appearance at C2E2. More guest announcements will be made in the coming months. For further information about C2E2 and for purchasing tickets please visit www.c2e2.com.

ABOUT JOSH GATES:
World adventurer (and international monster hunter) Josh Gates has careened through nearly 100 countries, investigating frightening myths, chilling cryptozoological legends, and terrifying paranormal phenomena. Known as “the face of Syfy,” Josh is the host of the hit travel-adventure series, Destination Truth. In addition, Josh hosts Ghost Hunters Halloween Live and other special events for the channel throughout the year.

His travels have taken him to some of the most remote and treacherous locations on earth, from a terrifying night alone in King Tut’s tomb to the radioactive shadow of Chernobyl. An avid scuba diver, Josh has participated in sub-sea archaeological excavations in the Mediterranean, and as a photographer, he’s traveled from sweltering African villages to the icy heights of the Himalayas. In addition, he has scaled “the roof of Africa” on Mt. Kilimanjaro, climbed on Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Americas, and sailed to the shores of Antarctica at the bottom of the world.

In recognition of his adventures and work around the globe, Josh was recently inducted into the prestigious Explorers Club in New York. Josh holds degrees in archaeology and drama from Tufts University and is available for appearances and speaking engagements around the world.

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Vampire: The Masquerade exploded into hobby games in 1991 and inspired a generation of fans of which the game industry had never seen before or since. The cultural significance Vampire left on not just the gaming world but on modern vampire-related pop culture can be seen and felt at virtually every turn and in every medium today. Vampire: The Masquerade – 20th Anniversary Edition brings the entire World of Darkness experience full circle and will serve as the perfect anniversary milestone to celebrate two decades of gaming after dark. This is the original Masquerade in all its glory, and our way of saying thank you and welcome home.

Vampire: The Masquerade – 20th Anniversary Edition has been added to the Now in Print program at DriveThruRPG and has three different print options to chose from. They are Softcover Black & White, Hardcover Black & White or a 2 Volume Full Color set. Here are some photos of the books:

Here is a look at the Two Volume Full Color set:

An interior look at Volume One:

Volume One ends on page 255 and Volume Two picks up from there. So, regardless of whether you are reading the PDF, the Limited Edition or this Now in Print edition all the page numbers are the same. If you need to look up a Discipline or some other rule it will be found on the same page. The reason there are two volumes is the print partner for DriveThruRPG’s Now in Print program has a limit on page count for full color hardcover books and V20 jumps past that by almost 50 pages.

Here is an interior shot of the Softcover Black & White edition:

DriveThruRPG’s print partner does not do full bleed on black and white books so there is a small white border around the edges of the pages on the black & white editions of V20 (and any other b&w Now in Print titles). Since most Vampire: the Masquerade books were in black & white for most fo the game’s publication life, this isn’t a huge deal. It is noticeable if you are looking for it, but otherwise shouldn’t affect anyone’s use of the books.

Vampire: The Masquerade – 20th Anniversary Edition was not the only White Wolf book to get added to the Now in Print program recently. Here are several more classic World of Darkness titles that are now available in print format once more:

Caine’s Chosen: The Black Hand
Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy
Blood Sacrifice: The Thaumaturgy Companion
Cairo by Night
Havens of the Damned
Counsel of Primogen
Children of the Night
State of Grace
World of Darkness: Mafia
Rage Across Egypt
World of Darkness: Time of Judgment
Apocalypse (Werewolf ToJ book)
Tribebook: Silent Striders (Revised)
Kindred of the East
Kindred of the East Companion
Dharma Book: Resplendent Cranes
Dharma Book: Thousand Whispers
Dharma Book: Bone Flowers
Dharma Book: Devil-Tigers
Dharma Book: Thrashing Dragons
Hunter: the Reckoning
Hunter: Players Guide
Hunter Book: Wayward
Demon: the Fallen
Initiates of the Art

The new World of Darkness has a few new print titles as well.

Goblin Markets, a Changeling: the Lost supplement which was PDF only is now available in softcover.

Vampire: the Requiem and Mage: the Awakening each have brand new books released in both PDF and Print formats simultaneously. For Vampire there is Strange, Dead Love, which was co-written by Flames Rising Project Manager Monica Valentinelli and is available now. The Mage title is the highly anticipated Imperial Mysteries.

You can check out all of the currently available White Wolf Now in Print titles for the World of Darkness, Exalted, Scion and more at DriveThruRPG.com.

Update!

Some people were asking for more photos of the Now in Print editions of V20, so…

Spines of my Grand Masquerade copy, Full Color Volume One and Two, the Black & White Hardcover, Black & White Softcover:

Page 135 from Full Color Volume One next to page 135 from Black & White Softcover:

Toreador from the Black & White Hardcover:

Chapter Four from the Black & White Hardcover:

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1. Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition Review
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3. Announcing the Vampire: the Masquerade Retrospective and Open Call

Available at Amazon.com

After I received an advanced copy of Ty Schwamberger’s novella The Fields, I turned the first pages and immediately began reading kudos by notable authors and magazines such as Gary A. Braunbeck and Shroud Magazine. I never judge a book by its cover, but I do start judging books by their praise. And with an introduction by Jonathan Maberry (Rot and Ruin, Patient Zero), I was excited to start reading.

Jonathan Maberry starts off his introduction stating “The Fields is a morality tale. With Zombies.” Maberry then explains to the reader that zombie tales are more than cannibalistic and mindless corpses. These tales, if written with feelings and responsibility, remind the reader zombies are people and they have life and their own stories. This is what Ty Schwamberger accomplishes with The Fields. He, as many authors have tried but failed, brings out the emotion of the characters but not just the living, but the dead also with much success.

The opening chapter sets The Fields pace; quick with that sense of emotion that is mentioned in Maberry’s introduction. The reader is drawn in as Billy Fletcher, son of plantation owner in the Deep South, is racing through the darkness with zombie in tow. Schwamberger describes Billy’s friendly relationship with the former slave now turned zombie Samuel. Yes, that could happen and yes, if you’ve studied American history, friendly relationship between slaves and owners did indeed exist. With not giving away too much of the plot, Billy survives the zombie encounter.

The novella moves on to an odd and unexpected meeting between Billy and a man named Abraham, a long since forgotten friend of Billy’s deceased and “hard son-of-a-gun” father. The plantation is in dire straits and Abraham promises Billy that with help, the plantation can once again be resurrected to its former glory, the days before the Civil war.

Unsure of Abraham’s motives, Billy keeps himself from revealing too much about the past few years of his life and about his father’s death until Abraham’s cryptic mannerisms gets the best of Billy. Billy then explains the past years and again, Abraham offers help. This help is sinister. To transform the plantation back its glory days involves exhuming the dead slaves from the plantation cemetery to revivify the slaves and the plantation.

Billy scoffs. But by the end of the day, he is overcome by exhaustion by tending to the tobacco fields and the livestock alone. He is clouded by flashbacks of his father’s brutality against the slaves. Billy relives moments of slaves being tied up and beaten. He even relives his own abuse by his father for simple mistakes such as arriving at school late.

The writing of the beatings is brilliant. The sounds of the whipping stick come to life through Schwamberger’s descriptive writing. The reader can nearly feel every whip and the pain that the slave and even Billy endure. More so, the reader is able to relate to Billy’s struggle for parental acceptance. Like many children today, Billy feels he hasn’t lived up to their parents’ expectations, especially his father’s.

And with another meeting with Abraham, Billy decides it’s time that he makes his deceased father proud of his son for the first time.

The pace of The Fields picks up from here. It was already fast-paced but now it’s an enjoyable and emotional rollercoaster. Billy knows he has to follow through with Abraham’s continuing offer of help, to exhume the dead slaves. What Billy will find out from Abraham though, it’s not the slaves or the plantation that Billy is truly resurrecting.

The chapters to follow describe the dead as they appear in old zombie movies from the 1940s and 1950s, mindless field workers who go about their work (ala White Zombie staring Bela Lugosi). Schwamberger even pays homage to the Haitian form of zombification, harmless zombies kept mindless in order for them to help their masters. This is where the originality comes in. Schwamberger doesn’t create typical flesh-eating zombies, he draws his influence from old school horror, a practice getting lost by today’s influence from AMC’s The Walking Dead and the George A. Romero generation. It’s Schwamberger’s ability to ignore the typical and easy copout of the modern zombies that leads to the surprise ending, which deserves its own praise. The reader will never see it coming.

The press release for The Fields, with its many well-know author kudos, is dead on with their praises. The Fields isn’t your average zombie tale. It’s much more. It’s a game changer. It delivers what the genre is suffering from, which is originality. It negates the typical overrun town and city streets of the gut-thirsty walking dead so typical of the majority of novels, novellas, and anthologies. The Fields brings emotion, ignites the need for unity, highlights the important struggle of family responsibility and above all, brings fun back into the zombie genre. Schwamberger also reminds us; the dead have a story to tell and to live.

Review by Howard Allan

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Double 2011 Origins Award Winner Licenses Eisner-Nominated Comic Book

Evil Hat Productions, LLC, today announced an agreement to produce, publish, and distribute a role-playing game based on the Eisner-nominated Atomic Robo comic book. The Atomic Robo RPG will be co-written by Atomic Robo scribe Brian Clevinger and Kerberos Club: Fate Edition author Mike Olson, creator of the Strange Fate version of the Fate engine.

“I’m such a big fan of the world Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener create in every page of Atomic Robo,” said Fred Hicks of Evil Hat. “When I found out they were fans of role-playing games—including Evil Hat’s own Spirit of the Century—it was clear we had a giant-sized opportunity that had to be pursued.”

With The Atomic Robo RPG, Evil Hat will build on the legacy of Fate games like Spirit of the Century and The Dresden Files RPG—together with the ideas of Evil Hat’s upcoming Fate Core project and Mike Olson’s Strange Fate work. The stand-alone game will deliver a fast-paced and fast-to-play role-playing experience focused on the themes of Atomic Robo—action-science, robots, angry talking dinosaurs, high weirdness, and more.

“Brian and I are lifelong RPG nerds, I mean enthusiasts, and we could not be more excited to partner with Evil Hat and Mike Olson to bring readers even closer to the world of Atomic Robo,” said Scott Wegener. “There’s over a century of adventure in our comic book, but we can only show you guys slices of the whole picture. This game opens up so many opportunities to play with that world, its history, the weird unexplored corners, and the might-have-beens,” added Brian Clevinger.

The Atomic Robo RPG begins development in late February of 2012. “We’d love to get The Atomic Robo RPG out in 2012, and if everything comes together fast and smooth we might just manage that,” said Hicks. “But as with all licensed projects at Evil Hat, we want to take our time to make sure we serve the license and the fans well. Thankfully, Brian and Scott have the same opinion, here. The Atomic Robo RPG that we release will be the best one we can possibly make, period—and that may take us into 2013.”

For more information about Evil Hat Productions, the Fate system, Spirit of the Century, and the Dresden Files RPG, visit www.evilhat.com. For more information about Atomic Robo, visit www.atomic-robo.com. Atomic Robo is published by Red 5 Comics, available at www.red5comics.com and in comic stores everywhere. Kerberos Club: Fate Edition is published by Arc Dream Publishing, www.arcdream.com.

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Wizards of the Coast has announced a new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons RPG:

Charting the Course for D&D: Your Voice, Your Game

Mike Mearls says:

As you may have read in the New York Times, it’s an exciting time for Dungeons & Dragons. We are happy to announce today that we are developing the next iteration of D&D, and will be looking to the legions of D&D fans to help shape the future of the game along with us.

Our mission is to ensure that D&D enters its next 40 years as a vibrant, growing, and exciting game. By listening to the needs of the D&D community, we can meet this goal. As part of our increased efforts to engage with the player-base, we launched a series of weekly articles in early 2011, including Rule of Three and Legends & Lore, to give you a voice in our work. We’ve listened to both praise and criticism from all D&D fans, regardless of their edition of choice, and we’ll continue to do so.

That is why we are excited to share with you that starting in Spring 2012, we will be taking this process one step further and conducting ongoing open playtests with the gaming community to gather feedback on the new iteration of the game as we develop it. With your feedback and involvement, we can make D&D better than ever. We seek to build a foundation for the long-term health and growth of D&D, one rooted in the vital traits that make D&D unique and special. We want a game that rises above differences of play styles, campaign settings, and editions, one that takes the fundamental essence of D&D and brings it to the forefront of the game. In short, we want a game that is as simple or complex as you please, its action focused on combat, intrigue, and exploration as you desire. We want a game that is unmistakably D&D, but one that can easily become your D&D, the game that you want to run and play.

Of special note is the “open playtesting” elements that are going to be included in this edition. Much like previous efforts from Paizo for Pathfinder and White Wolf with Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition, WotC will be actively engaging fans for feedback and playtesting of this new edition of D&D:

More from the announcement:

For that reason, we want your participation. The goals we have set for ourselves are by no means trivial or easy. By involving you in this process, we can build a set of D&D rules that incorporate the wants and desires of D&D gamers around the world. We want to create a flexible game, rich with options for players and DMs to embrace or reject as they see fit, a game that brings D&D fans together rather than serves as one more category to splinter us apart.

You can sign up now at the Dungeons & Dragons website to be notified when the playtesting begins. In the meantime, you can share your opinions, talk with other gamers and stay in touch with D&D game designers by joining the official group page at http://community.wizards.com/dndnext.

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The Flames Rising Shop at RPGNow has over 20 games for $12 Each! A New Year is the perfect time to try a new game, so check out these great deals now!

Get great deals from White Wolf, Archaia Entertainment, Pelgrane Press, Green Ronin, Eden Studios, Crafty Games, Cubicle 7 and more!

There are some amazing deals included in this promotion and this is the perfect chance to stock up on games you’ve always been curious about and didn’t pick up when they first launched such as Artesia: Adventures in the Known World or Dark Ages: Vampire. There are amazing deals on newer games as well, Spectrum Games’ Lovecraftian Macabre Tales and Pelgrane Press’ Ashen Stars are well worth picking up.

At $12 each, there are huge discounts on some of these core products and most of them have never been marked down this much, and are likely not going to be ever again. For example Legend of the Five Rings 4th Edition from AEG is $59.99 in print and normally sells for $35.99 in PDF, at $12 that is 65% off the already discounted PDF price! The Burning Empires RPG sells for $45 in print and $23.99 in PDF, so this is just about 50% off and this one is almost never on sale.

So, what are you waiting for? Stop by the New Year, New Game Sale today and get over 20 books for $12 each!

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2. New Games in the New Year at RPGNow
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Slices of Fate is a unique collection featuring the works of Eddy Webb. Stories within range from the author’s nod to literary tales as in his piece “A Sheepish Trip to Yorkshire” to his more speculative work such as “The Battlefield.”

Essays include a series on two of Webb’s oldest loves: wrestling and Sherlock Holmes. Combined with several pieces of microfiction, this debut collection is an in-depth representation of Eddy’s work over the course of several years.

“Enthusiastic, creative, honest, intelligent.” – Jason L Blair, from the introduction.

About Eddy Webb: Eddy Webb (with a “y,” thank you) is a writer, podcaster, game designer, and transmedia developer. Hired on with CCP/White Wolf in late 2007, he currently designs content for the World of Darkness MMO. He lives a sitcom life with his wife, his roommate, a supervillain cat, and two pug dogs. Eddy is the author of Mind’s Eye Theatre: The Awakening, Criminal Intent (Vampire: The Requiem) and New Wave Requiem for White Wolf.

Slices of Fate is available in PDF and Print formats at DriveThruFiction.com.

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