Flames Rising is pleased to announce the latest release in the Instant Antagonists line. The Creepy Cottontail author, Monica Valentinelli (and Flames Rising project Manager) shares some notes on the design and writing process that went into this product.

Having conducted a lot of occult research for my writing — both game-and-story-related — there’s a particular concept that always stands out in my mind. Performing a ritual (both real and/or imagined) is work, but the end result of that “job” doesn’t always yield the same results every time. Take a basic love potion for example. Do you have any idea how many different types of love potions there are? In many cases, not only do you have to get the ritual down pat, but you also have to worry about backlash, timing and the integrity of the materials. Even then, there’s no guarantee that magic will function the same way twice because there’s one-too-many factors that you cannot control.

The “cost” of doing magic is something I feel is often overlooked because some view it as an obstacle that gets in the way of a story or a game. I look at it as a characterization of a protagonist or… in this case… Instant Antagonist.

For those of you who love Vampire: the Masquerade as much as I do, you’re probably aware that its hitting a twenty year anniversary milestone this year. My old favorites like Gangrels and Toreadors were already on my mind — then I started re-reading Dork Tower.

And I groaned. A lot. Then smiled… Then secretly wished I, too, was headed to The Grand Masquerade.

Before I get to my experience reading Clanbook Perky, here’s the information on the sale:

All Dork Storm Press comics are twenty-five percent off through Friday, July 15th.

To celebrate the release of the upcoming video game, Top Cow Productions has drastically reduced prices on The Darkness comics at DriveThruComics.com. The sale ends on Friday, so if you’re interested in picking up either a single issue or a trade, you’ll want to take advantage of the sale. Prices on The Darkness comics normally range from $2.99 to $34.99, but in this sale you’ll be able to pick them up for almost half off the cover price.

White Wolf invites you to join them in celebrating a milestone in vampire mythology that changed modern vampire pop culture forever.

Since its 1991 debut, the cultural significance of Vampire: The Masquerade can be seen and felt at virtually every turn and in every medium today, not only on the gaming world but also on modern vampire mythos. The Vampire franchise has since grown into an unparalleled worldwide phenomenon that has inspired thousands of trading cards, hundreds of role playing game supplements, dozens of novels, two award-winning video games, and a cult television series.

Wizards of the Coast today announced the forthcoming launch of its new, highly anticipated Dungeons & Dragons board game, Conquest of Nerath, set for retail release on June 21, 2011. The Conquest of Nerath board game provides exciting game play for strategy gamers interested in exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons while offering current RPG players a whole new way to experience D&D. Conquest of Nerath is the third major D&D board game to be released following Castle of Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon.

The original standard for fantasy roleplaying is taking another step in its storied pop culture history as the Dalelands of the Forgotten Realms is brought to life for gamers and fantasy enthusiasts across the world. Atari, one of the world’s most recognized publishers and producers of interactive entertainment and Bedlam Games announced today the release of the highly anticipated Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale on Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC.

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale, a hack and slash action role playing game set in the deep mythology of the Forgotten Realms, is the first Dungeons & Dragons video game for connected consoles. Players are summoned by a mysterious mage and given the duty of defending their homeland as Rezlus, an evil Zhentarim Cleric looks to bring the power of the Black Lord Bane to Daggerdale. Restore order to the Dalelands by unlocking the secrets of the Mines of Tethyamar, defeating the evil within the treacherous Tower of the Void, leading to the final confrontation with Rezlus himself.

Do you have what it takes to be a Greek God or Goddess? If so, then Relativity Media – the studio behind the visually spectacular 3D action adventure Immortals – wants you to sign up right away! Exclusively offered via Facebook today, the Relativity-Archaia Immortals promotion sponsored by Fandango, the nation’s leading moviegoer destination, will crown the winners on July 1 with a king’s ransom-worth of prizes, including a grand prize where contest winners will be immortalized as graphic novel characters with the “reveal” taking place at the Archaia panel during Comic-Con in a special photo-op ceremony. Winners will also receive an all-expenses-paid trip to San Diego to attend the 2011 Comic-Con International. The package includes airfare, hotel accommodations, and exclusive access to special Immortals events throughout the convention.

RPGNow is having a huge contest going on now. Special judges include Fred Hicks, Eddy Ebb and John Wick!

You could win a ViewSonic gTablet, Gift Certificates to RPGNow and more!

The long-awaited GUMSHOE-in-Space is finally here. Ashen Stars is the newest and biggest GUMSHOE game from RPG legend Robin D Laws. Being GUMSHOE, it is flexible, you can play it as hard sci-fi, space opera or cyberpunk or anything in between.

Available as a pre-pre-order now direct through the Pelgrane Press Online Store. Those who order get a simple PDF now, exclusive fiction, and your name in the credits, and then get the final PDF and a signed and numbered copy on release.

FlamesRising.com is pleased to announce a new type of theme week for our readers. From Monday, May 2nd 2011 through Friday, May 6th 2011 we will highlight a specific publisher.

To launch our new theme week, we have chosen Pelgrane Press as our featured publisher. If you’ve been following our site, you may recall we have provided you with popular previews, interviews, reviews and articles in the past. Based on this publisher’s popularity in the hobby games industry and with horror fans like you, we felt Pelgrane Press was a worthy choice.

Not familiar with Pelgrane Press, its Gumshoe System and its recently announced Stone Skin Press fiction imprint? For starters, why not check out our Cthulhu Apocalypse: The Dead White World Preview, which is the first part of the highly anticipated Cthulhu Apocalypse series by Graham Walmsley. From there, we recommend reading our recent interview with Robin D. Laws, our interview with Ken Hite and our interview with composer James Semple.

For Trail of Cthulhu RPG fans, don’t forget to check out our FlamesRising.com exclusive. Robin Laws provided us with Inmates: A Campaign Frame.

Curious about the Gumshoe System? Want to play games like Trail of Cthulhu and Esoterrorists but haven’t had the cash? To celebrate our first-ever publisher theme week, Pelgrane Press is sponsoring a contest here on FlamesRising.com!

Comic book publisher Boom! Studios debuted a web exclusive for the brand new Hellraiser comic series, written by Clive Barker. Boom! celebrated the release by raising hell all over the blogosphere. They reached out to bloggers and reviewers by offering the short story and pages of the preview for free. Then, they highlighted each and every instance of the coverage on their Twitter, Facebook pages and blog.

We’ve included a page of this unique web exclusive at the bottom of our post to give you a feel for the artwork and tone. The short story prelude is entitled At the Tolling of the Bell and is downloadable via several sites including DreadCentral.com, which we’ve linked to here.

Sunday, March 20 marks the fifth anniversary of Open Design, a game company run under the patronage business model where gamers themselves can be a part of the design process. Here’s the blog post that started at all.

To celebrate 5 years, Open Design is running a sale at the KQ Store from Friday, March 18 through Thursday Mar 24. Our Kobold-in-Chief Wolfgang Baur says, “This sale is my way of thanking all of you for your support over the past five years. By definition, Open Design could only succeed with your participation. So to all the patrons who helped create our sourcebooks and adventures, and the folks who bought the finished products…thank you very, very much for this wonderful five-year ride. I look forward to continuing on with you to our glorious 10-year mark.”

CELEBRATE GMs! ANNUAL RPGNOW SALE!

Buy your favorite games or try new ones from Postmortem Studios, Cubicle 7, Galileo Games, Pelgrane Press, Pinnacle Entertainment, Adamant Entertainment, White Wolf Publishing, Evil Hat Productions, Green Ronin, Malhavoc Press and even Flames Rising Press, including the best-selling title The Queen of Crows.

Former Stoker Award-nominated editor Jason Sizemore compiles seventeen tasty, brainy morsels of zombie short fiction in The Zombie Feed: Volume 1.

Fast paced, yet thoughtful, The Zombie Feed: Volume I will sate your appetite… at least temporarily.

Apex Book Company, a small press publisher specializing in the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres, announced today that it has made a significant change to their monthly edition of Apex Magazine. Subscribers and single-issue purchasers will now get an exclusive first look at the stories and poems before anyone else.

Prior to January 2011, Apex Magazine was offered to both subscribers and non-subscribers alike. As of January 1st, the magazine, which is edited by Cat Valente, will no longer be offered for free on the publisher’s website until the next issue debuts.

Try a New Game in the New Year!

It’s 2011, and DriveThruRPG has 20 games on sale for only $11! The New Year is a great time to start a new campaign with friends, and DriveThruRPG is offering great deals in our “New Year, New Game” event.

New Year, New Game Sale at DriveThruRPG.com!

Apex Book Company, a small press publisher specializing in the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres, announced today that Dark Faith, a horror anthology edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, is their best-selling title of 2010.

To celebrate the success of Dark Faith, Apex Book Company is offering the e-book on sale at DriveThruHorror.com for $1.99, which is over fifty percent off the cover price.

Before you grab your shotgun and blast 2010 away, you might want to check out our hot news today. We’ve got fiery new releases, a few announcements and more hot, hot links to usher in the New Year.

Got something you want to throw on the fire next time? Send your dark and delectable links to via our contact the editors at FlamesRising.com page.

FlamesRising.com is pleased to present you with a look at how romance and zombies go together from paranormal romance author Lori Devoti.

This past year, Lori released Zombie Moon, which was published by Silhouette Nocturne. How do these unlikely elements go together? Read Lori’s thoughts and find out! If you enjoy reading paranormal romance, be sure to enter our contest for a free novel from this talented author, too.

The day after Thanksgiving can be a virtual nightmare for many shoppers, but yours doesn’t have to be.

We’ve made sure our Flames Rising RPGNow Sale is up-to-date and we’ve got a few other deals we recommend checking out. So grab your pen and pay attention!

This year’s deals are a little unusual because retailers have extended sale dates. Some sales, like Amazon’s Black Friday Deals are going on through the end of the week, so be sure to visit the sales page for details.