Ilona Andrews is probably best known for her Kate Daniels series, but she is also (along with husband and co-author Gordon) the author of a paranormal romance series about life on “the Edge,” a borderland between a world full of magic (the Weird) and our mundane reality (the Broken). (It should be noted that while I’m classifying the books as paranormal romance, due to the structure of each novel — the books each feature the love story of a couple who end up in a happily ever after at the conclusion — other reviewers have considered them “rustic fantasy” or “unclassifiable.” Thus, your mileage may vary.)

Edgers are a unique bunch, full of enough magic that they can pass between parallel worlds — usually. Some have too much magic to survive crossing into the Broken. Others don’t have enough magic to survive crossing into the Weird. Thus, the Edge is full of exiles, con artists, criminals, and people who are generally down on their luck. Those misfits make for compelling heroes, and with book three, the series has just started to hit its stride into an overarching plot, giving it a great potential to draw readers from beyond the paranormal romance readership.

On the Edge

When Rose graduated from high school, she made a mistake: at the party for all the Edger seniors graduating from Broken high school, Rose showed off the full extent of her magical talent. She flashed white — which means that she showed her magic was just as strong and skilled as the “bluebloods,” the nobles of the Weird. This made her a prize not only in the Edge, but also for prospective suitors (read: breeders) in the neighboring Weird. After attempts to kidnap and coerce her, Rose has given up on trusting anyone, and is focused on providing a home for her two younger brothers, George and Jack, with what little money she makes in the Broken. When Declan, a blueblood from the Weird, shows up on her door step, she thinks he’s just another source of trouble.

In fact, Declan and trouble show up in the Edge at the same time, but the real danger isn’t a blueblood interested in winning Rose’s hand, it’s a pack of evil, magic-eating hounds raised by a powerful magical artifact that has fallen into the wrong hands. Keeping her friends and family safe will take all of Rose’s magical talent — and will require her to put a little bit of faith in the mysterious blueblood. Unlike most paranormal romances, On the Edge never reveals Declan’s perspective, so while it’s no surprise that he’s the hero, his motivation is kept delightfully secret. The characters are fun, and Rose’s brothers feel like real children plagued by magical problems. The novel is a fun entry into a cool new world.

Bayou Moon

The second book in the series stars William, a changeling who shape shifts into a wolf, who was a pivotal secondary character in On the Edge. Raised in an orphanage and then a military boarding school that trained him to be a killer, William doesn’t believe he’ll ever be the type of man to have a family. He certainly doesn’t expect to get involved in a romance while he’s on a secret mission for the Mirror, the spies who work for the Weird kingdom of Adrianglia. Having been burned by the Adrianglian government once before, William isn’t eager to get involved, but the Mirror gives him the opportunity to hunt down a changeling butcher from the Dukedom of Louisiana, a monster named Spider who has literally traded his humanity for monstrous abilities. While William was in the Adrianglian military, he fought Spider twice before, failing to kill him both times, but surviving their encounters — a feat no other soldier or agent has matched.

The mission leads him to Cerise Mar, whose parents have been kidnapped by Spider and the Hand, the Dukedom of Louisiana’s secret service. Cerise and her family are fighters, descendants of exiles from the Dukedom of Louisiana and native magic users of the Mire, a swamp region where only the toughest can survive. Cerise practices an old form of swordplay — bending her flash around her sword blade to make it sharp enough to cut through any man or monster — that makes her almost as deadly as William.

The narrative switches perspectives to include both hero and heroine as they try to figure each other out — the more traditional paranormal romance style — but remains adventure (and horror) heavy for the genre. Spider and his minions are all modified by magic — some of them have tentacles, others have gills, and all of them are twisted beyond humanity into nightmarish creatures. But with heroes who are deadly — and who don’t mind killing when it’s called for — it’s good to have villains that are so utterly in need of killing.

Fate’s Edge

Book three ties together the first two novels by bringing Jack and George — now twelve and fourteen — back as major characters, while continuing the plot where Bayou Moon left off. The Hand and the Mirror remain engaged in their cold war, and the theft of an artifact from a neighboring nation sends both organizations scurrying to recover it. Kaldar, Cerise’s cousin and a scoundrel, is the Mirror agent sent to make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. When he finds the thief, Audrey, he discovers that not only is she amazingly gifted as a lockpick, but she’s completely uninterested in a life of crime and is determined to go straight with a job in the Broken. The theft of the artifact was her last job — one she did only to keep her father and brother out of trouble. Because she refused to take part in the hand off after the job was finished, Audrey had no idea of the object’s power, or that so many governments would want it back. If the Hand were to get the artifact, all of the Edge would be in danger, and Audrey’s guilt over her part in the theft makes her agree to join Kaldar in getting it back. Stowaways Jack and George also make their first attempts as agents for the Mirror, making the romance novel into a spy thriller and a coming of age story wrapped into one.

The stakes rise throughout the novel, pointing to coming war between Adrianglia and the Dukedom of Louisiana. With two years of time passing in the world between each book, it won’t take long until the two scene-stealing kids of On the Edge grow up enough for their own adventures. In the meantime, it will be a long wait for book four — especially since the release date has yet to be announced!

Review by Alana Abbott

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Second Attempt)

The Flash Fire Mini-Reviews series continues this week with some new comic reviews from Decapitated Dan! Dan takes a look at a selection of horror titles from Antarctic Press.

The Littlest Zombie vs. The Littlest Vampire

“It’s Tom & Jerry meets 28 Days Later as the Littlest Zombie and the Littlest Vampire fight tooth and nail, hand-to-detachable-hand for scant sustenance! Their quarry, the Littlest Survivor, must pull out every trick in the Apocalypse Survivor’s Handbook to keep his two supernatural stalkers at each other’s throats and off his!”

Dying Breath: 4.5 out of 5
It is officially time to begin the Littlest Brawl of the century! Ladies and gentlemen I have said time and time again that The Littlest Zombie is a book that should be on your reading list and this one proves why. Fred Perry bring to the dinner table two of the cutest little creatures that in reality you would want nowhere near you. The Vampire girl is hilarious and her dialogue proves why, brilliant job. As usual the must LZ plays a supporting role that is to die for, pun intended. The artwork is one point page after page. The ending with this issue does tell me more should be on the horizon so I can not wait! The LZ line of books are so good, so well done and this one is no exception. If I was reading this review I would have bought it by now. Great art, great writing and tons of fun to be had here.

Artwork: 4.5 out of 5
Story: 4.5 out of 5

To Fight With Monsters

“Based upon the short story by Mike Oliveri & Brian Keene. When humanity rapidly devolves into a monstrous state, teenager Rick Donovan joins his fellow townspeople in makeshift trenches to defend their homes. However, the monsters may already be among them… New post-apocalyptic horror from Bram Stoker Award-winning horror novelists Mike Oliveri (The Pack, Werewolves: Call of the Wild) and Brian Keene (The Last Zombie, Dead of Night: Devil Slayer) and Godfather of American Manga Ben Dunn (Marvel Mangaverse, Ninja High School, Warrior Nun Areala)!”

Dying Breath: 4.5 out of 5
Oh my friends this is one book you should not miss. I want to start with the visuals, Ben Dunn you are sick, because this book looks amazing! From one panel to the next panel I was never let down. Also to the art side I say thank you for not using any grey in this issue, it seemed to add to the edge of the story. Oh the story, this is one you HAVE to read. Did I say should, could or might want to? No, I said HAVE to read. Very seldom are we as horror comic readers presented with what I would say is a real interpretation of how things might go down. It’s not always black and white in terms of good and bad, so for this book to be able to fill in that grey area (you see how I did that with the colors) and not be afraid to show you what could happen is amazing. Keene and Oliveri have won me over on this one, and the title is such on play on what happens. UGH, I just can not seem to stop gushing on how much I enjoyed this book. You HAVE to read this book!

Artwork: 4.5 out of 5
Story: 5.0 out of 5

Planet of the Living Dead #1

“An investigative landing on a farming planet has brought the crew of a Marine rescue ship face to face with an entire population of flesh-eating zombies. Even if they manage to survive the initial onslaught, their slim hopes of survival are about rot away even faster than the moldering, deadly hordes out to devour their flesh!”

Dying Breath: 4.5 out of 5
What you can’t see right now is how excited I am to write this review. I am in love with the Planet of the Living Dead series so far. The artwork is so perfectly done that only a story this good could perfectly compliment it. Following the events of Planet of the Living Dead #1, this book is a fantastic sequel that leads perfectly into the next book that will follow. The dialogue is fun, yet very militaristic, since this one is based on the army getting to the planet. It really is not until the end though until we see the zombies emerge, which is fine by me since they did such a great job building up the suspense. The zombies look great, the story is great and I highly recommend checking this one out, you don’t really need to have read Planet of the Living Dead, but it will help. Antarctic is still killing it on horror titles.

Artwork: 4.5 out of 5
Story: 4.5 out of 5

The Last Zombie #5

“Continuing AP’s popular new series, The Last Zombie: Inferno picks up where The Last Zombie left off, as Doctor Ian Scott and his team of soldiers and scientists make their way across the wastelands of a post-zombie apocalyptic America. Infected with the virus that caused the zombie outbreak, Ian struggles to stay alive long enough to see his wife again. As if that wasn’t enough, the team find themselves caught between a raging, state-wide wildfire and the radioactive destruction of a nuclear reactor meltdown.”

Dying Breath: 4.0 out of 5
Chapter 2 is under review folks! For anyone who doesn’t know how awesome Chapter 1 was, go back and read it, I will wait… okay good to have you back. This issue is practically a way to recap and bridge the gap from what happened before, moving forward a little and bringing in what is coming next. Of course we are reminded of the big secret, but for the most part this is a great transition to the next arc, so action wise it is a slower issue. The artwork is as good as always. I honestly didn’t believe that 3 people were on art duties because it was so seamless. I am happy to have this book back because of how fresh it is. I love new takes on genre’s that could be considered done, so to get a chance to read this and love it, makes me happy to tell you about it. The Last Zombie is perfect for your horror collection and should be a part of it.

Artwork: 4.5 out of 5
Story: 4.0 out of 5

If you would like to know more about any of these horror comics you can find them at Antarctic-press.com.

Reviews by Dan Royer

Related posts:

1. Talking Horror Comics and Hack/Slash with Brea Grant
2. C2E2: Wrap-Up, News and Horror Comics
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Animated Heroes)

Back in 2009, when I was still able to keep up with the League of Reluctant Adults on a regular basis, I eagerly awaited the release of Tempest Rising, Nicole Peeler’s first novel.* Like other members of the League, Peeler is totally snarky, really smart, sexy verging on smutty, and a ton of fun to read in her online posts. So it was no great surprise when I loved Tempest Rising. The fourth book in the series, Eye of the Tempest, just came out last month, and I sifted through my TBR pile and caught up on books two through four this week. They’re fast reads, with qualities that verge on paranormal romance but plot and worldbuilding that, in my qualifications, keep them firmly in urban fantasy. Here’s the breakdown on each book, but the overarching verdict is: give them a chance! They’re funny, fast paced, and completely engaging. Jane’s a fantastic hero, who’s far stronger than she realizes – and not in the warrior woman way. Getting to know her, and her world, is a great ride, but beware: she’s a horrible influence. You might find yourself avoiding responsibilities to read more about her adventures.

Tempest Rising

The series kicks off when Jane True, a twenty-something bookseller who has no idea about the supernatural world around her, finds a murdered body. Things are instantly complicated: she discovers the murder while night swimming, something she shouldn’t be capable of doing in the dangerous waters of the Old Sow whirlpool off of coastal Maine. Figuring out how to report the crime is only the first hurdle, and Jane finds herself embroiled in a supernatural murder mystery – and discovers that she herself is half-selkie, with the potential to manipulate the magic of water. Guiding her into the brave new world is Ryu, a sexy baobhan sith – similar to a vampire – investigator who feels the same attraction to Jane she feels to him. But while Ryu seems interested in Jane for his own benefit (feeding and sex), barghest Anyan (a large man who takes the form of a huge dog most of the time) and gnome Nell are Jane’s real support – and, aside from Jane’s internal monologue, divided between her  constantly arguing libido and virtue, it’s Anyan who steals the show. It’s a strong debut, with the purpose of introducing readers, like Jane, to the crazy world Peeler has created while also taking them on a fun ride.

Tracking the Tempest

In Tracking the Tempest, Jane once again finds herself in a supernatural murder case – this time because of her relationship with Ryu. (“Ah ha!” my inner reader cheered. “I didn’t trust him to be good for her.”) It isn’t that things aren’t coming up roses between Jane and Ryu – the sex is still great, after all – but that someone is after Ryu: Conleth, a fiery, half-ifrit who was raised as a lab rat, has the baobhan sith’s number. Seeing Jane, another half-human, changes Conleth’s plans, however, and Jane finds herself becoming the object of Conleth’s obsession. To make matters worse, Ryu wants to take their relationship to the next level—which to him means that Jane should give up everything to be with him. While the plot of this novel is divided neatly between relationship crisis and solve-the-murder crisis, Peeler deftly weaves the two together, so that Jane’s brooding over her love life never takes precedence, and the murder mystery is never too far from Jane’s wry commentary. Better yet, Ryu, who I never wanted to like, turns out to have unexpected redeeming qualities – and Jane’s realizations about their relationship (and about her friendship with a certain barghest) help Jane to grow into a self-awareness she needs to face what comes next…

Tempest’s Legacy

As if Jane’s world hadn’t been through enough upheaval, she has to face loss head-on when her selkie mother is murdered before Jane’s longed-for reunion. Unwilling to be left out of this investigation, and despite being at odds with Ryu, Jane teams up with Ryu and Anyan to investigate a connected string of murders in the Borderlands – an area where half-humans are embraced, rather than scorned (as they are in the Territory, where Jane lives). Jane’s desire to become strong transforms into an unwillingness to feel – and she begins to risk becoming as cold as the people behind the murders to solve the crime. Jane is no great sleuth, here or in previous books, but her insight – usually having to do with being human, or loving books – often helps break the case. It’s also the way that she cares about protecting her friends that shows her true strength – not that her growing strength as a magic user can be dismissed. The book ends with another upheaval, this one political, as the structure of the supernatural world crashes around them, and a mysterious older power, who Jane calls Blondie, reveals herself as another player in the game.

Eye of the Tempest

Get ready for a cliffhanger. Eye of the Tempest opens the world of Jane True wide and deep as Jane gets her Cthulu on. The Lovecraftian references are just the beginning: Rockabill is at risk, and Jane has to team up with Blondie – who she’s still not sure if she trusts – in order to save the place she loves. When Anyan and Nell are taken out of the picture, Jane’s really on her own trying to save the world – and discovering that she’s actually far more capable of some world-saving than she’d ever have believed. Meanwhile, her supernatural identity has been outed to her father, and his heart problem has been cured with magic, changing their entire relationship. The book ends with a near climax (the double entendre is intentional) and a frustratingly urgent lead in to book five… which won’t be released until Spring 2012.

You heard it here, gang – I need more readers to join me in desperately waiting for more of Jane’s adventures. Pick ‘em up at the bookstore or on your e-reader, but be aware: putting them down might be a challenge.

* which, like the other books in the series, I purchased on my own.

Review by Alana Abbott

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini Reviews: Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Back from the Dead)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Zombies)

Back in 2008, Tez Miller and I reviewed the first two novels in Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series. We’re now three books later in the series, and it’s still going strong. Here’s what you may have missed:

Magic Strikes

One of the staples of role playing games and adventure video games is arena combat. What’s not to like? The tradition hails way back to the Romans — or earlier — and watching gladiators in the ring is still entertaining enough to modern viewers that there are reality TV shows based on the theme. It is not something I’ve seen tackled in Urban Fantasy very often, and here, Andrews does it with aplomb. Beast Lord Curran has banned his Pack from getting involved with the games. Derrek, Kate Daniels’s teen werewolf pal, has to get involved in order to save the object of his affections — and in order to keep him out of trouble, Kate gets involved as well. Add in Saiman, the high powered magic user who has been one of Kate’s most important resources (and also one of her biggest problems, given his pervy nature) and several other shifters, all trying to keep the activity secret from Curran, and it’s clear that the proverbial fan is going to be hit with something, and it won’t be pretty. Despite Curran having every right to be furious with Kate (and furious only begins to describe it), the romance between the two amps up (though the tension continues to run high — no acting on those emotions, or lusts, just yet!).

Magic Bleeds

One of Kate’s best assets up until this point has been her relationship with the Pack. But when she and the Beast Lord have a falling out (Curran stands her up on a date, and she, unknowingly, snubs him in the company of Saiman, who intentionally intended to take Curran down a few pegs), things get very hairy. Especially because the big bad that’s moving into town has a family relationship to Kate — one that she’s been trying to hide from everyone, including the people she calls her friends. Several elements in this installment pit Kate’s affection for Curran and her friends in the Pack against her job and her friends at the Order. The tension between Kate and her boss have been brewing, and when those issues are finally resolved, the series starts heading toward the confrontation that has been hinted at since the very first book.

Magic Slays

Released on May 31, 2011, Magic Slays is a fantastic new addition to the series. Finally, secrets are out in the open — at least, among our main characters — and Kate is back as the down-on-her-luck merc that we met in the first book. Only now, she’s got the backing of the Pack, as well as her best friend sharp-shooter Andrea — so loner Kate is now surrounded by people who she cares about, and who depend on her as much as she depends on them. This is a scary new world for Kate, made more frightening by the discovery that everything she thought she knew about her foster father’s motives in keeping her safe may have been a lie — and her ward, Julie, may be in deeper trouble than Kate ever thought she’d have to face. Add to that the idea of a powerful bomb that can kill magic — which is loose in the city in the hands of terrorists — and you’ve got an urban fantasy that combines inner turmoil with a hefty dose of action movie. This is my favorite installment in the series thus far, and I highly suspect that the friendships Kate was once taught to consider a liability will turn out to be the strength that allows her to confront the powerful being who is her father — an event that will, no doubt, end the series (at least two books in the future).

If you haven’t picked up any of the Kate Daniels novels yet, go grab the first one and start reading. You’ll find a world with great rules for magic vs. tech, characters who grow and develop and change in relation to each other, and plots that mix action, mythology, and horror — with a little romance in there just for kicks.

Review by Alana Abbott

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini Reviews: The Jane True series by Nicole Peeler
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Back from the Dead)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Hunters & Slayers)

This week we take a look at some horror-themed card games that deserve more attention. All are card or card/board hybrid games and all can be played in a relatively short (one hour or less) period of time.

The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow

Published by Asmodee Editions

WoMH is a party game, and follows the lead of popular convention games like Mafia. In Werewolves, players are dealt a character card – either villager or werewolf – which is kept secret. During the day turn, the players discuss who might be a werewolf and designate someone, suspected of being a werewolf, to be “executed.” The poor unfortunate is out of the game, and in revenge should feel free to laugh uproariously at any future decisions made by the group. During the night turn, everyone closes their eyes, and the werewolves pick someone to (figuratively, of course) devour.

The game ends when either all the werewolves have been killed, or when only werewolves survive. The truly fun part of this game is the villagers’ discussions, where everyone can watch each other for signs of Lycanthropy. Simple psychology comes into play here; is the player a bit too eager to implicate someone else as a werewolf? Do people die in the night after accusing a particular person of being a werewolf? First game will be longer as players figure everything out, and one player always needs to act as referee to maintain pacing and facilitate turns. Expansion New Moon also exists that adds event cards, new bonus roles for villagers, and tons of suggestions to build atmosphere and drama. For 8-18 players, ages 10 and up. Playing time estimate of 20 to 30 minutes per game is reasonably accurate.

The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow is available at Amazon.com

Are You The Traitor?

Published by by Looney Labs

Much like Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow, Are You The Traitor is a game where player’s must guess who the enemy(s) are. Players are either on the good team or the evil one, and roles consist of Good/Evil Wizards, Key Holder, Guards, and the Traitor. The turns here are not divided into day/night, but rather involve unstructured conversation until one player yells “stop” and points at the person they think is holding the role that the pointer must target. If that player is correct, everyone on their team gets a treasure card. If they’re wrong, everyone on the opposing team gets a treasure card. Players continue until one or more players have ten or more points worth of treasure. The one with the most treasure wins! For 4 to 10 players, ages 13 and up. Playing time is 10 to 30 minutes per game.

Are You The Traitor? is available at Amazon.com

Spooks

Published by Steve Jackson Games

Resembling a trick-taking game, Spooks challenges players just to keep up. The object is to empty your hand of cards first, but complications arise as players try to follow the lead. Five suits – Spiders, Goblins, Ghosts, Bones and Bats – all do something different. The last card played in a hand affects the next card; the Spider and Ghost suits for example, require the players to play the next number in sequence or pass. The Bats and Bones suits require a card that matches to be played next – either matching the suit or the number- or the player must pass. When a Goblin card is played, players step outside of the hand for a moment and each lays down a single card face down. Highest Goblin wins this side hand, though this is also a good opportunity to shed useless or weak cards. The Black Cat is wild, but passes the lead to the next player when used. A bit tricky to get the hang of, but loads of fun. For 3 or more players. No suggested age range — probably 10 and up. Playing time not suggested; probably 15 to 20 minutes per game.

Spooks is available at Amazon.com

Zombie Fluxx

Published by Looney Labs

For those familiar with Fluxx, the idea of adding zombies probably appeals; for those who aren’t Fluxx is a card game with a simple, basic rule – Draw One, Play One. To win, you need to meet the conditions of one of many goals in the deck. Goals cycle through rapidly, so the victory conditions change often – sometimes on every player’s turn. Zombies add a new mechanic to the game: the Creeper. You can’t with if you have a Creeper in front of you (in this case, one or more zombies) unless you draw a card that says otherwise. There’s also a way for all players to lose the game if the Ungoal comes into play – also a new mechanic. Fluxx is basically a game of organized chaos, but it’s insanely popular, and that counts for a lot. For 2 to 6 players, ages 8 and older. Playing time is roughly 10 to 40 minutes.

Zombie Fluxx is available at Amazon.com

HeroCard Nightmare

Published by Tablestar Games

HeroCard Nightmare takes the concept of the classic board game Clue and dumps it on its ear. Players take turns trying to ferret out which character is afraid of what monster combined with which setting – the Zombie in the Forest, perhaps, or maybe it’s the Beast in the Farmhouse. Players use their actions to move the monsters to different locales, then move the sleeper figure there and make an “attack to scare.” If successful, characters who are afraid of either the setting or the monster must declare that they are afraid, but need not specify further. Players must eliminate other possibilities until they’ve narrowed down both aspects of one character’s fear, then make a successful attack to Kill that character.

HeroCard Nightmare uses the clever HeroCard mechanic; characters have a base rating in three attributes: Body, Mind, and Attribute X – representing chance or Karma. Cards are played that add points to an attack, and these cards have a second point value based on one of the three attributes reflecting the characters’ ability to use them. Characters must spend an action to remove used cards from previous rounds, making it important to time attacks carefully. For 2 to 4 players ages 13 and up. Playing time approximately one hour.

HeroCard Nightmare is available at Noble Knight Games

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Back from the Dead)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Hunters & Slayers)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Contest Edition 2)

The Flash Fire Mini-Reviews are back with a set of reviews from Todd Cash. Todd is going to wrap up his the Ready-Made Characters series from White Wolf.

Ready-Made Characters

This is the third time I’ve approached character packages like these, so I won’t retread basic thoughts on these character packages (not much at least). If you’d like these details you can find read up on The Keepers and Slaughterhouse Five. Each of these collections, which are fitted for specific settings (Vampire: the Requiem, Werewolf: the Forsaken, etc.), run about five dollars (slight differences between titles in price seems mysterious).

The Refuse by Matthew McFarland

The Refuse comes first. Promethean:the Created allows for some memorable characters; this quintet illustrates the point perfectly. The Refuse is a group of outcasts who joined each other for companionship and protection. Each member–Dennison 23rd, Gargoyle, Hellas, Worm, and Dove–prove to be some insightful creations. They really have to be since Promethean proves to be such a challenging system. Playing a group of vampires isn’t the same as playing these beings. Vampires are social creatures and, for the most part, can interact with the six billion humans on the planet. With the exception of Hellas, these characters are pariahs who even affect the environment around them should they stay in one place too long. These facts work to generate a fairly unique gaming experience.

The layout for this is simple, but plentiful for what is needed. The book is 28 pages and has a border of what looks almost like x-ray photos along the top border (except on pages devoted to characters). The headers are a blurry blue font that I really think looks neat. The icon for this throng is a literal twist to the three-arrow recycling icon. One of the arrows is broken or twisted. I think it would be hard to find a better icon for this group.

Avery Butterworth’s artwork is one of the better collections I’ve seen for these character collections. In my earlier reviews, I’ve loved and hated the depictions. Although Dennison 23rd pushes my personal tastes, I think the sketched characters for this supplement are the best thus far.

There is a lot of material crammed into this booklet. The format remains the same: an introduction to the group’s formation comes first and is followed by four pages devoted to each character. After that, this booklet works to make sense of such a challenging group of misfits. There is a great amount of Storyteller advice in Refuse, which is always a win with me. Some minor rules are also detailed in order to explain some of the stranger abilities these creatures have.

My scores for The Refuse are:

Layout: Four out of Five Dice (Maybe different borders to account for such radically
different characters?)
Artwork: Four out of Five Dice (The best so far in this series, but White Wolf has a high
bar to compete against)
Writing: Five out of Five Dice (Loved the character, especially Hellas. The Storyteller
advice in this was very warranted and welcome)

The Refuse is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

Calm Before the Storm by David Hill

A group of family members happens to share more than just a bloodline. They are all werewolves. Tragedy strikes, taking out some of the members. This leads the Alpha, a girl named Bridgette Byrne who wasn’t hugged enough as a child, to reform the team with a second family. Doubts of leadership, questions of faith and loyalty, and more drive the inter-character reactions in this character package.

The layout in Calm Before the Storm smoothly fits its Werewolf base. The fonts are kind of wild and scratchy. Wickedly cool totems are watermarked into the pages. The only aspect that confuses me still is what the border is supposed to be. Because of its color, I feel like its supposed to be tree bark; however, the name of the group keeps me thinking that it’s rain falling on glass. Despite this mystery, it proves to have a great bordering effect.

This package’s artwork is a bit strange. On a positive note, the lupine sketches are ferocious and delicious. On the negative side, Bridgette Byrne looks as if she may be a zombie. I’m not sure about the stats on a Zombie Garou, but I’m guessing overkill. For a Werewolf package, I’d like to see two character sketches. One in the human form and one in the Garou form. Face it, these are the two forms players are bound to shift to. The shift does exist as a watermark on the character sheets, which is cool. Also, the four-page character distinction breaks here. Each character gets six pages of attention (the booklet is even a tad bigger at 37 pages).

David Hall’s writing considers all the usual questions these packages tend to raise. His five characters have good reason to be together, but enough hidden luggage to summon great in-game interactions. His play support suggests links to some of the SAS games, particularly Parlor Games. One thing Hall did that I found useful in playing these characters with friends is this: he suggests what kind of player might best benefit from each character. It would be harder, though not impossible, to make these distinctions with strangers at a convention. The difficult part would be Tara as you ask the group who would like to be the manipulator seeking an Alpha position.

Instant distrust.

My scores for Calm Before the Storm are:

Layout: Five out of Five Dice (Seriously . . . what is the border?)
Artwork: Three out of Five Dice (Bridgette brings it down)
Writing: Five out of Five Dice (Nice Writing)
Overall: Four out of Five Dice (Werewolf fans will enjoy this pack)

Calm Before the Storm is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

The Personae by Jess Hartley

Jess Hartley’s group of pre-generated characters comes from Changeling: the Lost. She follows the typical road that allows each character to fill a needed spot in the group. For example, the Beast Aslan (the Lion-O chap on the front page) is the team’s muscle. There is nothing wrong with going this course as most players work to create just such a group. It allows the entire group a chance to shine throughout most sessions. These characters, for me, seem to have a bit in common with the Refuse. They are outsiders who are haunted by their past.

Sometimes this haunting is literal, such as in Romeo’s case.

The layout here looks really nice. The thorn hedge around the pages acts as an awesome border. Various sigils pasted throughout the book look good even though they mostly serve the purpose of eating up dead space in the book. I see no reason why the character write-ups can’t be a little bit longer to off-set this. Perhaps the specific character story seeds could be put with the character, but written as an inspiration for the player rather than the storyteller. This could help players jump into the character a little faster, specially if they are a newbie. Any of White Wolf’s games are daunting for reasons of jargon alone to new players.

Avery Butterworth has a way with freaks. I like the Personae’ depictions in this collection. Nicola is my personal favorite while The Hunchback comes in last (but is still visually cool).

Jess Hartley’s fantastic writing, particularly at the end of the booklet, helps prime ideas. Her characters, while created for pick-up purposes, have long-reaching goals the suggest long-term use. It doesn’t have to be this way, but the materials are there. She is forced to spend a little too much space on playing these characters with one of them missing, but the decision to create role-based characters causes this. She makes strong connections to the Changeling adventures The Rose-Bride’s Plight and The Fear-Maker’s Promise and suggests solid ways to tie into those adventures. The final two pages are a collection of wild story seeds, probably some of my favorites.

Scores for The Personae are:

Layout: Five out of Five Dice (Boo-Tee-Fool)
Artwork: Five out of Five Dice: (Even Lion-O looks scary)
Writing: Four out of Five Dice: (A little too much time devoted to handling missed
characters)
Overall: Five out of Five Dice: (This is a great way to jump into a game about the Lost)

The Personae is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

LSCS by Kelley Barnes

Kelley Barnes’ collection of characters almost does something I never expected. Only one of the five characters has any real supernatural ties (he senses dead people). Another character had a brush with it, which is why she can’t sleep without drugs or drink. The five characters for Legacy Security and Courier Services fit in to Spycraft or Shadowrun just as easily as they do their ended setting, which is the World of Darkness. They aren’t a Vigil, which the writer covers in a sidebar.

The layout works as in all World of Darkness releases. A collection of partial superimposed images are laid out as the border. In the larger books, the border makes more sense as the photos are distributed throughout the book. The images in this package are not to be found since all the artwork comes from Avery Butterworth’s characters. Nevertheless, the border looks good and has some nice aspects to it (the lonely shadow in the alleyway strikes well with me).

I’ve always liked the spattery Saw-like fonts for the World of Darkness and this continues to deliver just that.

The all-human cast isn’t as odd to me in this collection as it was in Calm Before the Storm. The characters come from all walks of life and are visually distinguished. Peter Sweeney or Morgan Welles are personal favs for me while I’m colder towards Lesley Porter. She just seems a little more frozen than the other four.

Barne’s characters run the risk of falling into Hartley’s trap; however, Peter and Lesley are both physically capable. Morgan and Robert can handle social situations. Robert and KayGee have the mental area squared away (KayGee also has a quote that references an 80′s movie, which made me smile). The game works best with all five characters, but the game still works with less. This permits Barnes to writing only two paragraphs on who to take out of the equation in smaller groups. Coming in at twenty-six pages instead of the usual twenty-eight, Barnes uses the final two pages to sprinkle out some story seeds. Several of these seeds link to supernatural elements so you don’t end up playing sessions of The Wire or Alias (although there is nothing wrong with that).

Scores of LSCS are:

Layout: Four out of Five Dice (where do I find the full images?)
Artwork: Four out of Five Dice (Four out of Five character impressed me)
Writing: Five out of Five Dice (Nice Change to the Mundane)

LSCS is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

That does it for this week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews series. Stay tuned for more mini reviews of our favorite horror & dark fantasy books, games, comics and more here at Flames Rising.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Live Action Games)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Post-Apocalyptic)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Dracula)

The Flash Fire Mini-Reviews series has crawled out of its grave and returned as a regular feature on the Flames Rising website. To celebrate we’re going to be taking a look at several kinds of undead this week. We’ve got a mix of games, books and more. This particular edition of Flash Fire Mini-Reviews is going to feature a few different reviewers.

Zombie Haiku

Crystal Mazur offers us her perspective on the book Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum.

In Zombie Haiku, we read about a poet that gets turned into a zombie and documents everything he sees and does in the form of what he remembers from life, the poetry form known as Haiku. His seemingly normal observations and encounters slowly turn sour as the bite he received from a secretary turns him into a mindless zombie who wanders his town looking for food. In Haiku form, his zombie “feasts” are depicted well in the limited form. The only break the reader has from the Haikus, are the frantic scribbles of the last survivor in the area that was able to procure said journal.

Biting into heads / Is much harder than / it looks. / The skull is feisty.

What is my diagnosis? Zombie Haiku has a very simple storyline that allows the Haiku form of poetry to be digested easily for any zombie lover. Even after reading the book, I’ve found I’m quoting some of the poetry and lines from the book. Without realizing it, I’ve noticed it has expanded my mental zombie “library” of information.

Part of Zombie Haiku‘s appeal is also the way it is laid out. The artwork in the book is laid out like a personal journal with Polaroid photos inserted and bits of flowers and string that the poet happens across. As his condition worsens the artwork gets more horrifying, the inserted bits turn into hair and toenails from the victims, the little drawings around the margins are those of brains and fingers moving along. The personality of the journal fits the writing and the poet’s devolution.

If you have an interest in zombies, definitely check this book out. It is a quick read, wonderful reference for quotes and fun poems, and has many interesting pictures.

is available at Amazon.com.

Vampire: the Eternal Struggle

Crystal also reveals her experience with the Vampire: the Eternal Struggle collectible card game (CCG) from GenCon: Indy 2009 at the White Wolf booth.

My friend Bill and I headed over to the White Wolf table to demo some of the games they had set up. The main game they were demoing on Sunday was their Vampire: the Eternal Struggle CCG, so we sat down to learn how to play.

The decks White Wolf had chosen for the Demo were pieced together to show the different phases and abilities that could be found in a full deck. We each picked up our decks, picked the vampires we wanted to start with and dived into the dark angst-filled world that is part of Vampire. If you have a background in Magic: the Gathering, Pokémon, or any other CCG of that caliber, you’ll be able to catch on to Vampire: the Eternal Struggle pretty quickly.

As a player, you have your own health pool and your “chosen” characters have their own health pools. You have to deplete your own health pool to bring out your characters. During a set round, players can attack people. You have the option of playing political maneuvers, outright threats and sneaky bastard moves which you can put together with different decks. What we learned at the demo was not enough for us to fully understand Vampire: the Eternal Struggle, but it was enough for us to get started and learn more on our own. After playing the demo, we were both very interested in picking up Vampire: the Eternal Struggle to continue playing it. If you’re curious about this card game, I should point out that it’s based off the old World of Darkness and Vampire: the Masquerade‘s signature characters, rather than the new.

Vampire: the Eternal Struggle is available at Amazon.com.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Jason Thorson did a little reading recently and wants to share his thoughts on the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies novel.

When I first heard this book’s name, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I immediately thought of the old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials: Imagine a pretty young woman in Regency era dress and a young man wearing a Dawn of the Dead t-shirt walking toward each other, both of them carrying manuscripts. As they attempt to pass they collide and manuscripts fly, the pages intermingling as they float to the ground.

“Hey,” the woman yells. “You got zombies in my Austen!”
And the young man replies, “You got Austen in my zombies!”

My next thought was: How the hell is that going to work? The answer is that it works surprisingly well. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is written by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. The vast majority of the book is Austen’s classic, unchanged. It’s supplemented with a zombie infestation backdrop courtesy of Grahame-Smith, which necessarily changes various attributes of the characters. For example, Liz Bennett and her sisters are all deadly human weapons having studied Kung Fu in China, a common trait held by those who are equipped to withstand a world overrun by the walking dead.

Make no mistake, this isn’t a zombie book. It’s a literary masterpiece enhanced, believe it or not, by the existence of zombies in the English countryside where Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy play out one of literature’s most famous courtships. More of these mash-ups are sure to follow and hopefully they’re as tastefully done as this one is. For fans of horror fiction and connoisseurs of high-concept prose alike, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is, in a word, delicious!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is available at Amazon.com.

Geist: The Sin-Eaters

Matt M McElroy has had the chance to explore the Underworld a little more with White Wolf’s new World of Darkness setting, Geist: The Sin-Eaters.

Geist: The Sin-Eaters is a different kind of ghost game and adds some new twists on what we’ve seen so far in the World of Darkness. I had the chance to take an early look at the pdf of the game and wrote a little something called A Deal with the Dead, which covered a few bits of the game/setting that I thought were pretty cool. At GenCon Indy I managed to pick up the core book and have had a little time to read more of it.

White Wolf has also released two excellent free additions for Geist that are worth checking out if you get the chance. Dem Bones and The House Always Wins are one scene/one characters extras that Storytellers can use to kick start a game or drop into a game they already have going on. I’m a big fan of the Storytelling Adventure System so I thought these were great little extras.

Geist explores ghosts and the Underworld of the new World of Darkness in ways we have not seen previously. While we’ve seen a few adventures and even an entire book on ghosts previously, now we’ve got characters that entire existence is about interacting and dealing with the dead.

Geist: The Sin-Eaters is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

The Estuary

Matt also somehow found the time to read Derek Gunn’s new zombie novel, The Estuary between conventions.

I’m a big fan of Derek Gunn’s Vampire Apocalypse books and was looking forward to reading about a different kind of apocalypse. Permuted Press has released a lot of good zombie fiction over the last few years so having them publish a full length novel by Gunn seemed like the perfect fit.

One the best things about Derek’s books is the nearly non-stop action. He manages to blend horror and action really well, mixing up fast paced battle scenes with gripping fear for the characters involved. You never know who is going to make it to the end of the book (or if any of them will) and no one is safe. Often in horror fiction there are a few special protagonists that have a bit of plot immunity and a few “extras” you just know are not going to make it. Gunn likes to keep us guessing and is not afraid of pulling the trigger on a favorite character if it will amp up the dread just a little more.

The Estuary is available at Amazon.com.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Zombies)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Scary Short Stories)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Contest Edition 2)

We’re back from GenCon and so are the Flash Fire Mini-Reviews.

This week we’re going to take a look at some of the cool new books we picked up over the weekend in Indianapolis. This mix of Horror and Dark Fantasy game products from large publishers and small press shows off just a few of the interesting items that were available at the convention.

I’ll be upfront and admit I have not completely read these titles yet. GenCon was only a few days ago and some of these books are quite hefty (Starblazer Adventures alone is 600+ pages). So, these are first impressions and notes from playing demos at the convention.

The Atlas of Eslin

The Atlas of Eslin offers up original cultures, richly envisioned and varied in scope, sure to entice even the most experienced gamer. This volume contains eight complete, different and geographically huge Realms for Epic Role Playing adventures and campaigns. Each Realm is loaded with distinct races, diverse governments and social structures. The Atlas of Eslin contains over 200 occupations & professions for players and boasts tools and information for Game Masters, such as plot hooks, ideas for conflict and adventure, and campaign themes.

This is the latest product from Dark Matter Studios for the Epic RPG. This is a big book with a ton of useful information regardless of what fantasy RPG you are using. There are plenty of maps, lots of different story hooks and all kinds of interesting stuff for a group to explore. The writing is clear and gets you hooked on the setting quickly. Politics, religion, economic information and more is detailed for each region (my personal favorite bits are the “Myth & Legend” sections because they are full of adventure ideas to introduce into the game.

The Atlas of Eslin is available at Lulu.com.

Witch Finders

Suffer Not A Witch To Live

Rulebook for Hunter: The Vigil

Not only did White Wolf have Hunter: the Vigil available at the convention, but they also had a few early copies of the first supplement. Naturally, I had to scoop one up right away. This is an awesome book. It does not replace Mage: the Awakening or World of Darkness: Second Sight, but you also won’t need them to run a Hunter game that deals with magicians. There are plenty of spells, rituals and other information included to build interesting antagonists (or allies) of a group of Hunters in this book. You can also skip those sections if you would rather use Mage or Second Sight. The history chapter and the chapters detailing how Mages and Hunters interact won’t really be affected by your choice of rules.

Hunter: the Vigil is a pretty big book and should keep Storytellers busy for a while introducing terrifying monsters and deadly enemies to any group of Hunters. Witch Finders adds a ton of great setting material, new Compacts, a new Conspiracy, new Merits and plenty more.

Witch Finders is available at Amazon.com.

3:16

This high-octane Science-Fiction role-playing game for 2 or more players has your Space Troopers killing bugs all across the Cosmos. You’ll advance in rank, improve your weapons, slay civilization after civilization and find out who you are through an innovative “Flashback” mechanic.

3:16 is a Science-Fiction role-playing game about Carnage Amongst The Stars.

Every year at GenCon there is a lot of after-hours gaming going on in the Embassy Suites. 3:16 was by far one of the most popular games folks were digging into each night. The game is quick, fun and easy to play.

It is a violent, action driven game of teamwork and creative energy. People were shouting and laughing throughout the game with over-the-top descriptions of the events on the table. The writing is top-notch, the rules are easy to learn/easy to teach and the art is perfect for setting the mood of the game. All-in-all, this game is a blast and you should definitely check it out.

3:16 is available at RPGNow.com.

Houses of the Blooded

The new game by the Origins Award-winning author of Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea!

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.

Billed as the “anti-D&D” and described as Atlantean Blood Opera, Houses of the Blooded is over 400 pages of intrigue, romance, revenge and mystery. It uses elements of the FATE system, so folks familiar with Spirit of the Century will pick up the mechanics quickly. One of my favorite aspects of the setting is that the word for “romance” and the word for “revenge” are the same. This shows the depth of the culture and the challenges the characters face as they move through society.

Look for more information on Houses of the Blooded here on Flames Rising, including design notes and a new interview with John Wick in the next few weeks.

Houses of the Blooded is available at Indie Press Revolution.

Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide

Make the jump to lightspeed 4,000 years before the Battle of Yavin to a time when Jedi Knights and Sith Lords clashed in galactic conflict. As the galaxy plunges into one war after another, the forces of the Republic, along with their Jedi allies, struggle to protect themselves from hordes of invading Mandalorians, tyrannical Sith lords, and traitorous allies on every front. This campaign guide offers both players and gamemasters a wide array of new options that can be used to craft an epic Star Wars roleplaying game experience during one of the most dangerous periods of galactic history.

We don’t normally cover a lot of Star Wars products here at Flames Rising, but this book was hard to pass up. The Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide pulls from all the best parts of the setting and includes fully-statted characters, history timelines and other goodies in a straightforward style. From existing characters like Jolee Bindo and Bastila to chapters dedicated to Mandalorians and the Sith, this book serves as the perfect companion to the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga edition corebook. What I really liked about it, is that you can design your campaign to be geared in any direction you want it to be–Sith, Jedi, Mandalorian, Selkath, Droid, etc. Obviously, here at Flames Rising we’d probably be running a Sith-based game. With Sith Lord names like Darth Traya (Lord of Betrayal) and Darth Sion (Lord of Pain), there’s plenty of material to play the dark lords of the Sith in the Old Republic.

Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide is available at Amazon.com.

Starblazer Adventures

Starblazer Adventures is based on the classic British comic series, Starblazer, from the 1970’s and 80’s. Each of Starblazer’s 281 issues explored a whole adventure set within the vast galactic empires of the far future, giving this massive 632 page roleplaying game from Cubicle 7 Entertainment a wide variety of settings to explore. From low-fi space exploration to galaxy-busting wars to space fantasy epics at the end of time, there is plenty for everyone.

Starblazer Adventures is powered by the critically acclaimed FATE rules system. FATE was recently seen in action with Evil Hat Productions’ popular Spirit of the Century RPG and has been tweaked to give Starblazer players the full intergalactic meal deal. FATE lets you leave the maths behind and really focus on exciting stories. There are many options to let you skip the more detailed rules and keep it lite and fast or play starships, star monsters and even whole empires just like characters. For those familiar with FATE we’ve added new FATE rules for alien powers, robots, vehicles, starships, giant war machines, empires, equipment, careers and more.

Ok, so it isn’t quite as big as Ptolus, but wow, this is a big book. Based on the original Starbalzer comics by D.C.Thompson this game has a ton of alien worlds, starships, monsters and other cool sci-fi elements all crammed together. Another FATE based system (notice a pattern developing here?) this game is easy to pick up and play (it will take you longer to read the book than it will to learn the system). There are introductory adventure ideas, worlds to explore and lots of cool bits to keep your game interesting for quite some time. The Cubicle 7 folks were super excited about this game and that vibe was easy to pick up on throughout the convention.

Starblazer Adventures is available at RPGNow.com.

Worlds of Their Own

Many of today’s best (and best-selling) fantasists got their start writing shared world fiction supporting roleplaying games. This massive anthology collects more than a dozen thrilling tales from R.A. Salvatore, Michael A. Stackpole, Monte Cook, Ed Greenwood, Elaine Cunningham, and more to give an exciting overview of the original worlds and characters of authors who achieved their greatest fame writing stories they do not own. Edited by James Lowder (The Book of All Flesh, Prince of Lies), Worlds of Their Own presents an unprecedented sampler of fantasy and science fiction adventure tales from some of the best-loved and best-known authors in the genre.

After we posted a recent interview with James Lowder about this book I couldn’t wait to check it out. James offers up a lot of good information about how the book came together and gives a few teasers about some of the stories included in the collection, but that isn’t quite the same as reading them. There are some surprising tales included here from some of the best authors in the industry. I can’t say for certain which of them is my favorite, but I was truly impressed by the overall quality of the work. I was already a fan of several of the authors, but now I’ve got a few new ones to check out as well (I have to dig out of this stack of review books first though).

Quite simply, this is a collection of great original fiction from some of the best authors in various “shared world” series.

Worlds of Their Own is available at Amazon.com.

Pyramid of Shadows

The ancient trees of the Shadowsong Forest have borne witness to the passing of epochs, and hidden beneath their dark canopy are the remains of empires long departed. Few souls brave enough to explore the primeval forest ever return, for countless horrors haunt the crumbled ruins. When a band of evil criminals seeks refuge within the darkest reaches of the forest, brave adventurers are needed to root them out. The trail leads to the heart of the woods, wherein looms the greatest secret of all — the Pyramid of Shadows.

This product includes an adventure booklet for the Dungeon Master, a player’s booklet containing new character options and campaign information, player handouts, and a full-color poster map, all contained in a handy folder.

The latest adventure for Dungeons & Dragons is now available and is full of cool stuff to toss at your players. I rarely, if ever, run published adventures “as-is” and usually tear them apart for ideas, antagonists and other twists to include in my game. This adventure is fairly linear, but still plenty interesting, and works very well. Folks still somewhat new to the role of GM (although they have probably run Keep on the Shadowfell and/or Thunderspire Labyrinth by now) will find plenty of useful information to keep the game moving along. The detailed write-ups for Tactics and each areas’ Features are entertaining reading and full of cool bits to keep the interesting.

The production quality on this and other D&D 4E products has been top-notch. Everything is easy to use, interesting and helps move the game along without being bogged down with extra pages or material.

Pyramid of Shadows is available at Amazon.com.

Savage and Macabre: Gangrel

Back to Nature

At the edges of civilization, they prowl. Their Beasts rise close to the surface, sniffing for sustenance. Loners and pack animals alike, the Gangrel are the untamed Savages among the Kindred. Though they are primal blood-drinkers and howlers at the moon, their animalistic allure is not to be denied. From the urban jungle to the wild places unwalked by other vampires, the Gangrel are there. Prepare yourself — it’s time to run with the pack.

The latest Clanbook for Vampire: the Requiem, seeing this on display at the White Wolf booth during the convention was a cool surprise. Technically this book does not come out until next month. These Clanbooks are amazingly high quality and full of crazy/cool in-character bits to keep any character going for months. Instead of a dry text explaining how the Clan works, we are offered up some amazing insights into the culture, secrets and history of the savage vampires who laugh at the politics of the other Clans.

While I’m a big fan of the Ventrue, this is definitely my favorite Clanbook so far. I was never sure exactly what to do with the Gangrel as a Clan, now…my Players should be very afraid.

Savage and Macabre: Gangrel is available at Amazon.com.

Crux: the Pandemonium Scriptures

Crux is an irregularly-published supplement for the Books of Pandemonium. This magazine features fan-created information for players and GMs, including new spells, demons, scenarios, campaign info, NPCs, enemies, weapons, and vehicles. Crux also features artwork, fiction, poetry, articles, and anything else that the fans want to submit!

Crux is a thin volume that expands on Dread: the First book of Pandemonium with all kinds of new material. New spells, new demons, setting fiction and other cool bits that add plenty of new gore to an already violent game of monster hunting. Sold at cost, Crux is a project entirely driven by fans of the game and fully supported by the publisher. Other publishers should definitely check this out and follow the lead set here.

Crux: the Pandemonium Scriptures is available at Lulu.com.

Back to work…

Well, we’re home from GenCon and we should probably get back to our “day jobs” but with all these cool games, that is proving to be a bit difficult. We should have some new reviews up soon and several new interviews are in the works.

How did GenCon go for you? What was your favorite new game?

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Hunters & Slayers)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Zombies)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Dracula)

The Flash Fire Mini-Reviews have awoken once more.

This week we will be taking a look at some of the Games, Books and other creations featuring the big green guy (no, not the Hulk) known as Cthulhu, one of the Great Old Ones in H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Cthulhu first appeared in the short story “The Call of Cthulhu” and has made many, many other appearances since in fiction, games, toys and artwork. Today we’re just taking a peek at a few of the Cthulhu-related items I’ve come across in the last few weeks.

Trail of Cthulhu

You uncover mysteries in dusty libraries and bloody crime scenes. You walk the mean streets of Chicago or hack through the jungles of the South Pacific. You battle vile cults, or recoil in terror at the alien enormities they worship. You follow the clues wherever they lead, whatever the cost in life or sanity. But do you dare to follow…
Trail of Cthulhu is a complete game of investigative horror set in the 1930s based on the work of HP Lovecraft. The game uses an adpated and enlarged version of GUMSHOE system which offers a laser-like focus on investigation, with characters driven to explore and investigate, even at the expense of their own health and sanity.

I first noticed the Gumshoe System with the release of Esoterrorists. Very cool stuff. Then, I heard that Pelgrane Press was working on a Cthulhu game. I have always been a fan of the Mythos, but could never really get into Call of Cthulhu. I don’t know why, maybe the system just didn’t work for me. it could have been the writing style or even the fact that I became aware of it way late in the production schedule and always felt like I was playing “catch up” to those who had been playing it for years.

With Trail of Cthulhu I had the chance to jump into the Mythos all over again. The Gumshoe System works great, investigations are the focus of the game and character creation is easy. This has become one of my absolute favorite Role Playing Games. The art is amazing, the writing is very well done. There are some great free Resources available for download. The Player’s Guide is only $10.95, so your Players don’t have to shell out a ton of money for a whole book. Buy this game, you won’t regret it.

Trail of Cthulhu is available at RPGNow.com

Frontier Cthulhu

Ancient Horrors in the New World

As explorers conquered the frontiers of North America, they disturbed sleeping terrors and things long forgotten by humanity. Journey into the undiscovered country where fierce Vikings struggle against monstrous abominations. Travel with European colonists as they learn of buried secrets and the creatures guarding ancient knowledge. Go west across the plains, into the territories were sorcerers dwell in demon-haunted lands, and cowboys confront cosmic horrors.

I was getting tired of some of the Mythos fiction anthologies that had hit the shelves over the last few years. Not to say they were bad, they just seemed to be the same thing over-n-over again. I really enjoyed Delta Green because it was the Mythos with a twist, not only did it move things to a new decade, it introduced some new factions. Frontier Cthulhu explores a different era (a few of them) and lets the authors try to expand the Mythos with a style all their own.

It is difficult to pick a favorite story in this collection, an exercise I often find pointless in a review. My favorite will not be your favorite, and someone else will disagree with us both. Regardless, there is some great material here and everyone will find something cool in this anthology.

Frontier Cthulhu is available at Amazon.com

The Call of Cthulhu: The Celebrated Story by H.P. Lovecraft

Written in 1926, just before the advent of “talking” pictures, The Call of Cthulhu is one of the most famous and influential tales of H.P. Lovecraft, the father of gothic horror. Now the story is brought richly to life in the style of a classic 1920s silent movie, with a haunting original symphonic score. Using the “Mythoscope” process, the HPLHS has worked to create the most authentic and faithful screen adaptation of a Lovecraft story yet attempted. From the cultists of the Louisana bayous to the man-eating non-euclidean geometry of R’lyeh, the HPLHS brings Cthulhu to the screen as it was meant to be seen. Eighteen months of production and a cast of more than 50 actors went into making this film a period spectacle that must seen to be believed.

This is a must have for any Lovecraft fan. That could be seen as an over-done statement, but really, I can’t recommend it enough for anyone who enjoys the Mythos. A lot of creative energy went into this production and it really shows. There are plenty of great extras on the DVD as well that are a treat to watch.

The Call of Cthulhu is available at Amazon.com.

Munchkin Cthulhu 2: Call of Cowthulhu

Aw, shucks! Y’all loved Munchkin Cthulhu so much, we jes’ had ta bring ya more of that down-home Munchkin craziness! Munchkin Cthulhu 2 – Call of Cowthulhu puts the Great Old Ones out to pasture, Munchkin-style! In this 56-card supplement you’ll find: More monsters! Hog-Sothoth, the Sheep Ones, Shoggoats – even Cowthulhu itself! More whackers! Squish unnatural creatures with the Rolling Pin, chop them down with the Scythe, or clean them up with the Super Duper Pooper Scooper. A new card type – Madness! These are played like Curses, but every Madness has its advantages as well! And more of everything else. Watch out for Old Man Nodens with his faithful Doggoth, resting on the porch. Defeat the Arkhamster with your Prize-Winning Preserves. And fear . . . Bovine Intervention! Call of Cowthulhu. Country life will never be the same.

I recently wrote a review of Munchkin Cthulhu were I made mention of the expansions adding new material to the game. I didn’t really have to worry. This expansion is great. Some very funny new jokes have been added and it makes the game much more interesting.

If you enjoy any of the other Munchkin games and/or are a fan of Cthulhu…you owe it yourself to get this game and the expansion. The rules are easy to learn and fun to play.

Munchkin Cthulhu 2 is available at Amazon.com.

Cthulhu Polystone Statue

Deep in the waters of the South Pacific lies the sunken city of R’Leyth. Beneath the ocean’s surface dwells the fearsome Cthulhu, a creature of enormous size and great power from the world of H. P. Lovecraft’s fictional works. The legend of Cthulhu’s colossal size and gruesome visage evoke fear and reverence from those who cross its path, human and animal alike.

Sideshow is proud to present the Cthulhu Statue by SOTA Toys. This dynamic figure is an outstanding interpretation of the Cthulhu creature, cast in high-quality polystone with detailed wings, featuring an individually hand-numbered base.

Way back when these first became available I asked Green or Red Cthulhu? because I couldn’t really figure out which one to get. They were both pretty cool. The green one is more “classic” and the red one is a limited edition exclusive, so I was torn.

Anyway, I ended up pre-ordering the green guy for the classic look. I missed out on the HorrorClix Cthulhu statue and didn’t want to pass this one up. Take a look for yourself and see just how cool this thing is.

The Cthulhu Polystone Statue is available at Sideshow Collectibles.

Hang up the phone…

The “Call of Cthulhu” is done for the day.

Hopefully you enjoyed this round of mini-reviews and will let us know what your favorite Cthulhu product is in the comments.

Suggestions for the next round of Flash Fire Mini-Reviews?

Related posts:

1. The Last Lovecraft: The Relic of Cthulhu Mini-Review and Trailer
2. Cthulhu Week: Your Top 20 Cthulhu Mythos Reviews
3. Munchkin Cthulhu Review

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…

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2

Eisner award-winning writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina) tackles Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight with “No Future for You.” When a rogue debutant Slayer begins to use her power for evil, Giles is forced to recruit the rebellious Faith, who isn’t exactly known for her good deeds. Giles offers Faith a clean slate if she can stop this snooty Slayer from wreaking total havoc – that is, if Buffy doesn’t beat her to it. Georges Jeanty (The American Way) remains at the top of his game as series artist, and Whedon stays on as “Executive Producer” in this direct follow-up to Season Seven of the smash-hit TV series.

Continuing the adventures of the “Scooby Gang” and plenty of new characters, the Season 8 comics are some pretty awesome stuff. This second volume has my favorite character from the series, Faith, kicking butt looking great while she is at it. Of course, she has to share “screen time” with Buffy, but that is to be expected.

At first I was wondering how the series would be with Whedon acting in an advisory role and not actually doing the hands-on writing. I could see a slight style difference pretty quickly, but not enough to hurt the series in any way. While I’ve been reading individual issues, I much prefer the trades, better to have the whole story all at once.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2 is available at Amazon.com

Rippers

You are a Ripper—one of a secret band of monster hunters dedicated to saving humanity—and the horrors that stalk the night are your prey. To aid in this struggle, Rippers extract the essence of these monsters’ powers and use them to enhance their own abilities. But be warned, by taking such horrific measures you risk losing your mind—or worse. Torn between the need for greater power and the threat of terrifying insanity, you must choose how best to fight the creatures of the night. Choose well, for if the Rippers fail humanity is lost!

With the Explorer’s Edition of Savage Worlds available for $9.99 I figured I better check out some of the setting options that are available. Rippers offers up all kinds of cool Victorian setting ideas and plenty of stuff that could be ported over to other settings/styles of play with ease.

Dr. Jack is a very cool villain and the setting of this book makes for some great adventures. There are a ton of neat ideas for story hooks, plots to explore and monsters to kill.

Rippers is available at RPGNow.com

Blood Noir

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 16

A favor for Jason, vampire hunter Anita Blake’s werewolf lover, puts her in the center of a fullblown scandal that threatens master-vampire Jean- Claude’s reign—and makes her a pawn in an ancient vampire queen’s new rise to power.

Buffy and Faith are not the only bad-ass female vampire hunters in town. Anita Blake has been killing vampires for 16 novels, a handful of short stories and a few comic books. This series has certainly changed over the years, becoming less about the monster killing and more about the convoluted character relationships.

Blood Noir keeps up that trend, so if you’ve been a fan of the last few books you will really enjoy this one. The new cover design shows a much darker side of the world, reminding us that Anita still is a hunter after all.

Blood Noir is available at Amazon.com

The Hunters Hunted

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold… Until now it has been the Vampire who stalked the cities, feasting at will from any they desired. Confident in their Masquerade, sure no mortal could threaten their rule, they have walked without fear. But now their nights are numbered. Eat Napalm Corpse! The Humters’ hour has come! Add to your Vampire Chronicle with fully detailed hunters, ready and waiting to put your players to the torch. Or better yet, begin a hunters Chronicle, with the characters facing off against the horror of the Undead. for no other foe is as well detailed as the Kindred of Vampire.

The very first Hunter book from White Wolf…before Year of the Hunter, before Hunter: the Reckoning. Hunter’s Hunted introduced a lot of concepts that were further developed as the World of Darkness expanded into new game lines and factions.

While many claim this book was all about mortal hunters, I do notice a vampire Bloodline, werewolf hunters, rogue ghouls and a Mage with “blood bound” supernatural minions. Still, the book is very focused on vampire hunting, regardless of the hunter’s style. Some great ideas for the how and why someone would hunt vampires (fear, revenge, fun). There are some new (at the time) psychic abilities and some clever vampire hunting gear. Obviously the book is very dated, but it was a lot of fun playing hunters back when Vampire: the Masquerade was the only World of Darkness game. They also made for some scary antagonists to throw at my player’s characters…

Hunters Hunted is available at RPGNow.com

99 Coffins

Laura Caxton vowed never to face them again. The horror of what the vampires did is too close, the wounds too fresh. But when Jameson Arkeley, broken and barely recognizable, comes to her with an unfathomable, unholy discovery, her resolve crumbles.

Arkeley leads Caxton to a tomb in Gettysburg recently excavated by a local archaeology professor. While the town, with its legendary role in the Civil War’s worst battle, is no stranger to cemeteries, this one is remarkably, eerily different. In it lie 100 coffins—99 of them occupied by vampires, who, luckily, are missing their hearts. But one of the coffins is empty and smashed to pieces.

When I reviewed 13 Bullets by David Wellington I was pretty happy to hear there was a sequel in the works. The vampires in this world are deadly monsters and it takes a hardcase to hunt them down. While Lara Caxton wasn’t really tough when the first book started, she adapted quickly. 99 Coffins picks up the pace and keeps Caxton and Arkley plenty busy.

The historical elements of this book add a lot to the mystery of the setting and really explore the motivations of the characters. We get plenty more violence and as always, Wellington’s writing is top-notch.

99 Coffins is available at Amazon.com

Take back the night…

That does it for this week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews. The hunters and slayers have work to do and can’t hang out on this thread all the time.

So, who is your favorite monster hunter?

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (GenCon Wrap-Up)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Scary Short Stories)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Dracula)

This week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews list is going to be a little different…

We have posted reviews of Hellboy: Blood & Iron and Doctor Strange on Flames Rising already. This week we’re going to take a look at some of the other animated features with some of our favorite characters…

Superman: Doomsday

The most shocking showdown in Superman history! When Lexcorp accidentally unearths the intergalactic serial killer Doomsday Superman battles the creature head on in the fight of his life…literally. The world collectively mourns their fallen hero; humanity realizes it will never feel truly safe again. Superman’s enemies rejoice all but Lex Luthor who grieves the loss in his own demented manner setting off a chilling chain of events that even he couldn’t have foreseen. Inspired by the bestselling graphic novel of all time DC Comics’ The Death of Superman this feature-length animated adventure boasts exciting action sequences that rivals anything you’ve ever seen starring the Man of Steel!

I was reading the original comics way back when Doomsday made his first appearance and I always wondered if he would show up in a movie. The Justice League Unlimited seasons are pretty awesome so there was no hesitation when it came to ordering this DVD. For a super-hero tale this feature is pretty dark. Plenty of violence, lots of emotion and some all around good writing. It does not follow the original comic book storyline exactly, but it is a good story on its own.

Superman: Doomsday is available at Amazon.com.

Van Helsing: The London Assignment

Combining thrilling adventure and cutting edge animation, Van Helsing: The London Assignment is the original prequel that unlocks the incredible story behind Van Helsing and Mr. Hyde. Deep in the heart of London, the demonic creature, Mr. Hyde, terrorizes the late-night streets in a haunting crime spree. With the city in a panic, the Knights of the Holy Order send Van Helsing into London with the mission of tracking down and capturing the evil Mr. Hyde. Featuring the voice of Hugh Jackman, this original animated film will thrill you with non-stop adventure and give you an inside look into the world of Van Helsing.

As a prequel to the live-action movie with Hugh Jackman, The London Assignment is pretty entertaining. Several of the cast from the film add their talents to the animation, adding some history and depth to the characters. The animation is pretty good, the story sets up plenty of elements for the film and really adds some depth to several of the characters. I think this prequel makes to live-action film more enjoyable.

The London Assignment is available at Amazon.com.

The Invincible Iron Man

Past and present collide in this epic adventure that reveals the origin of Iron Man. While raising the ruins of a long buried Chinese kingdom, billionaire inventor Tony Stark digs up far more than he bargained for. He unleashes an age-old prophecy that foretells the resurrection of the Mandarin, the emperor of China’s darkest and most violent dynasty. In order to confront the destructive force, Tony creates an armored suit infused with high-tech weaponry. To stop the evil that he himself has raised form the earth, Tony must become his greatest invention ever, Iron Man! The newly born champion must travel to the four corners of the earth to battle the Mandarin’s henchmen, the Elementals, four magical warriors who harness the power of the elements (earth, water, wind, and fire), with deadly chemistry. But is the Iron Knight, as he his known in the prophecy, strong enough to defy fate and turn back the malevolent forces hell-bent on earth’s destruction?

With the new live-action Iron Man movie coming out this week I wanted to watch this feature again. Iron Man was one of my favorite characters in the Ultimate Avengers feature, although he did not get much screen time compared to other characters. Getting his own film makes up for that a bit. We get a new take on the Mandarin (this version would make a pretty good foe for Doctor Strange). The supporting cast is great and their is plenty enough material for a sequel.

Invincible Iron Man is available at Amazon.com

Hellboy: Sword of Storms

In this first animated feature from Director Tad Stones (Buzz Lightyear of Star Command), and Creative Producers Mike Mignola (creator of HELLBOY comics) and Guillermo del Toro (writer/director of the HELLBOY movie), a folklore professor becomes unwittingly possessed by the ancient Japanese demons of Thunder and Lightning. But when The Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense dispatches a team of agents to investigate, a cursed samurai sword sends Hellboy (Ron Perlman) to a supernatural dimension of ghosts, monsters and feudal mayhem.Now while pyrokinetic Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) and fishboy Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) battle one very pissed-off dragon, a lost and cranky Hellboy must find his way home. Even if he can survive the perilous journey, how much crap does a guy have to put up with from the two most vengeful and ferocious spirits of Japanese legend?

As with Iron Man, there is an upcoming live-action Hellboy movie that I’m very much looking forward to. Of course, this is a sequel to the first live-action Hellboy movie, but anyway…

Sword of Storms is a lot of fun, I didn’t like it quite as much as Blood & Iron, but it is still a really entertaining film. Most of the cast from the live-action films reprise their roles once again, making this a true part of the ongoing storyline. The extra features on the disc are pretty cool as well. They include commentary tracks, storyline origins and “To Hell And Back – How Mike Mignola Created Hellboy” which makes this a must have for any Hellboy fan.

Sword of Storms is available at Amazon.com

Dark Fury – The Chronicles of Riddick

Extend The Chronicles of Riddick experience with this all-new, visionary animated film that bridges the incredible stories of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick . Starring Vin Diesel as the voice and likeness of Riddick and created by Peter Chung (The Animatrix, MTV’s “Aeon Flux”), one of the world’s most revered animators, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury delivers thrilling sci-fi adventure that takes Riddick, Jack and Imam on a death-defying confrontation with an intergalactic bounty hunter.

Taking place between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick live action movies, Dark Fury is a short, violent feature that introduces more of the overall setting 9and a few familiar characters). Riddick and the other survivors of Pitch black are captured by a rich, powerful lunatic and forced to fight their way free on a ship full of mercenaries and technological horrors.

Dark Fury is available at Amazon.com.

Dousing the fire…

That does it for this week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews. Let us know your thoughts on these animated features in the comments. Also, let us know what your favorites are and what you think we should cover next time around…

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Zombies)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Live Action Games)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Dracula)

After a short break, the Flash Fire Mini-Reviews are back (from the dead)!

Zombies have always had a following among horror fans. We have several reviews of great zombie games, books and more here on Flames Rising. Among the recent zombie reviews are Plague of the Dead 2, Happy Hour of the Damned and Zombie Fluxx. There are plenty more, including great titles from Permuted Press and Eden Studios.

This week we will be checking out a mix of zombie entertainment. Games, Novels and a Movie will make up the horde…

Headshot Quartet

Join authors D.L. Snell, John Sunseri, Ryan C. Thomas, and David Dunwoody as they fire four more rounds into the growing horde of living dead.

MILLION-DOLLAR MONEY SHOT
MORTAL GODS
LOST SOULS
ENEMY UNSEEN

Headshot Quartet is the fourth installment in the Undead series from Permuted Press (read reviews of Skin & Bones and Flesh Feast for more information). This time Permuted Press mixes things up a bit by offering four novellas in this collection instead of a short story anthology. I think this is a great move as it requires the authors to focus on more-involved plots and characters, and I didn’t feel that the collection had to focus on the same tired plots and themes. From voodoo to psychics, there’s enough horror and intrigue to satisfy even the pickiest zombie-loving reader.

Headshot Quartet is available at Amazon.com

Atlas of the Walking Dead

From all corners of the world, they come. Leaving their graves for food or vengeance, or by the command of mysterious powers, the dead walk among the living. As they always have.

The Atlas of the Walking Dead is a supplement for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten RPG.

Sometimes when you are getting ready to run a game of All Flesh Must Be Eaten you feel like mixing things up a bit and adding a bit of mythology or mystery to the adventure. Perhaps the players have already figured out clever ways of killing those regular “movie” type zombies and you’d like to throw something completely different at them.

Well, Atlas of the Walking Dead is full of new types of zombies, a few vampires and plenty of other “dead” horrors. There are also a few new rules and plenty of new Aspects for building monsters. This also makes Atlas of the Walking Dead an excellent “monster guide” for other Unisystem games like C.J. Carella’s Witchcraft and even Conspiracy X 2.0.

Atlas of the Walking Dead is available at RPGNow.com.

Rise and Walk

The walking dead descend upon a paintball competition in the mountains. Two brave young women join forces with two thrill seekers in a terror filled struggle against the undead. Low on ammunition and supplies, the survivors use anything at hand to fight off the flesh hungry horde. As the party makes their escape they soon realize that there is nowhere to run when the dead Rise and Walk…

This zombie tale has a little bit of everything a fan of the genre would want. Suspense, gore, great characters and plenty of zombies. The fast-paced action in Rise and Walk never stops, keeping the reader entertained all-the-while. Hordes of undead swarm the characters forcing them to fight desperately throughout the story, which keeps you turning page after page to the end. Four characters band together in this tried-and-true version of a nod to classic zombie tales. Chilling, descriptive, an zombie-riffic this is a collector’s must-have as we’ll be sure to see this author, Gregory Solis, on more horror book titles.

Rise and Walk is available at Lulu.com.

Resident Evil: Extinction

Milla Jovovich is back to kill more zombies in the third chapter of the hit Resident Evil franchise!

An action/horror film filled with huge special effects and edge-of-your-teat terror! Survivors of the Raccoon City catastrophe travel across the Nevada desert hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice (Jovovich) joins the caravan and their fight against the evil Umbrella Corp.

I had really high hopes for this movie. I enjoyed the previous films quite a bit and was hoping for further development of the characters and the “evil corporation” plot. Not much of either made it into the film. There was plenty of great action scenes and hordes of zombies, but neither really got used very well. Alice has developed powerful psionic abilities, but she only gets to use them a couple of times in the movie.

This film introduced several new characters, none of which get developed at all. However, they don’t really matter all that much when it comes to watching Milla Jovovich slaughter zombies. The fight scenes were excellent and very entertaining. If you don’t care about characters and just want some gore…this movie is right for you.

Resident Evil: Extinction is available at Amazon.com

Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness

This is it true believers, the cross-over of the century begins here! The Marvel Zombies come face-to-face with Dynamite Entertainment’s Ash from the Army of Darkness! Ash has faced legions of the undead before, but never like this… as he lands in the heart of New York just as the Zombie outbreak begins! See how his actions help turn more heroes and villains into Zombies! Under the watchful eye of Marvel Zombie guru Robert Kirkman, this might just be the comic event of 2007! Plus: The entire series will feature classic “homage” covers from painter Arthur Suydam!

Even though I enjoyed reading Marvel Zombies I groaned a bit when I first head the announcement for this particular series. Crossovers often don’t work out too well in my opinion because the writer will inevitably favor one creation over the other. So I was pretty sure this wouldn’t work…

I should not have worried about it. Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness is crazy, funny and worth getting for any fan of either Marvel super heroes or Ashley J. “Ash” Williams.

Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness is available at Amazon.com

Shoot ‘em in the head…

That does it for the zombie edition of Flash Fire Mini-Reviews here on Flames Rising. There are so many great books and other fun zombie products out there that I’m pretty sure the rotting horde will be back for more soon enough.

As always, let us know what you think of these reviews and post some suggestions for other themes that you would like to see included in the series.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews: Horror Comics (Antarctic Press)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Back from the Dead)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Scary Short Stories)

Sometimes rolling the dice or holding the controller just isn’t enough…This week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews will be exploring some of the different Live Action Role Playing options folks have for getting in character and having some fun.

Whether you are part of an ongoing global campaign like the Camarilla or just looking for a fun party game for a few friends, LARP is available in a vareity of products.

Passion Play

Passion Play brings the depth and excitement of the Fading Suns to live-action roleplaying. Take on the roles of humanity’s leaders as they try to rebuild the Known Worlds… or leave them devastated once more. Dukes, bishops, mercenaries and more take part in these conspiracies and intriques.

Passion Play provides innovative live-action rules, all while letting players conspire, fight, use psychic powers, call upon holy miracles, and even use forbidden cybernetics. Seduction is as important as swordplay, and honor can become another commodity with which to barter.

I had never actually played in a game of Fading Suns before checking out Passion Play. To date I’ve still never played the table-top version of the game, but have enjoyed several fun convention games of Passion Play.

This is a pretty cool setting and the Live Action rules are easy to pick up. They also allow you to get into character fairly quickly with little fuss or book-keeping. If you like sci-fi and fantasy with politics and intrigue, give this one a try.

Passion Play is available at RPGNow.com.

Long Live the King

Long Live the King is a dynamic game that marries the diabolical treachery and scheming of the best strategic board and card games with the pomp and circumstance of the most elaborate live-action games. In the role of an ailing king, the gamemaster participates in the roleplaying while moderating the rules.

Up to seven other major players, including a young queen, a haughty archbishop and a wily ambassador, vie to place themselves in positions to rule the kingdom when the king finally keels over. Dozens of minor roles allow the game to be as large and elaborate as you desire. Or just keep it small… and cut-throat.

This is a boxed game from White Wolf Publishing. It is great for small groups and conventions because of the ease-of-play and plenty of options to keep players interested. Characters are pre-generated and everything you need to play is included (except for food/drinks and plenty of sneaky imagination).

Long Live the King is available at Amazon.com.

Cthulhu Live: House of Pain

It’s the autumn of 1991, and the world isn’t what it used to be. Saddam Hussein’s army lies in smoldering ruins. The Soviet Union is suffering its death throes. Germany has been reunified. Africa is aflame with small bush wars. Across the world, the balance of power is shifting. Old powers are dying out and the playing field of the future will be a chaos of warlords and rogue states.

In this full-length adventure for Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition, the players are power-brokers who have been invited to a private summit to help form the geopolitical landscape of the next century. But while they plot their moves and hide their secrets, they may find that they themselves are pawns in a much larger, more ancient game.

If you’ve read my review of Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition, then you know I’m a big fan of the updates and improvements made to the system. This adventure really demonstrates some of the cool things you can do with Cthulhu Live. It moves the setting up to the year 1991 and offers a chance for folks to play “high-level” characters with global plots, intrigue and more.

When combined with The Old Man of Damascus (which takes the setting back to 1190) folks wanting to run Cthulhu Live games are offered a lot of great support material, including new characters, ideas for props and costumes and more.

House of Pain is available at RPGNow.com.

A Feast to Die For

The Lesters were hosting another one of their fabulous dinner parties. The invitation list was smaller than usual. The Lesters, and a few of their special family and friends were just about to sit down to enjoy the elaborate dinner Victoria Lester had prepared. The table was breathtaking. As usual Victoria had outdone herself. The diners toasted with a vintage bottle of red wine and sat down to eat. As the food was being passed around the table, Victoria started to choke and cough. Everyone rushed to her side in time to see her fall face first into her food. She was dead…she had been poisoned. Welcome to an evening of murder!

This is a ‘Party Adventure’ designed to create a night of intrigue and excitement for you and your friends. Within the comfort of your living room, you set the stage for solving a murder. You and your guests become the suspects. Each have hidden backgrounds and secret clues. Cast your inhibitions aside, apply your imagination, and determine who the murderer is, how it was done, and why.

While not exactly a “horror” game, A Feast to Die For is plenty dark and a lot of fun. I’ve had the pleasure of playing this a couple of times, each one with different players and different events going on to keep things interesting.

The box comes with plenty of useful information for each character (so even folks not quite as skilled in improv will have something to do or say). There is also some great set-up instructions for the host to keep things rolling along and just enough other advise included that people with little-to-no LARP experience can run this with ease.

A Feast to Die For is available at Amazon.com

Mind’s Eye Theatre: The Requiem

As the sun fades into memory and the world falls into darkness, the haunting notes of the danse macabre echo, calling the undead to play their nightly games. From turf wars in the streets to cutting remarks at society parties, old grudges spill fresh blood as vampires vie for power and prominence. It’s a world without pity, a world of predators. Now that you’re one of them, it’s your world too.

The Requiem provides all the information necessary to bring the mysterious existence of vampires to your Mind’s Eye Theatre™ game. Secret histories of the undead, the clans and covenants that make up the danse macabre, rules for the mystic Disciplines — it’s all here. Discover the nocturnal world as you’ve never seen it before. Requires the Mind’s Eye Theatre rulebook for play.

A new World of Darkness requires a new take on the Mind’s Eye Theatre system. I’ve already done a mini-review of Mind’s Eye Theatre: The Awakening, so I thought I should go back a bit to talk about the vampires…

At first I wasn’t too happy with the new rules, but they’ve grown on me quite a bit, especially considering how easy it is to port elements from the table-top Requiem books to Live Action play. This book covers the basics of the Clans and Covenants with plenty of information on bringing your character to life (or should I say “unlife”). If you ever get the chance to try some of the Camarilla events at GenCon…don’t miss out.

Mind’s Eye Theatre: The Requiem is available at RPGNow.com.

Close the curtains…

That wraps up the LARP version of the Flash Fire Mini-Reviews.

Let us know what your Live Action games are like in the comments, especially if you’ve had the chance to play any of these games.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Animated Heroes)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Dracula)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Books of Magic)

We’ve covered vampires, zombies, magic and more in past Flash Fire Mini-Reviews. This week we’re going to take a look at a genre that often blends Sci-Fi with Horror and Adventure with Mystery…sometimes all at once.

Post-Apocalypse stories often show a bleak future, but can offer a bit hope as well.

The civilized world has come to an end, in the rubble the survivors battle horrors and each other in an attempt to gather resources and perhaps to rebuild their world. Post Apocalyptic settings are the subject of this week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews.

We’ve got a mix of games, fiction and a movie to explore this week. Each with a different spin on just what Post-Apocalypse means…

Monster Nation

In the heart of America, in the world’s most secure prison, something horrible is growing in the dark. A wave of cannibalism and fear is sweeping across the heartland, spreading carnage and infection in its wake. Captain Bannerman Clark of the National Guard has been tasked with an impossible mission: discover what is happening — and then stop it before it annihilates Los Angeles.

In California, he discovers a woman trapped in a hospital overrun with violent madmen. She may hold the secret to the Epidemic but she has lost everything — even her name.

If you’ve had the chance to read my review of Monster Island, the first part of David Wellington’s zombie trilogy, you’ll know I’m a pretty big fan of his work. While I don’t think Monster Nation is as much fun to read as Monster Island, it is still a great book. Zombie fans will find plenty of chaos, heroics and flesh-eating undead to keep them entertained. As a bonus we get to discover the cause of the zombie uprising and meet some new characters along the way.

Monster Nation is available at Amazon.com

Monte Cook’s World of Darkness

The World of Darkness Re-Imagined

This book includes a complete setting: a new vision of the World of Darkness. Characters play as vampires, mages, werewolves, demons, or Awakened. They wield frightening supernatural powers against their own kind. The world is the one we know, but now much darker: destruction in the central US, nightmares coming to life, and beasts roaming shattered cityscapes. Uses the most popular roleplaying game system in the world.

Not only did this book rework the World of Darkness setting into a nightmare world of monsters, cosmic malevolence and demonic magic, but it also introduced it to a variation on the popular d20 system. Monte Cook was offered the chance to do whatever he wanted with the WoD…this 360 page monster is the result.

You can play as vampires, werewolves, mages and more in this setting, but they are quite a bit different from those featured in the other World of Darkness titles. This is a good thing. This allows this new post-apocalyptic setting to stand on its own and offers folks a chance to try something different from their other horror games.

Monte Cook’s World of Darkness is available at Amazon.com

Reign of Fire

When workers in a London tunneling project awaken an unearthly fire-breathing beast from centuries of slumber, all hell breaks loose. Twelve-year-old Quinn sees his mother, one of the workers, die trying to escape this new terror. Twenty years later as a “fire chief,” he tries to keep a group of refugees alive with fierce dragons dominating the air, burning the land and feeding on the ash. Unexpectedly, Van Zan, a hotshot American militia leader, shows up with a ragtag group of slayers on a perilous crusade to hunt down and destroy the beasts. Tempers flare when there is a struggle for leadership — until both men realize only one species is getting out of this alive.

After thousands of years hidden in secret and dreaming of fire, the race of Dragons is accidentally awakened once more. They rain destruction all over the world. Mankind responds with nuclear weapons, devastating much than the Dragons could ever do on their own. This is an excellent set-up for an adventure movie.

The Dragons make for a frightening enemy, even with a few modern weapons that the humans can use in the fight. The effects are well done, the blasted London landscape and burned countryside of England in 2020 adds plenty of emotion to the tale. Matthew McConaughey’s character is absolutely crazy and he plays it well. Christian Bale’s reluctant hero is a character you can’t help but like.

This movie also has one of the greatest Star Wars parodies ever made.

Reign of Fire is available at Amazon.com

Avenues & Alleyways

The City is more complex than any one person could ever imagine. Innumerable places and people. A brick and stone ocean of buildings stretching as far as the eye can see.

This bumper a|state supplement featues 30 brand new city areas to explore and use in your a|state games, as well as a host of essays on everything from health and disease in The City to law and weather.

In our reviews of a|state and The Lostfinder’s Guide to Mire End we explore the setting and the system a bit, learning the ways of the world that the folks at Contest Ground Studios have created. Avenues & Alleyways takes us a bit deeper into The City, offering up tons of new locations, interesting personalities that characters can interact with as allies or enemies and more.

Like all CGS products, Avenues & Alleyways is amazingly well done. The writing is top-notch, offering plenty of moody setting along with information any GM will find useful. The art and design are among the best in the industry. This is one of the best setting books I’ve seen in years.

Avenues & Alleyways is available at RPGnow.com

Valentine’s Resolve

After three years of exile from humanity’s war against the Kurians, David Valentine returns to battle. The Lifeweavers, Earth’s allies in the conflict, have all but vanished, and without them mankind cannot possibly stand against their alien enemies.

Many of the Lightweavers are held captive by a Kurian overlord. To free them, Valentine must convince the Marshal, a legendary resistance fighter with a grudge against the Kurians, to join his cause. But the Marshal is something of a dictator himself, ruling over his men with an iron fist-and giving Valentine a new enemy to fight.

Way back in ’04 we posted a review of Way of the Wolf. Well, the Vampire Earth series has come a long way since then. In this new book, Valentine continues his battle against the Kurians (and other foes). I think each book in the series has been better than those that came before, Valentine’s Resolve is no exception.

The Kurians are great antagonists (find out more about them in our Interview with E.E. Knight) and they are deadly enemies for the resistance. The humans in the series are a mixed lot of good, bad and ugly. Knight offers up plenty of detail in this post-apocalyptic setting, the damage done to the world and the hard choices the characters living in it make for some excellent story telling.

Valentine’s Resolve is available at Amazon.com

Dousing the fire…

That does it for this week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews.

Be sure to let us know what your thoughts on these entries is when you get the chance. What topics or products would you like to see next time?

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Ready Made World of Darkness)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Live Action Games)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Dracula)

Last week we talked about the most well-known vampire in the world, Dracula. The Dark Prince will probably return for another round of Mini-Reviews at a later date, since we only had the chance to check out a few of the products featuring Dracula and there are certainly many more available.

This week we are going to take a look at some great collections of scary stories. There are fiction anthologies on every subject imaginable. Fans of Horror & Dark Fantasy have many authors and publishers to choose from. Some of the authors featured in this week’s mini-reviews include Jim Butcher, Laurell K. Hamilton, Kelley Armstrong, David Wellington, C.J. Henderson, Tanith Lee and Patricia A. McKillip…just to name a few.

Here are a few anthologies that I’ve had the chance to check out recently…

Return to Lovecraft Country

Take a journey through the New England of H.P. Lovecraft and return to many of the locales immortalized in his chilling tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. You will be guided by some of the finest authors of horror fiction, both past and present, as well as many up and coming talents who will take the dark children of Lovecraft into the millennium. This collection contains works by T.E.D. Klein, Richard Lupoff, Thomas Ligotti, C.J. Henderson, and a rare reprint of a story by the great Lin Carter.

This collections of Mythos inspired tales published by Triad Entertainment is a fun read for fans of Call of Cthulhu and other Lovecraftian fiction. My faorite tale in this collection is “The Horror at Columbia Terrace” by C.J. Henderson, who always entertains. T.E.D. Klein’s “The Events at Poroth Farm” starts off a little slow, but gets quite creepy as the tale continues.

The book does suffer a bit from poor editing, although some of it does seem to be a printing error (bad margins, too many spaces, etc). The mix of writing styles ensures that any fan will find something they enjoy and something they don’t, but all-in-all this collection is a fun read.

Return to Lovecraft Country is available at Amazon.com

Many Bloody Returns

Suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous-these all-new stories will ensure that readers never think of vampires (or birthdays) in quite the same way again.

Jim Butcher’s crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden, of the Dresden Files novels, heads to a role-playing party to give his vampire brother a birthday present in “It’s My Birthday Too,” only to discover there are some bloodthirsty party crashers who don’t share their brotherly love.

I originally only picked this up for the Dresden Files story by Jim Butcher. I was pleasantly surprised to find several of my other favorite authors included in the collection as well. Kelley Armstrong, Christopher Golden, Tanya Huff and other authors contribute some great stories to this anthology.

Kelley Armstrong includes a tale featuring one of her Women of the Otherworld characters, specifically Casandra from Dime Store Magic, which was an entertaining read.

Many Bloody Returns is available at Amazon.com

The Undead

“The Undead” is a stunning collection of 23 tales of the living dead by zombie fan favorites and up-and-coming authors. “The Undead” includes classic tales of survival in a world populated by the living dead as well as an array of unique takes on the zombie genre: zombies as reality entertainment, glimpses from inside the “life” of the undead, intergalactic war with humanity’s own dead turned against us, and everything in between. “The Undead” will leave zombie fans hungry for more!

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to read our reviews of Undead 2: Skin & Bones and Undead 3: Flesh Feast. This is the anthology that started the series. With tales from David Wellington, D.L. Snell, Andre Duza, David Moody and more (including an Afterword from Brian Keene).

The Undead shows off some great zombie fiction from some really talented authors. “Pale Moonlight” by D.L. Snell and “Home” by David Moody are my favorite tales in the book, but I can’t really say that any of them are bad. A few take a bit to get going, but all-in-all, the book is great fun for anyone who is a fan of zombies.

The Undead is available at Amazon.com

Strange Candy

From a woman who marries into a family of volatile wizards to a couple fleeing a gang of love-hungry cupids, from a girl who seeks sanctuary in the form of a graceful goose to the disgruntled superhero Captain Housework, readers will revel in the many twists and turns of fortune in these fantastical fairy tales and lush parables. Even hardened vampire hunter and zombie animator Anita Blake gets blindsided by the disturbing motives of her clients in the new “Those Who Seek Forgiveness” and in “The Girl Who Was Infatuated with Death.”

This is a collection of work from Anita Blake author, (interview). Several of these stories are new, having never been published before. As entertaining as the stories are, the best part of the book is the personal notes from the author at the beginning of each tale. Part history, part creative process, these little notes give us a look into her career and writing style.

Strange Candy is available at Amazon.com

The Fair Folk

Six Tales of the Fey

Winner of the World Fantasy Award.

Quality Fairy tales can be difficult to write. They often either end up as kid stories or twisted personal fantasies. Neither of which hold much appeal for me.

I discovered this collection while I was looking for ideas for Changeling: the Lost. It worked. Tanith Lee, Patricia A. McKillip and company put together some great tales of the Fey. Some are dark, some are funny, I especially enjoyed Megan Lindholm’s “Grace Notes” as a tale of what happens when you get too much of a good thing.

The Fair Folk is available at Amazon.com

Douse the fire…

That set of mini-reviews should keep you reading for a bit. There are plenty of great anthologies available featuring work from established and brand-new authors alike. Hopefully something from the above list interests you.

Let us know about great short story collections you’ve read recently.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (The Great Cthulhu)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Zombies)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Contest Edition 2)

Another round of the Flash Fire Mini-Reviews is here!

This week we are talking about one of the most well-known characters in horror. Dracula has made appearances in fiction, movies, comics and games. He has been re-imagined numerous times and always comes back for more. New concepts about the character are always being invented and new fans discover the character every year.

What follows are just a few of the many, many Dracula influenced products available today. The original novel with a twist, some games and a couple of movies make up this set of mini-reviews…

Illustrated Dracula

One of today’s hottest comic book artists illustrates the original tale of blood lust, fear, and desire…

In 1897, Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, launching a literary sensation. In this new illustrated edition, Jae Lee, one of the most talked-about artists for Marvel comics, reawakens Count Dracula. Critics and fans alike praise Lee for his mastery of complex emotion and, in this book, forty illustrations present Dracula as never seen before. Jae Lee’s legions of fans will flock to this horror classic, and The Illustrated Dracula will also bring a new generation of young readers to the book.

This is the original story by Bram Stoker, re-packaged with amazing illustrations from Jae Lee (known for his work on Gunsligner Born, among other projects). I’ve read the original novel several times, but this has quickly become my favorite version. Lee’s dark, haunting art is spread throughout the book with full page spots and small cut-out characters or scenes at pivotal moments in the story.

This is one of the best looking editions of Dracula I’ve ever had the chance to read. It is a must-have for fans of the book (it helps if you like Jae Lee’s art though…).

The Illustrated Dracula is available at Amazon.com

Ordo Dracul

A Covenant Guide for Vampire: The Requiem™

* Provides settings, antagonists and story seeds for Storytellers

The Ordo Dracul are one of the most mysterious Covenants in the World of Darkness. They follow the teachings laid out by Dracula himself in Rites of the Dragon. This book is primarily a “player’s guide” to the Covenant. There is a ton of useful information on the group’s history, methods, factions and politics. There are also new Bloodlines, Disciplines, Merits and other “crunch” throughout the book that is useful for Storytellers and Players alike.

I was particularly impressed with the internal factions and politics of the Covenant throughout the beginning chapters of the book. There are tons of plot threads for characters to follow and plenty of useful ideas for Storytellers to keep things interesting.

Ordo Dracul is available at Amazon.com

Blade Trinity

The final battle begins and the trinity comes to an end!

Blade is back and his enemies have grown in number since they resurrected their king, Dracula. Together with a new group of vampire hunters, called the Nightstalkers, led by Whistler’s strong but beautiful daughter Abigail and the wise-cracking Hannibal, they must finally defeat the vampires or face inevitable extinction.

In this movie Dracula is an ancient, inhuman creature that has been asleep for some time. Younger vampires, decimated by Blade’s efforts to hunt them in the previous movies have awoken Dracula in the hopes that he will kill the Daywalker (aka Blade).

Plenty of new characters are introduced in this movie, some taken from the comics they are based on, such as Hannibal King. While this movie is not as good as the previous Blade films, it is plenty entertaining. The entire movie feels a bit more like a comic book with high-tech weapons and more reliance on special effects than before. Dracula makes a great foe for Blade, with unusual abilities and a strange sense of honor. This is a vampire he actually has defeat, rather than beat-down.

Blade Trinity is available at Amazon.com

Fury of Dracula

In this game of Gothic adventure, one player takes the role of Dracula while up to four others attempt to stop him by controlling Vampire hunters from the famous Bram Stoker novel.

To save Europe and rid the world of Dracula’s foul plague, the hunters must destroy Dracula before he earns enough victory points to win the game… will they have enough wit and bravery to defeat the dark count?

This is a new version of a game that came out in the 80′s with a better design and revised game play. Dracula is not the only enemy here, but the focus is most certainly on our favorite vampire. As with most Fantasy Flight Games’ products this is a very well produced product. The pieces are detailed, the cards have great art and the overall production quality is top-notch.

I found the rules easy to learn and fun to play. There is always something happening and no one really has the chance to get bored. This game is no cake-walk though, Dracula is a tough opponent and it will take some smart players (and often a bit of luck) to win the day.

Fury of Dracula is available at Amazon.com

Van Helsing – (Ultimate Collector’s Edition)

Legendary monster hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is summoned to mysterious Transylvania on a mission that will thrust him into a sweeping battle against the forces of darkness! With non-stop action and electrifying special effects, Van Helsing is an adrenaline-powered motion picture event Roger Ebert calls “Spectacular and fun.”

Also include are the Original Films That Inspired Van Helsing: Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), and The Wolf Man (1941)

While I was not really a fan of the movie when it was first released for a number of reasons, this collection has impressed me quite a bit. There are ton of extra features (Explore Dracula‘s Castle, The Legend Of Van Helsing, Bringing The Monsters To Life, Feature Commentaries and Track The Adventure: Van Helsing Map, just to name a few) that go into the making of the movie and explore the legends of the various characters. A lot of work went into these features, showing off the entire production process from several perspectives and some amazing detail.

The third disc is a real bonus with the addition of the original classic monster movies. Dracula being my favorite of the three, naturally. With these three films as inspiration and all of the extra features the movie becomes a lot more entertaining and a welcome addition to anyone’s horror collection.

Van Helsing – (Ultimate Collector’s Edition) is available at Amazon.com

Put a Stake in it…

That’s it for another collection of Flash Fire Mini-Reviews.

There are certainly enough great Dracula inspired products available that we just might come back for another round of mini-reviews featuring the Count another time. Let us know what some of your favorites are and I just might include them next time.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Zombies)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Live Action Games)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Scary Short Stories)

The Flash Fire Mini-Reviews are back with a mix of fiction, games and comics this week. Mages, Wizards, Witches and other spell-slinging heroes, villains and monsters make appearances in this collection of reviews.

We’re looking at a variety of magical styles, ranging from the dark and evil to the divinely inspired. I’m not talking about spellbooks here, but magic wielding characters or plots about magic in the world around them. We’ve got Harry Dresden, Willow and Redcloak alongside some Live-Action Mage and the Unwanted.

Anyway, let’s get on with those mini-reviews…

Mind’s Eye Theatre: The Awakening

•Provides everything you need for a Mind’s Eye Theatre chronicle set in the popular Mage: The Awakening setting

•For use with the Mind’s Eye Theatre Rulebook

Based on Mage: the Awakening, this book is the latest Live-Action product from White Wolf Publishing. This is also White Wolf’s first Print-on-Demand product. Eddy Webb, the new Alternative Product Developer (and author of this book), talks about that a bit in my interview with him here on Flames Rising.

I’ll be honest, I never really had the chance to dig too deep into the new Mage line of books. There were plenty of cool elements, but it wasn’t until I read this book that I really got hooked. The writing is top-notch, the system conversions are easy to understand and the overall presentation of the book is incredibly well done. Mages in a Live-Action setting works really well, whether as a stand-alone game or one mixed up with the other Mind’s Eye Theatre books.

Mind’s Eye Theatre: The Awakening is available at RPGNow.com

Storm Front (Dresden Files)

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things–and most of them don’t play too well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a–well, whatever.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

Hopefully you’ve had the chance to read some of our other Dresden Files reviews, which include some of the more recent titles and the DVD collection. Storm Front is where it all began. Sure, Harry had a few adventures before the events described in this book, you can even read Restoration of Faith for free on Jim Butcher’s website.

Storm Front introduces us to some of the great characters that have developed over the course of the series, and unknown to us at the time, several important plot threads that are still in motion 9 books later. There are some dark magics in this book and some real heroism that shines through. A great beginning to a great series.

Storm Front is available at Amazon.com

Start of Darkness (Order of the Stick)

The Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness is the second all-new, print-exclusive volume in the popular Order of the Stick collection of comedic fantasy roleplaying game comics. The companion volume to On the Origin of PCs, this book delves back into the past to explore the genesis of the Order of the Stick’s archnemesis, Xykon the lich sorcerer.

Learn how Xykon became a lich, how he met Redcloak the goblin cleric and the mysterious Monster in the Darkness, and how he totally killed Roy’s dad’s master, like right in front of him. Ouch.

I’ve been a fan of Order of the Stick for a couple of years now. I was pretty excited to learn that Rich Burlew would be releasing the series in graphic novel format.

Start of Darkness is label with -1, meaning it comes before book 0 (the prequel book called On the Origin of PCs). This book details some of my favorite characters in the series, the bad guys. We find out how Xykon and Redcloak teamed up and started their quest to bad stuff. We even get to find out how Xykon went from annoying Sorcerer to destructive Lich. Between the two of them they have some pretty powerful magic to kill lots of Paladins with.

Start of Darkness is available at Amazon.com

The Magic Box

Okay, so you’re not the one and only Slayer . . . whatever.

Here you’ll find all the info you need to master your powers and learn how to introduce the monsters to a world of magical hurt. Oh, and there’s also some talk of the dark side . . . just in case . . .

This is probably the most useful and fun book in the entire Buffy: the Vampire Slayer RPG line-up. The history of magic, organizations, new Qualities and Drawbacks, magical addiction, new Archetypes, superscience and lots of spells. As with all of the Buffy and Angel books from Eden Studios this one is full of funny quotes, character images and other elements from the show, making it an enjoyable read for any fan. Even if you are not running a game set in the Buffyverse you’ll find plenty of useful material in this book.

Magic Box is available at RPGNow.com

The Unwanted

When a foolish antique collector reads the inscription on the back of an ancient Chinese amulet, she unleashes the ultimate evil. “The Unwanted” follows the saga of a group of streetwise teens trapped inside an inescapable juvenile detention facility, facing a relentless predator that will stop at nothing to consume them.

Beautifully illustrated by reknown international horror artist Juan Romera, “The Unwanted” is already being hailed by reviewers as the next horror classic.

This a dark and brutal graphic novel about demons, black magic and lost souls. These teens are caught in an isolated place with a horror that kills without mercy and can possess the bodies of those who are supposed to protect them. Elements of dark magic and brutal violence are spread throughout the book. When they get almost no help from the adults of the story, the kids take it upon themselves to fight back.

The art in The Unwanted is gritty and stylish, the writing hectic and intense. Put together they keep the story moving and entertaining. There are a few scenes that could use a clean up or some more clear-cut explanations of the events, but as a whole the story keeps the pace of a decent horror film, you’re never quite sure if the good guys have won or not…

The Unwanted is available at Cafepress.com

Dousing the fire…

That wraps up the magic session of this week’s Flash Fire Mini-Reviews.

Let us know what you think of the series and what you would like to see reviewed next time. Don’t forget to get your entry posted in our Favorite Horror Game Contest for a chance to win some great prizes.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Live Action Games)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Post-Apocalyptic)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Scary Short Stories)

Welcome to the second set of “Contest Edition” Mini-Reviews.

These are just some of the products offered by the sponsors of the Flames Rising Favorite Horror Game Contest. This week we sci-fi adventure mixed with medieval horror, zombies, pirates and more!

If you missed out on the first “Contest Edition” from last week, be sure to check out that mix of great games from other sponsors.

Conspiracy of Shadows Revised

Why does every question you ask lead to more questions?

Conspiracy of Shadows is a game of dark truths, hidden agendas, and a plan larger than the imagination. Just as many hands work towards both hiding and revealing the truth, gameplay encourages the whole group to create the action… No one knows for certain the full truth… until they play.

Imagine X-Files or Supernatural in the Dark Ages. Those are just some of the cool ideas you can explore in Conspiracy of Shadows. The fictional setting of Polian has a lot of Medieval European elements, but there is also plenty of room to customize it for your game. I’ve added new villages and a few monsters of my own design in past games.

For a look at the world of Conspiracy of Shadows be sure to check out Betrayal, a dark comic book set in Polian featuring art by Keith Senkowski. We have some Conspiracy of Shadows fiction here on Flames Rising by Monica Valentinelli and Mike Holmes that is worth checking out as well. Visit the Fiction Page to read up on Sacrifice and Danel’s Blood.

Conspiracy of Shadows is available at Lulu.com

Thousand Suns

Strap on your blaster pistol, grab your space suit, and get ready to journey into the future as imagined by the greatest writers of the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

The setting provides not only lots of detail but plenty of options as well, allowing Game Masters to tailor it to suit their needs. Everything from world building to starship combat to alien species creation is here, so that nothing stands in way of creating the ultimate science fiction adventure.

Thousand Suns is latest release from Rogue Games and uses a modified version of the “12 Degrees” system found in Colonial Gothic. This is the game that sci-fi fans have been waiting for. There are a ton of cool ideas, story hooks and a lot of options for great sci-fi adventure. The system is easy to learn, even for folks not used to sci-fi games. Character creation is pretty quick, a big plus for me (I can’t stand games that take forever just to build the characters).

If you have been to the Rogue Games website recently, it is worth stopping by to check out the Thousand Suns Design Notes written by James Maliszewski.

Thousand Suns is available at RPGNow.com

Zombie Rally

Unbeknownst to most living humans, zombies enjoy the competitive atmosphere of racing.

Zombie Rally depicts zombies at their competitive best.

I first had the chance to play Zombie Rally at a fun little convention called OshCon two years ago. This card game is easy to learn and funny as hell. Snarling Badger Games runs some pretty fun demos too, so if you see these guys at GenCon or another convention ask them to run a game or two for you. Of course, nothing beats the Live-Action version of Zombie Rally.

Zombie Rally is available at RPGNow.com

Suzerain

Suzerain (n): 1) an ancient word meaning ‘master’ or ‘overlord’. 2) Talisman Studios’ new role-playing system and universe.

Whether you want to play a Viking berserker, a cyberpunk, or Zeus himself… these rules let you do it all with ease. Our book contains 48 pages of basic rules for quick start play and advanced rules for gamers who want something a little meatier. So gather your friends and set off for uncharted space or the deepest unknown. All you need to pack is your copy of Suzerain and your imagination.

Our recent interview with Talisman Studios gives some insight into the creation and game-play of Suzerain. I think Martin says it best, “We mixed pirates and monsters because we’d been playing that world (Untamed Empires is its name) for a while and wanted to share it. It’s a way for players to see that Suzerain’s genre-mixing works. That, and pirates are cool. And sea monsters are cool.” Which just about sums up how cool Suzerain is as a game.

Suzerain is available at RPGNow.com

The Beast Within: Savaged edition

When an strange auto accident leads to a murder investigation, it’s up to the heroes to uncover the true culprit. What is the connection between a college student and the stranger’s van in which he was found? Was there someone else on that lonely stretch of highway? As the heroes follow the clues, they’d better watch their step. They are not the only hunters in Pinebox.

The Beast Within is a modern horror adventure designed for four novice heroes and using the Savage Worlds game system. This adventure features equal parts investigation and deadly action, and is an excellent way to kick off your campaign in our free setting–Pinebox, Texas.

I have a review of 12 to Midnight‘s Bloodlines from a couple of years ago. These are some great horror adventures. Most of the them are released in both d20 and Savage Worlds formats. I much prefer Savage Worlds over d20 and The Beast Within did not let me down. Detailed NPCs, plenty of character hooks and lots of action. There are some quality maps and player handouts too. The Beast Within is a great adventure that can be wrapped up in a night, or used as a starting point for a longer game.

The Beast Within is available at RPGNow.com

Dousing the fire…

The end of another round of Mini-Reviews. Don’t forget to stop by the Horror Game Contest for a chance to win some of these great prizes (and several others).

Next week we’ve got more games, some new fiction and maybe a movie or two in the line-up.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Back from the Dead)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Hunters & Slayers)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Zombies)

Welcome to another collection of Mini-Reviews here on Flames Rising!

This week we are going to focus on some of the cool products published by some of the sponsors of the “Favorite Horror Game Contest” and the creative games they have released. Next week will be a few more of sponsors’ products. Including amazing art and funny cards.

So sit back and enjoy this collection of zombies, cannibals, strange creatures and nightmare cities…

Noumenon

Noumenon is a role-playing game of mystery and abstraction. Players assume the roles of the Sarcophagi, strange insect-like creatures trapped within the Silhouette Rouge. During their adventures, players will encounter bizarre entities and explore strange locations. The Silhouette Rouge, Noumenon’s setting, is detailed enough to spark the imagination yet open enough to allow customization. In Noumenon, player cooperation is key. Noumenon uses a domino-based task resolution system that enables players to build upon each other’s successes.

Transcendence or damnation? The Silhouette Rouge beckons.

Noumenon is a bit of a strange game from Abstract Nova. Admittedly, I didn’t like it much at first. It was just too weird, with all of the different setting elements, odd design and dominoes?

Then, I read the book again and played a short demo. Noumenon is a game about a mystery, solving the mystery is only part of the fun, exploring the Silhouette Rouge is an adventure on its own. There is a free preview -here- that allows you to take a peek into the game. Full of cool and strange art from Jennifer Rodgers, Eric Lofgren and others…Noumenon is one of the oddest, coolest and best games I’ve seen in a long time.

Noumenon is available at Key20.com

Shadow Nations

The world has ended.

God’s chosen soldiers fight to loosen Hell’s grip, battling kultist minions and daemonic half-breeds. Both ancient and the naive struggle in the battle to control the Earth plane. The Roman Army and the Vatican have joined forces to regain command over the European nations. Unfortunately, corruption spreads deeps, and the other nations pledge allegiance only to themselves.

I’ve been playing Obsidian for years. A great blend of Sci-Fi and Horror gaming with potential for characters to get mixed up in just about any kind of plot you can imagine. I explored the Wastelands, wrote a LARP version of the main book and helped playtest a few products over the years.

Shadow Nations takes Obsidian and jumps to a new setting. Fans of the game finally get to explore Europe and see what happened after the portals opened. Some of my favorite elements of the previous game make the cut, others have been replaced with new character options and plenty of twisted details. The Mystics in particular have been hanged in new and interesting ways. There is a ton of potential for long-term campaigns (assuming your characters live that long). This new book from Apophis Consortium is full of stunning artwork and is a great read, the story elements alone are worth the investment.

Shadow Nations is available at RPGNow.com

Cannibal Sector 1

A Tide of Darkness

The latest book for SLA industries covers all the things that operatives are likely to find within CS1, the most dangerous of all the sectors.

A setting book for SLA Industries from Cubicle 7 Entertainment, CS1 is full of new material to keep things interesting. I picked this book up at GenCon last year, but honestly had not been able to sit down and read it for a while. That was a mistake. CS1 is a creepy sourcebook with all kinds of messed up locations, cannibal clans, great advice on running a horror game and other nasties to keep your game going.

Cannibal Sector 1 is available at RPGNow.com

All Tomorrow’s Zombies

“My God, these things are dead! They’re already dead!”

All Tomorrow’s Zombies is a supplement for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten roleplaying game, adding the undead to various styles of science fiction, and featuring the most dangerous zombies ever!

The long-awaited Sci-Fi book for AFMBE from Eden Studios, ATZ is full of new and updated material for the Unisystem. Information on Cybernetics, Psionics, Starships and plenty of advice on building and running your own Sci-fi settings. ATZ also offers up some ready-to-play Deadworlds with new Archetypes and lots of zombies. I combined some of the material presented in ATZ with the Spacefarers & Prairie Folk section of ESP #1 for game based on a certain short-lived show by Joss Whedon.

All Tomorrow’s Zombies is available at RPGNow.com

Don’t Rest Your Head

You can’t sleep. It started like that for all of us, back when we were garden variety insomniacs. Maybe you had nightmares (God knows we all do now), or maybe you just had problems that wouldn’t let you sleep. Hell, maybe you were just over-caffienated. But then something clicked.

Stay Awake. Don’t Rest Your Head.

A game about insomnia…something I happen to know a little about.

Don’t Rest Your Head from Evil Hat Productions has quickly become one of my all-time favorite horror games. The Mad City is a great setting with plenty of Nightmares and locations to explore (my favorite being the Bizarre Bazaar). I always think of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere when exploring Don’t Rest Your Head because of the strange locations, odd personalities and almost-but-not-quite reality feel of the setting. (and Neverwhere is listed as a source of inspiration).

Don’t Rest Your Head is available at RPGNow.com

Dousing the fire…

This Contest Edition of the Flash Fire Mini-Reviews has come to a close. Some of my favorite Horror & Dark Fantasy games are listed above, but I’d like to hear about yours. So drop by the Favorite Horror Game Contest Thread and post a comment telling us about your favorite game.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Back from the Dead)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Zombies)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Scary Short Stories)

Round three of the Flames Rising Flash Fire Mini-Reviews series is here!

This week we’ve got a vampire theme going on with a mix of fiction, comics and games. Some vampire hunters might even make an appearance as well. You can’t have the monsters without giving the heroes a little screen-time too. So, grab your garlic, watch your neck and enjoy!

Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter

New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton brings Anita Blake to the world of graphic novels. Anita Blake lives in a world where vampires, zombies and werewolves have been declared legal citizens of the United States. Anita Blake is an “animator” – a profession that involves raising the dead for mourning relatives. But Anita is also known as a fearsome hunter of criminal vampires, and she’s often employed to investigate cases that are far too much for conventional police. As a special treat, Anita Blake fans will also discover an original side story featuring Anita and Dolph, written specially for the hardcover edition by Laurell K. Hamilton.

One of the original Urban Fantasy characters, Anita Blake has 15 novels (and another on the way) already that describe her adventures with a vareity of vampires, werewolves, faeries and other supernaturals. The trip over to the comic book world has been very successful for the character. This graphic novel collection is already in its second printing with some variant covers to keep things interesting. While I’m not a fan of the more recent novels, the comics are a lot of fun. They go back to the start of the series, Guilty Pleasures and retell the tale with style. Brett Booth’s art is moody and fits the story rather well. The new fiction in the hardcover edition is a bonus for fans as well.

The Anita Blake Graphic Novel is available at Amazon.com

Requiem for Rome

* Everything you need to play Vampire: The Requiem from the earliest nights of Rome to the ruination of Kindred society, including new blood magic and a new clan!

* The secrets of the ancient undead, revealed at last! Learn the truth about the Camarilla, claim rule over the vampire city called Necropolis, and confront the wicked and terrifying monsters that prey on the undead – the Strix!

Admittedly, it took me several months too get into the new World of Darkness from White Wolf Game Studio. I had been playing Vampire games and running LARPs for years and years. Watching it all come to an end with Gehenna was a lot of fun…and plenty tiring. I needed a break from that setting and I had plenty of other worlds to explore. Eventually I got hooked again and Requiem for Rome is a big reason for that. I enjoyed the Dark Ages books quite a bit and seeing a chance to explore history a little more with the new Clans & Covenants sounded like a lot of fun…

Requiem for Rome did not let me down. I would have to say that this is one of the best products White Wolf has released in years. The write-ups of the Julii and the Camarilla as well as the information on Rome itself are all well-written, creative and entertaining. While the book is full of setting details and interesting ideas, there is no “meta-plot” forced on anyone’s game, a definite plus for folks who like to forge their own stories.

Requiem for Rome is available at Amazon.com

Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines

Zombies have devoured mankind. And the few survivors would be better off dead because a clan of vampires, bloodthirsty and vicious, have captured the remnants of humanity for livestock. In an apartment building barricaded with wrecked cars, concrete rubble, and snarls of barbwire, the vampires breed lobotomized amputees. Ann, the secret blood slave of the maternity doctor, has evaded this fate, yet her sister Ellie has not. Though she longs to escape, Ann cannot abandon her sibling and unborn niece. But she may have to if she wants to survive. The living dead have found a weak spot in the barricade and are quickly invading the building.

Vampires and zombies in the same book? I’m sold. A new twist on two styles of horror fiction that some may have reached their limit on. Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines was plenty entertaining, strong characters and plenty of plot. D.L. Snell builds a world overrun by zombies with a lot of detail, there were plenty of cool bits that I wanted to know more about. I think that would be my only complaint about the book…there wasn’t enough time to fully explore the setting. Still, the action keeps moving along and you certainly will not get bored reading this post-apocalyptic adventure.

Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines is available at Amazon.com

Scholar of Decay

A tale of fear from best-selling author Tanya Huff!

Scholar of Decay is the story of a man driven by love into the darkest corners of the world. When Aurek Nuiken’s wife is attacked and made prisoner by an evil mage, he must search the Domains of Dread for the spell that will allow him to free her. But ultimately his wife’s freedom – and his own – lies in the hands of a clan of wererats who are not inclined to assist him. Faced with both his own torment and the monsters of the Ravenloft world, Aurek is pushed to the edge of madness and to a choice that no man should ever have to make.

One of several Ravenloft novels that were given new life with trade paperback reprints last year, Scholar of Decay by Tanya Huff was originally published in 1995. This book is an easy read, but it explores the dark fantasy realms of Ravenloft better than many in the series. A talented author, Ms. Huff offers up plenty of intrigue and detailed characters , all the while keeping the plot moving forward.

If you missed this book the first time it was sold, here is your chance to scoop up one of the best Ravenloft stories.

Scholar of Decay is available at Amazon.com

Eden Studios Presents: Volume 2

Welcome to the second volume of Eden Studios Presents (ESP). This issue focuses on the dead and loving them. Vampires, vampyres, zombies, and apes forgotten by time can be found between these covers! If you love the dead, this issue is all for you.

ESP offers a little something for all of the Unisystem game lines from Eden Studios and is developed by Derek Stoelting. A few zombies and other monsters, an adventure or two, interviews with authors and other fun stuff. These types of articles really add cool new material for these games, but are usually not enough to warrant a supplement of their own. This particular issue caught my eye because of the cool vampire bits for the CJ Carrella’s WitchCraft (and Armageddon), Buffy and Angel RPGs.

Jason Vey brings Witchcraft vampires into the Cinematic Unisystem, Peter Trueman adds three new Vampyre subspecies and Tommy Brownell offers up an article on playing “good” vamps in the Buffyverse. Plenty of great information here, even if you are only a fan of one or two of the above mentioned games. With two versions of the Unisystem out there, crossover rules are always a plus. This makes porting elements from one game to another easy and gives people plenty of options when they sit down for a game. Mr. Brownell’s article is a lot of fun too, showing off some great ideas for vampires and Slayers working together.

Eden Studios Presents: Volume 2 is available at RPGNow.com

Douse the fire…

And another Flash Fire goes out for the week…

Let me know what you think of the Mini-Reviews and what you would like to see next time around. I’m thinking a little magic might be in order. Although you never know what might catch my eye between now and then.

Related posts:

1. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Hunters & Slayers)
2. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Live Action Games)
3. Flash Fire Mini-Reviews (Scary Short Stories)