People often say that there are no such things as monsters. They are wrong. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and other un-namable horrors co-exist with us. Watching us. Using us. Preying upon us.

Welcome to Pinebox, a sleepy little East Texas town with a lot more than its share of trouble. Whether it’s the haunted diner luring weary travelers, the unexplained ‘alligator attacks”, or the crone who just might be hexing neighborhood kids, trouble always seems to be hidden just below the surface. Buried, but not forgotten.

In Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas, a dozen horror authors and game designers have gotten together to write tales set in Pinebox, Texas. This sleepy little East Texas town definitely has a lot more going on than the occasional bar fight.

The e-book version of Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas is available now at DriveThruHorror.com and the paperback version is available through Amazon.com.

FlamesRising.com is pleased to present a preview of a few stories in this horror anthology.

After years of creating great gaming titles under the name ‘Talisman Studios’, we’ve decided that it’s time our real name… Savage Mojo… became known in its own right. After all, we focus on the Savage Worlds and Mojo Rules! roleplay systems, so it makes sense to use the name we gave the company.

The Talisman Studios name was originally created in 2003 when the company was an art and design studio to the adventure games industry, the brainchild of master artists Jason Engle and Aaron Acevedo. Since then it has expanded, is an Origins Award Winner (for Deadlands Reloaded), and two times Semi-Finalist (for Suzerain and Shaintar). These days Savage Mojo creates more than just roleplaying games, adding the Gamescapes line of gaming accessories, graphical fiction and art prints to our portfolio.

Say what you will about the Savage Worlds setting, but I find it possesses one of the more engaging mass combat systems. I’ve been guilty of not using it to its highest potential in some of my campaigns; however, that’s another story altogether. Blood of the Innocent links directly to the Tour of Darkness (‘Nam setting) for Savage Worlds (though only the core book is required to play this adventure).

This deadly little jungle romp comes in two flavors, which are “War is Hell” and “Life is Good.”

Howdy, gamers! If you’re a horror gamer, or if you’re just looking for a special one-shot to run for Halloween, now is the perfect time to check us out. We at 12 to Midnight are having our annual Halloween sale. All our modern horror titles for d20 Modern and Savage Worlds are 50% off!

We are also offering an insane deal on our horror anthology Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas. You can pick up this tome of terror by leading RPG designers like JD Wiker, Chuck Rice, Jess Hartley, and Shane Lacey Hensley, plus horror novelists David Wellington and Derek Gunn… all for $0.99!

I’d wager that most people feel a kinship with one time period or another. Some love the Renaissance so deeply that they model their weddings around the era. For me, I’ve always held a deep appreciation for the Victorian Era. Despite the difficulty historians have attributing a date to it, I fall in line with the generalized trends and historical high points of that period. There is a rather rich environment of Victorian Era gaming; each seems to fill its own niche. Castle Falkenstein has little in common with Ghosts of Albion; however, both are fine games. One writing staple of the era is using ten words when one would do. Charles Dickens, a known abuser of this “sin,” could actually write around all the flowery language. I mention this because the title is a bit wordy and I’m going to refer to this game as Gaslight for the remainder of the review.

It’s a world where jetpack-toting heroes combat Fly-By-Nights (a combination of toad, bat, and gorilla). It’s a world where a 200-foot tall tidal wave decimated the North American East Coast. It’s a pulp setting full of Communists, Klansmen, Norse myth, and much more. It’s a world that comes from the twisted mind of Kenneth Hite, and it’s worth staking out. The Day After Ragnarok (DAR from here on out) is a new savage setting for Savage Worlds that takes place in a world where the line between World War II and Norse myth blur, permitting Jörmungander, the Midgard Serpent, entrance to our reality.

DAR’s layout proves Spartan. Cleanliness lends to divinity though in that the finished product looks smart. Instead of the usual two-column format, DAR primarily favors a single column. Neatly placed sidebars work to make an exception to this.

Super Genius Games unveils a little G. I. Joe spirit with Strike Force 7. This brief supplement (71 pages) introduces the game’s namesake as an international anti-terrorist organization. They combat terrorists both real (Al-Quida) and imagined (Skorpion). While it may seem like an odd choice for a Flames Rising review, you’ll find my speculation stretching beyond the confines of the book. First, let’s take a look at the material itself.

The layout of Strike Force 7 fits its genre as each interior page’s design mimics a dossier. Each exterior top or bottom corner has a cropped photo of three Strike Force 7 agents. I felt like this image could have been reserved for the chapter introductions as it becomes a little tiresome.

12 to Midnight is having a treasure hunt contest to celebrate the new book, Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas. This book contains 12 tales of Modern Horror by Shane Hensley, Jason Blair, Derek Gunn, Jess Hartley, Charles Rice, Monica Valentinelli, David Wellington, Filamena Young, JD Wiker and others. You can purchase Buried Tales (dead tree version) from many sites, or you can get the pdf or the kindle edition.

Rules: Scour the websites:

www.12toMidnight.com
www.buriedtales.12tomidnight.com
www.TheRavensReport.com

Scour the Buried Tales Stories to dig up the answers to earn the treasure.

Answer the questions found at www.12toMidnight.com and look for weekly clues posted on our website to help you with your search.

Recently, we had the chance to sit down with industry veteran Kenneth Hite, who is a horror game designer, author and columnist. You may have read some of Ken Hite’s columns through Weird Tales or Out of the Box at Indie Press Revolution. In this interview, we talk a little bit about the Origins-award winning title Tour de Lovecraft and the recent release of The Day After Ragnarok, horror as a genre versus mood, the Windy City, his upcoming projects and much, much more!

People often say that there are no such things as monsters. They are wrong. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and other unnamable horrors co-exist with us. Watching us. Using us. Preying upon us.

Welcome to Pinebox, a sleepy little East Texas town with a lot more than its share of trouble. Whether it’s the haunted diner luring weary travelers, the unexplained ‘alligator attacks”, or the crone who just might be hexing neighborhood kids, trouble always seems to be hidden just below the surface. Buried, but not forgotten.

Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas is available at Amazon.com (print) and on the Kindle.

There is also an eBook format available at DriveThruHorror.com for $4.99.

Ed’s Midnight Tales (TWL0032) gives fans of Savage Worlds and Pine Box, Texas another forty-two pages of information ultra-helpful for both. As the title suggests, this is a brief collection of scenarios (mostly one-shots). The stories do not need to be interwoven, but could easily be fused together in a long-running campaign. The book is broken up into an introduction and five chapters, each progressive chapter offering a more detailed storyline for players.

Finishing out the book is a special edition of the Pinebox News, complete with strange articles and story seeds. The PDF comes in two versions, a typical version and a printer-friendly version.

While 12 to Midnight tends to focus on supernatural horror in modern settings, this collection doesn’t always include supernatural threats. Forest creatures and gang-bangers fill out of the ranks of things to fear.

The Buried Tales anthology of horror and supernatural fiction transports you to the rural town of Pinebox, Texas, where secrets are buried but the dead don’t always stay that way.

Buried Tales includes stories by Jason Blair, Preston DuBose, Trey Gorden, Derek Gunn, Jess Hartley, Shane Lacy Hensley, Charles Rice, Monica Valentinelli, David Wellington, Ed Wetterman, J.D. Wiker and Filamena Young.

Stop by the Buried Tales website to check out author bios and audio previews.

Pre-order the book today at Paizo.com or the Midnight Cellar.

The Buried Tales anthology of horror and supernatural fiction transports you to the rural town of Pinebox, Texas, where secrets are buried but the dead don’t always stay that way. Join us for a dozen killer stories by David Wellington, Shane Hensley, Jess Hartley, J.D. Wiker, Monica Valentinelli, Charles Rice, and more.

Buried Tales of Pinebox, TX
Published by: 12 to Midnight
Edited by: Matt M McElroy
Retail Price: $11.99
Stock#: TWL6001

Buried Tales of Pinebox will arrive summer 2009! Stay tuned for more previews here at Flames Rising!

12 to Midnight’s Skinwalker (TWL-0021) is a modern horror campaign using the fictitious town of Pinebox, Texas as its setting. I reviewed the “Savaged” version of the rules, but a D20 version of the same campaign exists. The PDF, which is sixty-plus pages, comes in a regular and printer-friendly format (I suppose that makes it 120-plus pages). As with most of 12 to Midnight’s products, the attention to detail is the first aspect that pulls in the reader. They love their haunted town so much that fans can visit their website (www.12tomidnight.com) and print out their own map of the city. This attention to detail is why the scenario never puts in the “you can adjust this campaign to fit your own setting” speech. They went ahead a built the town you would need to create for the campaign.

Review by Todd Cash

Talisman Studios is celebrating the festive season by previewing a new free feature for Suzerain, our Origins Award Nominee RPG. If you go to our website and click on the vault you’ll find that we’ve launched a beta of our brand new on-line character generator.

Unlike some other companies we could mention, our application is totally free to use and hooks into the master database of character feats. You can look up any feat from any Suzerain setting and then create a character using the ones you want. Save your characters and download them as pre-filled character sheets, ready to print out and take to the gaming table.

Twilight Creations, Inc., the publishers of the popular Zombies!!! Board game, has reached an agreement with Pinnacle Entertainment Group to create a board game from their award-winning, best-selling Deadlands property.

The game, to be designed by Kerry and Todd Breitenstein of Twilight Creations with input from Shane Hensley, the creator of Deadlands, is set for initial release in June. “This will be one of the largest releases we have ever done,” said Mr. Breitenstein. “We really love the Deadlands world and we hope it shows in the final product.”

The Midnight Charity Project focuses the generosity of RPG hobby enthusiasts as a force for bringing hope to those in need. This project uses a variety of RPG-related fundraising activities throughout the month of December to bring awareness to a worthy cause.
The project for 2008 directly benefits the Autism Research Institute. Autism is unfortunately becoming [...]

Today’s addition to the Halloween Horror series is from game designer Preston DuBose (Bloodlines) from 12 to Midnight. Artist Jeff Preston adds a bit of colorful dread to this strange creature.

Be careful where you go swimming, there are more than sharks to be afraid of…

Biting Water

Created by Preston Dubose
With Art by Jeff Preston

From the icy waters off the tip of Alaska to the warm coastal waters of Malaysia, Biting Water tears life from all manner of creatures. Some fishermen call it “witch’s water”, “dead water”, or “stinging water” and attribute it variously to a cursed shipwreck, underwater volcanic activity, witchcraft, jellyfish, invisible sea monsters, and aliens. Biting Water is a patch of ocean water anywhere from 20 to 110 feet in diameter that paralyzes its prey before painfully grinding flesh from bone. Reports from those brave or foolish enough to investigate suggest that Biting Water is the same color and temperature as the surrounding ocean.

Talisman Studios has completed its project to bring all its roleplay books to print. All the main books of the Origins Award nominated Suzerain and Shaintar game lines are available as both PDF and print books via the website at www.talisman-studios.com with immediate effect.

“This is a great day for fans of Suzerain and Shaintar” said Martin Klimeš, Publisher at Talisman Studios, “Giving them the choice of print or PDF. Our next project is to go live with the stunning art prints we showcased at GenCon, including pre-printed map posters from our ever-popular map tiles sets. Watch this space.”

From the very depths of the blackest hell we’ve come to parlay with ye about International Talk Like a Pirate Day. All that it requires, is that ye talk like a pirate, for certain. But why stop there?

You see, mateys, after ye watch the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy, to study up on the lingo, ye might find yerself in a strange predicament. One that involves dice, your fortuitous pirate accent and a night with your fellow pirate friends.