Featured articles

When the Dark Side Becomes a Horror Mechanic: What Star Wars RPGs Do With Temptation, Loss, and Corruption

Note: This essay, written by Søren Ahrensborg Kamper, contains narrative spoilers for Knights of the Old Republic and The Sith Lords. A Sith Lord with yellow eyes and a red lightsaber is not automatically frightening. Put that Sith Lord in a role-playing game, give them an impressive damage bonus, and they may become something rather […]

Blogs

Brushing Past Cobwebs to Revisit the World of Darkness

Ghouls & Revenants | V20 | Image of a vampire and their ghoul

Back when I started writing games and fiction for the World of Darkness and Chronicles of Darkness, I was deeply hooked on Vampire: The Masquerade. I loved some of the existential questions that Vampire introduces: You are a monster. So what the f@*? do you do with your immortal, damned unlife? Know…

My Game Hole Con XIII 2026 Event Schedule

I am attending Game Hole Con XIII as a special guest this year! I wanted to share my schedule with you. If an event I’m attending is sold out, please don’t be afraid to purchase generic tickets and come anyway. I will also have an author table, so be sure to drop by! Here is […]

Free RPG Day 2026 Haul and What I Bought

Did you participate in Free RPG this year? I did! We went to a local game store to have fun with a friend. I’m so glad I did! I wanted to pick up some game accessories and solo journaling games I can play, because I’m seeking different styles to recommend to my patrons while I […]

Find Me at Gen Con 2026!

Events for this year’s Gen Con opened for registration and tickets for my events are almost sold out. You can click on Valentinelli at Gen Con Indy to find my workshops. I am running a two-hour workshop titled “Tarot for Storytellers,” and a four-hour workshop with Scott Lynch and Brando…

News

Fan Favorite Munchkin Card Game Announced for 5th Edition TTRPG

Munchkin Roleplaying Game 5.5 Edition | Munchkin card game characters and art

Lynnvander Studios Announces Munchkin® 5.5E RPG, the Official Tabletop Roleplaying Game Based on the Iconic Munchkin Card Game Officially licensed by Steve Jackson Games, Munchkin® 5.5E RPG brings the humor, monsters, and outrageous treasure of the beloved card game to a full 5E-compatible roleplayi…

Midnight Syndicate Debuts Plankett’s Grove Album Available Now!

Midnight Syndicate | Plankett's Grove | Album Cover

Trailblazing dark symphonic composers Midnight Syndicate have officially released their new studio album, Plankett’s Grove, available now on physical media and all major streaming platforms. “Our last full-length release was inspired by a themed 19th-century European nightclub, so we thought w…

Pelgrane Press Announces Merryshire Detective Club, A Cozy Fantasy Mystery RPG

Solve charming village mysteries, build a living community together, and uncover secrets in a countryside full of gossip, tea, and entirely too many cousins. Pelgrane Press has announced Merryshire Detective Club, a cozy fantasy investigative tabletop RPG powered by the award-winning GUMSHOE system.…

Cthulhu Dreams a Multimedia Cosmic Horror Tabletop RPG Experience

Cthulhu Dreamt is an upcoming original sci-fi horror tabletop roleplaying game that combines immersive storytelling, survival-focused gameplay, and a fully integrated original soundtrack into a single experience. Set on a near-future Earth transformed by cosmic entities, the game challenges players…

Reviews

Review of Folk Horror Inspired Plankett’s Grove Album by Midnight Syndicate

Midnight Syndicate | Plankett's Grove | illustration of a dark forest with dark green overtones

Fan favorite musical group Midnight Syndicate recently released a new folk horror-inspired album titled Plankett’s Grove. Available to download, stream, and listen for free on YouTube, the 18-track album is a return to Midnight Syndicate’s thematic roots. One of the reasons why Midnight…

Home: House of Broken Promises Game Review

Designed by Doug Levandowski and Yeonsoo Julian Kim from Wet Ink Games, Home: House of Broken Promises is a game offered for Free RPG Day 2026 that can be played by itself or with Home. Home: House of Broken Promises is a two-player map building game offered sealed in a box of cards. Condensed rules…

Deviant Moon Tarot Deck Review

I reviewed several tarot decks and even a couple of oracle decks so far, but I found myself struggling to write about the Deviant Moon Tarot designed and illustrated by artist Patrick Valenza, because I didn’t want to pen a typical review. I picked up the Deviant Moon Tarot: Borderless Edition…

Review of McCarthy’s Supernatural Horror Movie HOKUM (2026)

Set in Ireland at The Bilberry Woods Hotel, HOKUM (2026) spins a yarn about an unlikable protagonist who visits the hotel to lay his parents’ ashes to rest. Ohm Bauman, an American novelist played by Adam Scott, is painted as a wealthy-but-unhappy writer who’s moved to visit the hotel hi…

Interviews

Curseborne Player’s Guide Secrets and Stories with Onyx Path

The Curseborne Player's Guide, an expansion for the Curseborne tabletop roleplaying game from Onyx Path Publishing, is funding now on Kickstarter. In Curseborne, which Onyx Path Publishing funded last year, you play as Accursed, descendants of monstrous lineages lurking in a modern world that closel…

Interview with Rob Heinsoo 13th Age Second Edition

In this TTRPG developer essay, FlamesRising.com contributor Monica Valentinelli sits down with Rob Heinsoo, the developer of 13th Age Second Edition from Pelgrane Press. The new edition was successfully crowdfunded, and you can pre-order 13th Age Second Edition on Backerkit. 13th Age first debuted i…

Through the Gates with Onyx Path Publishing

At the Gates Ashcan Edition

At the Gates is a high fantasy tabletop roleplaying game about burgeoning heroes struggling to survive, fighting for what's right, exploring dangerous places, and saving the world. Onyx Path Publishing is currently running a crowd-funding campaign over at BackerKit.com. We had a chance to catch up w…

Return to the Realms of Pugmire with Eddy Webb

Realms of Pugmire

Onyx Path Publishing and Pugsteady have just launched a Kickstarter for a new edition of the Realms of Pugmire RPG. Realms of Pugmire is a fantasy game about evolved pets and other animals with a strong connection to humanity, with dogs as the central characters. These characters live in the ruins o…

Fiction

I DISAPPEARED THEM by Preston L Allen Novel Excerpt

I Disappeared Them | A Novel by Preston L. Allen

I Disappeared Them is a brutal, boy meets girl love story that delves into the Periwinkle Killer’s childhood to confront the age-old question, is a serial killer designed or destined? Like Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho and Joyce Carol Oates’s Zombie, Preston L. Allen‘s immers…

Design Diary: Tales of the Changing Breeds

When I was first approached about writing a story for an anthology covering the Changing Breeds, I was intrigued by the possibilities. Changing Breeds refers to White Wolf's Werewolf: the Apocalypse game: more specifically, Changing Breeds are all the other were-creatures besides wolves: tigers, fox…

Read a Full Excerpt of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars | Christopher Paolini

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is an epic novel that follows Kira Navárez, who, during a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, finds an alien relic that thrusts her into the wonders and the nightmares of first contact. Epic space battles for the fate of humanity take her to the farthest reach…

Pre-Order and Excerpt for The Devil’s Guide to Managing Difficult People

The Devils Guide to Managing Difficult People | Bennis

Flamesrising.com is pleased to present you with an exclusive excerpt of the upcoming book by author Robyn Bennis. The Devil’s Guide to Managing Difficult People will be released on Kindle. You can buy the book before it debuts on May 21st or you can pre-order it now! If you like the author…