Flames Rising is an online resource for fans of Horror and Dark Fantasy entertainment. This horror fanzine offers reviews of Games, Fiction, Movies and more ranging from Top-Selling authors to the coolest Small Press and “indie” publishers. The popular Interviews at Flames Rising include Horror authors, artists and other creators of dark entertainment. Stay tuned to the Flames Rising news feed for the latest news on upcoming products, genre conventions and industry developments.
Flames Rising continues to add new Features and expand the Fiction and Articles sections of the site with topics of interest to Horror and Dark Fantasy fans the world over.
Posted on January 23, 2014 by Flames
New Vampire: the Masquerade fiction available now!
Most mortals turn away from the darkness that preys upon them, going about their lives in despair of the Damned and the evils they visit upon the world. But a precious few wage a personal war to shine light on those shadows and diminish them, like solitary candles shining in the night. The path of the hunter is lonely and fraught with danger, at once beset by the monsters they hunt and looked upon with suspicion by their fellow mortals they thanklessly seek to protect.
Nine new short stories chronicling the hunters’ trials of the night, including original works by Richard Dansky, Bill Bridges, Jess Hartley, Natasha Bryant-Raible, Jason Andrew, Sarah Roark, Alan Alexander, Matthew McFarland, and Edward Austin Hall.
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Posted on January 22, 2014 by Flames
You’ve got a time machine, high-powered weapons and a whole lot of history to save. Welcome to TimeWatch!
The air smells like death, and 100,000 rotted skulls are piled up in a mountain before you. “I think this is where 13th century Paris used to be,” you say. “The mongols never stopped at the gates of Vienna. No wonder history changed; they’re still riding across Europe and pretty much destroying every city who doesn’t submit.”
Your partner draws her pistol, checks the historical record on her holographic tether, and frowns. “Looks like the Khan never died of alcoholism,” she says, “Let’s find whoever decided to save his life. We head back five years to Karakorum, in 1241?” You nod and fire up your autochron. Purple chronal energy snaps into shape around you, and once again you’re whirling through time, headed back to save history and the future of humanity.
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Posted on January 18, 2014 by Flames
Twentieth Century Fox and Hasbro, Inc. have joined forces to make a series of films based upon Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast’s fantasy-adventure property, MAGIC: THE GATHERING. Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past), whose Genre Films banner is based on the Fox Lot, will serve as the franchise’s creative steward and produce in close […]
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Posted on January 7, 2014 by Flames
A small group of American soldiers in WWII, lead by General Patton must stop the Nazis from weaponizing supernatural creatures of myth.
Operation Penumbra: Vol. 1 takes place in North Africa in March of 1943. The U.S. Army has just suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel and the German Afrika Korps during the Battle Of Kasserine Pass. Following the defeat, General George S. Patton (“Ol’ Blood and Guts”) was brought in to turn the Army around and make it the world class fighting force it once was.
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Posted on January 3, 2014 by Flames
A is for Azathoth, Who listens to flutes
B is for Blighted, Gardner’s farm, leaf to root
C’s for Cthulhu, Mile-high and squishy
D is for Deep Ones, Who smell mildly fishy…
An artist and lifelong fan of Lovecraftian literature, Ben Mund teaches the alphabet and important concepts of the Mythos in one fell swoop. From Azathoth to Zhan you’ll experience the ABCs in a maddening new way!
The Lovecraftian ABC’s features full-color illustrations by Ben Mund in the style of The Very Hungry Cthulhupillar, for adults to enjoy themselves or to read to their children*.
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Posted on December 31, 2013 by Flames
We’re Lillian Cohen-Moore and Ryan Macklin, a couple in Seattle who love to play with horror. You might know us from our work on the recent Mage: the Ascension books that focused on factions within the Technocratic Union. What you might not know, though, is that we met and bonded over playing another horror game: Don’t Rest Your Head. Horror and dark fantasy is near and dear to our hearts, and Flames Rising wanted to give us a moment to talk about our time working as a couple in horror gaming.
During our time with the Technocratic Union, horror was a subtle constant throughout the books. Since we live together, we could turn around in our desk chairs to propose ideas for how to keep the horror elements in the Technocracy from becoming cartoonish, like some of the early material for them.
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Posted on December 30, 2013 by Flames
Creatures of the Wild
The Garou are not the only changing creatures to stalk the world. Other shapeshifters hunt in places where wolves do not tread, from sun-lost seas to the darkest jungles, or seek out hidden truths, using the secrets they uncover in the battle against the Wyrm. Shapeshifting spiders spin webs as deftly as they manipulate those around them. Bloody-handed serpents kill swiftly, and then vanish into shadow and myth. The Changing Breeds have their own crucial parts to play in these End these End Times, and must work together or Gaia will surely fall.
A Menagerie of Gaia’s Children
This book brings the Changing Breeds right up to date, giving both players and Storytellers all of the tools needed to integrate shapeshifters other than werewolves into the World of Darkness. Eleven extant Changing Breeds are described in detail, along with three long-extinct Lost Breeds.
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Posted on December 29, 2013 by Flames
With all the Conspiracies, the intrigue, the danger, it’s hard to know what exactly is and isn’t on your side. When every shadow from the back alleys of Bucharest to the back benches of the parliament could hide an inhuman enemy, it’s hard to tell what solid ground you can stand on. What can you depend on? Can you make a difference? Trust no one and nothing except the silver bullets in your Glock. To make a difference, aim true.
Even then, sometimes that first shot isn’t a killer. Sometimes you need a double tap.
Night’s Black Agents: Double Tap is available now in PDF format at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop!
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Posted on December 20, 2013 by Flames
Windows into the fantastic, from crypts to cobras, swords to submarines, rubies to railroads, heaven to hell and places stranger still. Heroes, horrors, and hijinks–both original to this collection and reprinted from a variety of sources–from the mind of Ari Marmell, author of The Conqueror’s Shadow, The Goblin Corps, Darksiders: the Abomination Vault, the Widdershins Adventures series, and more.
In Strange New Words, let Ari Marmell guide you through over a dozen windows into the fantastic.
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Posted on December 18, 2013 by Flames
It’s a new night!
Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire The Masquerade is a new edition of a classic game that draws on more than two decades’ worth of material from the iconic World of Darkness setting. The rules are designed and adapted specifically for the Live Action Roleplay environment, while maintaining the fidelity of the original game. Whether you’re a veteran player or discovering live-action roleplaying for the first time, this book contains everything you need to create and play a vampire character or create your own live-action chronicle.
All the clans. All the bloodlines. All the disciplines. This is a complete game, containing everything you need to enjoy Vampire The Masquerade in one of its most thrilling formats. A streamlined character creation system that is quick, yet comprehensive.
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Posted on December 16, 2013 by Flames
The new Chronicle Core book for Vampire: The Requiem.
Tonight, you become one of the Kindred, the beautiful and the damned who hide behind our ordinary world. Driven by a hunger like fire, you will struggle to maintain your humanity while immersed in a vicious society of monsters.
But the sharks you swim with aren’t the only ones out there. Your Kindred are the smart, sexy vampires of pop culture, but you are haunted by the Strix — the grisly, demon-possessed corpses of folklore. They slaughtered the Night-Senate of Rome, drowned the tombs of the Princes of Alexandria, and warred with the Plague Lords of Transylvania.
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Posted on December 3, 2013 by Flames
The third and final book in Tim Hawken’s Hellbound Trilogy is set for release this December, amid development of a film franchise for the series. Titled Deicide, the novel concludes the epic story, which depicts a world of Hell never seen before.
Early critical acclaim and a strong cult following for Hellbound meant Hawken’s work captured the attention of Hollywood right from the start. The author has recently signed partnerships with both Luber Roklin Entertainment and Savela/Kabatoff Productions to help bring his vision to the silver screen. In addition, actor Charlie Bewley (Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Hammer of the Gods) has been attached to play the lead character of Michael in the films.
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Posted on November 30, 2013 by Flames
A stand-alone roleplaying game by Robin D Laws
You are elite investigators combating the plots of the Esoterrorists, a loose affiliation of occult terrorists intent on tearing the fabric of the world. The Esoterrorists 2nd Edition introduces the GUMSHOE rules system, which revolutionizes investigative scenarios by ensuring that players are never deprived of the crucial clues they need to move the story forward.
Incorporating years of advice, actual play experience, and design evolution, The Esoterrorists Enhanced Edition includes all the rules you need to play the game that revolutionized investigative roleplaying. Dripping with ichor and jammed with content, this is the heftier, meatier, definitive tome gamers have been crying out for ever since they laid their paws on the original.
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Posted on November 29, 2013 by Flames
DriveThruRPG has launched a huge Black Friday Sale on some very cool RPG core books in digital formats! The PDF versions of Vampire: the Requiem, RuneQuest 6th Edition, Broken Shield, Mechanical Dream, HELLAS 2nd Edition & the Midgard Campaign Setting are on sale for only $4.99 each!
Six RPG Corebook PDFs. $4.99 each. One Day Only.
Click here to buy now on the DriveThruRPG Black Friday Sale Page!
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Posted on November 19, 2013 by Flames
Book two of The Heaven’s Gate Trilogy. A weird western, a gun-toting, cigarrillo-chewing fantasy built from hangman’s rope and spent bullets. The west has never been wilder. A Steampunk-Western-Fantasy from Guy Adams.
“Heaven? Hell? There’s no difference. Angels, demons, we’re all a bit of both. This could be the most wondrous place you ever experience or so terrifying it makes you pray for death. Not that death would help you of course, there’s no escape from here…”
Wormwood has appeared and for twenty four hours the gateway to the afterlife is wide open. But just because a door is open doesn’t mean you should step through it…
Those who have travelled to reach the town are realising that the challenges they’ve already faced were nothing compared to what lies ahead. The afterlife has an agenda of its own and with scheming on both sides of reality, the revelations to come may change the world forever.
Once Upon a Time in Hell is available for pre-order at Amazon.com!
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Posted on November 15, 2013 by Flames
Angels are everywhere. They are under the everyday world, behind it, beyond it. They are sent by the God-Machine to enact its will through time and space, delivering messages, building infrastructure, protecting some people, killing others. And you were one of those angels…
But not anymore.
In Demon: The Descent, you play one of the fallen agents of the God-Machine, a former angel who defected to the human race. Now you are Unchained, and search for a place that you can be free, all the while avoiding the notice of the still-loyal agents. You cannot go back to the shining, sterile Heaven.
All you can do is reign in Hell.
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Posted on November 7, 2013 by Flames
SENT ON A QUEST BY THE EARTH GODDESS TO DESTROY THE BLOOD GOD, Slaine has now been reborn in the time of the Normans as Robin Goodfellow, King of the Greenwood. But first he has to seek out his beloved Niamh (herself reborn as a Christian nun called Marian), so together they can learn the secret name of the beast which will allow Slaine to destroy it as the Lord of Misrule!
This epic saga of Slaine by writer Pat Mills (Nemesis the Warlock, Flesh) includes artwork digitally updated exclusively for this volume by Clint Langley (A.B.C. Warriors, Ghost Rider) as well as the stunning fully painted art of Greg Staples (Judge Dredd) and Jim Murray (World of Warcraft, Batman/Judge Dredd: Die Laughing).
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Posted on October 31, 2013 by Flames
THE LAST WAR HAS BEGUN
Demons feed on innocent souls while angels obliterate cities. Humans are caught in the middle: possessed, devoured, judged, damned.
The world needs a hero. Unfortunately, there aren’t any, so what the fuck, you might as well give it a try.
You’re a Disciple, a supernatural warrior on the front lines. Wielding bizarre magics like Sexpletive, Death Panel, Photobomb, and Gunfetti, you must hunt down these merciless predators and rescue innocent civilians without losing your grip on the tattered vestiges of your humanity. How far will you go to destroy your enemy? Will you resort to cannibalism? Are you certain? Listen, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
Pandemonio is available now at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop!
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Posted on October 28, 2013 by Flames
MEGA-CITY ONE – A VAST, NIGHTMARISH FUTURE METROPOLIS BUILT ON TOP OF THE POLLUTED CITIES THAT ONCE POPULATED THE EASTERN SEABOARD OF THE UNITED STATE. The forgotten Undercity is now a lawless refuge for unwanted outcasts from the ‘Big Meg’ – mutants, monsters and escaped criminals all struggle to survive on the streets of old Manhattan.
A chemical spill in the Undercity has spawned a race of super-strong lycanthropes, all desperate to get above ground and feast on the flesh of Mega-City One’s citizens. Things could get hairy, but thankfully Judge Dredd is on the case!
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Posted on October 26, 2013 by Flames
In the land of Eranon, the Reach is a desolate place where people journey to forget who they are. Now, a menace rises from this wasteland, and he is hunting for someone. To keep the madman and his chaos behind the Reach, four adventurers with haunted pasts must rise to the challenge. But how can failed heroes bring hope to others when they doubt themselves?
Originally published in 2006 as a tie-in novel to the Chronicles of Ramlar role playing game, Into the Reach is now re-released in a newly edited e-book edition.
Flames Rising is pleased to present the first chapter of this new edition by Alana Abbott.
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