Electronic Coupon for 20% off the following PDF products at RPGNow.com

For one day only – this Friday, the 13th of June, White Wolf is offering a discount on the following, appropriately thematic supplements from the World of Darkness. Naturally, this is a special day in our offices and we thought, why not share with our fans?

Second Sight – Not every entity with supernatural powers is one of a species of creatures that prowl the night. Solitary psychics, crazed sorcerers and doomsaying cultists all share the World of Darkness. This book explores their unique abilities. A character and setting book for all World of Darkness Games

This second edition of Blood! updates an original game from 1990, although quite why the author wishes to do this rather than create a completely new game which just rips off (adapts) some of the original concepts is not clear. As author Desborough points out, this makes the game a little unusual in the current environment in that games now tend to be rules-light and high-concept, while Blood! is a comparatively rules-heavy game. There are, for example, something like 400 weapons which can be used, including a fishing rod and a knitting needle. There are also extensive critical hit tables describing what might happen to the human body when it is variously bitten, stabbed, crashed into by a moving vehicle, shot, electrocuted and so forth. These are generally quite graphic in nature and this underlines the principal approach to the game, which is that of the gorefest.

Review by John Walsh

In normal Dread play, this is where henchmen and cultists would begin to interfere: the mook-battering is designed to wear down the PC’s Fury so that the final conflict is tough (and usually deadly, to one or more PCs). But being a one-shot con game, Raphael paced the scenario faster and got us on the trail of the first, possessor demon fairly quickly. A few chats with a scatter-brained crackhead, a store clerk, and other contacts, and we realize we’re on the tail of the mayor, possessed by a demon that loves to destroy the lives of its victim before finally destroying the possessed itself and moving on to new hunting grounds.

Review by David Artman

Horror Roleplaying in the Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft

The Great Old Ones ruled the earth aeons before the rise of humankind. Originally they came from the gulfs of space and were cast down by even greater beings. Remains of their cyclopean cities and forbidden knowledge can still be found on remote islands in the Pacific, buried amid the shifting sands of vast deserts, and in the frigid recesses of the polar extremes. Now they sleep — some deep within the enveloping earth and others beneath the eternal sea, in the drowned city of R’lyeh, preserved in the waters by the spells of mighty Cthulhu. When the stars are right they will rise, and once again walk this Earth.

It is not a bad idea to yoke together two distinct genres in order to create a media product which occupies a distinctive niche. Of course, the approach does not guarantee that the result will be coherent in terms of meaning or internal logic but, given enough attempts, it should be possible to find a combination that more or less works. Justin Bow, for Green Fairy Games, has joined together the concepts of, as the name suggests, ‘Fae’ and ‘noir.’

Together, then, these two concepts could work. Fae creatures enter an otherwise predominantly human society in which bad things tend to happen to everyone. It is possible to argue that the Sergei Lukyanenko novels, for example, fit this pattern, although RPG players are perhaps more likely to reference the film Sin City and the comics that gave rise to it.

Review by John Walsh

On the morning his life goes to hell, James McGee is comfortable and clear minded, leaving for what he expects will be an uneventful workday. Within the hour James will witness the suicide of his closest friend, be responsible for countless murders, and become a fugitive from the police.

In the shadow of James’ mind, a demon lurks. Bloodlust is a virus–it’s infecting his logic. James has become a pawn in a game he does not understand, and only one thing is clear:

Survival is not an option.

Pre-order now at Horror Mall for $14.95 and get free shipping!

The past will come back to haunt them…

A group of warriors from Rashemen escorts an exiled wizard to a ruined citadel in the City of Weeping Ghosts. Once there, the wizard discovers a barbarian tribe is trying to unlock the secrets of the citadel and the weapon that destroyed it two thousand years ago.

A series that centers on the citadels – castles, keeps, fortreeses, and watchtowers – of the Forgotten Realms world, each book in The Citadels series is a self-contained fantasy adventure.

The Shield of Weeping Ghosts is available at Amazon.com

When I finished reading Bestial, the first thing I thought was, ‘This was everything a zombie novel should be.’ This is rather strange, considering that the book I’d just read had been chiefly concerned with werewolves.

I had certain expectations when I started reading this, a werewolf novel. There would be grisly deaths every full moon, of course. There would most likely be a small town where everyone seems to know each other, which would lead to drama as everyone became a suspect. There would be a bloody shootout towards the end, with the beast being killed by a silver bullet. The true culprit would come as a surprise to the terrified townsfolk, but not to me, the reader. I would have seen it coming after the first few chapters.

Review by Leah Clarke

Pre-Order Bits of the Dead at Horror Mall!

They live. They die. They return. Zombies.

38 authors. 38 gut-wrenching tales.

Flash fiction at its finest, all illustrated by underground favorite Sean Simmans and edited by Keith Gouveia.

Bits of the Dead is a hard-hitting, pulse-pounding collection of zombie tales that’ll have you ripping through the pages faster than a ghoul through a warm body.

EVE Online: Empyrean Age will introduce Factional Warfare to the largest sci-fi MMO this June

CCP, one of the world’s leading independent game developers, has announced the features for the upcoming free expansion, EVE Online: Empyrean Age. Slated for a June 10 release, Empyrean Age brings an explosive end to the fragile peace that has existed for one hundred years between the four central races of New Eden and entices players to pledge fealty to their faction of choice to gain fame, wealth and power.

The first victim was found, mutilated beyond recognition, inside a bathroom. The door was locked from the inside. The second victim was torn to pieces, and the damage was so severe that the body was initially thought to belong to two victims. The coroner’s report indicated that cause of death was suicide. It’s going to be another one of those days…

Neoplastic Press is pleased to announce the release of Pent: The First Gospel of Pandemonium.

The War is Over. The Vampires have Won. But a new campaign is about to begin …

The first battle is over and Nero is dead. Now the human survivors will pull themselves from the ruins of their base to find that the world is a very different place outside Nero’s territory.

Nationally, the vampires have organised themselves into cabals but the scramble for power, raw materials and humans for their food, have led to an uneasy peace. Below the surface each state plots against the other and only the far-reaching power of the Vampire Council holds all-out war at bay.

Their control is slipping. And Peter Harris and his team have a plan that might just push them over the edge…

The setting for this ‘script’ is negotiation over the surrender of a fortress manned and protected by a contingent of Templars. Also present are merchants from a secret society with a very deadly secret, servants, priests and monks and the forces of the Muslim leader who is demanding surrender.

On the surface this is a parley to determine the exact nature of this surrender and how it is to be conducted but under the surface each faction has their own secret agenda and these intermingle between the various forces at work. It’s a nice, tangled knot of interwoven motivations and goals that should be ideal for a one-off convention-type scenario.

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

Death has never looked so good

Love them or hate them, the Daeva are the ones you die for. Tempters and priests, madonnas and horrors, these vampires feed on the blood and vices of the World of Darkness — and feed well. From the best parties to the worst parts of town, be seduced by the beautiful among the Damned. For the Succubi, a good-looking corpse is only the first step in the Danse Macabre.

Readers familiar with Permuted Press‘ back catalogue know what to expect when picking up one of their books: post-apocalyptic mayhem, more often than not including zombies.

Empire does not disappoint. The novel follows a group of survivors in Jefferson Harbor, decades after the zombie apocalypse. Although this may not sound that special, Empire does differ from the standard zombie fare.

Review by Leah Clarke

Marvel Zombies: Dead Days (Hardcover Edition)

At last – experience the birth of the Marvel Zombies as told by the creative team of the best-selling limited series, and then witness their rise as they attempt to slake their hunger across two universes!

First, Kirkman and Phillips pull out all the stops as they reveal the secret story of the day the Marvel Heroes became brain-eating monsters in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days! Next, follow the Marvel Zombies into the pages of Millar and Land’s Ultimate Fantastic Four!

The Man in the Hat returns once more to the Big Screen, and no one is more excited than us folks at RPGNow.com. Prepare yourself for two-fisted adventures in strange lands, facing off against diabolical villains and mysterious threats beyond mortal ken. Why? Because we’re celebrating with a special sale featuring Pulp Adventure themed products! […]

CCP, one of the world’s leading independent game developers, has announced the results for the election of nine delegates to the Council of Stellar Management (CSM), a democratically-elected representative council of players chosen by fellow EVE Online players after an exciting two-week voting period that ended May 16.

“Since the earliest days of EVE’s development, we have relied heavily on collaboration with our playerbase regarding world issues. CCP has followed and nurtured what governing and organizational structures emerge within EVE and also brought best practices from the real world into the virtual world,” said CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson. “The formation of the Council of Stellar Management signifies to us that that EVE has extended beyond the parameters of being ‘just a game’ into something more meaningful. As this first group of Councilors works with us over the course of the next six months, we look forward to seeing how our combined efforts can further expand the potential for virtual worlds to entertain, educate and inspire.”

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, 60s psychedelia, 80s Goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers how the DJs maintain their cred: they’re vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara re-brands the station as “WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll.” In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs’ vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. But the “gimmick” enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren’t so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher-and the perils graver-than any con game Ciara’s ever played…

Review by Jenn Moffatt.

For any of you who were frustrated or disappointed with Midnight Alley (Book Three), you’re in for a treat with Feast of Fools. Feast of Fools takes all that we learned or thought we learned from Midnight Alley and puts it all together in a very entertaining package. I could not put Feast of Fools down, and there aren’t a lot of books that I’ve read lately that I can say that about.

There is a level of tension in the Morganville books that keeps you on the edge of your seat, even in the background scenes you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it always does. Rachel Caine abuses her characters like a pro, and she doesn’t shirk because these are YA books. Claire and her friends go through hell just trying to survive in Morganville.

Review by Jenn Moffatt.