Ahoy matey! These days pirates and swashbucklers are all the rage on land and on sea. With roleplaying games like the recently released Conan: the Pirate Isles by Paizo Publishing and the older title Skull and Bones by Green Ronin out on the market, it should come as no surprise that GMs and players alike are on the hunt for some mood-setting music.

As the modern supernatural genre swells to the point of over-saturation, it is difficult to read any new author that comes along without comparing the writer to something else. In Witchling, it’s almost impossible to think “three sisters” without thinking of the television show “Charmed” which ran for eight seasons on the Warner Brothers network. Because of a few similarities, fans of the show may find themselves scrutinizing Galenorn’s work just a little bit more to see just how alike Witchling is to Charmed. Are the three women really sisters? Yes. Are the three women empowered, fashionable and sexy? Yes. Do they always seem to come out on top even when things go wrong? Yes.

“A Delightful Southern vampire detective series” is how this book was described. Outward appearances give it a sort of adult Harry Potter look to it, making it a very outwardly appearing book. This story is only part for the main character in a series, though you don’t need to read those in order to follow this book, everything is explained.

For what it’s worth, it was definitely a good read.

The fictional universe represented by Warhammer 40,000 is intricate and full of no small amount of intrigue. There are hundreds of factions at work and in motion, set against one another. Plans within plans, mechanizations and motivations that prop up the grim darkness of the war without end in the 41st Century of the Imperium of Mankind. Within the pages of the Horus Heresy, a trilogy-in-progress, what can be described as the single most important chain of events in the history of humanity are brought to light and out into the open in colored detail rather than objective narration from the Imperial point of view; the civil war that befell the Imperium after the spiritual corruption of the Warmaster Horus, mightiest of the Primarchs.

The fourth in a series, Prince of Lies flirts with horror, magic and mystery. Cyric, lord over the realm of the dead and god of murder, desperately seeks the soul of Kelemvor Lyonsbane who was once lover and companion to Mystra, the goddess of magic. In his zeal for vengeance, Cyric traps several humans into his mad design as easily as if they were pawns on a chessboard. Not only does Cyric search for Lyonsbane’s soul, he also entraps a human female, Rinda, to write his notorious book in an effort to bend the entire world to his will, erasing the gods in all their might.

Available at Amazon.com Written By Joseph Nassise An action filled mystery into the depths of the modern Knights Templar (hidden from the world that thinks they were wiped out long ago); Heretic focuses on Cade Williams and his team. Cade is known as the Heretic because of his strange abilities and personal quest against the […]

The intro track had set a wonderful feeling for the soundtrack, giving a nice intro and everything. As the CD got going though, I found my self increasingly tuning it out. Not because the music was boring, but because besides the first intro track, every track is well over 5 minutes a piece, most being 7-9 minutes in length. Now, this isn’t some mainstream CD, so track lengths aren’t really applicable here. But over 7 minutes of non-developed musical ideas makes for a very boring CD to listen to.

In this interview we talk to the author about Anita Blake, her Ravenloft novel and the upcoming Dabel Brothers comic book.

For those who weren’t aware, Masters of Horror is a show that debuted on Showtime in October of 2005. The premise of the show was to round up some of the best horror directors in the genre, and get each of them to make a one-hour movie. The directors were pretty much given free reign to tell whatever story they wanted, however they wanted (blood, guts and all). The only real limitation that was put upon the directors was they had to complete their movie in ten days.

When USA Network’s limited series The 4400 premiered in the summer of 2004, the opening teaser said a lot. A little girl abducted; a soldier in Korea disappears; 4,400 abductees get dropped off by a comety ball of light. The Seattle branch of Homeland Security had its hands full, and over 7 million fans tuned in-setting records as the highest-rated and most-watched original cable series premiere to date.

Need some old-fashioned special effects in your sc-fi? Forget that opus opening to Independence Day, today’s genre filmmakers grew up V. The groundbreaking four hour 1983 miniseries may look hokey today, but the story, characters, and drama are top-notch. The all-star cast helps, too.

Weighing in at a hefty ninety-five pages (excluding an appendix of various maps and player handouts) and retailing for a reasonable $18.99 (US), What Lurks Beyond is a fantasy horror adventure module published by Cutter’s Guild Games (best known for their Deathstalkers RPG). So, what are you getting for that investment? First the good news….

Billed as an adventure module, the product reminds more of a mini campaign, due largely to its scope and length – it is heavy on the meat. The basic plot of What Lurks Beyond is both well thought out and engaging, if somewhat hampered by the product’s presentation. And that’s it for the good news. Now for the bad news….

Even though I’ve seen the Firefly series, I don’t think you need to have a background in this part of the ‘verse because of the way the film was constructed. This is a well done balls-on space western that has a tight storyline that keeps you entertained. For the people not familiar with the ‘verse, the film has a great visual introduction into this stark future. Overpopulation used up the earth, so humans sought life elsewhere. Through the miracle of terraforming, we humans pioneered the great unknown into something manageable and majestic. Just like a true Western, there are places that are “civilized” beyond belief, and there are those that are the last of the space cowboys—won’t adhere to Alliance rule, so they’re outlaws.

Written by Jason Vey, with additional material by Ross A. Isaacs, Dungeons and Zombies introduces high fantasy to the already impressive line-up of AFMBE (All Flesh Must Be Eaten) supplements. This book offers up plenty of new material for survival horror fans.

The book starts off with a short story and introduction. This sets the mood for the book and offers up some useful information on the how and why of the text. Moving right into character creation, D&Z offers a lot of new material for AFMBE fans. New Character Types, new Qualities & Drawbacks, new (and modified) Skills and more…

Available at Amazon.com As the Mask of Humanity slips, the kindred of Chicago now have to deal with the inevitable Indulgence that is rumored to happen. Not only has that come up, but the infamous Solomon Birch, Bishop of the Lancea Sanctum, faced a possible coup from inside his own church because of his forced […]

In this interview we talk about Forgotten Realms, Star Wars, dragons and other creative challenges.

I’ve been picking up various motion picture scores (not soundtracks) and King Diamond albums (no kidding) for years to use as background music in my campaigns, but I’ve never been very impressed with any self-produced albums meant specifically to serve as roleplaying campaign scores. For the most part, I’ve found such efforts to be of an amateurish quality at best, often sounding more like a funhouse sound reel than a musical composition. Nox Arcana changed this by delivering a polished, professional and purely enjoyable product in Darklore Manor.

Most of us who love the horror genre have at least heard of H.P. Lovecraft. His influence spreads out like the tentacles of the beings that populate his stories–into movies, comics and role-playing games, as well as the works of today’s great horror writers.

Unbidden, Iron Gauntlets and game design are just a few of the topics we talk to Brett about in this interview…

The author of the Vampire Earth and Age of Fire novels tells us about his writing experiences, Lara Croft and Savage Worlds.