Do you enjoy fright in your InBox every morning? Do you jump with glee when blood splatters all over your web page? Well, new to Flames this year will be reviews of the good, the bad, and the horrific in new media formats that we haven’t covered before. We couldn’t think of a better place […]

Sometimes the best in horror comes from the most unlikely of places; some of you might remember Franklin W. Cain’s Lego® Cthulu. While building horror images with Legos® can be a lot of fun (my favorites are the Darth Maul Lego® Sculpture Kit and the Viking Fortress against Fafnir Dragon) Brick Films knows that Legos® […]

When Wizards first announced it’s new Open Game License (OGL) for publishers, a flurry of forum activity like this thread on RPGnet covered concerns from fans, contributors and publishers. Wizard of the Coast’s new OGL license for 4th Edition Rules hardly resembles the previous, free-flowing version, and while you may (or may not) agree with the way that Wizards has handled this aspect of their business, I still feel that it’s important to point out that this change could affect freelancers workflow and payment schedules.

Having read quite a few “compendiums” and “how-to” guides, some take a very emotionally-filled and visual approach, to tap into and encourage your belief in this form of divination. For me, I am attracted to a more pragmatic approach because I primarily use or research these tools for my writing. In my opinion, neither method is “bad” or “good” for, like all books, it depends upon what you want to get out of it.

If you’re in your car on the way to work, you might do as I do and invest in audiobooks. This particular audiobook was a rare find; I managed to get my hands on a copy of two plays for voices without ever knowing it existed. In fact, when I picked this up I had no idea what it was about, I just bought it on blind faith, hoping that Gaiman’s work would not disappoint me. I was pleasantly surprised.

In Marvel’s continued Ultimates series, this particular feature is a re-imagining of Doctor Strange. This film focuses heavily on eastern philosophy and mythic influences, adding several characters that emphasize a larger setting.

Billed as a “young adult” novel, Ironside is the conclusion to a three-part series written in the modern fantasy genre. I’ve chosen to write this review without providing spoilers, for those of you who enjoy being surprised. Although this is officially a “YA” novel, with several awards to boot, there are a lot of adult themes that are appropriate for mature readers. For those that make the distinction between happy fairy tales and dark fantasy, Ironside definitely falls within the realm of dark fantasy and, at times, is full of horrific scenes. I feel that these distinctions are important to make, simply because as a reader you should know that this novel is not a light and airy tale, fraught with happy brownies and delightful pixies. The fae within this series are akin to the tales of old; beautiful yet cruel, terrifying yet bound by their own set of rules.

The Dresden Files, a series of novels penned by Jim Butcher, came to the small screen in 2007 on the SciFi channel bringing with it some variations – both good and bad. This is a difficult review to write for two reasons. First, the series was canceled after only twelve episodes. In such a short period of time, there wasn’t a lot of ability for the directors to explore the setting in this format. As a result, the events in this series loosely resemble only a few, choice events from one or two books. Secondly, this television series didn’t feel like a literal translation from the novels and, as a result, could easily stand alone on its own merits.

Vampire: Dark Influences is a stand-alone card game set in the world of Vampire: the Requiem, designed by Michael Miller and David Raabe and developed by Ken Cliffe and Steve Wieck. First and foremost, this is a strategy game that includes several thematic elements from the RPG. You’ll notice that the artwork is consistent with the corebook; many of the same signature characters are used for gameplay.

Horror-genre lovers (like you and me) can’t resist sharing our love of the macabre. If we tell our friends about a dog of a film, they probably won’t go to see it. How then do we write a film review that finds the happy medium between gushing over the latest hit and bashing that worthless dud?

Fresh from the grave, here are some horror movie releases that will be sure to check under your bed at night. Whether you’re traveling to the theatre or renting from your local video store, grab some popcorn and prepare to scream.

For many GenCon Indy veterans, this year’s convention had several noticeable changes. The winds of change were blowing through the vendor booths and demo areas, as evident by a stronger focus to video, card, and board games than in previous years.

While the day may seem just like any other day, several people are hoping you’ll remember June 6, 2006, the so-called “number of the beast,” by doing something a little hellish, and maybe picking up an item or two along the way.

Silas no longer cared if his carefully-sown client was going to do something stupid; his kits were far too valuable and far too difficult to come by to replace. He’d find somebody else, some other paying client to work on. Walking over to the wall, he ripped his sawed-off Nineteen from the wall, and flushed his Boosters. He swore under his breath that he didn’t put on any armor before this appointment. At least he put his shoulder strap on. That strap was like his credbase. He never left home without it.

Daniel spat carefully. Damn the Law. Sure, the crisp uniforms were a necessary evil—they needed him just as much as he needed them. The Law’d get into a nasty situation that involved daemons or some other supernatural creature (even though “officially” there’s no such thing as monsters), and then they’d hire him, Daniel Wayward, to clean it up. Sometimes things were good, real good. One time he managed to keep the acrid blood spatter to a minimum and kill the thing with no casualties. In his line of work, that was a miracle. Being a beastkeeper had its ups and downs. Most times he was lucky to have a day that was in between.

Today was not one of those days.

Third in a three-part series

What makes Anansi Boys interesting to read, is that this book transcends the issue of race or origin through Gaiman’s descriptions of more animalistic qualities of Anansi’s world and symbols that give us a color to focus on other than white or black or red. Symbols like Anansi’s green fedora help us dream the tale in Technicolor. By simplifying “race” (giving us only fleeting character descriptions) the prose emerges light and lilting. Class is well-defined but it’s laughable, comedic. You forget that the continent of Africa and her many gods are outside of your comprehension—you feel a part of the raw, natural order spring to life inside of you.

Let me introduce you to Angel, the Starry-eyed Serial Killer. She was cursed by the queen, and grew old without grace. In her old age, she was pushed down the stairs. May our dearly departed Angel rest in peace. I was immediately drawn to Gloom for two reasons. The first is artwork, produced in the etching style of Edward Gorey by Scott Reeves, that sets the mood of the game. The second, is the unique game design concept created by Keith Baker. The result? One of the best card games I’ve ever played.

Nox Arcana delves headfirst into the darkness with its musical tribute to the Cthulhu mythos. Creating a haunting festival of sounds to this is a challenging feat—every day that passes Cthulhu transforms into more of an icon than a mere concept of Lovecraft’s imagination. Nox Arcana delivers its tribute in a jarring way; this is not a CD that should be idly played in the background, this is a performance that demands your attention.

Useful supplements are hard to come by nowadays; not only does the information in it have to be worth the price you pay, but the information needs to be useful in a way that you’d want to incorporate it into your gaming. Cold, Hard World is an expansion for the roleplaying game Dead Inside—offering more nuts and bolts to the original game than fluff. The supplement is a seventy-four page expansion of the first three chapters of the corebook.

Similar to Dead Inside, the pdf is written with definitive voice changes throughout. Dead Inside draws you in at key moments by addressing the reader; other times you’ll hear the voice of an instructor showing you how to play the game.

A/State’s setting is post-apocalyptic futurism, but with a few twists. Unlike other post-apocalyptic settings, there are a lot of unknowns. Something happened, something that ripped the fabric of modern-day reality off from civilization’s spoiled body. Technology is limited, identities are a luxury, and survival of the fittest is a way of life—not just a catch phrase. The City, assuredly a conglomeration of some things that “were”, has no name. In this place with no name, you battle against your greatest enemy—yourself.