Like the origin of the number 666 in our pop culture, Halloween conjures claims that it’s a satanic, violent holiday. Horror movies like the Halloween series with Michael Myers have fictionalized this view for decades. Recently, Rob Zombie offered his version of the Halloween remake review which happened almost thirty years after the Halloween movie debuted in 1978. With many myths and urban legends circulating about the safety of Halloween night — you may remember your parents warning you about the razor blade in the apple — is it any wonder that in some circles Halloween has gotten a bad rap?

There are two other Shadowrealm Previews (Riven & Cael and Abelar Corrinthal) here on Flames Rising. We also have an interview with Paul S. Kemp that tells us a bit about the novel. Shadowrealm is book three of the Twilight War and is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Today we have another snippet from Paul Kemp for our readers to explore. This snippet Cale, Riven, Mags, and…someone else…

From the very depths of the blackest hell we’ve come to parlay with ye about International Talk Like a Pirate Day. All that it requires, is that ye talk like a pirate, for certain. But why stop there?

You see, mateys, after ye watch the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy, to study up on the lingo, ye might find yerself in a strange predicament. One that involves dice, your fortuitous pirate accent and a night with your fellow pirate friends.

Recently we’ve had Greg Stolze tell us about creating his new game A Dirty World and Jason Morningstar fills us in on the development of The Shab Al-Hiri Roach. The design project continues today with Tim Brannan telling us about the work he did on the Ghosts of Albion RPG for Eden Studios.

Set in London at the dawn of the Victorian age, players join in the fight to keep the ever-present forces of evil at bay. Whether fighting a demon prince or even a band of infant stealing faeries, the battle wages on. Characters can join the fight as normal humans, ghosts, mysterious faeries or even wield the magic of the Protectors themselves. All against a backdrop of Victorian England with a dark supernatural undercurrent.

Greg Stolze (REIGN, A Hunger Like Fire) has recently released a new game called A Dirty World.

The black and white images conceal a world of baffling gray moral complexities. Noir is about secrets, deception, betrayal and hidden vice. “A Dirty World” rebuilds the One Roll Engine from the ground up to support those themes. Action has consequences, but it’s the only way to make progress. But be careful: Your character’s effectiveness hinges on the choices he makes. It doesn’t matter how nice you say he is: If he acts like a rat, soon a rat is all he’ll be able to be.

Today, Greg takes part in our ongoing design project and tells us how A Dirty World came together and what his goals where while writing the game.

The Horror Eassay Project continues this week at Flames Rising with game designer Jason Morningstar (who just won a Diana Jones Award for Grey Ranks). For the project Jason is telling us a bit about the design process that went into The Shab Al-Hiri Roach RPG.

The Shab-al-Hiri Roach is a dark comedy of manners, lampooning academia and asking players to answer a difficult question – are you willing to swallow a soul-eating telepathic insect bent on destroying human civilization?

The previous Ghosts of Albion preview introduced readers to the mysterious world of Albion and touched on the cosmology of the setting.

Today’s preview will dig into some of the Cinematic Unisystem mechanics that make the game work. Specifically we are going to take a look at the Qualities and Drawbacks for supernatural characters.

Visit the Ghosts of Albion page at Eden Studios for free downloads and news. You can also get the Ghosts of Albion eBook now from the Flames Rising RPGNow shop.

Our horror design essay project continues. Last week was Monica Valentinelli’s Initiation to Exquisite Replicas and other essays can be found in the Articles page here at Flames Rising.

Next up is Eloy LaSanta telling us about his new game Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. and how he created his company Third Eye Games.

So far in our horror design essay project we’ve heard from Preston DuBose on Degrees of Horror, Clash Bowley on The Evolution of Blood Games and A.W. Gryphon regarding Witchcraft, Magick, and Tackling The Unknown. Three different projects with different goals, methods and styles of writing.

Next up we’re going to take a look at the design process of the Exquisite Replicas RPG from Abstract Nova Entertainment. We’ve had several Previews of this new game on the site already. Now we get a chance to hear from one of the authors about the creative process that went into its development. Monica Valentinelli tells us about the setting of Exquisite Replicas…

We gave you a peek at the new cover art by Eric Lofgren and introduced you to the basics of Tales of the Seven Dogs Society last week.

Tales of the Seven Dogs Society is a collection of stories inspired by the Aletheia role-playing game published by Abstract Nova Entertainment. Each of these stories is a possible continuation of the events described in that book.

Today’s sneak preview is a small bit from Jim Johnson’s Lifting the Gingham Veil, which is the second story in the collection.

Earlier, I announced that the Ghosts of Albion eBook was now available from Eden Studios (the print version comes out next month). Today we’re bringing you a small preview of this new game.

Some may not be familiar with the Ghosts of Albion setting, so we’re going to start with a basic introduction to the world of Albion and introduce a bit of the cosmology. Further previews and teasers will explore more of the setting and the Unisystem elements of the game…

So far our horror design essays have featured creators of horror role-playing games talking about the development of new projects and the systems that went into those projects. We have more horror game design essays on the way over the next few weeks as well as other creators.

Today we are going to feature our first horror novel essay. Author A.W. Gryphon tells us about her novel, Blood Moon, as well as the challenges that went into writing that elusive first page.

Last week I posted the first in a series of horror design essays. That essay, Degrees of Horror from Preston Dubose, told us about the work on an upcoming project for the Savage Worlds system.

The essay project continues today with Clash Bowley of Flying Mice LLC telling us about the history of the Blood Games RPG. In this essay Clash tells us how the original Blood Games came about and fills us in on some of the design goals, changes and other work that went into the development of the new Blood Games II that was released last year.

Tales of the Seven Dogs Society is a collection of stories inspired by the Aletheia role-playing game published by Abstract Nova Entertainment. Each of these stories is a possible continuation of the events described in that book.

In the Aletheia RPG, players are presented with a detailed history of the strange events that led to the formation of the Seven Dogs Society, including some interesting supernatural phenomena that to this day remain unexplained. The book also gives describes how the Society works and just what types of characters might be recruited to join up.

J is for Jungle

A few weeks ago we brought you a preview of Don’t Lose Your Mind called A is for Ants. Now the folks at Evil Hat Productions have offered up a second look at this new book.

From author Benjamin Baugh (Monsters & Other Childish Things) comes Don’t Lose Your Mind, a Don’t Rest Your Head supplement that explores the darkest depths of Madness for your game.

Download the preview pdf: Don’t Lose Your Mind Preview “J”

We’ve brought you previews of Hunters, we’ve shown you teasers of the Mages.

Now its time to take a look at what the Changelings are up too.

Equinox Road is a new book for the ENnie Nominated Changeling: the Lost.

The road is dangerous, and you may be torn apart by the Thorns. The destination is a risk of death, or the return to slavery. But there’s much to be gained for those brave and clever enough to dare the return — the return to Faerie.

Here is an exclusive preview of this upcoming book…

Recently I contacted a handful of horror game designers, writers and publishers and asked them to tell me about the creation process that went into their projects. I tried not to limit them with artificial rules or requirements on the project…I wanted to see what they came up with…

The idea is to let these creative folks tell us how horror works for them. They have each worked on at least one horror game that tested their creative energy, ideas and made them reach for just a little more. These essays are a chance to see how the creative process works from a variety of talented individuals in their own words.

We’re going to start out with Preston DuBose from 12 to Midnight talking to us about the Pinebox Adventures series and the upcoming ETU: Degrees of Horror project.

This is the last preview we’ll have of the Exquisite Replicas RPG before it is released at GenCon Indy. So far we have seen a mix of previews that include looks at the new setting and some of the new mechanics introduced.

Visit the Previews page here at Flames Rising for a complete list of all the teasers we have posted so far. We have had a glimpse at one type of Othersider already, we have also heard a little bit of their dark plans, but we’ve yet to see where they come from…

Today we get a peek at the Otherside…

Eric Lofgren’s Cover Art gave us a quick teaser of the new RPG coming from Abstract Nova this summer. Next we learned about The Anonymous and the Shadow Crews. Some of the “good” and “bad” guys of the setting.

After learning a bit about this new, twisted world of Exquisite Replicas folks had a few questions on just how you play the game. So, Abstract Nova gave us a teaser into the Paranoia elements of the mechanics and today they bring us just a bit of Mental Imbalance…

Earlier Exquisite Replicas previews have shown us the Cover Art and introduced to the basics of the game. Next we learned about The Anonymous and the Shadow Crews.

Now, we see the terrible price that members of The Anonymous pay in their ongoing battle against the Othersiders. Abstract Nova have sent us a sneak peek at some of the new mechanics introduced in Exquisite Replicas.