Category: Features

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Hunter: the Vigil “Loyalists of Thule”

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Previous Hunter topics include Light in Shadows, Professions and Endowments. Each of them explored just a bit more of the setting of the upcoming game.

We’ve talked briefly about the daily lives of the Hunters, made a small mention of compacts and conspiracies once or twice already. There has been a lot of speculation about each of these words (and their possible meaning) on forums and blogs.

Just to recap some of that text:

Hunter society is small and secretive, even in large cities like London or New York, but it is also vibrant and constantly in flux. Individual hunters band together to form cells, pooling their skills and resources to take on solitary monsters that threaten their communities. Sometimes these hunters become aware of other cells in their area and they form broader ties that grow into larger compacts, creating a network that spans entire cities or regions. In rare cases, hunter compacts grow so large that their resources and influence span entire countries.

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Hunter: the Vigil “Professions”

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Last week I talked a bit about the theme of Hunter: the Vigil. The theme of the game is Light in Shadows and I talked about how Hunters team up to fight against the things that lurk in the shadows of the world.

I also mentioned that most Hunters have “day jobs” since nobody really gets paid to stake or shoot supernatural creatures. This week we’re going to take a closer look at the “day job” element of Hunter: the Vigil.

In Hunter: the Vigil these “day jobs” are called Professions. They seem to be the everyday “real” careers that “normal” people have in the world. The trick for a Hunter is balancing the demands of the hunt with the realities of the job.

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Hunter: the Vigil “Light in Shadows”

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The theme for White Wolf’s new game, Hunter: the Vigil is “Light in Shadows” and this theme is well presented in the advance materials I’ve seen already…

family, or those driven together by maddening circumstances. They protect
their stretch of forest, their city block, their network of women’s shelters. They don’t know the depth of what’s out there, they only have the meager light of their own candles to light the way.

Candles give way to torches, to cells who band together in localized compacts. They pool resources. They provide moral support. They present a more unified front against the denizens
of darkness.

And torches give way to raging bonfires as those compacts grow outward globally and backward through time. Ancient groups and modern conspiracies supply their hunters with potent weapons, some of which are so strange that those who use them can only wonder how long they can truly maintain their own humanity.

This theme continues throughout the text. Individual Hunters acting as a point of light, driving back the shadows. Together that light shines brighter, those shadows retreat or are destroyed outright by the fire. Still, those shadows never go quietly and there are always more of them creeping their way into the world.

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Hunter: The Vigil Logo Revealed

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The folks at White Wolf may be at GTS (GAMA Trade Show) but they still have a few surprises in store for the fans this week… The first one is the new logo for Hunter: The Vigil. Check it out -here-. While the logo is certainly interesting it was the flavor text that got me […]

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Magic: the Gathering Card Previews for the Shadowmoor Expansion!

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Shadowmoor is the first set in a new block, a 301-card expansion with randomly inserted premium cards. It will be available in booster packs, tournament packs, theme decks and fat packs.

The Aurora has plunged Lorwyn into eternal night, transforming the once-idyllic plane into the eerie world of Shadowmoor. The gloom has transformed its denizens, too — creatures of fable have become monsters from dark fairytales. Races and characters introduced in Lorwyn are back, but with twisted allegiances and new powers.

Flames Rising is pleased to present two new Shadowmoor cards for Magic: the Gathering fans to preview!

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Game Fiction: Why it Works (and Why it Doesn’t)

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If you go to your bookshelf and pick up your favorite gaming book, whether it’s from Apophis Consortium or Evil Hat Productions, reread the fiction or flavor text that’s used as chapter breaks or to enhance the setting. Now, check out your other books and see how many World of Warcraft-inspired novels or Forgotten Realms stories you have.

Do you remember what you liked about them? Disliked?

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Lynne Thomas, Professional Geek

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For the past, five years Flames Rising has been fortunate to publish content from some interesting folk. From musicians to up-and-coming authors or horror fans, our reviewers have come from all walks of life. Flames Rising review Lynne Thomas is no exception. Here Lynne opens up and describes her fascinating job as the Head of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL, where she focuses on Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror literature.

Come take a look at this awesome day job, and learn how you can help preserve the science fiction, fantasy and horror books you love to read.

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Cover Art Preview of The Screaming Tower by James Lowder

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The Ebonacht Trilogy by James Lowder.

Preview the cover (larger image below) with Art by Martin Hanford, and Pre-Order your copy of The Screaming Tower at the Elder Signs Press website.

Superstition shrouds the island of Thran and keeps the fear-plagued inhabitants subservient to the reclusive tyrant, Lord Ebonacht, and the denizens of the unseen Twilight Court. Only Janus, an orphan whose own mysterious past is discussed in frightened whispers, rails against the tales of the Strangerfolk and the other creatures that are rumored to stalk the night. His quest to prove the old stories false will bring him face to face with the prisoner of the Screaming Tower and reveal secrets about the world — and himself — far more terrible than those hinted at in the grimmest of legends.

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Favorite Horror Game Contest Wrap-up

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The Flames Rising Favorite Horror Game Contest wrapped up on the 15th and our special guest judge, Jason Blair (author of Little Fears and The Long Count), helped us sort through all of the great entries. Don’t Rest Your Head, Chill and Kult were the top mentioned games. Great Cthulhu made a variety of appearances […]

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Favorite Horror Game Contest Ends Today!

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Today is your last chance to get your entry posted in the Flames Rising Favorite Horror Game Contest! In one paragraph (250 words) or less, tell us what your favorite horror game is and “why.” By “game” we mean role-playing game, card game, computer/video game, or board game. It may also be alternative platforms like […]

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Contest Prizes Spotlight!

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Have you entered the Flames Rising Favorite Horror Game Contest?

Well, if you’ve been following the recent Flash Fire Mini-Reviews, you’ve just seen a small glimpse of what we have to give away. So far, in Contest Edition and Contest Edition 2 we’ve highlighted new games, like Thousand Suns and supplements like All Tomorrow’s Zombies. With over 12 publishers sponsoring our contest, our prize pool is getting so huge we just had to blog about more of the great prizes that are perfect for any horror fan.

Here are just a few of the great prizes available in the Flames Rising Favorite Horror Game Contest.

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Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Contest Edition 2)

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Welcome to the second set of “Contest Edition” Mini-Reviews.

These are just some of the products offered by the sponsors of the Flames Rising Favorite Horror Game Contest. This week we sci-fi adventure mixed with medieval horror, zombies, pirates and more!

If you missed out on the first “Contest Edition” from last week, be sure to check out that mix of great games from other sponsors.

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Flash Fire Mini-Reviews! (Contest Edition)

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Welcome to another collection of Mini-Reviews here on Flames Rising!

This week we are going to focus on some of the cool products published by some of the sponsors of the “Favorite Horror Game Contest” and the creative games they have released. Next week will be a few more of sponsors’ products. Including amazing art and funny cards.

So sit back and enjoy this collection of zombies, cannibals, strange creatures and nightmare cities…

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Flames Rising Favorite Horror Game Contest!

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Flames RisingWe’re proud to announce the first Flames Rising Fan Appreciation contest. Some of you may remember that Flames Rising hasn’t always been a horror and dark fantasy webzine; it started out as a Live Action Role-Playing Site devoted to those dark and brooding vampire clans from White Wolf’s Mind’s Eye Theatre system. Through a love for gaming and other things that go bump in the night, Flames has evolved to its current incarnation, a horror webzine that shines the spotlight on up-and-coming authors, horror artists, game designers, and more!

To celebrate the new site launch, we want to show our appreciation to the fans who make Flames Rising possible by returning to our dice pool and pencils. Prizes include a variety of products from Abstract Nova, Apophis Consortium, Bob Goat Press, Cubicle 7 Entertainment, Eden Studios, Evil Hat Productions, Monolith Graphics, Neoplastic Press, Rogue Games, Snarling Badger Games, Talisman Studios and 12 to Midnight.

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Freelancers Beware: What Wizard’s new OGL May Mean to You

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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.

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Taking a Bite Out of Horror: A Guide to Reviewing Horror Films Like the Pros

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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?

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