DriveThruRPG has launched their annual Halloween sale, and as usual, it’s a doozy; thousands of items — more than ten thousand items on Drive Thru RPG alone — are marked at 25% off. As usual, the suite of Drive Thru sites — DriveThruRPG, DriveThruFiction, DriveThruCards, DMsGuild, and Storytellers Vault — are each offering this sale on a huge selection of items. I thought I’d take a moment to highlight several items I’m particularly fond of to illustrate the depth and breadth of what’s available now through October 31. Most (but not all) follow the Halloween theme of horror and the supernatural.

A Hunger Like Fire

A Hunger Like Fire is a novel by Greg Stolze that delves into the un-lives of the Vampires of Chicago from White Wolf’s Vampire: the Requiem setting. Rich in detail and packed with fascinating, compelling, and terrifying characters, A Hunger Like Fire remains one of my favorite novels of all time, and I re-read it approximately once a year. At a price of $1.49 for a digital download, it’s impossible to go wrong by purchasing this book.

World of Darkness: Chicago

Speaking of Vampire the Requiem, one of my very favorite products for the role-playing game is also part of the sale. World of Darkness: Chicago is a sourcebook for the Requiem, and contains a vast amount of extremely useful information for any Vampire: the Requiem game. Much more than that, it also contains similar chapters covering material of great value to players of Werewolf: the Forsaken and Mage: the Awakening, making this book a vital resource for any storyteller using the Chronicles of Darkness material.

Three Shades of Night

The companion novelization to World of Darkness: Chicago is Three Shades of Night. In it, three stories are told from three different points of view: a vampire, a werewolf pack, and a coven of mages, all dealing with the same disastrous supernatural time-bomb simultaneously. Each story is an interesting take on the overall catastrophe, but by the third story there are no more surprises left. While this may detract from the overall impact of the book, the stories themselves are engaging and fun, and give a very solid look into each of those three gaming worlds – particularly useful for someone just starting out and hoping to learn more about the setting and it’s aspects.

12TM: Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas

12TM: Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas is an anthology of creepy stories set in the world of Pinebox, Texas. Featuring a literal who’s who of gaming and horror authors, Buried Tales uses the fictional Savage Worlds setting from the famed tabletop RPG as the backdrop for a dozen stories of terror and the supernatural from Pinebox Texas, where the veil between worlds is just little thinner, and the nights are just little darker than elsewhere. These highly entertaining stories will have you leaving the lights on a night!

Harlan County Horrors

Apex Publications has an amazing catalog of fiction available. One of these, Harlan County Horrors, was among my favorite recent reads. Editor Mari Adkins does a great job collecting stories that capture the flavor of Appalachian coal country, and the assembled all-star line-up of authors chip in with chilling tales to keep you up at night.

The William Hope Hodgson Megapack: 35 Classic Works

William Hope Hodgson is one of my favorite lesser-known authors. His Carnacki: Ghost Finder stories set the bar for ghost hunters and supernatural investigators back at the dawn of the 20th Century, and those stories are still powerful today. A talented writer, he was one of millions lost to the horrors of World War One, serving in the British Army until his death in the trenches in France. This collection features 35 stories, including a large selection of Carnacki stories, several of which number among his best work. Long ago passing into the public domain, his writing can be had for less than a dollar in this collection; I urge you to take the plunge and check out Hodgson’s work.

Victoriana

Last, but not least, is another tabletop RPG offering, Victoriana. Blending steam technology with magic, Victoriana does for steampunk roleplaying what Shadowrun does for cyberpunk. It’s a dice pool system, is an elegant design, and I highly recommend it the next time you want to try something different for your RPG-gaming pleasure. Sadly out of print, downloads are the only way this material is readily available.

One of the most fun aspects of this sale are the tricks and treats available. Small icons of Halloween pumpkins, witches’ hats, ghosts, bats, and candies are sprinkled throughout the sites. By clicking on one, you automatically receive a free electronic copy of the treat (or trick!) that icon conceals, loaded into your shopping cart. Every year, people take to forums to list where all the treats can be found and what each of them are, but I’ve never looked: I have too much fun searching for them myself!

This sale is well worth your time and effort. Fantastic deals are to be had, and they’ll come in handy to keep you company over the long winter months ahead. Enjoy!