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.

I would assume, given all the fuss about the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris, that I’m missing a great deal of what makes them good by reading From Dead to Worse before reading the beginning of the series. I hope this is true, because otherwise, I don’t really understand what all the hubbub is about. Sookie is a fun main character, the writing is charming, and the setting is both intriguing and well used (how many urban fantasy series take place in the South, much less post-Katrina Louisiana?). But From Dead to Worse is missing something extremely core: a plot.

Review by Alana Abbott

2008 ENnie Awards

The ENnies voting server is up and running, and the virtual booth will be open from July 28th until Wednesday, August 6th.

White Wolf encourages everyone to take a few moments and participate in the awards process. Voters are tracked by IP address, and limited to one vote per individual, tracked by IP. To cast your vote, please click on the Ennies link below.

Dark Matter Studios, producer of the well-received fantasy rpg Epic Role Playing, has released its latest offering, the Quick Start Guide in PDF format. A sleek and maneuverable 100 pages, the QSG is a perfect intro for players wanting to know more about the ENnie Award nominated ruleset.

This PDF guide is a down-and-dirty primer to the Epic Role Playing game system. Easily accessible in electronic format, the Quick Start Guide is ready to introduce interested players to the game. As much information as possible has been compressed into this introductory guide book: core rules, character creation process, skills and experience, arcane magic, treasure, teasers from the full game system and more.

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”

Ennies voting is live!

In order for indie and small/micro press games to have a chance and a voice at the Ennies, we need every single one of you reading this to get on over there and vote. Please participate! Earlier is better, of course, but you have a week. And please don’t try to vote multiple times. We’d rather have your honest support!

Here’s the “indie-focused” ballot, as posted on the Summer Revolution last week. Show your support! Become a hero of the Revolution!

Contested Ground Studios is delighted to announce the release of an upgraded version of their hit Cold City RPG.

Cold City v1.1 takes all the information from the original book and combines it with the Cold City Companion to create one comprehensive source for Cold City games. In addition to all of that, there’s a new, revised system chapter that offers smoother gameplay and more guidances for participants.

There’s internal artwork by Stuart Beel (SLA Industries, Changeling, Werewolf and many other RPGs and CCGs ) and Paul Bourne (3:16, a|state, Hot War, Piledrivers & Powerbombs), offering a great visual experience.

“InSpectres” is a role-playing game of horror and comedy written by Jared Sorenson and published by Memento-Mori Theatrics. Players take on the roles of supernatural investigators who are part of a franchise, ala “Ghostbusters.” The players control not only their characters, but also the business itself, allow it to grow financially, physically and in terms of contacts and clientele. A game master sets up the story and calls for different die rolls at different times, controlling all of the non-player characters in the game.

Review by Michael Erb

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.

Santa’s been drinking too many pina coladas again (as, apparently, have our copywriters), so it’s time once more to get yourselves some really fabulous savings on great game products! For the next couple of days (maybe four, if you’re particularly nice and don’t cry or pout), you can get 25% off selected products all over […]

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…

I’ve been reading a lot of Mythos fiction lately. It started with my review of Cthulhu Live 3rd Edition, which was a lot of fun and renewed my interest in the genre once more. Since then I’ve picked up several books and was blown away by the Trail of Cthulhu RPG from Pelgrane Press. So I started digging into the fiction collections even more…

Frontier Cthulhu is a bit different, having characters explore the “frontier” throughout the ages and encountering dark, twisted horrors along the way.

Publisher to unveil new exclusive comics, special announcements and a host of guests.

Top Cow Productions Inc. announced its schedule today for this week’s San Diego Comic-Con, the nation’s biggest and best comics and pop culture extravaganza to be held at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California from July 23 – 27.

Top Cow will set up shop at Booth #2329 and heads into the convention with exclusives, preview books, free goodies and a long list of guests, headlined by Top Cow CEO and founder Marc Silvestri (Witchblade, The Darkness, Cyberforce), artist J.G. Jones (Wanted) and writer Paul Dini (Madame Mirage).

There was a lot of cool stuff going on this year for Free RPG Day. I managed to pick up a couple of different items when Noble Knight Games did their sale for the promotion. I got the Hunter: the Vigil Quickstart from White Wolf Publishing, the Trail of Cthulhu adventure from Pelgrane Press and the Murder at Miskatonic scenario from Skirmisher Publishing.

Not everyone was so lucky…either they did not have a local store that was participating in the event or they missed out on one or more of the items up for grabs. Well, the folks at Skirmisher have posted a new version of Murder at Miskatonic at RPGNow.

“Donar’s Hammer” is the first of the smaller supplements for “Godlike” RPG, and provides an introductory scenarios as well as optional rules for your “Godlike” game.

Set in Sicily in 1943, players take on the role of a group of Allied Talents that come face to face with a group of Axis Overmen protecting a talent called Mjollnir, the name of the norse god Thor’s mythic hammer. What begins as a simple seek-and-destroy mission instead becomes a fight for survival and the soul of a small town.

Review by Michale Erb

Tachyon Publications is proud to announce the August 2008 release of a new edition of Tim Powers’ classic novel, The Stress of Her Regard.

A novel of secret histories and dark revelations, The Stress of Her Regard is the tale of a terrified young doctor who – after discovering his bride brutally murdered in their wedding bed – allies with the great Romantic poets, Byron, Keats and Shelley in a battle against a malignant apparition seeking her ultimate pleasure in their ravaged bodies and imperiled souls.

This is the second part of the Scion Companion to be released as a PDF, the first having been the Tuatha de Daanan segment and with a couple more to come. It furthers White Wolf’s relatively progressive e-book policy while simultaneously acting almost as a preview for the eventual, finished product and also, probably, cunningly getting people to buy much of the same material twice – can’t really fault them for doing that! This section is all about the powers, the elevated statistics and their consequences, the fields of expertise and the powers within those, additional companions, followers, artifacts, magic and so on.

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

Gaming Extravaganza Brings Crowds to Indy for the Annual Convention

It’s that time of year again when gamers are gearing up for Gen Con Indy, the original, longest running and best-attended gaming show in North America. With an estimated 27,000 unique attendees converging on the Indianapolis Convention Center, visitors to Gen Con will immerse themselves in the 6,000+ gaming events and more than 250 exhibits over the four day extravaganza that has become the world’s premier game convention. Starting Thursday morning and running round-the-clock attendees can play their hearts out with fellow enthusiasts and by joining in card games, board games, video games, table top and live-action role-playing games, seminars, films, workshops and so much more. Activities range from interactive game play and computer gaming to big money hobby-related tournaments sponsored by industry leaders Upper Deck Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast. The event will be held August 14-17, 2008 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

So, what is “steampunk”?

“Cool stuff, rich language, invented – reinvented — science,” says James Blaylock, a pioneer of steampunk and author of the novel, Lord Kevlin’s Machine. “Steampunk [a sub-genre of science fiction] offers a great deal of what is most flamboyantly, eccentrically, visually, and adventurously interesting about the Victorian era and its curious scientific hopes and speculations.”

The recently-released anthology Steampunk, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, clatters and clinks with gadgets, airships, and forty-foot tall steam-powered men. The thirteen stories and novel excerpts contained in this collection are enhanced by a preface, an introduction, and two essays.

The editors themselves are no strangers to strange fiction. Ann VanderMeer is an editor for Weird Tales and Jeff VanderMeer is the World Fantasy Award-winning author of Shriek: an Afterword as well as a collection of linked stories, City of Saints and Madmen, both set in the imaginary world of Ambergris.

Interview by Jeremy Jones