“The Zantabulous Zorceror of Zo,” by Chad Underkoffler and Atomic Sock Monkey Press, is a game of adventure and wonder set in a world of fairy tales. But the land of Zo is more than just pixies and knights. The game includes classic story elements from almost every childhood fantasy, from “The Wizard of Oz” and “Alice in Wonderland” to “Peter Pan” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

The game uses Underkoffler’s Prose Descriptive Qualities (PDQ) system, which is also used in the super-hero RPG “Truth & Justice” and the manic “Monkey, Ninja, Pirate, Robot: the Roleplaying Game.” In PDQ, characters use Qualities to represent their abilities. Qualities can be anything from skills to beliefs to personality quirks.

Review by Michael Erb

London. Winter. 1963.

Into this maelstrom steps the Special Situations Group, a motley band of men and women tasked with the jobs too dirty or dangerous for anyone else.

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…

Descent into Chaos, the follow up novel to A World Torn Asunder (part of the Vampire Apocalypse series written by Irish author, Derek Gunn) is now available to preorder from the publisher and will be released in the Fall. Chapters are now available at the author’s website.

Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder (released in September 2006) was Derek’s debut novel. It received rave reviews, was optioned for film by producer/screenwriter Richard Finney. Finney and screenwriter, Franklin Guerrero Jr., recently penned a script based on the book. Their adaptation led to a recent partnership on the project with producer, Robert Lawrence (Die Hard: With a Vengence, Clueless, The Last Castle). Currently the project is being represented by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) who is packaging the project for the studios.

After reading the first two issues of Marcus Almand’s comic book, Razor Kid, I’m left feeling surprisingly compelled to read more. Razor Kid is as indie as it gets, but this does not belie the effort that Almand and his revolving crew of artists have put forth in giving readers a superior product.

Issue one introduces us to 15-year-old Alexander Tanaka, AKA Razor Kid, as he fights Kevin Michaels in an exercise of initiation into the C.A.P.E. (Citizens Authorized for Protection and Enforcement) program. Alexander is a boy genius who’s developed an armored super suit equipped with an assortment of blades and devices including cybernetic arms that replace his own which have been amputated. Kevin, 18, provides quite a test as he appears to be a full-blown martial arts badass.

Review by Jason Thorson

3:16 designed by Gregor Hutton (Best Friends) is a winner of a High Ronny Award for Games Design.

Featuring a stunning cover by Paul Bourne (a|state, Cold City, Hot War) and haunting interiors by Gregor Hutton 3:16 is a visual treat.

This high-octane Science-Fiction role-playing game for 2 or more players has your Space Troopers killing bugs all across the Cosmos. You’ll advance in rank, improve your weapons, slay civilization after civilization and find out who you are through an innovative “Flashback” mechanic.

We’re happy to announce three new products will be available at GenCon!

Slipstream: Beyond the black holes lies the Slipstream, a pocket universe of shattered worlds, desperate aliens, and savage monsters. Ruling over the shattered isles is the diabolical Queen Anathraxa, who some say is close to finding a way to escape this interstellar prison. Strap on your rocket pack, charge your ray gun, and prepare to blast off into the the most wild and exotic Savage Setting yet—the Slipstream!

Normally I don’t like to read books in a series out of order–the exception being when I’m reviewing them. I’ve got a couple of second novels that I picked up still lingering on my bookshelves, waiting for me to pick up book one. So it always impresses me when a second or third entry in a series can pick up the story without making you feel like you’re adrift (if you’ll excuse the pun). Heroes Adrift does it incredibly successfully, and though our heroes spend the whole book out of their element, the reader catches up to the action in the first few pages.

Review by Alana Abbott

David Drake’s fiction has always been dark. His combat experiences in Vietnam made his fiction even darker and, in many ways, more honest and more horrifying. Earlier this summer Night Shade Books released the paperback edition of a collection of Drake’s “weird and fantastic” stories, Balefires.

The collection is rich with generous commentary from the author and a variety of fantasy, science fiction and horror stories. Shortly after the hardback release, Mr. Drake and I discussed writing and his experiences in Vietnam for an interview that ran in The New York Review of Science Fiction. What follows grew out of that larger conversation.

Interview by Jeremy Jones

Brand new original manga-style comic book series, based on the Award-winning screenplay by Malcolm Wong

Dabel Brothers Publishing is excited to announce the manga-style adaptation of Malcolm Wong’s award-winning screenplay, Dog Eaters. Malcolm’s screenplay won three awards at the Screenwriting Expo5 in Los Angeles. The story has been adapted by Sean J. Jordan, and features stunning manga-style pencils from Chilean illustrator, Guillermo A. Angel.

Dog Eaters tells the tale of a world 175 years after the “Die Off” – a catastrophe that occurs when the balance of world economic, political, and ecological systems is upset by an oil crisis that spins out of control, eventually wiping out 90% of the world’s population.

The book is a massive one, totalling out to nearly four hundred pages interspersed with illustrations that are mostly small, so that’s an intimidating amount of text, though most of it is background and plots, and thus optional. It includes the general rules, combat rules, character creation, kung fu, secret techniques and powers and an enormous section of plot and background providing a great many hooks and ideas to players and Games Masters alike. The game is complete in one book but be aware that the PDF I am reviewing from lacked the front cover image, this does make a file smaller but I would have liked it to be there. I have also read the hardcopy version.

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

The dead are walking and hungry for brains. Shutter the windows, barricade the door and load your shotgun.

Oh, and this round draw three and play two.

“Zombie Fluxx,” a card game from the appropriately-named Looney Labs, is based off the popular and zany “Fluxx,” an ever changing card game that begins simple and ends up insane.

“Zombie Fluxx” takes the base game one shuffling step forward, adding in iconic images from zombie and horror movies and a new kind of card to liven (pardon the pun) up the mix.

Sideshow is proud to bring you this 1:4 scale prop replica of ‘The Samaritan,’ Hellboy‘s famous pistol used in the film Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The display stand features an engraved B.P.R.D logo and four bullet display spaces. The round red portion of the base can be detached, and features a magnet imbedded on […]

Lunar rains cascade down upon the blasted landscape of Highpoint. Lunar demons raze the ruins of once-great civilizations and assault the under-realms harboring the last of dying races. Across the surface of this once-great world, only the giant City Mechs hold sway, lumbering across charred and corrupted lands, seeking truth, beauty and a new beginning.

The world of “DragonMech” by Goodman Games is a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting where humans, dwarves, elves and other races have turned to technology to protect them in their final days.

Review by Michael Erb

Jennifer Rodgers is adding a new “Thank You” card to her Greeting Card Shop, an elegant gothic design, featuring skulls, flowers and Latin. The cards will be in stock and available for sale by the 16th. Pre-Orders available now!

You can find all of Jennifer’s cards at her Etsy shop:jenniferrodgersart.etsy.com.

The current designs include birthday, valentine and holiday cards, all available as singles or in packs of five. When the “Thank You” card is made available, it will also be part of a variety pack, featuring one card of each of the current five designs.

London. Winter. 1963.

And this was not just a nuclear war. Far more sinister, darker weapons were deployed from the shadows.

Hot War, the new game from Contested Ground Studios, is now available for pre-order through Indie Press Revolution! Pre-order the book now and you’ll receive the PDF version absolutely free!

This is a review of the second edition of the game with the name altered from Crimson Empire, which the earlier edition was titled, due to a dispute with Lucasarts. Cursed Empire is a small, independent press game written by Chris Loizou and presented enthusiastically and comprehensively at many UK conventions. This is a weighty book and obviously a labour of love for the creator whose enthusiasm for the game is obvious and infectious. This makes me feel bad about criticizing the game given that it’s such an obvious and singular labour of love, but there are significant problems with it.

Review by James ‘Grim’ Desborough

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.

Manifestations of Ichor is a collection of new rules for Scion players. Included are rules on how to make a demigod or God at character creation, 27 new Knacks (three for each Epic Attribute), 15 new Birthrights (three Creatures, three Followers, three Guides and six Relics), a complete pantheon Purview (Scire) and Virtues for the Atlantean pantheon first detailed in Scion: Demigod, 32 new All-Purpose Purview Boons (two for each Purview) and 10 new Magic spells.

In this strange land between waking and sleep, you can wield strange and wondrous powers, but your talents make you a target. Push too hard and you’ll fall asleep. That’s when the Nightmares come to feed. Stray too far from reality and you go insane, eventually becoming one of Nightmares that hunt you. Fight for what you believe and remember who you are, but whatever you do, don’t rest your head.

“Don’t Rest Your Head,” is a roleplaying game of insomnia, madness and super powers written by Fred Hicks and published by Evil Hat Productions.

Review by Michael Erb