Folks, I’m pleased to announce that I have a guest post over at Crackle.com. Every month, Crackle.com offers free movies and webisodes for you to enjoy on the web. As part of their Halloween celebration, they’re offering a ton of free horror movies for fans to watch.

FlamesRising.com is pleased to present an interview with author Thomas Sniegoski. Tom is a veteran author who has written for dozens of comics titles (BONE, THE SISTERHOOD), media tie-in novels (HELLBOY, ANGEL) and his original fiction (The Remy Chandler Series). Fans of Christopher Golden might recognize Tom’s work; the two have collaborated on a number of projects. Our first Girls of Gore article highlighted their character named Eve from The Menagerie.

In this interview, Tom Sniegoski discusses what he enjoys writing, monkeys and some of the challenges he faces.

I’m attending International Camarilla Convention 2009 and for the first time, ICC is taking place in Atlanta…White Wolf’s stomping ground.

This year’s ICC has a ton of great looking events going on. Ranging from Requiem, Forsaken, Awakening and Lost LARP games that are part of the current global storyline, to a oWoD Sabbat LARP that is also a charity event raising funds for Get Well Gamers. In addition to the various LARP events there are some interesting panel discussions on the schedule that include several White Wolf staffers and other guests.

As the final novel in the Ambergris Cycle, FINCH is the conclusion to a complex plot that takes place in a rich, detailed setting. In this novel, the “gray cap” aliens have all but taken over humanity and this is the “last chance” for the rebels to fight back. Although the rebels are lurking in the background, FINCH is primarily about John Finch’s investigation of a double murder of one gray cap and one human. The case turns into some interesting directions, which is why John often reminds us he isn’t really a detective.

First off, I would like to mention that FINCH is constructed as a stand-alone novel. As a reader, you can pick up this book and not know anything about the story before digging in. However, this is not the type of book you will read in one sitting. Every word, chapter and turn of phrase has an intelligent architecture to it that forces you to slow down and savor every concept before realizing how they fit into the rest of the story.

As the player characters plan for All Hallows Eve, they suddenly find themselves embroiled into a deadly fight with a pyrokinetic named Gabriella who has lost control of her ability. Several buildings around the city are on fire; this offers the player characters plenty of options to find and determine the best way of dealing with an “innocent” teenage pyrokinetic.

Description
Normally you’d ignore the vandals creating havoc on Devil’s Night, because you have better things to do. Only this time, they’re not just jumping on cars or bullying kids out of their Halloween candy. This time, they’re trying to burn the entire city to the ground – and they don’t care who gets caught in the flames. That old place on Seventieth Street. A grocery store. Some hospital. You follow the trail of burning flesh and glowing embers straight to a single girl who’s looking right at you with a confused look in her eye.

Halloween is our favorite holiday here at Flames Rising headquarters. We wound up with an orange and a black cat, our house is often decorated in September, and we enjoy coming up with new concoctions year after year. Although we really enjoy the holiday, it wouldn’t be as much fun without all of you.

Last year Flames Rising celebrated Halloween with you by offering 31 days of Monster Madness. For this year, we started with the horror plot generator to help you get those creative juices flowing. Since we offered flash fiction (in the form of mini-monsters) last year, we decided to take a more gaming-related approach for Halloween.

September 19th, 2008. The Large Hadron Super Collider in Cern, Switzerland is about to go operational. Humanity is poised to re-create the very same conditions that resulted in the Big Bang and the birth of the universe. Physicist and Cern team member Kate Prosper notices something in one of the tests, a temporal anomaly with no reasonable scientific explanation. Meanwhile, truck driver Alain Murais would do anything to save his dying son, who is suffering from leukemia. But he’s out of money, insurance and time. Kate and Alain’s paths will end up on a collision course not only with one another, but also the mysterious Steward. Before the Day is over, no one will ever be the same…

There can be no doubt that, love him or hate him, Alan Moore is one of the greatest creative minds to ever grace the comics medium. His story-telling is so earnest, weird, kooky, slick and downright awesome all at once that it’s no wonder he’s one of the Greats. Now, I’m a Moore admirer myself, and I’m especially influenced by his earlier works; specifically Swamp Thing, Captain Britain and his many 2000 AD accomplishments. Sure, I suppose little things V for Vendetta, Watchmen and From Hell are what people mostly know him for, but I like to think his best work was with Mighty Tharg and his humble weekly newsagent-bomb 2000 AD. And with the galaxy’s greatest comic Marvelous Moore laid upon us mind-blowing wonderment-inducing things in the form of titles such as The Ballad of Halo Jones, D.R. and Quinch, his Time Twister tales, Abelard Snazz, and, of course, Future Shocks.

Review by Steven Saunders

Spectrum Games is pleased to announce the release of the Killer Collection, the very first hardcopy supplement for the Slasher Flick RPG.

The Killer Collection is a compilation of three supplements previously only released as PDF products, plus a brand new 24-page mini-supplement that will also be released as a PDF soon. That’s four supplements in one book!

It features CASTING CALL (offering 100 pre-made characters, each of which is completely customizable), HORROR ISLAND (A full length adventure that sends the characters to a remote island that isn’t as uninhabited as they thought), DELETED SCENES (Rules and information that was cut from the rulebook due to space limitations) and SPECIAL FEATURES (Yet more new material, including random character creation, new special abilities, Director’s advice and three ready-to-use killers that have several plot seeds each).

THE STARS ARE RIGHT is a board game produced by Steve Jackson Games. Inspired by the Lovecraft mythos, the object of the game is to “summon” ten points worth of servitors and gods before your opponent.

After playing through the game multiple times, I feel that in order to get a sense for what the game is about, you really need to play through it twice. To set the game up, you place the cardboard stars in rows of five by five, for a total of twenty-five. Each player gets five cards to start; I highly recommend giving each player a Turn Sequence card to help keep the movements straight. On the card there are a series of symbols that are used at different points in the Turn Sequence. There are two types of symbols, primarily. The directional symbols allow you to change the way the board is arranged; the pieces are double-sided so there’s a lot of different variations on how the pieces are set up.

As part of our continued efforts to bring you the best horror content for Halloween, FlamesRising.com teamed up with Ryan Macklin from The Master Plan.

Ryan Macklin is a veteran podcaster, producing Master Plan: The People’s Podcast About Game Design, The Voice of the Revolution and This Just In…From GenCon! He has also worked with Evil Hat Productions on various projects, including the Silver ENnie award-winning DON’T LOSE YOUR MIND and the upcoming DRESDEN FILES RPG.

Howdy, gamers! If you’re a horror gamer, or if you’re just looking for a special one-shot to run for Halloween, now is the perfect time to check us out. We at 12 to Midnight are having our annual Halloween sale. All our modern horror titles for d20 Modern and Savage Worlds are 50% off!

We are also offering an insane deal on our horror anthology Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas. You can pick up this tome of terror by leading RPG designers like JD Wiker, Chuck Rice, Jess Hartley, and Shane Lacey Hensley, plus horror novelists David Wellington and Derek Gunn… all for $0.99!

Dark Matter Studios, producer of the well-received fantasy rpg Epic Role Playing, has released its latest offering, the Mark II Edition of its Game Manual. Weighing in at over 300 pages, the Game Manual, Mk II contains the complete Epic RPG ruleset, as well as a continent-sized setting (the high feudal realm of Rullaea), and a sample bestiary with a tantalizing selection of monsters and animals. Additionally, the authors have incorporated a host of improvements and new content to the ENnie Award nominated system (Best Rules, 2008).

“We’ve added some great new stuff to the game,” commented Kent Davis, one of the two principal designers. “We’ve streamlined parts of the character generation system, but still provided a number of new opportunities for fleshing out characters. We also simplified character growth, pumped up our faculties system and added a boatload of depth to our tactical play, which has already planted its flag as a fan favorite.”

In this interview, Flames Rising is pleased to feature urban fantasy author, Anton Strout. Anton is the author of a series of books called the “Simon Canderous series.” Set in modern-day Manhattan, Simon, the main character, has a power called psychometry.

We’d like to share with you Anton’s thoughts on urban fantasy, what inspires him as an author, and his perspective on his Simon Canderous series of books. If you’re a fan of Anton’s work, you can also touch base with him throughout the year at several conventions including New York Comic Con, GenCon and more!

Halloween isn’t until tomorrow night, but Barry and his best buddy Shawn are dealing with a monster. Mitch, the school bully has had Shawn marked for sometime now, and he takes it on the chin. Barry encourages Shawn to stand up to Mitch and defend himself, but so far he’s lacked the courage. Ahh, the joys of school.

Later that day the two are looking for a book for a class, but instead they find a very different and much more intriguing book in a secret compartment. Shawn is fascinated by this seemingly “ancient spell book” and studies it throughout that night into the following morning. Shawn even takes it with him when he and Barry go a Halloween party a class mate invited them to. But Mitch is also attending the party and after a confrontation gone bad, he ruins their night and gets them kicked out.

Review by Steven Dawes

White Wolf popularized a concept nearly twenty years ago. They revolutionized gaming by permitting players to take on the role of the monsters rather than those who slay various supernatural critters. They now offer a deeper layer through their Night Horrors line. See, even the boogeyman is scared of something or some things. This lines opens up the urban legends and myths of the monsters. These are the monsters underneath the monsters’ beds.

I’m reviewing two comp copies from White Wolf today since they have a great deal in common. Both weigh in at 163 pages. Both hold to the same concepts. Both seem to have been given the same amount of creative energy.

On Saturday, October 17th, FlamesRising.com was on hand to celebrate the launch of LITTLE FEARS during Madison Games Day 2. We had a great turn out and several people were on hand to play games and take lots of pictures. There are quite a few floating around; you can see a number of photos through the Madison Games Day Yahoo! Group.

To celebrate the birthday of LITTLE FEARS: NIGHTMARE EDITION, there were two really awesome cakes on hand.

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year over at “One Geek to Another”, and so I was thrilled when the great folks at Flames Rising asked me to do a guest blog on etiquette for the spooky holiday this month! From my desk to yours, here’s 13 ways to have an awesome (and polite!) Halloween!

1. Be a Good Ghoul-guest! – If you’re invited to a Halloween party, regardless of the age group, bring a little something for the host. Flowers in a Halloween arrangement are always appropriate, as are small gift baskets (especially things the host can save for after the party!) Bringing something to share at the party can also be fun!

I was destined to be a game geek. Back when I was but a wee Stevie, my folks introduced me to board games early. It was a fun and cheap family oriented activity we’d partake in when we could. My folks were big fans of the classics like Monopoly, Clue, Battleship and Trivial Pursuit while occasionally picking up a new “fad game” here and there like The A-Team, Pac-Man and Frogger.

As I got older and found ways of making my own coin, I started buying my own board games, the kinds that caught my interest more than the rest of the clan. These were games with more strategy and story/themes added to them, many of which you fellow board game geeks might recognize. Titles like Risk, The Omega Virus, Dragon Strike, Nightmare, oh yeah… let’s not forget a personal favorite of mine, HeroQuest and its expansion packs. My love of games in general led me to eventually discover RPG’s, which led me to start attending cons, which in turn opened my eyes to a ginormous cornucopia of gaming opportunities! And I dove in head first.