The critically-acclaimed game of childhood terror is back in Little Fears Nightmare Edition!

Monsters are real and they hunt children like you from the shadows. As a child, you have your wits, your belief, and the friends by your side. No adults can help you. No one else can save you. It’s just you and the monsters.

Completely reimagined, with an all-new system, Little Fears Nightmare Edition is the definitive version of the classic game.

Little Fears Nightmare Edition is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

It’s only eighteen pages. There is no artwork beyond some font variances. There are no graphs and no sidebars. You get no character sheet. There are some bullets, but that just seems sensible in a game about zombie survival (or is it Zombie survival?). Despite the utter lack of bells and whistles, it still costs five bucks (except mine was a free reviewer’s copy from Wicked Dead Brewing Company). You know what else?

It’s totally worth skipping out on a combo meal to snatch up this booklet.

Shotgun Diaries apparently started out as a birthday gift. As most things zombie-related, it got a bit out of hand.

*cue ominous music*

They’re creepy and they’re kooky… Mysterious and spooky…

My first nomination for the Girls of Gore series went to Eve from THE MENAGERIE, the world’s first female (and vampire). In this edition of Girls of Gore, I’d like to turn your attention to the lovely Morticia Addams, who is definitely more than what she seems. Now, you might think that Morticia is just another pretty goth that’s all dressed up with nowhere to go, but you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. She may dress in the finest, black gowns and take extra care of her appearance, but Morticia is definitely a Girl of Gore. Why? Well, read on.

I’d wager that most people feel a kinship with one time period or another. Some love the Renaissance so deeply that they model their weddings around the era. For me, I’ve always held a deep appreciation for the Victorian Era. Despite the difficulty historians have attributing a date to it, I fall in line with the generalized trends and historical high points of that period. There is a rather rich environment of Victorian Era gaming; each seems to fill its own niche. Castle Falkenstein has little in common with Ghosts of Albion; however, both are fine games. One writing staple of the era is using ten words when one would do. Charles Dickens, a known abuser of this “sin,” could actually write around all the flowery language. I mention this because the title is a bit wordy and I’m going to refer to this game as Gaslight for the remainder of the review.

This is a massive tome of all things Marvel. Seriously. It’s a 50 pound hardcover of comic book awesome! Ok, maybe not 50 pounds, but it’s a bullet stopper for sure!

I’ve been a fan of Marvel Comics since I was a kid and the comics took a massive jump to a whopping 35 Cents! Comics have changed so much over the years. More than I knew before delving in to the Marvel Encyclopedia. Holy CRAP! This book delves in to every character, major and minor That I have ever heard of and many I hadn’t. It gives all kinds of details on origins, secret identities, story arcs and issues they are showcased in.

As always, the artwork is stunning. There are several large entries for special groups and events like The Avengers, The Death of Captain America, Civil War, The Gods of Asgard and the many variations of The Hulk.

Fear Nothing tells the story of 28-year-old oddball hero Christopher Snow, who lives in the city of Moonlight Bay, California, along with his hyper-intelligent dog Orson, his best surfing buddy Bobby and his late-night deejay girlfriend Sasha. Snow has XP—xeroderma pigmentosum—a very rare genetic affliction that forces him to avoid light at all costs, and will likely give him cancer later in life. His parents died under mysterious circumstances and he’s now being stalked by the shadowy characters who want Snow to stop trying to find out how they died–or else they’ll bump off his remaining loved ones.

“This is a well-written and beautifully drawn adaptation. I’m delighted with it,” says Dean Koontz.

Welcome to the thirteenth and final installment of 13 Doors: an exclusive look behind the door at the upcoming Little Fears Nightmare Edition – The Game of Childhood Terror.

Door #13: Closing the Door

Last Thursday, I received a package in the mail. It was small, about 7×10, and around an inch thick. I peeled back the perforated strip and unfolded the cardboard with little regard for ceremony. Inside, sitting before me, was the culmination of months of hard work, late nights, long discussions, and a lot of called-in favors. 192 pages of blood, sweat, tears, wood pulp, and ink. It was my proof copy of Little Fears Nightmare Edition.

FALLOUT is Derek Gunn’s latest book in is his Vampire Apocalypse series and it’s now available from Black Death Books in a trade paperback edition. In this military/post-apocalyptic series the Vampires rule. Humanity is enslaved in a nightmare world where those who are still alive are bred as food for the vampires and the entertainment for the vicious thralls who guard them.

According to the author this installment sees vampires pitted against vampires and the thralls use this war to their advantage. But the small band of human survivors hold a secret of immeasurable power – a coating for bullets that can kill the vampires. The thralls want it and the vampires must destroy it. But first they have to find them. Across the country another power struggle threatens them all and the doomsday clock continues to tick relentlessly towards Armageddon.

Our game design series continues with a new essay from Bill White telling us about his fantasy RPG, Ganakagok.

Ganakagok is a fantasy where characters are members of a tribe that lives in a night-time world on an island of ice who must deal with the coming of the Dawn and the changes it brings. Play involves the use of a deck of cards to generate situation, prompt narration, and inspire characters; each session produces an authentic-seeming myth of an imaginary people.

Designing Ganakagok

When people ask me what my game Ganakagok is about, I say, “It’s a fantasy.” I tell them that it’s about a people called the Nitu, who live on a starlit island of ice in a world where the sun has never risen. They live in darkness, revering the Stars, honoring their Ancestors, and marveling at the handiwork of the Forgotten Ones, who long ago wrought Ganakagok into its current form.

This year’s Madison Horror Film Fest at Market Square Cinema in Madison, WI didn’t go off without a hitch, but it was so much fun it didn’t matter. In only its second year, the festival featured high profile genre greats, up and comers, a variety of horror flicks, and enough vendors to lighten your wallet. The future looks bright for this upstart horror gathering produced by festival director Rich Peterson and Icon Entertainment. Things kicked off on Friday night, October 2^nd with the world premiere of the feature film Incest Death Squad followed by two full days of films and guests that covered Saturday and Sunday.

I took part in Saturday’s depravity and my day went as follows:

Entering the fest was hassle free. I walked in and immediately spotted a sign directing me to a booth where I could check my name off the media list and get my tickets. Honestly, the sign was unnecessary as several vendors’ booths were set up in a cluster and surrounded by people who were unmistakably there to revel in terror.

From the moment you see the cover to Rough Magicks, you know you have something a little demented in your hands. This supplement to Trail of Cthulhu defines magic for that game. You know magic? It’s that aspect to a Cthulhu game that simultaneously levels the playing field (or at least works towards that effect) and causes your character to consider a lengthy stay at the nearest sanitarium. This slight book comes from Kenneth Hite, so the demented disclaimer probably should get mentioned again.

The book’s layout is really tight, but a bit drab. The bulk of the text falls into a three column format, which works well for it. “Chapter” lead-ins are set aside nicely by invoking a certain Twenties style one might find on business cards from that period.

For Cheyenne Clark, there’s a bad moon on the rise.

There’s one sound a woman doesn’t want to hear when she’s lost and alone in the Arctic wilderness: a howl.

When a strange wolf’s teeth slash Cheyenne’s ankle to the bone, her old life ends, and she becomes the very monster that has haunted her nightmares for years. Worse, the only one who can understand what Chey has become is the man–or wolf–who’s doomed her to this fate. He also wants to chop her head off with an axe.

Yet as the line between human and beast blurs, so too does the distinction between hunter and hunted . . . for Chey is more than just the victim she appears to be. But once she’s within killing range, she may find that–even for a werewolf–it’s not always easy to go for the jugular.

Frostbite is available now at Amazon.com.

This new collection of horror scenarios for the Call of Cthulhu role playing game features five tales of horror and the weird, set within the green and pleasant land of England. Each scenario focuses upon a different time period, from the streets of Victorian London to the far future when the End is almost nigh.

Although each scenario can be played as part of an existing campaign, they also come with a set of pre-generated player characters, allowing all to be played and run with the minimum of effort.

Cthulhu Britannica is available at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

This week, to celebrate Crackle.com’s Zombiefest, I decided to check out a few zombie-licious movies. One of the movies is called “FLESH EATER.” Now normally, I don’t really like a lot of cheese with my zombies, but this was just…too horrifying to watch without cracking up.

I think one of the coolest parts of writing reviews is not only getting to read a lot of material, but to really get in to the nuts and bolts of how that material is “assembled”. In this case I have been fortunate to read a LOT of Forgotten Realms novel by R.A. Salvatore as well as others such as Paul Kemp. Having read all the “Drizzt Novels” to date, I can say with certainty that the author has improved his craft greatly over the years.

R.A. Salvatore, like any writer clearly has a deep relationship with many of his characters. While some writers are able to outline and crank out material in a mechanical fashion more often then not they go through a sort of adventure of their own; discovering the world and characters as they write. It’s like a journey for the characters as well as the writer. In doing so the author learns to love and hate characters and tries to share it with us…the readers.

FlamesRising.com is pleased to present you with our interview featuring author and editor, Kerrie Hughes. Kerrie has worked on several short story anthologies including the newly-released ZOMBIE RACCOONS KILLER BUNNIES and GAMER FANTASTIC.

We’d like to share with you Kerrie’s thoughts on editing short stories, what she likes about the format, and her take on the current market.

It’s been too long since I took part in Live Action Role-Playing. It was the mid-nineties at Egyptian Campaign in Carbondale, Illinois. The Southern Illinois University’s Student Center was the perfect setting for a session of the Masquerade. There were outdoor and indoor sets.

Hectic Narrators bounced all around in attempt to keep the action controlled. It was a great night, but I’m reasonably sure there wasn’t a story to speak of. Yeah, I recall a handful of werewolves being found dead outside the building. There was also something about the Prince being mad. To be honest, the game was an excuse for the largest number of gamers at the convention to cut loose and have fun. After reading City in the Sand, I have to wonder how much better that night would have been with a story underlying everything. I guess I should say a “good story that people were interested in” underlying everything. City in the Sand takes an interesting bit of cinema’s history and applies a little Vampire bite to it.

When I got my mitts on a copy of “The Kill Crew”, I wasn’t sure what to expect from it. I’d never heard of author Joseph D’Lacey before and had no idea what to expect from him. The book itself is only a slim eighty pages and most of my experiences with novella’s of this size haven’t been exactly stellar. However, it was as good of a time as any to dig in and see what Mr. D’Lacey had to say, so I did.

At first my expectations began to dwindle in the first few chapters. The Kill Crew tells a tale about a group of survivors dealing with the aftermath of a zombie like plague. All the zombie fanatics out there will find familiar territory in these first few chapters, especially fans of the comic series The Walking Dead. The zombie’s types here are referred to as “Commuters” due to the fact that they only come out at night and because the majority of these things in life were the commuting white-collared desk jockeys and similar professionals still garbed in their professional attire.

Welcome to the twelfth of the 13 Doors: an exclusive look behind the door at the upcoming Little Fears Nightmare Edition – The Game of Childhood Terror.

Door #12: Turning the Pages

I hope you all enjoyed last week’s PDF preview of Little Fears Nightmare Edition. Because, this week, we have another excerpt from the book. The following seven pages are from Chapter Three: Someone to Watch Over Me, the game moderator chapter. Click the link below to download the PDF.

The recent headline from the NYTimes reads:

Bloggers Must Disclose Payments for Reviews

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday took steps to make product information and online reviews more accurate for consumers, regulating blogging for the first time and mandating that testimonials reflect typical results.

The FTC will require that writers on the Web clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The commission also said advertisers featuring testimonials that claim dramatic results cannot hide behind disclaimers that the results aren’t typical.