The Altered Carbon RPG is the official game based on the hit neo-noir cyberpunk Netflix series and the award-winning novel penned by Richard Morgan. The core edition of Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game takes place on Sol (Earth) in the year 2384. With the help of a gamemaster (GM), you and your friends can create your own stories and Sleeves in Bay City, the futuristic Californian metropolis that serves as the main setting of the first book and Season 1 of the Netflix series.

FlamesRising.com took a peek at a preview of the upcoming game to see what was under the hood. Developed and designed by Christopher J. De La Rosa, the Altered Carbon RPG crystallizes the setting by presenting a timeline of events and key setting details necessary to roleplay in a futuristic San Francisco where bodies are meat and your soul is reduced to data. The system is “in house” and has been customized for the Altered Carbon RPG.

The Vampire: The Masquerade – New Blood Starter Pack is a print & play PDF bundle that embraces you into the World of Darkness and Vampire: The Masquerade.

Designed with new Storytellers and players in mind, it features a new story that teaches you to play this new edition of the roleplaying game, a rules reference guide, printable enemy and victim cards, 7 player characters, and a relationship map.

You wake up in a meat locker with vague memories of what happened last night. Something about you is not quite right. As you come to your senses, you realize that you have a hunger you’d never experienced before. Gradually, you’ll come to realize that you’ve been Embraced into the world of Kindred – or vampires to those not in the know.

This story takes you through your very first steps in Vampire: The Masquerade. Whether you will be the Storyteller running this, or a player participating in the story, this product doesn’t require any previous knowledge of or experience with the game.

When Critical Role debuted in March 2015, no one predicted the success of a Dungeons & Dragons liveplay show starring prominent voice actors. Not only has the show inspired a vast fan community of “Critters” to create fan art, cosplay, and even musicals based on Critical Role’s adventures, but the stories crafted by Matthew Mercer and his friends have encouraged droves of new players to try D&D for the first time. The D&D Team at Wizards of the Coast is excited to officially collaborate with Mercer by publishing a brand new tabletop roleplaying book detailing the continent explored in the second campaign of Critical Role, complete with player options such as subclasses, magic items, and more. Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount will be available in stores everywhere on March 17, 2020!

Explore the realms!

Wizards of the Coast once again is presenting new dice and miscellany for the world’s greatest roleplaying game. Forgotten Realms Laeral Silverhand Explorer’s Kit builds on the success of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. Forgotten Realms Laeral Silverhand Explorer’s Kit will be available in stores everywhere on March 17, 2020!

When you have already experienced death, why have faith?
If you accept that you and everyone like you is cursed by God, why cling to His word?
When you return from the other side as a blood-drinking monster, what purpose serves belief?

Cults of the Blood Gods is a new style of sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition from Onyx Path Publishing that introduces the pernicious horror of twisted beliefs. Currently funding on Kickstarter.com, we managed to get a few questions to some of the design team during the holiday break.

Rich Thomas, founder and Creative Director of Onyx Path Publishing, announced the company launched the Kickstarter for Cults of the Blood Gods, a supplement for the Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition core rulebook.

Cults of the Blood Gods is a new style of sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition that introduces the pernicious horror of twisted beliefs.

The Cults of the Blood Gods Kickstarter has launched for a traditionally-printed full color hardcover edition that will be available in game stores. Previews of the finished manuscript will be released during the Kickstarter. A standard digital edition will be released following Kickstarter fulfillment.

Onyx Path Publishing announced two expansions to the Canis Minor and Storypath Nexus community content programs available on DriveThruRPG. Announced in conjunction with Pugsteady, the Canis Minor expansion now includes fiction for Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau through Canis Minor. The Storypath Nexus program, which currently includes Scion, is now open to independent creators interested […]

Rich Thomas, founder and Creative Director of Onyx Path Publishing, announced today a new corebook called Exalted Essence is planned for the popular Exalted Third Edition gameline. “This is a project we’ve been thinking about for quite a while and we’re thrilled it’s moving forward. I’m beyond excited to be overseeing the creative direction of […]

It’s time for Monsters & Mayhem!

Wizards of the Coast is once again getting ready to throw down, this time with the third iteration of Dungeon Mayhem, the easy-to-learn, family-friendly, D&D card game that pits the wits and brawn of a party of adventurers against each other.

Dungeon Mayhem: Monster Madness builds on the success of the original game and its expansion, Battle for Baldur’s Gate, with each player embodying one of six epic Dungeons & Dragons monsters. Dungeon Mayhem: Monster Madness will be available in stores everywhere on February 14, 2020, just in time for a romantic battle royal!

The myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The following continues the recap of the Scarred Lands campaign, Fire in Rahoch. It follows the adventures of Stromm, Manuc, Rostum, and Lliese as they navigate the politics of Calastia while at the same time trying to appease the secret societies that they are each a part of.

A Land Where Legends Walk

Drawing enthusiastically on Greek mythology, the revised and re-imagined Scarred Lands nonetheless retains its place as a modern fantasy RPG setting. This is a world shaped by gods and monsters, and only the greatest of heroes can expect to be counted among them. The most populous continent of Scarn, Ghelspad, plays host to vast unexplored regions, hides unsolved riddles from ancient cultures, and taunts adventures with the promise of undiscovered riches hidden among the ruins of older civilizations.

Yet the myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The following continues the recap of the Scarred Lands campaign, Fire in Rahoch. It follows the adventures of Stromm, Manuc, Rostum, and Lliese as they navigate the politics of Calastia while at the same time trying to appease the secret societies that they are each a part of.

Drawing enthusiastically on Greek mythology, the revised and re-imagined Scarred Lands nonetheless retains its place as a modern fantasy RPG setting. This is a world shaped by gods and monsters, and only the greatest of heroes can expect to be counted among them. The most populous continent of Scarn, Ghelspad, plays host to vast unexplored regions, hides unsolved riddles from ancient cultures, and taunts adventures with the promise of undiscovered riches hidden among the ruins of older civilizations.

Yet the myths of the Scarred Lands are relatively recent events. The effects of the Titanswar still ripple through the world, and the heroines and villains of many of these stories are part of living memory, if not still living.

The following is a recap of the Scarred Lands campaign, Fire in Rahoch. It follows the adventures of Stromm, Manuc, Rostum, and Lliese as they navigate the politics of Calastia while at the same time trying to appease the secret societies that they are each a part of.

It’s been five years since Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition launched, and the explosion of D&D’s popularity since then has been a wonder to behold! Now fans can celebrate D&D through the D&D Sapphire Anniversary Dice Set, available directly from Wizards of the Coast starting at 11a.m. (PT) on November 21, 2019. The set commemorates both #5yearsof5e AND forty-five years since D&D’s first publication in 1974.

“When the D&D team realized the sapphire is the traditional anniversary stone for both five years and forty-five years, and that adding a laboratory-created sapphire to a twenty-sided die wouldn’t jeopardize the integrity of a roll, we couldn’t pass up the chance to make something really cool to celebrate the milestones” said Nathan Stewart, VP of the D&D Franchise at Wizards of the Coast. “The team put together a fun product for our fans that includes art and newly updated stats for sapphire dragons, making these classic dragons ready for play in your next D&D session.”

Onyx Path Publishing, owner and publisher of the Scarred Lands campaign setting, is pleased to announce two new serial releases: Vigil Watch and Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad.

Ghelspad is a massive and diverse landscape that is the hallmark of the Scarred Lands setting. Once a paradise, this continent is now scarred by the ravages of the Titanswar. In the wake of divine bloodshed, the people of Ghelspad survive and thrive on this befouled continent. Two upcoming releases explore this setting to give players and GMs more material to draw from for their campaigns.

Hey readers! This is the second year Monica is pledging to play Dungeons & Dragons at GameHole Con to raise funds for kids at a local children’s hospital. Last year was the first time she played D&D Live–and had a blast! For this year’s events, Monica will be in full costume for the Guiding Light […]

DriveThruRPG.com announced today that the Phone PDF, a new format designed specifically for handheld mobile devices, is now available. At the RPG gaming table, while game masters are likely to have a laptop or tablet nearby, an increasingly large number of gamers use their phones for quick reference.

Typical game manuals and comic books in standard PDF format use the same page size and pagination as printed hard copy editions. That format works well on tablets and monitors, but normal PDFs are not well suited to phone-sized screens.

In early 2019, DriveThruRPG worked closely with Onyx Path Publishing to create the Pugmire Phone PDF–which you can download FREE today! FlamesRising.com contributor Monica Valentinelli downloaded the Pugmire PDF via her iPhone’s browser to see how it works; the phone PDF format is 720 pages long and includes quick links on every page for ease of use. In addition to the Table of Contents, for example, added section menus allow for ways to reference rules and other important information necessary to play the game.

Astral TableTop has released the newest version of their virtual tabletop platform. The release includes major performance updates that make the platform faster and snappier than ever. “Our goal is always to make Astral fast and fun to use,” says Astral CEO Tom Lackemann. “Not only does this release ensure a seamless experience for online […]

Greetings FlamesRising.com readers! We are very excited to sit down with J.M. Lee, novelist and screenplay writer. J.M. Lee is known for his Young Adult series Shadows of the Dark Crystal and his work as a screenwriter for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance series on Netflix. Lee has two new books are coming out in November: Aughra’s Wisdom of Thra and Heroes of the Resistance: A Guide to the Characters of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

What’s next for Dungeons and Dragons? Descend into Avernus with three new releases!

Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus Dice & Miscellany

From the streets of Baldur’s Gate to the front lines of the Blood War, the dice you cast might be your last. The Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus Dice & Miscellany set includes 11 dice, a dice tray/box, 20 double-sided cards with exclusive content, a foldout map of Avernus, and even a sizing chart for the demons and devils of the Blood War!

Paizo is pleased to announce that Find the Path is now an officially licensed partner! They have been producing an actual-play podcast of the Mummy’s Mask Adventure Path since May of 2018. Now, they are expanding to provide a podcast of the Tyrant’s Grasp Adventure Path, exclusively to subscribers via Patreon at patreon.com/FindthePath.

“Tyrant’s Grasp is an important story connecting Pathfinder editions. It is a grand finale for the first edition and sets the stage for events to unfold in the Age of Lost Omens. We are excited to have Find the Path bring it to life and make it accessible to players both new and old,” said Jim Butler, Paizo’s VP of Marketing and Licensing.