Flames Rising is an online resource for fans of Horror and Dark Fantasy entertainment. This horror fanzine offers reviews of Games, Fiction, Movies and more ranging from Top-Selling authors to the coolest Small Press and “indie” publishers. The popular Interviews at Flames Rising include Horror authors, artists and other creators of dark entertainment. Stay tuned to the Flames Rising news feed for the latest news on upcoming products, genre conventions and industry developments.
Flames Rising continues to add new Features and expand the Fiction and Articles sections of the site with topics of interest to Horror and Dark Fantasy fans the world over.
Posted on September 8, 2014 by Flames
“It is an early American horror story…And that’s why people know it. Because it’s got the kind of symbolism that good fairy tales or horror stories have.” —Tim Burton
Perhaps the marker of a true mythos is when the stories themselves overshadow their creator. Originally published under a pseudonym as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories gave America its own haunted mythology. This new collection of larger-than-life tales contains Washington Irving’s best-known literary inventions—Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, and Rip Van Winkle—that continue to capture our imaginations today, and features an introduction and notes by Elizabeth L. Bradley, author of Knickerbocker: The Myth Behind New York and literary consultant to Historic Hudson Valley, the caretakers of Irving’s Tarrytown, New York home.
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Posted on September 2, 2014 by Flames
Award-winning author and game designer Matt Forbeck is partnering with Outland Entertainment to produce a tabletop roleplaying game based upon his fantasy noir Shotguns & Sorcery novels, as well as enhanced ebook editions of those popular books. Fans of the series will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world, meet the characters from the books, create their own heroes, and play though brand-new adventures developed exclusively for the game.
“I’d long thought about trying to publish a Shotguns & Sorcery game myself,” Forbeck says, “but I could never manage to find the time. Then Jeremy Mohler came to me with so much love for both games and these books—and he’s such a talented artist to boot. I couldn’t ask for more dedicated publishing partners than Outland.”
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Posted on September 1, 2014 by Flames
Privateer Press has recently begun uploading a number of eBook novels and anthologies based on their Iron Kingdoms and Warmachine games to DriveThruFiction.com. Previously Privateer Press had made the PDFs of the Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy RPG and select supplements available at DriveThruRPG.com.
This represents Privateer Press’ first foray into selling their Skull Island Expeditions imprint’s fiction titles on the DriveThru sites.
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Posted on August 30, 2014 by Flames
Today at PAX Prime in Seattle Wizards of the Coast provided a glimpse of what Dungeons & Dragons will offer in 2015, with new digital offerings set in the Forgotten Realms from partners including Backflip Studios, Beamdog and Cryptic Studios with Perfect World Entertainment.
Throughout 2014, D&D has ignited excitement in the game industry with a celebration of the brand’s 40th anniversary, the launch of new rules for the tabletop RPG, and the exciting and engaging Tyranny of Dragons storyline.
Digital plans for next year were revealed at PAX Prime today during the “2015 Videogames in the Forgotten Realms” panel hosted by Wizards of the Coast and partners.
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Posted on August 25, 2014 by Flames
London-based Modiphius Entertainment has signed script writer Dirk Vandereyken and director Raine McCormack to work on a film adaptation of its award-winning tabletop gaming universe Achtung! Cthulhu.
A scant week after hauling in a prestigious Silver ENnie for best writing and another one for best artwork, the Achtung! Cthulhu gaming line will now be expanded upon with a feature-length movie that will bring many of the characters presented in the roleplaying game and board game to life.
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Posted on August 21, 2014 by Flames
The biggest and most exciting year for Dungeons & Dragons hits a pivotal moment today as the Tyranny of Dragons storyline kicks-off. This rich new narrative challenges players around the world to rise up against hoards of evil dragons, including Tiamat, the most fearsome dragon in D&D’s history! With a full suite of entertainment offerings already starting to roll-out, and many more exciting launches slated for later this year, Tyranny of Dragons offers action-packed play experiences for digital and tabletop RPG players alike.
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Posted on August 11, 2014 by Flames
ECHOES OF WAR: THRILLIN’ HEROICS combines the first four stand-alone adventures in the Echoes of War line released on DriveThruRPG with the SERENITY CREW release into one, easy-to-reference PDF. These Episodes were written by Margaret Weis, Andrew Peregrine, Monica Valentinelli, and Nicole Wakelin. Featured artists include Ben Mund, Beth Sobel, Jennifer Rodgers, Kurt Komoda, and Melissa Gay!
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Posted on August 10, 2014 by Flames
The more you discover, the more the Mythos infects your mind. Your friends cannot be trusted, your knowledge means nothing, and everything you hold dear turns to dust.
The Final Revelation collects for the first time the four sanity-destroying Purist adventures for Trail of Cthulhu written by award winning RPG writer Graham Walmsley. With a framing scenario by Scott Dorward, The Final Revelation gives your Investigators the opportunity to play through a Purist campaign set in the United Kingdom of the 1930s where there is no escape, no comfort and no salvation when faced with the Mythos. Your Investigators are powerless and insignificant; your only choices death, insanity or a quiet life with a shattered mind.
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Posted on August 8, 2014 by Flames
The 13th Age Bestiary introduces all-new creatures for the 13th Age roleplaying game, plus surprising takes on some of your favorite monsters. It includes the fun and flexible mechanics you expect from 13th Age – and it makes every monster an adventure in its own right, with story hooks, icon relationships, customisable campaign elements and more advice on building exciting battles.
Because we made it so easy to create your own monsters in 13th Age, we had to make the creatures in this book truly amazing; so we designed cool and unexpected mechanics for each creature that bring something truly new to the game, and story options that can serve as the starting point for a single adventure or an entire campaign.
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Posted on August 6, 2014 by Flames
Designers & Dragons is a four volume book series of RPG industry awesomeness, meticulously researched and prettily packaged. Author Shannon Appelcline guides you company by company through the history of tabletop starting in the 1970s all the way up to present day. This series is chock full of fascinating insider tidbits, company profiles, and yes—enough drama to fuel a hundred campaigns.
Evil Hat Productions is incredibly proud to produce this updated edition of Designers & Dragons. You may remember the first edition that came out from the lovely people at Mongoose Publishing—we’d wanted to publish it then, but missed the chance! So we leapt at the opportunity to take it on once their one-volume version went out of print.
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Posted on August 4, 2014 by Flames
An Alien’s Guide to Conquering the Earth
It’s a pseudo-nonfiction, ‘how-to’ military handbook for aliens intending to conquer the Earth. It both looks at how all the elements are handled in SF, and satirizes them, and then brings real-world science, history, and military sciences to show how it should be done.
It goes without saying that any military campaign must be planned in ways depending upon some basic factors: The logistics of where your enemy is in relation to your own forces, environmental factors, and, most importantly, ‘why’ you’re fighting this campaign. This book intends to take these basic factors, and apply them to the purpose of conquering the planet known to the natives as Earth.
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Posted on July 23, 2014 by Flames
A full-length, 10-adventure campaign for BETTER ANGELS, the tabletop RPG of demon-possessed supervillainy.
Better Angels is a tabletop roleplaying game where you play a supervillain who got powers from being possessed by a demon — and you play the demon who’s possessing the supervillain of the player to your right.
As a supervillain, you use your superpowers to do … well, whatever you want. You’re a supervillain. As the other player’s demon, you tempt that supervillain with more power in exchange for greater and greater acts of evil. But beware! If you’re TOO evil, your demon can drag you kicking and screaming right to Hell. It’s sort of like the Legion of Doom crossed with the Lucifer-centric parts of Sandman. (And maybe The Exorcist if you’re not careful.)
Better Angels was published in 2013 after a great Kickstarter campaign. A standalone adventure is available, too, plus a ton of free online resources.
Now we have the first full-size campaign book for it: No Soul Left Behind.
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Posted on July 22, 2014 by Flames
For the first time, the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium is offering free professional-level workshops for game and publishing industry professionals. These invite-only workshops will cover building a publicity strategy, running successful Kickstarters, migrating a brand into a new genre/market, and similar topics important to your business. We will not cover the basics, but instead focus […]
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Posted on July 16, 2014 by Flames
As revealed exclusively at the Hollywood Reporter, New York-based comic book publisher Valiant Entertainment today announced that they are adapting their award-winning comic book series, ARCHER & ARMSTRONG, into a feature film. Valiant has partnered with the Sean Daniel Company (THE MUMMY, BEST MAN HOLIDAY, MGM’s upcoming BEN-HUR) for the production and has funded a script from writer BenDavid Grabinski. The film will be produced by Sean Daniel, Jason Brown, and Dinesh Shamdasani.
ARCHER & ARMSTRONG is an action-adventure/buddy comedy colliding a drunk, delinquent immortal who has given up on saving the world and the idealistic young man who needs him for a globetrotting quest to stop history’s oldest conspiracy from toppling modern civilization.
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Posted on July 15, 2014 by Flames
Improvisation is key to running any roleplaying game. It’s an essential skill for every game master and player, and can mean the difference between a good gaming session and a great one. Until now, there hasn’t been a system-neutral book that covers improvisation for game masters from every angle.
Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters is that book. An anthology of 23 essays by a diverse group of award-winning authors, designers, and experienced game masters, Unframed gives you the tools and inspiration to improvise better, “wing it” without hesitation, and get killer results.
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Posted on July 9, 2014 by Flames
In the deepest crimson depths of their being, raw power waits to be brought to the surface. Through their force of will, Kindred can drag this power kicking and screaming into the open to perform miraculous feats and twisted blasphemies. These rituals have been developed to direct and focus this new force, unconstrained by the structure of the known Disciplines. As such, only one word has been seen fit to describe this power that has echoed throughout the ages. Magic.
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Posted on July 9, 2014 by Flames
In an exciting worldwide exclusive, Wizards of the Coast today announced the release of Magic 2015 – Duels of the Planeswalkers on iPad®. The launch signifies the first in the Magic 2015 product line-up and will be followed by releases on other platforms starting on July 16th.
Magic 2015 – Duels of the Planeswalkers challenges players to “Hunt Bigger Game” and confront the deadliest hunter in the Magic Multiverse – Garruk Wildspeaker. Players must attempt to stop Garruk as he turns his instincts away from beasts of the wild to a new quarry – you, his fellow Planeswalker.
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Posted on June 23, 2014 by Flames
Tear down the tyrants!
Paint the streets with the blood of Princes and Archbishops!
With Anarch domains increasing their hold over new territories every night, the Kindred can no longer afford to consider Movement an unruly mob of wayward childer. As the doomed tactics of the past have made way for a sleeker, wiser Anarch Movement, the nights are numbered for outmoded elder vampires and their weak-blooded lackeys.
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Posted on June 14, 2014 by Flames
US Roleplaying Game Publisher Brings Back Classic Horror Game
Growling Door Games, Inc. is proud to announce that they have entered into a licensing agreement with Martin Caron, the owner of the Chill RPG. The agreement gives Growling Door Games the English-language rights to publish the Chill RPG core book and supplementary materials for that game, setting the stage for a new release of a classic property that helped make horror gaming a staple of the RPG landscape.
Matthew McFarland, President of Growling Door Games, said, “We’re thrilled to bring such a classic of horror gaming back to print. Chill has a great history of success in the market. There’s been a lot of enthusiasm for the game even during its long stint out of print, and we hope both those fans and new ones will enjoy our revival of Chill.”
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Posted on June 9, 2014 by Flames
The World of Darkness is in a downward spiral.
Ecological change is killing off entire species. Wars and atrocities kill of thousands of people every day. Celebrities use their media presence to abuse and violate people who don’t feel safe to come forward for decades afterwards. Corporations pay their employees so little that people with jobs need government assistance just to have enough money to stay alive. In the World of Darkness, all of this feeds the Wyrm.
W20 Book of the Wyrm is a companion volume to Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition and W20 Changing Breeds that details the nature and forces of the Wyrm, enemy of all creation. It provides information on everything from Wyrm-worshipping cults to the twisted realm of Malfeas.
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