Rants, raves and general opinions presented by members of the Flames Rising staff on topics of interest in the Horror & Dark Fantasy genres.
Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
Pinching Tarts is a caucus game of tart-stealing nonsense inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). You and your friends play Wonderland creatures who infiltrate the Red Queen’s castle to steal Her Majesty’s tarts while protecting what you hold most dear-your heart. I designed this PocketQuest game to be played without a GM. Suitable for […]
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Posted on by Flames
A creative outlet in any form seeks to make something that evokes emotion. Game design, much like any creative outlet, wants to evoke those same emotions. That said, the methods to achieve them are a bit different from other more “traditional” art. It vicariously rides the lines between inspiration and execution, as both are imperative to game design.
A game mechanic is much like a seed, planting an idea or story in the player’s mind so that it may grow into something more. This sprout takes shape within the player’s mind, often as a character, creature, or specific scene of action.
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Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
I’m extraordinarily proud of the releases I had in 2023. These games and books are affiliate-linked to pages where you can purchase or find out more information about them. Yep, affiliate links. Because I am an artist and I enjoy food. Hah! 2023 didn’t yield a ton of publications for me, but that’s okay! I’m […]
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Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
To celebrate GameHole Con’s 10-year anniversary, I opted to run a collaborative DnD 5E scenario. I ran the scenario four times, and by the fourth time I ran it–thanks to over 20 players’ feedback–it turned into something that I’m proud to share with you to celebrate Halloween. The conceit behind The Cursed Citadel is simple: […]
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Posted on by Flames
Odysseys & Overlords is an old-school fantasy inspired setting. Most of the gods died in a divine Schism 1000 years ago. Only two gods remain. Chandra, Goddess of the Moon, Justice, Nature, and Life empowers her clerics to work good miracles in her name. Ragnar, God of War, Cold, Death, and the Sea demands his clerics march forth spreading the influence of his domains throughout the world. Both divine beings remain cloistered in their respective seats of power, bound from direct interference with mortal affairs by the terms of their truce.
Odysseys & Overlords Second Edition brings this setting to the popular Savage Worlds Adventure Edition. The Kickstarter has recently launched!
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Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
The 2023 nominees for the ENnie Awards have just been announced, and I’m proud to mention I’m a finalist for the 2022 Level 1 Anthology from 9th Level Games along with a slate of fantastic folks! The full contributor list for the ENnie Award-nominated 2022 Level 1 Anthology is: Gabrielle Rabinowitz, Evlyn Moreau, Dustin Winter, […]
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Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
Did you know I’m writing a cinematic adventure set in the world of Pacific Rim for Evil Genius Games? One of the reasons why I love Pacific Rim is because, at its core, it sends a strong message that in order to defeat a mysterious and world-ending threat, human beings need to overcome our differences […]
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Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
The Tarot of the Divine is a rare treasure illustrated and designed by California-based artist Yoshi Yoshitani. Each card is illustrated in vibrant colors and line art to depict scenes from fairy tales, folklore, and myths found all over the world. Vasilisa the Beautiful inspired the Nine of Wands, for example, and its illustration is […]
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Posted on by Flames
DriveThruComics, a part of DriveThruRPG’s network of online shops that focuses on digital comics, graphic novels, and related content just launched their annual New Year, New Hero Sale. There are 375 digital titles 25% Off for a limited time. The goal is introduce you to new characters and new publishers and try some new comics!
While many of those are focused on superheroes, there are also a number of excellent Horror and Dark Fantasy graphic novels. We’ve made a short list of a few of our favorites here at Flames Rising!
Check them out and let us know what your favorite comics and graphic novels are!
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Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
Hello, Flames Rising readers! On Saturday, January 7th, I’ll be teaching a new class called Emotional Self-Care for Creatives. Also in January, I’ve got an essay about the witch hysteria in Apex Magazine along with a new project I’ll announce via BooksOfM on Patreon. This year, I taught a lot of gaming-related classes through the […]
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Posted on by Flames
WarGameVault, a part of DriveThruRPG’s network of online shops that focuses on war gaming, miniatures, and related content just launched their annual Winter Offensive Sale. There are more than 12,000 digital titles 25% Off for a limited time.
While many of those are focused on military skirmish style play, such as WWII and Civil War battle scenarios, there are also a number of excellent Horror and Dark Fantasy games. We’ve made a short list of a few of our favorites here at Flames Rising!
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Posted on by Flames
With the recent release of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen the Dragonlance campaign setting was unlocked for community content creators over at DMsGuild.com. Community content creators have already launched some really great supplements helping D&D fans around the world explore Krynn and all of its mysteries.
Gabriel Hatcher, author of Astinus’ Ledger of Unknowns, stopped by to tell us a bit about what it is like writing a new Dragonlance supplement and bit about the thought process that went into this new project.
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Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
One Night in the Catacombs is a party game for three or more Guests (or players). The game begins with your invitation to a fancy party that takes place in Naples, Italy. You and your friends are influencers invited to explore a newly-discovered section of the Catacombe di San Gennaro at midnight. You are all […]
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Posted on by Flames
The year is 1976. A novel debuts: Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice. A book written about a man named Louis from New Orleans who became a vampire–thanks to Lestat, a complicated antihero who both loathes and revels in his own vampirism and place within vampire society. Challenging social norms in any era is […]
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Posted on by Flames
With Dancing with Tombstones, Michael Aronovitz, the author of Alice Walks and The Sculptor takes us deep inside the haunt of our most secret repressions. Today, Michael stopped by to talk to us about using horror to fill the empty spaces in genre fiction and how this new collection of tales was created during a […]
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Posted on by Flames
Women are Werewolves is a card-based story game where players take on the roles of nonbinary characters who belong to a family that believes only women transform into werewolves. Throughout the game, characters explore their relationships to gendered spaces and family traditions. They also explore their relationships with their queer and non-queer family members. The game asks you to navigate the various gendered traditions your family engages in and deal with the awkward questions, misguided assumptions, and occasional microaggressions that come with it. At its heart, Women are Werewolves is a game about discovering your boundaries and whether you can find, or make, a space for your authentic self within a family that might not understand you.
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Posted on by Flames
Mind’s Eye Theatre Vampire: The Masquerade – War of Ages is a Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition (“V5”) live-action setting book from By Night Studios and is on Kickstarter now. This new live-action supplement features game designer Juhana Pettersson of the award-nominated Vampire: The Masquerade Nordic-style Larp End of the Line, as well as the Vampire: The Masquerade Anarch V5 book.
Juhana stopped by for a bit to tell us about working on this project and give us an insight into that process.
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Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
In the opening section of Eyes of Spiragos, my new Scarred Lands adventure for the Slarecian Vault, I explained that: “Eyes of Spiragos is an adventure for optimized 3rd level characters as a follow-up to Gauntlet of Spiragos. The events in Eyes of Spiragos are designed to occur before the second adventure in this series, […]
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Posted on by Billzilla
When I was first approached about writing a story for an anthology covering the Changing Breeds, I was intrigued by the possibilities. Changing Breeds refers to White Wolf’s Werewolf: the Apocalypse game: more specifically, Changing Breeds are all the other were-creatures besides wolves: tigers, foxes, panthers, crows, bears, and many more. Werewolves are by far the most numerous of the werecreatures in White Wolf’s World of Darkness, but the others still exist, and most are still fighting the good fight against the Wyrm’s agents.
Posted on by Monica Valentinelli
Earlier this month, author Monica Valentinelli announced she’s drawing on her anxiety and personal fears to write poetry every day in February. In her #28DaysofPoetry challenge, she’ll post a poem each day for her patrons on Patreon. Patrons can back this project, dubbed Into Shadow: An Exploration of Personal Fears, for $2. They’ll get exclusive […]
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