“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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Students at East Texas University have a few more challenges than other students–balancing parties, studies, and saving the world!

They say ETU is a great place to earn a quality education without the big city distractions and dangers. This is the 21st century and no one wants to admit they’ve helplessly watched a classmate get sucked into the pages of a library book, come face-to-face with an angry ghost, or glimpsed a creature prowling the campus by the light of the full moon.

Can Rori unlock the secret to her powers in time to fight mythological monsters?

Writer Jim Zub (SKULLKICKERS, Samurai Jack) teams up with penciler Steve Cummings (Legends of the Dark Knight, Deadshot) and color artist John Rauch (INVINCIBLE) to create a Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a new generation in WAYWARD, coming from Image Comics in August.

Rori Lane is an outsider by nature, but moving to Tokyo to live with her single Mom has only exacerbated her weirdness. She’s feeling out of sorts, worried about fitting in and, as if that wasn’t enough, strange things are begining to happen. Glowing symbols and patterns are starting to appear before her eyes… and she’s the only one who seems to notice.

As the Prey Evolves…

Everywhere you turn, a vampire eats some poor factory worker. Werewolves shred cars. Witches curse the innocent. Serial killers devastate communities.

But what about the stranger aspects of the World of Darkness?

Mortal Remains picks up where we left off with Night Stalkers, Spirit Slayers, Witch Finders, and Slashers. In Mortal Remains, we explore the Vigil as it pertains to mummies, changelings, prometheans, demons, and sin-eaters.

So Too Must the Hunter…

Max Brooks and Avatar Press have announced Legendary Television and Digital optioned the New York Times Bestselling Author Brooks’ Extinction Parade as an original property for development as a new television series. Brooks is closely tied to the development of the project and will be writing the Pilot episode.

“I only brought the idea to one company, Legendary, because they do the kind of quality work of which any writer would be proud.” stated Brooks.

“Max Brooks is a visionary with an incredible ability to tell stories that deliver a fresh approach to the horrors that haunt our nightmares. His work on Extinction Parade has been a stunningly rich tapestry of cultures in decline and a biting indictment of the perils of privilege. It will make the perfect television series to appeal to fans who have until now settled for thinly veiled soap operas parading as horror.” said William Christensen, Publisher of Avatar Press.

The Cthulhu Mythos Bundle at DriveThruFiction.com includes 9 eBooks, 1 Audiobook, and 1 Soundtrack with stories from Dennis Detwiller, Kenneth Hite, Greg Stolze, Robin D. Laws, Brian LeTendre, and more. As well as classic tales from H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and others who defined the genre.

The Bundle saves you about $22 off the regular price of these digital goodies (or 40%) and will only be available for a limited time at DriveThruFiction.com.

DriveThruComics.com, the first digital comics retailer, announced today that it has teamed up with Rebellion and Mongoose to offer an amazing deal on Judge Dredd titles including comics, eBooks, and an RPG in support of the Hero Initiative charity.

“We’re happy to have this chance to help out a great cause like Hero Initiative,” said Matt M McElroy, Director of Publishing for DriveThruComics.com. “The Judge Dredd titles that Rebellion and Mongoose have in this Bundle are a must-have for fans new and old.”

The FIREFLY RPG puts you right in the middle of the action of the wildly popular television series. You and your Crew will trade bullets with fearsome bounty hunters, folk who want what you have, or varmints that try to put out the light of hope you represent. Keep your Browncoat banner flyin’ high and dodge Alliance cruisers. Side with the Alliance and track down riff-raff to haul ‘em in for justice. Explore your ‘Verse to find a crew, find a job, and keep flyin’!

The Flames Rising RPG Design series continues with Eric Staggs from Spectacle Publishing.

The Darkest Age is a Horror RPG set in a grim, alternate history. Enter the gritty and dangerous world of Europe in 1350, as an unusual strain of the bubonic plague ravages the countryside and those afflicted don’t just die. Faced with extinction, the people of Europe are forced to survive in any way they can. Characters face death, disease and the myriad undead, as well as cannibals, xenophobic city-states, and religious strife in an unending battle for the resources that mean survival.

Eric tells us about his process of creating the game.

Valiant Entertainment is proud to announce that it has partnered with Catalyst Game Labs to produce role-playing and tabletop games featuring Valiant’s award-winning library of comic book superheroes. The partnership will lead off in mid-2014 with the release of the Valiant Universe RPG—Valiant’s first-ever role-playing game, designed for the Cue System (the Origins and ENnie awards-nominated system first published in Catalyst’s 1950s Rockets/Rayguns/Robots RPG, Cosmic Patrol). Subsequent releases, spotlighting a wide array of Valiant properties, will follow in 2015 and beyond.

The edge between superhero and villain has never been sharper. In the Valiant Universe RPG, players will immerse themselves in a dark and gritty world where every mission and every battle has deadly consequences. Whether playing X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Shadowman or even the all-powerful Toyo Harada—or any of dozens of characters—Valiant’s most fearless heroes will unite for the first time in a roleplaying game, allowing you to join their stories and create new ones! Whether you’re a longtime fan or brand new to the Valiant Universe, this is the only source you’ll need to bring Valiant’s leading characters to life in a fantastic superheroes setting!